Week 19 Notes:

Kyle Martino scored the goal Saturday that everybody has been waiting for him to score. It was bold, opportunistic, and deadly in its finish. On a team that’s begging for a leader, he should be it. He’s a big bundle of unfulfilled potential, and if he keeps it up he’ll be a star we’ve been expecting him to be. And, if you combine it with the finishing touch that Buddle has found lately, it’ll keep them from missing the playoffs and save Greg Andrulis’s job.

What is the deal with teams in this league, even at home, playing bunkerball and looking for the counterattack for offense? Is it that the talent limits teams to this strategy, or is it becoming the “American Style”, God forbid? Did I miss the memo that outlawed midfield play? By midfield play, just for the record, I don’t mean hacking down a forward who has gotten a step ahead of you. Too much “playing not to lose” in this league for my taste.

Danny Szetela sighting in New England. He took about 30 seconds to commit his first foul, but it was a good, clean foul, so I like that. On the other hand he was wearing white shoes, which I hate. As I’ve said on many occasions, white shoes look stupid on a soccer field. You’ve got to be scoring at least 20 goals a year before you can get away with such an offense to aestheticism. Danny’s not there yet.

Welllll, call a cop, because the Burn just robbed the Rapids. Down to nine men, it looked like Dallas were going to get off easy with a nil-nil draw when Ritchie Kotschau pulled Bobby Rhine down in the penalty area just before full time. Eddie Johnson converted the PK, and Colorado go home yearning for what might-have-been. Truly, it was the first time this season the Burn have caught a break from the referee corps in this league.

I really thought the San Jose/DCU matchup was an entirely uninspired and unentertaining affair. With one exception. DeRosario’s goal was one of . . . no; it was THE sweetest, most purely struck side volleys I’ve ever seen, bar none. Go to MLSnet.com and watch it, if you’ve yet to see it. He hits it flush and just rockets it into the roof of the goal. Sensational.

Speaking of San Jose, I’m really glad the league sat Landon Donavan for one game. His conduct back in July against the Revs was despicable. Screaming obscenities at the officials like a crazy person, and, apparently, making an obscene gesture to the referee after the game. He came off like a little girl throwing a tantrum at Wal-Mart. Grow up.

I’m not sure how fluent Carlos Ruiz is in English, but if he’s just learning, it sure is coming along nicely. I distinctly read his lips calling someone a, uh, you know, an English term for a certain body part. I wouldn’t have thought “Ingles Sin Barreras” would have covered that kind of thing. Maybe Cobi has been tutoring him.

The Galaxy are such a dirty, whiny bunch of floppers (admittedly with a few exceptions, like Paul Broome, Sasha, and Jovan) that even Amado Guevara, I imagine, was embarrassed for them Sunday. They played dirty, took dives, and, oh yeah, lost 3-nil. Maybe Alex Prus lost control of the match, but that’s not an excuse for that kind of behavior. I’ve never seen Albright act that way. Is there a story there we don’t know about? Still and all, the Los Angeles/Metros rivalry is always an exciting match, and definitely something to look forward to. This game didn’t disappoint.

To be fair, though, LA may have been hard done by on the PK call in the first half. It was a hard challenge to be sure, but it was definitely shoulder to shoulder. I watched it a dozen times, and it really could have gone the other way. I imagine what Mr. Prus was thinking was that Marshall didn’t even pretend to play the ball, but rather was all about knocking Woly down. Tough call. Even the Metros color man, the great Shep Messing, didn’t think it was worth a penalty.

Like everybody else watching that game (LA fans included), I was stunned that Cobi’s obvious handball didn’t get called. Kudos to the MSG broadcast team for clearing that matter up at half time. Turns out the AR had called the corner kick out of bounds, so the ball was dead anyway.

The second and third Metrostar goals were top-shelf. The through ball by Magee to Gaven was sublime, and Wolyniec’s finish was spectacular. The Metrostars are making a statement. They’re my pick to win it all this year.