MLS week 1, who played?

Those who watched opening weekend in MLS stadia around the country or who watched on TV were treated to some fun games. In Dallas the home team fought back against their rivals to the north, Chicago. Kansas City's new offense led by Eddie Johnson crushed the youthful Crew, and spoiled Sigi's return to the league. New England reversed last year's MLS Cup final result to win their opener against LA. DC United looked like they'd be the first to bow to the Red Bulls but a fully recovered Alecko Eskandarian made sure that wouldn't happen and the two bitter Eastern Conference rivals ended tied, 2-2. Chivas USA proved the better second year team against their fellow bottom 2005 dwellers, Real Salt Lake. Finally, my home team, Colorado Rapids were made to look foolish by Houston with Brian Ching scoring 4 goals in a 5-2 victory for the orange-men.

All in all we saw 24 goals opening weekend and average attendance up over 70% from last season's opening weekend. With all the changes happening in MLS during the off-season it certainly looked strong in the first weekend.

So how did our crop of rookies fare? First off, I am going to define rookies as first year players coming into the league through the draft process. Look back a couple posts and you'll see how there are many more players with no previous MLS experience, but in my book that doesn't make them rookies.

By my count 12 rookie saw playing time this weekend. You can see that the starting lineup was very hard to crack with some clubs as there were 4 clubs that didn't put a rookie on the field at all this weekend. Here is a breakdown of who played where:

Chicago: Calen Carr & Floyd Franks both came on as subs.
Chivas USA: Jonathan Bornstein, Sacha Kljestan & Lawson Vaughn all started while Drew Helm came on as a sub.
Columbus: Brandon Moss & Kei Kamara started with Jason Garey coming off the bench.
Kansas City: Matt Groenwald started.
Los Angeles: Nathan Sturgis started.
New England: Kyle Brown came on as a sub.
New York: Marvell Wynne started.
Salt Lake: Mehdi Ballouchy got the start and Ryan Johnson came on as a sub.

Performances across the board were mixed. Most guys played at a decent level but didn't really do anything to stand apart. Many eyes were on Marvell Wynne since he was the #1 pick of the SuperDraft. He played well but he showed his athletic ability will not get him all the way to the top flight. On Alecko Eskandarian's outstanding volley Wynne was seen doing an awkward jump at the ball but not getting anywhere near it effectively leaving Eskandarian all alone on the far post.

Kei Kamara opening his MLS scoring account with the only goal in the losing effort by Columbus. Had he been a little more lucky he could have had a hat trick as he had some other very good chances. Some more experience and he would have buried those other chances. He looked dangerous quite a bit. Kai wasn't a surprise to many going in the SuperDraft at #9.

On the other side of the pitch was Matt Groenwald for Kansas City. Groenwald looked like a veteran serving up a great ball to Davy Arnaud for the first KC goal of the match. He was composed and played well. Seems like he could be ready for a solid rookie season.

Out in LA LA Land two rookies notched assists in their debuts. Sacha Kljestan was the #5 pick in the SuperDraft so we're expecting great things from him, but Lawson Vaughn? He wasn't picked until the 25th pick of the Supplemental Draft. Where did he come from?!?! Well, those at the University of Tulsa will recognize his name.

Mehdi Ballouchy, the #2 pick of the SuperDraft, played well but maybe had too much weight on his shoulders. Salt Lake is depending on him to add to a poor offense from last season and while he looked good on the ball he couldn't add too much. He has the skills and will need some time to develop.

So that is my two cents from the games I was able to watch or catch highlights of. Those players I didn't mention either didn't play enough minutes to make an impression or I couldn't catch the game. MLS is off to an exciting start and here's hoping we get to see some more new, exciting players in the weeks to come.