By Tony Edwards – San Jose, CA (May 1, 2014) US Soccer Players – Moving towards an MLS weekend with nine games (Montreal is off), three teams in particular are feeling the pressure. The Portland Timbers, Chicago Fire, and Philadelphia Union are in various stages of trying to dig out of deficits. While Portland might have the best opportunity this weekend to put three points in the MLS standings, it’s another team’s coach already receiving the vote of confidence.

Is this the weekend for the Portland Timbers and Chicago Fire?

How about yes for the Portland Timbers and no for the Chicago Fire? Or the other way around. Chicago’s at home against Salt Lake while Portland hosts DC.

As Fire coach Frank Yallop told the MLS website, his team is “…two penalty kicks away from having a great start, and that’s the frustrating part.” That’s probably the right way to look at it if you’re walking around in a Fire polo shirt. As Salt Lake isn’t playing particularly well (yes, Pro Soccer Talk, I know they have only lost once in their last 16 games), this might be Chicago’s best chance this month, as the rest of their games are against the Red Bulls, Kansas City, and Columbus.

Portland needs to win. A team with legitimate MLS Cup and Champions League ambitions shouldn’t be looking up at Chivas USA after only scoring nine goals in eight games.

Which coach in MLS just got the vote of confidence from team management?

According to the Philadelphia Daily News, it’s John Hackworth. Franchise CEO Nick Sakiewicz, emailed staff writer John Smallwood and expressed his support for the 8th place (but only three points out of the playoffs) Union.

“The team, in only its fifth season of existence, has made a lot of positive progress, particularly over the last 22 months under John Hackworth’s stewardship,” Sakiewicz said in an email from a business trip to Europe. “During this time, he has cleaned up a poorly managed salary-cap situation created under previous management, signed some very good, quality midfielders this season, put together a talented group of young coaches that are driven to win every day, and built a clubhouse culture focused on playing an attractive style of soccer that our fans want to see.”

Sakiewicz goes on to say that his team deserves more points than they have and that the Union are, in fact, outplaying their opponents.

In its fifth year of existence, how many trophies do the Union have compared with Seattle or even San Jose mk II? How many appearances in the Champions League? This isn’t a team that has been competing with Salt Lake, Seattle, and the Galaxy. It’s been against DC United and Toronto.

Okay, so you can make a case that Hackworth completed the heavy lifting in cleaning up management’s mess. Fair enough. That means as much as management wants this season in an increasingly competitive Eastern Conference.

Is Seattle a win every week team in MLS?

Or, more to the point, a team not expected to lose league games? We’ve seen this in Europe with clubs running the season table. Lifting a trophy with a 0 in the loss column might be too much to ask from any MLS team. Only Real Salt Lake has the chance to not lose a single game this season, and that’s stretching expectations.

What MLS needs is some version of a relative-to-scale Bayern Munich, Arsenal, or Juventus playing to win across multiple competitions and not losing league games. What they’ll probably get is Nottingham Forest, playing not to lose across multiple competitions and pulling it off to the delight of few outside of the home fans. That’s not Seattle, with Sigi Schmid establishing a style that will take risks during an MLS season.

Why did Tampa Bay of the NASL play Orlando City of USL-Pro last night?

As far as I can tell, for no other reason than to get in an additional competitive game. With their two points in three games start to the season, it’s going to be difficult for the Rowdies to get back into the race for the Spring NASL championship (which is 10 games, remember), so every competitive game they can play is useful. For Orlando, it was a game against a team a division up. Getting some data about how mid-week games draw probably isn’t a bad idea either.

Who are the first four people being inducted in the Whitecaps ring of honor?

As the franchise celebrates its 40th birthday, the team announced that current team president Bob Lenarduzzi, Carl Valentine, Domenic Mobilio, and Andrea Neil would be the first members of their ring of honor.

Lenarduzzi has essentially been Mr Canadian Soccer throughout his career. According to the team, he is the all-time leader in games played in the North American Soccer League with 312 and ranks first all-time for Whitecaps FC in games started with 356 and second all-time in games played with 362. Personally, I’m somewhat disappointed the team apparently opted for 1974 replicas over their NASL glory days jerseys, but Saturday’s game against San Jose should be a fitting celebration.

Tony Edwards is a soccer writer from the Bay Area.

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