Real Playoffs?

At the same time Yallop's Los Angeles started to win in the MLS, RSL seems to be coming to life. They're still underperforming for a team with the 5^th highest payroll in the league. But the team that didn't win once on the road last year has managed to win more on the road this year than last. In fact right now they're on a 3 game undefeated streak on the road an undefeated in 5 overall. Not bad for a team that only mustered 5 wins in 32 games last year. A lot of the attention has been given to Jeff Cunningham. He's been scoring and racking up some assists a lot lately. But the talk of him reaching MVP status is a step too far, at least at this stage in the season. I've watched every RSL game that's been available. Cunningham can be a classy goal scorer. But I don't see that he elevates the teammates around him. He performs for the team, makes some passes and has been scoring goals. But I don't the most valuable player side of things. It's just not that I frown upon talking about MVP for a team that isn't in the playoffs (a relatively low standard for the MLS). But that I expect the MVP to be a player that does elevate the level of play around him. If you're going to pick an MVP canidate for RSL, it should be Mehdi Ballouchy. Without Medhi, RSL would more often than not be up to their old ways of last year where they struggled to string together more than a couple passes at a time and didn't have enough possesion. Earlier in the year when Cunningham would score, the team still wasn't winning. Often times though Medhi either wasn't in the game or he was pushed off to the side. What Cunningham has brought to the team is a nose for goal, something Jason Kries can't offer them any longer. I'm just suprised the RSL bloggers aren't thinking the same.

More interesting though, is that 4 of Cunningham's recent goals have come off of penalty kicks. I'm not going to completely discount those. It means something that you can be calm and execute them properly. But they're not goals from the run of play. And that's something that RSL has struggled with getting under Ellinger. Take away those Pks and RSL has 2 more loses at home and are tied with Columbus at the bottom of the single table standings. Maybe RSL hasn't turned the corner like Ellinger seems to think? We'll have to wait and find out.