Some intriguing Major League Soccer storylines to watch this weekend:
Seattle Sounders' Brad Evans will be tested again vs. Houston
After three weeks, the Brad Evans-as-center-back experiment has had mixed reviews, sometimes in the same game. There was the up-and-down (but mostly up) outing against New England. This was followed by the unmitigated disaster at home to San Jose. And then a solid rebound last week against a 10-man FC Dallas side.
Such differences in form are to be expected, and the Seattle brass has always insisted that the team is taking the long view on Evans' positional switch, one that looks set to continue this weekend against Houston.
It's a match that will pose a challenge similar to the San Jose game. Against Dallas, the Sounders were missing five starters: Chad Marshall, Clint Dempsey, Obafemi Martins, Marco Pappa and Osvaldo Alonso. That upheaval added a dose of caution to Seattle's approach, although Kellyn Acosta's 17th-minute red card eased the pressure on Sigi Schmid's makeshift side.
But on this weekend, the Sounders can expect a more wide-open affair thanks to the fact that Seattle will be able to field a team that is a closer approximation of its first-choice lineup. Pappa will be back from international duty, and the four injured starters are listed as probable, according to a Seattle spokesperson.
Granted, it remains to be seen what combination of Marshall, Martins, Dempsey and Alonso will play, but a return by two of those four combined with the impetus of the home crowd should lead to a more aggressive approach. Houston has some players, such as Brad Davis, Oscar Boniek Garcia and Giles Barnes, who are more than capable of doing damage on the break, and that likely will put significant pressure on Evans.
-- Jeff Carlisle (@jeffreycarlisle)
Bright young stars will meet in Portland
On Saturday night in Portland, the lights will come up on a battle between two teams at opposite ends of the Western Conference standings. Portland, working to avoid a repeat of last year's terrible start, has just three points from four matches. Visiting FC Dallas, on the other hand, has yet to lose in 2015 and leads the league as well as the conference with 10 points through four games.
But Timbers vs. FC Dallas also presents an opportunity to see two of the league's most dynamic players strut their stuff. Neither is his side's key playmaker, although injuries have forced both to play larger roles in their respective attacks. Both are fast and fluid, their unique abilities most evident when they are moving quickly into open space with the ball at their feet. Young stars on the cusp of reaching the top echelon of MLS talent, Darlington Nagbe and Fabian Castillo embody the type of player the league should strive to cultivate as it moves forward.
They are not the same player, not in the slightest. Nagbe's technical ability and passing vision make him more likely to play deeper, sometimes linking defense and attack in ways that don't show up on the stat sheet. Castillo is a game-changer, capable of disappearing for large stretches of the game before popping up out of nowhere to lead a break and finish a single chance.
It's the differences, as much as the similarities, that should make for a fun watch in Portland on Saturday night.
-- Jason Davis (@davisjsn)
Toronto FC need to set tone for rest of season vs. Chicago
If you had to pinpoint exactly when free-spending Toronto FC's season went off the rails last year, September's 1-1 tie in Chicago would be it.
The Reds weren't officially eliminated from postseason contention for a record eighth straight season that night, but what transpired at Toyota Park -- Canadian referee David Gantar's phantom foul call nullified what would've been an inspiring 93rd-minute winner for the Reds -- was so soul-crushing that it effectively ended Toronto's playoff push then and there.
TFC returns to the scene of the crime Saturday. And although it would be foolish to overstate the importance of any match four weeks into the new campaign, this game could be a tone-setter if the star-crossed club somehow extends its mark for playoff futility again this fall.
The 2015 Reds are already facing adversity. The team that looked like an MLS Cup dark horse in an impressive 3-1, season-opening win in Vancouver was listless in its past two games, losing both and managing only a single goal. Although TFC was without U.S. national team starters Jozy Altidore and Michael Bradley last week at Real Salt Lake, Sebastian Giovinco, the league's second-highest earner, did play.
Altidore and Bradley are back from international duty, but injured central defenders Steven Caldwell and Damien Perquis could miss their second consecutive contest. And you can bet that referee Juan Guzman will be watching Altidore closely after the striker was sent off for verbal abuse Tuesday in the Americans' 1-1 draw in Switzerland.
With the pressure building, TFC's response this week could be telling.
-- Doug McIntyre (@DougMacESPN)