Red carpet prematurely rolled out for superlatives; Nat Borchers impressive on return

Red carpet prematurely rolled out for superlatives; Nat Borchers impressive on return

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There's a certain problematic aspect to declaring the winner of a single match the best of anything, let alone the best in the league. The very real danger of overhype comes crashing down when, after less than a quarter of the season, the "best team in the league" is declared as the result of a single match-up, or when something is dubbed an MLS Cup Final preview.

Don't get me wrong. I'm trying not to make this sour grapes here. Did Sporting KC do well to beat us? Certainly so. They capitalized on their chance well and avoided what was nearly a stalemate. Still, if we were in any other field — say, statistics and not sport (I know, I know) — we'd be perhaps a bit more reticent to make such lofty declarations on the day.

Is it solely bitterness to be concerned about these things? I don't think so. If we'd won, I'd like to think I'd be writing about the same thing, though I may be a bit more inclined to watch again and break the match down further. Regardless of whether I wrote about it or not, though, it would be the case: We wouldn't be suddenly the "best team in the league" if we'd beaten Sporting KC.

There are a few reasons why it doesn't hold up:

1. Both sides were engaged in a tactical to-and-fro which kept them rather locked in deep. Now, while this is interesting, engaging, and exciting, it doesn't mean that these were the best two teams because of it. The tactics we rolled out were by and large a bit negative, and I'd hardly think that's a true representation of our skill.

2. There is no return match this season — save, perhaps, for the playoffs. The home advantage is oft-touted and discussed, and I won't dispute that entirely here. It is safe to say that the match, at the very least, might have been different at home. Would we have won? Maybe. Would we have drawn? Possibly. Would we have lost? Perhaps. But for the superlatives to even start being rolled out, that has to be played out.

3. We've played seven games. They've played six. We have how many matches left? 27? And they've got 28? We've played significantly less than a quarter of the season and the superlatives are out to play. Why, just the other day, David Beckham slotting a ball past the goalkeeper when utterly unmarked was prematurely declared goal of the week AND a potential goal of the year. Never mind any argument about the goal itself, but surely, it's a stab at the rest of the season.

At any rate, that's the last I'll touch on this today (and hopefully for a while), but when you're issuing your superlatives — especially when you're acting as some sort of reasoned media and not as an out-and-out fan — do be careful.

* * *

A quick word about our defense against Sporting KC: Nat Borchers was immense. He made roughly 22 percent of our successful passes (53/241) with an 88 percent success rate (53/60). Before you remark on back passing, only 10% (6/60) of his passes were sent that way. He also launched six accurate long balls, which were important as we tried to mount a comeback — as many of his passes he sent back, he successfully sent forward.

It is, perhaps, a bit harsh on Chris Schuler to be dropped without particularly much ceremony after a solid start to his season. Despite his early successes, though, there was never any question that the ever-present, ever-solid Nat Borchers would be put back into the side.

Right, then. 'Til tomorrow, when hopefully, we can put this whole loss business behind us. We'll see, huh?