In this week’s Hinton Unleashed video, soccer analyst and Prost Amerika columnist Alan Hinton provided his thoughts on last week’s action in Major League Soccer and the upcoming playoffs. The former First Division winger commented on the English Premier League matches involving Chelsea and Arsenal. He lauded the rise of West Ham United and Leicester City in the EPL standings.
Major League Soccer
“Last weekend couldn’t have been written better if Sigi Schmid would have written his own script.”
Seattle defeated the Vancouver Whitecaps 3-0 last Saturday to move within three points of their long-time rivals. The Sounders were helped in their effort to secure a playoff slot for the seventh straight year as a result of losses by San Jose and Portland to NYCFC and New York Red Bulls, respectively.
Hinton noted the top four Eastern Conference teams (NYRB, Columbus, NE Revs and D.C. United) lacked a superstar in their lineups. While Orlando City and NYCFC, who made a number of high-profile and expensive acquisitions, were struggling to gain a place in the playoffs.
English Premier League
“He just likes to fight everybody…I think the FA (Football Association) is going to throw the book at Diego Costa.”
Hinton came down hard on Chelsea’s Diego Costa for his behavior in the match against Arsenal. Referee Mike Dean and his assistants failed to catch Costa’s shoves and pushes but caught Arsenal’s Gabriel Paulista’s retaliation. Paulista ended up with a red card ejection, while Chelsea forward stayed in the match without receiving a caution.
The league’s top four teams include Manchester City, Manchester United, West Ham United and Leicester City. Hinton enjoyed watching West Ham’s 2-1 win over Manchester City, and called them “the most entertaining team in the league.”
