The Montenegrin national team has only been a FIFA member for four months having been approved entry by the governing body of world soccer this past June. Since it has not yet been able to play in any major competitions, they have scheduled friendlies with teams such as Japan, Colombia, Slovenia, Sweden, and most recently Estonia.
With only five games under its belt, Montenegro can hardly be known as one of the best teams in Europe, but it has proven that it can make a dent or spoil other national teams in major comeptitions. Montenegro's first major competition will be in the European Zone Qualifying Competition for the 2010 World Cup.
In its most recent friendly match against Estonia, Montenegro posted its first a win, defeating Estonia 1-0. A win against Estonia may not be the biggest proof that Montengro is heading where it should be, but atleast the team is getting somewhere. Monetengro did not score its first goal until they played Slovenia in August, a agem taht ended in a 1-1 draw. They then went on lose against Sweden 2-1.
In the most recent FIFA World Rankings, which was released on October 24th, Monetengro was labelled "best mover," moving 15 spots from 186 to 171. The team was first ranked 199 out of over 209 teams that are currently FIFA members when they first appeared in the world rankings in June where they stayed until August. In September, they moved up 13 spots to 186 and eventually to 171 where they are currently. This may not seem very impressive, but for a team that was just recently established, this is very good. A perfect example of a team that started out in a similar way was Croatia and it only took the Croatian national team elven months for them to hit the top 90 after starting out ranked at 117. Montengro is defintely on track to become a spolier for other European team. However, at this time no one should expect them to qualify for the 2010 World Cup just yet, but after scoring against Sweden in a 2-1 loss and being the first to score in that match in the first half until Sweden scored 2 in the second, they are defintely a team to look at as the 1010 World Cup qualifiers start in Europe.
If Montenegro was to prove that they can play tougher European countries, they should play teams such Croatia, Serbia, or Bosnia-Herzegovina--teams in there region that play in a similar type of style. Showing a good performance against these teams may give Montengro some respect as an independent national team. Croatia did offer a friendly that was to be scheduled this past August but the newly created Montenegrin Soccer Federation refused citing teteh fact that they had a match scheduled against Slovenia on August 22nd which was only two days away from the day Croatia wanted to play them.
For more information regarding the Montenegrin national team, check out their offical team profile on FIFA's website.
Monday, October 29, 2007
First Leg of Western Conference Semifinals in the books
Both Western Conference Semfinals took place on Saturday and the results proved to be surprising in both matches.
Houston Dynamo vs FC Dallas
FC Dallas managed to defeat defeinding MLS Cup champion 1-0 at home to take a one goal advantage in the two legged series. The only goal of th enight was socred in the 23rd minute by Clarence Goodson of FC Dallas. The goal came off a throw-in by Houston Dynao's Adrian Serioux. The ball deflected off of Dynamo defender Ryan Cochrane and Goodson was in the right location to kick it tight into the net. Houston did have several chances and pressure on FC Dallas but failed to capitalize on as Goodson's early goal gave FC Dallas the game winner.
The second leg will take place on Friday in Houston.
For more information regarding this match, click here for the official match report from Major League Soccer.
Kansas City Wizards vs Chivas USA
The Kansas City Wizards managed to upset Chivas USA, who finished first in the Western Conference regular season, with a 1-0 win at home and will therefore carry the one goal advantage into the second leg.
According the MAjor Lague Soccer match report, both teams created chances but neither team was able to greatly thereaten the other. However, the Wizards, now with the one goal advantage, have to take their lead the Home Depot Center next Saturday where Chivas USA has only lost once in 15 games this season and allowed only eight goals in those games. A draw, however, would be enough to send the Kansas Wizards to the Western Conference Championship and eliminate Chivas USA.
Houston Dynamo vs FC Dallas
FC Dallas managed to defeat defeinding MLS Cup champion 1-0 at home to take a one goal advantage in the two legged series. The only goal of th enight was socred in the 23rd minute by Clarence Goodson of FC Dallas. The goal came off a throw-in by Houston Dynao's Adrian Serioux. The ball deflected off of Dynamo defender Ryan Cochrane and Goodson was in the right location to kick it tight into the net. Houston did have several chances and pressure on FC Dallas but failed to capitalize on as Goodson's early goal gave FC Dallas the game winner.
The second leg will take place on Friday in Houston.
For more information regarding this match, click here for the official match report from Major League Soccer.
Kansas City Wizards vs Chivas USA
The Kansas City Wizards managed to upset Chivas USA, who finished first in the Western Conference regular season, with a 1-0 win at home and will therefore carry the one goal advantage into the second leg.
According the MAjor Lague Soccer match report, both teams created chances but neither team was able to greatly thereaten the other. However, the Wizards, now with the one goal advantage, have to take their lead the Home Depot Center next Saturday where Chivas USA has only lost once in 15 games this season and allowed only eight goals in those games. A draw, however, would be enough to send the Kansas Wizards to the Western Conference Championship and eliminate Chivas USA.
New England Revolution hold New York Red Bulls to scoreless draw in First Leg of Eastern Conference Semifinals
The New York Red Bulls dominated their regular season series against their Interstate 95 archrival New England Revolution but it was the Revolution that was lucky enough to win the series over the Red Bulls with 2 wins and a 1 tie. The Red Bulls were clearly the better team against their New England rivals but the Revolution was still able to come out with wins.
This past Saturday the Red Bulls had their chance for revenge as they hosted New England in the first leg of the two game eastern conference semifinals series with 14,165 fans in attendance. However, those in attendance, including myself, left extremely dissapointed.
Again, the Red Bulls dominated in both posession and a 10-2 advantage in shots the entire first half, but they were unable to find the back of the net in an extremely frustrating game for the Red Bulls. New England, on the other hand, had very few chances at goal. Red Bull Juan Pablo Angel, alone, had three chances in a span of only nine minutes.
Despite their great performance, the Red Bulls were unable to find a way to beat the Revolution in a scoreless draw and now relies on the second leg to be played in Foxboro next weekend for any chance to qualify for the Eastern Conference Final. However, this will be extrememly tough for the Red Bulls to pull off in an away match against a team that matches them so well in playoffs.
The second half was even worse for the Red Bulls as the New England Revolution stepped their game up and created some major chances as well.
The Red Bulls were also the victims of some bad calls from the ref as the score could have easily become 1-0 with the Red Bulls up after a possible penalty in the second half. One bad call took place in the 61st minute after Michael Parkhurst of the New England Revolution took down Angel in the penalty area, but the ref waved away New York's protests.
The second leg of the series will take place this Saturday November 3rd in Foxboro, Massachusetts. The match will be televized live on Fox Soccer Channel at 7:30 pm. I am going to have to miss this match since my friend as tickets to the Islanders hockey game that takes place at the same time, but I predict another close and fierce played match between these two archrivals. Basically, whoever wins this match will qualify for the conference championship in which they will play against either the Chicago Fire or DC United. However, if this match ends with another scoreless tie, their will be two 30 minute extra periods and possible penalty kicks if no goals are scored during extra time.
If the Red Bulls manage to defeat New England on the road and Chicago uses their one goal advantage to eliminate DC United, the Red Bulls (being the higher seed) will host the Chicago Fire at Giants Stadium in the Eastern Conference Championship game, a game that I will defintely attend.
For the complete match report, click here.
This past Saturday the Red Bulls had their chance for revenge as they hosted New England in the first leg of the two game eastern conference semifinals series with 14,165 fans in attendance. However, those in attendance, including myself, left extremely dissapointed.
Again, the Red Bulls dominated in both posession and a 10-2 advantage in shots the entire first half, but they were unable to find the back of the net in an extremely frustrating game for the Red Bulls. New England, on the other hand, had very few chances at goal. Red Bull Juan Pablo Angel, alone, had three chances in a span of only nine minutes.
Despite their great performance, the Red Bulls were unable to find a way to beat the Revolution in a scoreless draw and now relies on the second leg to be played in Foxboro next weekend for any chance to qualify for the Eastern Conference Final. However, this will be extrememly tough for the Red Bulls to pull off in an away match against a team that matches them so well in playoffs.
The second half was even worse for the Red Bulls as the New England Revolution stepped their game up and created some major chances as well.
The Red Bulls were also the victims of some bad calls from the ref as the score could have easily become 1-0 with the Red Bulls up after a possible penalty in the second half. One bad call took place in the 61st minute after Michael Parkhurst of the New England Revolution took down Angel in the penalty area, but the ref waved away New York's protests.
The second leg of the series will take place this Saturday November 3rd in Foxboro, Massachusetts. The match will be televized live on Fox Soccer Channel at 7:30 pm. I am going to have to miss this match since my friend as tickets to the Islanders hockey game that takes place at the same time, but I predict another close and fierce played match between these two archrivals. Basically, whoever wins this match will qualify for the conference championship in which they will play against either the Chicago Fire or DC United. However, if this match ends with another scoreless tie, their will be two 30 minute extra periods and possible penalty kicks if no goals are scored during extra time.
If the Red Bulls manage to defeat New England on the road and Chicago uses their one goal advantage to eliminate DC United, the Red Bulls (being the higher seed) will host the Chicago Fire at Giants Stadium in the Eastern Conference Championship game, a game that I will defintely attend.
For the complete match report, click here.
Chicago Fire defeats Supporter's Shield Winner DC United in first leg of two game series
Hot tempers, one goal, a lost contact lens, and a halftime report filled with World Series Baseball news (rather than soccer or extensive hightlights of the game) is what defined ESPN2's coverage of the 2007 MLS Cup Playoff opener between the Chicago Fire and DC United last Thursday night.
I didn't come home early enough to see the entire first half and therefore I missed the only goal of the match (which I had to rely on youtube to see due to ESPN2's lack of adequate highlight's during halftime), but according to the official match report from Major League Soccer, Chicago Fire player Chris Rolfe's goal in the 14th minute held up as the game winner to continue Chicago Fire's historical dominance over DC United in the playoffs giving them a 1-0 advantage that will carry over into the second leg this Thursday. Chicago Fire is not off the hook yet. They will only advance to the Eastern Conference Final if they can hold off DC United to atleast a tie (or a win) on the road. A scoreless tie will be enough for Chicago to advance.
Here is a youtube video covering the game's highlights:
The player of the match was defintely Chicago's Chris Rolfe, who was the one to score the only goal of the match as seen in the youtube video above.
The second half was not very memorable, in my opinion, with a few chances from DC United, but the Supporter's Shield winners could not take any kind of advantage. In addition, Cuauhtémoc Blanco, who is Chicago's team MVP and teh one responsible for much of the Fire's successes this year, played a horrible game in the second half with corner kick oppurtinities that hardly convert into goals.
It is sad that the only memorable part of this match was ESPN2's unqiue camera work to actually show Chris Rolfe's contact fly out of his eye in slow motion at the 80th minute (I wish that was on youtube!)
The second leg will take place this Thursday November 1st and will also be aired on ESPN 2 (now with the World Series over, there will be some proper highlights at halftime).
My prediction for the second leg is a scoreless tie (which will give Chicago a 1-0 advantage on aggragate and therefore qualification for the conference final) or DC United will finally get their act together and win it 1-0 to bring the aggregate to a 1-1 tie forcing two 30 minute extra time period and eventually penalty kicks. Either way, it will be a tough match for both teams and it will be an extremely tight game as Chicago Fire must step up their defense to keep their one goal advantage over DC while DC United will desperately attempt to score their first goal of the two game series.
I didn't come home early enough to see the entire first half and therefore I missed the only goal of the match (which I had to rely on youtube to see due to ESPN2's lack of adequate highlight's during halftime), but according to the official match report from Major League Soccer, Chicago Fire player Chris Rolfe's goal in the 14th minute held up as the game winner to continue Chicago Fire's historical dominance over DC United in the playoffs giving them a 1-0 advantage that will carry over into the second leg this Thursday. Chicago Fire is not off the hook yet. They will only advance to the Eastern Conference Final if they can hold off DC United to atleast a tie (or a win) on the road. A scoreless tie will be enough for Chicago to advance.
Here is a youtube video covering the game's highlights:
The player of the match was defintely Chicago's Chris Rolfe, who was the one to score the only goal of the match as seen in the youtube video above.
The second half was not very memorable, in my opinion, with a few chances from DC United, but the Supporter's Shield winners could not take any kind of advantage. In addition, Cuauhtémoc Blanco, who is Chicago's team MVP and teh one responsible for much of the Fire's successes this year, played a horrible game in the second half with corner kick oppurtinities that hardly convert into goals.
It is sad that the only memorable part of this match was ESPN2's unqiue camera work to actually show Chris Rolfe's contact fly out of his eye in slow motion at the 80th minute (I wish that was on youtube!)
The second leg will take place this Thursday November 1st and will also be aired on ESPN 2 (now with the World Series over, there will be some proper highlights at halftime).
My prediction for the second leg is a scoreless tie (which will give Chicago a 1-0 advantage on aggragate and therefore qualification for the conference final) or DC United will finally get their act together and win it 1-0 to bring the aggregate to a 1-1 tie forcing two 30 minute extra time period and eventually penalty kicks. Either way, it will be a tough match for both teams and it will be an extremely tight game as Chicago Fire must step up their defense to keep their one goal advantage over DC while DC United will desperately attempt to score their first goal of the two game series.
Saturday, October 27, 2007
US National Team makes history with 1-0 win against Switzerland
With Switzerland already secured a position for Euro 2008 as co-host, the Swiss national team uses the qualification matchdays as an oppurtunity to schedule friendlies with other national teams to warm up for the Euro Cup. On October 17th, Switzerland faced off with the US national team, a team that has a terrible record while playing on European soil.
However, the "stars and stripes" managed to make history with a 1-0 win against the Swiss in Basel, Switzerland on Wednesday October 17th.
The only goal of the match of the match was scored by American midfielder Michael Bradley, son of the national team coach Bob Bradley, when "he bundled the ball across the line in the 86th minute following a defensive mix-up."
Check out this youtube video of Bradley's goal.
This was also the first win by the US in seven attempts against Switzerland.
"There is nothing much good to say about that match and it hurts that we weren't able to get more of a grip on it," Switzerland coach Koebi Kuhn commented to reporters. "There are always going to be problems when you are missing some key players but it's not to say we should have lost this match because of that."
According to an article on FIFA's website, Switzerland was missing eight of their regular starting players due to injury including top scorer Alex Frei and central defenders Philippe Senderos and Patrick Mueller.
Meanwhile, US national team player Michael Bradley has finally ended months of accusations to his father regarding nepotism. Micahel Bradley also played a part in the 2007 Gold Cup this past summer but was unable to convince American soccer fans during that competition.
"It was a tough match with both teams making it difficult for the other," Coach Bradley commented. "What is important for us is we can find the way to win games like this."
Check out this youtube video containing highlights from the entire game as presented by Fox Soccer Channel.
However, the "stars and stripes" managed to make history with a 1-0 win against the Swiss in Basel, Switzerland on Wednesday October 17th.
The only goal of the match of the match was scored by American midfielder Michael Bradley, son of the national team coach Bob Bradley, when "he bundled the ball across the line in the 86th minute following a defensive mix-up."
Check out this youtube video of Bradley's goal.
This was also the first win by the US in seven attempts against Switzerland.
"There is nothing much good to say about that match and it hurts that we weren't able to get more of a grip on it," Switzerland coach Koebi Kuhn commented to reporters. "There are always going to be problems when you are missing some key players but it's not to say we should have lost this match because of that."
According to an article on FIFA's website, Switzerland was missing eight of their regular starting players due to injury including top scorer Alex Frei and central defenders Philippe Senderos and Patrick Mueller.
Meanwhile, US national team player Michael Bradley has finally ended months of accusations to his father regarding nepotism. Micahel Bradley also played a part in the 2007 Gold Cup this past summer but was unable to convince American soccer fans during that competition.
"It was a tough match with both teams making it difficult for the other," Coach Bradley commented. "What is important for us is we can find the way to win games like this."
Check out this youtube video containing highlights from the entire game as presented by Fox Soccer Channel.
LA Galaxy to play postseason tour
The Los Angeles will back to work after a short break as they finalize plans for a postseason international tour.
The Galaxy will return to training this Thursday and. the day after the charity game against Hollywood United. will be heading to Vancouver for the first of three friendlies in four different countries. In Vancouver, Landon Donovan, David BEckham, and the rest of the Los Angeles Galaxy will take on United Soccer League (USL) First Division club Vancouver Whitecaps at the 60,000 sear BC Place Stadium in downtown Vancouver on November 7th. After this match, the team will head back to the states to play the Minnesota Thunder, another USL First Division team, before departing North America for Australia and New Zealand to play Sydney FC and Wellington Phoenix FC of the Hyundai A-League at the end of the month.
The team's off-season will officially begin on December 3rd when they return to the United States.
For more information, check out this press release from the Los Angeles Galaxy.
The Galaxy will return to training this Thursday and. the day after the charity game against Hollywood United. will be heading to Vancouver for the first of three friendlies in four different countries. In Vancouver, Landon Donovan, David BEckham, and the rest of the Los Angeles Galaxy will take on United Soccer League (USL) First Division club Vancouver Whitecaps at the 60,000 sear BC Place Stadium in downtown Vancouver on November 7th. After this match, the team will head back to the states to play the Minnesota Thunder, another USL First Division team, before departing North America for Australia and New Zealand to play Sydney FC and Wellington Phoenix FC of the Hyundai A-League at the end of the month.
The team's off-season will officially begin on December 3rd when they return to the United States.
For more information, check out this press release from the Los Angeles Galaxy.
Los Angeles Galaxy to play charity game for those affected by California wildfires
David Beckham and the Los Angeles Galaxy may have been eliminated from MLS Cup Playoff contention, but that isn't stopping from scheduling games fro the month of November.
The Galaxy's next match will be a charity game against local soccer club Hollywood United FC on Sunday November 4th. The charity friendly will be hosted by the two clubs as well as the Herbalife Family Foundation and will be played at teh Galaxy's home field--The Home Depot Center on the campus of California State University - Dominguez Hills at 5 p.m. on Sunday, November 4.
All proceeds, including donations collected on the day of the game, will go to the American Red Cross and The Salvation Army to aid in their efforts to assist those affected by the wildfires. One hundred percent of th eproceeds will go towards the relief effort, according to Galaxy President and General Manager Alexi Lalas. Tickets for th ematch will be $20 for general admission with the exception of alimited number of luxury seats availabe for $60. All firefighters will receive free admission.
The Herbalife Family Foundation will be underwriting this match so taht ticket sales can go directly to their wildfire relief fund while proceeds from the foundation's own fundraising efforts will be combined with this effort.
The Herbalife Family Foundation is a non-profit organization that was established in 1994 to enhance the quality of children's lives by creating programs and supporting nonprofit organizations in the community that feed at-risk children. The foundation also responds to natural disasters by establishing special funds, as it did for victims of the tsunamis, earthquakes, hurricanes, and wildfires.
In addiiton to Herbalife, Red Cross and the Salvation Army will have collection booths set up on the stadium's main concourse and volunteers will be stationed at each of The Home Depot Center entrances collecting additional contributions.
Major League Soccer fans that are unable to attend the match can find more information on how to contribute to the relief effort online by visiting www.lagalaxy.com.
A silent auction will also be set up during the game by teh Los Angeles Gaalxy Foundation. The auction will feature autographed Galaxy memorabilia as well as items contributed by Hollywood United including a signed guitar from Vivian Campbell of Def Leppard, a "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" script signed by Michael Douglas,and a "Without a Trace" script signed by star Anthony LaPaglia.
Cobi Jones, an American soccer icon who was recently honored by the Galaxy because of his decision to retire this year, will join English international David Beckham and US National team captain and LA Galaxy player Landon Donovan as they face local club Hollywood United, a group of members from the film, music and television industries, as well as a number of past soccer legends. Some of the stars expected to take on the Galaxy are actors Anthony LaPaglia, Jimmy Jean-Louis, Costas Mandylor, musicians Steve Jones and Vivian Campbell, former World Cup stars Frank Leboeuf, Richard Gough, Joe-Max Moore, Eric Wynalda, as well as Galaxy President and General Manager Alexi Lalas, Galaxy legend Mauricio Cienfuegos and many more special guests.
This charity match will be the first since the Galaxy's Major League Soccer season was cut short by a single goal scored by the Chicago Fire last Sunday. However, the Galaxy will be back in action starting this Thursday when they return to training before the charity match and has scheduled four friendlies to be played in four different countries as part of a postseason tour (see my next post for details).
Click here for more details regarding the charity match.
The Galaxy's next match will be a charity game against local soccer club Hollywood United FC on Sunday November 4th. The charity friendly will be hosted by the two clubs as well as the Herbalife Family Foundation and will be played at teh Galaxy's home field--The Home Depot Center on the campus of California State University - Dominguez Hills at 5 p.m. on Sunday, November 4.
All proceeds, including donations collected on the day of the game, will go to the American Red Cross and The Salvation Army to aid in their efforts to assist those affected by the wildfires. One hundred percent of th eproceeds will go towards the relief effort, according to Galaxy President and General Manager Alexi Lalas. Tickets for th ematch will be $20 for general admission with the exception of alimited number of luxury seats availabe for $60. All firefighters will receive free admission.
The Herbalife Family Foundation will be underwriting this match so taht ticket sales can go directly to their wildfire relief fund while proceeds from the foundation's own fundraising efforts will be combined with this effort.
The Herbalife Family Foundation is a non-profit organization that was established in 1994 to enhance the quality of children's lives by creating programs and supporting nonprofit organizations in the community that feed at-risk children. The foundation also responds to natural disasters by establishing special funds, as it did for victims of the tsunamis, earthquakes, hurricanes, and wildfires.
In addiiton to Herbalife, Red Cross and the Salvation Army will have collection booths set up on the stadium's main concourse and volunteers will be stationed at each of The Home Depot Center entrances collecting additional contributions.
Major League Soccer fans that are unable to attend the match can find more information on how to contribute to the relief effort online by visiting www.lagalaxy.com.
A silent auction will also be set up during the game by teh Los Angeles Gaalxy Foundation. The auction will feature autographed Galaxy memorabilia as well as items contributed by Hollywood United including a signed guitar from Vivian Campbell of Def Leppard, a "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" script signed by Michael Douglas,and a "Without a Trace" script signed by star Anthony LaPaglia.
Cobi Jones, an American soccer icon who was recently honored by the Galaxy because of his decision to retire this year, will join English international David Beckham and US National team captain and LA Galaxy player Landon Donovan as they face local club Hollywood United, a group of members from the film, music and television industries, as well as a number of past soccer legends. Some of the stars expected to take on the Galaxy are actors Anthony LaPaglia, Jimmy Jean-Louis, Costas Mandylor, musicians Steve Jones and Vivian Campbell, former World Cup stars Frank Leboeuf, Richard Gough, Joe-Max Moore, Eric Wynalda, as well as Galaxy President and General Manager Alexi Lalas, Galaxy legend Mauricio Cienfuegos and many more special guests.
This charity match will be the first since the Galaxy's Major League Soccer season was cut short by a single goal scored by the Chicago Fire last Sunday. However, the Galaxy will be back in action starting this Thursday when they return to training before the charity match and has scheduled four friendlies to be played in four different countries as part of a postseason tour (see my next post for details).
Click here for more details regarding the charity match.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
2007 MLS Cup Playoffs: Round One Previews and Predictions
The 2007 MLS Cup Playoffs are kicking off tonight with a match between DC United and Chicago Fire which is airing on ESPN 2.
The first round of the playoffs (the Conference Semifinals)are played in two legs with the results from both legs added up to decide what team will qualify for the conference finals.
In this post, I would like to give a brief preview of the first legs of each of the first round matchups:
EASTERN CONFERENCE
Thursday October 25 (tonight): DC United @ Chicago Fire (8:30 PM on espn 2)
DC United has a tough match ahead of them tonight. They may be the best team in Major League Soccer right now, but they are playing away from home against a team that is currently on an eight game unbeaten streak. I believe that DC United will be the one to qualify for the Eastern Conference finalafter both legs are completed, but Chicago will defitnely give them a run for their money. My predicition for this leg: 1-1 tie.
Saturday October 27: New England Revolution @ New York Red Bulls (7:30 pm on Fox Soccer Channel)
This match between two out of the three "Interstate 95" rivals will deitnely be entertaining. Both teams have very good players: Altidore and Juan Pablo Angel from the Red Bulls and Taylor Twellman from teh Revolution (Twellman is best known for his part in the US National Team in this summer's Gold Cup (the official continental national team competition for North and Central America and the Carribean which the United States won). The Red Bulls are defintely the better of the two teams despite their regular season record being at New England's advantage. I just recently purchsed tockets for this game so I will defintely will be blogging baout it in the future (look out for it!).
My Prediction: 2-1 for the Red Bulls
WESTERN CONFERENCE
Saturday October 27: Houston Dynamo @ FC Dallas (8 pm)
This will deintely be a good match between the two Texas rivals. Houston Dynamo is the current MLS Cup champion and it will be very interesting to see if Houston can successfully defend their title. Houston's record against FC Dallas during the regular season was 2-0-1 and I think Houston will qualify for the Western Conference final once again this year, but it will not be an easy task againt FC Dallas.
My Prediction: 2-2
Saturday October 27: Chivas USA @ Kansas City Wizards(8 pm)
Kansas City is originally an Eastern Conference team but being that MAjor League Soccer has changed the seeding procedure from top four team from each conference qualifying to the top eight teams in general advancing to the playoffs, Kansas City managed to qualify as the last team and in order to fill the gap in teh Western Conference, the Wizards has to switch brackets and are tehrefor eplaying the top seeded Western Conference seeded Chivas USA. I'm not a big fan of Chivas USA because of their heated rivalry with the Los Angeles Galaxy, a team that I respect and my favorite Western Conference team. I'm also quite dissapointed with Chivas USA being that they continue to assist on playing at Home Depot Center, the Galaxy's home field, without paying any kind of territorial fee or rent to the Galaxy or stadium owners especially since the owners of Chivs USA, which also happen to be the owners of Mexico's Chivas de Guadalajara, have enough money to be build their own stadium, being that their Mexican club is extremely successful in both ticket sales and performance. However, I feel that Chivas USA will defintely win both legs and qualify for the Western Conference finals. My Prediction: 2-0 for Chivas USA
For more information regarding the 2007 MLS Cup Playoffs, check out the offical websbite.
The first round of the playoffs (the Conference Semifinals)are played in two legs with the results from both legs added up to decide what team will qualify for the conference finals.
In this post, I would like to give a brief preview of the first legs of each of the first round matchups:
EASTERN CONFERENCE
Thursday October 25 (tonight): DC United @ Chicago Fire (8:30 PM on espn 2)
DC United has a tough match ahead of them tonight. They may be the best team in Major League Soccer right now, but they are playing away from home against a team that is currently on an eight game unbeaten streak. I believe that DC United will be the one to qualify for the Eastern Conference finalafter both legs are completed, but Chicago will defitnely give them a run for their money. My predicition for this leg: 1-1 tie.
Saturday October 27: New England Revolution @ New York Red Bulls (7:30 pm on Fox Soccer Channel)
This match between two out of the three "Interstate 95" rivals will deitnely be entertaining. Both teams have very good players: Altidore and Juan Pablo Angel from the Red Bulls and Taylor Twellman from teh Revolution (Twellman is best known for his part in the US National Team in this summer's Gold Cup (the official continental national team competition for North and Central America and the Carribean which the United States won). The Red Bulls are defintely the better of the two teams despite their regular season record being at New England's advantage. I just recently purchsed tockets for this game so I will defintely will be blogging baout it in the future (look out for it!).
My Prediction: 2-1 for the Red Bulls
WESTERN CONFERENCE
Saturday October 27: Houston Dynamo @ FC Dallas (8 pm)
This will deintely be a good match between the two Texas rivals. Houston Dynamo is the current MLS Cup champion and it will be very interesting to see if Houston can successfully defend their title. Houston's record against FC Dallas during the regular season was 2-0-1 and I think Houston will qualify for the Western Conference final once again this year, but it will not be an easy task againt FC Dallas.
My Prediction: 2-2
Saturday October 27: Chivas USA @ Kansas City Wizards(8 pm)
Kansas City is originally an Eastern Conference team but being that MAjor League Soccer has changed the seeding procedure from top four team from each conference qualifying to the top eight teams in general advancing to the playoffs, Kansas City managed to qualify as the last team and in order to fill the gap in teh Western Conference, the Wizards has to switch brackets and are tehrefor eplaying the top seeded Western Conference seeded Chivas USA. I'm not a big fan of Chivas USA because of their heated rivalry with the Los Angeles Galaxy, a team that I respect and my favorite Western Conference team. I'm also quite dissapointed with Chivas USA being that they continue to assist on playing at Home Depot Center, the Galaxy's home field, without paying any kind of territorial fee or rent to the Galaxy or stadium owners especially since the owners of Chivs USA, which also happen to be the owners of Mexico's Chivas de Guadalajara, have enough money to be build their own stadium, being that their Mexican club is extremely successful in both ticket sales and performance. However, I feel that Chivas USA will defintely win both legs and qualify for the Western Conference finals. My Prediction: 2-0 for Chivas USA
For more information regarding the 2007 MLS Cup Playoffs, check out the offical websbite.
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
MLS Regular Season Wrap-Up
The Major League Soccer regular season wrapped up Sunday and five out of the thirteen teams have been eliminated leaving eight to fight for the coveted MLS Cup.
In this post, I would like to summarize the regular season and give my analysis regarding each team.
1. DC United (16-7-7, 55 points) finished first in the league this season once again winning both the MLS Supporters Shield (trophy given to the team with the best regular season record)and clinching home field advantage in the Eastern Conference Championship. United had a long season playing their first game of the year on February 21st against Honduras club CD Olimpia in the CONCACAF Champions Cup (they qualified after winning Supporters Shield last season which gives them an automatic qualification spot in the most prestigious club cup in North and Central America and the Carribean. After beating them, they moved on to play Chivas de Guadalajara in two legs in the Champions Semifinals. In the first leg, they fought Mexican powerhouse to a 1-1 draw leaving alive to possibly make it to the cup final, but in the second leg, Guadalajara defeated the MLS powerhouse 2-1 causing Chivas to advance 3-2 on aggragate. DC United started their MLS regular season only four days later on Saturday April 7th losing to the Colorado Rapids 2-1 giving DC UNited an xtremely slow start after losing their next two games and a tie agaisnt Interstate 95 rival New England Revolution. United did not win their first game until May 6th, a 2-1 defeat against Chivas. Ever since then, their performance made an impressive turnaround and they were able to return back to the top of the standings with a 16-7-7 record. However, DC United may be in trouble while looking on into their first playoff game against the Chicago Fire. Even though, DC has won the Supporters Shield, their history in playing Chicago Fire in the first round of the playoffs is not a good one. As a matter of fact, Chicago has been the one to eliminate DC United, usually the highest seed in the Eastern Conference every season. Can DC United make a point and finally defeat Chicago after Chciago's successful and impressive run to qualify for the playoffs? At this point, anything can happen.
2. Chivas USA (15-7-8, 53 points) finished their regular season only two points away from DC United. vcen though they did not clinch the Supporters Shield, they did clinch best record in the Western Conference and therefore clinched home field advantage in the Western Conference final. Chivas USA was first established for the 2005 season as the siter team of the Mexican league's Chivas de Guadalajara. Ever since 2005, Chivas USA has shown impressive performances although they did not qualify for the playoffs until 2006 (last season). However, Chivas defintely improved this season bringing them to the top of the Western Conference and is second in the league only to DC United. Chivas had an easy start to the season playing Toronto FC (a club that was playign their inaugural season this year) who they defeated 2-0. However, they suffered their first loss pretty early in the season losing 1-0 against MLS Cup defending Champions Houston Dynamo. Chivas USA will take on Kansas City Wizards, fifth place finisher from the Eastern Conference in the first round of the playoffs.
3. MLS Cup defending champions Houston Dynamo finished third this season. Like DC United, they also started their season early as qualifiers of the CONCACAF Champion's Cup in whic they defeated Costa Rican team Puntarenas FC but were not able to defeat Pachuca, the eventual winners of the Champion's Cup trophy. Houston also started their season somewhat slow tying the Los Angeles Galaxy 0-0 in their regular season opener. In their next seven games, they only managed two wins and one their losses was against Major League Soccer newcomer Toronto FC. However, they did show an impressive performance in the inaugural season of the Superliga, the new tournament that is supposed to be a way of uniting Major League Soccer and the Mexican League. Houston Dynamo made it tot he seminfals of the competition nearly defeating Pachuca. The two teams battled through regulation time to a 2-2 draw forcing two 30 minute extra time periods and penalty kicks, in which Pachuca took the 4-3 advantage to qualify for the Superliga final. Between this matcha and the end, Houston played nine regular season match, only one of which was a loss. In the first roudn of the playoffs, Houston Dynamo will not have to travel very far in the first leg as they play fellow Texas rival FC Dallas.
4. New England Revolution finished fourth in the league and second in the Eastern Conference. Their opening match against Chicago Fire was a 1-0 loss followed by a seven game unbeaten streak. In addition to their regular season, the Revolution also played in the US Open Cup (teh only tournament in which both ameatur and professional soccer team in the United States take part). New England started their US Open Cup campaign, after automatically qualifying due to finishing in the top four in the 2006 MLS regular season, with a win against United Soccer League (USL) side Rochester Raging RHino, who they defeated 4-2. They continued in their US Open Cup run with a 2-0 sweep of the USL side Harrisburg City Islanders and a 2-1 win against USL side Carolina Railhawks, eventually making it to the final against felow MLS club FC Dallas who they defeated 3-2. With only three more matches left in their regular season, they lost two games and tied one, but still managed to clinch a spot in the playoffs. In the first round, they will play fellow Interstate 95 rivals New York Red Bulls in an away match at Giants Stadium this Saturday. This is a big game for the Revolution, not only because they have a chance to qualify for he conference championship game, but because they currently have soemthign to prove against their rival the New York Red Bulls. In their regular season series, the New England Revolution has the advantage over the Red Bulls with a 2-0-1 record in their three game series. However, the Red Bulls clearly dominated all three games making Red Bull fans call their team's rival a fluke. Even though I am a Red Bulls fan myself, I try to be as unbiased as possible in this arguement and I have to say that my fellow Red Bulls fans have a point. The Red Bulls had many more chances in all three games and dominated all three as well as majority of ball possession. The third game was the worst of the three as the New York Red Bulls were looking at a 1-1 tie in the final ten minutes of the match and were pretty much settling on a tie and pocketing one point, but when a Red Bulls player foudn the need to pass the ball back to his own goalies, the goalie misjudged the pass and an owl goal gave New England the win! In addition, after winning the US Open Cup, the Red Bulls are currently considered the best soccer club in the United States having just won the title. Even though the MLS Cup is way more prestigious, the US Open Cup is the only competition that allows all professional teams in the United States (Major League Soccer and United Soccer Leagues) to join all of the ameatur teams in the country that have registered with the United States Soccer Federation. Therefore, this is a very big deal for a New England taht is getting ready for a quest to win the prestigious MLS Cup, a trophy that they were so close to winning in the 2006 season after Houston Dynamo scored the equalizer literally seconds after the Revolution scored the first goal of the match. With the score 1-1 at the score 1-1 at the end, teh match went into extra time and eventualy Houston Dynamo won the title on penalty kick.
5. FC Dallas finished their regualr season off at fifth place. LIek teh New York Rd Bulls, FC Dallas will face off their biggest rivals in the first round of the plyoffs, defending MLS Cup Champions Houston Dynamo. The next few games will be extremely important for FC Dallas as they make their run for the cup as tehy also have somethign to prove. After losing to New England in the US Open Cup final, they had to settle for the second place and are therefore setting their sights at their more prestigious goal--the 2007 MLS Cup.
6. The New York Red Bulls, finishing the regular season insixth place, started the season off strong. They did not play any games before the regular season started and did not take part in the CONCACAF Champions Cup before the season started. That honor was only given to the 2006 Supporters Shield Champion and the 2006 MLS Cup Champion, DC United and Houston Dynamo who were the only two teams to qualify from the United States. However, not having to play any games in other competitions before the regular season and any side competitions, such as the US Open and Superliga, gave tehe Red Bulls the oppurtunity to concentrate on the regular season only, which is exactly what they did. Aside from a scoreless tie against the Columbus Crew in their opening match on the road, the Red Bulls started their season on a strong note winning all of their next three games against MLS Cup defending champion Houston Dynamo and two wins against FC Dallas (one home and one away).At this point in their season, the Red Bulls were on fire with awesome players, such as Altidore, who many think will be ready to play in a European club very soon, and Colombia international Juan Pablo Angel, who the Red Bulls have been relying on to score many of their goals. They were also at the top of the Eastern Conference standings at one point during the season but due to IS 95 rival DC United's sudden win streak that shot them to the top and disspointing losses and ties to teams such as Kansas City and DC United kept them from holding to position. Their biggest win of the season was against the Los Angeles Galaxy, a team that they lost to closer to the beginning of the season in a US Open qualifying match that that left the Red Bulls out of the competition due to the 3-1 loss against their western coast rival. This match did not have anything to do with MLS regular season and did not affect the standings in any way. However, the Red Bulls got their revenge on Saturday August 18th in a regular season match in front of a packed house of over 60,000 fans (the largest attendence at a regular season match in Red Bulls/MetroStars franchise history) that swarmed Giants Stadium to catch a glimpse of English international celebrity David Beckham as he made his MLS regular season debut for the Galaxy. However, Beckham was not the star as expected in this match. He played well in the first half and posted at least one assist but failed to score in any of his free kicks in the second half. I went to this match, but being that I was late, I was amazed to see that the Red Bulls were already up 2-1 in the middle of the first half. It may have been Beckham that teh crowd cameto see, but it was the home team Red Bulls that stole the show. While most of the peopel in the 66,237 in attendance hoped to see a perfect free kick from Beckham, it was another former English Premier League player that scored the game winner for the Red Bulls as Colombian international Juan Pablo Angel followed Clint Mathis' saved shot and pushed the ball in off Galaxy golaie Joe Cannon in the 88th minute for his second goal of the match. Angel was one of three players with a pair of goals on the night. Teammate Jozy Altidore also scored twice in the second half as the Red Bulls took a two-goal lead with 20 minutes left, snapping a 2-2 halftime tie. This may have been the most important match of the season for the Red Bulls increasing its New York/New Jersey area fan base and caused several regular season ticket packages to sell like crazy for the 2008 season after many, who were rather unfamiliar with soccer to begin with and were only their to catch a glimpse of Beckham,left the stadium in shoch at how good the Red Bulls actually played. The Red Bulls play their firsthome match of the playoffs this Saturday, a match that I will attend.
7. Chicago Fire, who finished the regular season at seventh place, have an important match ahead of them tonight against DC United. Even though Chicago earned the lowest seed in the Eastern Conference, they are currently one of the hottest teams in Major League Soccer just coming off an eight game unbeaten streak after defeating the Los Angeles Galaxy 1-0 and officially eliminating Beckham and the Galaxy from playoff contention. Chicago has also become known for defeating DC United, usually the higest seed in Major League Soccer, in the first round of the playoffs makign this an extremely tough match for the Supporters Shield winner. The first leg will be played tonight at 8:30 pm an dwill be televized on ESPN 2.
8. Kansas City Wizards rounded out the eight team playoff picture. The Wizards only scrapped qualifiaction after a last-gasp win over Dallas over the weekend.
The teams finishing ninth through thirteenth in the MLS standings did not qualify for the playoffs, but they are defitnely worth mentioning:
9. The Columbus Crew knew they were not going to qualify for the MLS Cup PLayoffs several weeks before the regular season ended, but that did not stop them from fighting for some last minute points. They were espeially impressive in their last two matches in which they defeated Supporters Shield winner DC United 3-2 as well as fourth place New England Revolution 3-2.
10. The Colorado Rapids had to wait until the last weekend to find out if they were to qualify for the MLS Cup playoffs. Even though they did not make it, they did make some big wind in their last few games this regular season. For eaxmple, they defeated Chivas USA 2-1 in their second to last game.
11. The Los Angeles Galaxy learned something this season--they leanred that David Beckham was extremely overrated. The only game that Los Angeles actually won with David Beckham on the field was against DC United in the Superliga semifinal, but this did not help them at all in their MLS regular season and as David Beckham was out of play due to various injuries, the US NAtional team Captain Landon Donvoan and his Los Angeles Galaxy teammate found themselves fighting for points. Before meeting Chiago Fire in a do or die match that Chciago eventually won with a last minute goal, the Galaxy was on a seven game unbeaten streak and unliek Chicago, who only neede a tie in order to qualify, the Galaxy need three points to punch a ticket for the post season. However, the Galaxy proved that they can play against the toughest opponents ewithout David Beckham on the field. They especially proved tyhis in this season's Superliga in which they made it to the final against Mexico's Pachuca, a club that has won atleast 3 or 4 BOrth American and South American titles within the last two years, including the 2007 CONCACAF Champion's Cup. LA Galaxy was losing in the Superliga final 1-0 up until the final minute when suddenly Galaxy player Troy Roberts made a beautiful and dramatic bicycle-kick goal to force the game into ovetime and eventually penalty kicks. They lost 4-3 in penalty kicks.
12. Real Salt Lake , despite not qualifying for the 2007 MLS Cup Playoffs, ended their season with a bang eliminating the Colorado Rapids from playoff contention and winning the 2007 Rocky Mountain Cup, a two team cup played between rivals Colorado Rapids and Real Salt Lake.
The Rocky Mountain Cup winner is simply the winner of the three game series that the two Eastern Conference teams must play against each other as a part of the regular season. Salt Lake won the Rocky Mountain Cup Trophy for the first time the cup was established in 2005, which also happened to be the first year of play for Real Salt Lake. 
13. Toronto FC which ended the 2007 MLS Regular Season in last place and a 6-17-7 record, did ave as terroble a seson as tehir record actually indicates. Being that this was their first year of play as part of Major League Soccer's expansion program, it is understandable taht they would not make it into the playoffs in their first year, but they have made some notable notable wins in their first MLS season despite losing their first four games of the season and not scoring their first goal until their fifth match, which was a 3-1 win against the Chicago Fire. Toronto FC proved to be the spoiler against many teams and delayed the clinching of many playoff spots for these teams. One of their biggest wins was against the New York Red Bulls in which they upset New York 2-1 in a game that could have given the Red Bulls an early shot at clinching the playoffs. They also sold out every game at their home stadium makimg it a successful inaugural season. In addition, Toronto FC's jersey was the second most sold MLS item this season after David Beckham's jersey.
In this post, I would like to summarize the regular season and give my analysis regarding each team.
1. DC United (16-7-7, 55 points) finished first in the league this season once again winning both the MLS Supporters Shield (trophy given to the team with the best regular season record)and clinching home field advantage in the Eastern Conference Championship. United had a long season playing their first game of the year on February 21st against Honduras club CD Olimpia in the CONCACAF Champions Cup (they qualified after winning Supporters Shield last season which gives them an automatic qualification spot in the most prestigious club cup in North and Central America and the Carribean. After beating them, they moved on to play Chivas de Guadalajara in two legs in the Champions Semifinals. In the first leg, they fought Mexican powerhouse to a 1-1 draw leaving alive to possibly make it to the cup final, but in the second leg, Guadalajara defeated the MLS powerhouse 2-1 causing Chivas to advance 3-2 on aggragate. DC United started their MLS regular season only four days later on Saturday April 7th losing to the Colorado Rapids 2-1 giving DC UNited an xtremely slow start after losing their next two games and a tie agaisnt Interstate 95 rival New England Revolution. United did not win their first game until May 6th, a 2-1 defeat against Chivas. Ever since then, their performance made an impressive turnaround and they were able to return back to the top of the standings with a 16-7-7 record. However, DC United may be in trouble while looking on into their first playoff game against the Chicago Fire. Even though, DC has won the Supporters Shield, their history in playing Chicago Fire in the first round of the playoffs is not a good one. As a matter of fact, Chicago has been the one to eliminate DC United, usually the highest seed in the Eastern Conference every season. Can DC United make a point and finally defeat Chicago after Chciago's successful and impressive run to qualify for the playoffs? At this point, anything can happen.
2. Chivas USA (15-7-8, 53 points) finished their regular season only two points away from DC United. vcen though they did not clinch the Supporters Shield, they did clinch best record in the Western Conference and therefore clinched home field advantage in the Western Conference final. Chivas USA was first established for the 2005 season as the siter team of the Mexican league's Chivas de Guadalajara. Ever since 2005, Chivas USA has shown impressive performances although they did not qualify for the playoffs until 2006 (last season). However, Chivas defintely improved this season bringing them to the top of the Western Conference and is second in the league only to DC United. Chivas had an easy start to the season playing Toronto FC (a club that was playign their inaugural season this year) who they defeated 2-0. However, they suffered their first loss pretty early in the season losing 1-0 against MLS Cup defending Champions Houston Dynamo. Chivas USA will take on Kansas City Wizards, fifth place finisher from the Eastern Conference in the first round of the playoffs.
3. MLS Cup defending champions Houston Dynamo finished third this season. Like DC United, they also started their season early as qualifiers of the CONCACAF Champion's Cup in whic they defeated Costa Rican team Puntarenas FC but were not able to defeat Pachuca, the eventual winners of the Champion's Cup trophy. Houston also started their season somewhat slow tying the Los Angeles Galaxy 0-0 in their regular season opener. In their next seven games, they only managed two wins and one their losses was against Major League Soccer newcomer Toronto FC. However, they did show an impressive performance in the inaugural season of the Superliga, the new tournament that is supposed to be a way of uniting Major League Soccer and the Mexican League. Houston Dynamo made it tot he seminfals of the competition nearly defeating Pachuca. The two teams battled through regulation time to a 2-2 draw forcing two 30 minute extra time periods and penalty kicks, in which Pachuca took the 4-3 advantage to qualify for the Superliga final. Between this matcha and the end, Houston played nine regular season match, only one of which was a loss. In the first roudn of the playoffs, Houston Dynamo will not have to travel very far in the first leg as they play fellow Texas rival FC Dallas.
4. New England Revolution finished fourth in the league and second in the Eastern Conference. Their opening match against Chicago Fire was a 1-0 loss followed by a seven game unbeaten streak. In addition to their regular season, the Revolution also played in the US Open Cup (teh only tournament in which both ameatur and professional soccer team in the United States take part). New England started their US Open Cup campaign, after automatically qualifying due to finishing in the top four in the 2006 MLS regular season, with a win against United Soccer League (USL) side Rochester Raging RHino, who they defeated 4-2. They continued in their US Open Cup run with a 2-0 sweep of the USL side Harrisburg City Islanders and a 2-1 win against USL side Carolina Railhawks, eventually making it to the final against felow MLS club FC Dallas who they defeated 3-2. With only three more matches left in their regular season, they lost two games and tied one, but still managed to clinch a spot in the playoffs. In the first round, they will play fellow Interstate 95 rivals New York Red Bulls in an away match at Giants Stadium this Saturday. This is a big game for the Revolution, not only because they have a chance to qualify for he conference championship game, but because they currently have soemthign to prove against their rival the New York Red Bulls. In their regular season series, the New England Revolution has the advantage over the Red Bulls with a 2-0-1 record in their three game series. However, the Red Bulls clearly dominated all three games making Red Bull fans call their team's rival a fluke. Even though I am a Red Bulls fan myself, I try to be as unbiased as possible in this arguement and I have to say that my fellow Red Bulls fans have a point. The Red Bulls had many more chances in all three games and dominated all three as well as majority of ball possession. The third game was the worst of the three as the New York Red Bulls were looking at a 1-1 tie in the final ten minutes of the match and were pretty much settling on a tie and pocketing one point, but when a Red Bulls player foudn the need to pass the ball back to his own goalies, the goalie misjudged the pass and an owl goal gave New England the win! In addition, after winning the US Open Cup, the Red Bulls are currently considered the best soccer club in the United States having just won the title. Even though the MLS Cup is way more prestigious, the US Open Cup is the only competition that allows all professional teams in the United States (Major League Soccer and United Soccer Leagues) to join all of the ameatur teams in the country that have registered with the United States Soccer Federation. Therefore, this is a very big deal for a New England taht is getting ready for a quest to win the prestigious MLS Cup, a trophy that they were so close to winning in the 2006 season after Houston Dynamo scored the equalizer literally seconds after the Revolution scored the first goal of the match. With the score 1-1 at the score 1-1 at the end, teh match went into extra time and eventualy Houston Dynamo won the title on penalty kick.
5. FC Dallas finished their regualr season off at fifth place. LIek teh New York Rd Bulls, FC Dallas will face off their biggest rivals in the first round of the plyoffs, defending MLS Cup Champions Houston Dynamo. The next few games will be extremely important for FC Dallas as they make their run for the cup as tehy also have somethign to prove. After losing to New England in the US Open Cup final, they had to settle for the second place and are therefore setting their sights at their more prestigious goal--the 2007 MLS Cup.
6. The New York Red Bulls, finishing the regular season insixth place, started the season off strong. They did not play any games before the regular season started and did not take part in the CONCACAF Champions Cup before the season started. That honor was only given to the 2006 Supporters Shield Champion and the 2006 MLS Cup Champion, DC United and Houston Dynamo who were the only two teams to qualify from the United States. However, not having to play any games in other competitions before the regular season and any side competitions, such as the US Open and Superliga, gave tehe Red Bulls the oppurtunity to concentrate on the regular season only, which is exactly what they did. Aside from a scoreless tie against the Columbus Crew in their opening match on the road, the Red Bulls started their season on a strong note winning all of their next three games against MLS Cup defending champion Houston Dynamo and two wins against FC Dallas (one home and one away).At this point in their season, the Red Bulls were on fire with awesome players, such as Altidore, who many think will be ready to play in a European club very soon, and Colombia international Juan Pablo Angel, who the Red Bulls have been relying on to score many of their goals. They were also at the top of the Eastern Conference standings at one point during the season but due to IS 95 rival DC United's sudden win streak that shot them to the top and disspointing losses and ties to teams such as Kansas City and DC United kept them from holding to position. Their biggest win of the season was against the Los Angeles Galaxy, a team that they lost to closer to the beginning of the season in a US Open qualifying match that that left the Red Bulls out of the competition due to the 3-1 loss against their western coast rival. This match did not have anything to do with MLS regular season and did not affect the standings in any way. However, the Red Bulls got their revenge on Saturday August 18th in a regular season match in front of a packed house of over 60,000 fans (the largest attendence at a regular season match in Red Bulls/MetroStars franchise history) that swarmed Giants Stadium to catch a glimpse of English international celebrity David Beckham as he made his MLS regular season debut for the Galaxy. However, Beckham was not the star as expected in this match. He played well in the first half and posted at least one assist but failed to score in any of his free kicks in the second half. I went to this match, but being that I was late, I was amazed to see that the Red Bulls were already up 2-1 in the middle of the first half. It may have been Beckham that teh crowd cameto see, but it was the home team Red Bulls that stole the show. While most of the peopel in the 66,237 in attendance hoped to see a perfect free kick from Beckham, it was another former English Premier League player that scored the game winner for the Red Bulls as Colombian international Juan Pablo Angel followed Clint Mathis' saved shot and pushed the ball in off Galaxy golaie Joe Cannon in the 88th minute for his second goal of the match. Angel was one of three players with a pair of goals on the night. Teammate Jozy Altidore also scored twice in the second half as the Red Bulls took a two-goal lead with 20 minutes left, snapping a 2-2 halftime tie. This may have been the most important match of the season for the Red Bulls increasing its New York/New Jersey area fan base and caused several regular season ticket packages to sell like crazy for the 2008 season after many, who were rather unfamiliar with soccer to begin with and were only their to catch a glimpse of Beckham,left the stadium in shoch at how good the Red Bulls actually played. The Red Bulls play their firsthome match of the playoffs this Saturday, a match that I will attend.
7. Chicago Fire, who finished the regular season at seventh place, have an important match ahead of them tonight against DC United. Even though Chicago earned the lowest seed in the Eastern Conference, they are currently one of the hottest teams in Major League Soccer just coming off an eight game unbeaten streak after defeating the Los Angeles Galaxy 1-0 and officially eliminating Beckham and the Galaxy from playoff contention. Chicago has also become known for defeating DC United, usually the higest seed in Major League Soccer, in the first round of the playoffs makign this an extremely tough match for the Supporters Shield winner. The first leg will be played tonight at 8:30 pm an dwill be televized on ESPN 2.
8. Kansas City Wizards rounded out the eight team playoff picture. The Wizards only scrapped qualifiaction after a last-gasp win over Dallas over the weekend.
The teams finishing ninth through thirteenth in the MLS standings did not qualify for the playoffs, but they are defitnely worth mentioning:
9. The Columbus Crew knew they were not going to qualify for the MLS Cup PLayoffs several weeks before the regular season ended, but that did not stop them from fighting for some last minute points. They were espeially impressive in their last two matches in which they defeated Supporters Shield winner DC United 3-2 as well as fourth place New England Revolution 3-2.
10. The Colorado Rapids had to wait until the last weekend to find out if they were to qualify for the MLS Cup playoffs. Even though they did not make it, they did make some big wind in their last few games this regular season. For eaxmple, they defeated Chivas USA 2-1 in their second to last game.
11. The Los Angeles Galaxy learned something this season--they leanred that David Beckham was extremely overrated. The only game that Los Angeles actually won with David Beckham on the field was against DC United in the Superliga semifinal, but this did not help them at all in their MLS regular season and as David Beckham was out of play due to various injuries, the US NAtional team Captain Landon Donvoan and his Los Angeles Galaxy teammate found themselves fighting for points. Before meeting Chiago Fire in a do or die match that Chciago eventually won with a last minute goal, the Galaxy was on a seven game unbeaten streak and unliek Chicago, who only neede a tie in order to qualify, the Galaxy need three points to punch a ticket for the post season. However, the Galaxy proved that they can play against the toughest opponents ewithout David Beckham on the field. They especially proved tyhis in this season's Superliga in which they made it to the final against Mexico's Pachuca, a club that has won atleast 3 or 4 BOrth American and South American titles within the last two years, including the 2007 CONCACAF Champion's Cup. LA Galaxy was losing in the Superliga final 1-0 up until the final minute when suddenly Galaxy player Troy Roberts made a beautiful and dramatic bicycle-kick goal to force the game into ovetime and eventually penalty kicks. They lost 4-3 in penalty kicks.
12. Real Salt Lake , despite not qualifying for the 2007 MLS Cup Playoffs, ended their season with a bang eliminating the Colorado Rapids from playoff contention and winning the 2007 Rocky Mountain Cup, a two team cup played between rivals Colorado Rapids and Real Salt Lake.
The Rocky Mountain Cup winner is simply the winner of the three game series that the two Eastern Conference teams must play against each other as a part of the regular season. Salt Lake won the Rocky Mountain Cup Trophy for the first time the cup was established in 2005, which also happened to be the first year of play for Real Salt Lake. 
13. Toronto FC which ended the 2007 MLS Regular Season in last place and a 6-17-7 record, did ave as terroble a seson as tehir record actually indicates. Being that this was their first year of play as part of Major League Soccer's expansion program, it is understandable taht they would not make it into the playoffs in their first year, but they have made some notable notable wins in their first MLS season despite losing their first four games of the season and not scoring their first goal until their fifth match, which was a 3-1 win against the Chicago Fire. Toronto FC proved to be the spoiler against many teams and delayed the clinching of many playoff spots for these teams. One of their biggest wins was against the New York Red Bulls in which they upset New York 2-1 in a game that could have given the Red Bulls an early shot at clinching the playoffs. They also sold out every game at their home stadium makimg it a successful inaugural season. In addition, Toronto FC's jersey was the second most sold MLS item this season after David Beckham's jersey.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
New York Red Bulls heading to Playoffs, Playing New England Revolution in Eastern Conference Semfinals
The New York Red Bulls have defintely improved a lot since last season thanks to the help of the young Jozy Altidore and Colombian player Juan Pablo Angel. Last season they did not clinch a playoff spot until the last day of teh regular seaspn, but this season they clinched two weeks before the end.
At the beginning of October, the Red Bulls were not looking good and their playoff hopes were close to ending after their match against Toronto FC on Thursday October 4th. Toronto FC, at the time, was already eliminated from playoff contention so a 2-1 loss against the worst team in the Eastern Conference was a huge embarrasement. However, that weekend the Red Bulls were lucky enough to clinch the playoffs due to results from other games that took place that weekend. However, on Saturday October 13th, the Red Bulls set out to prove that they are worthy enough to play in the playoffs despite the loss and having to rely on other teams for qualification in a match against the Kansas City Wizards, a team that is not only a much tougher opponent than Toronto FC but also desperate for a win in order to clinch the playoffs themselves. HOwever, Juan Pablo Angel denied the Wiazards that win by scoring both Red Bulls goals that night in a 2-1 win over Kansas City. This was New York's first win since September 1st when the Red Bulls defeated Chicago after a loss against Chivas USA ob September 9th and series of 2-2 ties in three games followed by Tronto FC's 2-1 upset.
Although the Red Bulls were already secured a spot int he playoffs, winning this match sealed them a nuumber three seed in the Eastern Conference which therefore made New England Revolution their opponent for the Eastern Conference Semifinals.
As a result, the Kansas City Wizards had to wait untilt the final weekend of teh regular season to clinch a playoff seed, which they eventually did.
After a big home defeat of the Kansas City Wizards, the Red Bulls were able to travel across the country to Los Angeles for the last match of the season already gauranteed a spot int he postseason. The result of this match was a 1-1 draw with both goals scored in the 15th and 16th minute. Altidore scored in the 16th minute with equalizer only a minute after the Galaxy scored to make it 1-0.
Even though the Los Angeles Galaxy's playoff hopes were still alive with a tie which conitnued their unbeaten streak, a win would have clinched them a spot. The Los Angeles Galaxy had to win their final game of the regular season, an away match in Chicago, which took place this past Sunday, in order to clinch, but the Chicago Fire, which only needed a tie, denied them them any chances by scoring a last minute goal in the 90th minute and qualifying them for playoffs over the Galaxy.
The Red Bulls continue their season this Saturday playing host to the New England Revolution in the first leg of the Eastern Conference Semifinals.
Since the visiting Red Bulls had already clinched a playoff position and an opponent set, they had nothing to play for. Despite this, the Red Bulls fielded a strong side as coach Bruce Arena did not rest any of his top available players. Goalkeeper Jon Conway started in goal after an impressive performance in Saturday's 2-1 win against Kansas City. Teh Red Bulls took command of the match from the start and dominated over the hosts. Several chances were presented tot he Red Bulls to win it, but they were unable to capitalize. Teh Red Bulls did not have any substantial possession of the ball or chances at goal until 15 minutes in, which gave them their early led, but as teh celebratory confetti rained down on the crowd and many supporters still on their feet after celebrating the goal, the Red Bulls scored to the tie it up. The play pretty much slowed down for the rest of the forst half with no memorable chances for either side.
David Beckham, who missed several weeks of play for the Galaxy, was deemed fit to play in this match and finally entered in the 70th minute. Initially, Beckham did not distinguish himself but the Red Bulls defense gave him plenty of opportunity to do so. In the 77th minute, Beckham took the first of three successive corner kicks but Re Bull goalie Conway stopped the Galaxy's best attempt.
The greatest chance for the Red Bulls to win it came as Altidore slipped a shot just wide of the post in the last minute of the game almost ending any hopes of a continued season for the Galaxy.
At the beginning of October, the Red Bulls were not looking good and their playoff hopes were close to ending after their match against Toronto FC on Thursday October 4th. Toronto FC, at the time, was already eliminated from playoff contention so a 2-1 loss against the worst team in the Eastern Conference was a huge embarrasement. However, that weekend the Red Bulls were lucky enough to clinch the playoffs due to results from other games that took place that weekend. However, on Saturday October 13th, the Red Bulls set out to prove that they are worthy enough to play in the playoffs despite the loss and having to rely on other teams for qualification in a match against the Kansas City Wizards, a team that is not only a much tougher opponent than Toronto FC but also desperate for a win in order to clinch the playoffs themselves. HOwever, Juan Pablo Angel denied the Wiazards that win by scoring both Red Bulls goals that night in a 2-1 win over Kansas City. This was New York's first win since September 1st when the Red Bulls defeated Chicago after a loss against Chivas USA ob September 9th and series of 2-2 ties in three games followed by Tronto FC's 2-1 upset.
Although the Red Bulls were already secured a spot int he playoffs, winning this match sealed them a nuumber three seed in the Eastern Conference which therefore made New England Revolution their opponent for the Eastern Conference Semifinals.
As a result, the Kansas City Wizards had to wait untilt the final weekend of teh regular season to clinch a playoff seed, which they eventually did.
After a big home defeat of the Kansas City Wizards, the Red Bulls were able to travel across the country to Los Angeles for the last match of the season already gauranteed a spot int he postseason. The result of this match was a 1-1 draw with both goals scored in the 15th and 16th minute. Altidore scored in the 16th minute with equalizer only a minute after the Galaxy scored to make it 1-0.
Even though the Los Angeles Galaxy's playoff hopes were still alive with a tie which conitnued their unbeaten streak, a win would have clinched them a spot. The Los Angeles Galaxy had to win their final game of the regular season, an away match in Chicago, which took place this past Sunday, in order to clinch, but the Chicago Fire, which only needed a tie, denied them them any chances by scoring a last minute goal in the 90th minute and qualifying them for playoffs over the Galaxy.
The Red Bulls continue their season this Saturday playing host to the New England Revolution in the first leg of the Eastern Conference Semifinals.
Since the visiting Red Bulls had already clinched a playoff position and an opponent set, they had nothing to play for. Despite this, the Red Bulls fielded a strong side as coach Bruce Arena did not rest any of his top available players. Goalkeeper Jon Conway started in goal after an impressive performance in Saturday's 2-1 win against Kansas City. Teh Red Bulls took command of the match from the start and dominated over the hosts. Several chances were presented tot he Red Bulls to win it, but they were unable to capitalize. Teh Red Bulls did not have any substantial possession of the ball or chances at goal until 15 minutes in, which gave them their early led, but as teh celebratory confetti rained down on the crowd and many supporters still on their feet after celebrating the goal, the Red Bulls scored to the tie it up. The play pretty much slowed down for the rest of the forst half with no memorable chances for either side.
David Beckham, who missed several weeks of play for the Galaxy, was deemed fit to play in this match and finally entered in the 70th minute. Initially, Beckham did not distinguish himself but the Red Bulls defense gave him plenty of opportunity to do so. In the 77th minute, Beckham took the first of three successive corner kicks but Re Bull goalie Conway stopped the Galaxy's best attempt.
The greatest chance for the Red Bulls to win it came as Altidore slipped a shot just wide of the post in the last minute of the game almost ending any hopes of a continued season for the Galaxy.
South American World Cup Qualifying: Brazil gets slow start in first match but plows through second
As most of the soccer world waits for the Preliminary Draw Ceremony in Durban, South Africa to find out their qualifying ties and groups for the 2010 World Cup, powerhouses Brazil and Argentina as well as the other eight South American nations have already started their quest for a spot at the final tournament in South Africa. South American qualification tournament is said to be one of the toughest and most competetive qualifying competiiton in the world after Europe. South America's competition is played in a single round with all ten teams playing in a single group. Every team plays each other team twice. The teams finishing in th etop four automatically qualify for the 2010 finals. The fifth place side plays a two-legged playoff against the fourth place team in the final round of the CONCACAF (Confederation of North/Central American/Carribean Associations of Football) qualifiers. Last year, the four teams to qualify were Brazil, Argentina, and Ecuador (placed in that order). The fifth place team wasn Uruguay who missed out on th e2006 World Cup after a disspointing loss again Australia who at the time was playing in the Oceanian Federation.
Even though Argentina currently holds the highest rank of all South American countries (#2) in FIFA's official world ranking, it is their biggest rival Brazil (#3) that is the favorite to end the qualifcation tournament in first place after successfully defending their Copa America (South America's official national team cup) title this summer.
Brazil started their qualifying campaign slower than usual with a frustrating scoreless tie against Colombia that saw both teams playing equally well, but the Brazilians were right back to their normal selves after crushing Ecuador 5-0. Brazil's Kaka (arguably the best young player in the world today) was the star of the match scoring two goals from far out.
Argentina, on the other hand, has a perfect record after their first two games beating Chile 2-0 and Venezeula 2-0.
So far, Ecuador has failed to impress fans in their opening game as they lost both of their first two games: 5-0 to Brazil and a disspointing 1-0 loss to Venezuela. Ecuador is currently the only team wihtout atleast a point in the standings right now and is therefore in last place. In th 2006 World Cup, Ecuador surprised the world by qualifying after defeating Brazil 1-0 in the captial of Quito. However, many Brazilian fans have blamed Ecuador's good performance in home games at the fact that their home stadium is located at a higher elevation than other South American nations, a condition that they got used to. Many even went as far as saying that their qualifying was a fluke, but Ecuador proved critics wrong by successfully making it out of the first round of the final tournament in 2006 in Germany. However, Ecuador's successes have been spiraling downward lately after a bad performance at this summer's Copa America and a dissapointing South American Qualifying opening match against Venezuela.
For news, standings, and other information regarding the world's quest to South Africa 2010, check out the official website.
Even though Argentina currently holds the highest rank of all South American countries (#2) in FIFA's official world ranking, it is their biggest rival Brazil (#3) that is the favorite to end the qualifcation tournament in first place after successfully defending their Copa America (South America's official national team cup) title this summer.
Brazil started their qualifying campaign slower than usual with a frustrating scoreless tie against Colombia that saw both teams playing equally well, but the Brazilians were right back to their normal selves after crushing Ecuador 5-0. Brazil's Kaka (arguably the best young player in the world today) was the star of the match scoring two goals from far out.
Argentina, on the other hand, has a perfect record after their first two games beating Chile 2-0 and Venezeula 2-0.
So far, Ecuador has failed to impress fans in their opening game as they lost both of their first two games: 5-0 to Brazil and a disspointing 1-0 loss to Venezuela. Ecuador is currently the only team wihtout atleast a point in the standings right now and is therefore in last place. In th 2006 World Cup, Ecuador surprised the world by qualifying after defeating Brazil 1-0 in the captial of Quito. However, many Brazilian fans have blamed Ecuador's good performance in home games at the fact that their home stadium is located at a higher elevation than other South American nations, a condition that they got used to. Many even went as far as saying that their qualifying was a fluke, but Ecuador proved critics wrong by successfully making it out of the first round of the final tournament in 2006 in Germany. However, Ecuador's successes have been spiraling downward lately after a bad performance at this summer's Copa America and a dissapointing South American Qualifying opening match against Venezuela.
For news, standings, and other information regarding the world's quest to South Africa 2010, check out the official website.
Monday, October 15, 2007
DC United wins 2007 Supporters' Shield; Legend Marco Etcheverry to be Honored
With the first goal of clinching a spot in the 2007 MLS Cup Playoffs behind them, both DC United and Chivas USA, the top two teams in Major League Soccer this season , fought hard for their second goal: the 2007 MLS Supporters Shield--the award given to the team that ends the regular season with the most points. Even though both teams have one more match left to go, DC United was able to capture it early.
Despite a scoreless tie against the Chicago Fire on Saturday , DC United still managed to clinch this award for best regular season record after Chivas USA's loss to the Colorado Rapids on Sunday evening.
By winning this award, DC United has made Major League Soccer history in more ways than one. In addition to being the the first club to win it in back-to-back seasons, this is the club's fourth Supporters' Shield title and their 11th major domestic or international title in club history.
Now, DC United focuses on the big prize: the 2007 MLS Cup trophy. Although the Supporters' Shield winner is typically teh favorite going into the MLS Cup Playoffs, DC United does not want to make the same mistakes as last season-losing to the New England Revolution in the Eastern Conference final and therefore missign their chance to play for the cup trophy.
DC United has one more match to play before the regular season offciially comes to a close this month. DC will complete their MLS schedule playing host to the Columbus Crew, which just came off a 2-1 win against Chivas USA in a match that caused Chivas USA to lose to DC United in the race for the Suppoerters' Shield. However, for Columbus, it is a case of "too little too late" as they have already been eliminated from playoff contention despite their win.
DC United will officially be presented with the award at the same game at which
the club's 1997 MLS Cup championship squad will be honored. In addiiton, a pre-game tribute match celebrating the playing career of DC United legend Marco Etcheverry, a Bolvian player that signed with the club fort the first season of Major League Soccer in 1996, is set for 5:30 pm on the same day. Etcheverry is also considered the best Bolivian player of all time and led DC United to three MLS Cups and was the 1998 MLS MVP. In his eight years with the team, Etcheverry played 191 league games in which he scored 34 goals and 101 assists. He retired at the end of the 2003 season. In 2005, he was named to the MLS All-Time Best XI. DC United also honored this player on September 23, 2006 at a home game against Interstate 95 rival New York Red Bulls.
With a record of 16 wins, 6 losses, and 7 ties and 55 points with only one mroe match left in their regular season. DC United is currently running on a 13-game unbeaten streak. The most impressive fact regarding this season's DC United teams was that they started the season with a terrible 0-3 record in their first three games, but first year head coach Tom Soehn was able to spark an immediate turn-around that led DC United to the top of the MLS standings. United conitnued the season with only three more losses.
Below are the previous winners of the MLS Supporters' Shield award since the inaugral season of MLS in 1996:
1996: Tampa Bay Mutiny
1997: D.C. United
1998: Los Angeles Galaxy
1999: D.C. United
2000: Kansas City Wizards
2001: Miami Fusion
2002: Los Angeles Galaxy
2003: Chicago Fire
2004: Columbus Crew
2005: San Jose Earthquakes
2006: D.C. United
Despite a scoreless tie against the Chicago Fire on Saturday , DC United still managed to clinch this award for best regular season record after Chivas USA's loss to the Colorado Rapids on Sunday evening.
By winning this award, DC United has made Major League Soccer history in more ways than one. In addition to being the the first club to win it in back-to-back seasons, this is the club's fourth Supporters' Shield title and their 11th major domestic or international title in club history.
Now, DC United focuses on the big prize: the 2007 MLS Cup trophy. Although the Supporters' Shield winner is typically teh favorite going into the MLS Cup Playoffs, DC United does not want to make the same mistakes as last season-losing to the New England Revolution in the Eastern Conference final and therefore missign their chance to play for the cup trophy.
DC United has one more match to play before the regular season offciially comes to a close this month. DC will complete their MLS schedule playing host to the Columbus Crew, which just came off a 2-1 win against Chivas USA in a match that caused Chivas USA to lose to DC United in the race for the Suppoerters' Shield. However, for Columbus, it is a case of "too little too late" as they have already been eliminated from playoff contention despite their win.
DC United will officially be presented with the award at the same game at which
the club's 1997 MLS Cup championship squad will be honored. In addiiton, a pre-game tribute match celebrating the playing career of DC United legend Marco Etcheverry, a Bolvian player that signed with the club fort the first season of Major League Soccer in 1996, is set for 5:30 pm on the same day. Etcheverry is also considered the best Bolivian player of all time and led DC United to three MLS Cups and was the 1998 MLS MVP. In his eight years with the team, Etcheverry played 191 league games in which he scored 34 goals and 101 assists. He retired at the end of the 2003 season. In 2005, he was named to the MLS All-Time Best XI. DC United also honored this player on September 23, 2006 at a home game against Interstate 95 rival New York Red Bulls.
With a record of 16 wins, 6 losses, and 7 ties and 55 points with only one mroe match left in their regular season. DC United is currently running on a 13-game unbeaten streak. The most impressive fact regarding this season's DC United teams was that they started the season with a terrible 0-3 record in their first three games, but first year head coach Tom Soehn was able to spark an immediate turn-around that led DC United to the top of the MLS standings. United conitnued the season with only three more losses.
Below are the previous winners of the MLS Supporters' Shield award since the inaugral season of MLS in 1996:
1996: Tampa Bay Mutiny
1997: D.C. United
1998: Los Angeles Galaxy
1999: D.C. United
2000: Kansas City Wizards
2001: Miami Fusion
2002: Los Angeles Galaxy
2003: Chicago Fire
2004: Columbus Crew
2005: San Jose Earthquakes
2006: D.C. United
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
New York Red Bulls fail to clinch early Playoff Spot
The New York Red Bulls missed a huge oppurtunity to clinch a spot in the MLS Cup Playoffs on Saturday as they tied Real Salt Lake 2-2. Although the Red Bulls can still qualify for the fast approaching playoffs, a win would have ensured them a spot.
Once again it was the heroics of and a late goal by MLS MVP contender Juan Pablo Angel that saved the Red Bulls from an extremely disspointing loss at home. The score was 2-1 Real Salt Lake up at the 80th minute when the Colombian international's penalty kick gave the Red Bulls a much need equalizer against Real Salt Lake, a club that is considered by many as one of the worst in Major Laeague Soccer right now.
Real Salt Lake's Chris Brown scored the first goal of the match at the 22nd minute.
The Red Bulls had several chances in the first half but could not capitalize on them. At the 40th minute, "New Jersey native Alecko Eskandarian put the ball just wide from distance and one minute before halftime, Angel was stopped from point-blank range again. Rimando then made a diving save on a Kovalenko attempt."
The first half ended with Salt Lake in the lead 1-0.
Francis Doe finally scored the equalizer with his second goal of the season at the 49th minute. Kyle Beckerman of Real Salt Lake scored in the 75th minute to bring his team back in the lead.
Red Bull coach Bruce Arena made his final subsitution of the match at the 64th minute in which he replaced Doe with Livingston, New Jersey native Jozy Altidore, who became most well known for his role in this past summer's FIFA Under 20 World Cup where he represented the US Under 20 National Team. This was Altidore's first apperance for tteh Red Bulls since they lost their away match against New England on August 25th at Gillete Stadium. Altidore nearly scored the equalizer a few minutes later. The Red Bulls finally got their chance to tie it up after Seth Stammler was tripped up by Real Salt Lake's Carey Talley while attemtping to score. The Red Bulls earned a penalty kick as a result giving Angel his 17th goal of the season and setting a record for most goals in one season surpassing fellow Colombian Adolfo Valencia on the all-time list. Valencia scored 16 goals in 2000.
This result gives the Red Bulls their third consecutive tie and only one win in their last seven matches. With only three games left and an 11-10-6 regular season record, the Red Bulls need to pocket at least 3 more points (one more win) in order to ensure a spot in the MLS playoffs. Their next match is is on the road against Toronto FC which takes place this Thursday and will be televiized live on ESPN 2.
Once again it was the heroics of and a late goal by MLS MVP contender Juan Pablo Angel that saved the Red Bulls from an extremely disspointing loss at home. The score was 2-1 Real Salt Lake up at the 80th minute when the Colombian international's penalty kick gave the Red Bulls a much need equalizer against Real Salt Lake, a club that is considered by many as one of the worst in Major Laeague Soccer right now.
Real Salt Lake's Chris Brown scored the first goal of the match at the 22nd minute.
The Red Bulls had several chances in the first half but could not capitalize on them. At the 40th minute, "New Jersey native Alecko Eskandarian put the ball just wide from distance and one minute before halftime, Angel was stopped from point-blank range again. Rimando then made a diving save on a Kovalenko attempt."
The first half ended with Salt Lake in the lead 1-0.
Francis Doe finally scored the equalizer with his second goal of the season at the 49th minute. Kyle Beckerman of Real Salt Lake scored in the 75th minute to bring his team back in the lead.
Red Bull coach Bruce Arena made his final subsitution of the match at the 64th minute in which he replaced Doe with Livingston, New Jersey native Jozy Altidore, who became most well known for his role in this past summer's FIFA Under 20 World Cup where he represented the US Under 20 National Team. This was Altidore's first apperance for tteh Red Bulls since they lost their away match against New England on August 25th at Gillete Stadium. Altidore nearly scored the equalizer a few minutes later. The Red Bulls finally got their chance to tie it up after Seth Stammler was tripped up by Real Salt Lake's Carey Talley while attemtping to score. The Red Bulls earned a penalty kick as a result giving Angel his 17th goal of the season and setting a record for most goals in one season surpassing fellow Colombian Adolfo Valencia on the all-time list. Valencia scored 16 goals in 2000.
This result gives the Red Bulls their third consecutive tie and only one win in their last seven matches. With only three games left and an 11-10-6 regular season record, the Red Bulls need to pocket at least 3 more points (one more win) in order to ensure a spot in the MLS playoffs. Their next match is is on the road against Toronto FC which takes place this Thursday and will be televiized live on ESPN 2.
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