Saturday, April 3, 2010

MLS Saturday

With a crazy start to the weekends events on a rare double-header Thursday, Houston got two PK's from Brad Davis within the span of three minutes to ward off hot starting Real Salt Lake, and a typically hot blooded encounter in the SuperClasico was won by the blue and gold side of LA on an Edson Buddle brace. 

Here's the day's schedule:

Chicago Fire @ Colorado Rapids, 4:00pm EST, Telefutura
New England Revolution @ D.C. United, 7:30pm EST, MLS Direct Kick
New York Red Bulls @ Seattle Sounders FC, 10:30pm EST, Fox Soccer Channel

Maurice Edu with the winner....

Maurice Edu is pleading his case for the starting job next to Michael Bradley in June.  Edu scored the only goal in Rangers match against Hamilton Academical.  Here is the goal:

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

MLS Favorites

Time for the crap to hit the fan as it were.  This morning...early, early morning I might add...I'll make my picks for all your MLS wanna-knows.  Who the winner is?  Who the loser is?  MVP?  Best defender?  Best fans (really?)?

Let's begin shall we?

MLS Cup Favorites:  Seattle Sounders FC. 
The Sounders not only made themselves stronger by signing Blaise N’Kufo, but retained the services of Freddy Montero,  Jhon Hurtado, Kasey Keller, and Fred Ljungberg.  Coupled with their ferocious home crowd, I expect the Sounders to add to their trophy case in November.  They easily toppled the MLS newcomers Philly Union 2-0 at home. 

Worst Team in the League: Tie.  DC United and San Jose Earthquakes
Basing this on their first weekend isn't really fair, but both were blown out and failed to impress in any sense of the word and neither made the highlight videos, save for being scored on.  Sad to see a proud organization like DC going down.  As for San Jose, this needs to be a big season for them as they prepare to move into a new home next season.   

MLS MVP: Fredy Montero, Seattle Sounders FC
With Landon Donovan (hopefully) making the move over the pond permanent come July, expect Fredy Montero to come and dominate the west and ultimately the league.  He can only build on his "rookie" campaign from last season since he has better and more familiar talent around him. 

MLS Defender of the Year:  Omar Gonzalez, LA Galaxy
Chad Marshall is faltering and O-Gonz is ready to take the formerly porous LA defense to the next level.

MLS Most Improved Player: Sam Cronin, Toronto FC
With the departure of Amado Guevara, now is the time for the young Cronin to live up to the hype.  I'm not the only one thinking that he could be one for the future as far as the national team goes.  Come on Sam!

MLS Rookie of the Year: Ike Opara, San Jose Earthquakes
Growing pains aside, Opara has an MLS ready body and sound defensive instincts.  I know this is maybe a limb too far, but I was impressed with Opara in the U20 World Cup, and is yet another for the future of the national team program.

MLS Comeback Player of the Year: Javier Morales, Real Salt Lake
Just a glimpse of his first game of the season will tell you that this be another solid year for RSL.  In my opinion it's gonna be Morales and Montero as the forerunners for MVP.  After being injured in the playoffs last year, its Morales time!

Monday, March 29, 2010

MLS First Kick Recap

All the favorites started off with a win, but there were a couple surprises on the weekend.  Kansas City beat up on their former manager as they decimated DC United 4-0 at home.  LA, Real, and Seattle all won their opening fixtures.  The Texas derby ended in a surprising draw, New York beat Chicago in their home opener, and Columbus beat their rivals Toronto at home.

Most impressive team:  Kansas City, 3 different goal scorers on a revamped Wizards team.

Most impressive individual performance: Javier Morales, 2 goal effort against San Jose, but both were world class beauties.  Oh and not to mention he had the assist on the other goal.

Weekend Yank MVP

A big weekend for the YA crowd.  Though mostly for the wrong reasons; The Big Brad duo was decimated by Chelsea 7-1, and the only England Yank to pull in a victory was Hull City, aided by Jozy drawing his fourth-ish penalty of the season.  Lets take a look at the full run down:

England

PREMIERSHIP
  • Tim Howard started and played 90 minutes in Everton's 0-0 draw vs. Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday.
  • Jozy Altidore started, played 79 minutes, received a yellow card and drew a penalty kick in Hull City 's 2-0 win vs. Fulham on Saturday.
  • Clint Dempsey started and played 90 minutes in Fulham's 2-0 loss vs. Hull City on Saturday.
  • Jonathan Spector started and played 90 minutes in West Ham's 1-0 loss vs. Stoke City on Saturday.
  • Brad Friedel started, played 90 minutes and made two saves in Aston Villa's 7-1 loss vs. Chelsea on Saturday.
  • Brad Guzan dressed but did not play in Aston Villa's 7-1 loss vs. Chelsea on Saturday.
  • Marcus Hahnemann started, played 90 minutes and made ten saves in Wolverhampton Wanderers' 0-0 draw vs. Everton on Saturday.
  • Stuart Holden did not dress in Bolton Wanderers' 4-0 loss vs. Manchester United on Saturday. He is recovering from a leg injury.
COCA COLA CHAMPIONSHIP
  • Jay DeMerit started and played 90 minutes in Watford's 1-1 draw vs. Middlesbrough on Saturday.
  • Frank Simek dressed but did not play in Sheffield Wednesday's 1-1 draw vs. Coventry City on Saturday.
  • Kenny Cooper dressed but did not play in Plymouth Argyle's 2-0 loss vs. Blackpool on Saturday.
LEAGUE ONE
  • Eric Lichaj started, played 90 minutes and received a yellow card in Leyton Orient's 1-0 loss vs. Brentford on Saturday.
  • Jemal Johnson started, played 90 minutes and received a yellow card in Stockport County's 5-0 loss vs. Millwall on Saturday.
  • Jon-Paul Pittman came off the bench and played 10 minutes in Wycombe Wanderers' 1-1 draw vs. Colchester United on Saturday.
  • Mike Grella came off the bench and played 75 minutes in Leeds United's 1-0 loss vs. Norwich City on Saturday.
  • Zak Whitbread dressed but did not play in Norwich City's 1-0 win vs. Leeds United on Saturday.

Scotland

  • Maurice Edu came off the bench and played 27 minutes in Rangers' 4-1 win vs. Heart of Midlothian on Saturday.
  • DaMarcus Beasley dressed but did not play in Rangers' 4-1 win vs. Heart of Midlothian on Saturday. 
  • Dominic Cervi did not dress in Celtic's 3-1 win vs. Kilmarnock on Saturday.

Italy

  • Oguchi Onyewu did not dress in AC Milan's 1-1 draw vs. Lazio on Sunday.

Germany

BUNDESLIGA
  • Michael Bradley did not dress in Borussia Moenchengladbach's 1-0 win vs. Hamburg SV on Sunday. He was suspended due to yellow card accumulation.
  • Steve Cherundolo started, played 90 minutes and scored a GOAL in Hannover 96's 4-1 loss vs. FC Cologne on Saturday.
  • Sal Zizzo did not dress in Hannover 96's 4-1 loss vs. FC Cologne on Saturday. He is recovering from a knee injury.
  • Jermaine Jones did not dress in Schalke 04's 2-0 win vs. Bayer Leverkusen on Saturday. He is recovering from a leg injury.
  • Ricardo Clark dressed but did not play in Eintracht Frankfurt's 2-1 win vs. VfL Bochum on Friday.
  • Daniel Williams did not dress in SC Freiburg's 1-1 draw vs. TSG Hoffenheim on Sunday.
  • Jared Jeffrey did not dress in Mainz 05's 2-0 loss vs. VfL Wolfsburg on Saturday.
BUNDESLIGA 2 
  • Luis Robles and Kaiserslautern play TSV 1860 Munich on Monday.
  • Matt Taylor did not dress in FSV Frankfurt's 2-1 win vs. FC Union Berlin on Friday.
  • David Yeldell started, played 90 minutes and made six saves in TUS Koblenz's 4-1 loss vs. MSV Duisburg on Friday.

France

  • Carlos Bocanegra started and played 90 minutes in Stade Rennes' 3-1 win vs. Le Mans on Sunday.
  • Charlie Davies and Sochaux did not play this weekend.

Portugal

  • Gale Agbossoumonde did not dress in Sporting Braga's 1-0 loss vs. Benfica on Saturday.

Greece

  • Freddy Adu started and played 90 minutes in Aris Salonika's 1-0 win vs. Levadiakos on Sunday.
  • Eddie Johnson started and played 62 minutes in Aris Salonika's 1-0 win vs. Levadiakos on Sunday.

Denmark

  • Benny Feilhaber did not dress in AGF Aarhus' 0-0 draw vs. FC Copenhagen on Sunday.
  • Michael Parkhurst dressed but did not play in FC Nordsjaelland's 1-1 draw vs. Aalborg BK on Saturday.
  • Marcus Tracy did not dress in Aalborg BK's 1-1 draw vs. FC Nordsjaelland on Saturday. He is recovering from a knee injury.
  • Chris Rolfe came off the bench and played 15 minutes in Aalborg BK's 1-1 draw vs. FC Nordsjaelland on Saturday.

Sweden

  • Alejandro Bedoya and Orebro BK play Mjallby on Monday.

Norway

  • Clarence Goodson started and played 90 minutes in IK Start's 1-1 draw. vs. Molde on Saturday.
  • Hunter Freeman started and played 90 minutes in IK Start's 1-1 draw vs. Molde on Saturday.
  • Mikkel Diskerud started, played 90 minutes and scored a GOAL in Stabaek's 2-2 draw vs. Aaelsunds on Saturday.

Mexico

  • Jose Francisco Torres started and played 70 minutes in Pachuca's 1-0 win vs. Morelia on Saturday..
  • Edgar Castillo started and played 36 minutes in Tigres UANL's 1-0 loss vs. Toluca on Saturday.
  • Marco Vidal started and played 90 minutes in Indios de Ciudad Juarez's 3-0 loss vs. Atlante on Saturday.
  • Herculez Gomez came off the bench, played 31 minutes and scored a GOAL in Puebla's 2-1 win vs. America on Sunday. 

So the weekend Yank MVP is....Jozy Altidore, who earned the penalty for Hull's game winner against Clint Dempsey and Fulham.  Steve Cherundolo did score on a very nice free kick, however Hannover was beat up 4-1.  Congrats to Jozy.