[MLS] The depth that Chivas USA coach Preki and his players are touting as one of their attributes heading into the playoffs has taken another pair of hits.
Author Archives: Ridge Mahoney
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Tie is enough for Impact
[CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE] Montreal (USL-1) advanced to the quarterfinals by playing out a 1-1 draw with Honduran club Olimpia Tuesday night at Saputo Stadium.
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Mexico City Madness
[CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE] Strange scenes are nothing new to Concacaf competitions, yet the truly bizarre befell D.C. United in its 2-0 loss to Mexican club Cruz Azul.
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Moreno to close international career
[MLS] D.C. United’s Jaime Moreno will play with the Bolivian national team for the 74th and last time Wednesday night in a friendly against El Salvador at RFK Stadium.
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One playoff matchup already set
[MLS] Much of the playoff schedule is yet to be determined but MLS and ESPN2 have already anointed the Chicago-New England Eastern Conference semifinal series for coverage on its two Thursday night postseason windows.
Posted inSoccer America Confidential, Story
Garber sticks to his guns
I, too, am astonished at the 10-game suspensions handed down by MLS upon positive tests coming back for androstatriendione on samples provided by Red Bull players Jon Conway and Jeff Parke.
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Five vie for final three playoff spots
[MLS] Three playoff spots remain up for grabs as MLS enters its final week of play. Five teams — Kansas City, New York, D.C. United, Real Salt Lake and Colorado – vie to join Columbus, Chicago, New England, Houston and Chivas USA in postseason play. Soccer America’s Ridge Mahoney explains the scenario.
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Danny Cepero: Red Bulls’ goalscoring goalkeeper (VIDEO)
[MLS] The limitations of the MLS Reserve Division have prompted some teams to send players out on season-long loans, and in the case of Red Bull goalkeeper Danny Cepero, that small investment paid off boxcars. He scored the first goalkeeper’s goal in league history and played a solid all-around game in a 3-1 defeat of Columbus Saturday that preserved New York’s playoff hopes with one round of games to go.
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Assessing the Serious Seven
Buried amidst the furor over the MLS expansion bids submitted, and those that were not, prior to the Tuesday deadline is some clever wording regarding when the next phase of expansion will take place.
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United comeback comes just in time
[MLS] Only eight of 14 teams can reach the MLS playoffs, and there are nine candidates for the three remaining spots, but with just 10 days left in the season, every one is still standing.
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The Playoff Race
[MLS] With its win over New England on Thursday, D.C. United climbed on top of a very tight group behind the five qualifiers: Columbus, Houston, New England, Chicago, and Chivas USA. Here’s the current standings, with teams tied in points listed in order of tiebreaker superiority, if any, and remaining games. …
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T&T gets the points it needed
The USA took the field Wednesday against Trinidad & Tobago with its future in mind, but couldn’t match the intensity and experience of an opponent committed to the here and now.
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Mixed grades for Bradley’s boys
[TRINIDAD & TOBAGO-USA REPORT CARD] Soccer America’s Ridge Mahoney grades the U.S. players’ performance in their 2-1 loss to Trinidad & Tobago on Wednesday …
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Houston late strike stuns San Jose
[MLS] In 24 MLS games this season, Houston midfielder Stuart Holden had scored just one goal. Now he has three, and the Dynamo (12-5-11) is this close to clinching the Western Conference championship.
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Americans face desperate T&T
Fans may regard the USA’s Concacaf qualifier Wednesday against Trinidad & Tobago as little more than a lark; with qualification assured, some younger players can get on the field, knock the ball around, and just enjoy the experience. In reality, this figures to be a fiercer test, regardless of the stakes, than what the team faced in Guatemala City and Havana.
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Crew labels Supporters’ Shield as ‘first step’
Nobody knows better than Sigi Schmid that sitting atop the MLS standings during the regular season means nothing in the postseason. Clinching the Supporters’ Shield, which the Crew accomplished Sunday by tying the Fire, 2-2, at Toyota Park, isn’t even half the battle in MLS.
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Two more changes to U.S. roster
[TRINIDAD & TOBAGO-USA] After releasing nine players and adding four others to face Trinidad & Tobago in the next U.S. qualifier, Coach Bob Bradley has tweaked the squad yet again.
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Refs in playoff race spotlight
For two straight weeks in games officiated by two different referees, two hotly disputed penalty-kick decisions at Pizza Hut Park have gone in favor of FC Dallas.
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USA moves closer to South Africa 2010
In the case of a U.S. military operation a few years ago, a proclamation of “Mission Accomplished” turned out to be drastically premature; for the U.S. national team, its mission of qualifying for the Hexagonal is done with two games to spare. The Americans dismantled a game Cuba team, 6-1, at RFK Stadium Saturday with a pair of DaMarcus Beasley goals and single scores apiece from four players. Atop Group A with a 4-0-0 record, the USA. is assured of a place in the six-team Hexagonal final round from which the Concacaf 2010 World Cup participants will emerge.
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Top marks for DaMarcus and Sacha
[USA-CUBA REPORT CARD] Soccer America’s Ridge Mahoney grades the U.S. players’ performance in their 6-1 win over Cuba on Saturday. …
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Revamped U.S. squad to face T&T
[WORLD CUP 2010] In its next qualifier the U.S. will present a very different squad than the one that routed Cuba, 6-1, on Saturday in Washington, D.C. Coach Bob Bradley released nine players and added four more to flesh out his 18-man roster for a match Wednesday in Port of Spain against Trinidad & Tobago, which scraped out a 0-0 tie in Guatemala City Saturday. The result kept the teams tied in second place with 1-1-2 records and five points.
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Wild West Battles Highlight Playoff Race
Of the six MLS matches to be played this weekend, the head-to-head Western Conference matchups offer the most intrigue.
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What’s at stake for USA against Cuba?
[WORLD CUP 2010 QUALIFYING] Can the USA really prove anything by beating Cuba Saturday (7 p.m. ET, ESPN Classic, Galavision) in their qualifying match at RFK Stadium? For at least six youngsters, the game provides an important opportunity.
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RSL ties Red Bulls in ‘royal’ setting
[MLS] Just about everything — the setting, the mood, the noisy sellout crowd, the stakes — fell into place for a memorable evening Thursday as Real Salt Lake christened its new Rio Tinto Stadium with a crucial match against Red Bull New York.
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Impact lands hard on Joe Public, Islanders lose in Mexico
[CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE] Against the same opponent to which the New England Revolution lost, the Montreal Impact ran wild. The Puerto Rico Islanders crashed back to earth in Mexico, but didn’t do any worse than many of their MLS counterparts when they travel south of the border. The two USL-1 teams split their road matches in the Concacaf Champions’ League Wednesday night and both are squarely in the chase to advance out of group play. Montreal blasted Trinidad & Tobago club Joe Public FC, 4-1, and Puerto Rico lost to Santos Laguna, 3-0.