Author Archives: Ridge Mahoney

[WEEKEND WRAPUP] On a barren weekend of just five goals in five games, Columbus beat Red Bull New York, 1-0, for its third straight victory; zeroes were posted in the Dallas-Houston and Chicago-Colorado showdowns; the Revs ran aground at Home Depot Center; and Toronto’s backup to the backup goalie helped it tie Kansas City, 1-1. Ridge Mahoney recaps all the MLS weekend action …

Of the two 4-1 games played Thursday night, only one was closer than the score would indicate and it wasn’t the U.S. loss to Argentina in the Copa America. Rain, lightning, and two late strikes by D.C. United swept Colorado to its fifth straight defeat, 4-1, after Colorado wasted chances to stay in the game.

[MLS WEEKEND PREVIEWS]. Dallas and Houston, the top two teams in the Western Conference square off, the Crew tries to keep its revival going at home against New York, the Revs head west to test Chivas USA, Chicago plays its first league match in four years without coach Dave Sarachan, and Kansas City hosts Toronto in a tightening Eastern Conference race. Soccer America’s Ridge Mahoney previews all the weekend’s MLS action …

His penchant to swap players has anointed Toronto head coach Mo Johnston with the nickname “Trader Mo,” yet his trigger-finger frenzy of jettisoning players he’s recently acquired is more “Quick Draw McGraw.”

Majority ownership in GolTV will not become part of Real Salt Lake operator-investor Dave Checketts’ sports and entertainment empire.

[WEEKEND WRAP]. It took 12 games, but Real Salt Lake finally won its first game of the season, victimizing D.C. United. Andy Dorman’s two goals helped New England thump Toronto FC to move the Revs into first place in the East. Young Colombia Juan Toja was again the hero in a win for FC Dallas, which downed struggling Colorado. Los Angeles fell to Columbus despite playing a man up for an hour in a game that saw each team fail from the penalty spot. Houston eked past Kansas City, shut out for the first time this season.

Oakland A’s co-owner Lewis Wolff visited the MLS league headquarters this week along with several staff members of Earthquakes LLC to make his pitch to start play next season, with stadium arrangements to be decided. Wolff is discussing with the City of San Jose a two-pronged proposal. He is seeking city approval to re-zone of large parcel of land from industrial use to residential, on which would be built housing. Those residential developments would supply funds that would be used to build a stadium on city-owned land south of the San Jose International Airport.

[TV PREVIEW] Houston and Chivas USA, both in the midst of three-game winning streaks, clash in ESPN2’s Thursday Night MLS game. Houston coach Dominic Kinnear figured he’d lose midfielders Dwayne DeRosario (Canada) and Ricardo Clark (USA) and forward Brian Ching (USA) during the Gold Cup, but he wasn’t expecting the emergency call-up of keeper Pat Onstad to the Canadian team.

[TV PREVIEW] Two teams coming off six-goal games last weekend figure to tighten things up, so there might be a repeat of their May 5 meeting (1-0). Jose Burciaga slalomed through the Crew to score the only goal of the game in the 90th minute to end a Crew three-game shutout streak. That was also the game in which Ricardo Virtuoso’s shoulder cracked the jaw of Wizards defender Jimmy Conrad and Guillermo Barros Schelotto debuted for the Crew. Columbus is a much different team than it was then, which it showed last week by rallying from two goals down to snatch a 3-3 tie with the Revs at Gillette Stadium.

[VIDEO] Concerns about goalscoring in MLS were allayed somewhat in a high-scoring weekend (27 goals in six games), as excellent finishes punished errors, some large, some small. All goals, many say, stem from errors, but mistakes this season seem to be more costly, and forwards last weekend were especially efficient on breakaways. Are teams punishing defensive errors more ruthlessly?