Author Archives: Ridge Mahoney

[MLS] Maybe this one can be explained away by fatigue, or turmoil induced by the fining of locker room combatants Denis Hamlett and Bakary Soumare, or simply taking a shorthanded opponent too lightly. Yet championship aspirations require a solid footing, and Chicago gouged deeply into its own foundation by succumbing meekly to Los Angeles, 2-0, at Toyota Park Wednesday in front of a sellout crowd. An enthusiastic few hundred chanted to the end, but many more trudged up the steps to the exits during a depressing second half.

[CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE] A combination that seems to work no matter what the circumstances produced again Wednesday night to earn a Concacaf Champions’ League victory for the Houston Dynamo. Teammates for club and country, and on this night, substitutes – yes, you read that right – Stuart Holden and Brian Ching combined midway through the second half for the only goal Houston needed to beat Salvadoran club Isidro Metapan, 1-0, at Robertston Stadium in the first group match for both teams.

[CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE] When it comes to playing international games in the final one-third of the MLS season, Dynamo coach Dominic Kinnear is as ambitious as he is realistic as his team faces six games in the next two months in the regional championship.

[CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE] In German soccer, subs who score goals are known as “jokers,” and player moves by Crew coach Robert Warzycha – a native of bordering nation Poland — left him, his players and Columbus fans smiling Tuesday night.

[CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE] United coach Tom Soehn used a few new faces and four in the back to extract a result out of San Pedro Sula, and it nearly worked. But a spirited effort fell short, and late goals five minutes apart by Jerry Palacios and Mario Berrios swept Honduran club Marathon past D.C. United, 3-1, in the Concacaf Champions’ League Group C opener Tuesday night.

[MLS PREDICTIONS] The ESPN networks present a rare midweek double dip, starting with a classic interconference clash between Chicago and Los Angeles at Toyota Park, where the Galaxy has yet to garner even a tie but comes in with an unbeaten record against Eastern Conference teams.

[CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE] Here comes another round of international competition for three MLS teams, all of which aspire to lift the league trophy in November. Four-time MLS champion D.C. United and defending champ Columbus Crew open Concacaf Champions’ League group play Tuesday against Honduran club Marathon and USL-1 upstart Puerto Rico Islanders , respectively. Houston, MLS Cup winner in 2006 and 2007, plays Isidro Metapan of El Salvador Wednesday.

[MLS PREDICTIONS] Toronto FC and D.C. United meet at BMO Field after being roughed up by Real Madrid, the surging Galaxy hosts the reeling Sounders, Real Salt Lake welcomes Houston to Rio Tinto Stadium for the first time, and Kansas City plays its first game with interim head coach Peter Vermes in charge at home against Chicago. For all of Soccer America’s predictions, as well as TV viewing information, and to see how Ridge Mahoney fared so far this season …

[MEXICO-USA] Losing to Mexico in Azteca Stadium again is a dreary repeat of past results, but more disquieting than the loss is a run of recurring errors.

[MEXICO-USA] Soccer America’s Ridge Mahoney grades the U.S. players and analyzes their performances in their 2-1 loss to Mexico Wednesday at Azteca Stadium.

[MEXICO-USA] How best to deal with the heat, smog, altitude, fans and Mexican national team that is nearly unbeatable in Estadio Azteca? The USA looks for answers to those obstacles that it will face when it meets Mexico in Wednesday’s much-anticipated game (TV: Telemundo/mun2, live, 4 p.m. ET)

[MEXICO-USA] Only three of the Americans who played in the Gold Cup final are in the traveling squad for the Hexagonal match Wednesday at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City (TV: 4 pm ET, mun2/Telemundo), and though two of them played for Houston on Sunday they profess they’ll be ready if called upon.

[MLS] Six of the seven MLS players on the USA’s roster for Wednesday World Cup qualifier in Mexico fared well over the weekend, especially Landon Donovan, whose ninth goal of the season was a golazo, and Conor Casey, who hit a hat trick for Colorado.

[MLS PREDICTIONS] Eastern Conference leader and defending champ Columbus travels to the Pacific Coast to play San Jose, and second-place Chicago takes on the Western leader in Houston. The Revs and Galaxy put their unbeaten streaks on the line head-to-head at Gillette Stadium, and Seattle gets a chance to improve its dismal record on grass at Rio Tinto Stadium. FSC offers up a tripleheader of two MLS games followed by the Barcelona-Guadalajara friendly (11 p.m. ET). For all of Soccer America’s predictions, as well as TV viewing information, and to see how Ridge Mahoney fared so far this season …

[MLS] There’s nothing about a lackluster season that a four-game winning streak won’t cure, or at least alleviate. About a month ago, the Galaxy went on a four-game blitz that lifted it into the playoff picture, and now the same can be said for FC Dallas. As it bid adieu to Kenny Cooper, striker Jeff Cunningham got red hot. He struck once again on Thursday evening to take Dallas past Texas rival Houston.

[SUPERLIGA] One year after coming within one goal of reaching MLS Cup, the Chicago Fire came within one kick of winning the third edition of SuperLiga, but couldn’t convert a sellout home crowd and an early goal into a victory.

[MLS PREDICTIONS] FC Dallas aims to keep its playoff hopes and home winning streak alive when Houston comes north for a Thursday night clash. Soccer America’s Ridge Mahoney makes his prediction. …

[CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE] Leave it to the worst team in Major League Soccer to blow the league’s best chance of advancing to the group phase of the Concacaf Champions’ League. New York took two away goals and a 2-2 aggregate into its home leg at Giants Stadium on Wednesday, and in the first half increased its edge by scoring the first goal. Rather salvaging some semblance of accomplishment in a dismal season, the Red Bulls reverted to the ineptitude that has defined their performance in 2009, which includes MLS’s worst record and preliminary-round U.S. Open Cup elimination.

[SUPERLIGA] The Chicago Fire hosts Mexico’s UNL Tigres Wednesday at Toyota Park (8 p.m. ET, Galavision) in the SuperLiga final, aiming to lift its first trophy since its 2006 U.S. Open Cup win.

[CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE] Since the advent of the Concacaf Champions League last year, D.C. United has failed to win a game in eight attempts. But by rallying from a 1-0 deficit in a hostile environment and fighting through fatigue during a draining overtime, United prevailed in a two-game series to reach the group phase.

[CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE] The scorer of six goals against rival Montreal in its final Nutrilite Canadian Championship game couldn’t get the goal it needed to keep alive its hopes of reaching the group phase. Toronto FC, which lost the first leg at BMO Field, 1-0, last week, labored through a 0-0 tie in Bayamon Tuesday night and fell to Puerto Rico Islanders by that single goal. The USL-1 Islanders, which stunningly reached the semifinals last year, advance to group play that begins in two weeks.

[MLS] The soccer catchphrase — three and out — is routinely attached to teams that crash out of a competition after the first round, which often consists of a triad of games. For many well-known MLS coaches, it’s also been three and out — three seasons and they’re gone. The latest to fall at that hurdle is Curt Onalfo, whose tenure as Kansas City head coach blew up 18 games into his third season Saturday when FC Dallas pummeled the Wizards, 6-0, at Pizza Hut Park.