Author Archives: Ridge Mahoney

[CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE] Toronto FC and D.C. United need better performances and results than they attained in the first legs when they square off against Puerto Rico Islanders and Luis Angel Firpo, respectively, in the away matches of their Concacaf Champions League series Tuesday.

[MLS] Curt Onalfo was one of five coaches who were in their third MLS seasons as head coaches. The Kansas City coach was the first to be fired, but two of the other coaches could find themselves on the way out if the downturns of their teams continue.

[CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE] Leave it to the worst team in Major League Soccer to extract some respectability for MLS from the first leg of the preliminary round. The Red Bulls, welded to the bottom of the Eastern Conference with a 2-15-4 record, scored a pair of deflected goals to come out of the Manny Ramjohn Stadium in Marabella with a 2-2 tie against W Connection of Trinidad & Tobago Thursday.

[MLS PREDICTIONS] The Galaxy takes the week off to play some Spanish team (Barcelona by name), giving several Western Conference foes opportunity to move up at its expense. Also off this week are Chivas USA and New York. So bunched are the Eastern Conference’s top teams that third-place D.C. United could take over the lead by winning, or drop to eighth overall by losing in Houston. The Revs can tie fourth-place Toronto by beating TFC at Gillette, and Chicago could go on top by handling RSL at home. For all of Soccer America’s predictions, as well as TV viewing information, and to see how Ridge Mahoney fared so far this season …

[CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE] After a spectacular 6-1 thumping of Montreal in June that captured the Nutrilite Canadian Championship and with it a spot in the Concacaf Champions League, Toronto FC players and Coach Chris Cummins emphasized how important it was for them to represent Canada and do well in the regional club competition. But TFC left itself a huge task by losing the first leg of its two-match preliminary series, 1-0, to Puerto Rico Islanders Wednesday at BMO Field.

[MLS] An All-Star Game is a spectacle, and as such the wisdom of using penalty kicks to decide an exhibition does make some sense, since entertainment is the first priority. Fans at Rio Tinto Stadium in Sandy, Utah, ran through the gamut of emotions, facial expressions and gestures, and most of them left disappointed at the result. As bizarre as it might have seemed for Everton players to step up to the penalty spot after playing 90 minutes in a friendly, at least a few – and not the least, U.S. goalkeeper Tim Howard – got it right. After a 1-1 tie in regulation, Howard saved three shots as Everton took the shootout, 4-3, to end a five-match winning streak posted in All-Star action against foreign teams.

[MLS] All coaches are competitive, so Houston head honcho Dominic Kinnear doesn’t need any extra motivation for the annual exhibition known as the MLS All-Star Game. But there is a streak on the line. Pitting the best of MLS, with a few exceptions, against a foreign team on five previous occasions has produced five victories, and that’s the streak that’s at stake Wednesday (9:30 p.m. ET, ESPN2, Galavision) at Rio Tinto Stadium in Sandy, Utah, against English Premier League club Everton.

[CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE] D.C. United generated a flurry of shots but only one goal as it tied Luis Angel Firpo of El Salvador, 1-1, in the opening game of their two-match Concacaf Champions League series Tuesday at RFK. Jaime Moreno converted a penalty kick after Mario Benitez had stripped Greg Janicki of the ball to score in the 26th minute.

[U.S. SOCCER] In a teleconference call with reporters Tuesday, U.S. Soccer president Sunil Gulati touched on myriad topics, including the national team’s recent performances to the visit of FIFA president Sepp Blatter

Did the embarrassing 5-0 loss to Mexico in the Gold Cup final signal that the players Coach Bob Bradley tested in the tournament won’t be back for the remaining five World Cup qualifying games? Soccer America’s Ridge Mahoney assesses the U.S. Gold Cup players and shows what the 23-man U.S. roster for the 2010 World Cup could like.

[MLS] Though it has struggled to finalize a stadium deal, the Houston Dynamo has done just about everything else right since joining MLS prior to the 2006 season when the league approved a move from San Jose. Its success on the field and at the gate has yielded hosting rights for the 2010 All-Star Game, as announced by Commissioner Don Garber Monday. “I don’t think that people really expected that Houston, Texas would be a strong, powerful and successful MLS market,” Garber said. “It’s turned out to be one of our best.”

[CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE] With the Concacaf Gold Cup out of the way, the confederation’s club competition resumes with three MLS teams and one USL entry involved in the Champions’ League preliminary round that consists of eight home-and-home series. The Columbus Crew and the Houston Dynamo begin play next month when the group stage kicks off. Soccer America’s Ridge Mahoney explains the path MLS and USL teams must take to be crowned champion of the region of North and Central American and the Caribbean.

[GOLD CUP] A sign of what was to come occurred in stoppage time of the first half, before a five-goal Mexican onslaught buried the USA in the Gold Cup final Sunday at Giants Stadium in front of a pro-Mexico crowd of 79,156. After a U.S. free kick, Mexico countered, and only Jay Heaps got back in time as Giovanni Dos Santos and Alberto Medina swept forward. Medina, who’d been threatening but hardly fearsome on the left flank, dragged his shot wide of the far post.

[USA-MEXICO REPORT CARD] A horrid second half during which it conceded five goals left the U.S. team with marks ranging from poor to terrible in its 5-0 loss to Mexico in the Gold Cup final. Soccer America’s Ridge Mahoney grades the U.S. players and comments on their performances.

[GOLD CUP] The USA advanced to its third straight Gold Cup final with its third win over Honduras in the last two months, a 2-0 victory in Thursday’s semifinals thanks to goals by Clarence Goodson and Kenny Cooper at the end of each half, both set up by Stuart Holden. The USA meets Mexico Sunday in the final at Giants Stadium (TV: Fox Soccer Channel, Univision, live, 3 pm ET). Soccer America’s Ridge Mahoney explains how the Americans succeeded sans their most dynamic players. …

[MLS PREDICTIONS] TFC and the Crew continue their Trillium Cup tradition in Columbus, former MLS Cup opponents Houston and New England square off in Texas, and the Galaxy takes its four-game winning streak to Kansas City on a weekend that features two games on the ESPN family of networks as well as a Saturday night Fox Soccer Channel tussle in San Jose. For all of Soccer America’s predictions, as well as TV viewing information, and to see how Ridge Mahoney, who was perfect last week, fared so far this season …

[USA-HONDURAS REPORT CARD] Soccer America’s Ridge Mahoney grades the U.S. players and comments on their performance in their 2-0 semifinal win over Honduras in the Gold Cup …