Tag: mls

Tales of the Galaxy’s demise may yet prove to be apropos, not premature, but for the time being it must be said they are exaggerated. Soccer America’s Ridge Mahoney reports from Carson, Calif., on how Beckham, Donovan & Co., bounced back from their season-opening debacle against Colorado when they met San Jose on Thursday.

[BY THE NUMBERS] With Chicago’s 4-0 win over New England and Los Angeles’ 2-0 victory over San Jose, home teams remain undefeated in the MLS season’s first eight games. The Los Angeles Galaxy’s attendance of 27,000 was the highest of the season so far.

2008 MLS players salaries made available by the MLS Players Union reveal that Los Angeles’ David Beckham ($6.5 million guaranteed), Chicago’s Cuauhtemoc Blanco ($2.67 million) and D.C. United’s Marcelo Gallardo ($1.87 million) are the league’s top earners, while the highest earning Americans are New York midfielder Claudio Reyna ($1.26 million) and Los Angeles attacker Landon Donovan ($900,000). MLS’s minimum senior salary is $33,000 while players on developmental contracts earn between $12,900 and $17,700.

[MAKING A LIST] Compare what each MLS club pays its highest earning player.

[PREVIEW] In kicking off its 2008 broadcast schedule with a doubleheader, ESPN2 couldn’t do much better than trot out a double feature, complete with heroes and villains and subplots and themes, linked by a live intermission.

[CRIME & PUNISHMENT/VIDEO] Colorado Rapids midfielder Ciaran O’Brien was fined $500 and suspended for two games for his foul that injured Los Angeles Galaxy forward Carlos Ruiz, who underwent knee surgery and is out for four to six weeks. Galaxy defender Abel Xavier was fined a total of $1,600 and received an automatic one-game red card suspension for his actions in the game on Saturday.

ESPN2 opens its coverage of MLS’s 13th season with a doubleheader on Thursday. First up is a chance for Chicago chance to avenge its 2007 semifinal loss to New England. Then the Los Angeles Galaxy hopes to bounce back from its season-opening drubbing from Colorado when its hosts the reincarnated San Jose Galaxy.

[VIDEO] New England Revolution midfielder Sainey Nyassi, 19, earned MLS Sierra Mist Goal of the Week honors for Week 1 for his solo effort in the 3-0 win over the Houston Dynamo on Saturday.

[VIDEO] David Beckham appeared on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" on Tuesday, April 1.

There were R-words being bandied about the hotel lobby yesterday as the new San Jose Earthquakes prepared to open their second life against their old rivals from Los Angeles, but rarely was heard a reference to rivalry. Or revenge.

[CONCACAF CHAMPIONS CUP] MLS champion Houston Dynamo settled for a scoreless tie against Saprissa in front of 10,260 fans at Robertson Stadium in Texas despite out-shooting the Costa Rican club 17-8. They meet in the second leg of the semifinal series next Wednesday in Costa Rica.

[GAME REPORT] If Luis Montes isn’t a regular starter for Pachuca, D.C. United players and coaches would like to know why. In the Concacaf Champions Cup Wednesday night at Estadio Hildago, he came on as a halftime substitute and proved to be the perfect focal point for an attack that couldn’t stop squandering chances.

[PREVIEW] The 2007 MLS champion has yet to hit its stride and is in the midst of a stretch that would be tough for any team, even one that has all its players healthy and available. The Dynamo is missing a few bodies for its semifinal, first leg encounter with Deportivo Saprissa of Costa Rica in the Concacaf Champions Cup Wednesday (10 p.m. ET, Fox Soccer Channel), but it could have two players added from the squad that lost in feeble fashion to New England, 3-0, in its MLS opener last weekend.

[MLS] The life of Galaxy coach Ruud Gullit isn’t going quite the way he hoped it would. At the tail end of a 4-0 thumping in Colorado Saturday night that marked Gullit’s coaching debut in MLS, the Rapids’ Ciaran O’Brien crashed into Carlos Ruiz from behind. The tackle removed both players from the game; O’Brien with a red card and Ruiz hobbling from a knee injury that Tuesday required arthroscopic surgery.

[MLS] If any MLS team might be well-prepared to lose two of its best players, it’s New England, which takes on Chicago Thursday in the first game of the ESPN2 doubleheader (7:30 p.m. ET) minus Taylor Twellman and Steve Ralston.

Only one MLS team will face Mexican opposition in the Concacaf Champions’ Cup semifinals this year, with D.C. United drawing the short straw to face defending champion Pachuca on Tuesday. Houston, which was eliminated by Pachuca in last year’s semis, opens its two-game semifinal series against Deportivo Saprissa of Costa Rica Wednesday at Robertson Stadium, which is a formidable enough task. Yet D.C. is facing a tough opponent that plays at altitude and has been winning domestic and international trophies regularly for the past two years.

[TV] David Beckham, who earlier in March was featured on “60 Minutes,” will appear on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” on Tuesday (NBC, 11:35 pm ET/PT)

New England, Columbus and Colorado started the MLS season with impressive wins …