Tag: mls

[MLS] Other leagues are trimming staff and cutting expenses as they buckle down for a bleak winter amid dire economic climes, but at MLS headquarters, the leaders are ready for another game of Expansion Poker. Commissioner Don Garber uttered mostly positive comments about the prospects in Portland, which is seeking a good chunk of public money to launch an expansion team in 2011 at a renovated PG&E Park. He made those comments while visiting the Rose City earlier this week, and so the statements should be liberally salted before being consumed. He also had effusive praise upon visiting Vancouver during his trip to the Northwest.

[MLS] A squad of young American players, all members of the Generation adidas program, are headed to England next week for eight days of training and matches.San Jose Earthquakes coach Frank Yallop is in charge of the 16-player roster, which will face the reserve teams of West Ham, Chelsea and Aston Villa and also attend Premier League and Champions’ League matches during the stay.

[MLS] With the 10 picks available in the expansion draft, Seattle Sounders FC spread its selections around. It selected a promising rookie, several capable younger players, and a few veterans while filling slots in defense, midfield, and forward. In fact, in a pinch, with keeper Kasey Keller and midfielder/winger Freddie Ljungberg already in tow, Seattle could field a decent team and also have three subs when signings Sebastian LeToux and Sanny Nyassi are added.

[MLS CUP 2008] Sunday at Home Depot Center met two of the three original MLS teams never to play for the league title, and Columbus prevailed over the stubborn NewYork Red Bulls, 3-1, to end a five-year run of Supporters’ Shield failures in the final. Guillermo Barros Schelotto set an MLS Cup record by assisting on goals by Alejandro Moreno, Chad Marshall and Frankie Hejduk to down New York, which played perhaps its best postseason game at both ends of the field. A goal by John Wolyniec tied the game briefly in the second half, but ultimately New York was cruelly punished for its lapses.

[MLS SEMIFINAL] The team that launched the second era of Major League Soccer is headed to its first MLS Cup. In a raucous Columbus Crew Stadium, which when unveiled in 1999 set off a succession of soccer-specific facilities that have redefined the league’s existence, the home team erased a 1-0 Chicago lead for a 2-1 win that secured a spot in the championship game Nov. 23.

[MLS SEMIFINAL PREVIEW] For the Eastern Conference finalists Columbus and Chicago, the similarities go beyond the presence of a dynamic playmaker, a quality left back, a solid holding midfielder, a rugged striker, and a strong back four. Both teams are talented, hungry, well-coached, and long overdue heading into their meeting at Crew Stadium Thursday (7:30 ET, ESPN2). Chicago has lost in two MLS Cups, the 2000 and 2003 editions, after capturing the title in its first season a decade ago. Columbus, an original member of MLS when it began operations in 1996, has never reached the final hurdle, much less cleared it.

[MLS] Houston coach Dominic Kinnear and his players are correct in saying they conjured up enough scoring chances to win most games in a stunning 3-0 playoff loss to New York at home Sunday, but left unsaid was the fact their finishing and/or the decisive touch just didn’t measure up that of a much more clinical opponent.

[MLS PLAYOFFS] Determination and pluck aren’t enough against a superior opponent, and the young, determined but undermanned Revs couldn’t keep pace Thursday night at Toyota Park in a rousing 3-0 Fire victory that earned Chicago a spot in the semifinals.

MLS playoffs continue on Thursday. For the complete TV schedule of MLS quarterfinal, second-leg games. …

[MLS PLAYOFF PREVIEW] For the past two years, former expansion doormat Chivas USA has reached the playoffs and both times it failed to advance out of the first round.

[MLS PLAYOFFS] A small crowd (5,221), a frosty night, a rough game, and no goals does not a playoff showcase on national television make. The 2008 MLS postseason kicked off with a New England-Chicago game fans couldn’t be blamed for turning off (or even nodding off), a 0-0 tie at Gillette Stadium rife with emotion and spirit but nearly bereft of flair. The series shifts to Toyota Park next Thursday for the second leg.

[MLS] Regardless of what they put on the field next March, those in charge of Seattle Sounders FC certainly aren’t hedging their bets, and have already gone where some MLS teams still dread to tread. They paid up $30 million to buy into MLS. They have sold more than 17,000 season tickets, acquired one of the most popular American players ever to play for the USA in Kasey Keller, and pledged a reported $5 million to unleash former Swedish international midfielder Freddie Ljungberg when their expansion season kicks off in a few months.

For all the wrong reasons 2008 is turning out to be another memorable season in the career of Revs’ forward Taylor Twellman

[MLS] 2009 expansion franchise Seattle Sounders FC is set to sign an English Premier League veteran with plenty of international experience as a Designated Player and is in the midst of its coaching search. Soccer America’s Ridge Mahoney looks at the DP choice and the early candidates for the coaching position.

[MLS: BY THE NUMBERS] Los Angeles’ Landon Donovan won the 2008 MLS leading scorer crown with 20 goals, becoming the seventh player score 20 or more a season.

[MLS: BY THE NUMBERS] The Los Angeles Galaxy averaged a league-high attendance of 26,009, leading the league for the sixth straight year and for the ninth time in the league’s 13-year history. The top three drawing clubs in 2008 did not make the playoffs.

[CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE] Whether due to fatigue, a backlog of games, or a fierce storm that delayed the kickoff 45 minutes, for one of the few times this season the Houston Dynamo just didn’t have it.