Tag: mls

First-year Brazilian Luciano Emilio moved into a tie with Eddie Johnson of Kansas City for the MLS scoring lead with 12 goals after scoring two goals in D.C. United’s 3-0 victory over New England.

[MLS WEEKEND WRAPUP] D.C. tightened up the Eastern Conference standings by beating first-place New England; FC Dallas won and Houston lost to squeeze space between the top two Western teams; Paulo Wanchope debuted for Chicago in a 0-0 tie with Columbus; and there were no goals and no David Beckham at BMO.

MLS’s four games last week produced 13 goals, pushing the average goals per game for the 2007 season up to 2.65. MLS averaged 2.62 goals per game in 2006.

Freddy Adu is within a few dollars of realizing his dream: a spot with a prestigious European team, in this case Benfica of Portugal, which has bid $2 million to buy his contract from MLS that expires at the end of this year. No doubt if terms are successfully negotiated and he signs a deal with Benfica or another team, one of his first statements will pertain to being shackled and stifled in MLS, his creativity smothered, his talents squandered. Such a perception is perfectly understandable from a spoon-fed prodigy handed a half-million-dollar salary and lucrative endorsements at age 14, and anointed as great by those people who represent him and the league that embraced him. The perception is also perfectly wrong.

FC Dallas president Michael Hitchcock fired the first salvo in the SuperLiga showdown between his team and the Galaxy, 24 hours before kickoff (8 p.m. ET, TeleFutura, mlslive.tv) at Pizza Hut Park.

Freddy Adu is gone. Real Salt Lake gave the 18-year-old Adu permission to travel to Lisbon, Portugal, where he hopes to conclude an agreement to sign with Portuguese club Benfica.

[SUPERLIGA PREVIEWS] The odds are stacked against the Galaxy for its Saturday showdown with Guadalajara (10 p.m. ET, TeleFutura), whether or not David Beckham‘s tender ankle allows him to play. Guadalajara has been bolstered by national team and under-20 players who were given additional time off to recover from the Copa America and FIFA U-20 World Cup, respectively, and a huge crowd swathed in red-and-white stripes is expected to pile into the Los Angeles Coliseum.

Six days after suffering one of the most embarrassing losses in its 12-year history, the Los Angeles Galaxy achieved one of its greatest successes. The Galaxy upset Mexican champion Pachuca, 2-1, in their opening game of the SuperLiga on Tuesday and made amends for its 3-0 loss to Tigres in its first game since David Beckham joined the club.

SuperLiga, Pan American, Asian Cup and German League Cup games are part of the midweek slate, which also includes New York-Chivas USA on ESPN2’s Thursday Night MLS Game of the Week.

[STATS] Kansas City striker Eddie Johnson‘s two goals in Sunday’s 2-2 tie with Colorado puts him in the MLS scoring lead with 12 goals and matches his season high of 12 in the 2004 season when he played for Dallas. For MLS stats through July 22 …

[TV PREVIEW] The question of how far, if at all, David Beckham can drag the Galaxy out of its league doldrums will have to wait. First up is the SuperLiga, and if President Alexi Lalas, Coach Frank Yallop, et al, landed the supernova of Designated Players, they’ve also been saddled with the largest obstacle of the four Mexican entrants. In the past eight months, Pachuca — the Galaxy’s foe at Home Depot Center Tuesday (11 pm ET, TeleFutura) – has knocked off domestic and South American opposition to win the Copa Sudamericana, conquer all comers in the CONCACAF Champions Cup, and race off with the Mexican Clausura championship.

He debuted. He played. He didn’t get hurt, or at least, didn’t apparently injure himself any further. Now what? Now that Chelsea won, and the Galaxy lost, and David Beckham has been officially presented in a match of that hoary 1-0 scoreline, can American soccer resume normal behavior?

New England and Houston, leaders of the MLS’s East and West conferences, played to a 3-3 tie at New England in a game that saw Houston’s 746-minute shutout streak come to an end. John Wolyniec headed home the winner in the New York Red Bulls’ 1-0 win over D.C. United after Jozy Altidore nodded on a Claudio Reyna free kick. Argentine Guillermo Barros Schelotto scored twice as Columbus downed Toronto FC. Colorado, winless since late May, enjoyed a 2-2 tie with Kansas City.

[TV PREVIEW] Los Angeles faces Chelsea on Saturday 8:30 pm ET (ESPN & Telefutura) in what is supposed to be David Beckham’s Galaxy debut, but the England star may sit it out or be limited to a brief appearance because of an ankle injury. On Sunday, MLS regular season action returns from the All-Star break with three games televised on the MLS Direct Kick Package, including the clash of conference leaders New England and Houston at 4 pm ET. Columbus meets Toronto FC at 5 pm ET, and Kansas City faces Colorado 8 pm ET. Archrivals New York and D.C. United meet on Telefutura at 5 pm ET.

The news regarding David Beckham is that there is no news, so the world can wait a little longer to learn if he will play Saturday against Chelsea, and MLS officials can savor a fourth straight victory by its all-stars against a foreign team. Colombians Juan Pablo Angel, who was named MVP, and Juan Toja scored excellent goals and Dwayne DeRosario dominated midfield as the MLS All-Stars beat Glasgow Celtic, 2-0, at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park. DeRosario put through Angel to evade Celtic FC keeper Artur Boruc, whose herioics kept the game close, and stroke his shot into an empty net. Toja pounced on a partially blocked free kick to fire past Boruc from close range.

More than a week prior to his arrival in Los Angeles, a source with ties to SUM said David Beckham won’t play against Chelsea Saturday and instead will debut for the Galaxy in the SuperLiga. Galaxy coach Frank Yallop says Beckham’s status is “day-to-day,” league and team officials have been noncommittal. But as of Wednesday night, the over-under on how many minutes Beckham will play Saturday is 10. He arrived in Los Angeles last Friday with a very tender left ankle and has trained only lightly with the Galaxy this week. He traveled here to Denver to make an appearance on the ESPN broadcast of the All-Star Game against Glasgow Celtic Thursday.

[TV PREVIEW] The MLS All-Stars, who in last year’s All-Star Game downed defending English Premier League Champion Chelsea, take on Scottish champion Glasgow Celtic Thursday night in Commerce City, Colo., (9 pm ET, live, ESPN2 & Galavision). Two other MLS All-Star Games have been against visiting clubs. The All-Stars defeated Fulham in 2005 and Chivas Guadalajara in 2003. MLS All-Star coach Steve Nicol has announced a starting 3-5-2 lineup of Matt Reis; Jimmy Conrad, Michael Parkhurst, Jonathan Bornstein; Ronnie O’Brien, Shalrie Joseph, Ricardo Clark, Dwayne De Rosario, Juan Toja, Eddie Johnson, Juan Pablo Angel. For the complete MLS All-Star roster …