Stoppage time of the first leg of the Canadian Championship final between Vancouver and Toronto FC last night, Toronto leading 1-0:
File that one in Hassli’s growing collection of audacious goals, right next to this one.
Generation adidas Side Drops Dutch Opener, But Salgado Magic Nearly Saves the Show
The MLS Generation adidas team opened its tour of the Netherlands with a 4-2 loss to the Ajax reserves yesterday in Amsterdam, but pay attention to the 1:55 mark in the highlights clip below, when 18-year-old Texan Omar Salgado picks up the ball in midfield.
The lanky Vancouver Whitecaps youngster launches a dazzling run, beating seven Ajax players before the ball falls to Red Bulls striker Corey Hertzog, who laces it inside the near post to make it 2-2.
Salgado’s flourish almost makes up for the shoddy GA defending and lopsided result. Almost.
Take a look (again, the magic starts 1:55 in):
(By the way, Ajax—best kits in soccer? Best kits in soccer.)
The GA side returns to action on Tues, Dec 13, against Volendam.
MLS Roundup: Dallas Clinches Playoffs, Vancouver Dents DC, Keane Update
FC Dallas locked down a berth in the 2011 MLS Cup playoffs last night with a convincing 2-1 win at Chicago’s Toyota Park.
The Hoops dominated the opening 45 minutes, gettting a goal from Jackson just before halftime and one from Daniel Cruz just after the break.
Sebastian Grazzini pulled one back for Chicago with a brilliant effort in the 86th minute, but it was too little too late for the home team, which was down to 10 men at that point after Pavel Pardo had been shown a straight red in the 79th.
The Fire now stand six points shy of the playoffs with two games to play, and will be eliminated from the postseason if New York wins or ties at Kansas City on Saturday afternoon. In other words, they whiffed in—as Chris Russo would say—a big spot last night, at home against a team that entered the game on a four-game losing streak.
FCD’s goals here:
In Vancouver, the Whitecaps won their second straight game at their new digs, clipping the wings of DC United’s playoff hopes with a 2-1 triumph at BC Place.
We’ve said before that Vancouver might be the best last-place team in MLS history—only now they’re no longer in the cellar. Last night’s win gave the Caps 28 points for the season, one more than New England.
In any event, they are, despite their 6-16-10 record, a dangerous and entertaining side—an ideal spoiler for teams with playoff hopes, as DC discovered. They’re fired up to defend their new home turf, and they have the talent to do it—even without playmaker Davide Chiumiento, who was left out of the 18 last night due to an attitude issue, apparently.
No matter: the Caps scored 40 seconds into the game, when Camilo got on the end of a fine cross by Jordan Harvey (who seems to be enjoying the move from left back to left midfield) and turned in his 12th goal of the season.
Vancouver proceeded to dominate the first half, knocking the ball around crisply, and then, just seconds after the break, the Caps produced an almost exact replica of their opener, with Alain Rochat finding Long Tan for a header to make it 2-0. It was Tan’s first career MLS goal and it was also the first goal by a Chinese-born player in MLS history.
United defender Brandon McDonald made it 2-1 with a 58th-minute header, and DC had a penalty shout in the 76th, when a shot ricocheted off Caps midfielder Jeb Brovsky’s arm, but the pleas were waved off and Vancouver held on to win.
Here is Long Tan’s history-making header:
United—which played last night without Dwayne De Rosario, who suited up for Canada in Toronto on Tuesday—is five points off the playoff pace with three games remaining, all at home.
• Apparently, there’s discord in Denver, where Colorado Rapids coach Gary Smith is citing a “relationship issue” that could prevent him from continuing to work with Rapids’ technical director and former U.S. international Paul Bravo. (Denver Post, via MLSSoccer’s Kick Off.)
“We need to be able to come to terms with what both of us are at the club, or we need to move on,” Smith said. “One of us does, anyway.”
Not the best way to head into tomorrow night’s Rocky Mountain Cup game against Real Salt Lake, where a victory would clinch a playoff spot for the defending champs. (RSL is already in the postseason.)
• Galaxy striker Robbie Keane’s injury is worse than first reported, and Republic of Ireland manager Giovanni Trappatoni is not happy that the player went the full 90 against Andorra last Friday instead of reporting the injury and coming off. The coach said Keane “made it worse” by playing a full game with the injury.
No word yet from Los Angeles coach Bruce Arena on the prospect of competing in the playoffs without his top striker.
MLS Roundup: Vancouver Signs Gambian DP, Rooney, Ferguson Meet the Press
Vancouver Whitecaps FC announced the signing of Gambian international and former Belgian league standout Mustapha “Toubabo” Jarju today.
A 24-year-old striker, Jarju scored 18 goals in 31 games for RAEC Mons last season, leading the side to promotion to the Belgian top flight. He has 25 appearances and four goals for the Gambian national team, and is an alternate captain for his national side.
Jarju becomes the first African designated player in MLS history, and the fifth Gambian player in the league, after Sanna Nyassi (Colorado), Sainey Nyassi (Sanna’s twin, New England), Kenny Mansally (New England) and Mamadou “Futty” Danso (Portland).
•••
Manchester United has landed on U.S. shores in advance of the first game of their preseason tour (against New England on Wednesday) and coach Alex Ferguson had some interesting things to say about MLS and soccer in the U.S. Chief among these was his notion that the country should form several leagues, due to its size:
“I always thought the problem would be the size of the country. Travelling from Boston to Los Angeles
is a long haul. But in Brazil they have two leagues. They could easily do that in the United States if it takes off and they got more clubs involved. In fact, you could have four leagues because of the size of the country and the population base. There are unbelievable possibilities for the United States.”
It would never happen, but we like it. You create regional leagues to get around the problem of travel (which is real; ask any MLSer), and then take the winners of them and do a playoff (or championship game) in one neutral site. Not a bad idea. Commissioner Garber, your thoughts?
Wayne Rooney is part of the Man U contingent that’s here, and he spoke with the MLS website today, saying he thinks the league is on the rise and “in the next five, 10 years, it’ll be one of the major leagues in football.” From your lips to God’s ears, Wayne.
Rooney goes on to name-check Brian McBride and Joe-Max Moore, both of whom he trained with at Everton (Joe-Max “when I was a young lad”). Click here for the full article on Red Bull midfielder John Rooney‘s older brother.
New England–Man U kicks off at 8:00 tomorrow night on ESPN2.
MLS Coaching Carousel: Thordarson’s Reign Capped, De Los Cobos Fired
Two struggling MLS teams made coaching changes yesterday as Vancouver Whitecaps FC dismissed Teitur Thordarson and the Chicago Fire sacked Carlos de los Cobos.
Vancouver tied visiting New York 1-1 on Saturday, but has gone winless since a 4-2 opening-day victory over Toronto. The Caps’ 1-5-6 record was deemed unacceptable by team execs.
Thordarson, a former Iceland international, was hired in 2007, when Whitecaps FC were in the USL-1. He led Vancouver to the 2008 USL championship, to a runner-up finish in ’09, and a semifinal berth last season.
He will be replaced by Tom Soehn, Vancouver’s director of soccer operations. Soehn coached D.C. United for three seasons (2007-09), going 55-48-1 and winning the Supporters’ Shield in 2007.
De Los Cobos and Chicago battled back for a 2-2 draw versus San Jose this past weekend, but were laboring under a nine-game winless streak and stand second-to-last in the Eastern Conference—ahead of only Sporting Kansas City (1-6-2), which has played all nine of its games on the road.
The former Mexican international, who coached El Salvador’s national team for four years, came on board with Chicago last season, leading the team to a disappointing 9-12-9 record, which left the Fire out of the playoffs for just the second time in the franchise’s 13 seasons.
De los Cobos will be replaced on an interim basis by Chicago technical director Frank Klopas. Klopas, 44, played on the Fire’s 1998 MLS Cup–winning side, and was a member of the 1994 U.S. World Cup team.
Preview: 2011 MLS Opening Weekend
The 16th season of Major League Soccer kicked off on Tuesday night, as the Los Angeles Galaxy clipped Seattle Sounders FC 1-0 on a rainy, chilly night in Seattle.
LA midfielder Juninho hit the winner, a knuckling 20-yard strike in the 58th minute that temporarily silenced the raucous sellout crowd at Qwest Field. (Complete highlights here.)
This weekend the rest of the league joins the party. There are eight games on Saturday, one on Sunday, and about 3,206 storylines as the league kicks off what should be its best season yet.
Let’s take a look at some of the juiciest matchups (home teams listed first; times EST):
Game Canada!
Matchup: Vancouver Whitecaps FC vs Toronto FC, Saturday, 6:30 TSN (Canada; also available on Direct Kick and Match Day Live)
Backstory: The Whitecaps are one of two expansion teams—the Portland Timbers are the other—that swell the league’s ranks to 18 this year. They will be a part of the MLS Cascadia rivalry with Seattle and Portland, but first, they host the Canada derby vs the revamped Reds.
While Vancouver is an expansion team, Toronto is practically one, having turned over most of their roster after failing to make the playoff for the fourth straight season last year.
Rivalry? For the past few years, Toronto, Vancouver and the Montreal Impact (who will join MLS next season) have been contesting the Nutralite Canadian Championship, the winner of which gets a berth in the CONCACAF Champions League. Now, they bring that tussle to MLS.
Key Players: Vancouver—D Jay DeMerit, US international; F Eric Hassli, French designated player. (No. 1 draft pick F Omar Salgado has not been cleared to play before he turns 18 in September.)
Toronto—MF Dwayne De Rosario, Canadian international and perennial MLS all-star; F Maicon Santos.
Atmosphere: Expect lots and lots of white at Empire Field.
“Char-Lee Day-Vees!”
Matchup: DC United vs Columbus Crew, Saturday, 7:30, Direct Kick, MatchDay Live
Backstory: Charlie Davies returns to Washington, the site of the horrific car accident that nearly killed him in October 2009. He’s made remarkable strides since then and has looked good in the preseason. His potential MLS debut on Saturday is the dramatic storyline of the new season.
Rivalry? They’re longtime Eastern Conference foes, and both teams are in the midst of major rebuilding projects, loaded with new faces.
Key Players: DC—F Davies, MF Dax McCarty; F Chris Pontius, back from injury; D Perry Kitchen, No. 3 overall draft pick who’s expected to start.
Columbus— F Andres Mendoza, newly minted designated player; F Jeff Cunningham, who enters the game one goal shy of the all-time MLS lead; and MFs Robbie Rogers and Eddie Gaven.
Atmosphere: DC has one of the worst facilities in the league (RFK Stadium)—but one of the best fan bases. You can bet they’ll be out in force for Davies.
Bullfight
Matchup: New York Red Bulls vs Seattle Sounders FC, Saturday 7:30, MSG, DK, MDL
Backstory: The Red Bulls are starting the season with marquee DP’s Thierry Henry and Rafa Marquez, along with U.S internationals Juan Agudelo and Tim Ream, and the expectations are sky high. They have a stiff challenge in their opener, though, as reigning US Open Cup champs Seattle come to town, with high expectations of their own for 2011.
Rivalry? Believe it or not, Seattle fans make a good showing at Red Bull Arena, despite the continent separating the two teams.
Key Players: New York—F Henry, D Marquez; new Finnish signing MF/D Teemu Tainio; MF Joel Lindpere.
Seattle—F Fredy Montero, MF Osvaldo Alonso.
Atmosphere: Red Bull Arena is the best stadium in the league, and fans want a title this season.
Meet the Champs, Newbies
Matchup: Colorado Rapids vs Portland Timbers, Saturday, 9:00, Fox Soccer Channel
Backstory: The expansion Timbers will start former (and future?) U.S. international Kenny Cooper up top alongside superfast new signing Jorge Perlaza. Add recently acquired veteran midfielder Jack Jewsbury and former U.S. U-20 star Sal Zizzo, and Portland looks like a team that can compete. They’ll need to be, because they kick off their MLS experience against the defending champion Colorado Rapids. Only two expansion teams have won their first MLS games—Chicago (1998) and Seattle (2009). Both finished the season with winning records, and the Fire won the ’98 MLS Cup.
Rivalry? Not yet.
Key Players: Portland—the above-mentioned group, and goalkeeper Troy Perkins. (No. 2 draft pick F Darlington Nagbe is out after sports hernia surgery.)
Colorado—F Omar Cummings, F Conor Casey, MF Jeff Larentowicz, and new striker Caleb Folan.
Atmosphere: Dick’s Sporting Goods Park has always had a good, not great, environment. Look for that to improve with a defending champion now in the house.
Buck Shaw Showdown
Matchup: San Jose Earthquakes vs Real Salt Lake, Saturday, 10:30, DK, MDL
Backstory: San Jose, coming off a surprise run to the conference finals last year, meets a Real Salt Lake team fresh from an impressive win over Saprissa in the CONCACAF Champions League. Having played three meaningful games already, RSL is further ahead in terms of match fitness, but could they be ripe for a letdown after the pressure-filled CCL encounter? Also, can San Jose—and 2010 breakout star Chris Wondolowski—keep it going in 2011?
Rivalry? Salt Lake crushed the Quakes 3-0 in their season opener last year, a game from which San Jose midfielder Bobby Convey was pulled, calling it the most embarrassing experience of his professional career. The Quakes managed to right the ship, but you can be sure they want to avoid a similar start this year.
Key Players: San Jose—F Wondolowski, MF Convey, DF/MF Ramiro Corrales.
RSL—MFs Javier Morales, Kyle Beckerman, and Andy Williams; Fs Alvaro Saborio, Fabian Espindola.
Atmosphere: Quakes fans are encouraged by their team’s late run last season. They should fill the cozy confines of Buck Shaw.
The rest of the opening slate:
Houston vs Philadelphia, Saturday, 8:30 , DK, MDL. Dynamo Rookie F Will Bruin had a productive preseason. Will he get time up top alongside veteran Brian Ching? Philly could trot out former MLS Golden Boot winner F Carlos Ruiz.
FC Dallas vs Chicago, Saturday, 8:30, DK , MDL. Look for erstwhile winger Brek Shea to start at centerback for Dallas, which could also start recently signed 18-year-old Fabian Castillo to fill out its thin forward ranks.
Chivas USA vs Sporting Kansas City, 10:30, DK, MDL. Chivas tests its total-rebuild project after gutting its front office, coaching staff, and roster following last season. SKC will be without rising forward Teal Bunbury (dislocated elbow) but has bruising Kei Kamara and Mexican DP Omar Bravo to pick up the offensive slack.
Los Angeles vs New England, Sunday, 8:00, TeleFutura. The Galaxy will look to build on their impressive away win this past Tuesday, while New England wants to get off on the right foot after missing the playoffs last year.
The Whitecaps Uniform Will Not Look this Good on Jay DeMerit
Vancouver kicks off their MLS existence on March 19, and their marketing department is giving it their all to make sure you know about it. We appreciate the effort:
The Whitecaps host Canadian rivals Toronto FC in their opener at Empire Field.
MLS Expansion Draft: The Unprotected
The Portland Timbers and Vancouver Whitecaps will take part in the 2010 MLS Expansion Draft tomorrow at 2:00 p.m.
Today, they got a first look at the list of players they’ll have to choose from, as each MLS club officially protected 11 players from their 2010 rosters, making the remainder available in the Expansion Draft.
Generation adidas players and academy products are automatically protected (without counting against the list of 11), while DPs with no-trade clauses are required to be on the protected list.
Clubs can lose no more than two players from their current rosters in the draft.
The unprotected list contains some surprising names, including six designated players, Kansas City Wizards Sporting KC defender Jimmy Conrad, Dallas midfielder Dax McCarty, Seattle winger Sanna Nyassi, and Houston goalkeeper Pat Onstad.
Here’s the full list:
Chivas USA
Borja, Carlos
Bornstein, Jonathan
Chijindu, Chukwudi
Espinoza, Rodolfo
Galindo, Maykel
Gordon, Alan
Kennedy, Dan
Lillingston, Eduardo
Maldonado, Giancarlo
Mayen, Gerson
Padilla, Jesus
Romero, Osael
Saragosa, Marcelo
Trujillo, Mariano
Zotinca, Alex
Chicago Fire
Castillo, Nery
Dykstra, Andrew
John, Collins
Krol, Krzysztof
Ljungberg, Freddie
Lowry, Peter
Robinson, Dasan
Thorrington, John
Umanzor, Deris
Colorado Rapids
Akpan, Andre
Amarikwa, Quincy
Ceus, Steward
Joyce, Ian
LaBauex, Ross
Lopez, Claudio
O’Brien, Ciaran
Palguta, Scott
Schunk, Ross
Thompson, Wells
Vagenas, Peter
Wallace, Anthony
Columbus Crew
Brunner, Eric
Burns, Kevin
Garey, Jason
Griffit, Leandre
Gruenebaum, Andy
Hejduk, Frankie
Moffat, Adam
Oughton, Duncan
Padula, Gino
Schelotto, Guillermo Barros
Williams, Joshua
FC Dallas
Avila, Eric
Cunningham, Jeff
Davies, Kyle
Edward, Edson
Guarda, Bruno
Harris, Atiba
Hernandez, Daniel
McCarty, Dax
Rodriguez, Milton
Sala, Dario
Yeisley, Jason
D.C. United
Allsopp, Daniel
Barklage, Brandon
Cristman, Adam
Graye, Jordan
Hernandez, Pablo
McTavish, Devon
Morsink, Kurt
Pena, Juan
Perkins, Troy
Rice, Barry
Varela, Carlos
Houston Dynamo
Appiah, Samuel
Ashe, Corey
Cochrane, Ryan
Mulrooney, Richard
Ngwenya, Joseph
Obodai, Anthony
Oduro, Dominic
Onstad, Pat
Robinson, Eddie
Sporting Kansas City
Aiyegbusi, Korede
Beasley, Jamar
Chhetri, Sunil
Conrad, Jimmy
Diop, Birahim
Hercegfalvi, Zoltan
Hohlbein, Aaron
Kounenakis, Nick
Kronberg, Eric
Leathers, Jonathan
Myers, Chance
Thomas, Shavar
Wolff, Josh
LA Galaxy
Berhalter, Gregg
Cazumba, Alex
Da Silva, Leonardo
Jordan, Bryan
Kirovski, Jovan
Kovalenko, Dema
Magee, Mike
Marshall, Yohance
Perk, Brian
Saunders, Josh
New England Revolution
Boggs, Zak
Burpo, Preston
Colaluca, Nico
Dube, Kheli
Gibbs, Cory
Griffiths, Jason
Linck, Roberto
Murray, Tim
Phelan, Pat
Sinovic, Seth
Smith, Khano
Stolica, Ilija
New York Red Bulls
Angel, Juan Pablo
Boyens, Andrew
Chinn, Conor
da Luz, Austin
Garcia, Irving
Nielsen, Brian
Robinson, Carl
Salou, Ibrahim
Sassano, Luke
Sutton, Greg
Talley, Carey
Ubiparipovic, Sinisa
Philadelphia Union
Arrieta, Cristian
Coudet, Eduardo
Fred
Jacobson, Andrew
Knighton, Brad
Miglioranzi, Stefani
Moreno, Alejandro
Noone, Joseph
Salinas, Shea
Seitz, Chris
Zimmerman, Nick
Real Salt Lake
Alexandre, Jean
Campos, Pablo
Findley, Robbie
Gonzalez, Nelson
Grabavoy, Ned
Horst, David
McKenzie, Rauwshan
Melia, Timothy
Nimo, Alex
Reynish, Kyle
Russell, Robbie
Schuler, Chris
Warner, Collen
Williams, Andy
San Jose Earthquakes
Alvarez, Arturo
Andre Luiz
Beitashour, Steve
Burling, Bobby
Cannon, Joe
Corrales, Ramiro
Eduardo
Geovanni
Glen, Cornell
Leitch, Chris
Morrow, Justin
Ring, Brad
Ward, Tim
Seattle Sounders FC
Baudet, Julien
Boss, Terry
Earls, Danny
Estrada, David
Gonzalez, Leonardo
Graham, Taylor
Ianni, Patrick
Levesque, Roger
Marshall, Tyrone
Montano, Miguel
Nkufo, Blaise
Noonan, Pat
Nyassi, Sanna
Scott, Zacharias
Seamon, Michael
Sturgis, Nathan
Wahl, Tyson
Toronto FC
Barrett, Chad
de Guzman, Julian
Gala, Gabe
Garcia, Nick
Hscanovics, Raivis
Ibrahim, Fuad
Kocic, Milos
Mista
Nane, Joseph
Sanyang, Amadou
Saric, Martin
Usanov, Maxim
White, O’Brian
DeMerit Signs with Whitecaps
The Vancouver Whitecaps, who will join Major League Soccer next spring, announced the first signing for their official MLS roster: U.S. international Jay DeMerit.
The 30-year-old Green Bay, Wisc., native played for Watford in the English Championship and Premier League from 2004 to 2010, serving as captain during his last three seasons with the club.
He has 23 appearances for the U.S., and started all four games at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. He has been without a club since leaving Watford, essentially by mutual consent, last June.
Interesting factoid: DeMerit’s coach at Watford, Ray Lewington, was a starting midfielder for the 1979 Vancouver Whitecaps, who won the NASL that season, downing the Tampa Bay Rowdies in the final.
Click here for more on the signing, including video commentary from DeMerit.
