Monday, August 31, 2015

Weekly Power Rankings

THE SOCCERSMITH'S MLS POWER RANKINGS

1 - LA Galaxy (13-8-7) - Yeah, they lost to San Jose, but can you really tell me these guys aren't the best team in the league? Last Week: 1
2 - New York Red Bulls (12-7-6) - Got caught up in the 'trap game' with the Chicago Fire, but bounced back nicely with a 3-0 thrashing of DC United. Bradley Wright-Phillips quietly having a very productive season. Last Week: 2
3 - Vancouver Whitecaps (14-10-3) - Get a little bit of a pass for their loss to the Dynamo because they went all-in to win the Canadian Championship and clinch a berth in next year's Champions League. Last Week: 3
4 - FC Dallas (12-8-5) - Snapped a three-game losing streak behind 20-year old keeper Jesse Gonzalez's first career shutout. Last Week: 6
5 - New England Revolution (10-9-7) - New England is 3-0 since Jermaine Jones returned to action and are 4-0-1 in their last five. Sounds a lot like last year's stretch run, doesn't it? Last Week: 9
6 - DC United (13-10-5) - Turned in an impressive Champions League effort midweek with another goal from rookie Miguel Aguilar, but fell on their faces against the Red Bulls even with Bill Hamid in net. Last Week: 4
7 - Columbus Crew (11-8-8) - The Crew improved to 3-0-1 with a win over New York City FC. This is what I expected them to be playing like all year. Last Week: 8
8 - Toronto FC (11-10-4) - Jozy Altidore scored his third goal in his last two games, both Toronto wins, but Sebastian Giovinco left early with an injury. Last Week: 10
9 - San Jose Earthquakes (11-10-5) - Four straight shutout wins for David Bingham and company. Everyone in the league should be afraid of these guys right now. Has there been a better midseason signing than Anibal Godoy? Last Week: 11
10 - Sporting Kansas City (11-7-7) - The once high flying Sporting KC have dropped three straight and suddenly look vulnerable in the competitive West. Last Week: 5

MLS Weekly Recap, Week 26

Here's this week's recap:

Miguel Aguilar scored in his second consecutive Champions League match while Michael Farfan added a pair of assists as DC United remained atop Group H with a 3-0 win over Jamaica's Montego Bay United... Kennedy Igboananike scored a pair of goals and both Michael Stephens and Gilberto notched a pair of assists as the Fire shocked the Red Bulls in what had been dubbed a 'trap game' for New York. Sacha Kljestan tied his MLS career high with his fifth goal of the season... Colorado picked up their second straight win defeating the Dynamo 2-1 behind goals by Vicente Sánchez and Kevin Doyle... Olimpia's 19 year-old striker Alberth Elis scored the only goal of the match as the Honduran club knocked off the Sounders 1-0 in Champions League action. Troy Perkins made two saves in a losing effort... The Vancouver Whitecaps clinched a berth in the 2016-17 Champions League with a 2-0 win in the second leg of the Canadian Championship Final over the Montreal Impact. Octavio Rivero netted the game winner while rookie Tim Parker scored the insurance goal in the second half. The Impact were done in by a first half red card for Víctor Cabrera as both Whitecap goals came after he was sent off... Shea Salinas headed in a rebound and the San Jose Earthquakes shocked the LA Galaxy 1-0 for a fourth consecutive shutout win. The Galaxy, meanwhile, saw defender Leonardo sent off in the 47th minute and lost for the first time with Gio dos Santos on the field. It also brought and end to LA's four game winning streak... Frank Lampard started for New York City FC, but City remains winless in games in which he plays following a 2-1 defeat to the Crew on Saturday. Columbus is now 3-0-1 in their last four... For the second match in a row, Toronto started with Jozy Altidore on the bench, and for the second time in a row, he came in and scored helping Toronto to a win. Unfortunately Toronto saw both Sebastian Giovinco and Benoît Cheyrou leave the match early. Meanwhile Montreal lost a third straight league match, didn't dress Didier Drogba and saw Laurent Ciman sent off in the second half with a second yellow... Diego Fagúndez became the youngest player in MLS history to score his 25th goal as the Revs defeated the Union 1-0. New England has now won three in a row and is 4-0-1 in their last five matches. The Union meanwhile watched star midfielder Cristian Maidana get sent off in stoppage time for spitting... David Accam spotted Chicago an early lead against Orlando, but an own goal equalized and the two clubs settled for a 1-1 draw... The Dynamo got a boost from Cubo Torres's first start of the season and picked up a huge win on Saturday knocking off Vancouver 2-0. Ricardo Clark scored the game winner and then Houston got some help as both Kendall Waston and Matías Laba were sent off in the second half for Vancouver setting up the Dynamo's insurance tally... 20 year old Jesse Gonzalez made four saves and out-dueled Nick Rimando as FC Dallas snapped a three-game losing streak and defeated Real Salt Lake 2-0. Tesho Akindele netted the game winner when he converted a penalty kick for his first goal since May 9th... Sporting Kansas City's struggles continue as they blew a 1-0 second half lead and fell to Colorado 2-1. Sporting also watched Chance Myers leave 24 minutes in with an injury. Myers has been limited to just eight games this season after suffering a torn achilles last season... Needing three points, Seattle took care of business at home upending their rivals, the Portland Timbers, 2-1 behind goals by Obafemi Martins and Brad Evans. The Sounders also welcomed back Marco Pappa and Osvaldo Alonso, but are still without the injured Clint Dempsey. For Portland, the loss snapped a four-game unbeaten streak... New York's English contingent tallied all three goals as the Red Bulls routed DC United 3-0. Bradley Wright-Phillips scored a pair of goals and added an assist while Luis Robles made a pair of saves to complete the shutout.

MLS SuperDraft Rookie Report, Week 26

Tim Parker and Miguel Aguilar led the rookie class this week as both scored goals in tournament play. Parker scored a clinching goal in the Canadian Championship as Vancouver claimed the tournament championship for the first time while Aguilar scored his second consecutive game winner in the Champions League for DC United. In other action, Cyle Larin just missed being credited with his record-setting 12th goal of the year, but while the ball wound up in the net, it was ruled an own goal by the officials. Elsewhere the cards were flying as four different players, Matt Polster, Saad Abdul-Salaam, Axel Sjöberg and Oniel Fisher all picked up yellows in a busy week. Here's a rundown of all the action:

Canadian Championship

13 - Tim Parker - Vancouver - Started vs Montreal, 90 mins, 1 shot, 1 goal


CCL


16 - Cristian Roldan - Seattle - Started vs Olimpia, 90 mins, 1 shot
17 - Miguel Aguilar - DC United - Started vs Montego Bay United, 90 mins, 2 shots, 1 goal


MLS


1 - Cyle Larin - Orlando City - Started vs Chicago, 82 mins, 2 shots
7 - Matt Polster - Chicago - Started vs NYRB, 90 mins, yellow card

7 - Matt Polster - Chicago - Started vs Orlando City, 90 mins
12 - Saad Abdul-Salaam - Sporting KC - Sub vs Colorado, 66 mins, 1 shot, yellow card
13 - Tim Parker - Vancouver - Started vs Houston, 90 mins
14 - Axel Sjöberg - Colorado - Started vs Sporting KC, 90 mins, 3 shots, yellow card
16 - Cristian Roldan - Seattle - Sub vs Portland, 27 mins
21 - Ignacio Maganto - LA Galaxy - Sub vs San Jose, 2 mins
40 - Oniel Fisher - Seattle - Started vs Portland, 90 mins, yellow card
67 - Dominique Badji - Colorado - Sub vs Sporting KC, 28 mins, 1 shot



Thursday, August 27, 2015

Recapping the Canadian Championship



For the first time in franchise history, the Vancouver Whitecaps are the winners of the Canadian Championship, and as a result, they'll be headed back to the CONCACAF Champions League next year. Here's a quick recap of the tournament in case you missed it as well as a little bit on the tournament's history:

Preliminary Round

FC Edmonton 3 Ottawa Fury FC 1
FC Edmonton 3 Ottawa Fury FC 1, FC Edmonton wins 6-2

Semifinals

Montreal Impact 1 Toronto FC 0
Toronto FC 3 Montreal Impact 2, Tie 3-3 - Montreal wins 2-0 on away goals tiebreaker

Goals for TOR: Jozy Altidore (1), Benoît Cheyrou (1), Sebastian Giovinco (1)
Goals for MON: Jack McInerney (1), Kenny Cooper (1), Dominic Oduro (1)

Vancouver Whitecaps FC 1 FC Edmonton 1
Vancouver Whitecaps FC 2 FC Edmonton 1, Vancouver wins 3-2

Goals for VAN: Gershon Koffie (1), Pedro Morales (1), Matías Laba (1)

Finals

Vancouver Whitecaps 2 Montreal Impact 2
Vancouver Whitecaps 2 Montreal Impact 0, Vancouver wins 4-2

Goals for VAN: Darren Mattocks (1), Pedro Morales (2), Octavio Rivero (1), Tim Parker (1)
Goals for MON: Laurent Ciman (1), Anthony Jackson-Hamel (1)

*Pedro Morales was the only MLS player to score multiple goals, but the tournament's Golden Boot went to Edmonton's Tomi Amoebi, who scored twice against Ottawa and then twice against Vancouver.

*The Canadian Championship has been in existence since 2008, but has only been played in its current format since 2011. Regardless of format, the Championship had previously been won only by Montreal and Toronto. Vancouver was the runner-up every year from 2009-2013. Toronto has won the Championship four times and Montreal three.

*Vancouver was knocked out of last year's tournament in the semifinals by Toronto when they lost on penalty kicks.

Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Weekly Top Tens

MLS LEADING SCORERS

1. Kei Kamara (Sierra Leone) - Columbus Crew - 18 goals, 7 assists
2. Sebastian Giovinco (Italy) - Toronto FC - 17 goals, 12 assists
3. Robbie Keane (Ireland) - LA Galaxy - 15 goals, 7 assists
3. David Villa (Spain) - New York City FC - 15 goals, 7 assists
5. Chris Wondolowski (USA) - San Jose Earthquakes - 12 goals
6. Bradley Wright-Phillips (England) - New York Red bulls - 11 goals, 6 assists
7. Cyle Larin (Canada) - Orlando City SC - 11 goals
8. Fanendo Adi (Nigeria) - Portland Timbers - 10 goals, 2 assists
8. Will Bruin (USA) - Houston Dynamo - 10 goals, 2 assists
10. Obafemi Martins (Nigeria) - Seattle Sounders - 9 goals, 4 assists
10. Chris Rolfe (USA) - DC United - 9 goals, 4 assists
10. Kaká (Brazil) - Orlando City SC - 9 goals, 4 assists

GAME WINNING GOALS

1. Bradley Wright-Phillips (England) - New York Red Bulls - 5
1. Chris Rolfe (USA) - DC United - 5
1. Kei Kamara (Sierra Leone - Columbus - 5
1. Robbie Keane (Ireland) - LA Galaxy - 5
1. Sebastian Giovinco (Italy) - Toronto FC - 5
6. David Villa (Spain) - New York City FC - 4
6. Krisztián Németh (Hungary) - Sporting Kansas City - 4
6. Octavio Rivero (Uruguay) - Vancouver Whitecaps - 4
9. Alan Gordon (USA) - LA Galaxy - 3
9. Blas Pérez (Panama) - FC Dallas - 3
9. Clint Dempsey (USA) - Seattle Sounders - 3
9. Cyle Larin (Canada) - Orlando City SC - 3
9. Fanendo Adi (Nigeria) - Portland Timbers - 3
9. Giles Barnes (Jamaica) - Houston Dynamo - 3
9. Javier Morales (Argentina) - Real Salt Lake - 3
9. Maximiliano Urruti (Argentina) - Portland Timbers - 3
9. Will Bruin (USA) - Houston Dynamo - 3

ASSISTS

1. Cristian Maidana (Argentina) - Philadelphia Union - 14
2. Benny Feilhaber (USA) - Sporting Kansas City - 13
2. Ethan Finlay (USA) - Columbus Crew - 13
4. Sebastian Giovinco (Italy) - Toronto FC - 12
5. Javier Morales (Argentina) - Real Salt Lake - 9
6. Brad Davis (USA) - Houston Dynamo - 7
6. David Villa (Spain) - New York City FC - 7
6. Kei Kamara (Sierra Leone) - Columbus Crew - 7
6. Kwadwo Poku (Ghana) - New York City FC - 7
6. Robbie Keane (Ireland) - LA Galaxy - 7
6. Sacha Kljestan (USA) - New York Red Bulls - 7

SAVES

1. Josh Saunders (Puerto Rico) - New York City FC - 88
2. David Bingham (USA) - San Jose Earthquakes - 86
3. Stefan Frei (Switzerland) - Seattle Sounders - 83
4. Steve Clark (USA) - Columbus Crew - 81
5. Bill Hamid (USA) - DC United - 71
5. Clint Irwin (USA) - Colorado Rapids - 71
5. David Ousted (Denmark) - Vancouver Whitecaps - 71
8. Evan Bush (USA) - Montreal Impact - 68
9. Adam Kwarasey (Ghana) - Portland Timbers - 62
9. Tyler Deric (USA) - Houston Dynamo - 62

SHUTOUTS

1. Adam Kwarasey (Ghana) - Portland Timbers - 11
2. David Ousted (Denmark) - Vancouver Whitecaps - 10
3. David Bingham (USA) - San Jose Earthquakes - 9
3. Stefan Frei (Switzerland) - Seattle Sounders - 9
5. Clint Irwin (USA) - Colorado Rapids - 8
6. Bill Hamid (USA) - DC United - 7
6. Luis Robles (USA) - New York Red Bulls - 7
6. Nick Rimando (USA) - Real Salt Lake - 7
9. Bobby Shuttleworth (USA) - New England Revolution - 6
9. Tim Melia (USA) - Sporting Kansas City - 6

CONCACAF FIFA RANKINGS (8/6/15)

1. Mexico (26)
2. USA (29)
3. Costa Rica (38)
4. Jamaica (55)
5. Trinidad and Tobago (56)
6. Panama (65)
7. Honduras (81)
8. Haiti (84)
9. Canada (101)
10. Antigua and Barbuda (105)

Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Weekly Power Rankings

THE SOCCERSMITH'S MLS POWER RANKINGS

1 - LA Galaxy (13-7-7) - Ten goals, two wins, pretty much everything is going LA's way right now.  Last Week: 2
2 - New York Red Bulls (11-6-6) - Got some rest this week which is important around this time of year. Last Week: 3
3 - Vancouver Whitecaps (14-9-3) - First team to 14 wins this year, but still not in the same class as LA. Last Week: 8
4 - DC United (13-9-5) - Nice start to Champions League play, but fell victim to the suddenly dangerous Quakes. This isn't a Championship contender with Bill Hamid on the sidelines. Last Week: 4
5 - Sporting Kansas City (11-6-7) - Rough week for Sporting as they lost a pair and were outscored 8-2. An uncharacteristic week for sure so we'll give them the benefit of the doubt. Last Week: 1
6 - FC Dallas (11-8-5) - Couldn't solve David Ousted as Vancouver spoiled Jesse Gonzalez's MLS debut. Dallas has lost three in a row after ripping off five straight wins. Last Week: 5
7 - Portland Timbers (11-8-7) - Lucas Melano provided a nice spark in Portland's comeback draw against Houston as the Timbers are unbeaten in four. Last Week: 6
8 - Columbus Crew (10-8-8) - Two comebacks this week helped them earn four points, but they also allowed four more goals and with 43 allowed have surrendered the most of any projected playoff team. Last Week: 9
9 - New England Revolution (9-9-7) - A bye week just means more rest for Jermaine Jones which is bad news for the rest of the league. Last Week: 7
10 - Toronto FC (10-10-4) - Nice to see Jozy Altidore score a couple of goals, we'll have to see if it helps him get his groove back. Last Week: 12

MLS Weekly Recap, Week 25

Here's this week's recap:

The LA Galaxy cruised to a second straight CCL win thanks to a pair of goals by Alan Gordon, and two goals and an assist from second half substitute Robbie Keane. Kenney Walker and Gio dos Santos each added a pair of assists in the rout... Miguel Aguilar scored his first goal for DC United in the 85th minute of their Champions League showdown with Árabe Unido as United moved atop Group H. Andrew Dykstra made four saves to preserve the shutout... The Sounders pulled off an improbable come-from-behind victory against Olimpia getting two goals in the 90th minute or later to stun the Honduran side 2-1. Erik Friberg netted the equalizer off a header and then captain Brad Evans buried a 97th minute penalty to win it keeping the Sounders CCL hopes alive... Kwadwo Poku again made a case that he should be starting for New York City FC scoring a pair of goals in place of the injured Frank Lampard, but Cedrick scored his first MLS goal to equalize and the match ended in a 2-2 draw. Kei Kamara had a goal and an assist for the Crew... San Jose erupted for three goals in the first 27 minutes in Kansas City and ended up cruising to a 5-0 rout of Sporting KC. Chris Wondolowski and Cordell Cato each scored a pair of goals and new acquisition Anibal Godoy scored his first since signing. Benny Feilhaber was sent off in the 71st minute for Sporting... Darlington Nagbe and Lucas Melano scored second half goals as Portland rallied from a 2-0 deficit to salvage a 2-2 draw against the Houston Dynamo. Will Bruin scored his 10th goal of the season for the Dynamo and Brad Davis notched his 119th career assist... For the second time this season, Rafael Ramos was sent off less than 40 minutes into a match, and Orlando City again paid dearly for it getting routed 5-0 by Toronto FC with all 5 goals coming after half-time. Michael Bradley picked up three assists, and Jozy Altidore came off the bench to score twice in less than three minutes. Adrian Winter was also sent off late in the second half for Orlando who have now been outscored 13-1 in their last four games... The Quakes capped a 6-point week on Saturday with a third consecutive shutout victory, all of them coming following the insertion of Anibal Godoy into the Quakes midfield. Chris Wondolowski scored the 105th goal of his career in the win moving him into sole possession of sixth place on the all-time MLS scoring list... Columbus took advantage of Benny Feilhaber's suspension and rallied for a 3-2 win over Sporting Kansas City on Saturday night. Newcomer Jack McInerney scored his first goal since being traded from Montreal on August 4th to win it. Sporting conceded eight goals in two games this week... Andre Blake became the fourth different player to start in net for the Union this year and he may be the last after a 4-save effort shut out the Montreal Impact spoiling Didier Drogba's MLS debut. Sébastien Le Toux scored the only goal, his fourth in his last five games... Dillon Serna scored in the opening minute for the Rapids and Clint Irwin and the Colorado defense made it stand up in a 1-0 win over the Chicago Fire... Real Salt Lake scored twice in the first 20 minutes and stifled the Sounders offense holding them to five shots in a 2-0 win. Clint Dempsey missed his third straight match for the Sounders... The Whitecaps became MLS's first 14-win team this season as they rode a Cristian Techera goal to a 1-0 win over FC Dallas. 20 year old Jesse Gonzalez made his MLS debut in net for Dallas in the loss. He made one save... Robbie Keane did it all on Sunday scoring twice and assisting twice in LA's 5-1 win over New York City FC. The Galaxy have now won four in a row and six of seven.

MLS SuperDraft Rookie Watch, Week 25

DC United's Miguel Aguilar provided all of the offense in DC United's 1-0 Champions League win over Árabe Unido highlighting a productive week from the rookie class. San Jose's Fatai Alashe and Sporting KC's Saad Abdul-Salaam each added assists while LA's Ignacio Maganto and Seattle's Cristian Roldan each earned Champions League starts. Here's a rundown of all the action:

CCL

16 - Cristian Roldan - Seattle - Started vs Olimpia, 90 mins
17 - Miguel Aguilar - DC United - Started vs Árabe Unido, 90 mins, 2 shots, 1 goal, yellow card
21 - Ignacio Maganto - LA Galaxy - Started vs Comunicaciones, 90 mins, 2 shots


MLS


1 - Cyle Larin - Orlando City - Started vs Orlando City SC, 65 mins
4 - Fatai Alashe - San Jose - Started vs Sporting KC, 82 mins, 2 shots, 1 assist

4 - Fatai Alashe - San Jose - Started vs DC United, 67 mins, 1 shot
7 - Matt Polster - Chicago - Started vs Colorado, 90 mins
12 - Saad Abdul-Salaam - Sporting KC - Started vs Columbus, 90 mins, 1 assist
13 - Tim Parker - Vancouver - Started vs FC Dallas, 90 mins, 1 shot
20 - Amadou Dia - Sporting KC - Started vs San Jose, 45 mins
20 - Amadou Dia - Sporting KC - Sub vs Columbus, 33 mins
40 - Oniel Fisher - Seattle - Started vs Real Salt Lake, 90 mins, yellow card

Saturday, August 22, 2015

CONCACAF Champions League Round 2 Highlights

Here's the highlights from the second round of Champions League action with wins for the LA Galaxy, DC United and the Seattle Sounders:

Saprissa (C.R.) 4 W Connection FC (Trin & Tob) 0 - Group A




Tigres UANL (Mex) 2 Isidro Metapán (El Salv) 1 - Group B





Verdes (Belize) 0 Querétaro (Mex) 0 - Group C




LA Galaxy 5 Comunicaciones (Guatemala) 0 - Group D





América (Mex) 1 Walter Ferretti (Nicaragua) 0 - Group E




Seattle Sounders 2 Olimpia (Honduras) 1 - Group F




Santa Tecla (El Salv) 1 Municipal (Guatemala) 1 - Group G




DC United 1 Árabe Unido (Panama) 0 - Group H

Thursday, August 20, 2015

Looking Back at #1 Draft Picks

No doubt that Orlando City has few regrets about taking Canadian phenom Cyle Larin with the top pick in the 2015 SuperDraft, but let's look back at how other strikers drafted number one have fared in their MLS careers:

2015 - Cyle Larin - Orlando City - 11 goals in 19 games

2012 - Andrew Wenger - Montreal - 4 goals in 23 games // 13 goals in 100 games
2011 - Omar Salgado - Vancouver - 1 goal in 14 games // 1 goal in 29 games
2010 - Danny Mwanga - Philadelphia - 7 goals in 24 games // 15 goals in 101 games
2009 - Steve Zakuani - Seattle - 4 goals in 29 games // 17 goals in 97 games
2004 - Freddy Adu - DC United - 5 goals in 30 games // 19 goals in 133 games
2003 - Alecko Eskandarian - DC United - 3 goal in 23 games // 30 goals in 125 games
2001 - Chris Carrieri - San Jose - 5 goals in 19 games // 19 goals in 75 games




U.S. Women Win Again

The U.S. Women were at it again scoring goals in bunches in a 7-2 rout of Costa Rica last night. The U.S. scored 6 goals in the opening 31 minutes and outshot the Costa Ricans 28-4 on the night. Heather O'Reilly and Carli Lloyd led the attack with two goals apiece while both Abby Wambach and Alex Morgan chipped in goals as well. The U.S. women have outscored their opponents 20-4 over their last three games and have won seven straight overall. Next up for the American women are matches with Australia on September 17th in Detroit and on September 20th in Birmingham, Alabama.

Scoring Summary:           1              2              F

USA                                    6              1              7
CRC                                    1              1              2

USA – Carli Lloyd                                                     7th minute
USA – Heather O’Reilly (Carli Lloyd)                      13
USA – Abby Wambach (Lori Chalupny)                   18
USA – Carli Lloyd (Megan Rapinoe)                         20
USA – Heather O’Reilly (Abby Wambach)               23
USA – Katherine Alvarado (Own Goal)                     31
CRC – Cristin Granados (Carolina Venegas)              41
CRC – Karla Villalobos (Mariana Benavides)            69
USA – Alex Morgan (Amy Rodriguez)                       81

Tuesday, August 18, 2015

USWNT Routs Costa Rica to open Victory Tour

In their first match since their World Cup Finals victory over Japan, the U.S. Women picked up right where they left off routing Costa Rica 8-0 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Christen Press led the offense with a hat trick and Heather O'Reilly added two goals of her own. Ashlyn Harris and Hope Solo handled the goal keeping duties, while 40-year old captain Christie Rampone went the full 90 minutes in her 309th career U.S. National Team appearance. Here's the highlights.



Next up for the U.S. is another match with Costa Rica on Wednesday in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Scoring Summary:           1              2              F

USA                                    4              4              8
CRC                                    0              0              0

USA – Heather O’Reilly                                             4th minute
USA – Christen Press                                                 29
USA – Julie Johnston (Megan Rapinoe)                     36
USA – Christen Press (Shannon Boxx)                      45
USA – Meghan Klingenberg (Tobin Heath)               56
USA – Heather O’Reilly (Christen Press)                  59
USA – Whitney Engen (Abby Wambach)                  63
USA – Christen Press (Heather O’Reilly)                  68

Weekly Top Tens and Power Rankings

THE SOCCERSMITH'S MLS POWER RANKINGS

1 - Sporting Kansas City (11-4-7) - Terrific week for Sporting as they knocked their hated rivals, Real Salt Lake, out of the U.S. Open Cup and rallied from a 3-1 deficit late to knock off conference rivals, Vancouver 4-3. Last Week: 1
2 - LA Galaxy (12-7-7) - Robbie Keane and Giovani dos Santos are going to be a very tough duo to stop. Last Week: 2
3 - New York Red Bulls (11-6-6) - The Red Bulls have quietly gone 7-1-1 in their last nine and 5-0-1 in their last six. Last Week: 5
4 - DC United (13-8-5) - Blew a lead against New York City FC and just found out they've lost defender Chris Korb for the year with a knee injury. Last Week: 3
5 - FC Dallas (11-7-5) - Let a lead slip away against the talent-laden Galaxy, but at least showed they can hang with the West's elite. Last Week: 4
6 - Portland Timbers (11-8-6) - Adam Kwarasey and the Portland defense have ripped off three consecutive shutouts and have yet to be scored upon in the month of August. Last Week: 7
7 - New England Revolution (9-9-7) - New England's 2015 season is playing out in eerily similar fashion to last year's. With Jermaine Jones back in the fold, watch out for these guys. Last Week: 13
8 - Vancouver Whitecaps (13-9-3) - Blew a pair of two-goal leads this week, first in the Canadian Championship where a 2-0 lead turned into a 2-2 draw and then against Sporting Kansas City when a 3-1 lead turned into a 4-3 defeat. Last Week: 6
9 - Columbus Crew (9-8-7) - With the Red Bulls and Revs starting to heat up, the Crew need to start making moves of their own to keep pace. Last Week: 8
10 - Seattle Sounders (11-12-2) - With the return of Obafemi Martins to the lineup and the addition of Nelson Valdez and Román Torres, this looks like a totally different ball club. Last Week: 16

Monday, August 17, 2015

MLS SuperDraft Rookie Watch, Week 24

Sporting Kansas City continues to lean heavily on its rookie class as Amadou Dia, Saad Abdul-Salaam and Connor Hallisey all made starts this week as Sporting advanced to the U.S. Open Cup finals and rallied for a big regular season win over the Vancouver Whitecaps. In other action, Oniel Fisher started in the back for the Sounders as they snapped a 5-game losing streak with a shutout win. Here's a rundown of all the action:

U.S. Open Cup Semifinals

7 - Matt Polster - Chicago - Started vs Philadelphia, 77 mins
10 - Connor Hallisey - Sporting KC - Sub vs Real Salt Lake, 26 mins
12 - Saad Abdul-Salaam - Sporting KC - Started vs Real Salt Lake, 89 mins
20 - Amadou Dia - Sporting KC - Started vs Real Salt Lake, 90 mins, 1 shot

Canadian Championship Finals

13 - Tim Parker - Vancouver - Started vs Montreal, 90 mins

MLS

1 - Cyle Larin - Orlando City - Started vs Seattle, 67 mins, 1 shot
7 - Matt Polster - Chicago - Sub vs Philadelphia, 16 mins
10 - Connor Hallisey - Sporting KC - Started vs Vancouver, 45 mins, 1 shot
12 - Saad Abdul-Salaam - Sporting KC - Started vs Vancouver, 73 mins
13 - Tim Parker - Vancouver - Started vs Sporting KC, 90 mins
16 - Cristian Roldan - Seattle - Sub vs Orlando City, 9 mins, 2 shots
17 - Miguel Aguilar - DC United - Sub vs NYCFC, 11 mins
20 - Amadou Dia - Sporting KC - Sub vs Vancouver, 56 mins, 1 shot, yellow card
40 - Oniel Fisher - Seattle - Started vs Orlando City, 90 mins

MLS Weekly Recap, Week 24

Here's this week's recap:

Montreal battled back from a 2-0 deficit in the first leg of the Canadian Championship Final and salvaged a 2-2 home draw against Vancouver. Justin Mapp returned to action for the first time since his injury in week 1 and assisted on the equalizer. The second leg will be played on August 26th... Sébastien Le Toux, the U.S. Open Cup's all-time leading goal scorer was at it again scoring the game winner in the 74th minute as the Union advanced to the Finals for the second year in a row. Chicago not only lost the match, but watched newly acquired designated player Gilberto leave with an injury 20 minutes in... Benny Feilhaber helped rally Sporting past hated rivals Real Salt Lake by assisting on the equalizer and then scoring the game winner as Sporting advanced to the U.S. Open Cup Finals for the first time since winning the tournament in 2012... New York City FC rallied from a 1-0 deficit to beat Bill Hamid three times and win despite playing without the injured Frank Lampard. Andrea Pirlo earned his first career MLS assist in the second half... Making his first appearance since leaving with an injury against Vancouver in late July, Clarence Goodson headed in his second goal of the season off a cross from Quincy Amarikwa moments after Dillon Powers' effort slammed off the crossbar for the Rapids. Goodson and the Quakes hung on for their first win since late June... The Red Bulls spoiled Herculez Gomez's return to MLS with a 3-0 defeat of Toronto FC on Saturday. New York's newly signed designated player Gonzalo Verón came off the bench in the second half and scored his first MLS goal in stoppage time... Even inclement weather wasn't enough to stop the Revs from extending their unbeaten streak on Saturday. Despite lengthy delays, New England scored twice in the second half as the Revs beat Houston 2-0. Jermaine Jones made his first start for the Revs since May... Sporting rallied from deficits of 2-0 and 3-1 scoring three times after the 80th minute to stun the Whitecaps 4-3 in a high scoring affair. Paulo Nagamura, who had scored just once all season, scored both the equalizer and the game winner for Sporting... Robbie Keane scored twice in the second half to rally the Galaxy to a 2-1 win over FC Dallas. Dallas has now lost two in a row after winning five straight... Nat Borchers shocked his former team with a 95th minute header as the Timbers stunned Real Salt Lake 1-0. Adam Kwarasey earned his third consecutive shutout and leads the league with 11 on the year... Seattle unveiled some of its new toys (Nelson Valdez and Román Torres), and brought back one of its old ones in Obafemi Martins, and looked like a whole different team as they routed Orlando City 4-0. Martins scored twice in his first action since injuring himself during the U.S. Open Cup... After playing a 1-0 game in the U.S. Open Cup in midweek action, Chicago and Philadelphia played a wild 3-3 affair on Sunday night. Kennedy Igboananike scored twice including the stoppage time equalizer and added an assist for Chicago while Cristian Maidana assisted on all three Union goals.

RESULTS

WEDNESDAY

Philadelphia Union 1 Chicago Fire 0 - US Open Cup Semifinals
Sporting Kansas City 3 Real Salt Lake 1 - US Open Cup Semifinals
Vancouver Whitecaps 2 Montreal Impact 2 - Canadian Championship Final, Leg 1

THURSDAY

New York City FC 3 DC United 1

FRIDAY

San Jose Earthquakes 1 Colorado Rapids 0

SATURDAY

New York Red Bulls 3 Toronto FC 0
New England Revolution 2 Houston Dynamo 0
Sporting Kansas City 4 Vancouver Whitecaps 3
LA Galaxy 2 FC Dallas 1
Portland Timbers 1 Real Salt Lake 0

SUNDAY

Seattle Sounders 4 Orlando City SC 0
Philadelphia Union 3 Chicago Fire 3

NOTABLE GOALS

Sébastien Le Toux (Philadelphia) - Sébastien Le Toux scored his 15th U.S. Open Cup goal, the most in the tournament's history, as Philadelphia advanced to their second consecutive Open Cup Final. Le Toux added his 5th goal of the regular season in Philadelphia's 3-3 tie on Sunday.

Soni Mustivar (Sporting KC) - Mustivar scored his first goal since joining Sporting Kansas City from Petrolul Ploiești in Romania and made it count as it leveled the score in Sporting's semifinal tilt with Real Salt Lake setting the stage for a trip to the Open Cup Finals.

Benny Feilhaber (Sporting KC) - Feilhaber continued his sensational run of good form with an assist on Mustivar's equalizer as well as the game winning goal, his second of the tournament, in Sporting's 3-1 win over Real Salt Lake.

Krisztián Németh (Sporting KC) - Németh added an insurance goal in Sporting's semifinal win over Real Salt Lake, and with four goals in the tournament, he trails teammate Dom Dwyer by just one for the Golden Boot.

Anthony Jackson-Hamel (Montreal) - 22 year-old homegrown player Anthony Jackson-Hamel scored his first professional goal to help Montreal salvage a draw in the Canadian Championship Finals. Jackson-Hamel has appeared in just 10 MLS matches in his 2 year career and has yet to score during the regular season.

David Villa (NYCFC) - Villa beat Bill Hamid in the second half of City's 3-1 win giving him 14 goals on the season and his fourth game winner.

Kwadwo Poku (NYCFC) - Poku made his first start since his 3-assist performance against Orlando City on July 26th and once again delivered picking up his second goal of the season and adding his seventh assist.

Clarence Goodson (San Jose) - Goodson's header helped propel the Quakes to their first win since June. The former U.S. National Teamer tied his career high for goals in a season with two and now has five goals in his MLS career.

Bradley Wright-Phillips (NYRB) - BWP scored his 11th goal of the season as New York won for the fifth time during its six game unbeaten streak. Wright-Phillips' next goal will be the 40th of his MLS career.

Gonzalo Verón (NYRB) - New York's newly acquired designated player scored his first MLS goal against Toronto on Saturday. The 25 year-old Argentine signed on August 5th.

Juan Agudelo (New England) - Agudelo scored his first goal since May adding an insurance goal in New England's 2-0 win over Houston. Agudelo has been relegated to a bench-role starting just once in the Revs' last seven games.

Kekuta Manneh (Vancouver) - Manneh scored twice in the first half against Sporting, but Vancouver couldn't hold leads of 2-0 or 3-1 and fell 4-3. Manneh has six goals on the season tying his career high set back in 2013.

Dom Dwyer (Sporting KC) - Dwyer helped spark Sporting's comeback against Vancouver with his eighth goal of the season. Dwyer now has 30 goals in the last two seasons.

Paulo Nagamura (Sporting KC) - Making just his seventh start of the season, Nagamura scored twice after the 87th minute helping propel Sporting to an improbable 4-3 win over Vancouver. Nagamura has three goals on the season and just 15 in 233 career matches dating back to 2005.

Robbie Keane (LA Galaxy) - With a brace against Dallas on Saturday night, Keane now has 13 goals on the season including ten in his last six starts. The Irish international now has 66 goals in 100 career MLS appearances, good for 25th on the all-time scoring list.

Nat Borchers (Portland) - Defensive stalwart Borchers scored his third goal of the season against the team for whom he played from 2008-2014. Borchers has 15 goals in his MLS career.

Obafemi Martins (Seattle) - Playing in his first MLS match since June, Martins delivered a pair of goals and helped Seattle snap a 5-game losing streak. Martins has nine goals on the year despite playing in just 12 matches.

Nelson Valdez (Seattle) - World Cup veteran Nelson Valdez made his MLS debut and scored Seattle's second goal in its 4-0 rout of Orlando City. Valdez has 68 CAPS for Paraguay's national team scoring 13 times including one against Argentina in this year's Copa América.

Kennedy Igboananike (Chicago) - Igboananike scored a pair of goals and assisted on a third as he accounted for all of Chicago's offense in their 3-3 draw with Philadelphia. Igboananike had just two goals and an assist on the year entering the match.

Fernando Aristeguieta (Philadelphia) - Aristeguieta scored his first goal since April 5th as he made his first start since early June for the Union.

SHUTOUTS BY:

John McCarthy (Philadelphia) - McCarthy made two saves as the Union advanced to the U.S. Open Cup Finals for the second year in a row. McCarthy earned his first career MLS shutout last Saturday against Orlando City.

David Bingham (San Jose) - Bingham made a pair of saves as San Jose earned their first win since June. The San Jose netminder has seven saves on the year.

Luis Robles (NYRB) - New York won for the seventh time in nine games as Robles earned his seventh shutout of the season. Robles had only six shutouts in 34 starts in 2014.

Bobby Shuttleworth (New England) - Shuttleworth earned his first shutout since June as the Revs extended their unbeaten run to four games with a 2-0 win over Houston. Shuttleworth has six shutouts on the year.

Adam Kwarasey (Portland) - Kwarasey made five saves as Portland held off Real Salt Lake for their third consecutive shutout. Kwarasey hasn't been scored upon in the month of August and leads MLS with 11 shutouts this season.

Stefan Frei (Seattle) - Frei matches his career high with his 9th shutout in Seattle's blowout win over Orlando City. The shutout was Frei's first since Seattle beat Dallas 3-0 on June 13th.

Thursday, August 13, 2015

Canadian Championship Leg 1 Highlights

Lots of excitement in the first leg between Vancouver and Montreal as Vancouver took a 2-0 lead only to have Montreal rally for a draw in the game's closing minutes. The second leg will be played on August 26th in Vancouver. Here's the highlights:


Union-Sporting KC set for 2015 U.S. Open Cup Final

The 2015 U.S. Open Cup Final is set as the Philadelphia Union get set to host Sporting Kansas City at the end of September. Nobody should be surprised to see Sporting Kansas City in the Finals as Sporting leads the league in points per game (37 pts in 21 matches), and has the fewest losses of any MLS club with four. Add in star power in the likes of Benny Feilhaber, Graham Zusi, Dominic Dwyer and Matt Besler, and solid contributions from newcomers Soni Mustivar and Krisztián Németh, and you have a recipe for success. On the other side of the pitch, you have the Philadelphia Union. The Union lead MLS with 13 losses and have the fewest points per game in the league (23 points in 24 matches). Still, for the second year in a row, it's Philadelphia who find themselves in the U.S. Open Cup Final. It's been quite a run for the Union who have twice overcome red cards, and twice overcome shootouts, in their 4-game journey to the Championship. It was fitting too that the tournament's all-time leading scorer, Sébastien Le Toux, would be the one to send the Union through in their 1-0 win over Chicago. Still, the Union will head into the final as heavy underdogs. The two clubs met just once this season with the Union squandering a 2-1 lead in stoppage time and falling 3-2 on Németh's game winner in the 94th minute. That was still during the Raïs M'Bolhi era though which the Union have moved past. The Final is set for September 30th with a berth in next year's Champions League on the line. Here's a look at how each team made it to the Finals.

Philadelphia Union

D 0-0 vs Rochester Rhinos (USL), W 3-1 on PKs
W 2-1 vs DC United - Ayuk (1), Fabinho (1)
D 1-1 vs New York Red Bulls, W 4-3 on PKs - Ayuk (2)
W 1-0 vs Chicago Fire - Le Toux (1)

Sporting Kansas City

W 1-0 vs Saint Louis FC (USL) - Zusi (1)
W 6-2 vs FC Dallas - Dwyer 4 (4), Németh 2 (2)
W 3-1 vs Houston Dynamo - Feilhaber (1), Dwyer (5), Németh (3)
W 3-1 vs Real Salt Lake - Mustivar (1), Feilhaber (2), Németh (4)

Tuesday, August 11, 2015

CCL Group Play, Round 1 Highlights

Here's the highlights from the first round of Champions League action:

Real Salt Lake 1 Municipal (Guatemala) 0 - Group G


Weekly Top Tens and Power Rankings

THE SOCCERSMITH'S MLS POWER RANKINGS

1 - Sporting Kansas City (10-4-7) - Benny Feilhaber is having an MVP-type season and just delivered a goal and an assist against Sebastian Giovinco and company in a 3-1 win. Last Week: 1
2 - LA Galaxy (11-7-7) - Blew out a weaker opponent in their Champions League opener, came from behind to beat the short-handed Sounders, and debuted Giovani dos Santos (2 goals, 2 assists in 2 matches). Pretty good week for Galaxy fans. Last Week: 2
3 - DC United (13-7-5) - When Bill Hamid's your goalkeeper, you can get outshot 25-1 and still win. Last Week: 4
4 - FC Dallas (11-6-5) - Didn't do anything wrong, but drop a spot by virtue of their bye week. Last Week: 3
5 - New York Red Bulls (10-6-6) - Bradley Wright-Phillips averages 1.33 goals per game against New York City FC. The Red Bulls also debuted their new designated player, Gonzalo Verón as they try to keep pace with DC United in the East. Last Week: 5
6 - Vancouver Whitecaps (13-8-3) - The Caps have won three straight and lead the West with 13 wins. Now they just need to figure out how to beat Montreal and win the Canadian Championship this week. Last Week: 6
7 - Portland Timbers (10-8-6) - Fanendo Adi has reached 10 goals, Adam Kwarasey reached 10 shutouts and the Timbers reached 10 wins. I kinda want to rank them 10th, but they deserve better. Last Week: 8
8 - Columbus Crew (9-8-7) - Two more goals for Kei Kamara who now needs just three to hit 20 on the year. Last Week: 10
9 - Toronto FC (9-9-4) - Looked great in a 4-1 win over Orlando City, but then got taken apart by Sporting Kansas City later in the week. Added Herculez Gomez to augment the attack but can they defend against good teams? Last Week: 7
10 - Houston Dynamo (8-8-7) - DaMarcus Beasley scored his first MLS goal in over a decade as the Dynamo are back to .500. Last Week: 11

MLS Weekly Recap, Week 23

Here's this week's recap:

Johan Venegas made his Montreal Impact debut, but the Costa Rican International was not enough to propel the Impact to a victory over their Eastern Conference rivals. Lloyd Sam equalized early in the second half and then the Impact fought to preserve a draw after Laurent Ciman's ejection in the 79th minute... Sebastian Giovinco's hat trick was more than enough for Toronto FC to dispatch Orlando City despite playing without Michael Bradley. Orlando's Cyle Larin was held scoreless after scoring five goals in his previous two matches... Adam Kwarasey earned his league leading 10th shutout as the Timbers earned their 10th win of the season in a 1-0 victory over the Chicago Fire. Fanendo Adi scored the only goal of the match, his 10th of the season... Michael Bradley returned to the Toronto lineup on Saturday, and while he scored his third goal of the season, the Reds were no match for Sporting Kansas City as Sporting got another goal and an assist from Benny Feilhaber... Tranquillo Barnetta made his first start for the Union, but defense was the story between Orlando City and Philadelphia as the two sides played to a 0-0 draw... DC United was outshot by Montreal 25-1, but thanks to the return of Bill Hamid, DC United somehow pulled out a 1-0 victory. Hamid made eight saves in the match... DaMarcus Beasley's first MLS goal since 2003 helped propel the Houston Dynamo to a 2-1 win over the San Jose Earthquakes. San Jose played a man down for the final 30 minutes after rookie Fatai Alashe picked up his second yellow card of the match... Kei Kamara scored twice in the second half as Columbus rallied from a 1-0 deficit to defeat the Colorado Rapids 2-1... Vancouver matched DC United at 13 wins with a 4-0 rout of Real Salt Lake. Jeff Attinella allowed 4 more goals as Real Salt Lake has been outscored 10-4 in their last two MLS matches... Giovani dos Santos's MLS debut was a huge success as the Mexican striker tallied a goal and an assist in just 69 minutes of play and the Galaxy defeated the Sounders 3-1 despite falling behind in the opening minute. Seattle, who played the match without Clint Dempsey or Obafemi Martins, also lost Chad Barrett to an injury minutes into the match and has lost five in a row and 8 of 9... The Red Bulls swept the subway series with New York City FC thanks to a 2-0 win on Sunday night highlighted by goals Bradley Wright-Phillips and Felipe. City is now 0-2-0 in the Frank Lampard era.

RESULTS

TUESDAY

Real Salt Lake 1 Municipal (Guatemala) 0 - CCL, Group G
Querétaro (Mexico) 2 San Francisco (Panama) 0 - CCL, Group C
Santos Laguna (Mexico) 4 W Connection FC (Trinidad & Tobago) - CCL, Group A

WEDNESDAY

New York Red Bulls 1 Montreal Impact 1
Toronto FC 4 Orlando City SC 1
Vancouver Whitecaps 1 Seattle Sounders 1 - CCL, Group F
Club América (Mexico) 4 Motagua (Honduras) 0 - CCL, Group E
Árabe Unido (Panama) 3 Montego Bay United (Jamaica) 0 - CCL, Group H

THURSDAY

LA Galaxy 5 Central FC (Trinidad and Tobago) 1 - CCL, Group D
Herediano (Costa Rica) 3 Isidro Metapán (El Salvador) 0 - CCL, Group B

FRIDAY

Portland Timbers 1 Chicago Fire 0

SATURDAY

Sporting Kansas City 3 Toronto FC 1
Philadelphia Union 0 Orlando City SC 0
DC United 1 Montreal Impact 0
Houston Dynamo 2 San Jose Earthquakes 1
Columbus Crew 2 Colorado Rapids 1
Vancouver Whitecaps 4 Real Salt Lake 0

SUNDAY

LA Galaxy 3 Seattle Sounders 1
New York Red Bulls 2 New York City FC 0

NOTABLE GOALS

Joao Plata (Real Salt Lake) - Joao Plata scored less than two minutes into Real Salt Lake's Champions League Opener against Municipal (Guatemala) and that was all they'd need as they hung on for the 1-0 win for three big points on the road.

Sebastian Giovinco (Toronto FC) - Playing without Michael Bradley or Jozy Alitdore, Sebastian Giovinco stole the show in Toronto's 4-1 win over Orlando City. Giovinco scored three times, his second hat trick and fourth multi-goal effort of the season, and the Italian international now has 16 goals on the year.

Tim Parker (Vancouver) - Parker, the 13th overall pick in this year's draft, scored the opening goal in Vancouver's Champions League showdown with the Seattle Sounders. The 6'2" center back has made 5 regular season starts for the Caps this year.

Alan Gordon (LA Galaxy) - Alan Gordon started LA's Champions League Opener and delivered a goal and an assist in just 57 minutes against Central F.C. (Trinidad and Tobago).

Gyasi Zardes (LA Galaxy) - Zardes had a big week as he had a goal and an assist in LA's Champions League win on Thursday and then turned around to score again against Seattle on Sunday. Zardes has five goals for the Galaxy this season.

Giovani dos Santos (LA Galaxy) - Gio dos Santos has put the rest of the league on notice scoring and assisting off the bench in his Galaxy debut against Central and then producing the same results as a starter in LA's 3-1 win over Seattle.

Ignacio Maganto (LA Galaxy) - LA's top pick in this year's draft at #21 started their Champions League opener and produced the final goal in a 5-1 rout.

Fanendo Adi (Portland) - The 24 year-old Adi reached double digit goals with his game winner against Chicago on Friday night. Adi scored nine goals in his debut season a year ago.

Benny Feilhaber (Sporting KC) - Feilhaber's sensational season continued this week as he notched yet another goal and an assist in Sporting's 3-1 win over Toronto. Feilhaber has the same amount of goals in 21 matches this year that he scored in 87 matches over the previous three seasons (8).

Michael Bradley (Toronto FC) - Bradley returned to the Toronto lineup for the first time since June 27th, and while he scored his career-high third goal, Toronto came up short in a 3-1 loss to Sporting Kansas City.

Krisztián Németh (Sporting KC) - The Hungarian Hammer scored for the first time in over a month as Sporting cruised to a 3-1 win over Toronto FC. Németh has eight goals on the season.

Chris Rolfe (DC United) - Rolfe, now 32 years old, tied his career high for goals in a season when he scored the game winner in DC's 1-0 win over Montreal. Rolfe's only other nine-goal season came in 2008 with the Chicago Fire, but more remarkable was the fact that United was outshot 25-1 and still managed a win.

DaMarcus Beasley (Houston) - Run DMB scored his first MLS goal since 2003 when he was a 21 year-old member of the Chicago Fire. He now has 15 goals in his MLS career which dates back to 2000, and this one helped the Dynamo to a 2-1 win over San Jose.

Kei Kamara (Columbus) - Kamara scored twice in the Crew's 2-1 win over Colorado helping him retain the league's scoring lead with 17 goals in 24 matches. In his previous 48 MLS matches, Kamara scored just 18 goals. Kamara's next goal will be the 70th of his MLS career.

Octavio Rivero (Vancouver) - Rivero knocked in an early penalty helping set the tone early as Vancouver routed Real Salt Lake 4-0 on Saturday night. Rivero has nine goals on the season including four game winners.

Pa-Modou Kah (Vancouver) - After scoring one goal in his first 58 MLS matches, Kah now has three in his last two after tallying in Vancouver's 4-0 rout of Real Salt Lake.

Cristian Techera (Vancouver) - The 23 year-old Techera picked up his first MLS brace in Vancouver's 4-0 win over RSL. Techera now has 4 goals and 3 assists in his first MLS season.

Robbie Keane (LA Galaxy) - Keane made it goals in back-to-back matches and also added an assist in LA's 3-1 win over Seattle. The Galaxy now have four wins in their last five matches with Keane tallying eight goals during that stretch.

Bradley Wright-Phillips (NYRB) - BWP made it double-digit goals in back-to-back seasons after netting the game winner against New York City FC on Sunday night. Wright-Phillips has scored four goals in three matches against City this season, all Red Bulls wins.

SHUTOUTS BY:

Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake) - Rimando made three saves in Real Salt Lake's 1-0 Champions League win over Municipal (Guatemala).

Adam Kwarasey (Portland) - The league leader in shutouts became the first keeper to double digit clean sheets in 2015. The former Ghanaian National Team goalie has back-to-back shutouts for the Timbers.

Tally Hall (Orlando City) - Hall made four saves and earned his first shutout since June 24th as Orlando City played Philadelphia to a scoreless draw. Hall has four shutouts in 14 starts this season. He had a career high 12 shutouts with the Dynamo in 2012.

John McCarthy (Philadelphia) - McCarthy earned the first shutout of his career in Philadelphia's 0-0 draw with Orlando City. McCarthy made just one save while making the seventh start of his first MLS season.

Bill Hamid (DC United) - Hamid returned to action for the first time since the end of June and turned in an 8-save effort that helped United overcome a 25-1 shots disadvantage and turn it into three points.

David Ousted (Vancouver) - Ousted made it back-to-back shutouts and three straight wins for the Caps as they soundly beat Real Salt Lake on Saturday night. Ousted has nine shutouts on the year and leads the league with 13 wins.

Luis Robles (NYRB) - Robles equaled last season's shutout total by picking up his sixth of the year in New York's 2-0 win over their crosstown rivals. Robles has 25 shutouts in his MLS career.

MLS SuperDraft Rookie Watch, Week 23

Orlando City's Conor Donovan made his MLS debut against Philadelphia, but hobbled off in the first half with a knee injury. Elsewhere, ejections were the name of the game this week as both San Jose's Fatai Alashe and Colorado's Axel Sjöberg earned double yellows and were sent off in their respective club's losses. Meanwhile, four rookies got Champions League starts with both Vancouver's Tim Parker and LA's Ignacio Maganto finding the back of the net. Here's a rundown of all the action:

MLS

1 - Cyle Larin - Orlando City - Started vs Toronto FC, 90 mins, 3 shots
1 - Cyle Larin - Orlando City - Started vs Philadelphia, 90 mins, 2 shots
4 - Fatai Alashe - San Jose - Started vs Houston, 60 mins, yellow card, red card
7 - Matt Polster - Chicago - Started vs Portland, 90 mins, yellow card
10 - Connor Hallisey - Sporting KC - Started vs Toronto, 90 mins, 1 shot
12 - Saad Abdul-Salaam - Sporting KC - Sub vs Toronto, 14 mins
14 - Axel Sjöberg - Colorado - Started vs Columbus, 89 mins, yellow card, red card
16 - Cristian Roldan - Seattle - Sub vs LA, 86 mins 2 shots
20 - Amadou Dia - Sporting KC - Sub vs Toronto, 2 mins
21 - Ignacio Maganto - LA Galaxy - Sub vs Seattle, 1 min
22 - Conor Donovan - Orlando City - Started vs Philadelphia, 14 mins
27 - Boyd Okwuonu - Real Salt Lake - Sub vs Vancouver, 18 mins
40 - Oniel Fisher - Seattle - Sub vs LA, 30 mins, 2 shots, yellow card

CCL

13 - Tim Parker - Vancouver - Started vs Seattle, 90 mins, 1 shot, 1 goal

16 - Cristian Roldan - Seattle - Started vs Vancouver, 90 mins
21 - Ignacio Maganto - LA Galaxy - Started vs Central, 90 mins, 2 shots, 1 goal
40 - Oniel Fisher - Seattle - Started vs Vancouver, 90 mins



Tuesday, August 4, 2015

CONCACAF Champions League Starts Tonight!

The biggest club soccer competition in our region is back with three matches tonight kicking off group play in the 2015-16 CONCACAF Champions League. Here's a quick rundown of who's in this year's tournament:

Group A

W Connection F.C. (Trinidad and Tobago)
Saprissa (Costa Rica)
Santos Laguna (Mexico)

Group B

Isidro Metapán (El Salvador)
Herediano (Costa Rica)
Tigres UANL (Mexico)

Group C

Verdes (Belize)
San Francisco (Panama)
Querétaro (Mexico)

Group D

Central (Trinidad and Tobago)
Comunicaciones (Guatemala)
LA Galaxy (USA)

Monday, August 3, 2015

What's up with Jozy?

Not a good couple of months for Jozy Altidore. Here's a look at some of the "highlights" of Jozy's last four months.

March 31 - Ejected following a double yellow against Switzerland
May 16 - Left match versus New England with hamstring injury
July 3 - Missed a penalty kick in friendly versus Guatemala
July 7 - Subbed off after 59 minutes against Honduras in Gold Cup Group Play
July 10 - Subbed off after 45 minutes against Haiti in Gold Cup Group Play
July 13 - Benched against Panama in Gold Cup Group Play
July 14 - Removed from Gold Cup Roster and replaced by Alan Gordon
August 1 - Ejected in 3-1 loss versus New England after 39 mins

In summary, a pair of ejections, an injury, a missed penalty, and losing his roster spot in the Gold Cup. Not good at all. Hopefully whatever it is, he snaps out of it, because he's needed by both club and country.

Weekly Top Tens and Power Rankings

THE SOCCERSMITH'S MLS POWER RANKINGS

1 - Sporting Kansas City (9-4-7) - Settled for a draw with Houston, but still have a league-low four losses. Last Week: 2
2 - LA Galaxy (10-7-7) - Sebastian Lletget already has six goals, Steven Gerrard and Robbie Keane are clicking, and now they're getting ready to bring Giovanni Dos Santos into the fold. Last Week: 4
3 - FC Dallas (11-6-5) - Saw their winning streak snapped and finally lost a game in which Kellyn Acosta started, but no one in Dallas is panicking. Last Week: 1
4 - DC United (12-7-5) - Scored six goals (SIX) in a win over Real Salt Lake, and have now rallied from 2-0 deficits in back-to-back wins. Last Week: 5
5 - New York Red Bulls (9-6-5) - New York has found the Wright stuff as the brothers Wright-Phillips combined to deliver the game winner against Philadelphia. Last Week: 6
6 - Vancouver Whitecaps (12-8-3) - First team in the Western Conference to 12 wins, and they finally got a boost from their defense both in shutting out the Sounders and scoring goals (yeah, I'm talking about you, Pa-Modou Kah). Last Week: 7
7 - Toronto FC (8-8-4) - Jozy Altidore is having a forgettable stretch and Michael Bradley's banged up. Can Sebastian Giovinco put the team on his shoulders once again? Last Week: 3
8 - Portland Timbers (9-8-6) - Adam Kwarasey leads MLS with nine shutouts. Unfortunately, Portland's offense hasn't been clicking. Last Week: 10
9 - Orlando City SC (7-9-6) - Cyle Larin is for real with five goals in his last two matches. Orlando's been making roster moves as well and they appear poised to make a run in the East. Last Week: 15
10 - Columbus Crew (8-8-7) - Absolutely horrible defensive effort against Orlando City. "Changes" are they coming, but will it help the defense? Last Week: 8

MLS Weekly Recap - Week 22

Here's this week's recap:

Frank Lampard made his long awaited and much anticipated MLS debut for New York City FC, but a win was not in the cards for City as they were beaten 3-2 by Ignacio Piatti and the Montreal Impact. Didier Drogba, the Impact's big new addition, did not dress for the match... In their first head-to-head match-up since the Luis Silva-Álvaro Saborío trade, DC United and Real Salt Lake's back-up keepers combined to allow 10 goals in a high scoring affair. DC United rallied all the way back from a 2-0 deficit for the second consecutive match and United became the first team to 12 wins this year... New York had the Wright stuff working this weekend as newly signed Shaun Wright-Phillips came off the bench and assisted on little brother Bradley's game winning goal against the Philadelphia Union. With the win, the Red Bulls have taken over second place in the Eastern Conference while the Union lose their league-worst 13th match of the season... Jozy Altidore's rough stretch continues as he was ejected in the first half and Toronto was unable to recover in a 3-1 loss to New England. The Revs got a big boost from Jermaine Jones who made his first appearance for the club since May. The Revs are now unbeaten in their last three... Cyle Larin scored two more goals and the Orlando offense erupted for five total as Orlando City routed the Columbus Crew 5-2. Larin now has 11 goals on the season tying the rookie record set by Chicago's Damani Ralph in 2003... Sporting Kansas City was unable to hang onto an early lead and was forced to settle for a draw with the Houston Dynamo, 1-1. Cubo Torres once again came off the bench for the Dynamo who remain unbeaten in games in which he appears this year... Donovan Ricketts returned to the Galaxy and LA rewarded him with a 3-1 win despite falling behind early 1-0. Steven Gerrard went a full 90 minutes for the first time since his arrival and contributed with a stoppage time assist to Robbie Keane to help put the match out of reach... Pa-Modou Kah scored his first two goals of the season as Seattle's free fall continues following a 3-0 loss to Vancouver. Despite the returns of Clint Dempsey, Stefan Frei and Brad Evans to the Sounders lineup, Seattle lost their fourth straight - all by shutout - and are 1-7-0 in their last 8 matches scoring just two goals during that stretch. Vancouver meanwhile becomes the first Western Conference team to reach 12 wins... San Jose and Portland played to a scoreless draw, as San Jose snapped a four game losing streak, but are still winless in their last five... Chicago snapped Dallas's 5-game winning streak thanks to an early goal by David Accam, and then survived a late Matt Watson red card and hung on for a 2-0 win.

RESULTS

TUESDAY

Club América U-20s 1 MLS Homegrown Team 1, Club América wins 5-4 on penalties

WEDNESDAY

MLS All Stars 2 Tottenham Hotspur 1 - MLS All Star Game

SATURDAY

Montreal Impact 3 New York City FC 2
DC United 6 Real Salt Lake 4
New York Red Bulls 3 Philadelphia Union 1
New England Revolution 3 Toronto FC 1
Orlando City SC 5 Columbus Crew 2
Houston Dynamo 1 Sporting Kansas City 1
LA Galaxy 3 Colorado Rapids 1
Vancouver Whitecaps 3 Seattle Sounders 0

SUNDAY

San Jose Earthquakes 0 Portland Timbers 0
Chicago Fire 2 FC Dallas 0

NOTABLE GOALS

Tommy Thompson (MLS Homegrown) - Thompson scored the first ever MLS Homegrown Game goal, but the MLSers would fall 5-4 in a shootout to Club América's U-20s. The 19 year-old Thompson has yet to score in 25 MLS matches.

David Villa (MLS All Stars/NYCFC) - Villa scored what ended up being the game winning goal in this year's All-Star Game and then added his 13th goal of the season in New York's 3-2 loss to Montreal. Villa has seven goals in his last five matches and ten in his last eight.

Kaká (MLS All Stars) - Kaká converted a penalty kick in the All-Star Game, and assisted on Villa's game winner and then picked up another assist in Orlando's 5-2 win over Columbus on Saturday. Kaká has assists in back-to-back matches for the first time this season and now has four assists on the year to go along with nine goals.

Ignacio Piatti (Montreal) - Piatti's first brace of the season led the way for Montreal as they won their second straight, defeating New York City FC 3-2. Piatti leads the Impact with 8 goals on the year and has 12 goals in just 24 career MLS starts.

Chris Rolfe (DC United) - At age 32 Chris Rolfe is in the midst of his most productive MLS season since 2008 when he had 9 goals and 8 assists for the Chicago Fire. With two goals against Real Salt Lake in DC United's wild 6-4 win, Rolfe now has 8 goals to go along with three assists this season.

Joao Plata (Real Salt Lake) - Plata has now scored in three straight for Real Salt Lake who had their two game winning streak snapped when their defense imploded against DC United.

Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake) - Beckerman returned from the Gold Cup and scored his first goal of the season for Real Salt Lake, but it wasn't enough to overcome their inability to defend in a 6-4 loss. Beckerman has 36 goals in 370 career appearances for the Miami Fusion, Colorado Rapids and Real Salt Lake.

Perry Kitchen (DC United) - Kitchen scored for the first time since his April brace against the Red Bulls and helped propel DC United to a big win over Real Salt Lake. It was the second straight match that United was able to overcome a 2-0 deficit and come away with three points.

Bradley Wright-Phillips (NYRB) - Bradley took an assist from his brother Shaun to score the game winner against Philadelphia. While BWP isn't producing at last season's rate, he does have nine goals on the year now.

Sacha Kljestan (NYRB) - Sacha tallied his fourth goal of the season when he converted a penalty in New York's 3-1 win over the Union. His next goal will tie his career high set in 2008 and 2009 with Chivas USA and will give him 20 goals in his MLS career.

Anatole Abang (NYRB) - New York's 19 year-old super sub scored his fourth goal of the season and third when coming off the bench. His accomplishments are all-the-more impressive when you consider he's logged only 379 minutes all season.

Charlie Davies (New England) - Davies' first brace of 2015 helped New England knock off Toronto 3-1 and the Revs now find themselves unbeaten in their last three matches. Davies, who hadn't scored since mid-June now has nine goals on the year.

Lee Nguyen (New England) - Last year's breakout performer made it goals in three straight as New England is starting to get hot at just the right time.

Cyle Larin (Orlando City) - Larin tied Damani Ralph's rookie record when he scored his 11th goal of the season, and second goal of the match, on Saturday. Larin now has five goals in his last two games. Crazy as it may same, he has yet to tally an assist this year.

Dom Dwyer (Sporting KC) - Dwyer scored his seventh goal of the season, but Sporting KC still had to settle for a draw with Houston.

Ricardo Clark (Houston) - Now in his 11th MLS season, Clark has just set a new career high with his fifth goal of the year. Clark scored four goals in each of the last two seasons.

Robbie Keane (LA Galaxy) - Keane got on the end of a Steven Gerrard pass to make it four straight seasons with at least ten goals. He now has 63 goals in his five years with the Galaxy.

Sebastian Lletget (LA Galaxy) - Lletget scored yet again and now has six goals since joining the Galaxy this spring. The Galaxy are 5-0-1 when he scores.

Alan Gordon (LA Galaxy) - Alan Gordon, back from the Gold Cup, started for the first time since May and rewarded his club with his fifth goal of the season. Gordon's next goal with be the 50th of his career.

Pa-Modou Kah (Vancouver) - After scoring just once in his first 58 MLS matches, Kah scored twice in Vancouver's convincing win over the suddenly struggling Sounders.

Pedro Morales (Vancouver) - Morales scored for the first time in almost two months when he buried a free kick against Seattle. He's up to four goals on the year after scoring ten a season ago.

David Accam (Chicago) - Accam's sixth goal of the season helped the Fire to just their second win in their last ten matches.

Shaun Maloney (Chicago) - Maloney made it goals in back-to-back matches and helped the Fire snap a three-game winless streak in the process. The Scottish international has three goals since coming to MLS.

SHUTOUTS BY:

David Ousted (Vancouver) - Ousted, who led the league in shutouts a year ago with 13, picked up his first clean sheet in almost two months with a three-save effort against Seattle. Ousted has 8 shutouts on the year and 25 in his career.

Adam Kwarasey (Portland) - Kwarasey took over the league lead in shutouts with his ninth of the season coming in Portland's 0-0 draw with San Jose.

David Bingham (San Jose) - After surrendering a total of eight goals in losses to LA and Vancouver, Bingham turned in a five-save performance to help San Jose salvage a point against Portland. Bingham has six shutouts this season.

Sean Johnson (Chicago) - Johnson made three saves in helping Chicago hang on for a win over Dallas despite going down to ten men with ten minutes remaining in the contest. Johnson has four shutouts in 14 starts.

MLS SuperDraft Rookie Watch, Week 22

As we enter the second half of the season, with the Gold Cup now over and teams starting to bring in talent through the transfer window, we're seeing fewer rookies actually getting onto the field which is going to make Cyle Larin's quest to win the Rookie of the Year that much more of a no-brainer. The Canadian striker scored two more goals to tie the rookie record of 11 in one season and it's only the beginning of August. In other action, Fatai Alashe and Matt Polster both turned in strong shifts in the midfield for their respective clubs and Amadou Dia went the distance for Sporting Kansas City in the back. Here's the complete rundown:

1 - Cyle Larin - Orlando City - Started vs Columbus, 78 mins, 8 shots, 2 goals
4 - Fatai Alashe - San Jose - Started vs Portland, 90 mins, 1 shot
7 - Matt Polster - Chicago - Started vs Dallas, 90 mins, 1 shot
12 - Saad Abdul-Salaam - Sporting KC - Sub vs Houston, 11 mins
16 - Cristian Roldan - Seattle - Sub vs Vancouver, 30 mins
20 - Amadou Dia - Sporting KC - Started vs Houston, 90 mins