2015 Week 3 Report

Given that our boys’ games this weekend featured so few goals and, well, so few of our boys, we’re going to highlight the mid-week CONCACAF Champions League Semifinal to start off.

MONTREAL IMPACT  W 2-0  v Alajuelense, CCL Semifinal, Leg 1  •  Evan Bush [Concord Township/Lake Catholic] had a great seat for (maybe) the Impact’s most historic result ever.  The ten guys in front of him kept him pretty clean, too, as he only needed to make one save.  He has now allowed only six goals in seven CCL matches during this 2014-15 competition.  Getting two first-half goals and the victory were obviously crucial for the Impact, but so was not allowing an away goal to Alajuelense.  Both DC United and Cruz Azul can attest to what their conquerors are capable of down in Costa Rica, so it’s going to require maximum effort and another incredible performance for Montreal on Tuesday, 7 April for them to become the first-ever MLS team to advance to the CCL Final.

Here’s how it all went down in MLS action this past weekend:

MONTREAL IMPACT  D 0-0  @ New England Revolution  •  Bush played all of this match, making four saves to earn his second shutout in four days.  Overshadowing the result (grinding out a point with ten men on the road) was the first-half knee injury to Montreal’s rookie sensation and hero of their CCL quarterfinal victory over Pachuca, Cameron Porter.  Just last week, they lost veteran attacking talent Justin Mapp to a shoulder injury.  Not that there’s ever a good time for injuries, but with the looming return leg of the CCL semis – not to mention the regular season contests – this isn’t good.

NEW YORK CITY FC  D 0-0  @ Colorado Rapids  •  Josh Williams [Copley/Copley] was not in the gameday roster of 18.  This match just wasn’t that exciting, I’m sorry to say.  However, the guy who ostensibly replaced Williams in the lineup – Manchester City flunkee Shay Facey got himself red-carded (two yellows), so that should bring Williams back into the lineup next weekend.  One other thing worth noting – the ref for this match was Clevelander Sorin Stoica.  We’ve talked before on this blog about his… penchant? tendency? proclivity?… his history of giving out la pena máxima as we say in Spanish, when he’s the man in the middle.  I’m not saying Facey didn’t deserve it – he sure did – but it does seem like Stoica gives out a lot of reds.

PORTLAND TIMBERS  D 0-0  @ Sporting Kansas City  •  Darlington Nagbe [Lakewood/St. Edward] played all 90 as an attacking mid.  Michael Nanchoff [North Royalton/Walsh Jesuit] was not in the gameday roster of 18.  It wasn’t the kind of open game that Portland wants to play, but getting a point in KC is always good.

LOS ANGELES GALAXY  D 1-1  v Houston Dynamo  •  Kenney Walker [Wickliffe/Wickliffe] was not in the gameday roster of 18.  Both goals were scored in the first half and brought to a close one of the lowest-scoring Saturdays in league history – a total of three goals were scored in a total of five games.

DC UNITED  L 0-2  @ New York Red Bulls  •  Chris Korb [Gates Mills/University School] started at left back and played 70 minutes, as the Red Bulls started off the 2015 Atlantic Cup chase on the right foot.

Next Weekend’s Games
Saturday, 28 March
~ MONTREAL  v  Orlando, 4pm
~ NEW YORK CITY FC  v  Sporting Kansas City, 7pm
~ DC UNITED  v  LOS ANGELES, 7pm
~ COLUMBUS  v  New York Red Bulls, 730pm
~ Vancouver  v  PORTLAND, 8pm
Sunday, 29 March
~ Real Salt Lake  v  TORONTO FC, 7pm – Fox Sports 1

PHOTO CREDIT:  Paul Chiasson/CP

2014 Week Twenty-Four Report

Everyone has fewer than ten games left in their seasons, so each contest is now super-important.  Three points lost are three points gained by a conference foe, and a draw is maybe not as good as it is bad… depending on others’ results.  It was a big week with a lot of our boys’ teams moving around the standings a little bit.  All that being said, only three of our MLS guys got and tick.  Here’s what went down last weekend:

LOS ANGELES GALAXY  W 4-1  v DC UNITED  •  A mid-week clash between two traditional rivals saw no action for either of our boys, but plenty of goals and attacking verve from the home side.  Chris Korb [Gates Mills/University School] was not in the travel squad thanks to a still-dodgy hammy and Kenney Walker [Wickliffe/Wickliffe] was not in the Galaxy XVIII because… well… I can’t seem to be able to dig up anything that has happened to him.  Maybe the other guys at his spot – and there are a few – are just in better form at the moment.  Since getting smoked by the Crew in the middle of last month, the Galaxy have won four straight by a combined score of 13-4.

TORONTO FC  L 0-3  v New England Revolution  •  This loss cost TFC boss Ryan Nelsen his job, which was a weird thing, especially since the Reds were and are in a playoff spot.  Justin Morrow [Cleveland/St. Ignatius] was not available after tearing a hamstring last weekend.

MONTREAL IMPACT  W 2-0  v COLUMBUS CREW  •  Well, I’m honestly very happy for Evan Bush [Concord Township/Lake Catholic], who authored his second shutout in three games, but I was certainly not happy that night as a Crew fan.  Not when an opportunity to cement a playoff spot went wasted.  Bush played well, making five saves along the way.  Truly, he deserved it.  Especially after all the goalfests the Impact’s porous defense has permitted during his four other starts (12 goals allowed).  Nevertheless, Montreal is still in the basement and the Crew are still in the basement of the playoff berths, clinging onto 5th place by the narrowest of margins (a 1-point lead over Philly, who have a game in hand as of last weekend).  Ben Speas [Stow/Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy] subbed in at mid for the final 14 minutes.

PORTLAND TIMBERS  W 3-0  @ Vancouver Whitecaps  •  They’re all must-win games now, but last Sunday’s was a mustn’t-lose match for the Timbers.  Darlington Nagbe [Lakewood/St. Edward] picked an ideal time to turn in one of his best performances of the season.  He played all 90 and created the Timbers’ final goal of the game with this mazy dribble.  Ben Zemanski [Akron/Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy] was an unused sub and Michael Nanchoff [North Royalton/Walsh Jesuit] was not in the team.

DC UNITED  W 2-0  v New York Red Bulls  •  Nice bounce-back, DC.  Very nice.  No Korb, though.  Performances like that will win you the Atlantic Cup every year… which they did by winning the match and despite the fact the two teams will play again in less than a fortnight.

LOS ANGELES GALAXY  W 3-0  @ Chivas USA  •  Galaxy still rollin’ on.  Not a Walker in sight.  Did you see this goal from Robbie Keane?  If not, it is most definitely worth watching.  Pretty sweet stuff from the Irishman.

UP NEXT
Philadelphia  v  TORONTO FC, Wednesday, 3 September, 730pm
LOS ANGELES  v  Colorado, Friday, 5 September, 1030pm – Univisión Deportes
TORONTO  v  Philadelphia, Saturday, 6 September, 2pm
Houston  v  MONTREAL, 830pm
Vancouver  v  DC UNITED, 10pm
COLUMBUS  v  Chivas USA, Sunday, 7 September, 3pm – UniMás
PORTLAND  v San Jose, 445pm – ESPN

 

The non-MLS Report
INDY ELEVEN  D 2-2  v New York Cosmos  •  The Eleven snatched a draw from the jaws of defeat with a 90th minute tally last Saturday night.  Making the win all the more exciting is the fact the Cosmos held a 2-0 lead at the 60-minute mark.  Kyle Hyland [Bay Village/Bay] started and played all 90 at left back.  The draw puts Indy in the NASL’s ninth place with eight points.  NEXT UP:  @ Atlanta Silverbacks, Saturday, 6 September, 730pm

OTTAWA FURY  L 0-2  v Tampa Bay Rowdies  •  The Fury surrendered both goals in the first half en route to its fifth loss of the fall season.  Sinisa Ubiparipovic [Mentor/Mentor] started at offensive mid and played the first half before being subbed out.  Ottawa is now last in the league with five points from eight games.  NEXT UP:  v Carolina RailHawks, Sunday, 7 September, 3pm

WILMINGTON HAMMERHEADS  L 1-3  v Orlando City SC;  D 0-0  v Sacramento Republic FC  •  Brad Stuver [Twinburg/Twinsburg] played all of both matches, as the Hammerheads continue their push towards the USL-PRO playoffs.  He made seven saves against OC and two more against Sac FC.  Wilmington has three matches remaining in the regular season and can lock up a playoff berth by earning at least four points from those matches.  NEXT UP:  v Orlando City, Wednesday, 3 September, 730pm;  @ Dayton Dutch Lions, Friday, 5 September, 7pm;  @ Rochester Rhinos, Sunday, 7 Sepetmber, 405pm

PHOTO CREDIT:  Anne-Marie Sorvin/USA Today

2014 Week Six Report

Two wins, a loss and three draws for our MLS boys this past weekend, and has typically been the case, only three of them got to play.  Here’s how it all went down:

COLUMBUS CREW  D 1-1  @ San Jose Earthquakes  •  Columbus remains unbeaten on the road after sharing the points with the Earthquakes on Sunday.  Josh Williams [Copley/Copley] started at right back and played 76 minutes before getting subbed out after picking up a little ankle injury.  Ben Speas [Stow/Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy] did not make the trip.  NEXT UP:  v DC United, Saturday, 19 April, 730pm

PORTLAND TIMBERS  D 1-1  v Chivas USA  •  The Timbers sputtering start to the season continued this weekend, as the Rose City boys got on the board early, but not only couldn’t find  the net again, but they gave up a goal with 11 minutes left to end up giving away two points at home to Chivas USA.  Darlington Nagbe [Lakewood/St. Edward] started and played all of this one, and he got the assist on Will Johnson’s seventh-minute goal.  Both Ben Zemanski [Akron/Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy] and Michael Nanchoff [North Royalton/Walsh Jesuit] were unused subs on the night.  And in case you missed it, Nagbe joined the Timbers’ Century Club last weekend, as his start against Seattle marked his 100th game played for the Timbers (with 92 starts).  NEXT UP:  @ Real Salt Lake, Saturday, 19 April, 930pm

TORONTO FC  L 0-1  v Colorado Rapids  •  Justin Morrow [Cleveland/St. Ignatius] started at left back and played all 90, as TFC lost its second match in three weeks to a team from the Mountain Time Zone.  NEXT UP:  @ FC Dallas, Saturday, 19 April, 830pm

MONTREAL IMPACT  D 1-1  v Chicago Fire  •  No action for Evan Bush [Concord Township/Lake Catholic] in Saturday’s home draw for the Impact, as he was once more an usused sub as the backup goalie.  NEXT UP: @ Sporting Kansas City, Saturday, 19 April, 830pm

LOS ANGELES GALAXY  W 1-0  v Vancouver Whitecaps  •  Kenney Walker [Wickliffe/Wickliffe] was an unused sub on Saturday night, when the Galaxy took the first of consecutive home and away matches with the Whitecaps.  NEXT UP:  @ Vancouver, Saturday, 7pm

DC UNITED  W 1-0  v New York Red Bulls  •  No Chris Korb [Gates Mills/University School] again,  thanks to knee surgery and the subsequent recovery.  But the win gives DC a leg up on its rivals from up I-95 in this year’s Atlantic Cup competition.  The two teams will meet two more times this season to decide the champion.  NEXT UP:  @ Columbus Crew, Saturday, 19 April, 730pm

And in other, non-MLS news… the NASL season kicked off this past weekend and two of our guys saw action.

INDY ELEVEN  D 1-1  v Carolina RailHawks  •  The debutante Eleven got off to a decent start to both the season and to their club history, splitting goals on either side of halftime to get a point.  Kyle Hyland [Bay Village/Bay] started at left back and played all of it.  NEXT UP:  v Tampa Bay Rowdies, Saturday, 19 April, 730pm

OTTAWA FURY  L 0-2  @ Fort Lauderdale Strikers  •  The debutante Fury gave up goals in each half on the road to kick off their club history with a loss.  Sinisa Ubiparipovic [Mentor/Mentor] started in the center of midfield and played all 90.  NEXT UP: v Minnesota United FC, Saturday, 19 April, 3pm

PHOTO CREDIT – Nagbe: Craig Mitchelldyer/Portland Timbers; Atlantic Cup Trophy: unknown

Week Three Preview

All of our guys’ teams are in action this weekend and we have a faceoff in Columbus.  It’s MLS Rivalry Week and (almost) all the games feature two squads that are regional rivals, i.e. Los Angeles-Chivas USA, DC-New York, Toronto-Montreal, Houston-Dallas, Colorado-Real Salt Lake, Sporting Kansas City-Chicago, Seattle-Portland… and Philadelphia-New England.  (Vancouver is idle.)  If you get the NBC SportsNetwork, you can watch a brand new show called “MLS Breakaway” that’ll start at 530pm.  It’s supposed to be a studio show in which the hosts run through all the day’s action, including some live looks at games that will be going on at that moment.  I’ll have my DVR rolling on it for sure.

Also, we have some news regarding one of our boys.  As was learned this past Wednesday, via the wonderful world of Twitter, it had escaped the attentions of this blog that rookie goalkeeper Brad Stuver (Twinsburg/Twinsburg) was released by Montreal at the conclusion of the preseason.  That’s not the good news.  Stuver, who had signed as a MLS Pool Goalkeeper, found out that on Wednesday, he will be hosted by the Columbus Crew this season.  There’ll be more written on what that will mean for him in upcoming posts.

And now, in order of gametimes, here are this weekend’s previews:

DC UNITED  @ New York Red Bulls, Saturday, 16 March, 1230pm (NBC)

Here is the match preview from dcunited.com for this season’s first Atlantic Cup match.  Here’s another preview from mlssoccer.com  DC United won last year, breaking the Red Bulls’ two-year winning streak.  Overall, DC has won eight of 11 Cups, and there’s still a bitter taste in boths teams’ mouths after last season’s Eastern Conference Final second leg at Red Bull Arena.  Could be some in-game fireworks going off in this one.

MONTREAL IMPACT  v Toronto FC, Saturday, 16 March, 4pm

Here is the match preview from impactmontreal.com/en for the Canadian derby.  Here’s another preview from mlssoccer.com  The two teams, both of them playing MUCH-improved soccer compared to last season, hope to set a new record for attendance at an MLS game in Canada, as they’ll move the match to Olympic Stadium in Montreal.

COLUMBUS CREW  v  SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES, Saturday, 16 March, 530pm  (Fox Sports Ohi

Here is what to look for at tomorrow’s match from thecrew.com, along with the full match preview.  In the latest episode of the Black & Gold Breakdown, Ben Speas talks about how fired up for the opener he is (and other guys talk about other stuff, too).

PORTLAND TIMBERS  @ Seattle Sounders, Saturday, 16 March, 8pm (NBC Sports Network)  

Here is the match preview from portlandtimbers.com and here’s the preview from mlssoccer.com  Even though it’s the third match for both teams in this young season, there’s a lot at stake.  Neither team will want to start out the 2013 Cascadia Cup series with zero points, nor will they want to fail to come away with a full three points that would keep them near the top of the Western Conference.  Should be a festive atmosphere up in the Emerald City.  Roger Bennett of espnfc.com wrote a column last week questioning whether soccer fans in our country can truly call themselves “soccer fans” if they don’t support MLS.  Darlington Nagbe weighed in on the topic and you can check out the video here.

LOS ANGELES GALAXY  v Chivas USA, Sunday, 17 March, 5pm

Here is the match preview from lagalaxy.com for the first SuperClásico of the 2013 season.