2015 Preseason Report #3

We’ll start off this report with the news on how our boys did in their respective CONCACAF Champions League fixtures this week.  Then, we’ll go over everyone’s recent preseason scrimmages.  Here’s how it’s all gone down:

MONTREAL IMPACT  •  The Impact became one of few teams in CCL history to ever have visited Mexican soil and not come home with a loss, after earning a 2-2 draw with Pachuca in the Cuna del Fútbol (Birthplace of Soccer) on Tuesday night.  Montreal’s Evan Bush [Concord Township/Lake Catholic] started and played all 90 in goal, making four saves in the match.  He was busier than that number might make it seem, though, as the hosts clawed and scratched to earn the point.  I guess it stinks that the visitors blew a 2-0 first-half lead, but the fact they didn’t lose is the real takeaway here, highlighted by the two precious away goals.  The home leg of the tie is next Tuesday in Montreal.

DC UNITED  •  The good news about DC’s trip to central Costa Rica is the two away goals they’ll take back home for the second leg of their series with Alajuelense  The bad news is they got beat 5-2 down there.  So there is hope.  A 3-0 DC win would see the Americans advance.  But we all know how those Central Americans play when they’re up – lots of diving and time wasting, deliberately slowly taken free kicks.  It’s not going to be pretty or easy, but stranger things have happened.  Chris Korb [Gates Mills/University School] was an unused sub on the night.  The home leg of the tie is next Wednesday in Washington, D.C.

COLUMBUS CREW  •  At the first edition of the IMG Suncoast Pro Classic, played in Bradenton, Floriday, the Crew defeated the Costa Rica U-23 Team last Saturday 2-0 and then drew 1-1  with the Philadelphia Union yesterday, before losing 5-3 in a penalty kick shootout.  The shootout served as the tiebreaker between the two teams, as they would have been level on points (4) after two games played in the tournament.    Against the Ticos, Ben Speas [Stow/Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy] subbed on in the 62nd minute and he played the entire second half of the Union match.  He did convert his penalty during the shootout.  Brad Stuver [Twinsburg/Twinsburg] did not get any time in goal in either match.  The Crew will play once more in Bradenton, on Saturday against OKC Energy FC of USL PRO in the 3rd place match at 5pm.

TORONTO FC  •  The other team we care about at the IMGSPC (the prefer to call it The Classic) lost its second match down in Bradenton, falling to the New York Red Bulls 2-0 last night.  Last Saturday night, the Reds beat Danish club HB Koge 1-0 and Justin Morrow [Cleveland/St. Ignatius] played all 90 minutes.  He didn’t suit up against NYRB because Head Coach Greg Vanney chose to give most of the minutes to the reserves.  Today, the TFC “varsity” scrimmaged their new USL affiliate, TFC II, and won 4-0.  Morrow played a bunch.  Next up for TFC will be a contest at 230pm on Saturday against the Costa Rica U-23 Team that will determine the tournament’s 5th place finisher.

NEW YORK CITY FC  •  Having returned to the States, NYCFC has been taking part in the Carolina Challenge Cup for the past week or so.  Last night, they lost 2-1 to the Houston Dynamo.  Josh Williams [Copley/Copley] subbed in at right back in the 40th minute and played the rest of the match.  Last Saturday night, this season’s two expansion teams met and it was NYCFC who scored in the second half to earn a 1-1 draw with Orlando City FC.  In that match, Williams started at right back and played all 90, and he almost scored late in the first half off of a corner kick.  NYCFC will play once more during their time in Charleston, against the host Battery on Saturday at 730pm.

LOS ANGELES GALAXY  •  The league champs finished off their European tour last Saturday with a 1-0 win in Dublin, Ireland against Shamrock Rovers.  From what I can discern, Kenney Walker [Wickliffe/Wickliffe] was an unused sub in that match.  LA is now 5-0-1 on the preseason, and will wrap up their regular-season preps with a friendly against San Jose this Saturday.

PORTLAND TIMBERS  •  It’s been a mixed bag for our guys out in Portland through the first two matches of the own Simple Invitational, the preseason tournament that the club is hosting.  The Timbers drew 1-1 with the Chicago Fire last night and lost this past Saturday night, they fell 1-0 to the Vancouver Whitecaps.  Head Coach Caleb Porter has been rotating his players throughout the preseason scrimmages, and as such, Darlington Nagbe [Lakewood/St. Edward] got the start and played the first half against the Caps, while subbing on at halftime and finishing the Fire match.  Michael Nanchoff [North Royalton/Walsh Jesuit] was an unused sub against the Caps, but started and played just the first 28 minutes of the Fire match before subbing out with a hip flexor – however, he did score the team’s only goal with a free kick.  I’m pretty sure he is now Portland’s all-time leading preseason scrimmage scorer, but I don’t have the stats to back that up.  Seems like he has a real knack for getting goals in February.  In the Vancouver match, Ben Zemanski [Akron/Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy] started at center mid, but tore his ACL in a 50-50 ball in the 23rd minute and will be out for who-knows-how long, pending surgery and rehab.  We’ll wish him the best of luck with getting back on the field again.  You don’t want to put a timetable on something like that, but let’s hope that it’s in time for the Timbers’ playoff push.  Portland will play its final game of the Simple Invitational this Saturday at 8pm against Norwegian club Stabaek.

And now, the not-so-MLS news… unlike some of their NASL brethren, the two teams we care about the most haven’t been gallivanting across the globe.  Their more humble owners’ less-deep pockets are keeping such frivolous expenses from ruining the two clubs before they can even start their second seasons.

INDY ELEVEN  •  We haven’t had any preseason updates on the Eleven until now, and they’ve begun their training sessions out in Arizona.  Indy’s first scrimmage of the preseason was a 75-minute affair on Wednesday night, and ended with a 1-0 win for Minnesota United FC.  Kyle Hyland [Bay Village/Bay] played left back in the second “half.”  Meanwhile, back home, the State House of Representatives voted in favor of the proposal to build a new stadium in downtown Indianapolis.  The Eleven will continue its work in Tucson until Saturday.

OTTAWA FURY  •  Things have been quiet up north, as Sinisa Ubiparipovic [Mentor/Mentor] and his mates have been training and trying to keep warm.

PHOTO CREDIT:  Speas/USA Today Sports Images; Nanchoff/Craig Mitchelldyer

2015 Preseason Report #1

Every team is busy, busy, busy right now, getting ready for the regular season to begin in less than a month.  Here’s the report on who’s doing what and where:

PORTLAND TIMBERS  –  The Timbers kicked off their set of scrimmages at the Desert Friendlies in Tucson, Arizona the right way, with goals in each half to propel them to a 2-0 win over Sporting Kansas City on 31 January.  Darlington Nagbe [Lakewood/St. Edward] and Ben Zemanski [Akron/Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy] both played the first half and Michael Nanchoff [North Royalton/Walsh Jesuit] played the second half.  Nanchoff scored the Timbers’ second goal with a delightful free kick in the 53rd minute.  A week later, Portland drew 1-1 with the Houston Dynamo.  Nagbe and Zemanski started and played 60, while Nanchoff came in for the final 30.  On Wednesday, 11 February, the Timbers wrapped up their work in the desert with a 0-0 draw with the San Jose Earthquakes.  Nanchoff started and played 60, while Zemanski came on for the final 30 and Nagbe rested.  Portland will return home to continue training in advance of their own Simple Invitational, to be held at Providence Park, 22-28 February.  The other clubs participating will be the Chicago Fire, Vancouver Whitecaps and Norwiegan club Stabaek.

TORONTO FC  –  The Reds started their preseason in Bradenton, Fla., where they took part in some training sessions at the IMG Academy.  They won a scrimmage on 4 February, 4-2 against Montverde Academy but I just can’t find the lineup they used anywhere on the interwebs, and as such, can’t tell you how much Justin Morrow [Cleveland/St. Ignatius] played or didn’t play.  Up next was a change in venue to Orlando, where TFC played a couple scrimmages.  There was a 0-2 loss to the New York Red Bulls 5 February, followed by a 0-0 draw with Orlando City SC on 8 February.  Head Coach Greg Vanney started the “veterans,” which mean Morrow was at left back and played 60 minutes against NYRB (after maybe 30 against Montverde?) and at least 45 against the Lions.  TFC is now back in Bradenton for the IMG Suncoast Pro Classic, where they’ll play the USL PRO’s OKC Energy FC (today, 730pm), Danish side HB Koge (Sat, 21 Feb, 12pm), and the Red Bulls (Wed, 25 Feb, 730pm).  They’ll also have a playoff game on Sat, 28 Feb, but we won’t know against whom or at what time until they conclude their group matches.

MONTREAL IMPACT  –  The Impact trained indoors in frigid Quebec for the first part of the month before heading to much, much warmer Mexico.  They had played a scrimmage with their U-18 team before heading south, but there wasn’t much to report on that.  Last Saturday, les Bleus lost 0-1 to Mexico City first division club Cruz Azul and Evan Bush [Concord Township/Lake Catholic] went the distance in net.  Tuesday afternoon, the two teams faced off again and the Impact reversed the scoreline to win 1-0.  Again Bush played 90, and in addition to earning the shutout, he stopped two penalty kicks!  Coming up for Head Coach Frank Klopas’ boys will be another scrimmage against 3rd division team FC Cuautla, in preparation for the Impact’s CONCACAF Champions League Quarterfinal match with Pachuca next Tuesday.

COLUMBUS CREW  –  After a couple weeks of training south Florida, the Crew  headed to Austin, Texas for the ATX Pro Soccer Challenge.  The Black and Gold went home with a 3-1 loss to FC Dallas and a 1-0 win over the Austin Aztex, new USL PRO affiliate.  On Friday night, Ben Speas [Stow/Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy] and Brad Stuver [Twinsburg/Twinsburg] both played the second half, as Head Coach Gregg Berhalter went with his plan of rotating and shuffling lineups over the course of the team’s time in Texas.  For whatever it’s worth, Stuver did not allow a goal during his time in net.  Speas got the second half in Sunday’s win.  Next up for the Crew is a trip back to Florida for the IMG Suncoast Pro Soccer Classic (click the link in the TFC report for more info), where they’ll play London United (18 Feb, 12pm), the Costa Rica U-23 team (21 Feb, 5pm) and the Philadelphia Union (25 Feb, 5pm) before a playoff game on the 28th.

DC UNITED  –  Like the Crew SC, DC spent some time training in Florida before they headed to Austin, but unlike the Crew SC, DC played some scrimmages while in Brandenton.  They drew 1-1 with MLS debutant Orlando City SC on 28 January; drew 0-0 with Swedish side Jönköpings 3 February; and then lost 0-1 to Malmo FF three days later.  Right back Chris Korb [Gates Mills/University School] played a half in each of the first two games, but none of the third.  The Black and Red was the fourth team in Austin this past weekend and they won the tournament, defeating the Austin Aztex 2-0 and FC Dallas 1-0.  I’m going to go out a limb here and say this is easily the best soccer trophy ever.  Korb did not play deepintheheartof, but he did train.  I can’t find any news on why.  Maybe Head Coach Ben Olsen is saving him for DC’s final preseason match on 20 February with FC Dallas, in anticipation of the upcoming trip to Costa Rica for its CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinal matchup with Alajuelense?

LOS ANGELES GALAXY  –  The league champs have been galavanting across Europe for the last week, after starting their work at home.  On 30 January, the Galaxy beat Ventura County Fusion 2-0, then defeated the Seattle Sounders 2-1 on 6 February, before heading to Washington DC to meet President Obama.  In the nation’s capital, they also trained a little and scrimmaged the Georgetown University Men’s Soccer Team 2-1.  We couldn’t ascertain any details about how much and where and when Kenney Walker [Wickliffe/Wickliffe] played in any of those matches, but here’s an article on him and his approach to this season.  Once the Galaxy made it across the Atlantic, they visited Stefan Ishizaki’s old stomping grounds in Stockholm, Sweden, where they lost a scrimmage 2-1 to Hammarby.  Walker subbed in for the for Ishizaki and played the final 23 minutes as holding mid.  The team has been doing the bulk of its training in Robbie Keane’s old stomping grounds in Dublin, where they’ll play a scrimmage this upcoming Saturday against Shamrock Rovers.  Head Coach Bruce Arena’s bunch will return home for more training in advance of the season opener.

NEW YORK CITY FC  –  NYCFC began its inaugural preseason in England,  where it got things going with a 2-0 friendly win against Scottish Premier League side St. Mirren.  This past Sunday, the [unsure what nickname to use… the sky blues, maybe?] lost 2-0 to Danish side Brondby.  Josh Williams [Copley/Copley] subbed in for the second half at right back in the first match, and then started at right back and played the first half of the second.  On 1 February, NYCFC played a closed-door scrimmage with new NASL team Jacksonville Armada, which finished a 2-1 victory for the MLS club.  It was set up with four 24 minute periods and we’re deducing that Williams played the third and fourth quarters, for whatever that’s worth.  The team will now head to Charleston, SC for the Carolina Challenge Cup, where it wrap up the preseason with games against Orlando City SC (21 Feb, 730pm), Houston Dynamo (25, 5pm) and the host Battery of USL PRO (28, 730pm).

PHOTO CREDIT:  Speas/USA Today Sports Images; Williams/NYCFC.com