2015 Week 9 Report

It was another bummer of a week, both in terms of the guys getting P.T. and in terms of the guys’ teams winning.  Here’s how our fellas did last week:

MONTREAL IMPACT  L 2-4  Club América  •  As you probably know by now, the Impact got thumped by their Mexican visitors, just as so many MLS teams have before them.  Nursing the hope created by a 1-1 draw in the away leg last week, and buoyed further by a 1-0 halftime lead (2-1 aggregate), the roof fell in after the break.  Evan Bush [Concord Township/Lake Catholic] was suspended on a well-documented yellow card accumulation and that was obviously a disappointment for both the player and for his teammates.  Finishing as the 2014-15 CCL runners-up is nothing to shake a stick at.  And maybe Bush was the best goalkeeper in the tournament.  I didn’t watch every game to be able to make that assertion, but he certainly played a major role in Montreal going as far as it did.  I’m sure the best is yet to come from him.  Now les Bleus can return their attentions to their MLS responsibilities and to defending their Amway Canadian Championship crown.

TORONTO FC  W 1-0  @ Philadelphia Union  •  I guess if you’re going to go on a seven-game road trip to start the season, a three-game winning streak just before you head back home isn’t too shabby, is it?  Justin Morrow [Cleveland/St. Ignatius] moved back to the flank and played 90 as an outside back in the victory.  The Reds have just one more road game before they can return to the friendly confines of BMO Stadium – they’ll have the first leg of its ACC semifinal series at Montreal on Wednesday.

DC UNITED  W 2-0  COLUMBUS CREW  •  Who’s playing better right now, DC or New England?  Tough to say, but last Saturday night, the red-hot hosts let their visitors know their undefeated April didn’t impress them too much.  DC got goals in both halves to take care of the Crew SC and continue a 16-match unbeaten streak at RFK Stadium, across all competitions.  Chris Korb [Gates Mills/University School] started at left back for DC and played all 90.  Neither Ben Speas [Stow/Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy] nor Brad Stuver [Twinsburg/Twinsburg] were in the travel team to our Nation’s capital.  One more bit of news – I had no idea that this was actually a thing, but Korb was awarded the Hustler of the Week Award by hustlebelt.com as a reward for his efforts in this contest.  Interesting.  You never know what you’ll find on the internet!

LOS ANGELES GALAXY  D 1-1  Colorado Rapids  •  The Rapids scored in the first half and the Galaxy answered late to split the points.  Kenney Walker [Wickliffe/Wickliffe] is still out injured.

PORTLAND TIMBERS  D 0-0  Vancouver Whitecaps  •  Welllllllll… it was another 90 minutes played for Darlington Nagbe [Lakewood/St. Edward], another team-high in fouls suffered (3) and corner kicks taken (tie-4 with Diego Valeri), as Portland basically dominated its Cascadia Cup rivals from start to finish, but… a simple fact is that he hit the right post (his right/keeper’s left) with a penalty kick in the 31st minute could’ve done him a world of good and given the Timbers all the points.  Michael Nanchoff [North Royalton/Walsh Jesuit] and Ben Zemanski [Akron/Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy] are both still out injured.

NEW YORK CITY FC  L 1-3  Seattle Sounders  •  Josh Williams [Copley/Copley] is back and healthy and was an unused sub on Sunday evening in The Bronx.  He got a good look at Seattle’s attackers schooling his teammates, too.

Next Weekend’s Games
Wednesday, 6 May
~ MONTREAL  v  TORONTO FC, Amway Canadian Championship Semifinal, leg 1, 730pm
~ Real Salt Lake  v  LOS ANGELES, 930pm
Saturday, 9 May
~ MONTREAL  v  PORTLAND, 4pm
~ DC UNITED  v  Sporting Kansas City, 7pm
~ COLUMBUS  v  Seattle, 730pm
~ FC Dallas  v  LOS ANGELES, 830pm
Sunday, 10 May
~ TORONTO FC  v  Houston, 5pm – live on ESPN2
~ New York Red Bulls  v  NEW YORK CITY, 7pm – live on Fox Sports 1

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And now for the not-so-MLS guys’ report:

OTTAWA FURY  •  Last Wednesday, the Fury fell to FC Edmonton last Wednesday in the second leg of the teams’ Amway Canadian Championship preliminary round series by a score of 3-1, which gave the Eddies a 6-2 aggregate victory.  Sinisa Ubiparipovic [Mentor/Mentor] started as one of the attacking mids and played all 90.  Back in NASL action on Saturday, the Fury lost 1-0 at the first-place New York Cosmos (one of their eight different home fields).  Ubiparipovic subbed on in the 61st minute, but couldn’t help save the visitors from suffering their first shutout of the season.  Next up for Ottawa is a 3pm visit from the Tampa Bay Rowdies on Saturday.

INDY ELEVEN  •  There’s an odd number of teams in the NASL, which means one team gets a bye each weekend.  Indy’s turn was last weekend, so Kyle Hyland [Bay Village/Bay] and the Eleven will be back at it on Saturday when they head to Jacksonville to check out the brand-new Armada’s digs for a 730pm kickoff.

ATLANTA SILVERBACKS  •  The ‘Backs are still undefeated this season (1-4-0, 7 pts.) after a 0-0 draw at Fort Lauderdale.  That’s good enough to see them in 3rd place – tied with the Strikers – after Matt Horth [Akron/Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy] subbed on in the 78th minute.  Atlanta will travel to Minnesota United FC for a 8pm match on Saturday.

PITTSBURGH RIVERHOUNDS  •  The ‘Hounds fell to NYRB II 3-2 last weekend and Michael Green [Strongsville/Strongsville] played all 90 at one of the outside back spots.  Pittsburgh returns to action this Saturday at the Charleston Battery for a 730pm kickoff.

PHOTO CREDIT:  Geoff Burke/USA Today Sports

CONCACAF Champions League Semifinals Report

Oh yeah!!  This was too sweet to put in a regular weekly report!!  It was an historic night in Alajuela for the Montreal Impact, who survived a Costa  Rican goal thunderstorm to become the first Canadian team, and just the second MLS team (Real Salt Lake, 2011), to reach the CONCACAF Champions League Finals.  After defeating Alajuelense in the home leg 2-0, Montreal extended their lead to 3-0 by halftime of the return leg.  But Alajuelense started chipping away with two goals inside the first 15 minutes of the second half (making it 3-2 on aggregate), prior to Montreal getting another precious away goal in the 72nd minute (4-2).  In the final 15 minutes of the match, the hosts scored twice more to win the game 4-2 and make the aggregate score 4-4, but thanks to the away goals tiebreaker, the Impact has advanced to meet Mexican powerhouse Club America in the final at the end of the month.  Evan Bush [Concord Township/Lake Catholic] was on the receiving end of a barrage not seen since (insert famous historical military battle reference here [Dunkirk? The Battle of Britain? The Fall of Saigon?]).  Yes, he allowed four goals (the TEAM allowed four goals), but he also made four important saves and punched away a dangerous cross and suffered three fouls.  Bush played very well and, in our opinion, should’ve been up for team MVP honors.  He was ours, anyways.  Too bad we don’t have a watch or a dinner gift certificate to give him.

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

2015 Season Kick Off Preview + CCL Report

PHEW!!!! In the very first minute of extra time, the MLS Players Union and the league’s owners agreed to a new Collective Bargaining Agreement late on Wednesday, thereby averting a strike and allowing this weekend’s game to proceed as planned. My favorite quote regarding this agreement came from the Twitter-sphere,

I know from years of watching my dad negotiate union deals and CBAs that if both sides aren’t fully happy with outcome, it’s a good deal.

— Jonah Freedman (@jonahfreedman) March 5, 2015

Only history will truly allow us to evaluate the quality of the deal, but there can be no doubt that the timing of it all can only be viewed as positive – no games were missed.  With that bit of business behind us, we can look forward to our guys’ contests and we can also talk about what DC and Montreal did in their CONCACAF Champions League Quarterfinal second leg matches this past week. Let’s get to the report/preview:

MONTREAL IMPACT  •  Carrying two precious away goals and a  2-2 aggregate score after its first leg match with Pachuca, Montreal fought and fought and fought for 79 minutes on Tuesday, only to allow a penalty kick goal to give los Tuzos a 3-2 advantage.  But in the dying minutes of extra time, rookie Cameron Porter controlled a bomb of a pass from Callum Mallace before poking it through Pachuca goalie Conejo Pérez’s legs to level the score at 1-1 and send the Impact into the semifinals (3-3 aggregate, away goals tiebreaker) – making them just the second (or third, depending how you look at it) MLS team to advance so far into the competition.  Evan Bush [Concord Township/Lake Catholic] was marvelous in goal for the home side, making two saves and dealing cleanly with any ball that got to him (minus the penalty).  Next up for the Impact will be a home-and-away with Costa Rican club Alajuelense (see below) next month.

DC UNITED  •  In a deep hole after the away leg, having lost 5-2 in Costa Rica a week ago and needing a 3-0 win to see them meet Montreal in the CCL semifinals, the best DC could do was beat Alajuelense 2-1 last night, which sent the Ticos on with the 6-4 aggregate win.  Chris Korb [Gates Mills/University School] got the start at left back for the hosts, on a horrible, freezing rainy night in our nation’s capital on Wednesday.  DC was up 1-0 at halftime, thanks to a goal from Costa Rican Jairo Arrieta, which created more hope for them to possibly turn things all the way around, but a late goal from the visitors wrapped things up for them, despite a consolation penalty kick from Fabián Espíndola.

Here is this weekend’s schedule of games (for our guys’ teams only):
FRIDAY, 7 MARCH
– LOS ANGELES  v  Chicago, 1030pm, UniMás [If you’d like to watch this game, but can’t understand Spanish, you’re in luck.  Hit this link for tips on how to adjust your SAP option on your TV.]
SATURDAY, 8 MARCH
– DC UNITED  v  MONTREAL, 3pm
– Vancouver  v  TORONTO FC, 6pm
– Houston  v  COLUMBUS, 8pm
– PORTLAND  v  Real Salt Lake, 1030pm
SUNDAY, 9 MARCH
– Orlando City  v  NEW YORK CITY FC, 5pm, ESPN2

PHOTO CREDIT:  Paul Chaisson

2014 Week 32 – Regular Season Finale Report

This report, I’m splitting in three – MLS, CCL and NASL.  I’ll present the MLS stuff in order of finish of the fellas’ teams in the overall Supporters’ Shield race – and I’ll also make note of who’s in the playoffs and who isn’t by using a horizontal line across the page!  Three in, three out.  Things in the CCL were a little bit better.  Two in, one out.  NASL… neither side made the playoffs.  Alright – enough intro.  Here’s how it all went down last weekend:

LOS ANGELES GALAXY  61 pts [17 wins-7 losses-10 draws]  L 0-2  @ Seattle Sounders  •  Kenney Walker [Wickliffe] played no part in this one, as he watched it all from the subs’ bench (and also from the warmup area, presumably).  It wasn’t great soccer and there were tons of fouls, but the hosts got the goal(s) they needed in the second half to earn the Supporters’ Shield.  LA goes into the playoffs as the #2 seed in the Western Conference and will play the winner of the FC Dallas-Vancouver knockout match in a quarterfinal home & away series.

DC UNITED  59 pts. [17-9-8]  D 1-1  v Montreal Impact  •  Chris Korb [Gates Mills/University School] started and played all 90 of this one, which wasn’t exactly meaningless for DC.  They wanted to roll into the playoffs on a good note and they kind of scrapped out a point up north, so that’s better than a loss, right?  DC will host the winner of the Eastern Conference knockout game (NYRB v SKC) in a home & away quarterfinal series.

 W 2-1  v Philadelphia Union  •  Ben Speas [Stow/Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy] started and played 78 minutes before subbing off.  He contributed an assist on the Crew’s first goal, springing Jairo Arrieta to run free and finish the 1v1.  Having qualified for the playoffs, the Crew needed to win again to give themselves the best possible shot at making it to the #3 seed, which would allow themto avoid playing in a Eastern Conference’s #4 v #5 knockout match.  This win, coupled with a Sunday night favor from NYRB, who beat Sporting KC, made that dream a reality.  There are a lot of teams that are not exactly looking forward to playing the Black and Gold, as the Crew was the only team in the league to win all of its final three matches.  Great time to be in fantastic form.

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PORTLAND TIMBERS  49 pts. [12-9-13]  W 2-0  @ FC Dallas  •  Darlington Nagbe [Lakewood/St. Edward] started at attacking mid and played all 90 and scored the opening goal of the match  two minutes before halftime.  Two things, 1) Nagbe owns Dallas and has scored five goals in ten career MLS matches against them – plus another S-I-C-K one from US Open Cup play last year; 2) back in March, if you had bet any of the MLS media experts or any Timbers fan that Nagbe would go goalless for 2014 until the final game of the season – or simply that he’d only score once all year – you’d now be a rich man or woman.  Coming off a 2013 of nine goals, nobody would’ve thought he’d just get one.  Anyways, never mind that!  In a game that Portland needed to win if it was going to make the playoffs, D-Nags delivered the goods… too bad Vancouver tied and edged them out by one slim point for the final Western Conference spot.  Ben Zemanski [Akron/Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy] started and played all 90 at holding mid.  Michael Nanchoff [North Royalton/Walsh Jesuit] was not in the travel team. Bummer of an ending to a bummer of a year for Portland, who will look to re-tool a bit and sharpen up the edges that allowed nearly twice as many home goals as were conceded a year ago.  BTW, if you didn’t catch this skills video featuring Nagbe, dig it here!

TORONTO FC  41 pts. [11-15-8]  L 0-1  @ New England Revolution  •  Justin Morrow [Cleveland/St. Ignatius] started at center back (?) and played all 90 as the year ended with just a dollop of dog crap on top of a heaping pile of disappointment – New England’s goal came on a disputed offsides call.  Was it or wasn’t it?  Yo no sé, but the experts claim that it was a good call.   In mid-September, the Reds were in the playoff hunt, but they went L-L-L-D-L down the stretch and that was that.  There’ll be tons of questions all offseason, but one of them should not be #2 at right back.  We’ll delve deeper into this topic in our individual postseason reports, but of all the team’s offseason acquisitions, Morrow might have been the team’s most consistent performer.

MONTREAL IMPACT 28 pts. [6-18-10]  D 1-1 @ DC United  •  Evan Bush [Concord Township/Lake Catholic] started in net for the Impact and made four saves in his 90+ minutes of work.  It was kind of fitting that DC tied it up in the 86th minute, from the point of view that while Bush has played well during his 13 games this season, les Bleus’ shaky defense has kept him from putting up decent stats.  Montreal limps home, dead last in the league.

CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
PORTLAND  L 1-3  @ CD Olimpia  •  Needing to do basically anything  other than lose by two goals or more in Honduras to ensure they’d move on to the CCL Quarterfinal Round, the Timbers blew it.  Zemanski played all 90 at holding mid, Nagbe came on with 19 left and Nanchoff didn’t make the trip, but the PTFC boys just could not put in or keep out that one goal that would have seen them through.  It’s never easy when you go to Central America.

MONTREAL  D 1-1  @ New York Red Bulls  •  Having already qualified, this was truly a meaningless match.  Well, maybe other than getting guys experience and match fitness it was meaningless.  Bush started and made one save.

DC  W 1-0  @ Tauro FC  •  Down in Panama, DC was also playing a meaningless group 3 match, since they had already qualified for the quarters.  They won and Korb subbed in for the final 29 minutes.

NASL REPORT
OTTAWA FURY  L 1-2  v Indy Eleven  •  Sinisa Ubiparipovic [Mentor/Mentor] started as one of the mids and played the first half of this clash of the expansion teams.  It was the Fury’s final home game of the season and puts them on 16 points with one match remaining.  They’ll travel to South Florida to take on the Ft. Lauderdale Strikers on Saturday, 1 November at 730pm.

PHOTO CREDITS:  Portland Timbers Facebook page

2014 Week Twenty-Six Report

This past weekend in MLS action, our boys’ teams took a trip to Draw City!  Only two of the games didn’t result in a tie ballgame… and those were both losses, by the way.  However, in CONCACAF Champions League action, it was a different story.  Three games, three wins for our fellas!  Nice!!  Here’s how it all went down:

MONTREAL IMPACT  D 2-2  v LOS ANGELES GALAXY  •  Evan Bush [Concord Township/Lake Catholic] started and played all of this match, which ended the Galaxy’s steam-rolling run
 through the league on a five-game winning streak.  No Kenney Walker [Wickliffe/Wickliffe] in the Galaxy travel team for this one.

DC UNITED  L 0-1  @ New York Red Bulls  •  No Chris Korb [Gates Mills/University School] on the night, still out with a groin strain.

MONTREAL IMPACT  L 1-2  @ New England Revolution  •  No doubt with an eye towards the mid-week CONCACAF Champions League contest with New York looming, Bush was given the night off.

COLUMBUS CREW  D 2-2 @ Houston Dynamo  •  Ben Speas [Stow/Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy] was an unused sub.  Josh Williams [Copley/Copley] is out recovering from surgery.

TORONTO FC  D 1-1  @ Chicago Fire  •  Justin Morrow [Cleveland/St. Ignatius] was back from the hamstring injury that had kept him out of action since early August.  If you’re any kind of fan of the league, you’ve already seen the video of the TFC goal that was disallowed at the end of this match.  In case you haven’t seen it yet, here it is.  Terrible call.  Unreal.

PORTLAND TIMBERS  D 2-2  @ Colorado Rapids  •  Darlington Nagbe [Lakewood/St. Edward] started and played 85 minutes as the Timbers let two points slip away at home.  Again.

LOS ANGELES GALAXY  D 1-1  @ San Jose Earthquakes  •  Walker made the subs’ bench for this match, his first appearance in nearly a month!

DC UNITED  W 2-1   @ Waterhouse FC – CCL group 3  •  No Korb.  DC is currently second in the group behind Waterhouse with two games in hand.

PORTLAND TIMBERS  W 4-2  v CD Olimpia – CCL group 5  •  Nagbe subbed in with 27 minutes left.  Michael Nanchoff [North Royalton/Walsh Jesuit] started at wide mid and played all 90.  Ben Zemanski [Akron/Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy] was an unused sub.  Portland is currently second in the group behind Olimpia with a game in hand.

MONTREAL IMPACT  W 1-0  v New York Red Bulls – CCL group 4  •  Bush shut out NYRB in a big match that puts the Impact on top of the group.  NYRB has a game in hand right now, so the Canadian “champions” are going to want to keep winning in order to stay there.

UP NEXT:
PORTLAND  v  Vancouver, Saturday, 20 September, 5pm – NBC Sports Network
COLUMBUS  v  New England, 730pm
MONTREAL  v  San Jose, 730pm
Chicago  v  DC UNITED, 830pm
LOS ANGELES  v  FC Dallas, 1030pm
TORONTO FC  v  Chivas USA, Sunday, 21 September, 3pm – UniMás
PORTLAND  v  Alpha United, CCL group 5, Tuesday, 23 September, 10pm – Fox Sports 1
DC UNITED  v  Tauro FC, CCL group 3, Wednesday, 24 September, 8pm – Fox Sports 2

Non-MLS Report
WILMINGTON HAMMERHEADS  L 1-4  @ Sacramento Republic FC – USL PRO Playoffs  •  All things must come to an end, and in the California capital, so did both Wilmington’s stay in the playoffs and the loan spell of Columbus Crew goalie Brad Stuver [Twinsburg/Twinsburg] with the Hammerheads.  The visitors fought fiercely to keep their season going, but in the end, the Republic were/was just too much.  Stuver made six saves in the match and over the course of his time in teal (or is it considered more of a sky blue?), he’ll hope his body of work was enough to impress the Crew brass as they look towards next year.

INDY ELEVEN  D 1-1  v FC Edmonton  •  No Kyle Hyland [Bay Village/Bay] in this match, as he’s still dealing with a groin tear from the previous week., but the point was much-needed for the Eleven in order to keep their faint playoff hopes alive.  Indy is tied with Ottawa on points, but has played one fewer game, so they’re technically ninth.  

OTTAWA FURY  W 2-0  v Tampa Bay Rowdies  •  The Fury snagged three huge points with this win, as Sinisa Ubiparipovic [Mentor/Mentor] scored Ottawa’s second goal during his 20 minute-shift after subbing in at center mid.  He now has four goals and three assists on the season for the NASL’s eighth-place team.

PHOTO CREDIT:  Bush/cbc.ca; Ubiparipovic/Ottawa Fury

2014 Week Twenty-Two Report

There was much to celebrate this past weekend.

MONTREAL IMPACT  W 1-0  v Chicago Fire  •  Well, it took until his fourth start this season (and sixth overall), but finally, the Impact played good enough team defense to earn Evan Bush [Concord Township/Lake Catholic] his first career MLS shutout.  He played all 90 and made just two saves in the win.  The Impact are still bottom of the league with 17 points from 23 games.

COLUMBUS CREW  W 4-1  v  LOS ANGELES GALAXY  •   Okay, without looking it up, name the last one of our boys to score a goal in an MLS game this season.  The answer is at the bottom of this blog, but know that Ben Speas [Stow/Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy] is now the most recent one to get a goal after he netted the Crew’s third last Saturday.  And he didn’t waste any time adding to the Crew’s lead, finding the net one minute after he subbed in.  Josh Williams [Copley/Copley] is still on the DL, recovering from surgery.  The Galaxy’s Kenney Walker [Wickliffe/Wickliffe] did not make the trip.  The Crew now sits fourth in the East on 30 points.  The Galaxy is fourth in the West with 37 points.

PORTLAND TIMBERS  D 1-1  @ New England  •  Darlington Nagbe [Lakewood/St. Edward] mad his return from a knee sprain by subbing on with 37 minutes left.  Ben Zemanski [Akron/Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy] was an unused sub.  Michael Nanchoff [North Royalton/Walsh Jesuit] did not make the trip to Foxboro.  Portland is sixth in the West, just two points out of the playoffs.

TORONTO FC  L 1-4  @ Sporting Kansas City  •  Justin Morrow [Cleveland/St. Ignatius] started and played all 90 of this smackdown, which showed how wide of a gulf exists – besides the ten points in the standings – that exist between the Eastern Conference’s first- and third-place teams.  TFC has 32 points from 22 games, eight points behind the second place team.

DC UNITED  W 4-2  v Colorado Rapids  •  In the Sunday evening matchup, it was the home side who turned a 1-1 match at halftime, into a bit of a rout by the time it ended.  Chris Korb [Gates Mills/University School] was not a part of it, as he recovers from a hammy.  DC is second in the East with 40 points, two behind Sporting and with one game in hand.

NEXT WEEK:
–  Tuesday, 19 August  –
   PORTLAND  @  Alpha United, CCL group 5, 8pm
–  Wednesday, 20 August  –
   DC UNITED  v  Waterhouse FC, CCL group 4,  7pm
   LOS ANGELES  @  Colorado,  9pm
   MONTREAL  @  FAS, CCL group 3,  9pm
–  Saturday, 23 August  –
   MONTREAL  v  New York,  7pm
   TORONTO FC  v  Chicago,  7pm
   COLUMBUS  v  Houston,  730pm
   DC UNITED  @ Sporting KC,  830pm
   LOS ANGELES  v  Vancouver,  1030pm
–  Sunday, 24 August  –
   PORTLAND  v  Seattle, Sunday, 24 August, 5pm – ESPN2

** TRIVIA ANSWER **  This one really tested how much you follow the league and our guys.  Speas’ goal is the first from our bunch this season.  Shocking, I know.  You’d have bet that Darlington Nagbe or maybe even Josh Williams already had one this season, but you’d lose that bet.

PHOTO CREDIT:  Kirby Hines/Columbus Crew

 

2014 Week Twenty-One Report

I like the format of putting these reports in the order in which they were played, so we’ll start with the CCL match from last mid-week and then wrap it up with a Sunday game.  Cool?  Here’s how it all went down last week:

MONTREAL IMPACT  W 1-0  v FAS, CONCACAF Champions League, Group 3  •  On Wednesday, 5 August, Evan Bush [Concord Township/Lake Catholic] started in goal, as per usual in these cup competitions, and made two saves in this shutout of the Salvadorans.  In reality, this could’ve been a rout, but three points was the most important thing.  It was an ideal way to start off the 2014-15 CCL for Montreal.

LOS ANGELES GALAXY  D 2-2  v San Jose Earthquakes  •  No Kenney Walker [Wickliffe/Wickliffe] in this Friday night edition of the CaliClásico, which saw the Galaxy dominate the match but give up leads twice in the first half.

MONTREAL IMPACT  L 1-2  @ Philadelphia Union  •  Bush returned to his role as backup keeper to fellow Ohioan Troy Perkins, and the Impact continued their struggles in league play on Saturday.

COLUMBUS CREW  L 2-3  v  TORONTO FC  •  The Crew  continued to do just enough to lose a game to Toronto, surrendering the game-winner just three minutes after drawing level at two goals a piece late in the second half.  Justin Morrow [Cleveland/St. Ignatius] continued to own his home-state club, though his handball earned the penalty kick that Federico Higuaín put in to make the score 1-1 just before halftime.  Ben Speas [Stow/Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy] started wide left in a five-man Crew midfield and played 64 minutes before subbing out.  Josh Williams [Copley/Copley] is still out, recovering from rib-removal surgery.

DC UNITED  L 0-3  @ Real Salt Lake  •  The first place team in the East got stuffed by the second place team in the West in this game, as RSL was in control from start to finish.  Chris Korb [Gates Mills/University School] got a good look at all three goals from the home side, as he started at right back and played all 90.  I’m not saying they were Korb’s fault – they weren’t – but he was in the box when all three RSL goals were scored.

PORTLAND TIMBERS  W 2-0  v Chivas USA  •  Of Portland’s Cleveland trio, only Ben Zemanski [Akron/Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy] mad the team for this Sunday night match, and he subbed in for the final four minutes as a d-mid.  Darlington Nagbe [Lakewood/St. Edward] missed his second straight contest while nursing a knee sprain and Michael Nanchoff [North Royalton/Walsh Jesuit] just wasn’t picked for the gameday XVIII.

NEXT WEEK:
MONTREAL  v  Chicago, Saturday, 16 August, 630pm
COLUMBUS  v  LOS ANGELES, Saturday, 16 August, 730pm
New England  v  PORTLAND, Saturday, 16 August, 730pm
Sporting Kansas City  v  TORONTO FC, Saturday, 16 August, 830pm
DC  v  Colorado, Sunday, 17 August, 830pm

PHOTO CREDIT:  Sam Greene/Columbus Dispatch

2013 – Week 29 Report

One thing about posting later in the week, I get to cover anything that happens after the usual Saturday/Sunday stuff, like CONCACAF Champions League action and the odd Reserve League match.  WIth that in mind, here’s the COMPLETE 4-1-1 on what went down over the past week for our fellas:

SATURDAY

COLUMBUS CREW  W 2-0 @ Montreal Impact

Which has been written more often in this spot – that the Crew got a “much-needed win” or that the Crew suffered a “disappointing loss?”  Whichever the greater, the boys from the Buckeye State went up to Quebec and took down the Impact, overcoming a 1-0 halftime deficit.  After the match, Montreal Head Coach Marco Schällibaum called the Crew his team’s “bête noir.”  You shouldn’t need to look that up, even if you don’t know French, as long as you’ve been following the matches between the two teams this season.  Josh Williams [Copley/Copley] was not available, as he is still on the sidelines recovering from a concussion.  Ben Speas [Stow/Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy] was an unused sub and Kyle Hyland [Bay Village/Bay] was not in the 18.  Evan Bush [Concord Township/Lake Catholic] was the Impact’s backup goalie for the loss to the Crew.  All three of them saw action in the Reserve League contest that followed the varsity game, which the Impact JV won 3-0.  Speas (right mid) and Hyland (left back) both started and played 90.  Bush started and played the first half.  NEXT CREW GAME: v Chicago Fire, Saturday, 21 September, 730pm – Fox Sports Ohio     NEXT IMPACT GAME: v Vancouver Whitecaps, Saturday, 21 September, 2pm

DC UNITED  D 2-2 v Los Angeles Galaxy

Chris Korb [Gates Mills/University School] started and played 90 at right back as DC fought back from being a goal down twice to earn the point.  This match marks just the third time all season that DC has scored more than one goal in a league contest.  NEXT GAME: @ New England  Revolution, Saturday, 21 September, 730pm

SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES  D 0-0 v Vancouver Whitecaps

Justin Morrow [Cleveland/St. Ignatius] was an unused sub in this one, perhaps with an eye on a start in the CONCACAF Champions League mid-week.  NEXT GAME: @ Real Salt Lake, Saturday, 21 September, 9pm

PORTLAND TIMBERS  D 1-1 @ Chivas USA  

Darlington Nagbe [Lakewood/St. Edward] started up top and played all 90 of this match and Ben Zemanski [Akron/Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy] was an unused sub.  The draw was the Timbers thirteenth this season.  Anyone know what the league record is for draws in a season?  Check back next week for the answer!!  FYI, it’s 24 Under 24 week at mlssoccer.com and Nagbe was also named by those good folks as one of the league’s top young attacking talents.  Zemanski played all 90 of the two teams’ Reserve League match on Sunday, a 4-1 win for the Chivas JV.  NEXT GAME: v Colorado Rapids, Friday, 20 September, 10pm – NBCSN

TUESDAY

SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES  W 3-0  MONTREAL IMPACT

The hosts did themselves a favor with this Group 5 CONCACAF Champions League win over their Canadian visitors, but now they’ll need some help from those same Canadians next week when the group’s current leaders, Costa Rican side Heredia, travel up north.  If the Quakes are going to advance, they’ll hope the Impact can beat Heredia and then that they can beat Heredia in October’s group stage finale.  Anyways, Morrow and Bush went all 90 for their respective clubs.  NEXT GROUP 5 GAME:  Montreal v Heredia, Tuesday, 24 September, 8pm

PHOTO CREDIT: Kirby Lee/USA Today Sports

Week Twenty-Four Preview

New owners, new designated players and, seemingly, new rules that benefit “the greater good” were the talking points of this past week, along with the start of the 2013-14 CONCACAF Champions League and the semifinal round of the centennial edition of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup.  Busy, busy… We’ll throw in the mid-week review of how our non-Columbus teams did, along with the preview of today’s games.  Here they are, in chrono order:

COLUMBUS CREW  v New York Red Bulls, 730pm – live on Fox Sports Ohio

Despite last week’s beat-down in Houston, Crew fans were a-buzz this week as they met their new owner.  As far as today’s game goes, the Crew were unlucky to not have beaten the Red Bulls at home earlier in the season, but it’ll take a much more convincing performance to take down the top team in the Eastern Conference and joint-top team in the league.  Here’s the match preview from mlssoccer.com and also the preview from thecrew.com.

SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES  @ Vancouver Whitecaps, 730pm  

After losing their CCL Group 5 opener 1-0 to Montreal last Tuesday, the ‘Quakes play their second straight match north of the border Vancouver for this afternoon affair.  Justin Morrow [Cleveland/St. Ignatius] started and played all 90 at left back.  The next CCL match for San Jose will be in Costa Rica on 28 August against Heredia.  A win today would help San Jose claw closer to the playoffs, as they have 30 points and the ‘Caps have 33.  Here is the preview from mlssoccer.com and the Fan Guide from sjearthquakes.com.

DC UNITED  @ Philadelphia Union, 8pm – live on NBC Sports Network

DC did something on Tuesday night that they have only done once all year – score two goals on the road – and that was enough to carry them through to their fifth US Open Cup Final in club history.  DC beat Chicago 2-0 with goals on either side of halftime and some timely goalkeepering (yeah, new word) late in the match.  Chris Korb [Gates Mills/University School] started at right back and played all match.  It’ll be nice for him to be in a final after enduring such a difficult first three years in the league, but probably not as nice as if they win it.  That match will be played 1 October at Real Salt Lake.  The men from Capitol City will hope to continue that form as they take on I-95 rivals Philadelphia.  Here is the preview from mlssoccer.com and the Tale of the Tape from dcunited.com.

MONTREAL IMPACT  @ Chicago Fire, 830pm

The Impact’s 1-0 win on Tuesday in CCL play over San Jose was done so in convincing form, using one of the oldest recipes in the book – early goal + lots of defense = victory.  Evan Bush [Concord Township/Lake Catholic] recorded the shutout in goal, further justifying his head coach’s decision to utilize him as the Impact’s “cup goalie.”  He even saved a penalty in the 10th minute.  Montreal’s next CCL match is on 21 August at Heredia.  Bush will most likely return to his backup goalie spot behind Troy Perkins on Saturday when the Fire hosts Montreal.  Here is the match preview from the Impact’s website and also the match preview from mlssoccer.com.

In other Evan Bush news, I’m sorry to admit that I’ve been slacking.  I failed to report on three Reserve League matches that he played in.  On 21 July, he started and played all of a 0-0 draw with the USL-Pro Division Rochester Rhinos, picking up a yellow card to go along with five saves.  On 14 July, he started and played all of a 0-0 draw with the New York Red Bulls Reserves.  Finally, he was an unused sub (thankfully) in a 5-0 hammering at the hands of the Toronto FC Reserves on 26 June.

PORTLAND TIMBERS – no game this weekend

PHOTO CREDIT: Rogerio Barbosa/impactmontreal.com