2015 Week 6 Report

It was a buncha’ draws and losses, and one lone victory last weekend for our fellas’ teams, and our guy did not play in that one win.  [SIGH]  Here’s how our MLS guys did last weekend:

COLUMBUS CREW  D 2-2  @ Vancouver Whitecaps  •  I’m sure the Crew SC viewed last Wednesday night’s draw as a mixed blessing, considering they twice gave up one-goal leads to end up with the point, but the stalemate kept the Black and Gold from losing.  It also slightly cooled off the league’s hottest team.  In the absence of Federico Higuaín, who was suspended after picking up a red card the week before, Ben Speas [Stow/Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy] started at attacking mid and played 70 minutes.  He was able to put a couple shots on goal and took three corners, but that was nothing compared to the Caps’ Pedro Morales, who took all 11 of his team’s corners – none of which created a goal.  Brad Stuver [Twinsburg/Twinsburg] did not make the trip, as Steve Clark and Matt Lampson were the two keepers that Head Coach Gregg Berhalter chose to take.

COLUMBUS CREW  D 0-0  @ New England Revolution  •  No room for either Speas or Stuver in the team for the Saturday afternoon game in Foxboro, which featured a lot of wind and sun, but few real scoring chances for either team and, obviously, zero goals.  After last year’s playoff series with the Revs, Columbus had to be happy with the shutout.  Also, from the Crew SC’s point-of-view, getting two points from the longest-travel, shortest-turnaround road trip in MLS history is a heckuva lot better than if it had ended with the team on a three-game losing streak.

NEW YORK CITY FC  L 1-2  @ Philadelphia Union  •  Josh Williams [Copley/Copley] returned to the  starting lineup and played 81 minutes before being subbed out, which means he maybe could have somehow helped prevent Philly’s stoppage-time winner if he had still been on the field.

DC UNITED  D 2-2  v New York Red Bulls  •  DC thought it had all three points in the bag until a 90th-minute goal from their Atlantic Cup rivals stuck them with just one.  Chris Korb [Gates Mills/University School] was an unused sub.  Hmmm… maybe if he’d been subbed in towards the end, he could’ve somehow prevented Lloyd Sam’s equalizer.

MONTREAL IMPACT  L 0-3  @ Houston Dynamo  •  It would be careless to talk about a potential “CONCACAF hangover” affecting the Impact on Saturday in Houston.  That for sure wasn’t the case as the visitors outshot their hosts and earned 11 corner kicks.  The Dynamo scored a scrappy goal early, scored on three of the four shots they put on Montreal’s net and rode their luck to victory.  It happens.  It’s a long MLS season and everyone hits a bump in the road or two.  Evan Bush [Concord Township/Lake Catholic] was in net and made one save.

PORTLAND TIMBERS  L 0-2  v Orlando City SC  •  When a team plays well and still loses, it frustrates everyone on its side.  The Timbers have six points from six games this season (1 W, 3 D) and have outplayed their opponents for – on my guesstimate – 480 of 540 minutes.  But… yeah, you can finish the rest.  Darlington Nagbe [Lakewood/St. Edward] started as a wide mid and played all 90 for PTFC.

LOS ANGELES GALAXY  W 1-0  v Seattle Sounders  •  It was more shelf time for Kenney Walker [Wickliffe/Wickliffe] as he recovers from a groin injury that led to surgery, as the home side got its second victory of the season and ended a 270-minute scoreless string in the process.

Next Weekend’s Games
Thursday, 16 April
~ NEW YORK CITY FC  v  Philadelphia, 7pm
Saturday, 18 April
~ DC UNITED  v  Houston, 7pm
~ COLUMBUS  v  Orlando City, 730pm
~ Dallas FC  v  TORONTO FC, 830pm
~ LOS ANGELES  v  Sporting KC, 1030pm
Sunday, 19 April
~ NEW YORK CITY FC  v  PORTLAND, 7pm – on Fox Sports 1

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And now, here’s how the NASL & USL PRO guys did last weekend:

INDY ELEVEN  D 1-1  v New York Cosmos  •  Kyle Hyland [Bay Village/Bay] subbed on in the 70th minute of Indy’s home opener.  This Saturday, Indy travels to the San Antonio Scorpions for a 830pm match.

OTTAWA FURY  D 1-1  @ ATLANTA SILVERBACKS  •  No Sinisa Ubiparipovic [Mentor/Mentor] for the Fury in this one.  He’s still out nursing an injury.  But, Matt Horth [Akron/Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy] is back!  After  spending 2014 playing in Iceland with Leiknir Reykjavik, he re-signed with the Silverbacks in January (sorry I’m just figuring that out now).  He started as one of Atlanta’s forwards and played 71 minutes before subbing off.  (In week one, he started up top and played 77 minutes against Indy before being subbed.)  So far, this young NASL season, Ottawa has one point from its first two games and Atlanta has two from two.  The Fury hosts Minnesota United FC on Saturday at 3pm, while Atlanta travels to the Carolina RailHawks for a 730pm contest.

PITTSBURGH RIVERHOUNDS  D 1-1  v St. Louis FC  •  Michael Green [Strongsville/Strongsville] started as an outside back and played all 90 of this match.  On Sunday, the Hounds, who are 1-1-1 on the season, host Louisville City FC at 3pm.

2015 Week 5 Report

On the MLS front, there’s not much more to report this week than there was last week.  I hope this isn’t becoming a trend.  However, the NASL season kicked off this past weekend, and the USL season got going last weekend, so we’ll add in the updates on those fellas.  Here’s what went down last weekend:

DC UNITED  W 1-0  @ Orlando City SC  •  Chris Korb [Gates Mills/University School] was an unused sub for DC in a match that should’ve ended a 0-0 draw, if not for OCFC’s terrible wall integrity on Luis Silva’s DFK in the dying moments.

TORONTO FC  L 1-2  @ Chicago Fire  •  Justin Morrow [Cleveland/St. Ignatius] returned to the lineup for TFC, but for the first time this season, he moved into one of the center back positions.  Really, TFC played well enough to get a point or three out of the game, but unfortunate breakdowns at inopportune moments (not to mention a two-yellow card ejection for defender Warren Crevalle) doomed the Reds in the end.

LOS ANGELES GALAXY  L 0-2  @ Vancouver Whitecaps  •  This makes two straight games with no Kenney Walker [Wickliffe/Wickliffe] in the travel team for the gameday 18, thanks to a nasty groin injury.  Coincidentally, that also makes two disappointing road losses for the reigning MLS champs.  Just sayin’…

PORTLAND TIMBERS  W 3-1  v FC Dallas  •  It was another start at attacking mid and 90+ more minutes for Darlington Nagbe [Lakewood/St. Edward].  He did register an assist on the night, against the team he loves to own, creating Maxi Urruti’s goal with a driving dribble that preceded a layoff to Dairon Asprilla.  He suffered six fouls, which was four more than anyone else on the Providence Park pitch.

Next Weekend’s Games
Tuesday, 7 April
~ MONTREAL @ Alajuelense, 8pm, CONCACAF Champions League Semifinal leg 2 on Fox Sports 1
Wednesday, 8 April
~ COLUMBUS @ Vancouver, 10pm
Saturday, 11 April
~ COLUMBUS @ New England, 3pm
~ NEW YORK CITY @ Philadelphia, 4pm
~ DC UNITED v New York, 7pm
~ MONTREAL @ Houston, 8pm
Sunday, 12 April
~ PORTLAND v Orlando City, 5pm on ESPN2
~ LOS ANGELES v Seattle, 7pm on Fox Sports 1

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And now for news on our NASL and USL PRO guys:

PITTSBURGH RIVER HOUNDS  W 5-2  v Harrisburg City Islanders; L 1-2  v Rochester Rhinos  •  Pittsburgh opened its season with a convincing win in the PA Derby two Saturdays ago before dropping a fiercely contested match this past weekend at home to the Rhinos.  Michael Green [Strongsville/Strongsville] started as one of the outside backs in both contests, and he played 90 minutes in each.  Next Saturday, the Hounds travel to St. Louis to take on new club St. Louis FC at 8pm.

INDY ELEVEN  D 1-1  @ Atlanta Silverbacks  •  A late, late PK for Indy kept them from going home with a loss in its season opener.  Kyle Hyland [Bay Village/Bay] was an unused sub.  Next Saturday, the Eleven hosts the New York Cosmos in their home opener at 730pm.

OTTAWA FURY  L 1-3  @ Carolina Railhawks  •  Thanks to another untimely injury, there was no Sinisa Ubiparipovic [Mentor/Mentor] in the travel team for Ottawa’s season opener down in Cary, North Carolina.  Next Saturday, the Fury plays in Atlanta against the Silverbacks at 730pm.

PHOTO CREDIT:  (Morrow) Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images North America, (Nagbe) Craig Mitchelldyer/Portland Timbers

2015 Week 2 Report

While two of our teams rested, only three of our fellas whose teams played this past weekend got any playing time – one in each match.  Here’s how it all went down:

COLUMBUS CREW SC  W 2-0  TORONTO FC  •  The last time Justin Morrow [Cleveland/St. Ignatius] played against the Crew in Columbus on their home opener, he scored the San Jose Earthquakes’ only goal in a 1-1 draw.  On Saturday, his controversial sending-off just before halftime made a bit easier for the hosts to break the game open after the interval, and they sent their black and gold fans home happy.  The victory gives the Crew SC an early lead in this season’s Trillium Cup battle.  Neither of our guys was in the gameday XVIII for the Crew SC, but both Ben Speas [Stow/Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy] and Brad Stuver [Twinsburg/Twinsburg] were up early on Sunday morning for the Reserve Team’s game with the University of Michigan.  Speas started as the attacking mid and scored the third goal in the 3-1 victory, and Stuver was the backup goalie to Matt Lampson.

NEW YORK CITY FC  W 2-0  New England Revolution  •  Josh Williams [Copley/Copley] started at right back and had an extremely busy 79-minute shift against some of the best attacking talent in the Eastern Conference.  He picked up a yellow card in the 57th minute, but other than that, he acquitted himself well.  A shutout win in the club’s inaugural home opener?  Not too shabby!

PORTLAND TIMBERS  D 2-2  LOS ANGELES GALAXY  •  Let’s hope a disturbing trend from last season it’s back for a sequel.  The Timbers scored first, then allowed an equalizer before going ahead in the game’s final minute, only to let two points slip away on a stoppage-time goal from the defending MLS Cup champs.  It was Darlington Nagbe’s [Lakewood/St. Edward] assist to Fanendo Adi that put PTFC up 2-1.  Throughout the match, he was the Nagbe that everyone wants him to be/knows he can be, creating issues for the Galaxy throughout.  Michael Nanchoff [North Royalton/Walsh Jesuit] was not in the gameday team for Portland and neither was Kenney Walker [Wickliffe/Wickliffe] for LA – a week after starting their home opener.  Hmmm…

Next Weekend’s Games
Wednesday, 18 March
–  MONTREAL  v  Alajuelense, CONCACAF Champions League Semifinal, leg one, 8pm, Fox Sports 2
Saturday, 21 March
–  New England  v  MONTREAL, 3pm
–  Colorado  v  NEW YORK CITY FC, 4pm
–  Sporting Kansas City  v PORTLAND, 830pm
–  LOS ANGELES  v  Houston, 1030pm
Sunday, 22 March
–  New York Red Bulls  v  DC UNITED, 5pm – ESPN2

What’s been going on with our not-so-MLS guys?  Here’s an update:

INDY ELEVEN  •  The Eleven won’t start their NASL season for another couple weeks, so it’s been trainings and scrimmages since they got back from Arizona.  They lost to Indiana University 2-1 in a 9v9 scrimmage (6 March), defeated new USL club St. Louis FC 2-0 (11 March) and tied with the University of Dayton last Sunday 1-1.  Kyle Hyland [Bay Village/Bay] played the second half against Dayton, subbed on in the 28th minute against St. Louis FC and got the second half at IU.  In other good news, we have another member of our club now playing with Indy.  Judson McKinney [Cuyahoga Falls/Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy] signed with the Eleven at the beginning of March after spending the past couple years in the USL and MISL and he got a half of playing time in each of the aforementioned scrimmages, putting in shifts at outside back.  Next Saturday, they’ll scrimmage USL PRO side, Louisville City FC.

OTTAWA FURY  •  After a couple weeks of training, the Fury finally got to kick some other guys instead of their teammates when they went to Ontario to scrimmage TFC II on 6 March.  Sinisa Ubiparipovic [Mentor/Mentor] played the first half of the 3-2 victory.  A week later, he started and played 59 minutes of a 1-1 draw against the Rochester Rhinos of USL PRO.  On 20 March, they’ll scrimmage FC Montreal, the Impact’s USL PRO team.

PITTSBURGH RIVERHOUNDS  •  The USL PRO Riverhounds have been scrimmaging against college teams for the past two weeks.  I haven’t been able to dig up super-detailed information on lineups and whatnot regarding those contests, but from various tweets I’ve seen, Mike Green [Strongsville/Strongsville] has played in all of those games, but not all of all of those games.

PHOTO CREDIT:  Craig Mitchelldyer/Portland Timbers

Second post in 24 hours!!

Here’s the same sort of post as the previous one, although it’ll be focusing on our two NASL guys – and one who was in USL PRO last season, but slipped past our radar.

MIKE GREEN  [Strongsville/Strongsville]  •  The 2011 graduate of the University of New Mexico has played the last three seasons with the Pittsburgh Riverhounds in USL PRO.  In 2014, Green played in 28 games with 25 starts and he scored four goals.  According to the Hounds’ website, he is still on the team’s roster.  The USL PRO season kicks off 21 March and Pittsburgh plays its first game a week later, at home against Harrisburg City Islanders.  Keep an eye on this space for updates on Green.

KYLE HYLAND  [Bay Village/Bay]  •  After his first season with NASL  newbies Indy Eleven, Hyland did enough to impress his way to a new contract for 2015.  Despite a couple injuries and a surgery that ended his season early, he played in 17 games at left back (with a shift or two at left mid mixed in) and started 12 of them.  He racked up four assists, which is a decent total for an outside back.  The Eleven struggled to find their footing on the field and had an uneven season, which was to be expected in their first year.  Off the field, things went very well, and there are even plans to build a fancy new downtown stadium.  In year two, Hyland and company will aspire to a more consistent set of performances, which should lead to more points and, ideally, a berth in the playoffs.  Indy kicks off its spring season at Atlanta on 4 April, but they have not yet announced their preseason plans.

SINISA UBIPARIPOVIC  [Mentor/Mentor]  •  Our other NASL guy playing  with an expansion franshise had a typically solid season, one with the kind of numbers we’ve come to expect from him based on his time in MLS with New York and Montreal.  Ubiparipovic played 25 games, started 22 of them and contributed four goals and two assists, which is his best season numbers-wise, since 2008 or 2009.  It’s simple – when he plays, he produces.  He’ll be back in Ottawa in 2015.  Seems like they’ve got a good thing going up there, and will look to improve upon a herky-jerky first season.  Ubiparipovic should be a big part of that, if he’s healthy.  At age 31 are his MLS days behind him?  Depends on a lot of things, but his skill with the ball is up there with anyone in any American league.  The Fury’s preseason has begun and will run through March, as the NASL season doesn’t kick off until the first weekend in April, when they at the Carolina RailHawks.

* In doing my homework for these three, I discovered a new site that I dig – us.soccerway.com  I’m not sure who runs it or posts stats, etc. to it, but it’s very helpful for the non-MLS guys.  Lots of good info there that I can’t seem to find easily on the NASL or USL PRO sites.  (Yet?)

** Please let me know of anyone else who may be out there playing in the lower divisions that I might not have included in posts last year.

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 Thirty Report

 

LOS ANGELES GALAXY  L 1-2  @ FC Dallas  •  Kenney Walker [Wickliffe/Wickliffe] subbed in for the final six minutes with the match tied at 1-1, to do some d-mid work for the tiring Baggio Husidic.  But with four minutes remaining, FCD got its winner and created a fun scenario for the Galaxy over the final two matches – both against Seattle in a home-and-away deal.  The winner of those two games will take home the Supporters’ Shield, as the team in MLS with the best record at the end of the regular season.  The loser will be the #2-seed in the Western Conference and in the playoffs overall.

DC UNITED  W 3-1  @ Houston Dynamo  •  With his team up 1-0 and looking to kill off the game a bit, Chris Korb [Gates Mills/University School] subbed in on 60″ and saw DC run out with the three points.  Those three points were DC’s first in Houston ever.  Ever!  The win ended a 0-11-1 barren run that dates back to Houston’s inaugural year in 2006.

TORONTO FC  L 1-3  @ New York Red Bulls  •  Justin Morrow [Cleveland/St. Ignatius] started at left back and played all 90, contributing the main assist on TFC’s late strike that enabled them to avoid being shutout.

COLUMBUS CREW  W 3-2  @ Philadelphia Union  •  If you call yourself a  Crew fan and didn’t see or hear about this one, go watch the match highlights now.  You’ll be very glad you did.  Down 2-0 at the 75″ mark, the Crew scored three goals in four minutes to take the huge three points the eliminated the Union from playoff contention.  In the absence of first-choice attacking mid Federico Higuaín through a card suspension, Ben Speas [Stow/Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy] filled in and played 83 minutes, subbing off for a defender after the Crew comeback was complete.  No Josh Williams [Copley/Copley] or Brad Stuver [Twinsburg/Twinsburg] in the travel team for this one.

MONTREAL IMPACT  D 2-2  v New England Revolution  •  Evan Bush [Concord Township/Lake Catholic] started in goal for the Impact and you’d have figured two goals from Marco DiVaio would’ve been enough to see the home side with three points.  But a goal off a deflection in the 69th minute from the visitors’ Lee Nguyen made it 2-2 and that’s how it ended.

UP NEXT
Friday, 17 October
– PORTLAND  v  Real Salt Lake, 10pm – NBC Sports Network
Saturday, 18 October
– TORONTO  v  MONTREAL, 2pm
– DC  v  Chicago, 7pm
Sunday, 19 October
– New York  v  COLUMBUS, 3pm – UniMás
– LOS ANGELES  v  Seattle, 830pm – ESPN2

NASL REPORT
INDY ELEVEN  W 2-0  v Minnesota United FC  •  Well, it turns out that the injury Kyle Hyland [Bay Village/Bay] suffered last week against the Cosmos was bad enough that it needed surgery.  Here’s an update from his Mom, who is a blog reader, “Kyle Update: 2nd opinion from the doctor who works on players from the Indianapolis Colts. Surgery will be this Thursday. Kyle will have a plate and three surgical screws inserted in his ankle to prevent the Tibia from ever displacing again. The Fibula is NOT broken. Also, the CT Scan shows a small bone flake/tiny fragment which has slid between the joint; it will be removed without any additional complication. He will not have a plaster cast, but instead a boot for the next 6-weeks.”  The day after the surgery, she wrote back with this report, “He had surgery Thursday morning. They had to put a plate and three screws in at the base of his leg where it connects to the ankle. He will be ready for spring training, per the doctor.”  Oh, by the way, without Hyland, the Eleven won on Saturday night.  (Since Hyland’s season is done, I’m not sure if I’m going to include Eleven reports over these last few weeks of the season.  Maybe.)  Next up:  v San Antonio Scorpions, Saturday, 18 October, 730pm

OTTAWA FURY  L 1-2  @ New York Cosmos  •  Sinisa Ubiparipovic [Mentor/Mentor] started as one of the central mids and played all 90 of this one.  The visitors thought they had stolen a point until the home side got a goal deep into injury time.  This match had a little bit of everything, including bad tempers.  The Fury received six yellow cards and an ejection for each team.  This loss, coupled with the Eleven’s win leaves both teams tied on 16 points from 15 matches, one place above the NASL basement-dwelling Atlanta Silverbacks.  Next up:  v FC Edmonton, Saturday, 18 October, 3pm

PHOTO CREDIT:  mlssoccer.com

2014 Week Twenty-Nine Report

Just a handful of games are left for our boys to play in the regular season.  Montreal has been eliminated from playoff contention, DC and LA are in.  So now, it’s up to the Crew and Timbers and TFC to put up or shut up.  Here’s how it went down this past weekend:

DC UNITED  D 0-0  v Sporting Kansas City  •   Chris Korb [Gates Mills/University School] started at right back and played all 90, as the Eastern Conference’s number-one and number-two (at the time) teams did battle in the rain at RFK Stadium.  The win clinched a playoff berth for DC.

COLUMBUS CREW  L 1-2  @ New England Revolution  •  It’s not the end of the world, but the Crew dropped three big points on Saturday night in Foxboro.  They’re still in the playoff chase, sitting fourth in the East.  Ben Speas [Stow/Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy] was an unused sub.

LOS ANGELES GALAXY  W 3-0  v  TORONTO FC  •  The Angelinos kept on rolling and Robbie Keane scored another golazo and TFC was still TFC.  Kenney Walker [Wickliffe/Wickliffe] was an unused sub for LA.  Justin Morrow [Cleveland/St. Ignatius] started at right back for TFC and played all 90.

PORTLAND TIMBERS  W 2-1  @ San Jose Earthquakes  •  For the visitors, it was “No captain? No problem!” as the Timbers played their first full game without Will Johnson (broken leg) and Ben Zemanski [Akron/Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy] filled in with aplomb.  So much so that he was named the mlssoccer.com Man of the Match #3.  Not too shabby!  He started at holding mid and played all 90, while Darlington Nagbe [Lakewood/St. Edward] went 89 and Michael Nanchoff [North Royalton/Walsh Jesuit] was an unused sub.  At this time of year, there’s no such thing as a “quality win.”  They’re all quality.  But, to get two goals after training 1-0 in the second half on the road… that, my friends, is quality.

MONTREAL IMPACT  D 0-0  @ Chicago Fire  •  Evan Bush [Concord Township/Lake Catholic] got the call once again for the Impact and he was busy from start to finish, making a season-high eight saves, but not letting anything get past him.

UP NEXT
Wednesday, 8 October
– TORONTO  v  Houston, 730pm
– PORTLAND  v  San Jose, 1030pm
Saturday, 11 October
– MONTREAL  v  New England, 4pm
– Philadelphia  v  COLUMBUS, 7pm
– New York  v  TORONTO, 7pm
Sunday, 12 October
– Houston  v  DC, 3pm – UniMás
– Dallas  v  LOS ANGELES, 7pm – ESPN2

THE NASL REPORT
INDY ELEVEN  D 0-0  v New York Cosmos  •  Kyle Hyland [Bay Village/Bay] returned to his regular starting spot at left back, and made a huge goal-line clearance to help keep the match scoreless in the 13th minute.  However, he left the game in the 27th minute with an apparent ankle injury.  Ugh.  Poor guy.  At least the Eleven scrapped out a point.  Up next:  v Minnesota United FC, Saturday, 11 October, 730pm

OTTAWA FURY  W 2-0  v Atlanta Silverbacks;  D 1-1  @ San Antonio Scorpions  •  Sinisa Ubiparipovic [Mentor/Mentor] sat out the Fury’s mid-week contest with , but he did start against the Scorpions and played all 90 minutes.  Up next: @ New York Cosmos, Saturday, 11 October, 730pm

PHOTO CREDIT:  dcunited.com

2014 Week Twenty-Eight Report

Okay, I’m sort of getting hung up on the numbers here.  I’m calling this Week 28 – which it was, based on how many calendar weeks it’s been since the season began.  However, most MLS teams have four games remaining in a 34 match schedule.  So should I be calling this Week 30 instead?  Whatever.  I’ll remain consistent with my numbering.  And speaking of consistent… I’d love to celebrate all of our teams winning their matches this week, but two of the victories came at the expense of another fella’s club.  Nevertheless, we haven’t had all W’s this year to date!  Here’s how it all went down since the last post:

MID-WEEK CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE MATCHES
PORTLAND TIMBERS  W 6-0  v Alpha United  •  On Tuesday night, this match featured a cracking  strike from Michael Nanchoff [North Royalton/Walsh Jesuit].  He started and played all of it, contributing two assists to the effort, as well.  Ben Zemanski [Akron/Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy] also started and played 90, and he got the assist on Nano’s goal.  Check out the highlights to see all the fun.  The Timbers will need to win or draw with Olimpia in the final Group 5 match at the end of October in order to advance to the CCL Quarters.

DC UNITED  W 2-0  v FC Tauro  •  Chris Korb [Gates Mills/University School] started and played the first 45 minutes of this Group 4 match, a win that enabled DC to clinch a berth in the next round of CCL Quarterfinals.

TORONTO FC  W 3-2  v PORTLAND TIMBERS  •  The Timbers were up 2-0 after 16 minutes, but the Reds chipped away, goal-by-goal, until they earned the three points. Darlington Nagbe [Lakewood/St. Edward] started and played 90.  Zemanski was an unused sub.  Nanchoff did not make the trip.  This win did not help the Crew improve its chances of remaining above the Eastern Conference playoff line.

DC UNITED  W 1-0  v Philadelphia  •  Start – check.  Play all 90 – check.  DC win – check.  Game-winning assist – bonus check!  Just another day at the office for Korb.  This win helped the Crew.

COLUMBUS CREW  W 2-0  v MONTREAL IMPACT  •  The Crew turned the table on the Impact from the teams’ last meeting, and against the same Montreal goalie, too.  Evan Bush [Concord Township/Lake Catholic] was back between the pipes, and he made two saves, but this time his team let him down.  For the home side, Ben Speas [Stow/Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy] was an unused sub in this match.  This win helped the Crew jump up to the 4th spot in the Eastern Conference playoff ladder.  In other Crew news, Josh Williams [Copley/Copley] is back!  Kind of!!  He turned out for the Crew this past Tuesday when the team scrimmaged the Indy Eleven at the Crew’s training facility in Obetz.  So it would seem that the surgery was a success and now he’s working on getting his touch all set and on recovering his match fitness.  Speas started and played a good bit of the scrimmage.

LOS ANGELES GALAXY  W 4-0  v New York Red Bulls  •  Nobody in their right minds wants to face the Galaxy at the StubHub Center right now.  No playing time for Kenney Walker [Wickliffe/Wickliffe] on the night, as he was an unused substitute.  This win helped the Crew.

UP NEXT
Friday, 3 October
– DC  v  Sporting Kansas City, 8pm – NBC Sports Network
Saturday, 4 October
– New England Revolution  v  COLUMBUS, 730pm
– LOS ANGELES  v  TORONTO FC, 1030pm
– San Jose  v  PORTLAND, 11pm
Sunday, 5 October
– Chicago  v  MONTREAL, 5pm

NASL REPORT
OTTAWA FURY  L 2-3  v Minnesota United FC  •  Sinisa Ubiparipovic [Mentor/Mentor] started at center mid and played all 90, as the Fury dropped some valuable points after going up one, down two, then level in the 55th minute before… the visitors got their winner with two minutes left.  Despite the loss, there are two games this next week for the Fury and with them, an opportunity to pick up six points and jump over some teams in the table.  Ottawa is eighth with 12 points from 12 games and six left.  Up next: v Atlanta Silverbacks, Wednesday, 7pm; @ San Antonio Scorpions, Saturday, 830pm

INDY ELEVEN  L 0-1  v Carolina RailHawks  •  Kyle Hyland [Bay Village/Bay] was back in the Eleven starting lineup, but this time as left mid.  He put in a 59-minute shift before subbing out.  The loss keeps Indy in ninth place in the league, with 12 points from 11 matches remaining and five matches remaining.  They’ve not been eliminated from playoff contention, but it’d probably take at least 12 points from those games to get them in.  Additionally, Hyland played in the scrimmage with the Crew, which Indy won 2-1.  Up next: @ New York Cosmos, Saturday, 8pm

PHOTO CREDIT:  Craig Mitchelldyer/CONCACAF

2014 Week Twenty-Seven Report

I could obviously do the research to figure out exactly long it has been since the last time (who has time for that??), but it seems like forever since all of our fellas’ teams went undefeated.  Wow.  Next mountain to conquer is getting everyone to play in the same weekend.  Here’s how it all went down this past weekend:

PORTLAND TIMBERS  W 3-0  v Vancouver Whitecaps  •  Darlington Nagbe [Lakewood/St. Edward] started as an attacking mid and played all 90, contributing a simple assist to Fanendo Adi on the  Timbers’ third goal.  Ben Zemanski [Akron.Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy] was an unused sub and Michael Nanchoff [North Royalton/Walsh Jesuit] was not in the gameday 18.  Portland is currently fifth in the West, occupying the last playoff spot with five matches left to play.  Also, the Timbers jumped up to second in this season’s Cascadia Cup standings with the win.  However, they can’t win the thing this season, and they could even finish last, based on the results of the SEA-VAN match on 10 October.

COLUMBUS CREW  W 1-0  v New England Revolution  •  The Crew picked up three big points to remain in the Eastern Conference’s fifth playoff spot after this win.  Ben Speas [Stow/Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy] was not a part of the gameday XVIII, nor was Brad Stuver [Twinsburg/Twinsburg], whose loan deal with USL-PRO’s Wilmington Hammerheads FC ended last week.

MONTREAL IMPACT  W 2-0  v San Jose Earthquakes  •  Come on, Montreal Head Coach Frank Klopas!  You had the chance for a Bush vs. Busch goalkeeper battle in this match and you started Perkins?  I guess current form doesn’t mean anything anymore.  Evan Bush [Concord Township/Lake Catholic] returned to his previously usual role as backup goalie for this game.

DC UNITED  D 3-3  @ Chicago Fire  •  Korby’s back!!  And look at the result!  Chris Korb [Gates Mills/University School] returned from a hamstring pull and subbed in after halftime for a midfielder with DC trailing their hosts leading 2-1.  In fact, after being down 2-0, DC scored three straight before giving up the tyer (tie-er?) in the 78th minute.  The way I figure it, if Korb had played the entire game, DC would have won.  But maybe he’s not 90-minutes fit yet.

LOS ANGELES GALAXY  W 2-1  v FC Dallas  •  Kenney Walker [Wickliffe/Wickliffe] was again an unused sub, which is better than being in purgatory.  LA keeps on rolling, with or without him.  They’re now second in the West – tied on points with Seattle, but having played one more game – and clinched a playoff spot with the win.

TORONTO FC  W 3-0  v Chivas USA  •  Justin Morrow [Cleveland/St. Ignatius] is back, fully fit.  He started at right back and played all 90 of this match.  Seems like everyone beats Chivas 3-0 these days.  I’m sure Ben Zemanski doesn’t miss suiting up for them.

 

UP NEXT
Tuesday, 23 Sept
PORTLAND  v  Alpha United, CCL group 5, 10pm – Fox Sports 1
Wednesday, 24 Sept
DC UNITED  v  Tauro FC, CCL group 3, 8pm – Fox Sports 2
Saturday, 27 Sept
TORONTO  v  PORTLAND, 1pm
DC  v  Philadelphia, 3pm – NBC Sports Network
COLUMBUS  v  MONTREAL, 730pm
Sunday, 28 Sept
LOS ANGELES  v  New York, 830pm – ESPN2

 

NASL WEEK 11 REPORT
INDY ELEVEN  L 1-2  @ Ft. Lauderdale Strikers  •  Indy lost on the road for the first time in more than a month, but Kyle Hyland’s [Bay Village/Bay] groin still isn’t well enough for him to get back out there.  Next up for the Eleven is a home date with the Carolina RailHawks on Saturday night at 730pm.

OTTAWA FURY  W 3-0  @ Atlanta Silverbacks  •  Sinisa Ubiparipovic [Mentor/Mentor] started at center mid and played 76 minutes before subbing out with a 2-0 lead.  Ottawa has won three straight on the road now, and will host Minnesota United FC next Saturday at 3pm.

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