mlsfanblog

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Weekend Scores

It was a wild weekend of soccer, especially in DC where there were 3 red cards and a game winning PK made, but then missed when the ref required a re-take of the kick.  DC United was not happy with the referee in this game.

Sporting KC and San Jose Earthquakes stay on top of their conferences.  DC United move past Montreal Impact for last playoff position in the East.

Seattle Sounders FC 2 - 0 Vancouver Whitecaps FC Fredy Montero Eddie Johnson

Toronto FC 0 - 1 Sporting Kansas City Kei Kamara 

Montreal Impact 3 - 1 San Jose Earthquakes Chris Wondolowski Marco Di Vaio Lamar Neagle Patrice Bernier

Chicago Fire 2 - 1 New England Revolution Chris Rolfe Fernando Cardenas Sherjill MacDonald 

Real Salt Lake 1 - 2 FC Dallas Fabian Castillo Alvaro Baborio David Ferreira

Colorado Rapids 1 - 1 Chivas USA Brian Mullan Juan Pablo Angel 

DC United 1 - 1 Philadelphia Union Brian Carroll Amobi Okugo (OG) 

NY Red Bulls 3 - 2 Portland Timbers Bright Dike Darlington Nagbe Kenny Cooper Tim Cahill Heath Pearce

Houston Dynamo 2 - 2 Columbus Crew Brad Davis Cole Grossman  Eddie Gaven Adam Moffat 

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Sporting KC Are US Open Cup Champions!

It sure was exciting watching the MatchCenter play by play scroll by.

Thanks so much to DISH Network for not having GOL TV.  What I want to know is was this game available to Direct Kick subscribers?  If yes, I'm going to ditch DISH and order Direct Kick on the Roku.

So Sporting KC finally put an end to the Seattle Sounders dominating reign on the US Open Cup.  Here is an instant reply of the end of the game, how exciting it was to see this live!

Eddie Johnson, Grahm Zusi, and Osvaldo Alonso should all be disappointed.  I bet Zusi gets over his disappointment pretty quick.

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I can only see one game this year in Philadelphia and it has to be on a Sunday given my schedule. Any suggestion on who I should see play Philadelphia this year: New York, Toronto, New England, Chicago or Houston?

I might pick New York as I would expect NY/Philly to grow into quite a rivalry. 

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I'm from Scotland and collect soccer cards/stickers. I wondered if there are any collections of MLS cards that I might be able to track down?

I don't know, but maybe someone else will have some idea.  Can anyone share information about collectable MLS cards.  Does anyone make them?

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Portland Timbers on pace for perfect season!

If the Portland Timbers continue at their current pace they will finish the season with a perfect record.  They will also likely break season scoring records, but they'll be tied with Real Salt Lake in both departments.

What a season this is going to be!  The West looks to likely be dominant over the East again.  Six West teams got W's and the defending MLS Cup Champions aren't even in the win column yet.  Only KC and Houston, last year's Eastern Conference championship game participants, got victories.  The Sounders, who should be one of the strongest teams in the league, have not had a regular season game yet.

Watching MLS on TV got a whole lot better this year with the addition of NBC Sports picking up a bunch of games!

In honor of NBC Sports showing games, I'd like to start a little friendly prediction competition.  Predict the outcome (win, lose, or draw) of each game on the NBC Sports TV schedule.  Post it to Twitter with #MLSPredictions.  I'll start:

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Hi, I'm starting a Fantasy League for MLS and was wondering if you would be interested in joining and spreading the word about it. It's mostly for Tumblr folks, but anons are also welcome! :-)

I probably would be interested in joining and spreading the word.  Give me some more details.

[mlsfanblog]

MLS SuperDraft 2012

The MLS SuperDraft is happening live on ESPN2 right now.  I went home to get some food and watched a little bit.  The Sporting KC fans are rocking it!  They are louder than most basketball crowds ever get!

Get all the SuperDraft info here: http://www.mlssoccer.com/superdraft/2012/superdraft

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i hope he comes out of retirement to play in the mls , also what i believe for sure is that, even though he might seem quite old to still be playing football, it doesnt really matter actually, he's the greatest player ever to me and to most and i dont see him getting any worse on his balling abilities,, i hope he does come down here to new york though , it would be nice to see him play in the league here, at least he will teach our mls boys some skills and some reason to be calm on the ball lol

I'm not sure if this was supposed to really be a question or what.

cool...

[mlsfanblog]

MLS Cup 2011 Predictions

vs

Well well, who expected the Houston Dynamo to make it to MLS Cup 2011? 

Without Brad Davis?

If you answered yes to the first question, you are probably a Dynamo fan.  If you answered yes to the second question, I call BS.

Plenty expected the Galaxy to be here.

So who is going to win it?  I guess I have to go with the Galaxy.  They've got a few things going for them:

They are playing at home

Brad Davis is hurt

They've already lost 4 MLS Cups.  Certainly they don't want to lose another.

So I'm gonna say Robbie Keane gets a hat trick and the Galaxy win 4-2.  What do you think is going to happen?

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WHAT MAKES YOU FEEL BETTER WHEN YOU ARE IN A BAD MOOD?

Watching Sporting KC win something!

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MLS Cup semi finals are upon us!

Real Salt Lake vs LA Galaxy The Home Depot Center, Carson Sun, Nov 6, 9 pm ET/6 pm PT

Real Salt Lake survive a close one in Seattle after thumping the Sounders 3-0 in Salt Lake.  The Galaxy took care of NY 3-1 and their fans developed a special place in their hearts for NY forward Luke Rodgers for this:

Houston Dynamo vs Sporting KC Livestrong Sporting Park, Kansas City Sun, Nov 6, 5:30 pm ET/4:30 pm CT

Meanwhile in the much weaker Eastern conference, Sporting KC cruised to a 4-0 victory over the reserve squad of the defending champion Colorado Rapids (they had a lot of injuries).  Houston Dynamo played against an un-inspiring Philadelphia Union team that seemed just fine to be down by 2 goals at the end of their second leg.  These teams finished 9th and 12th in the league last year, neither of which was good enough to make the playoffs.

Predictions

Sporting KC look too damn good to be stopped by the Dynamo, especially at home.  

Real Salt Lake are up and down.  They were horrible at the end of the regular season but then put a thumping on Seattle before going to get dominated in Seattle.  The Galaxy should be consistently really good, but probably not great.  If RSL play a great game, they can beat LA.  I think Donovan and company will do exactly what they need to do to get back to the MLS Cup.

Sporting KC at LA Galaxy for the MLS Cup

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So LA/NY is now the game to watch

The first legs of the round of 8 are over. RSL was very impressive in getting a 3-0 win over SSFC.  The result may have been a surprise to a good number of people, but the score was a surprise to most all non-RSL fans.  It will be very hard to Seattle to overcome 3 goals.  I expect RSL to advance. Sporting KC won 2-0 on the road over Colorado.  Due to the crazy number of injuries the Rapids have taken, their reserve squad will have to travel to KC on Thursday.  Sporting KC should advance pretty easily. Houston got a 2-1 victory on the road, so this serious could go anywhere now.  Philly has the potential to get a road win and end Houston's season.  I don't expect it to happen though.  Houston advances after a draw in Houston. LA went to NY and got a 1-0 win.  I didn't see this whole game but from the looks of it the most exciting part of the game was right after the final whistle.  Rafa Marquez decides to throw the ball at Landon Donovan after the game which ends in a red card for himself and one for Juninho.

"Marquez fell down, maybe a fly went into his eye"

So the Red Bulls weren't able to win the first leg. The next best thing must be to start shit and then fake an injury in hopes of getting a Galaxy player ejected. That is some stupid shit that shouldn't be in MLS. It should make for a spirited game when these teams return to LA on Thursday night. I expect LA to win that one as well and advance to the semi-finals.

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Colorado Rapids or Columbus Crew?

 @ 

Columbus Crew @ Colorado Rapids

So one team finishes their season and one team goes on to play Sporting KC. I got off to a bad start on the playoff predictions last night with the NY win, but I'm sure the Rapids are going to put me up to .500.  I have to go with the Rapids because I'll be able to watch the game because I happen to be close enough to Colorado that I get Altitude Sports and Entertainment on my satellite! Don't miss this last wild card playoff game.  Who do you got in this one?

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Wildcard Weekend!

Now that the Dynamo have finished off the season we finally know what the playoffs are going to look like.  Next weekend the wildcard teams will play. NY Red Bulls (4) @ FC Dallas (1) Columbus Crew (3) @ Colorado Rapids (2) The the rest of the team join in on the fun.  The winners of those 2 games will be placed based on which is the higher seed of the winners.  The rest of the schedule will look like this: WEST: 1. LA Galaxy Lower seeded wild card winner (NY Red Bulls, Columbus Crew, or Colorado Rapids) 3. Real Salt Lake 2. Seattle Sounders EAST: 1. Sporting KC Higher seeded wild card winner (FC Dallas, Colorado Rapids, or Columbus Crew) 3. Philadelphia Union 2. Houston Dynamo So it is time for some predictions.  I'm think both of the higher seeded wild card teams will overcome their weaker Eastern Conference opponents.  Both of the West team will be at home.  That would send the Rapids to play the Galaxy and FC Dallas to Sporting KC. What do you think will happen on Wild Card Weekend?

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Playoffs are set!

Well not really, but at least we know who is in and who is out. The in teams: WEST: LA Galaxy, Seattle Sounders, Real Salt Lake EAST: Sporting KC, Philadelphia Union, Columbus Crew WILD CARDS: FC Dallas, Colorado Rapids, New York Red Bulls, Houston Dynamo There is still a whole lot to be decided in the last couple days of the season.  FC Dallas and the Houston Dynamo could move into a top 3 spot and out of the wildcard group.  Real Salt Lake, Columbus Crew, and Philadelphia Union could all drop down into a wildcard position.  That might not be all bad for Real Salt Lake actually. The first round of the playoffs will be two game involving all the wild card teams.  the top seed will play the bottom seed and the middle two will play each other.  Of those winners, the team with the lower seed will play the LA Galaxy.  The winner with the higher seed will play the winner in the East. Right now FC Dallas and Real Salt Lake are tied for 3rd place in the West/1st wild card seed.  Assuming they are able to win their wild-card round game, that means one of those teams will enter the East side of the playoffs against some combination of Sporting KC, Philadelphia Union, Columbus Crew, and Houston Dynamo.  That sounds much easier than having the Galaxy and Sounders to get through. The downside to FC Dallas or RSL for finishing 4th would be that one extra game they'd need to play just to get to the round of 8.  That extra game will be against one of Colorado Rapids, New York Red Bulls, or Houston Dynamo.  So you've got the defending champions, and the Red Bulls who a lot of people thought were going to be the top team in the league this year.  Maybe it wouldn't be beneficial to finish 4th over there? On Saturday Real Salt Lake is at home to play Portland Timbers.  FC Dallas goes to the San Jose Earthquakes.  I'm sure both teams will be going for a win, but are you sure you'd want to win if you were in their situation?

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Who is where in the playoffs?

The Galaxy have had the top spot wrapped up for a while.  The Sounders and Real Salt Lake have also had their playoffs spot for a few weeks.  Now there is one position remaining that 4 teams have a shot at with New York in the best position to take it. The East side is kinda crazy right now.  Sporting KC and Philadelphia Union are tied on points with Columbus Crew and Houston Dynamo 1 and 2 points back.  Any of those teams could take 1st and any one could fall to the 3rd wildcard position.  There are a ton of scenarios for those teams in the East.  An article on Down The Byline makes it clear as mud what Sporting KC have to do. I do hope Sporting KC end up on top, because when everyone else was saying NY was going to win the east, I was probably the only guy that was even thinking about KC as a playoff contender.  It could be that KC finish only 2 points up on NY, so that isn't such a big win, and you can't blame anyone for thinking NY should have been up there, they have the team do it. No matter what happens, it will be an exciting weekend for a bunch of teams starting with Portland Timbers and DC United.  Likely one team will be eliminated and one team will still have hope after that game.  Then Thursday night New York and Philadelphia will have big impact on several teams.  Then the season is ended on Sunday with the LA Galaxy visiting the Houston Dynamo. I see KC winning the East, with New York holding on to that last playoff spot.  How do you see it all ending?  Who gets in and who wins the East?

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Kasey Keller's last regular season home game

So Kasey Keller is retiring after this season :( He is one of the greatest keepers we've ever seen, there is no doubt about that.  But instead of showing of his complete awesome-ness in goal, I wanted to find a video of a goal he gave up to Mexico sometime in the 90's.  I remember seeing the goal on TV when it happened, but I don't remember exactly what year or competition it was in. It was probably a back pass to Keller that was being chased by Luis Hernandez.  Keller smacked the ball directly into the oncoming Mexican striker's head which went straight into the goal. I searched a little bit for the video but maybe my memory is not working right.  I know it was USA vs. Mexico, I'm pretty sure it was Keller, and it might not have been Hernandez.  But anyway.... In the 1998 Gold Cup semi-final the US beat Brazil 1-0.  According to Wikipedia, Brazilian legend Romario said “That is the best performance by a goalkeeper I have ever seen” about Keller's game in that shutout.  Keller was the MVP of that tournament even though the US went on to lose to Mexico in the final.  A song was written about Keller's performance in that game.  So that is what you are left with here because I couldn't find the goofy goal he gave up sometime in the 90's. Kasey Keller by Barcelona:

I was supposed to be at the game tonight in Seattle but due to shit I couldn't control, I'm stuck at home.  It is going to be a special time in Seattle.  They expect over 60,000 in attendance! If you can think of the goal I was trying to find, leave a comment and let me know what game that happened in.