The surprising late season surge of Salt Lake has captured the attention of MLS fans throughout the nation. With three weeks left, Salt Lake is currently poised to capture the third seed in the West and qualify for their first ever postseason appearance.
RSL starts its bid for MLS Cup glory by playing its first ever home game at Rio Tinto Stadium this Thursday night against the Red Bulls on ESPN2. Surely, Salt Lake cannot be lacking for motivation as this all-important game approaches. Then, RSL will have nine days to prepare for Dallas at home before finishing the season on the road against the Rapids.
Forbes.com recently released a report that looked at the economic side of MLS and also put a value on each of the Major League Soccer franchises.
At a macro level, things are looking up for MLS. Seven of the league’s 14 teams play in soccer-specific stadiums, five of which have been built since 2002. Expansion franchises in Seattle and Philadelphia recently agreed to pay $30 million each to join the league, three times what Toronto FC paid to join MLS three years ago. Commissioner Don Garber says the next two expansion teams, to be announced in 2009, will cost $40 million. Some team owners are even floating a $50 million price tag.
Fabian Espindola likes to celebrate goals. At some point, he decided he would make it his custom to celebrate a goal with a back flip. Apparently, no one associated with his club, Real Salt Lake, told him this was not a good idea.
Six minutes into RSL’s game with the Gals last weekend, Espindola thought he had netted one and proceeded to perform his customary back flip. There were just two problems: (1) the goal had been called back as Espindola was offsides and (2) Espindola’s flip flopped and he came down awkwardly on his ankle.
A look at the scores and match reports from this weekend’s games in Major League Soccer.
Columbus 2 FC Dallas 1
Jeff Cunningham became the fourth player in MLS history to reach 100 goals when he scored in his first game for FC Dallas, but midfielders Brian Carroll and Brad Evans netted second-half goals to give the Crew a 2-1 win Saturday night.
Cunningham’s 35th-minute tally was his first for Dallas since being acquired from Toronto FC Aug. 8. It also was his first goal against the team for which he played eight seasons.
Toronto FC watched an opportunity for a precious away point dissolve with Robbie Findley’s late strike during Major League Soccer’s recent edition of Monday Night Football. While this storyline was important, especially when looking at the crowded Eastern Conference, the most amazing part of the evening was the fact that Real Salt Lake now sits in first place in the Western Conference four points above the Houston Dynamo. With 27 points, RSL has as many points this season in 19 games as the team had from all of last season. That is awesome.
This weekend was a weekend of ties in Major League Soccer with the four games all ending up deadlocked.
New York 2 LA Galaxy 2
David Beckham and the Los Angeles Galaxy needed a goal in extra time to tie the New York Red Bulls 2-2 on Saturday night before 46,754 fans, the largest crowd for a single Major League Soccer game this season.
It appeared as if Juan Pablo Angel’s goal in the 71st minute was going to be the game-winner for the Red Bulls. But the Galaxy’s Landon Donovan knocked in a bending shot in the 92nd minute for the game-tying score. It was his league-leading 12th goal of the season.
Recap of this weekend’s games in Major League Soccer which saw two MLS shown red cards.
Earthquakes 1, Colorado 1
Ryan Johnson’s second-half goal broke a long scoring drought for the last place San Jose Earthquakes, but Conor Casey scored minutes later to lift the Colorado Rapids into a 1-1 tie Saturday.
Johnson ended the Earthquake’s 281-minute scoreless run in the 62nd minute for San Jose (3-10-3), winless in six matches.
The physical and defensive match featured only two corner kicks, seven shots and six yellow cards, all in the second half. San Jose coach Frank Yallop was ejected for arguing against Casey’s goal. The Rapids (6-8-2) broke a five-game losing streak on the road. San Jose has an MLS-low 11 goals this season.
By winning against Toronto, the New England Revolutuon assured thta they will have the best record in the east at the half way point of the season and that Revolutuoiin coach Steve Nicol will coach the MLS All-Stars against West Ham United FC of the English Premier League on July 24
Dynamo, FC Dallas tie 1-1
Kenny Cooper scored in the 62nd minute to help FC Dallas tie the Houston Dynamo 1-1 on Thursday night. It was the third time this season FC Dallas and Houston have played to a tie. Brian Ching’s sixth goal in seven games gave Houston (4-4-7, 19 points) the lead before Cooper tied it up.
Recap of this weekends games in major league soccer.
Chivas 2 Chicago 1
Sacha Kljestan and Justin Braun scored first-half goals to lead Chivas to a 2-0 upset victory over the Chicago Fire on Thursday night. The victory snapped a two-game losing streak for Chivas (5-6-2), which had been shut out by identical 1-0 scores and had failed to register a goal for 275 minutes before Kljestan connected. U/S/ goalkeeper Brad Guzan made one save for his third shutout of the season and 23rd of his career.
Review of this weekends games in majoer league soccer. Can someone at MLS league offices tell me why the Wizards were playing their first home game in two months!
Toronto 3, Rapids 1
Rohan Ricketts scored his first two Major League Soccer goals as Toronto FC remained unbeaten at home with a 3-1 victory over the Colorado Rapids on Saturday night. Danny Dichio also scored for Toronto (6-4-2), which improved to 5-0-2 at home and won despite missing five starters to international assignments. The lone goal for Colorado (5-6-0) came in the 81st minute, when Christian Gomez connected on a free kick.
