San Jose

MLS Preseason Power Rankings

by David on February 2, 2012

The beginning of the 2012 Major League Soccer season is right around the corner and the folks over at MLS Soccer have released their first preseason power rankings. As expected the LA Galaxy are on top, while the New England Revolution get no love, as MLS Soccer ranks them below the expansion side Montreal Impact.

What do you think of the rankings?

1: LA Galaxy
Robbie Keane, Landon Donovan, Edson Buddle, Mike Magee, David Beckham … holy crap this team is going to score a lot of goals. Chances are, though, that they’ll concede a few more than in recent years thanks to the departure of Juninho and the injury to Omar Gonzalez. Still, Bruce Arena has to be salivating over the talent at his disposal this season.

MLS 2011-12 Offseason Transactions

by David on December 30, 2011

While the transfer window in Europe opens up in less than 48 hours, Major League Soccer teams have been busy since the season ended, rebuilding and retooling for next season. Here is a team-by-team look at what each side has done so far this offseason. Who has had the best offseason?

Chicago Fire

IN: Jay Nolly (12/5: trade from Vancouver); F Kheli Dube (12/12: Re-Entry Stage 2/New England)

OUT: Christian Nazarit (12/7: option declined); F Gabriel Ferrari (12/7: option declined); G Alec Dufty (12/12: option declined); M Baggio Husidic(12/12: Re-Entry Stage 2/Colorado); G Jon Conway (12/12: Re-Entry Stage 2/LA Galaxy)

Chivas USA

Major League Soccer’s 17th season will kick off on Saturday, March 10, 2012 with six matches. First Kick presented by Dick’s Sporting Goods will continue with two games on Sunday, March 11 and one on Monday, March 12.

With an early March kick-off, Major League Soccer will have a western tilt to it in the first couple of weeks, but by the end of week 3, all but one MLS club will have played a home opener.

The Houston Dynamo will nit play their home opener until May 12, when their new soccer specific stadium us built.

The final numbers are in and Major League Soccer saw a 7% increase in attendance this year, from 16,675 fans per game to 17,870 fans according to MLSAttendance.blogspot.com .

Out of the 18 teams in MLS only four saw a decrease in average attendance. They were Chicago, Columbus, Philadelphia, and Toronto. Philadelphia’s name is on the list because in 2010 they played their opening games at Lincoln Financial and drew over 25,000 fans to some of those games. The Union’s soccer specific stadium is obviously smaller which is why they technically had a decrease in attendance.

Kasey KellerA massive crowd of 64,140, the third largest standalone crowd in MLS history, came to pay tribute to the Sounders’ retiring goalkeeper Kasey Keller on Saturday and they were treated to a dramatic come-from-behind 2-1 victory for the Sounders over the San Jose Earthquakes.

Seattle overcame a plucky San Jose side and a 24th-minute strike from Chris Wondolowski, getting goals Sammy Ochoa and Fredy Montero in the 82nd minute and 87th minute, respectively. With his 15th goal on the season, Wondolowski, the 2010 Golden Boot winner, drew level with D.C. United’s Dwayne De Rosario for the lead in this year’s scoring race.

It was a beautiful night in New England and I took my daughter and her friend to see the New England Revolution play the San Jose Earthquakes. As usual we sat in The Fort, which was a lot smaller and quieter than earlier in the season. Whether that was due to the Revs overzealous policing of The Fort, or because of the Revs poor play this year, I don’t know.

This game was a perfect example of why they have only one five games all season. The Revs bossed the majority of the game but couldn’t score, and give up two poor goals.

Revs Lose To San Jose 2-1

by David on May 23, 2011

The New England Revolution lost 2-1 at the San Jose Earthquakes over the weekend, a lose keeps New England in 5th place in the Eastern Conference.

For the first time this season, Revolution head coach Steve Nicol was able to name an unchanged starting lineup and New England got off to a good start in San Jose, controlling possession in the early stages of the game.

Nut it was San Jose which created the game’s first scoring chance in the seventh minute when Joey Gjertsen’s drive from the top of the box, forced Matt Reis into a smart save.

Real Salt Lake‘s bad week continued as they lost to the expansion Timbers while the NYRB and Philadelphia Union continued their run with good wins.

Portland Timbers 1 Real Salt Lake 0
Kenny Cooper goal in the 22nd minute from a Kalif Alhassan cross was enough as the Portland Timbers hand Real Salt Lake its first Major League Soccer loss of the season.

The expansion Timbers (3-3-1) recorded their first shutout, improving to 3-0-0 at home.

A look at this weekend’s Major League Soccer action

LA Galaxy 3 Portland Timbers 0
Landon Donovan scored his first two goals of the season and added an assist to help the Los Angeles Galaxy beat the Portland Timbers 3-0.

Donovan had missed the last three games due to a of a knee injury and it did not take him long to show everyone that he was fully fit as the Galaxy scored twice in the first 8 minutes. Donovan fed Barrett in the fourth minute, then converted a penalty kick moments later. Donovan rounded off the scoring with a header from close range in the second half.

MLS Week Five Power Rankings

by David on April 19, 2011

The folks over at MLSSoccer.com have update their weekly power rankings. No surprise that Real Salt Lake is in first place. The Portland Timbers are one of the big winners moving up to four places after a week that consisted of two home games, seven goals and six points.

Major League Soccer Week 5 Rankings

1. Real Salt Lake
No. 1 in the MLS power rankings, and fighting to be No. 1 in CONCACAF as well. The next 10 days will determine whether this RSL bunch go down as a great team, or a truly legendary one. Win or lose against Monterrey, this is still the best team in MLS until someone proves otherwise.
Last Four: WWWW