With the Don's latest state of the league comments about the importance of the Concacaf
Champions League (CCL) and the extra load that it puts on teams that do well in the MLS standings,
I've been thinking about what the league could do. Let's start out with the commissioner's problem
description:
We need to prove that we can be among the best teams in the region, and that means beating
Mexico.
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In a third tune-up match of the pre-season, the BYU Cougars will be hosting the Weber State at
the Stadium at South Field.
This should be a great chance to warm up for a big weekend of soccer, even if the weather is a
bit chilly.
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I've been giving a lot of attention to the Cougars recently, and I'll probably do one or two
season wrap up posts about them now that their season is over, but now my attention is turning more
toward RSL and the rest of MLS. Grabbing my immediate attention, RSL will face visiting Toronto FC
in a battle of turf based, recent expansion teams this Monday.
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I wasn't able to watch the game live Friday night, but I did record the BYU-TV broadcast to
watch on Saturday. I really wanted to see how the Vancouver Whitecaps Residency program looked.
I've got to say that it's an impressive program.
For the most part, Vancouver owned the field last night coming away with a 2-0 win.
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Last night was a rarity in soccer, a big game in which the final score didn't really matter.
RSL's reserves beat the BYU Cougars in the Coug's brand new Stadium at South Field in front of 3110
fans. Beat is probably too soft a word, RSL's Robbie Findley put the ball past BYU's Brandon Gillam
twice in the stretch of two minutes midway through the first half, at which point RSL seemed to let
off the gas.
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It's been a good weekend for the teams I follow. Both BYU and RSL won their games, with BYU
claiming the season series over Ogden 3-0-1 and RSL climbing into 1st place in the (somewhat weak)
west. RSL's U-17 team also won it's final round game against DC United's U-17 team, earning both
the SUM U-17 championship and entry into the 2009 Trofeo Quixote U-17 tournament in Madrid,
Spain.
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Intersting results last night. Crystal Palace Baltimore has to be a huge surprise, even in
losing last night they were impressive taking the New England Revolution to penalties what more
could you ask from a USL2 side? I'm also glad to see both USL1 sides moving on (Seattle on PKs over
the Kansas City Wizards after a 0-0 tie and Charleston on a 3-1 win over FC Dallas).
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Tonight I've decided to try something new. I'm typing up this blog entry and will post it once I
get home (I'd have posted it from here, but I can't get any WiFi signal here at Haws Field).
Hopefully this goes pretty well.
After last weeks loss, BYU coach Chris Watkins talked about using the remainder of the season to
get younger players some time as the Cougars build toward next season.
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I've really enjoyed seeing more coverage of soccer in Utah (although it's pretty RSL-centric). I
wanted to get a better feel for the coverage, so I asked Michael Lewis from the Salt Lake Tribune
James Edward of the Deseret News if they'd be willing to answer some questions in a joint
interview. They were both happy to respond, and the following is the result:
Covering soccer seems like a dream job to a lot of fans, how did you end up in your
positions?
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Last night my family and I went to take in the Ogden Outlaws BYU Cougars game, and watch the
fireworks afterward. It was a hard fought game, though the Cougars (who have come to expect to beat
the Outlaws) have to be disappointed with their play and the result. With the fireworks show after
the game, and then yardwork that needed to be done this morning, I haven't been able to get to my
write-up until now.
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Hey, it looks like the Deseret News has some coverage up from Thursday's game. It's not much,
less than BYU's own press release, but it is something.
I'd love to see more regular coverage of the PDL (especially the local Ogden and BYU teams) in
our local papers. If you'd like to help make it happen, drop a line to the Sports Editor, Kent
Condon.
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Saturday night, the Cougars will visit the suddenly hot Cascade Surge. BYU has been playing well
too, chalking up road wins at Ogden and Spokane. Zack De Francis is continuing to score with a goal
in each of the last two games bringing him to a season total of 7 (check out my interview with Zack
if you're a De Francis fan).
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Zack De Francis has been the most searched for name on my blog, and has played a big roll in BYU's success so far this year. Over the last several days, Zack has been kind enough to trade emails with me to create the interview below. Read on to learn a little bit more about BYU's star striker.
Right now you're among the statistical leaders in the PDL, despite having played fewer games than the other players.
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Just a short report for now, I'll post more on Monday when I have some time.
The Cougars got a big win (1-5) over the Cascade Surge last night. I was out camping with my
scouts, so I didn't get to see it. It sounds like there were some injuries coming out of that game
though.
Tonight, BYU took 3 more points in a 1-2 win over Spokane.
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Okay, time for another look at MLS scariness. I've settled into the formula I hope to use for
the rest of the season (I'm not going to go back and recalculate scariness for the previous weeks,
but I am scaling the scores down to match the current range). The formula is as follows:
pts (game) + gd (game) + opp ppg (last 5 games) + 1 (away team) I figure a weighted average over
the last five weeks (or as many weeks as the teams have played) to come up with the current
scariness.
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