I've posted a new update to my CONCACAF coefficients list on my Soccermetrics site. The new season of the Champions League is only a couple of weeks old, but there has already been some movement in the domestic league coefficients. Mexico has the largest coefficient by a very large margin (almost a factor of 2. Click to continue reading...

Via Goff. The WPS unveils their uniforms.

On the whole, I'm ambivalent about the WPS (I don't even have a category for women's soccer). But, as I've said before, I will use any excuse to post this:

Edited to say that, in checking my Google Reader, I now see that Loney beat me to this, and adds some actual commentary.

Click to continue reading...

The Houston Dynamo are going to into Mexico with after a 1-1 tie in the first leg of their CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinal. The Dynamo play Atlante FC Tuesday at 8PM (Fox Soccer Channel). Houston is the only remaining MLS team in the competition. Don't miss this one.

David Beckham has been doing good in Italy and every day there is a new story about how he is never coming back to play for the Galaxy.

Click to continue reading...

The Houston Dynamo are going to into Mexico with after a 1-1 tie in the first leg of their CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinal. The Dynamo play Atlante FC Tuesday at 8PM (Fox Soccer Channel). Houston is the only remaining MLS team in the competition. Don't miss this one.

David Beckham has been doing good in Italy and every day there is a new story about how he is never coming back to play for the Galaxy.

Click to continue reading...

The Islanders used two late goals to advance Wednesday Night

Tropical Storm Hanna has reaked havoc on Haiti and it also delayed the start of tonight's CONCACAF Champions League match between Puerto Rico and Alajuelense. For the first time ever a Costa Rican club has been eliminated from a CONCACAF tournament by an American club with the USL-1 side doing the honors.

Click to continue reading...

You know, as much as the Open Cup has been marginalized, I'm still a bit in the afterglow--most likely as a result of the excellent images and video coming out of Behind the Badge. I suppose it also helps that Charleston put up what was, by most accounts, a stirring fight--taking the game to United in spells, rather than relying on the bunker-and-counter. Click to continue reading...

We at MLSR realize that with the growth of MLS there are a lot of new people following the league which missed out on some of the greatest moments in the league's short but rich history.
Now that MLS is entering its teen years it is only appropriate that we look back now and then on some of its achievements and great moments in MLS history. Click to continue reading...

Because of the May Day holiday no new editions of the Latin American newspapers are online. So press reaction to Pachuca's victory had to wait for Friday. Next year's CONCACAF Champions League final will conclude on 30 April, so we'll have the same situation again. CONCACAF take note. In Mexico you can find local press reaction in El Sol del Hidalgo, but the best post-match coverage is in the sports dailies like Medio Tiempo and ESTO. Click to continue reading...

Now that the Champions' Cup has concluded, here's a summary of the tournament results. Home team in the first leg is listed first, and their score is listed first for both legs. Aggregate goals in home-and-away series, no away goals, 30-minute extra time if tied on aggregate after 90 minutes of second leg and penalties if necessary. Click to continue reading...

I just got home and the second leg of the CONCACAF Champions' Cup final is about to start, so let's go. Looks like Pachuca's stadium is close to full. Saprissa and Pachuca drew 1-1 in Costa Rica, and there is no away goal tiebreaker. First half. Canadian referee Mauricio Navarro blows his whistle, and Saprissa kick off. Click to continue reading...

Apologies for not posting anything before the first leg of the Champions' Cup final, but I had a dinner engagement that I could not break. As you all know, Pachuca and Saprissa drew 1-1 in Costa Rica, and the decisive match is in Pachuca tomorrow night. Costa Rica's Nación and Al Día have previews of the big match here and here; on the Mexican side, Medio Tiempo and Esto have previews as well. Click to continue reading...

Steve Goff of the Washington Post on Washington Post Live, just broke the news that the US will take on Cuba at Washington DC's RFK Stadium in a World Cup qualifier scheduled for October 11.
He also had strong words for the league on the scheduling of games of clubs in the CONCACAF Champions Cup. Click to continue reading...

Here's a summary of where we are in the Champions' Cup. I'll keep bumping this up to the top of the page until the tournament has concluded. Current phase of tournament is in bold red lettering. Home team in the first leg is listed first, and their score is listed first for both legs. Aggregate goals in home-and-away series, no away goals, 30-minute extra time if tied on aggregate after 90 minutes of second leg and penalties if necessary. Click to continue reading...

Oh, the portents of doom and gloom. A disaster of biblical proportions! Dogs and cats living together!
Let's just have a little perspective here, shall we?
As I posted over at CHI, Dynamo are suffering from the same malady they had at this time last year, CCC fatigue, not to mention just plain jet lag. Click to continue reading...

Chasing the game, passes to nowhere, no coordination or communication on defense, possession that could string together no more than 2-3 passes on almost all occasions, surrendering three goals that could easily have been 4 or 5, sloppy,sloppy, sloppy play, am I missing anything here?
What a butt-whupping that one was. Click to continue reading...

Well, that sucks.  As any who cares by now knows, both of Major League Soccer's representatives in the CONCACAF Champions Cup have exited the tournament, the Houston Dynamo with a whimper, while DC United went down with fists flying...well, judging by the scoreline at least; I didn't see the DC game. Click to continue reading...

This will be short, sweet, and even more out of the derriere than usual, seeing as how I haven't had a chance to watch United's 2-1 victory (2-3 loss on aggregate), but did stumble across the result, trip and bang my head on the hue and cry of BigSoccer, and even managed to step in the big, steaming pile of a [slanted] Mexican highlights package. Click to continue reading...

As we mentioned, emotions ran high at last night's CONCACAF Champions Cup clash in Washington, DC (ARCHIVED VIDEO).
According to this story in the Washington Post, DC United's coach and manager Tom Soehn had strong words for MLS Commissioner Don Garber with regards to comments made by the commish regarding United's play on the first leg, away to Pachuca in Mexico
Excerpts here:
" The result left United lamenting several missed opportunities and prompted Coach Tom Soehn and his players to howl about the officiating. Click to continue reading...

I hate it when I get the score right.
I have mixed feelings about what happened last night at RFK. On the one side, United did win the match, finally fighting back to score two late goals and win their third straight home match of the short season. Was that more to do with the fact that Pachuca did what they needed to do, and were sitting back? Click to continue reading...

I don't have much to say about it. DC United has so many great looking chances and they just couldn't score in their 2nd quarterfinal leg versus Pachuca. It took going down a a goal and desperately needing 3 goals to finally get them going. At least they came back and made it a one goal affair.

Click to continue reading...

DCU 2 Pachuca 1 (Aggregate: DCU 2 Pachuca 3)
Didn't someone say that the subs don't really matter or that we have to win with our First 11? That guy is an idiot. Great late goals by Dyachenko and Niell. Great assists from Fred. Unfortunately it was our failure to take advantage of the early chances that did us in. Click to continue reading...

Welcome to the 2nd leg of the other CONCACAF Champions' Cup semifinal between Houston Dynamo and Deportivo Saprissa. It's all up to the Dynamo to keep the MLS flag flying in international competition, but they'll have a stiff task against... Click to continue reading...

Buy the 2008 MLS Kits at WorldSoccerShop.com
Here we go! DC put up a valiant effort, they won the battle (2-1) but lost the war. Whoever wins this match will face Pachuca in the final.
Feel free to comment on the game below. You can click the button to the lower right corner to make the picture a Full Screen View. Click to continue reading...

First of all, I made a mistake in my post last night. I thought the Saprissa-Houston match would start at about the same time as DCU-Pachuca, but I misread the starting times (which are in local time). And I'm still... Click to continue reading...

Buy the 2008 MLS Kits at WorldSoccerShop.com
Here we go! Feel free to comment on the game below. You can click the button to the lower right corner to make the picture a Full Screen View. Click to continue reading...

At this hour, in the United States two large groups of fans are beginning to make preparations for what will befall the clubs they support tonight.
In Washington, DC, the nation's capital, it is less than two hours from kickoff at the time of this writing, and people are boarding metro trains and getting into cars not only to go home from work but to go to RFK stadium where D. Click to continue reading...

Here we are again. Second leg of the CONCACAF Champions' Cup (CCC) Semifinal. DC United version 2008 was built for international competition. If we lose here, we have failed to meet that objective. We still have SuperLiga and the CONCACAF Champions' League (CCL) but our success is measured based on how we perform in the CCC match tonight. Click to continue reading...

I think that sums it up nicely. The general mood of optimism going into the CONCACAF Champions Cup semifinals renders the funk looming over the second leg all the more blue. I'll be surprised - and, for the record, damned happy - if either DC United or the Houston Dynamo make the final. It'd [...] Click to continue reading...

It's return leg time at RFK Stadium for DC United. United hosts Mexican super-club Pachuca in the second leg of the CONCACAF Champions Cup Semi-Finals tonight. Pachuca took advantage of the higher altitude and a less than sharp United squad and grabbed a 2-0 win in the first leg last week.
A 2 goal hole isn't the worst of situations to be in. Click to continue reading...

Let me see if I get this straight:
1. Saprissa rested their top side this weekend while Dynamo played a tough 3-3 draw at home against their archrival.
2. Dynamo is without Stuart Holden, Eddie Robinson and Pat Onstad (injury) and Bobby Boswell (yellow accumulation) for tonight's match in Costa Rica. Click to continue reading...

I do plan on liveblogging both second leg semifinal matches tomorrow evening. Because both matches kick off 30 minutes apart it will be tricky; I'll watch the DCU match on TV and at the same time listen to the Dynamo... Click to continue reading...

24,000 Tickets sold out, businesses closed.
We have two reports today regarding security ahead of tomorrow nights CONCACAF Champions Cup semi-final between Houston Dynamo and Deportivo Saprissa, following incidents that occurred in Costa Rica during Saprissa's quarterfinal home leg vs Mexico's Atlante FC. Click to continue reading...

It was a Mexican Superstar, Luis Hernandez that led an MLS side to its last Continental Triumph

As has been discussed recently on the American Soccer Show and on this website we've been fed what amounts to league driven propaganda (presumably to attract new investors to the game which is a good thing) that the standard of MLS is consistently improving.

Click to continue reading...

In the end, the game itself disappointed as much as the final, goalless score. In spite of the healthy number of chances (duly recorded in Soccer America's write-up) the entire affair felt a little flat - especially from the Houston Dynamo's point of view. For what it's worth, I credit Deportivo Saprissa with [. Click to continue reading...

El Monstruo Morado is apparently a beast that kills less like a bear and more like a slow water torturer who leaves the room, does out to dinner and a show retires for the night and then wonders "Hmmm, did I leave that guy under the water drip? I don't remember. Ah well."
A 0-0 tie. I'm still getting my mind around it. Click to continue reading...