Although just four matches into the Major League Soccer season, the Houston Dynamo have once again shown to be one of the league's best and look poised to make a run for a third consecutive MLS Cup appearance. Houston will continue their quest for another Cup appearance this Saturday as they visit Jeld-Wen Field to take on the struggling Portland Timbers.
Every club is pretty thirsty for an MLS Cup, but the Sounders might be the thirstiest. It's fair to say no club has accomplished more and stands without a Phil Anschutz Trophy. Maybe the Revolution, but New England's nowhere near it right now. The Sounders are in range of the victorious aromas, hence the salivation.
The name is ridiculous, but so are the goals. Digging through the video archives is plenty enjoyable. There's loads of wide play - imagine that - and a fair number of tempting volleys. But below are the Best (most impressive) and Brightest (most significant) from the royal sodium-filled fresh-water body.
Before we dive in, just know I'm really only looking at San Jose teams here. Houston doesn't count, the Dynamo will get their own post. Besides, both selections are pre-Dynamo. San Jose Earthquakes Best: Dwayne De Rosario @ Los Angeles Galaxy, Oct. 15, 2005 If Beckham did this I wouldn't have to put it in one of these posts.
Just like any other season opener both teams will look to have a fast and strong start to the game and to the season. A win for either team could have a positive effect on the rest of the 2013 campaign, as it's always nice to get off on the right foot.
Both teams ended their 2012 seasons in different fashions.
There aren't a lot of guys who can say with absolute authority that a swing of their leg definitely won MLS Cup. Robbie Russell is one of those guys, scoring the walk-off finish as Real Salt Lake won the 2009 MLS Cup in penalties. Hopefully he'll get to raise MLS Cup again this year - and not just because he now plays for D.
Chris Wondolowski #8 of the San Jose Earthquakes (Photo by Steve Dykes/Getty Images)
According to ESPN on the morning of Feb. 27, 2013, reports have surfaced that Major League Soccer defending Supporter's Shield winners, the San Jose Earthquakes have taken another step forward in the final days before the kick off of the 2013 regular season.
2012 MLS record: 15-8-11 +18 (3rd in West, advanced to Western Finals) 2012 Open Cup: 4-0-1 +13 lost in Finals 2011-12 CCL: 1-1-0 -4 in Quarterfinals 2012-13 CCL: 4-0-0 +7 advanced to Quaterfinals
It's pretty easy to forget that this club was just second in the Supporters' Shield race in 2007. Then you remember that team had a solid core of Sacha Kljestan, Maykel Galindo, Ante Razov, the Jonathan Bornstein that shut down Messi for 45 minutes that summer and Brad Guzan among others. Immediately after that you should recall that Bob Bradley is a pretty damn good coach.
Ahh, yes. The most hardhatted and yellow of Major League Soccer's Embryonic Eight. All MLS fans owe some serious debt of gratitude to Lamar Hunt for keep the league alive when it was a Swiss cheese piggy bank. As a man who looks his most dashing in black and actually bleeds red - I'm a D.C. United guy - I still find it hard to truly disdain the Crew.
For the past three years, the gulf between the two MLS conferences has seemingly been as deep as the Grand Canyon. In 2011 and 2012, the East's representative in MLS Cup was Houston, a convert from the West. The last ... Continue reading →
Visit http://www.majorleaguesoccertalk.com for the rest of the story.
After yesterday's news it would be easy to forget that there are still three preseason matches left this week. Tonight is the first of those as the Seattle Sounders FC face a revamped New York Red Bulls squad. They now have a coach that understands MLS in Mike Petke, brought in at least three starters (Juninho, Espindola and Olave) and even signed a couple HGPs.
Former Columbus Crew goalkeeper Will Hesmer quietly retired from Major League Soccer at the end of the 2012 season. He speaks with Clemente Lisi. Read More
The 18th MLS season is just a fortnight away -- as good a time as any for reflection. So I've compiled both the best and brightest goals from each club's history. And as MLS's 19 clubs finish their preseason preparations and get the 2013 season underway, I'll share them with you The best is the strike that I find the most physically awe-inspiring and the brightest is well, subjective, but know
Clemente Lisi speaks with US National Team player Chris Wondolowski first at the 2012 MLS Cup and then during the current National Team camp. Read More
The Major League Soccer offseason is well and truly upon us, as players have ceased to be strictly permanent objects and have fallen into a Schrodinger-esque quantum state, only existing in a particular place when observed (and elsewise existing in all places at all times). Such is life under MLS roster rules.
By Tony Edwards - San Jose, CA (Dec 4, 2012) US Soccer Players -- In Tuesday's column, Tony looks at competing benches in MLS Cup, Portland's new coach, and a problem with split seasons if you're looking forward to the revival of the New York Cosmos. For all of Bruce Arena's statements about how roster rules limit dynasty building in MLS, which team had the deeper roster in MLS Cup?
The Major League Soccer off season got going in earnest on Monday, with player trades, reports of re-signings and the release of the names on the re-entry list. However, before we jump with both feet into the hot stove of soccer, we wanted to offer some final business items related to MLS Cup 2012.
David Beckham: The son of two worlds In the 91st minute of Saturday's final, with LA leaning agonizingly forward toward the finish line with a 2-1 lead, David Beckham lined up for a free kick some 40 yards from Tally Hall's line. The camera cut to Becks, who almost immediately leveled his gaze toward the tops of his shoes.
That's one of the many emotions Houston Dynamo players and fans are experiencing after their 3-1 loss to the LA Galaxy in the 2012 MLS Cup. While the scoreline looks a bit worse than last year's final, the Dynamo certainly were in the hunt to make David Beckham's last MLS game a disappointing one.
CARSON, Calif. Down their MVP finalist playmaker and lacking in inspiration, the Houston Dynamo in the 2011 MLS Cup final didn't put up much of a fight. The 1-0 score, it's safe to say, was quite kind.
So when the Dynamo found themselves with a chance at MLS Cup redemption Saturday, facing the same Los Angeles Galaxy side that handled them a year ago, they were determined to fare better this time around.
Chances are you could easily tell the Los Angeles Galaxy that started the 2012 season from the one that stood at the podium at the end of the MLS Cup Final on Saturday as it accepted the Philip Anschutz Trophy as MLS champions for a second consecutive season.
The LA Galaxy that started the season certainly did not look like the team that had steamrolled through the 2011 season en route to the MLS Cup title, as injuries, absences and an apparent hangover from the 2011 season played a role in the team stumbling to a 3-8-1 start, yet anyone who appeared set to write the Galaxy's 2012 eulogy back in May would've underestimated the battle-tested resolve displayed by this group of players over countless years, and that resolve was more than evident the second half of the season, as LA was one of the best teams the last part of the season and in the end, was the last team standing after yet another grueling MLS campaign.
We're less than 48 hours from the start of the 2013 Sporting KC season in Philadelphia. And I'm not sure there's been a time where expectations for the team were higher. The only time they may have been higher was the start of the 2012 season. This year though, expectations feel higher. After 2 straight regular season Eastern Conference titles and a US Open Cup title, expectations have been raised.
Day one of our annual MLS Cup pilgrimmage in the books. Los Angeles Galaxy training, David Beckham's press conference, a little beer sampling on the Pacific coast, and the league cocktail mixer to end the evening.
A few of the highlights from the first day.
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The news just went from bad to worse for Calen Carr.
The Houston Dynamo announced Wednesday that the injury Carr suffered in the second half of Sunday's MLS Cup final was a torn ACL in his left knee and he is expected to undergo surgery to repair it.Carr sustained the knock in the 57th minute of the Dynamo's 3-1 loss to the LA Galaxy this past Sunday when he collided with Galaxy centerback Omar Gonzalez, and the 30-year-old forward was immediately replaced by Macoumba Kandji.
MLS Cup 2012 may have been a roaring success for David Beckham's publicity team, but the TV ratings for the US league's annual cup was worse than one year ago. Overnight ratings reveal that LA Galaxy versus Houston Dynamo got ... Continue reading →
Long Live Love David Beckham! In 2007, a monumental arrival impacted Major League Soccer in ways previously thought impossible. It happened though... an expansion team who wouldn't make the playoffs for six years and counting. Also... David Beckham went to Los Angeles. Yes, FIFA's leading hairstyle innovator (1995-2007) indeed joined Galaxy from Real Madrid in a faux-messianic quest to "bring the soccer to the America".
CARSON, Calif. LA Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena has not had any conversations with U.S. Men's National Team head coach Jurgen Klinsmann about centerback Omar Gonzalez.
That is likely to change after Saturday.
Gonzalez was named the MLS Cup final MVP following a dominant performance that helped the Galaxy defeat the Houston Dynamo en route to repeating as MLS champions at the Home Depot Center.
Join the guys on this final extended edition of the UnitedMania.com podcast. The guys talk aboout the past season, review their mid-season player grades and go over their early predictions.
The MLS silly season has seemed just a bit sillier than usual this season.
With MLS Cup 2012 just two days behind us, the offseason has begun, and several teams have wasted no time with making moves. Surprisingly, it's been two playoff teams that have made the most moves so far, with Real Salt Lake abandoning huge parts of their roster, and the New York Red Bulls adding more players than they can fit on the field.
In 2011, the MLS schedule was released in February. Last year the schedule was released in the first week of January. The 2013 version was released on Tuesday afternoon along with the list of nationally televised games. As we do we every year, we are a taking a look at the schedule of games and some of the business aspects of the schedule release.
If you're one of those Seattle Sounders fans who thinks the team's biggest failure is an unwillingness to spend big money on the best players, this may be the offseason for you.
Speaking at the End of Year Business Meeting on Friday, majority owner Joe Roth made it clear that money would be no object as the team continues the pursuit of the MLS Cup.
