The big story of the day is of course our new coach, but I wanted to throw some notes about the
schedule out first.
Teams we play at home only:
Columbus (season opener)
Chicago
KC
Montreal
Houston (season finale)
Teams we play on the road only:
Toronto
Philly
DC
NY
New England (no Jameson's night this year)
Teams we play at home twice and on the road once:
Portland
LA
Chivas
San Jose
Teams we play on the road twice and once at home:
Vancouver
Seattle
FSL
Dallas
So FSL has the edge in this year's Rocky Mountain Cup, which will be decided by August, the
earliest ever.
The Revolution won't have to wait long to start collecting frequent-flier miles thanks to a
travel-heavy start to the 2012 regular season that will put them on the road for four of its
first five games.
New England will pack its bags for where else - California, where they're scheduled to kick
off their 2012 campaign on Mar.
According to a report from Radio Cooperativa (Chile), Milton Caraglio, the Revolution's
first Designated Player, has reached an agreement with Chilean first division side C.S.D.
Rangers.
Caraglio, who was signed by New England to a Designated Player deal on Aug. 2, scored three
goals in 12 games with the Revolution, including a two-goal effort against New York on Aug.
Episode 142: "These Aren't the Roids You're Looking For"The 2011 Winning Ugly Champions League Final
Host: Scott Bornstein
Panel: Robert Jonas, Chris Ballard, Richard Oram
DOWNLOAD Episode 141 32-Bit (Small File) 96-Bit (Large File)
We've reached the end of the fourth season of Winning Ugly Radio.
We've reached the end of the fourth season of Winning Ugly Radio...wow. On the year's final
episode, it's time to determine the new WUR Champions League winner. Battling it out for the title
is Robert Jonas, Chris Ballard and last minute alternate Richard Oram. Who will win, will it be
funny, how many times will Scott laugh?
Houston Dynamo vs. LA Galaxy The Home Depot Center - Carson, CA - 8:00pm CT MLS Cup Final
All-time series: Galaxy lead 8-5-4
BROADCAST:
ESPN (ENG TV) Galavision (SPN TV) SportsTalk 790 (ENG Radio) ESPN Deportes 1180 (SPN Radio)
THE MATCHUP:
MLS Cup 2011 will match two of the most successful clubs in Major League Soccer history when the
LA Galaxy take on the Houston Dynamo.
If that video doesn't get you excited for a Galaxy season finale that is not about merely
winning a championship, but as Staff Writer Phil Collin rightfully observes leaving a legacy then
nothing will.
The game is perhaps the most important for MLS and soccer in general in Los Angeles and across
the country I argue today in a rare front page column.
By JOHN BOSCHINI
There's still a week to go until the brackets for the 2011 NCAA Tournament are revealed but
several teams have already seen their postseason hopes extinguished.
Only four teams remain in the Big East Tournament as Connecticut, Louisville, St.
The UW-Green Bay men's soccer team secured a home match for the Horizon League tournament and
will head into the postseason coming off a win over the previously unbeaten conference
champions.
Meanwhile, UW-Milwaukee saw its season come to an end after losing a regular-season finale that
ended up being like a playoff game.
After dropping a 2-0 decision to Iowa in its regular-season finale Saturday afternoon at the
McClimon Complex, the University of Wisconsin women's soccer team face an intriguing week ahead
with the Big Ten Conference tournament and next Monday's NCAA tournament announcement.
The Badgers (10-6-3 overall, 5-3-3 Big Ten) finished fourth in the conference and will play
Border Battle rival Minnesota (8-9-2, 5-4-2) in a Big Ten tournament quarterfinal at 1:30 p.
CHARLOTTESVILLE – Morgan Brian (St. Simons Island, Ga.) scored twice to lead the No. 5
Virginia women's soccer team to a 2-0 win over Miami in the regular season finale Thursday night at
Klöckner Stadium. With the victory, the Cavaliers (13-3-2, 7-2-1 ACC) finish second in the ACC and
will host Maryland in an ACC Quarterfinal game on Sunday.
By AVI CREDITOR
The Colorado Rapids and Columbus Crew have taken different roads to get to this point, but
ultimately they're right back where they were a year ago.
Colorado eliminated Columbus in the Eastern Conference semifinals last season en route to
capturing its first MLS Cup.
For much of his rookie season, Chicago Fire defender Jalil Anibaba has gone about his business
putting in work on the back line, but during his regular-season finale, Anibaba made sure to show
off his offensive arsenal as well.
Anibaba scored the first two goals of his MLS career in the opening 30 minutes against Columbus
with a pair of headers from inside the box to earn the final SBI MLS Rookie of the Week honors of
the season.
Danny Koevermans needed little time to adjust to MLS, and his performance in Toronto FC's
regular-season finale was the latest piece of evidence of that.
The bruising Dutch Designated Player came up with a goal and an assist in Toronto's
season-ending 2-2 draw with the New England Revolution to put a cap on an impressive few first
months in MLS and take home SBI MLS Player of the Week honors.
Colorado's journey into the 2011 playoff starts at Dick's Sporting Goods Park at 8 Thursday
night against the same foe the team edged on a successful run to the 2010 MLS Cup.
The Columbus Crew meet the Rapids in a one-shot wild card match the night after FC Dallas and
the New York Red Bulls tangle in the other wild card match.
City rivals Marquette and UW-Milwaukee celebrated repeat conference titles during the week,
though the Panthers saw their long winning streak halted in surprising fashion.
Meanwhile, UW-Green Bay will have extra motivation when it plays the Panthers in a
regular-season finale next Friday.
Houston Dynamo (11-9-13, 46 pts.) vs. LA Galaxy (19-4-10, 67 pts.) Robertson Stadium - Houston, TX
- 6:00pm CT
The regular season finale. The final regular season game (potentially last Dynamo game ever)
played at Robertson Stadium. A chance to leapfrog the Columbus Crew and the Philadelphia Union and
take over 2nd place in the Eastern Conference, bypassing the wildcard round.
By JOSE M. ROMERO
Playoff spot clinched, Real Salt Lake had victory in its grasp in its regular-season finale
Saturday night at Rio Tinto Stadium, plus the chance to lock up the No. 3 seed from the MLS Western
Conference with no help from other results.
RSL's reward for No.
The New England Revolution scored goals on either side of halftime to overcome an early Toronto
FC lead, but in fitting fashion gave up a late equalizer to finish the season with a 2-2 draw. The
Revs (5-16-13, 28 points) finish last place in the Eastern Conference, five points behind
eighth-placed Toronto (6-13-15, 33 points), for the first time since 1998 and fail to reach at
least seven wins for the first time in club history.
The Philly Soccer Page " Match preview: Union at Red Bulls
The New York Red Bulls need to win on Thursday. They need it really bad.
New York Red Bulls vs. Philadelphia Union Preview - Once A Metro
Today is very much the day. The New York Red Bulls play the evil Philadelphia Union tonight at
Red Bull Arena in a match that could well decide whether we see any more Red Bulls football in
2011.
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. - Did Saturday night's home finale signal the end of an era?
With the contracts of longtime manager Steve Nicol and skipper Shalrie Joseph set to expire in
the offseason, last weekend's match may have marked the last time both walked off the pitch as
members of the Revolution.
AP photo
By JOSE M. ROMERO
Good thing for the Seattle Sounders that they started off CONCACAF Champions League group play
with a bang, because they ended it with a whimper.
As we wind down to the final weekend of the 2011 MLS Regular Season the race for the Eastern
Conference regular season title, and the No. 1 seed that comes with it, is wide open. Four
different teams have a chance to clinch the top spot in the East.
Right now the front-runners are Sporting Kansas City and Philadelphia.
The Portland Timbers had a full stadium of fans trying to will them to a victory they sorely
needed to keep their playoff hopes in good shape. Unfortunately for the Timbers, the Houston Dynamo
were also hungry for a victory to boost their playoff prospects.
Houston put together a strong performance on the road for the second straight time, riding an
Andre Hainault goal and a stunning long-range blast from Danny Cruz to post a 2-0 victory over the
Timbers on Friday night.
Safe hands: Allstate had nothing on Kasey Keller when he was in the U.S. National Team goal
(AP Photo).
One of the greatest performances of Kasey Keller's outstanding goalkeeping career came before
just 12,298 fans at the cavernous Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
And I was there, as a fan, in the stands.
The New England Revolution will face off against the Columbus Crew in the 2011 home finale at
Gillette Stadium. Revs fans who have had precious little to cheer about this year will be hoping
for a decent send-off, but optimism is not likely to be the order of the day. New England hasn't
even earned a point since September 10th.
A Big Result Against L.A. Put the Playoffs Well Within the Red Bulls' GraspWe've gotten down
to the part of the MLS calendar when fans can't help but scoreboard watch, however much they'd like
to simply focus on their team's results. For Red Bulls supporters, this means - for the most part -
hoping that their rivals in the Eastern Conference drop as many points as possible between now and
next weekend, when the 2011 season wraps up.
Around 11:30pm CT on Friday evening, we'll know a great deal more about the Houston Dynamo's
playoff chances for the 2011 season. All those missteps and dropped points throughout the long
summer have culminated in a massively important match against the Portland Timbers at Jeld-Wen
Field.
As if the game itself wasn't enough, there's the added storyline of Mike Chabala and Lovel
Palmer waiting for their former comrades in orange to arrive.
We looked at the long odds of the Chicago Fire making the playoffs just three weeks ago and
things were looking very bleak. The enthusiasm balloon for playoffs became even more deflated when
a lifeless Fire squad lost to the San Jose Earthquakes 2-0. Thanks to three straight victories and
form that suggests the San Jose game was just a blip on the radar, the Fire find themselves in a
decent spot to be like Mary Tyler Moore and make it after all.
I feel like I've written 'this is the Sounders hardest X game left this season' a lot in the
last few weeks, where X is 'road' or 'home' or 'group stage' or whatever. It's a sign that the
difficulty of the Seattle regular season peaked in a brutal July and August stretch that featured
two games against a dangerous FC Dallas, a match in Monterrey, and matchups with the Colorado
Rapids, the LA Galaxy, and a Cascadia derby match at Jeld-Wen field.
Setting: Saturday, August 20 at Columbus Crew Stadium in
Columbus, Ohio; kickoff scheduled for 7:36:30 PM Eastern
Broadcast Information: The Comcast Network (JP Dellacamera,
Taylor Twellman, Bob Rigby) with coverage beginning at 7:00 PM Eastern with a pre-game show / ONN
(Dwight Burgess, Dante Washington, Katie Witham), News Talk 610 WTVN-AM (Neil Sika, John Bluem) and
La Mega 103.
The Philly Soccer Page " Player Ratings and Analysis: Union 2-2 Dallas
As with all seasons, we must learn to take the bad with the good. The downs with the ups. The
late losses with the late wi... ties.
Adu plays 'reckless' in Union debut | Philadelphia Daily News | 08/15/2011
SEBASTIEN LE TOUX scored two goals on penalty kicks in the Union's 2-2 tie with FC Dallas on
Saturday night at PPL Park.
Football is back. I should be excited. But I'm not. And that's unusual. The impending football
season for me is like the unwanted return of the Genital Herpes which you thought you had shaken
off, only to return when you least expect it. This really shouldn't be how I feel.
The Championship is a few days away and is swiftly followed by the return of the Premiership
season.
Well after missing a week or two SerieAWeekly podcast is back with a season finale. Our guest this
episode is the incomparable and always ready to make a defence for the best league in Europe,
Goal.com's Subhankar Mondal. Subhankar covers Italian Serie A for those other guys and is sure to
surprise with his take on matters Serie A.
Germany will need to stay cool under pressure when they make an end-of-season push for a perfect
six wins out of six in Euro 2012 qualifying against Austria on Friday. Runners-up to Spain in 2008,
the Germans are one of several heavyweight teams in action following the season finale in major
domestic leagues.
photo by Howard C. Smith/ISIphotos.com
By FRANCO PANIZO
Michael Parkhurst and FC Nordsjaelland may not have won their season finale this weekend, but
Parkhurst helped the club to a sixth-place finish in the Superliga with a 90-minute performance in
a scoreless draw.
By FRANCO PANIZO
If there is one American who has flown under the radar despite putting together a solid but
quiet season in Europe, it is Carlos Bocanegra.
Bocanegra will end a strong first campaign with St Etienne this weekend when the club takes on
Paris Saint-Germain.
By FRANCO PANIZO
If there is one American who has flown under the radar despite putting together a solid but
quiet season in Europe, it is Carlos Bocanegra.
Bocanegra will end a strong first campaign with St Etienne this weekend when the club takes on
Paris Saint-Germain.
