MLS News
MLS Power Rankings: Week 5
MLS News
Sunday, 31 March 2013 17:27

If you are a fan of spectacular goals, then MLS was the league to tune into this weekend. 

The league's biggest stars like Thierry Henry and Kenny Miller, as well as newcomers like Dillon Powers, delivered fans of the American top flight some pieces of individual brilliance.

As for the results of the eight games played on Saturday, the most significant came out of Kansas City, as Sporting took down the previously unbeaten Montreal Impact at Sporting Park. 

Find out where those two teams as well as the other 17 in MLS landed in this week's edition of the power rankings. 

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MLS Week 5 Roundup: 10 Highlights You Don't Want to Miss
MLS News
Sunday, 31 March 2013 07:53

Week 5 in Major League Soccer didn’t disappoint as there were plenty of thrills from eight different games on Saturday.

Landon Donovan returned to action for the L.A. Galaxy, the Montreal Impact finally lost a game and the U.S. U-20 contingent continued to impress.

Check it all out in this week’s MLS roundup.

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MLS Saturday Wrap: Goals, Recaps and Interesting Stats
MLS News
Sunday, 31 March 2013 06:58

There were 22 goals in eight total games in MLS this weekend.  Two of them ended in 2-2 draws: the Los Angeles Galaxy against Toronto FC and the Colorado Rapids against the Portland, which were also the highest scoring affairs of the weekend. 

FC Dallas was the only road team to gather all three points in their 1-0 victory over the New England Revolution. 

Mike Magee tallied once again for the Galaxy and continues to lead the league with five goals. Toronto FC striker Robert Earnshaw also scored in the match for his fourth of the season.  He is one behind Magee in the race for the Golden Boot.

The Montreal Impact dropped their first points of the season on the road against Sporting Kansas City.

It continues to be a week to remember for Graham Zusi, who scored his club's second goal after returning from international duty with the U.S. national team. 

Thierry Henry got his first goal of the season.  Coincidentally, or perhaps not so much, New York also picked up its first win of the season.  His 21 shots lead MLS. 

The New England Revolution remained stuck on just one goal this season.

Chivas USA posted another win as well.  The Goats are the first MLS team to score 10 goals this season and average two per game.  They have done so with 20 shots on target. 

It was a very busy weekend in which every storyline was trumped by the return of arguably the greatest player in the history of the league, Landon Donovan, for the Galaxy. The league legend played about 30 minutes in the second half and nearly scored just after entering.

Welcome back, Donovan.  

Here are the goals, recaps and interesting stats from all the games.   

All data provided by MLS Soccer, powered by Opta.

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Benny Feilhaber Sets Up Both Goals in Sporting Kansas City's Win over Montreal
MLS News
Sunday, 31 March 2013 02:43

Benny Feilhaber had a pair of assists as Sporting Kansas City snapped the Montreal Impact's four-game winning streak with a 2-0 victory in front of 18,609 fans at Sporting Park on Saturday night. Feilhaber had only two assists all season in 2012 with the New England Revolution.

During the postgame press conference, Sporting KC manager Peter Vermes told us it was Feilhaber's best performance with the team so far this season and exactly what Vermes was looking for when Feilhaber was acquired in the offseason. Vermes added:

I've seen him play for a long time and his defensive work and the bite he has in the midfield and today he was all over the place. Then what happens when he gets the ball and he breaks the lines and he goes at defenses he has all solutions-he can play, he can dribble at a guy, he can shoot from distance. He has all those qualities. When he does that it changes the game for us as a team. When you have (Graham) Zusi running off the ball, you have CJ (Sapong) with the qualities that he has, and then Claudio (Bieler) just needs daylight and he's going to find the goal. So when you have that it gigantic for us this early in the season.

It didn't take long for Sporting KC to get started as Bieler opened the scoring in the fifth minute. Montreal's Patrice Bernier turned the ball over in the midfield, where it was picked off by defender Seth Sinovic. Sinovic passed the ball ahead to Feilhaber, who fed the ball to Bieler at the top of the 18-yard box. Bieler took one touch to his right and put the ball just inside the far post past goalkeeper Troy Perkins.

It was the second fastest goal in stadium history in league play. Only Kei Kamara's fourth-minute goal from August 2012 was faster. The strike also snapped a 197-minute scoreless streak for the home side.

During the postgame press conference I attended, Feilhaber said:

Bieler made a really good run off their center back and opened up space for himself so it was an easy choice to give him the ball. He made it look easy, which it wasn't. He was able to open up his body and bend it back post. It was an easy play for me once he made the run.

Aurelien Collin almost doubled the advantage six minutes later. Midfielder Graham Zusi had a free kick from about 40 yards out and found Collin just outside the six-yard box. Collin's header found the back of the net, but the linesman's flag was up for offside.

Sporting KC missed out on another golden opportunity in the 23rd minute. A Perkins clearance fell to midfielder Oriol Rosell near the center circle, who one-timed a pass forward to Zusi. Zusi made a run into the 18-yard box and made a short pass to Bieler, but Bieler's shot was well over the crossbar.

Montreal's one good chance in the match came just before the hour mark. Bernier played a long ball forward from the midfield stripe, and it found Davy Arnaud at the top of the 18-yard box. Arnaud's header fell to Marco Di Vaio, who put a volley on frame, but Jimmy Nielsen was there with a good save to keep the clean sheet.

Zusi secured the three points for the home side in the 80th minute. Feilhaber put a through ball between two defenders  that Zusi was able to run onto. Zusi made a run into the 18-yard box and was challenged by Montreal's Karl Ouimette, but managed to stay on his feet and skip the ball over an onrushing Perkins and into the back of the net.

Shortly after the goal, it was announced that Montreal coach Marco Schällibaum had been ejected. Apparently, the Swiss manager threw a bottle of water at an official and was sent off. Schällibaum will miss Montreal's next match on April 14th at home against Columbus. It would not surprise me in the least bit if he missed at least one additional match besides that one.

With the victory, Nielsen picked up his third clean sheet of the season, which leads MLS. The shutout streak has now reached 339 minutes, the longest in MLS this season. During that streak, the defense has allowed only two shots on goal.

There was a bit of a scary moment for Sporting KC in the 28th minute. Forward C.J. Sapong went up for the ball near midfield and collided with Jeb Brovsky, taking a shot in the back. Sapong was down on the pitch for a few minutes before being stretchered off. Vermes was in the process of subbing Bobby Convey into the match when Sapong told him he was going to be okay. He returned to the field and received a loud cheer from the sellout crowd.

Sporting KC's next match is Friday, April 5, when they will take on D.C. United at 7:30 p.m. CDT at Sporting Park.

Read more MLS news on BleacherReport.com

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New York Red Bulls 2-1 Philadelphia Union: 5 Things We Learned
MLS News
Saturday, 30 March 2013 21:06

The New York Red Bulls finally picked up their first win of the 2013 Major League Soccer season on Saturday afternoon, beating the Philadelphia Union 2-1.

After an 0-2-2 start, New York finally got their first three-point effort on the back of goals by Dax McCarty and Thierry Henry.

Here are five things we learned from the game.

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Picking the Top 10 MLS Player Performances in This Week's World Cup Qualifiers
MLS News
Wednesday, 27 March 2013 07:17

MLS is not a top competition in world football. But top talent like Tim Cahill and Omar Gonzalez made a significant impact in this week's World Cup qualifiers.

In total, 38 MLS players across 15 countries were selected to represent their respective national teams. Brad Davis' last-minute inclusion upped that total to 39.

No region was impacted greater by the influx of MLS talent than the CONCACAF. But the CONMEBOL, Asian and UEFA qualifiers were influenced as well.

Soccer fans will have to wait until June for the next round of qualifiers. Until then, here's a look at the 10 best MLS-player performances in this week's World Cup qualifiers. 

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Every MLS Team's Biggest Flaw
MLS News
Wednesday, 27 March 2013 03:57

The 2013 Major League Soccer campaign has been full of great play, exciting goals and, most importantly, incredibly disappointing performances. 

The following is a team-by-team slideshow of each MLS side's biggest flaw. Some teams' flaws will be difficult to identify because they've been so outstanding (Montreal). Others will be difficult because they've been so poor. 

It's only fitting that we start such a negative slideshow with...

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Reigning MLS Champion LA Galaxy Visit President Obama at the White House
MLS News
Tuesday, 26 March 2013 13:45

President Obama may be best known to sports fans for his love of basketball—and for, you know, being the President of the United States—but he showed off his soccer skills on Tuesday when the MLS Cup-winning LA Galaxy visited the White House.

As Helene Elliott of the Los Angeles Times tweeted, the President wasn't afraid to use his head at the ceremony.

Meanwhile, Agence France-Presse tweeted this photo the President awaiting a ball heading his way.

He's totally going to trap that sucker. 

And political blogger Jeff Gauvin snapped the President sharing a laugh with the Galaxy and posing for a photograph with Landon Donovan and David Beckham.

The Galaxy made the trip to the White House for the second straight season after once again defeating the Houston Dynamo in the MLS Cup. It was the Galaxy's fourth MLS championship.

The Associated Press (via USA Today) posted a video of President Obama's header, which also included the President noting, "That's a lucky number," when presented with a  No. 44 jersey from the Los Angeles Kings, who were also visiting the White House after winning this year's Stanley Cup.

The President also tried to recruit Landon Donovan to the United States men's national team cause, asking him in jest if he was sure he didn't want to make the trip to Mexico City (via Dana Wessel of ESPN):

The United States travels to Estadio Azteca to face Mexico City on Tuesday night in a crucial World Cup qualifying game for both countries, and obviously Donovan—long the top USMNT player—isn't on the roster.

But hey, given the President's heading skills, perhaps he can make the trip to Mexico City instead.

 

Read more MLS news on BleacherReport.com

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MLS 2013: 10 Things We've Learned so Far
MLS News
Monday, 25 March 2013 06:00

Four weeks into MLS 2013 and there is a lot to learn.

To date, the league boasts 74 goals scored on 789 total shots.  Just around a goal every 10 shots.  282 of the 789 shots have been on target. 

There have been 885 fouls conceded.  That adds up to about 14 fouls conceded per team per match.

307 corner kicks so far in MLS 2013.    

In the race for the Supporters' Shield, the Montreal Impact look the side to beat right now.  They have won all four of their games for 12 points.  No other team has won four games. 

The Chicago Fire has scored just one goal.  Same goes for the New England Revolution. 

Hendry Thomas of the Colorado Rapids and Bobby Burling of Chivas USA are tied for the lead in most yellow cards so far with three each.

The team with the most points, Montreal, leads the league in being caught offside.  The team in last place for the Supporters' Shield, Chicago, is second.

The former having being caught 20 times and the latter 17.

Here are 10 more things we've learned so far about the MLS 2013. 

All statistics recovered from MLS Soccer, powered by Opta. 

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MLS Power Rankings: Week 4
MLS News
Monday, 25 March 2013 03:00

Not many domestic leagues play close to a full slate of games during the international break but that is exactly what Major League Soccer did this weekend. 

Fans of the American domestic game were treated to eight matches that produced plenty of fireworks on both coasts. 

The most thrilling of the eight games came on Saturday in Washington D.C. as the Columbus Crew took down D.C. United.

Find out where those two teams, as well as the other 17 teams in MLS, landed in this week's power rankings. 

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