The 2011 MLS season is just about halfway done, but the race for best goal of the year is already over, courtesy of Vancouver's Eric Hassli.

The shot took place late in the second half of the Whitecaps' game against Seattle on Saturday night. With his team down 2-1, Hassli got the ball just outside the goal box and lobbed it to himself, then he unleashed a vicious shot that caught the upper left side of the net to tie the game, 2-2.

Soccer doesn't get enough credit from Americans, myself included, for being as exciting as it is. We all look at the box score and see a 1-0 score and assume that it was a dull 90 minutes with about 20 seconds of excitement for the goal.

The way people feel about that kind of game is the same way they feel about a 1-0 pitchers' duel in baseball.

But when you watch a soccer match, you can feel the energy and electricity from the fans in the stands more than you can in any other sport. They are into every little thing that goes on over the course of 90-plus minutes of action.

When you see a goal like this, you really gain an appreciation for the skills that these athletes have. Hassli basically set himself up for an alley-oop and he was able to finish it with one of the best shots that you will ever see.

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Bruce Arena's Los Angeles Galaxy host Aron Winter's Toronto FC in a key Major League Soccer encounter tonight at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California.

The Galaxy are 8-2-6 (30 points), good for first place overall in the league and are looking to bounce back from a disappointing scoreless draw against D.C. United. As for Toronto, they are 2-5-7 (13 points) and are in need of some points to get back in the hunt in the MLS Eastern Conference.

Keep it right here on Bleacher Report for ongoing coverage of the 2011 Major League Soccer season.

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Following a mid-week loss in the final minutes of the match against the Columbus Crew on Wednesday night, Real Salt Lake continued it's Major League Soccer road trip Saturday against the Philadelphia Union.

In what was supposed to be the second meeting of these two teams this season, each team dominated a half and played to a 1-1 draw.

The two teams were scheduled to meet in an early season match in April in Utah, until both teams willingly rescheduled the match so that Real Salt Lake could focus on the CONCACAF final match they would host a few nights later.

In today's match, the Philadelphia Union came out strong and had multiple scoring chances early in the match. Taking a page out of Real Salt Lake's playbook, they dominated first half possession and were not afraid to attack the heart of the best defense in the league.

After several good chances, and building up a lot of excitement, Keon Daniel scored his first goal of the season for the Union in the 24th minute. His shot came off a ball served in from the corner that he ran onto, split a couple of defenders and nodded down for the score.

As the half went on, the Real Salt Lake defense and goalkeeper Nick Rimando continued to be tested as the Union looked like they would turn this match into a blowout.

Fortunately for Real Salt Lake, they survived the first half barrage and made adjustments in the second half.

For the most part, the last 45 minutes belonged to Real Salt Lake as they returned to their normal game of maintaining possession and limiting chances for the opponent.

In the 53rd minute, Real Salt Lake striker Fabian Espindola took a good pass in the mid-field from fellow forward Jean Alexandre, worked his way through and around two defenders, and fired a far-post strike that just missed the outstretched hand of the goalkeeper.

His third goal of the season proved to be the equalizer as the team held on to earn a much needed point on the road.

The result had to be frustrating for a Union team that should have come away with the victory. Credit the veteran play and coaching adjustments by Real Salt Lake head coach Jason Kreis for coming away with a point.

The Philadelphia Union will next make their longest road trip of the season and face the expansion Whitecaps in Vancouver.

Real Salt Lake will meet D.C. United at home next Saturday.

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 On Friday night, the Red Bulls finally they gave their fans what they've been unable to provide over their past six games: a victory.

Playing their final home game before they go on a four-game road trip, the Red Bulls gave their fans many reasons to ecstatic with their 2-1 victory over the New England Revolution. Friday night's victory over the New England Revolution (3-4-7) has temporarily catapulted the Red Bulls (5-2-7) over the Philadelphia Union for the top spot in the Eastern Conference.

While Friday night's match was filled with missed opportunities for both sides, 21,201 fans in attendance where entertained as both teams were attacking the net. This was a match where both sides were desperately seeking a seeking to end their winless drought with a victory.

From the beginning of the match, it appeared the Red Bulls were attempting to score quickly as Luke Rodgers aggressively attacked the net numerous times within the opening minutes.New England to their credit was able to calm the initial Red Bulls pressing attack.

In a match where both sides had errors, none was bigger than New England's Ryan Cochrane's own goal in the 37th minute. A few minutes after New England's captain Shalrie Joseph failed to convert a penalty kick, Cochrane over-defended when he blasted a pass intended for Henry past his own goalkeeper, Matt Reis.

Following the goal, the Revolution were unable to level the match as the first half ended in a 1-0 Red Bull advantage.

For the second half, the Revolution came out the aggressor as they desperately attempted to tie the game. Unfortunately for New England, the Red Bulls took a 2-0 advantage as Thierry Henry scored his seventh goal of the season as he "shaked and baked" Ryan Cochrane before he blast forced the ball to the back of the net.

After the score, the South Ward passionately chanted "I believe we will win" and it appeared that way until the 54th minute when they were momentarily silenced when New England's Zak Boggs reduced the deficit to one with a wicked blast.

Red Bulls goalkeeper Greg Sutton who struggled finding his rhythm for the past few games, played his best game of the season. Throughout the game, he made a couple of critical saves for the Red Bulls as he saved a penalty kick and was able to read New England's set piece plays.

With Friday night's win, the Red Bulls will now face the Portland Timbers, Seattle Sounders, Chicago Fire, and the San Jose Earthquake on the road. This is a tough road schedule for the Red Bulls where an unsuccessful trip could possibly drop them to the fourth spot in the Eastern Conference.

The Red Bulls will return back to Red Bull Arena on July 6, 2011 when they face Toronto FC.

Cesar Diaz covers Soccer for LatinoSports.com. He also writes for 5 Points Press and USSoccerPlayers.com ; your source for American Soccer news brought to you by members of the U.S. National Team. Easily accessible, you may reach Cesar at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and at Twitter at @CoveringSoccer.

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The bells must ring...for Juninho

Juninho will be out for Saturday's match between the Los Angeles Galaxy and Toronto FC due to a wedding he plans to attend in Brazil.

“He’s been pretty much a rock on the team,” forward Mike Magee told LAGalaxy.com's Larry Morgan. “He’s done an amazing job. He’s logged a lot of minutes, but I think it’s going to be good for him to get a break anyway.

“He’ll definitely be missed.”

“He’s got a special occasion going on back in Brazil,” said midfielder David Beckham. “We’ve said all the way through the season we’re going to have to go without players in certain games, and obviously there’s going to be players injured. It’s just another one of these games that we’ve got players that can come in and play the same sort of ways he plays.

“We just have to deal with what we’ve got. We’ve got a great squad of players, so we should be fine.”

In 15 starts, Juninho has recorded two goals and an assist with Los Angeles.


FIFA U-17 World Cup: Jack Mac called back

Homegrown player Jack McBean will return to the USA Under-17 National Team for the 2011 FIFA U-17 World Cup.

The USA takes on the Czech Republic on June 19, Uzbekistan on June 22 and New Zealand on June 26.

“We obviously think he’s a kid who has potential and a good future,” Arena said of McBean. “He hasn’t been with us much; basically the whole spring he’s been with the U-17 program. He’s obviously made some progress since he made their final roster.

“We hope when he comes back he’s a kid we’re going to be able to move forward.”

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The New York Cosmos of the North American Soccer League were the most successful and most famous team in American soccer history.

Founded in 1971, the Cosmos dominated the competition in their heyday, winning five titles and making the playoffs virtually every year. They regularly beat up on teams 5-0 and put on a show for the 70,000 plus people who packed Giants Stadium.  The atmosphere was incredible for each game, with fans showing up hours before the game to tailgate in the Giants Stadium parking lot.

Millionaire and president of the Cosmos Steve Ross went to great lengths to put together a star-studded team every year. He broke the bank for Pele, Franz Beckenbauer, Carlos Alberto, Giorgio Chinaglia, and many other world-class soccer players. He helped put the Cosmos on the map with his bold acquisitions, and did all he could to make soccer the most popular sport in New York.

Former-goalkeeper Shep Messing to this day says that the Cosmos were more famous than the Yankees during the ‘70s. Pele and company were often seen partying with rock stars like Mick Jagger in New York City clubs. The team was a circus, but it didn’t matter because they won games.

Eventually the enormous budget of the Cosmos, the repeated success of the team each and every year, and the head scratching decisions to expand to cities like Edmonton, Calgary, and Las Vegas, diminished the competition and lost the interest of Americans.

Owners in other markets could not compete with New York, leading to a huge gap in the quality of play by teams not named the New York Cosmos.  While Cosmos domination was enjoyable for New Yorkers, it became a bit repetitive for fans of other teams.

Ultimately, what led to the demise of the NASL was the retirement of legendary Pele. After he hung up the cleats, there wasn’t that Pele-type superstar to carry on the legacy of the team and draw enough interest from the average soccer fan.  Attendance began to decline and ratings were at their lowest until the league finally dissolved in 1985.

All that was left for the Cosmos was the name. Years after they folded, fans from everywhere in the world still reminisce on the glory years of the team. Attempts to bring the Cosmos to the MLS in 1996 failed as the league had to resort to naming New York’s franchise the New York/New Jersey MetroStars.  Former Cosmos General Manager Peppe Pinton refused to sell the team name to the MLS for fear that it would not carry on the rich legacy that the Cosmos left in the ‘80s.

After a twenty-four year absence, however, the Cosmos are back. The name was sold in 2009, and as of now the team is starting up again with the intention of joining the MLS as the 20th franchise in 2013.

The speculation is that the team will be owned by Mets owner Fred Wilpon and based in Queens, but the recent financial problems of the Wilpon’s are putting this in doubt.

The team already has a logo, a uniform, several high-profile employees such as Eric Cantona, Cobi Jones, and Giovanni Saverese, and it has a youth team that will compete in the under-23 Premier Development League.

While it is not a definite that New York will be granted a second MLS franchise, here are three reasons why Don Garber has to make the Cosmos an MLS franchise.

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If you have any aspirations of watching the best of the best of the best this summer, keep your peepers peeled for the World Football Challenge in the US.

 
Italian superpower Juventus have confirmed their participation in this summer's Herbalife World Football Championship, which will take place all over the states, so there is something for everyone in all four corners of the country.

European champions league winner Barcelona, runner-up Manchester United, city rivals Manchester City, Mexican giants Club America and Jose Mourinhos Real Madrid will all be available to watch at some stage over the term between July 13 and August 6.

The chance of playing in the US has once again provided too much of a lure for the giant European sides, and although it's not a trophy the teams are playing for, pride will be at stake.

With MLS sides LA Galaxy, NE Revolution, Vancouver Whitecaps, Chicago Fire and Philadephia Union all participating at some stage, there will be plenty of support for the home towns' teams, and it will give supporters the chance to see some of the best players in the world when these teams come visiting.

Full schedule is listed below.

Source of information: MLS.

Marc Roseblade is a Contributor for Bleacher Report as well as the Not Just Scottish Football reporter and youth development reporter for Ayr United Football Academy. All quotes are obtained first-hand unless otherwise stated.

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Bruce Arena: What, me worry?

Los Angeles Galaxy manager Bruce Arena does not believe the Galaxy will be in dire straits after seeing Landon Donovan leave for the USA national team.

“We’re fine, believe me,” Arena told MLSSoccer's Luis Bueno. “I don’t know how many goals we scored last year, but Edson didn’t score all of them. He just happened to score the first eight or nine. And now Landon has scored (seven) in a row and everyone concluded that that was a crisis.”

Arena was quick to point out that football is a team game, and it's the efforts of the rest of the squad that dictate their ultimate destination in terms of playoffs and all that jazz.

“There’s nothing wrong with it. The attacking players, you want them scoring goals,” Arena said. “If they happen to be scoring all of them, that’s life. That’s not a negative. That’s a positive. That’s like saying Barcelona has a lot of problems with Messi scoring all those goals, or Real Madrid…holy (crap) are they in trouble, Ronaldo has scored 40 goals in the league.

“The reasons those guys score goals is they’re playing on a good team. It’s not an accident. It’s part of the teamwork.”


More Reserve League misery...

There is no question about this: The Galaxy reserves are so bad, they could be in trouble even when facing their Youth Academy.

Last week, the Galaxy lost 3-0 to the San Jose Earthquakes to remain winless at 0-3. They will look to snap this losing streak on Monday, June 13 when they face the Seattle Sounders Reserves at the Starfire Sports Complex in Tukwila, Washington.


JP moving in

Juan Pablo Angel officially became an Angeleno on Memorial Day weekend, after he and his family moved into their new house in LA.

“I’ve been living in a hotel for four months, so it’s important to get the normal routine going now with the family and the usual stuff so you can concentrate on the sport,” Angel told Luis Bueno. “Having said that, you try to do well regardless of the circumstances…but it makes a difference for anybody.”

Angel is a proud father of two sons, ages 10 and eight, who go to school in the area.

“They’re going to school right now so we’re trying just to speed up things for them in order just to adjust and get settled as soon as possible,” Ángel said. “Just having a normal life routine is important for anybody.”

It's only a matter of time before the Angel brothers understand the privileges they get from living their new life in Southern California.

“They will appreciate it when they get older," Angel added. "Right now for them is a fun thing to do, moving from place to place, but I’m sure in time they will appreciate all the opportunities that life has been given them. I’m sure they’ll appreciate the time here in California. It’s a beautiful place to be—the weather is fantastic. As soon as they start to make friends, they’ll be fine.”


Enough talk about D.C.; let's talk about Toronto

As for the rest of the team, the matches with D.C. United were in their rear view mirror.

“Being a Galaxy fan, hopefully they stuck through it and watched it,” defender Sean Franklin told LAGalaxy.com's Larry Morgan. “It was pretty awful to watch. Being on the field is a little different, but watching on TV and seeing what the fans got to see, we can’t come out like that in front of our home fans.

“I can understand our frustration but also the fans’ frustration.”

“When you don’t come with energy, it’s not a realistic viewing of how you play,” said forward Chad Barrett. “It wasn’t one or two of us; it was the whole team.”

“I think the accumulation of the number of games we played in May took its toll on us,” Arena concluded. “You can never figure stuff out. You could argue maybe we gave them too much time off”—the Galaxy had three days off from training early last week—“but I think they needed it. They’re much fresher already this week than they were last week.

“I just think it was a tired team. I think the last game in New England on the turf and travel, I just think it took its toll. For whatever reason, we looked like a team with not the kind of energy level we needed to bring to the field that day. It is what it is.

“Maybe we would have been better off playing some other guys. You just don’t know. It’s past us now, I think we’ll certainly be better this weekend.”

“This week everybody has been hard on each other, everybody has been going 100 percent,” Barrett added. “Now there are no more excuses. This weekend against Toronto we’re going to get after them.”

Will they finally produce? Stay tuned on Saturday. Kickoff is scheduled for June 11 at 7:30 p.m. PT/10:30 p.m. ET and will be televised by Fox Sports Prime Ticket and GOLTV Canada.

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Oh, the two Donovans. How we miss you. For those of you not in the know (shame on you lot), I'm referring to Los Angeles Galaxy Landon Donovan and goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts.

Josh Saunders did well in relief of the Jamaican international, but David Beckham was having a hard time dictating Bruce Arena's 4-4-2 diamond as they settled for a scoreless draw with D.C. United on Military Appreciation Night at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California.

With the result, LA improves to 8-2-6 (30 points), still good for best overall in the league. But that was little consolation for a clearly exhausted Galaxy side.

“The only one good thing about tonight is that we lost these games at home last year," Arena told reporters after the match. "I gave the players three days off this week and it showed. Tonight’s performance was absolutely poor.

"You have to give our opponent some credit, but it was poor. There was no quality to our game tonight. Passing was poor. Effort was just okay. We just didn’t get it done. There are no excuses—it was just a poor performance.”

"Heavy legs, tired legs, we didn’t have a good performance," Galaxy defender Todd Dunivant said. "And properly at the end of the night, we didn’t deserve three points, but we got one, so I take that as a positive.

"It just seemed like we were sluggish all night. Maybe its fatigue from all the games, but we can’t use that as an excuse. We were really slow on the ball. We couldn’t play our game. We weren’t able to hold the ball up. Credit to [D.C. United], they took us out of our rhythm and kind of killed the game.”

The Galaxy's favorite target, Chad Barrett, had a night of absolute misery. He didn't have a good first touch, his finishing was again off the mark, and rightfully Barrett had to be subbed late by Adam Cristman because he never got into form.

I mean, I don't know. The jury at this point deserves to be out regarding Chad Barrett, but as the team's second-leading goal scorer, you'd expect him to get at last one pass the end line.

Indeed, David Beckham was having another go at the set piece slot machine, but he had to cringe at the attempts by the white shirts to finish.

“We started flat," Beckham said after the match. "I don’t think that we passed the ball well. We didn’t create space. I think it just went through the whole game. We didn’t have a moment—we did create a couple of good chances, but its just one of those nights where we didn’t play well.”

“We didn’t play well," Miguel Lopez added. "I felt very tired because I have been playing a lot but that’s no excuse. We couldn’t turn the game around and we didn’t have many chances on goal.  I am looking forward to this week I will review what I did wrong.”

D.C. United did a magnificent job in holding Los Angeles scoreless, and this is a side decimated by injuries.

Well, D.C. didn't look like they were coming in battered and bruised. United had two legit looks on goal. Ethan White had a shot inside the six-yard box hit the side netting in the 63rd minute. And Charlie Davies, who came in off the bench for Blake Brettschneider, nearly made it deja vu all over again with his attempt to sell the foul.

Sorry, Charlie. Silviu Petrescu does not give in to simulation. Nice try, though.

Los Angeles's defending was typical. Business as usual. It will be a given to see this side get shutouts on any given match day because the back line of A.J. DeLaGarza, Sean Franklin,  Dunivant and Omar Gonzalez did the heavy lifting.

“Toward the end of the game it started to open up a bit because we were pushing up to try and get the goal," Saunders remarked on the contest. "Toward the end they started to throw numbers at us, it was difficult for us to withstand the pressure but the defense played well and helped us out.”

Gonzalez was also quick to make excuses for the poor effort.

"I think we just came out flat and I just think to be honest we’re just a little bit tired from three games in one week," Gonzalez said. "Overall it was just us being flat and being slow mentally.  Me, I was just slow tonight. I didn’t win many balls I should’ve won, I just didn’t run tonight.  Going forward we just got to plan and look forward to next game and get the three points.”

Ever since the Sporting Kansas City match at home, we haven't seen this club go on a tear in terms of offensive production. This poses a problem, especially with the likes of Toronto FC coming in next week.

And we all know how it has been the last three games between the G's and the Reds. Scoreless draws.

Readers, do not be surprised if this broke record against Aron Winter's crew extends for another year. Brace yourselves.

Kickoff between the Galaxy vs. Toronto FC is scheduled for Saturday, June 11 at 7:30 p.m. PT/10:30 p.m. PT and will be televised by Fox Sports Prime ticket.

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Bruce Arena's Los Angeles Galaxy begin a month of June without the two Donovans: midfielder Landon Donovan and goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts, who are off for CONCACAF Gold Cup duty.

Their first assignment: rectify a 1-1 result on the road against Ben Olsen's D.C. United.

Currently, Los Angeles are 8-2-5 (29 points) and are riding a four-game winning streak. D.C. United are 4-4-3 (15 points) and are on a four-game unbeaten streak as they sit in the middle of the MLS Eastern Conference.

Keep it right here on Bleacher Report for continuing coverage of the 2011 Major League Soccer season.

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