Con un agónico gol anotado en los descuentos, el Real Salt Lake logró clasificar por primera vez en su historia a los playoffs de la Major League Soccer al empatar 1-1 ante el Colorado Rapids.

Tan sólo un empate le bastaba al equipo del Real Salt Lake para clasificar a la liguilla y como el partido se jugaba en su nuevo estadio, la tarea no parecía muy dificil. Click to continue reading...

Con un agónico gol anotado en los descuentos, el Real Salt Lake logró clasificar por primera vez en su historia a los playoffs de la Major League Soccer al empatar 1-1 ante el Colorado Rapids.

Tan sólo un empate le bastaba al equipo del Real Salt Lake para clasificar a la liguilla y como el partido se jugaba en su nuevo estadio, la tarea no parecía muy dificil. Click to continue reading...

La úúúúúltima fecha de la temporada comienza esta noche con el partido entre el New York Red Bulls y el Chicago Fire en "la ciudad de los vientos". El Fire de Cuauhtémoc Blanco (que registra tres goles y tres asistencias en los últimos cuatro partidos) intentará sumar ante su público para llegar con la moral alta de cara a los playoffs, mientras que el New York Red Bulls del colombiano Juan Pablo Angel (en la foto) necesita imperiosamente una victoria que les permita asegurar uno de los tres cupos restantes para acceder a la liguilla (los demás equipos en disputa son el Colorado Rapids de Gómez, Kansas City Wizards del "Piojo" López, Real Salt Lake de Morales y el DC United de Gallardo). Click to continue reading...

La úúúúúltima fecha de la temporada comienza esta noche con el partido entre el New York Red Bulls y el Chicago Fire en "la ciudad de los vientos". El Fire de Cuauhtémoc Blanco (que registra tres goles y tres asistencias en los últimos cuatro partidos) intentará sumar ante su público para llegar con la moral alta de cara a los playoffs, mientras que el New York Red Bulls del colombiano Juan Pablo Angel (en la foto) necesita imperiosamente una victoria que les permita asegurar uno de los tres cupos restantes para acceder a la liguilla (los demás equipos en disputa son el Colorado Rapids de Gómez, Kansas City Wizards del "Piojo" López, Real Salt Lake de Morales y el DC United de Gallardo). Click to continue reading...

Claudio "Piojo" López, delantero argentino de brillante trayectoria (Racing de Avellaneda, Valencia, Lazio, Inter de Milan, América de México) fue traído esta temporada a la Major League Soccer con la intención que se convirtiera en un referente del Kansas City Wizards y a su vez se transformara en un ídolo de los seguidores de esta liga. Click to continue reading...

Claudio "Piojo" López, delantero argentino de brillante trayectoria (Racing de Avellaneda, Valencia, Lazio, Inter de Milan, América de México) fue traído esta temporada a la Major League Soccer con la intención que se convirtiera en un referente del Kansas City Wizards y a su vez se transformara en un ídolo de los seguidores de esta liga. Click to continue reading...

* New York Red Bulls 3, Columbus Crew 1 *

Una gran sorpresa dio el equipo del New York Red Bulls anoche al derrotar por 3-1 al puntero exclusivo del torneo, el Columbus Crew de Guillermo Barros Schelotto y Alejandro Moreno.

Y no sólo eso. El arquero del New York, Danny Cepero, debutó con un gol, transformándose en el primer arquero en la historia de la MLS en convertir en partidos oficiales. Click to continue reading...

* New York Red Bulls 3, Columbus Crew 1 *

Una gran sorpresa dio el equipo del New York Red Bulls anoche al derrotar por 3-1 al puntero exclusivo del torneo, el Columbus Crew de Guillermo Barros Schelotto y Alejandro Moreno.

Y no sólo eso. El arquero del New York, Danny Cepero, debutó con un gol, transformándose en el primer arquero en la historia de la MLS en convertir en partidos oficiales. Click to continue reading...

I was going to write a full post about each team's playoff chances, but its getting close to game time and the three teams left (Toronto, San Jose and LA)... Well, let's just say I don't need to delve too deeply into analysis to discover these teams probably are not going to make it. The Sounders [.. Click to continue reading...

It's unusual business this week as Houston and San Jose see their fixture from this weekend canceled, thanks in part to Hurricane Ike. Best wishes go out to the people of Texas and Houston as they try to piece together their lives and homes. That aside, it's another important weekend for just about every club. Click to continue reading...

My answers are as follows:

1. Yes.

2. Meh.

3. Quite possibly.

4. I'll take a pass.

5. San Jose Click to continue reading...

The Sheriff of Nottingham was a nasty dude. He was always trying to stop Robin Hood from robbing the rich to feed the poor. He was not well liked by his people. The Sheriff of San Jose, Darren Huckerby, is not a nasty dude. However, he is a bloke from Nottingham who has been besting the richer [...] Click to continue reading...

I'm happy to see that the Bay Area (San Jose, to be specific) will be joining the WPS for the 2009 season.  "Play kicks off in the spring of 2009, with WPS teams based in the Bay Area, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New Jersey/New York, St. Louis, and Washington, D.C. The league will expand [...] Click to continue reading...

The Columbus Crew were the only Eastern Conference team to win and by doing so moved to the top of the division and the MLS overall table to round out Week 23 of the Major League season. LA Galaxy 2 New England Revolution 2 Landon Donovan scored a pair of goals for the Los Angeles Galaxy, but [...] Click to continue reading...

A colleague shouted this out as the "statistic of the night" after the Chivas USA match on Saturday:

With David Beckham and Landon Donovan in tow, the LA Galaxy has the same exact record of the expansion San Jose Earthquakes.

The Galaxy almost had their first win in quite a while on Saturday. Click to continue reading...

Every once in a while a game comes along that I really wished I had bet on, even just a dollar, something. One of those games took place Saturday when MLS best New England visited league worst San Jose and left with an embarrassing 0-4 loss. Perhaps we should have seen it coming, San Jose had been unbeaten in its last four games, including a 3-2 win last week over the Galaxy, while New England had gone on a two game losing streak. Click to continue reading...

Now that it is The Day After, I have a few thoughts on what just happened.

Alexi Lalas' firing was at least a year too late and was a laughably inept hire in the first place. Lalas was good at many things, like being a salesman extraordinaire, doing color commentary, creating funny ESPN Sportscenter promotional spots, even defending for the US MNT.

Click to continue reading...

Just got back from a weekend in northern CA, where I managed to take in the Quakes-Galaxy game without getting tangled up with any celebrity morticians or IRA operatives in the process. Just me and my ticket, no special sauce. Just a man and his hard plastic seat. I like that. I think I'm going [... Click to continue reading...

San Jose is undefeated when they score three goals in a game. Also, San Jose has now scored three... Click to continue reading...

Maybe it's a sign that those new trades are going to pay off for San Jose in the second half of the season.
The LA area shook hard with a 5.8 quake just a few minutes ago. Some stuff I own fell off the desk I'm using (including the poor camera - it's cursed), but otherwise, it was a normal bake and shake day in LA. Click to continue reading...

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/soccerinsider/2008/07/alvarez_to_san_jose.html YESYESYESYESYES WINWINWINWINWE WEEEEEEEEEEEEEE Needless to say, I approve. Click to continue reading...

Limited schedule ion Major League Soccer this weekend with the bog shock occurring on Dallas where FC Dallas hammered Beckham and the Galaxy 4-0 in front of a sell-out crowd. FC Dallas 4, LA Galaxy 0 After going winless in MLS play since mid-June, FC Dallas finally decided enough was enough. Kenny Cooper scored twice in the [. Click to continue reading...

This weekend was a weekend of ties in Major League Soccer with the four games all ending up deadlocked. New York 2 LA Galaxy 2 David Beckham and the Los Angeles Galaxy needed a goal in extra time to tie the New York Red Bulls 2-2 on Saturday night before 46,754 fans, the largest crowd for a [...] Click to continue reading...

San Jose, a proud and storied franchise;the proud owners of two MLS Cup trophies have not had the same fortune this year as they have had in the past.  San Jose's prospects for the season weren't great but not many expected it to be as bad as it is.  San Jose has mustered a lowly [...] Click to continue reading...

My SI.com editor Jonah Freedman was out at the Oakland A's-LA Angels game on Saturday and brought back with him a somewhat positive snapshot of the San Jose Earthquakes' presence in the Bay Area.

Even though they're the worst team in MLS (though the Red Bulls are giving them a run for their money), they are still beloved in NoCal. Click to continue reading...

I'm watching the San Jose-Colorado match and I saw two things that I you don't see every day:

- San Jose scored a goal
- Frank Yallop got sent off

First, the goal. Ryan Johnson smashed a diving header past Bouna Coundoul with about 30 minutes left in the game. Unfortunately for the 'Quakes, Conor Casey equalized about five minutes after. Click to continue reading...

Saturday's theme was late goals.  Columbus scored in the 87th to tie the game and Chivas scored in the 88th to win the game.  First we venture to Columbus where one Eastern Conference power meets a former power turned struggler. Next we go to Los Angeles to see Chivas vs. San Jose.  An interstate rivalry re-ignites this season [. Click to continue reading...

Andrea is on her way to Oakland for tonight's Galaxy-San Jose match. I talked to her briefly in the morning but haven't had the chance to call her and see how her day is going. It was kind of a last-minute thing but it worked out and she's probably close there by now.

Let's all wish her luck and hope she gets there okay. Click to continue reading...

Jovan Kirovski spent several years playing in Europe and has worn the US national team shirt before. Perhaps it's those sorts of accomplishments that frustrates fans so much. He can show flashes of brilliance but more often than not he leaves fans scratching their heads.

Galaxy fans were glad to see him go and now Rapids fans are likely as glad to have him off their team. Click to continue reading...

Just when San Jose threatens to fall into the abyss that nearly everyone pegged them for, the 'Quakes pull out a nice victory. Thursday's 2-1 win over Houston was not only a solid 90-minute effort, it kept the 'Quakes from completely dropping off the Western Conference picture.

Every western side has played eight games with the exception of Houston (nine) and five points separate first-place Colorado from last-place San Jose. Click to continue reading...

Here are the scores of the debut games for every MLS expansion team:

3/15/98: Miami Fusion 0, DC United 2

3/21/98: Chicago Fire 2, Miami Fusion 0

4/2/05: Chivas USA 0, DC United 2

4/2/05:  MetroStars 0, Real Salt Lake 0

4/7/07:  Chivas USA 2, Toronto FC 0

4/3/08:  Los Angeles Galaxy 2, San Jose Earthquakes 0

Yeah, so I think the odds of Seattle and Philadelphia losing their debut games by a score of 2-0 are pretty good.

Click to continue reading...

I asked Elliot after the match if he really thought the LA/SJ game compared well with South America - on the field as well as in the stands. He said yes, that he traveled to Argentina a lot and had seen several matches there. When he'd been to see the Quakes years ago, there was a big gap in terms of quality of play and the atmosphere. Click to continue reading...

Hi to all the fans who don't hate us. . .

I had planned to blog about Chicago and New England, but the parking situation here at the Home Depot Center was such a mess - it took me forever to get inside, so I missed the goals. I figure there's little point now. Once inside the stadium, I realized I left my binoculars in the car (essential for zeroing in on what swear words the players use), so I went back out to the parking lot. Click to continue reading...

My SI.com editor Jonah Freedman ranks the Galaxy-Earthquakes rivalry as the best in MLS.

There are some pretty good quotes in there from Alexi Lalas and Joe Cannon as Jonah breaks down the series piece by piece, from history to fans to financial support, etc. Good stuff. Click to continue reading...

Frank Yallop will be back at HDC tonight but will be on the visitor's sideline with the San Jose Earthquakes. He's not one to talk about the past, though, so getting something more substantial than "I just put it down as experience" can be challenging.

Anyway, Grahame Jones of the LA Times writes about Yallop's new team. Click to continue reading...