CONCACAF Champions League Prelim: Alianza FC vs. FC Dallas

So I was really looking forward to sitting down and taking in this match tonight. I'm really curious to see if any MLS clubs can travel the road Real Salt Lake traveled in the CONCACAF Champions League last year. The team I'm probably pulling for the most is FC Dallas.

The Hoops had a tough task ahead of them tonight against Alianza FC in San Salvador. Alianza is the champion of the last clausura in El Salvador, and like Dallas, is in the CCL for the first time. Could Dallas overcome the travel, the wet conditions, and the hostile crowd to get a result?

Yes.

The first ten minutes of the match were all Alianza though. They had a ton of possession and really forced Kevin Hartman into some big saves. At that point, I tweeted that the match looked a little bigger than FC Dallas, but I hoped they'd settle in, which they did.

They absorbed all the punches from Alianza, and had an answer for everything that came their way. Great job really. More often than not, the answer was Kevin Hartman. However he almost gave it away in the 36th minute when Rivas intercepted a poor clearance from goal and lofted in a shot from 40 yards as Hartman stood off his line. Luckily for the Hoops, it bounced wide and we went to the half at 0-0.

Dallas was clearly the better team in the second half, largely thanks to their fitness level. They engineered several nice attacks, but none paid off until the 70th minute when Jackson slotted home past the keeper to give Dallas the 0-1 advantage. Alianza threw a flurry of attacks up in the last 10-15 minutes, but couldn't muster more than a long range effort, and Dallas took the 0-1 win, and an all important away goal home to Pizza Hut Park.

Nice job to the Hoops.

Bob Bradley Out as Coach of USMNT.

Hark the herald angels sing! Lord Voldemort is no longer in charge of the US National Team. US Soccer confirmed this move this afternoon.

Now, I'm not an expert by any stretch, but my only problem is that it came too late. The Men's team were chronic underachievers under Bob, now they're getting older and facing a Mexican side that is full of young talent. There are a lot of soccer opinions on the internet, and we all know that opinions are like that one particularly stinky body part. Everybody has one.

Here's what I think I can say with relative certainty. Most people inside US Soccer and the USA supporters weren't happy with the results, particularly the Gold Cup this year. Coaches don't score goals or defend, but they do, at the national level, pick the guys who do. For the most part, the guys picked in the last 5 years weren't getting it done. A new direction was needed. I'm not saying Bradley was a bad coach. I don't think he is. I'm also not saying that the next coach will be any better. However, they had to do something different.

There's been a lot of El Tri supporters crashing threads about this saying Mexico is number one. This is truth for CONCACAF. Being Number 1 in CONCACAF is like being the least ugly girl in the whore house. You're still not a princess. Mexico is a great team with a bright future, but beating an old USA squad and the rest of CONCACAF doesn't make you number one. Call me when you beat Brazil, Argentina, Germany, Spain, Italy, France, and England on a regular basis.

Probably shouldn't count Uruguay out either.

Aguero in with City? May Appear This Weekend.

A lot of the transfer buzz this week concerned Argentinian striker Sergio Aguero. The last few days, Aguero has been in Manchester taking medicals and working out the final details of joining City.

While there still seems to be a little hesitancy in saying the deal is done, Aguero himself has said that much. Also, City have left a spot open at forward for this weekend's Dublin Super Cup. This has lead some to wonder if he will make an appearance.

The squad does contain Carlos Tevez, who has said he wants out of Manchester. One of the teams linked as a possible new home for Tevez is Inter Milan, who will also be participating in the tourney this weekend.

Excellent Goal.com article on the MLS Summer Friendly Schedule

Please check out this article via Goal.com.

These MLS summer friendlies are totally meaningless, and Vertelney even does away with the argument that they're huge money makers. We need to get out of this. Manchester United thrashed Seattle 7-0. I don't care if 6 of the goals came against Seattle's reserves. I'd hate to see RSL get killed 7-0 no matter who is wearing the jersey. The crest, the team, the league all collectively looked horrible, plus, as the article points out, a casual fan isn't going to notice that the reserves were in.

Anyway. I've rambled enough. Check out the article.

CONCACAF Champions League Prelim: San Francisco FC vs. Seattle Sounders

Well, there's really not a ton to say about this match. CONCACAF Champions League presents several challenges, one of them being extreme travel, which the Sounders had to deal with in this one.

Still, the Sounders were the better team all night. I think anybody would have a tough time making the case that San Francisco outplayed them. However the one big defensive miscue cost Seattle dearly. Confident in their possession out of the back, San Francisco stole a lazy pass, then went into the 18, where the Sounders were whistled for a handball in the box. Roberto Brown converted the PK and put San Francisco up 1-0 at the half.

Seattle had a few nice chances in the second half, but just couldn't get the ball in the back of the net. Pat Noonan put a header off the post in the 85th minute, but in the end, this match only had four shots on goal, 3 of them went to San Francisco.

Still, Seattle isn't in too bad of a shape coming home. They'll need to convert their chances and they'll need to keep San Francisco out of the back of the net to avoid the away goals rule. It's certainly doable, but watch out for the Panama side making the match a dive fest like Arabe Unido did at Rio Tinto last season.

Match Thoughts: New York Red Bulls vs. FC Dallas

So remember that one time New York traded for Dwayne De Rosario and they were gonna set MLS on fire? Well, neither do they. Remember that other time they signed that German keeper and that was the solution to all their trouble? Well, they lost 4-1 to Colorado. Could they create better memories back home against FC Dallas?

Not really.

The first half of this match totally sucked. To be fair though, it was 100 degrees in NY at kickoff, which is tough to play in no matter who you are. You would think that might give Dallas a little advantage because they play in those conditions as much as anybody in MLS. Well, you'd be wrong. After all, they'd just come off of another scorcher on Wednesday against TFC.

Let's just fast forward to the 39th minute, when Juan Agudelo put on a shot on goal that deflected past Kevin Hartman. That was the pretty much the only notable action in a first half that went the way of Red Bulls, 1-0.

Things got more interesting in the second half, mostly because Dallas finally showed up. Dane Richards picked up a yellow card in the 50th minute, then just a minute later Marvin Chavez lifted a ball over Rost to tie the game at 1-1.

The Red Bulls tried to respond though, and all in all the second half was pretty fun to watch. Dane Richards had an excellent chance in the 54th minute, but saw his blast rattle off of the post and the match remained level at 1-1.

All that changed in the 78th minute though. Marvin Chavez was again the hero for the Hoops. He found himself all alone as the NY defense engaged in some major ball watching on a set piece. He slotted the ball past a bewildered looking Frank Rost to make it 1-2 to FC Dallas.

The situation got worse for the Red Bulls in the 80th minute when Dane Richards picked up his second yellow of the match, leading to the red card ejection. New York went down a man and Richards will also miss NY's next league match at RSL on August 6th.

Luckily the Red Bulls still had Thierry Henry. The captain had been largely silent all afternoon, but showed up big in the 85th minute. The French International took a ball from Dax McCarty on the edge of the area, juked the Dallas defense out of their boots and blasted it past Hartman for the final goal, equalizing at 2-2.

Dallas will probably be more than happy with the point, coupled with the 3 against TFC. NY is obviously still struggling though. Someone besides Henry has to step up on that team, and I'm not sure who it's going to be. They were hampered by some pretty rough defense again in this one.

Match Thoughts: Sporting Kansas City vs. Toronto FC

So last week the Reds debuted most of their new players: Torsten Frings, Danny Koevermans, Andy Iro, and Ryan Johnson to name a few. Unfortunately, the result wasn't any different as they fell at home to Brek Shea and FC Dallas. This weekend, they hit the road against Sporting KC, who has yet to lose at Livestrong Park. Could TFC improve?

Actually it looked like they were improving for awhile, especially on the offensive end. The delivery into Koevermans was markedly better than it was against Dallas. Koevermans got a great shot off at point blank range in the 3rd minute and forced Jimmy Nielsen into a great save to keep it scoreless early. Koevermans got another good shot off in the 9th minute that sailed just wide. TFC capped it off with some nice possession in the KC defensive third around the 23rd minute, but unfortunately had nothing to show for these chances.

Meanwhile, Sporting was finally getting their feet underneath them, and TFC started to make some mistakes at the back. Andy Iro doesn't really seem to be helping the situation much. Following a corner in the 28th minute, Kei Kamara hit a scissor kick volley into the back of the net to give Sporting a 1-0 lead. Great goal and a possible goal of the week. Kamara wasn't done though, just five minutes later he completed the brace by heading in a cross from Roger Espinoza to make it 2-0.

Toronto was reeling. They hadn't even really had the ball much since the 23rd minute, and Kamara had made them pay for some less than solid defense and marking. Omar Bravo added to their misery in the 37th minute by taking a through ball around Stefan Frei and putting in the net to give Sporting the 3-0 advantage at half time.

So the question became this: Would TFC fight back in the second half, or would they do what they usually do and whimper out in a blowout loss?

Fortunately for any neutral watching the match, Aron Winter mustered some energy in his troops at half time. Ryan Johnson came right out in the first minute, stole the ball and put a shot on target, forcing Nielsen into action again. Then, in the 50th minute, Koevermans got his first MLS goal as he headed a ball down and past Nielsen to make it 3-1 and give TFC some life. The next goal was going to be very important.

Well, the next goal came for Sporting KC, who were bound and determined to keep their good form going heading into the meat of the second half of the season. In the 64th minute Omar Bravo picked up his brace by knocking in a low centering pass from Chance Myers to make it 4-1 to Sporting.

Give Toronto some credit though, as they kept up the fight even after going down by three again. Ryan Johnson picked up his first goal for the club in the 72nd minute after taking the ball off of a KC defender and slotting it past Nielsen to make it 4-2. Toronto kept up the pressure somewhat through the last 15 minutes or so, but couldn't generate another goal and we finished at 4-2.

For KC, another 3 points sees them continuing to climb the ladder in the East. For TFC, they looked better offensively for sure, but the defense is going to have to get better to give Frei some protection in goal. I just don't think Iro is the answer here. We'll see I guess.

Match Thoughts: Real Salt Lake vs. San Jose Earthquakes

I'm probably going to get called a bit of a homer for this one, so be it.

First off, great night for soccer at Rio Tinto Stadium last night. Game time temp was 88 degrees with a bit of a breeze. It really could have been a lot hotter. RSL came in relatively healthy for the first time in awhile. We're still missing Paulo Jr, Arnoux, and Javi. Paulo and Arnoux should hopefully be ready in a couple of weeks.

San Jose came in depleted though. Dawkins was out with an injury picked up against Vancouver on Wednesday, Lenhart was out on personal leave. Sealy started up front with Wondo. Neither of them were effective.

The first half was pretty much boring, crappy soccer. San Jose came out with some energy in the first 10 minutes, but never really troubled Nick Rimando. After that, they pretty much shutdown offensively for the rest of the match. That irked me, I had really been looking forward to seeing Wondo make some noise. RSL grabbed a couple of late chances, including a Beckerman shot just over the bar and a shot from Fabian Espindola that Busch made a great play on, but the first half ended at 0-0.

RSL came out well in the second half, and it was clear that the Quakes were just playing for a draw, and not doing a very good job. Borchers headed in a goal off of a corner that was ruled offside. We didn't like it in the stadium, but the replay showed it was the correct call. Then all hell broke loose.

Sabo took the ball into the area and got caught between Ring and Burling, and he went down with little contact. Burling was sent off and Sabo got a PK. Goal.com is going bonkers about this dive. Did Sabo dive? Yeah probably. Was it the wrong call? Yeah, probably. Does MLS officiating still suck? Yeah. You know what, RSL has been screwed over so much at home by short bus refs, I'm not going to cry over it. Sue me. Sabo hit the back of the net, scoreboard.

RSL added more goals from Sabo, Beckerman, and Olave to make the FT score 4-0. Jon Busch flipped off the ref and cursed him out, then went after Coah Kries after the match. Of course, like a little girl, he didn't stick around to let Jason respond.

All in all, we'll take the three points.

Match Thoughts: San Jose Earthquakes vs. Vancouver Whitecaps

So in my last entry I talked about former Quake Ryan Johnson making his debut for Toronto. Later that same night in San Jose one of the players that went the other way, Jacob Peterson, made his debut for the Quakes against Vancouver. He made his presence felt throughout the match, which was one of the better matches I've seen in MLS this year. I'm so glad I didn't watch the crap fest that was Seattle getting destroyed by United.

Chris Wondolowski got the match started off right in the 3rd minute. I feel bad for any fans who stopped on the way to their seats to get a soda or use the bathroom. Simon Dawkins put a long range chip into the 18 that Wondo deftly got on the end of and slotted past former San Jose keeper Joe Cannon to make it 1-0. Pretty good start, and the Quakes kept up the pressure for the first 10 minutes or so, but weren't sble to put any distance between themselves and the Caps.

A little later, Simon Dawkins went out with what is rumored to be a hamstring strain. The Whitecaps took advantage of the lull for San Jose and slipped a ball into the box for Eric Hassli, who absolutely drilled the ball past John Busch to tie the game at 1-1. Busch actually got a hand to the shot, but it would have severed his hand before being knocked off target. We went to the half tied at 1-1.

Wondo put the Quakes back in front in the second half. Peterson set himself up over a corner and put a rather routine looking ball into the area. Brovsky slipped for the Caps, which allowed Wondo to get free. He rose and headed the ball into the net to make it 2-1 Quakes in the 54th minute.

However, the lead only lasted about 7 minutes. In the 61st, Shea Salinas blew by the San Jose line and centered a low pass. Busch came to play it but missed. The pass found an unmarked Hassli, who tapped it into the empty net to equalize at 2-2. Both teams had chances late, and both keepers were called into action, but the match ended at 2-2.

One must think the Whitecaps will be happier with the point, but they've got to get their defense put together. Jarju was unimpressive. For the Quakes, another chance for 3 points at home slips away, which could come back to bite them come playoff time.

Match Thoughts: Toronto FC vs. FC Dallas

So last night Toronto FC debuted most of their new signings and trades from the last few weeks, including two designated players: Danny Koevermans and Torsten Frings. Also debuting were Ryan Johnson and Andy Iro, acquired from San Jose and Columbus, respectively. Would the result against FC Dallas be different from the usual Toronto FC result?

Well, it looked for awhile like things were going in a pretty positive direction for the Reds. They stood toe to toe with the Hoops through the whole first half, even forcing Kevin Hartman into a couple of saves, though nothing that really worried the Dallas keeper too much.

While Frings looked solid on set pieces for TFC, soon another problem area emerged. That problem being delivery in the run of play. Koevermans and Johnson were both trying to make runs into the 18 from time to time, but TFC could not get an effective delivery into the area to save their lives. It was really poor. One got the sense that FC Dallas was just biding their time, and the half ended at 0-0.

As the second half got under way, Dallas got tired of waiting. More specifically, Brek Shea got tired of waiting. I'm not an FC Dallas fan at all but Shea has been a beast the first half of the season. To deny how well he's been playing would just be dumb. Are you listening Bob Bradley? In the 48th minute, Shea picked a ball off near midfield and brought it up all by himself just to the edge of the 18, where he fired an absolute BLAST by Stefan Frei. Dallas had the 0-1 lead and Shea has a goal of the week candidate.

Just 4 minutes later, Toronto thought they had equalized when Plata put the ball into the back of the net, but it was rightly ruled offside. Santos had another chance late from point blank range, but skied it. The match ended 0-1 to FC Dallas.

So in the end for TFC, new look, same result. One wonders what positives Aron Winter will take from this match. Sure they stayed in it to the end, but that doesn't get you points. You can have the best forwards in the world, but they're gonna have trouble if they can't get good service. Hopefully for TFC fans, this group will get better the more play together.

Match Thoughts: New England Revolution vs. Philadelphia Union

If you haven't watched this game yet, don't bother unless you're a hardcore Philly fan.

The Union just game out from the opening the whistle and smacked a hapless New England side all over the pitch. The Union did what they wanted, when they wanted. The closest thing New England could muster to offense was Benny "Flopper" Feilhaber hitting the floor every chance he got to try and earn free kicks. When that didn't work, Benny got mad and started running into people because he can't play nice. He also tried out his Karate Kid impression a couple of times, which earned him a pair of yellow cards and a seat in the locker room for most of the second half. Of course, the little Brat threw a tantrum and huffed and puffed at everybody on the way out. What a joke. Whatever the Revs are paying this Clown, it's way too much. How in the World did he not succeed in Europe? --SARCASM--

Anyhoodles, Ruiz and Valdez scored for The Union in the first half. In the second half, the Revs sucked some more, Benny got sent off, and Williams added a third for the Union. New England looked more like your local AYSO team than an MLS side. A pathetic effort, even in the words of their own announcers. 0-3 to the Union the Full Time Result.

Steve Nichols head should be exploding any day now. I've said it before, this Revs team needs to be blown up and rebuilt. Great match by the Union though.

Match Thoughts: Seattle Sounders vs. Colorado Rapids

The last time these two teams met in Denver, Brian Mullan broke Steve Zakuani's leg and Seattle eeked out a 1-0 win. Mullan's suspension is over, but the Rapids decided against bringing him to Seattle. I bet the Sounders fans were bummed, and I can't blame them in the slightest.

So, there's bad blood between these two teams, to be sure. The match really reflected that. The Rapids got a dream start though, as Wells Thompson took advantage of a poor Sounders clearance and slotted the ball past Kasey Keller to give the Rapids a 0-1 lead. It looked like the Champs had come to play.

Seattle is never out of a game though, and they responded very quickly. Uruguay man Alvaro Fernandez took a ball from Alonsoin the 7th minute and easily beat Matt Pickens to equalize the match at 1-1.

After that, the physical nature of the match took over. Crapids Captain Mastroeni picked up a yellow in the 18th, and then was extremely lucky to avoid being sent off after an altercation with Friberg a few minutes later. Conor Casey went down on his own in the 38th minute and left the match. Reports are it's an Achilles injury, which is probably really bad news for Baldy. After that, Larentowicz put in a goal far post to give the Rapids a 1-2 lead at the half.

There were more goals and more fireworks in the second half. In the 48th minute, Levesque got the Sounders off to a solid start by scoring off a cross and leveling the match at 2-2.

But wait, there's more!

The two sides battled their way through a rough and tumble second half but remained level until the 82nd minute, when Fredy Montero tipped in a goal off a Pickens rebound to give the Sounders a 3-2 lead. In the next minute Rosales took advantage of a bonehead touch from Moor and beat Pickens to make it 4-2. Caleb Folan, in for Casey, added a goal in the 89th for the Crapids, but Seattle held on to a 4-3 win.

Safe to say the team that looked more likely to win the MLS Cup this year was NOT the defending champs, who found once again that cheap play and rough tackles aren't what they used to be in MLS.

Match Thoughts: Houston Dynamo vs. Sporting Kansas City

Neither of teams are threatening the top of the Eastern Conference Standings, but this was an important match as far as the playoff chase goes. Coming into the match the Dynamo were just in front of Sporting in the standings. The Dynamo have been fairly solid at home, but Sporting was unbeaten in 10.

The first half was pretty much all Houston. It looked like the Texas heat and humidity were getting to Sporting a little a bit. It was certainly getting to their announcers, who complained about it quite a bit. In the 8th minute, Brian Ching went down under a challenge from Aurelian Collin just outside the box. Houston delivery specialist Brad Davis lined up over the free kick, and angled it in near post for his third goal of the year, giving the home side a 1-0 lead. KC did come back and force four saves out of Tally Hall before the break, but the score held 1-0 to the Dynamo at half time.

Then in the second half, things got crazy. Sporting started to compile more and more chances, and Houston seemed to get really frustrated. I'm not really sure why, but it they were playing as if they were actually losing. Only Tally Hall really seemed to have his head in the match.

The first Dynamo Red Card came in the 56th minute, when Colin Clark threw a two footed, studs up challenge on Collin, earning a trip to the locker room. The Houston crowd thought Collin dove, and proceeded to boo him every time he touched the ball. It really was the right call by the ref though. There was no hesitation at all. He got it right. Try as they might though, Sporting couldn't take advantage of the extra man.

The second Red Card reared it's head in the 70th minute when Ching just flat out kicked Collin. A dirty, horrible play of frustration. Now up two men, KC opened a full on attack on Tally Hall, who turned away everything they threw at him until the 90th minute when Collin put in a strike that was deflected into goal, equalizing 1-1. Both teams were pretty much spent, and that was the full time score.

For his part, Ching, the Dynamo captain, took responsibility for his red card. He admitted, "I owe the team two points."

Vancouver vs. Real Salt Lake Postponed

The Whitecaps were set to host RSL today at 4 PM Eastern. It didn't happen. The Whitecaps had installed a temporary grass pitch at Empire Field in advance of their friendly this week against Man City.

Well, turns out it rains a lot in the northwest. Which is why they have that crappy turf in the first place. It's been raining the last few days at Empire, and unfortunately for the fans of both RSL and the Caps that had tickets to today's match. MLS deemed the field unsafe for play due to poor drainage conditions. So the match has been postponed.

A lot of people are speculating it was postponed so they could save the pitch for the Man City match.

Now if this pitch really is unsafe for play today, it surely will still be unsafe Monday, and I'm sure Roberto Mancini won't want to let his high priced players anywhere near it. However, if the City match goes ahead, I think we'll all know why today's match was really cancelled.

This is just another lame example of MLS putting stupid, meaningless friendlies ahead of their league play, or the enrichment of their league by allowing teams to compete in the Super Liga. It's all about money. Americans (or Canadians in this case) willing to shell out the cash to see Euro Soccer stars play for 20 minutes and then to watch their local team get their asses kicked by a reserve squad. It's enough to make a fan think MLS really doesn't have a lot of confidence in their own product.

That being said, several Whitecaps supporters groups took to twitter and social media and invited RSL fans who made the trip into their bars, pubs, and restaurants to hang out and have a good time. That's really first class by them. After all, their fans got the shaft today too.

Manchester United 11/12 Away Soccer Jersey

Check out United's new Away Jersey for the 11/12 season.




Manchester United 11/12 Away Soccer Jersey - WorldSoccerShop.com

Liverpool pick up Downing and Doni

Liverpool are looking even stronger for the new EPL season after two moves were finalized this week.

First off, they landed Goal Keeper Alexander Doni from Roma. The Reds are excited about this because it will let some of their younger keepers gain experience out on loan. Plus, Pepe Reina is just coming off surgery.

Second, they finalized their move for England International Stewart Downing from Aston Villa. Downing had made it clear that he wanted out of Villa Park, and Liverpool finally hit on the right price, rumored to be about 20 million pounds.

The Reds are currently on a preseason tour of Asia.

TFC Acquires Dunfield and Johnson

Today we saw some more pretty noteworthy player movement in MLS, particularly for Toronto FC. The Reds have gone on a bit of a spree lately, trying to prove to their fans that they really are interested in making the playoffs and improve results. Last month they splurged in the DP market, adding defender Torsten Frings and striker Danny Koevermans.

Today they made even more moves. In a deal with Canadian rivals Vancouver Whitecaps, they acquired MF and Canadian International Terry Dunfield in exchange for cash and future considerations. Dunfield was considered an odd man out after the Caps signed DP Mustapha Jarju earlier this week. They had to let someone go to make way on the roster, and TFC wanted Dunfield. Dunfield has said that he's excited for the chance to participate in the CONCACAF Champions League.

In a separate move, TFC acquired Jamaican International MF/F Ryan Johnson from the San Jose Earthquakes in exchange for Alan Gordon, MF Jacob Peterson, and DF Nana Attakora. Great move for TFC I think, Gordon has been a good player, but often injured while Johnson is flat out awesome. I'm not really sure about how this fits into the Quakes plans, perhaps we'll see more in the coming days.

Possibly very good moves for TFC. We'll see if all these new players can fit into Aron Winter's system, because the players so far this year haven't been.

NY Red Bulls add German Keeper Frank Rost

MLS is reporting that the New York Red Bulls have indeed made a move to stabilize their deteriorating situation at 'keeper. They have signed former Hamburger SV man Frank Rost as their third DP. Given his DP status, he is likely to step right in and start.

Rost has 4 CAPS for the German National Team. He also has nearly 20 years experience in the Bundesliga. Rost also boasts appearances in the UEFA Champions League and the Europa League.

I think this is a pretty good move for Red Bulls, perhaps comparable to the Union bringing in Mondragon.

World Football Challenge: New England Revolution vs. Manchester United

Why am I blogging about this? Why did I watch this crapfest instead of Copa America? I mean hell, Brazil was playing.

Anyway, we ditched Super Liga this year in the name of this World Football Challenge thing, where a very few MLS fans get to shell out a bunch of money to watch mainly B-sides from major European clubs come beat up on MLS. In other words, to make money for the bigger markets.

Tonight's game was a perfect case in point. The Revs hosted ManU and got their asses kicked.

Predictable really.

The first half sucked. Reis made a nice save on Berbatov and Rooney had a nice header. No score though.

All the subs came in for the second half and the Red Devils lit up a star struck sub keeper for Revs. Owen scored, Macheda scored twice, and JS Park rounded out the scoring for United.

The Revs did pull one back off a free kick awarded for another Phantom Foul, leaving Rio Ferdinand justifiably aghast at the idiotic ref. Final score, 1-4, and I should have watched the Copa.

Match Thoughts: San Jose Earthquakes vs. Philadelphia Union

Sorry the blog has been silent for a few days. Spent most of the weekend working making sure things were kosher when the boss came back from vacation. However, I did manage to take in some MLS action over the weekend.

One of the matches I caught was San Jose vs. Philadelphia. I actually thought there would be a couple goal in this one. The Quakes were facing into the sun through much of the first half, forcing John Busch to wear a baseball cap in goal. I thought maybe the Union could take advantage, but they were without Carlos Ruiz, who has been such a dynamo for them in recent matches. However they did have some chances in the early going. In the 3rd minute, Kyle Nakazawa had a free kick from about 30 yards, but his strike went wide and didn't really test Busch's ability to deal with the sun.

That seemed to wake San Jose up a little bit though. They really upped the energy in the next few minutes. They were playing without "Sideshow Lenhart," whose antics in recent matches has earned him a suspension for yellow card accumulation. Simon Dawkins came in, and both he and Ryan Johnson made Mondragon a little uncomfortable in the first half.

The Union finishes the half with a flurry of chances, most of them from Danny Mwanga. He forced Busch into one great save, and had a ball cleared off the goal line as well, those missed chances kept the match 0-0 at the break.

The second half got off to a wild start as both teams had chances early. For Philly, Justin Mapp lined up a shot in the 18 only to find it blocked. San Jose attempted to strike shortly after, only to have Ryan Johnson draw a shot on the post.

Philly had one more great chance after that, late in the match, as again Nakazawa found himself over a free kick, only to bounce it off the woodwork. The other interesting instance in the match was Quakes' coach Frank Yallop being sent off after givign the officials an earful over a second half yellows card.

All in all it was one of the more entertaining scoreless draws you'll see. Both sides played with plenty of passion and fire. Le Toux picked up the pace in the absence of Carlos Ruiz for the Union, and looked pretty good doing it, but even he couldn't find the back of the net in this one.

Woodgate Signs On With Stoke

Former Spurs defender Jonathan Woodgate has joined Stoke City on a free transfer. He had previously been released by Tottenham.

Woodgate has had major injury issues in recent seasons, only making 49 appearances in 3+ years with Spurs. However, Stoke is confident that they can keep him healthy enough to give them a boost.

We shall see.

Liverpool Agrees to Adam Fee.

After being snubbed twice by Blackpool at the end of the January transfer window, it looks like Liverpool have finally met the asking price for Blackpool's Charlie Adam. The fee is rumored to be 9 million pounds.

Adam will travel to Anfield for a medical and to discuss personal terms. However, reportedly Adam wants to join Liverpool, so this isn't thought to be a big deal. Blackpool held on to him during their relegation battle last year, but they were demoted anyway. Hard to imagine Adam wouldn't want to be back in the Premier League with a high profile club.

FC Twente Stadium Collapse Kills 1, Injures 14

CNN is reporting this morning that the roof at FC Twente's De Grolsch Veste Stadium has collapsed during construction and killed at least 1 person. The club was working to expand seating at the venue in the town of Enschede, Netherlands.

It is thought that all those affected are construction workers. Emergency services are on hand to try and determine if anyone else is trapped in the rubble. The club is asking fans not to come to the stadium to see the damage as it might hinder emergency services.

Go to CNN for photos and more details on the story.

Match Thoughts: Real Salt Lake vs. New England Revolution

Fair warning: This post is going to be a lot less of an organized entry and more of a rant. So if you're not an RSL fan or if you don't like reading rants, you might want to skip this one, because it's probably going to get ugly.

Now I've seen some pretty horrible officiating in MLS. I'd say as far as all the leagues I get to watch go, MLS has the worst refs. I know MLS doesn't hire them and has very little control over them, that's the job of US Soccer. Still, that shouldn't give these morons an excuse to call the game like it's a U-12 match.

Case in point: This guy Reyes on Monday must have thought the fans came to see him. In the 3rd minute Benny Feilhaber raced down the field on a goal kick and looked like he had a sure goal. However, Nat Borchers thought differently. He cooly caught up with Benny, slipped his foot around, and made a genius play knocking the ball away. He got all ball. It happened about 15 feet right in front of me. However, the idiot Ref, some 15-20 yards behind the play, gave Benny a PK and gave Nat a red card. Worst call I've ever seen. PK scored, 0-1 to the Revs. A little while later, idiot Reyes gives the Revs a free kick right outside the box on a phantom foul. RSL did a horrible job defending it and Tierny found the back of the net, 0-2.

RSL came back though. Will Johnson got on the end of an RSL set piece and made it 1-2. RSL really needed to get one back before the half and that's exactly what they did.

Despite the disadvantage, RSL really was the better team all night. When they weren't diving all over the pitch to ply the idiot Reyes, they were playing desperate defense. However in the second half, the idiot Reyes screwed over the Revs. He called what looked to be a phantom handball in the box on an RSL set piece. Sabo stepped up and knocked in the PK to equalize at 2-2.

However, Flopper Benny and Idiot Reyes weren't done. A few minutes later, Benny bounced off Olave on a shoulder challenge and got the call from the idiot when he went to ground. After some more horrid set piece defense from RSL, Sharlie Joseph knocked in the ball off the Flopper Benny free kick, 2-3 to the Revs.

RSL got the last laugh though. Ryan Cochrane brought down Andy Williams and earned his second yellow card of the night and a trip to the locker room. A few minutes later, Sabo fed Fabian Espindola a gorgeous ball that got him 1 v 1 with Reis. Fabian slotted home a goal of the week candidate and equalized at 3-3. Reis barely managed to keep Andy Williams out in stoppage time and the match finished with the 3-3 score.

MLS and US Soccer need to try and fix things. This clown Reyes should not be allowed anywhere near an MLS match again, and I'm sure both RSL and the Revs would agree. Great fight by RSL to come back, gotta clean up that set piece defense though.

Copa America: Mexico vs. Chile

Ok, so I have to admit right off the bat that I didn't pay a lot of attention to this match when I watched it. Mexico is fielding a young team as a guest in the tournament, and since they got 8 players kicked off the team earlier, well I didn't expect much. That being said, the young guys didn't do a bad job.

As expected though, Chile dominated for much of the match. I think they're a bit of an underrated side. Let's not forget that they made the second round of the last World Cup.

However, Mexico managed to snatch an unlikely lead in the first half. Nestor Araujo put in a header in the 41st minute that gave El Tri the lead going into the half at 1-0.

It really didn't seem to deter Chile though. They came out for the second half in the same dominant fashion. They too care of business, notching two second half goals on corners, one from Paredes in the 67th and one from Vidal in the 73rd. That was all they needed to seal the deal, 1-2.

Of all the teams' first games, Chile was the best in my opinion. We'll have to see if they stay on the route, but if they do, they could go deep into the tournament. Nicely done.

Copa America: Uruguay vs. Peru

Ok, so Uruguay is my pick to win the Copa America. After Argentina and Brazil looked ordinary, to say the least, out of the gate, I really thought I had made a good pick. Let's see how they did against Peru.

Peru came into the match without their starting forwards, who were both out injured. So it wasn't exactly a surprise that they looked for their best chances on the counter attack. Honestly though, they more than held their own with Uruguay. In fact, their goal came on a counter type opportunity in the 24th minute. Guerrero took a long ball from the MF that cut the Uruguay defense in half, then slid it around the keeper to make it 0-1 and stun much of the crowd. Great pass and great goal.

Uruguay wasn't going to go gently though, especially when they have Liverpool sensation Luis Suarez and South Africa hero Diego Forlan. Now it's safe to say that Forlan's star may have faded a bit in the last 12 months, as his club season in Spain turned out to be pretty dull, but we all know what he's capable of. He had two great shots in the first half that forced the Peru keeper into some pretty saves. However it was Suarez who managed to slot home the equalizer from the 6 in first half stoppage time. 1-1 was the score at the break.

Despite the fact that both teams had some decent looks in the second half niether of them could muster the all important winning goal. Forlan in particular had one great chance that he put over the crossbar, but in the end the match finished at 1-1. Peru has to feel great about the result. For Uruguay, they certainly didn't play poorly, and if they can come out just a little better in the next couple of matches they're going to be just fine.

City Asking for 50 Million Pounds for Tevez

Just like last Christmas, then again in the spring, it looks like Tevez really wants out of Manchester. While at the Copa America he released a statement saying he wished to leave City and play where he can spend more time with his children.

This time Man City have set a price. They're asking for 50 million pounds (about 80 million dollars) for the services of the Argentina striker. Looks like he really might go this time. Stay tuned.

Beckerman, Rimando make MLS's Best American XI

A couple of RSL guys got some more just recognition today from mlssoccer.com. MLS has selected a Best XI of American Players in MLS in honor of the 4th of July Holiday. RSL's Nick Rimando was named best keeper, and Kyle Beckerman was named to the Best XI midfield.

As of this posting, Nat Borchers was leading the poll for the most deserving player that got left out. I still don't see how Tim Ream is better than Nat Borchers, but ok.

Congrats to Nick and Kyle.

Clichy moves to City

FIFA.com is reporting this morning that Gael Clichy took a medical at Man City this morning, and has completed a move north from Arsenal. Apparently Arsenal wanted to keep the full back, but he had said he would not sign a new contract after this season, so the Gunners decided they would cash in.

Rumors suggest that City will be paying 7 million pounds for the Frenchman.

Copa America: Paraguay vs. Ecuador

Ok, I didn't really expect much out of this one, so I wasn't really disappointed. I watched Paraguay in the World Cup last year, and they just didn't end up being a team I really cared for. Then they beat the USA, which made me laugh.

Anyway, Paraguay had most of the moments in this one. They had most of the possession and almost all of the chances. The Ecuadorians tried to carve out a chance or two on the counter, but nothing was really going on.

Paraguay had what was probably the best chance in the second half. Marcelo Estigarribia hit a shot that just barely drifted across the Ecuador goal mouth, much to the relief of their keeper. That was really the margin between 1 point and three.

So the smaller fish have stepped up: Bolivia, Venezuela, and Ecuador. That's all well and good, but hopefully the soccer will improve, which will probably happen when the big fish come to play. Until then, well, it's anybody's Copa!

Copa America: Brazil vs. Venezuela

Now I've watched a lot of soccer this weekend, but when I went to pull up Brazil on the DVR, I expected to be more entertained than I was watching the USL game of the week. I was mistaken.

I mean, hey, come on, it's BRAZIL! They've come to define "The Beautiful Game." Well, much like their archrivals Argentina, they fell flat on their face to an obviously inferior opponent. Not even a goal in sight in this match.

Lets give credit to Venezuela though. They did what they needed to do to get a result. What they did was load up the midfield. Now, you'd still think a team like Brazil could handle this. You'd be wrong though. I think it was mostly because they played more like an All Star team than a cohesive team. It was like a lot of folks stood around to see what Neymar, Pato, and Robinho were gonna do. They had a really hard time organizing a cohesive attack against the Venezuela squad.

They tried though. Pato had a shot saved in the 32nd, and Brazil tried to claim a penalty in the 39th. Neymar had a shot go off target in the 44th, but that was about it.

The match finished 0-0 as none of Brazil's football wizards could pull a game winner out of their hat. Can we please get some goals in the Copa please?

Copa America: Colombia vs. Costa Rica

So, Colombia is playing a full national side, they should have no trouble against a youth squad from Costa Rica, right? Well, not so much.

Colombia came out of the gate and....kicked the ball around. When the Ticos got the ball, they too kicked the ball around. There's not much to really be said about this one in all honesty.

Costa Rica definitely showed a lack of discipline as you might expect from a youth side, but Colombia had a hard time fashioning chances against them. Then, in the 28th minute, Costa Rican Randall Brenes was sent off on a straight red. Surely the Colombians could take advantage now! Or not. Finally, right before half time, Adrian Ramos scored the match's loan goal for Colombia.

Costa Rica never really threatened, but again, you'd expect a senior side to dismantle a CONCACAF youth side that's down to ten men, but it didn't happen. One of Colombia's major names is forward Falcao Garcia, but he didn't do much except for striking the cross bar once in the second half. Still, at least Colombia got the win and the three points, which puts them in a better spot than anybody else. The Copa has to get better, right?

Match Blurb: FC Dallas vs. Columbus Crew

I'm not really sure what to say about this one. I don't necessarily enjoy watching Columbus or Dallas. Actually, I don't mind watching Dallas so much, but their announcers are some of the biggest homers in MLS. Yes, FC Dallas is having a great season, especially considering their injuries, but to listen to these guys, Brek Shea is the next Pele and the All Star first XI should just be Dallas's first XI. I really got tired of hearing "Oh yeah, this guy should be an All Star."

As for the match, it was alright. Columbus decided they were gonna try to park the bus to a certain extent, and it caused a lot of frustration. It was a very physical match, with 6 yellows in total. Andy Iro picked up two yellows for the Crew and was sent off on the Red Card train.

The first half of the grudge match ended up 0-0, but the second half was the FC Dallas show, the Brek Shea show more specifically. Shea opened fire on Hesmer with regularity, and in the 58th minute, Hesmer spilled a rebound right in front of Shea, who tipped it in to give Dallas a 1-0 lead. It was his 8th of the season, tying him for the league lead. Jackson added a great goal in the 76th minute to provide the final margin of victory at 2-0.

Another great game for Dallas, another underwhelming performance from the Crew, who might find themselves going backward in the Eastern conference table, depending on if Houston can get their act together.

Match Thoughts: DC United vs. Philadelphia Union

Ah yes, the 1-95 rivalry. Earlier this week, I saw some members of the Sons of Ben calling out Charlie Davies on his twitter account. It was gonna be a really interesting match.

It was indeed an interesting match, and really entertaining too. Both teams played it rather wide open, with plenty of chances between the two. Keepers from both clubs made fantastic saves. Hamid in particular had his hands fall. Danny Mwanga had a great shot on target that pretty much everybody thought was going in, but Hamid made a wonderfully athletic save, stretched, and kept it out. Le Toux also looked a little more dangerous today. In the 26th minute, he put a shot just wide.

Adding Dwayne De Rosario to the line up at DC seemed to pay immediate benefits as well. He looked more comfortable than he ever did in NY, and much more active. Right before the half, the Canadian International drew the Philly defense to the side of the box then passed the ball to Josh Wolff, who slotted the goal to give DC a 1-0 lead going into the half.

Unfortunately for the Union, their defense continued to plague them. Just four minutes into the second half, Perry Kitchen tried to make a play on a chip from Paunovic, but knocked it in the back of the net for an own goal and tied the game at 1-1.

After that things really started to heat up. It got pretty intense DC seemed to take the lead for good in the 58th minute when Andy Najar blasted in a shot from long range that's got to be a candidate for goal of the week. The strike put DC up 2-1.

However, once again, the Eagles couldn't hold the fort defensively, and the Union took advantage in the 84th minute. Le Toux and Sheanon Williams combined to get the ball to Carlos Ruiz, who has been on fire since the Gold Cup. Ruiz redirected the ball into the back of the net to equalize the match at 2-2, which was the full time result.

It really was a fun match to watch, and DC probably felt a little hard done by not to get the three points. DeRo clearly made the team better on offense, and the addition of McDonald helped on defense, but lets face it, they're really going to need to step it up on the defensive end and cut out the mistakes if they really want to make a playoff run.

Copa America: Argentina vs. Bolivia

So yes, we had the Gold Cup. Well I'm sorry CONCACAF fans, but the Gold Cup is the red headed step child to the Copa America. The Gold Cup was the appetizer, but the Copa is the main course for international soccer this summer. After the Copa, everyone will pretty much head back to Europe to get ready for the new club season starting in August.

Argentina is hosting this years event, and conventional wisdom was that they would pound Bolivia into submission in this opening fixture of group A. Well, sometimes conventional wisdom sucks. That's why they actually play the match.

Seemed like both teams had some issues getting their legs underneath them in the first half. The temp at game time was just above freezing. Messi looked cold, tucking his hands up inside the long sleeves of his jersey. Argentina controlled the possession, but you could see that Bolivia's game plan was to get underneath the skin of their hosts, and they accomplished that very well. The yellow cards flew, and even Messi got in on the chippyness.

Unfortunately, despite all their possession, Argentina couldn't capitalize by getting chances. They came close when the Bolivian keeper fumbled a shot, leaving a rebound for Cambiasso, but in the end he couldn't find the target either. The half ended more like a grudge match, 0-0.

Argentina knew they needed to come out with something different in the 2nd half. They subbed in DiMaria for Cambiasso. However, before the Real Madrid man could make his mark on the match, Bolivia scored off an own goal following the corner kick, with an Argentina defender stomping the ball in the near post corner, 0-1 to the visitors.

One would think that might wake Argentina up, but not yet. Bolivia had another good chance later, but they couldn't beat the Argentina keeper 1 on 1, and the match stayed at 0-1. Finally Argentina clawed back. Messi hit a free kick that Aguero managed to get on the end of and smack home to equalize at 1-1. However, they never mustered a huge threat again and the match finished at a draw.

Certainly Bolivia will take the draw. They were totally gassed by the end of the match. It was a big disappointment for Argentina though, they did not look good. Even Messi only had a couple of moments. They're going to need to tighten up the defense and finish in the final third, or they're not gonna have a prayer. Let's see what they can do before the next match.

FC Dallas' Avila Might Go Out On Loan

Breaking MLS News from the FC Dallas camp this afternoon. MF Eric Avila has traveled to Mexico to explore a possible 6 month loan deal with Mexican side CF Atlas Guadalajara.

Avila has one goal and two assists for the Hoops this season, and has expressed interest in a loan deal to Mexico. Atlas has won the Primera Division once and played in the Copa Libertadores twice.

Check out FCDallas.com for more info and further updates.

Special Comment: Revs Have Trouble at "The Fort."

So right now the New England Revolution are having some issues with their supporters groups that collectively sit in the section known as "The Fort." At issue, according to the club anyway, is the chant of three words that they use to taunt opposing 'keepers. This came to a head against the Fire. Several fans sitting outside The Fort complained to security about the most vulgar word of the three, and this lead to confrontations between the supporters and Revs Security/Local Police. One supporter was arrested and one put in protective custody.

Wednesday night, the team held a meeting with the supporters group for two hours to address the issue, and it seems like it might have done more harm than good. The team wants the chant either stopped or altered to remove the vulgarity. The supporters object to the way they've been treated by the Revs front office, what they perceive as an overreaction by security and police, and the club's misunderstanding of supporter culture.

I'm going to comment on this some because my friend Rick and I witnessed a similar incident at Real Salt Lake's US Open Cup match on Tuesday. When RSL started to attack the North goal in the second half, where our season tickets are, one of our Supporters Groups, Salt City United, switched sides to harass the Wilimington 'keeper. This was just fine with us. I'm generally of the opinion that most fans in our section are too prudish anyway. Well, they had a chant that featured the word "feck." That sounded a bit too much like the F word for some people in adjacent sections, and they complained to Rio Tinto security. The situation was handled very professionally. Security spoke to one of the heads of Salt City, the supporters talked it over, apologized to the folks around them and returned to their previous section where they could continue their chants without offending anyone. Rick and I, along with several more vocal supporters that regularly sit in our section shook hands with them and they invited us to come sit with them anytime.

Obviously this worked because Salt City was more mindful and less in your face about the situation than patrons of the fort seem to have been. This is a tough issue for people like myself, who enjoy the supporters groups and would love to see them grow in a fashion similar to European groups. It's just a fact that people here in America tend to be of a more conservative nature and are more easily offended. Yes, we do have free speech, but the law allows people to regulate things like vulgarity on private property. That being said, I think the league and teams need to work closer with the supporters groups to outline what's acceptable and what's not, and to give the supporters some ground too. Let them do what they want in their sections and post disclaimers for other fans sitting in or around those sections that the behavior does occur, and to ask to be seated elsewhere if they find it offensive. Most MLS matches are not sellouts.

While I think supporters groups need to be mindful of things like vulgarity, I think that too often the clubs come down on the side of the casual fans, the folks who come to one or two matches a year, versus the supporters, who are there week in and week out. They also drop a ton of money on things like season tickets, food, and swag. I think they should be given some leeway too.

The ultimate goal is to have a match that everybody can enjoy, including the supporters sections.

Sporting KC To Lose Captain For Four to Six Weeks

MajorLeagueSoccer.com reported Thursday that Sporting KC has been a dealt another large blow on the injury front. Captain Davy Arnaud will miss the next 4-6 weeks. He'll be having sports hernia surgery Wednesday in LA.

Arnaud played as a sub in Sporting's US Open Cup match earlier this week but the pain seems to be finally getting the better of him. He's been dealing with the injury since preseason.

Sporting has recently gotten Omar Bravo back from the same injury. Arnaud had started 14 of 15 matches for Sporting this season.