*For a similar view from a Salt Lake City perspective click here.
*MLS has started a blog focused (for now) on MLS Cup here.
Tuesday’s Column: A Weird End to a Weird Season
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Monthly Archives: November 2009
Men’s NCAA Tournament Games Announced
Loyola Marymount’s fate from the West Coast Conference press release:
Loyola Marymount, which was ranked No. 15 in the most recently published NCAA Ratings Percentage Index, will be returning to the NCAA Tournament for the fifth time in school history. The Lions finished third in the WCC with a 10-8-2 overall record, marking Head Coach Paul Krumpe’s fifth 10-plus victory season. The Lions will host Sacramento State (11-5-3) on Thursday, the official start date of first round play. The match start time is still to be determined. The winner of that match will move on to face No. 6 seed UCLA (10-3-4) at Drake Stadium on Sunday, November 22 at 5 PM.
Sacramento State is making its first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance.
Said UCLA Coach Jorge Salcedo:
“We’re excited to be a Top 8 seed in this year’s tournament. Regardless of your seed or where you end the season, it’s the beginning of a new season, and whichever team we play will be a very tough, challenging match. Both LMU and Sac State had good conference seasons. LMU has proven to be able to go on the road and win big games, and Sac State winning the MPSF conference has proven their quality as well.”
The Bruins, winners of back-to-back Pac-10 titles, extended their streak of NCAA Tournament appearances to 27 years.
Tickets to the Nov. 22 game are $9 adults and $7 students/youth.
MLS Commish Don Garber Speaks
Garber gave an earlier and less formal state of the league address than he has in years past in a teleconference with reporters today.
Garber announced the MLS Best XI during the call, which includes one player apiece from the Galaxy and Chivas USA:
goalkeeper – Zach Thornton
defenders – Chad Marshall, Wilman Conde, Geoff Cameron
midfielders – Dwayne DeRosario, Landon Donovan, Stuart Holden, Shalrie Joseph, Freddie Ljungberg
forwards – Conor Casey, Jeff Cunningham
Other major talking points included:
*A reiteration MLS is looking to become a 20-team league. There will be 18 teams when Philadelphia (which is nearing the 8,500 season ticket mark) joins next season and Portland and Vancouver the year after that. MLS has had “productive discussions” about team No. 19 going to Montreal, but no real movement on the 20th franchise.
*That MLS is evaluating its playoff format and is considering following the lead of WPS and allowing the regular season winner to host the final:
“There’s support here in the league to strongly consider moving MLS Cup away from a designated site and into a market where the team that earns the right (to host the game) does so,” Garber said. “We think it’s a good idea, but we’re still working through the details to see if we can pull it off.”‘
Monday Morning Buzz: More MLS Cup Tickets on Sale & More
Briefly:
*The initial 36,000 tickets for MLS Cup Sunday in Seattle sold out, so another 6,000 tickets have been put on sale. Details here.
*As unlikely as the Galaxy’s run to MLS Cup was, Real Salt Lake’s performance was even less expected. Reaction here.
*U.S. Coach Bob Bradley called in the Houston Dynamo midfield duo of Ricardo Clark and Stuart Holden and Tigres defender Edgar Castillo for Wednesday’s game against Demark. Steve Cherundolo, Clint Dempsey and Chad Marshall were released. Jos Francisco Torres, who was initially called into camp for the game, has been excused for personal reasons.
* College roundup. In addition, the Loyola Marymount men (10-8-2, 5-5-2 WCC) beat Saint Mary’s 2-0 Sunday. An at-large spot in the NCAA tournament is possible for the Lions who finished third in the conference. The draw is set for 5:30 p.m. today on ESPNews.
Updated noon:
Former Chivas USA Coach Preki is in talks with Toronto.
Sunday Soccer: And the Galaxy’s MLS Cup Opponent is…
Former Galaxy player and goal hero Ned Grabavoy, left, and Real Salt Lake, which beat the Chicago Fire on penalty kicks to become Eastern Conference champions (let’s get rid of these silly conferences based on irrelevant geography, MLS) will face the Galaxy Sunday in Seattle.
Grabavoy scored the winning goal just before the picture was taken above, although former Galaxy striker Robbie Findley almost scored in the dying moments of regulation time only to be denied by Palos Verdes Peninsula product John Thorrington.
Wonder how relevant the two games these clubs have played this season already will be next Sunday?
A Landon Donovan-less Galaxy were abysmal in a 2-0 home loss to Real Salt Lake in June, while a 2-2 draw to RSL the previous month in Sandy, Utah wasn’t much better.
Convinced next Sunday’s game will have a better outcome?
Then you might want to click here.
In other Saturday soccer news:
* The UCLA men tied San Diego State 1-1 in their regular season finale with Palos Verdes Estates’ Kyle Nakazawa getting the equalizer.
*And we have three newcomers to the party in South Africa next year.
Saturday Soccer: U.S. Lose in Slovakia & More
Dont forget: We’ll find out who the Galaxy play next Sunday at MLS Cup in Seattle – Real Salt Lake or Chicago Fire – at 5 p.m. on Fox Soccer Channel.
(AP Photo)
A below-strength U.S. team lost 1-0 to Slovakia today in Bratislava, Chivas USA’s Jonathan Bornstein being called for what was a very harsh penalty decision in the 26th minute (I think this is the moment, above, he ‘brought down” Vladimir Weiss). That was Slovakia’s only first half shot.
Not a thriller by any means. And no U.S. player really caught the eye, including Eddie Johnson who came out of the international wilderness on as a sub.
Rolling Hills Estates’ Robbie Rogers went the full 90 U.S.; Chivas USA midfielder Sacha Kljestan came on in the 82nd minute to make his first appearance since the Confederations Cup.
U.S. lineup: 18-Brad Guzan; 6-Steve Cherundolo, 2-Jonathan Spector, 3-Carlos Bocanegra (capt.) (25-Clarence Goodson, 72), 12-Jonathan Bornstein; 19-Robbie Rogers (16-Sacha Kljestan, 82), 5-Benny Feilhaber, 4-Michael Bradley, 8-Clint Dempsey (28-Dax McCarty, 72); 17-Jozy Altidore (32-Jeff Cunningham, 82), 9-Conor Casey (36-Eddie Johnson, 46)
Subs not used: 15-Jimmy Conrad, 35-Marcus Hahnemann
Next: in Denmark Wednesday.
Lineup changes/roster additions are expected.
TV note: The game will kickoff on ESPN Classic live at 11:30 p.m. and then switch over to ESPN2 immediately following the conclusion of the UEFA qualifying playoff match between Ukraine and Greece.
Finally, Friday’s college roundup is here.
*The Loyola Marymount men (9-8-2, 4-5-2 WCC) drew 2-2 with Santa Clara Friday, allowing the equalizer with a mere seven seconds on the clock. The Lions remain eleigible for a post-season at-large bid going into Sunday’s season finale at Saint Mary’s.
Galaxy Put the Lights Out on Houston Postgame
(AP Photo)
Galaxy 2 Houston 0
The Houston Chronicle perspective.
It was a weird game in a weird season that started with a franchise coming off a worst-ever year, a new coach, 16 or so new players, seemingly interminable and in some cases lucky draws and a very public spat between the team’s two superstars.
On Friday, there were two lengthy and disorienting 18-minute power outages (attributed to overly-sensitive floodlights that cut out if there’s a power fluctuation) to add to the unusually late kickoff to accommodate TV as well as overtime that led to the game finishing just before 11:30 p.m.
There were unlikely heroes in Gregg Berhalter and Alan Gordon, who drew the penalty that allowed Donovan to nail the goal and sole posession of the MLS record for post-season goals.
This, players proclaimed in word and action, was a team.
Quotable:
“We don’t want to end it here,” said Galaxy Coach Bruce Arena. “A bunch of you know what we looked like at the start of the year. … At no time did I think we’d (have a chance to) win the MLS Cup.”
“We needed to make a play to kill the game and we made it and they didn’t,” said Landon Donovan. “We worked on set plays a lot over the past couple of weeks. It should be a bigger part of our game and it isn’t. We’ve got a few guys good in the air and we’ve got maybe the best server of the ball on the planet, so we want to be better at it and we scored a great goal today.
“You’ve got to put them away,” said defender Gregg Berhalter of his first Galaxy goal that came at a crucial time and was quite the ruthless display of opportunistic finishing the likes of Michael Owen would have been proud of. “It’s been a long time coming, seriously,” “We’re not happy with the fact we haven’t scored a lot of goals from set pieces and we scored one today.
Highlights:
Oh, and in other weirdness former Galaxy player Simon Elliott is World Cup bound; New Zealand beat Bahrain 1-0 Saturday to secure a spot in South Africa.
The Galaxy are heading to MLS Cup
Galaxy 2 Houston Dynamo 0
Who would have thunk it at the outset of this season?
Two extra time goals by Gregg Berhalter (!) and Landon Donovan – his 17th postseason goal, the most in MLS (he was tied with Carlos Ruiz previously) – has given the Galaxy the win before an energized 25,373 even though it’s past 11:30 p.m.
And Omar Gonzalez almost scored an own goal with a header off the bar in the final minute of stoppage time, too!
Updated: David Beckham got into a little argy bargy after the final whistle when a Dynamo player refused to shake hands with him and he grabbed his hand anyway. The players were quickly separated. No big deal.
Said Beckham:
“There’s nothing wrong with a bit of controversy in a team, in a club, it brings players together and it’s done that.”
More later.
Galaxy Are Up By Two
Landon Donovan just scored from the penalty spot in the 110th minute after Bobby Boswell brought down Alan Gordon in the penalty area.
Galaxy Score!
The goal came from a David Beckham free kick. Omar Gonzalez got a head to it at the far post, it rebounded off Eddie Robinson and came to Gregg Berhalter for his first Galaxy goal – ever – in the 103rd minute.
Update: The half is over with the Galaxy up by one. Fifteen minutes until MLS Cup beckons.