CCL: Dynamo claim final spot

The Houston Dynamo's season isn't over just yet. Having been ousted in the first round of the MLS Cup by finalist New York, Houston turned its attention to the CONCACAF Champions League match against CD Luis Angel Firpo of El Salvador and won 1-0 at Robertson Stadium to secure the final berth in the CCL's quarterfinal round.

Brian Ching scored for Houston in the 13th minute off a Dwayne DeRosario corner kick and Houston held on to their slim lead, even when they went down a man due to Eddie Robinson's ejection in the 82nd minute after a foul on Firpo's Carlos Monteagudo.

Houston will be the lone Major League Soccer representative in the quarterfinals after DC United finished a miserable CCL campaign winless in six matches. USL Division 1 club Montreal, however, nearly won their group, advancing in the second spot in Group C.

The draw for the CCL quarterfinals will be held on December 10.

Sounders pick through the litter

The Seattle Sounders, MLS's 15th team, selected from the list of unprotected players and began to assemble the squad that will begin play next summer. Apparently they spent more on Ljunberg and Keller than I thought or they are planning another spending splurge soon because they went bargain hunting, selecting some head scratchers in Wednesday's expansion draft.

1. Nate Jaqua (Houston Dynamo) - 174K
2. Nathan Sturgis (Real Salt Lake) - 108K
3. Jeff Parke (New York Red Bulls) - 59K
4. Jarrod Smith (Toronto FC) - 36K
5. Khano Smith (New England Revolution) - 46K
6. Peter Vagenas (Los Angeles Galaxy) - 144K
7. Tyson Wahl (Kansas City Wizards) - 33K
8. James Riley (San Jose Earthquakes) - 33K
9. Stephen King (Chicago Fire) - 18K
10. Brad Evans (Columbus Crew) - 33K

The last two picks are probably the smartest. King and Evans will certainly pay back an investment of $51,000. And Pacific Northwest homeboy Jacqua is a good selection. Khano Smith is underrated, as is Jeff Parke, but Seattle is going to pay too much for Sturgis. And why would you want to spend that much on old Vagenas. I mean Vagenas is stinky. He doesn't get much play. Why would you pay that much for Vagenas? Even Amish teens on rumspringer would stay away from Vagenas at that price.

Sound choices for Seattle's draft

Since Freddie Ljungberg certainly counts as Seattle’s designated player and goalkeeper Kasey Keller was probably signed for around the 200K mark, the Sounders have about 1,800,000 to spend on an opening day roster.

The following is an assembled starting 11 that would be both economical and competitive. I'm not thrilled with Eddie Gaven (despite his recent resurgence with the MLS champions), but beggars can't be choosers. So I splurged on Rohan Ricketts. Don't you want 50 Cent sportin' a Sounders kit at his next concert? I’d like to put the rest on a gift certificate, Mr. Sajak.

GOALKEEPER

K. Keller (?)

DEFENDERS

C. Waibel (70K), I. Joy (120K), P. Ianni (108K), W. Barrett (149K)

MIDFIELDERS

R. Ricketts (213K), N. Grabavoy (90K), T. Cooke (173K), C. Ashe (33K)

FORWARDS

F. Ljungberg (?), E. Gaven (165K)

Note: 2008 salary in parenthesis

MLS draft? Already?!?

Well, sort of. Major League's newest franchise will be selecting among the league's unprotected players in a special draft on Wednesday. Having already signed a netminder and a goal-scorer, who will they go after to complete the team? And with Freddie Ljungberg up top and Kasey Keller between the posts, does it matter? Here's a list of decent players from each club with the fat excised (for a complete list click here):

Chivas USA
Razov, Ante
Suarez, Claudio
Talley, Carey
Victorine, Sasha

Chicago Fire
Brown, C.J.
Carr, Calen
Herron, Andy
King, Stephen
Prideaux, Brandon

Colorado Rapids
Burciaga, Jose
Cooke, Terry
Erpen, Facundo

Columbus Crew
Evans, Brad
Gaven, Eddie
Noonan, Pat
Oughton, Duncan

FC Dallas
Davino, Duilio

D.C. United
Doe, Francis
Dyachenko, Rod
Gallardo, Marcelo

Houston Dynamo
Ashe, Corey
Barrett, Wade
Ianni, Patrick
Mulrooney, Richard
Onstad, Pat
Waibel, Craig

Los Angeles Galaxy
Franchino, Joe
Kirovski, Jovan
Klein, Chris
Vagenas, Peter

New England Revolution
Smith, Khano
Thompson, Wells

New York Red Bulls
Magee, Mike
Wolyniec, John

Real Salt Lake
Deuchar, Kenneth
Joy, Ian
Kovalenko, Dema
Mathis, Clint
Williams, Andy

San Jose Earthquakes
Grabavoy, Ned
O'Brien, Ronnie

Toronto FC
Ricketts, Rohan
Ruiz, Carlos
Velez, Marco

In other news:

Wizards acquire forward Adam Cristman from New England for allocation money and Kansas City's natural 3rd round selection in the 2009 MLS SuperDraft. Bargain for KC.

TYH'S MLS BEST 11 (2008 Season)

GOALKEEPER

J. Busch (CHI)

DEFENDERS

J. Conrad (KC), M. Wynne (TFC), C. Marshall (CLB)

MIDFIELDERS

S. Kljestan (CHV), G.B. Schelotto (CLB), J. Morales (RSL), C. Blanco (CHI)

FORWARDS

L. Donovan (LA), J.P. Angel (NY), K. Cooper (DAL)

MLS Cup: Crew win, complete double

The Columbus Crew defeated the New York Red Bulls 3-1 in the 2008 MLS Cup at the Home Depot Center on Sunday, completing the MLS double (Supporters Shield and MLS Cup) and winning their first-ever Cup.

In a match that had TYH wishing he had put money on the match, Columbus played midnight to New York's Cinderella story, getting goals from Alejandro Moreno, Chad Marshall and Frankie Hejduk -- all assisted by MLS Cup MVP Guillermo Barros Schelotto.

Moreno opened the scoring in the 31st minute, taking a GBS thru pass and scoring with a low diagonal shot inside the far post. But Red Bull fans held out hope after their side equalized in the 51st minute, as John Wolyniec scored his second of the playoffs off a Dane Richards pass. But the hope was shortlived -- two minutes to be exact -- as the Crew regained the lead in the 53rd minute, with yet another Chad Marshall header off a GBS corner. With New York pressing in attack, GBS had one more bit of magic, chipping over the New York backline to Heydude, who headed over the onrushing Danny Cepero (Johnny swept the leg), and that's all she wrote.

Pretty


Prettier


Prettiest

Garber denies LanDo loan

MLS Commissioner Don Garber in his MLS State of the Union claimed that Landon Donovan has not been loaned to Bayern Munich, contrary to reports in the press to the contrary.

“We haven’t heard anything from Bayern Munich about Landon going on loan to that team,” the commissioner said in response to a question. “Let me remind everybody: contrary to what you might have read in the press, Landon Donovan is not on loan to Bayern Munich.”

LanDo recently completed a trial at the German giants, and according to reports in on ESPNsoccernet, a loan deal was completed.

FIFA blows!

Check out the draw for the Confederations Cup:

GROUP A: South Africa, Iraq, New Zealand and Spain.

GROUP B: Italy, Brazil, USA, Egypt.

Yeah, that's fair. I know they wanted to make it easy for the host country, but jeez, Italy and Brazil? Why not swap Egypt for Spain and really make it a challenging for the Yanks?

The Confederations Cup starts on June 14, 2009 in Johannesburg, South Africa (and likely ends for the Yanks two weeks later). I guess it will be a good blooding for whoever Bradley decides to take.

U.S. squash Guats, 2-0

They are the future of the national team. That is, they should be and perhaps their performance against a desperate Guatemala in the CONCACAF qualifier on Wednesday served as a wake-up call to 'Nats coach Bob Bradley. But more than likely we'll see Eddie Lewis' fat head again for the first qualifier of the final round.

The U.S.'s 2-0 defeat of Guatemala proved two things: 1) The U.S. is super deep in the midfield and 2) Kenny Cooper is a better target than Brian Ching. Chingy has served the U.S. well in the past, but Cooper is clearly better at holding off the defender with his back to goal and getting to the ball off set pieces and crosses.

Many will say that because the U.S. had already qualified that this match was not a true test of talent, but I disagree, considering that Guatemala, a typical quick and aggressive Central American team, were fighting for their World Cup lives, needing a win to have even a shot at advancing to the final round. They threw everything they had at the U.S. -- or at least they tried, but the match was dominated by Freddy Adu and Sacha Kljestan (11 SOG for the U.S.), a midfield duo who should be inked into the 2010 roster now.

TYH's Patriot of the Pitch©: Kenny Cooper

MATCH REPORT

TEAM	1st half	2nd half	Final
USA	0	2	3
GUA	0	0	0

Scoring:
Cooper (Altidore) 54.
Adu 69.

Lineups:
USA: 18-Brad Guzan; 5-John Thorrington, 3-Clarence Goodson, 15-Michael Parkhurst, 2-Jonathan Bornstein; 10-Freddy Adu (7-Davy Arnaud, 83), 4-Pablo Mastroeni (capt.), 13-Ricardo Clark, 16-Sacha Kljestan; 9-Kenny Cooper (8-Conor Casey, 76), 14-Jozy Altidore (11-Brian Ching, 76)

GUA: 18-Ricardo Jerez, 2- Carlos Castrillo, 3-Cristian Noriega , 4-Yony Flores, 7-Claudio Albizuris, 9-Mario
Acevedo (17-Minor Lopez, 74), 10-Guillermo Ramirez, 12-Carlos Figueroa (8-Marco Pappa, 57), 13-Carlos Castillo, 16-Jean Marquez, 11-Marvin Avila

Misconduct Summary:
USA – Ricardo Clark (caution) 55.
GUA – Yony Flores (caution) 68.
USA – Pablo Mastroeni (caution) 78.

STATS	USA	GUA
Shots	16	6
Shots OG	11	3
Saves	3	9
Corners	6	4
Fouls	13	17
Offside	3	4

U.S. roster vs. Guats

U.S. national team head coach Bob Bradley named his squad of 20 players for USA's meaningless World Cup qualifier against Guatemala on Nov. 19 at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Colorado, and once again Sadley misses a chance to be creative with his squad selection. Here it is:

GOALKEEPERS (3): Brad Guzan (Aston Villa), Troy Perkins (Valerenga IF), Matt Pickens (out of contract)
Slim Pickens? or is it Perkins? I think we're deeper than this at keep.

DEFENDERS (6): Jonathan Bornstein (Chivas USA), Sean Franklin (Los Angeles Galaxy), Cory Gibbs (Colorado Rapids), Clarence Goodson (IK Start), Drew Moor (FC Dallas), Michael Parkhurst (New England Revolution)
I like that he added the MLS rookie of the year. I'm just not so sure that the ROY should have been Sean Franklin. How can you give a guy an award for defense when his squad gave up more goals than any club this season and the most since 2005?

MIDFIELDERS (5): Freddy Adu (AS Monaco), Ricardo Clark (Houston Dynamo), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA), Pablo Mastroeni (Colorado Rapids), John Thorrington (Chicago Fire)
Sigh.

FORWARDS (6): Jozy Altidore (Villarreal), Davy Arnaud (Kansas City Wizards), Conor Casey (Colorado Rapids), Brian Ching (Houston Dynamo), Kenny Cooper (FC Dallas), Chris Rolfe (Chicago Fire)
Will Coop show or will he tell Bradley that he "has a thing that night"? Even money.

MLS Look-a-likes (Cup edition)

NY GOALKEEPER DANNY CEPERO

AND

KARATE KID RALPH MACCHIO

MLS Cup: #8 tackles #1 in Cup final

New York Red Bulls vs. Columbus Crew

MLS Cup 2008 (@ the HDC)

Sunday, November 23

3:30pmET on ABC, TeleFutura

After sneaking into the Cup playoffs through the backdoor, left open by DC United on the final regular season matchday, it looked like the New York Red Bulls would have yet another brief appearance in the postseason. But they managed the impossible and knocked out the defending Cup champion Houston Dynamo with a 3-0 thrashing. Then, with Alexi Lalas promising to shotgun a large can of Red Bull if New York upset Real Salt Lake, the soccer gods saw fit to turn a myriad of Salt Lake shots toward the woodwork and New York told Lalas, "Bottoms up, buttercup!" with a 1-0 win. 

Now they're in the final, but in order to put a cherry on top of this improbable Cup sundae, they must beat the Supporters Shield Champion Columbus Crew, the #1 seed in the MLS Cup playoff and a club that scored 11 more goals than New York had points during the regular season. It's not only improbable; it would be the biggest upset in MLS history.

Can Cinderella pull it off? Or will the Crew play matador to these winged Red Bulls?

TYH's Prediction: NY 1-3 CLB

TYH'S MLS BEST 11 (Conf. Champ.)

GOALKEEPER

D. Cepero (NY)

DEFENDERS

C. Leitch (NY), K. Goldthwaite (NY), C. Marshall (CLB)

MIDFIELDERS

D. van den Bergh (NY), G.B. Schelotto (CLB), B. Carroll (CLB), J. Rojas (NY)

FORWARDS

E. Gaven (CLB), B. McBride (CHI), J. Wolyniec (NY)

MLS Cup: Fill the Cup with Red Bull

New York 1-0 Real Salt Lake (Rio Tinto Stadium)
Cinderella still has wings, as the Red Bulls stun Real Salt Lake 1-0 in a match that saw the home side hit the post several times. Now thanks to the silly format of the MLS Cup, the east coast club has won the Western Conference crown, but more importantly, New York will be making their first appearance in the MLS Cup, where they will face Columbus. Dave van den Bergh was the hero for the Red Bulls, cleaning up a rebound in the 28th minute (truly a garbage goal). RSL had the bulk of the possession and the best of the chances from that point on, but it appears that the soccer gods are Mormons, as RSL went begging on chance after chance. Overall, it was a pretty dreadful match, especially when compared to Thursday's instant classic between Chicago and Columbus. But by far the best thing about this match is that now Alexi Lalas will have to make good on his promise to shotgun a can of Red Bull. I hope he gets sick.

MLS Cup: Crew through to first Cup Final

Chicago 2-3 Columbus (Crew Stadium)
The Columbus Crew stormed back from a 1-0 first-half deficit to beat the Chicago Fire 2-1 on Thursday night in a fast-paced, up-and-down match. In a match destined to outperform the Cup Final, a header from Chad Marshall and a low volley by a resurgent Eddie Gaven, gave Columbus their first Eastern Conference Championship and put them through to their first-ever MLS Cup final appearance. The victory was particularily sweet for Crew fans, who filled Crew stadium and provided an excellent atmosphere, as former Crew star Brian McBride, now with Chicago, scored the go-ahead goal, following chants of "traitor, traitor" from the partisan crowd. It is hard to believe that Saturday's Western Conference final or the MLS Cup final will live up to the atmosphere and play of last night's contest.

MLS Cup: Conf. championships set

Eastern Conference Championship
Thursday, November 13
Chicago Fire @ Columbus Crew (7:30pmET  on ESPN2)
It's Blanco versus Schelotto. This is the real MLS Cup. It's too bad that it has to take place in the Eastern Conference championship. Both clubs rolled over their semi-final opponents, but Columbus will enjoy home field advantage. The Fire are just 6-5-4 on the road this season, whereas the Crew are 11-2-2 in the comfy confines of Crew stadium. The Crew and Fire drew both times they faced each other in the regular season, so this match has the makings of an instant classic.

Prediction: Chicago 2-3 Columbus

Western Conference Championship
Sunday, November 16
New York Red Bulls @ Real Salt Lake (TBA)

Who gets to claim underdog status in this one? The team who have been colossal underachievers since they joined the league in 2005 or the perennial choke artists New York, who barely made it into the playoffs before beating the defending Cup champs. Midfield play will figure greatly in this one and unfortunately for New York, RSL have Javier Morales who definitely should be in the conversation for MLS Cup MVP. Can Angel and company pull off another shocker?

Prediction: New York 2-3 Salt Lake (AET)

MLS Cup 2008 - (@ the HDC)

Sunday, November 23
3:30pmET on ABC, TeleFutura

TYH'S MLS BEST 11 (Cup Semis)

GOALKEEPER

J. Busch (CHI)

DEFENDERS

W. Conde (CHI), F. Hejduk (CLB), K. Goldthwaite (NY)

MIDFIELDERS

G.B. Schelotto (CLB), J. Morales (RSL), D. Richards (NY), B. Carroll (CLB)

FORWARDS

C. Rolfe (CHI), A. Moreno (CLB), J.P. Angel (NY)

MLS Cup: NY West stun Dynos

New York 3-0 Houston (Robertson Stadium)
After narrowly making the playoffs, thanks to a DC loss on the last day of the regular season, the Red Bulls managed one of the biggest upsets in MLS Cup history by knocking out the defending Cup champions 4-1 on aggregate, after trouncing the Dynamo in their home stadium 3-0. With the aggregate locked at 1-1 after the first leg, Dane Richards scored in the 25th minute to get things going for New York. Then, Juan Pablo Angel converted a PK 11 minutes later and the Red Bulls were well on their way. John Wolyniec sprinkled a little salt in the champs wound in the 81st minute with New York's third unanswered goal. Despite being an Eastern Conference club, New York will advance to face Real Salt Lake in the Western Conference by virtue of MLS's crazy playoff structure that awards the final four spots in the playoffs by record and not by place in the conference.

MLS Cup: Crew, RSL advance

Kansas City 0-2 Columbus (1-3 agg.) (Crew Stadium)
The Columbus Crew dispatched the Eastern Conference fourth seed with a 2-0 win in the home leg of their semi-final series on Saturday. Brad Evans scored in the 7th minute and Robbie Rogers doubled the lead in the 58th. The Crew advance to the Eastern Conference final to face the Chicago Fire, winners in their semi-final series against New England.

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Salt Lake 2-2 Chivas USA (3-2 agg.) (HDC)
A 2-2 draw in the away leg was all that Real Salt Lake needed to advance after securing the one-goal advantage in the home leg against Chivas USA. A Sacha Kljestan PK in the 30th minute gave Chivas the lead, but Dema Kovalenko equalized for RSL and then Javier Morales put them ahead in the 77th. An 83rd minute goal by Justin Braun made the final few minutes interesting but they were unable to find the aggregate equalizer to force overtime. Salt Lake will face the winner of Sunday's Houston-New York match. New York and Houston drew 1-1 in the first match at Giants Stadium.

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MLS Cup: Fire bomb Revs

New England 0-3 Chicago (Toyota Park)
After a tight, well-played home match, the New England Revolution forgot to pack their cleats for the second-leg and were eliminated by the Chicago Fire from the MLS Cup after in a 3-0 defeat last night. Chris Rolfe began the rout with a garbage goal in first-half injury time. Second-half goals by Wilman Conde and Gonzalo Segares added insult to injury. The Revs were without injured stars Taylor Twellman and Steve Ralston once again, and Chicago was fired up by their home crowd of 17,312. The Fire advance to the Eastern Conference finals to face either Columbus or Kansas City.

MLS Cup: Favorites save late draws

Chivas USA 0-1 Salt Lake (Rio Tinto Stadium)
After saving RSL from elimination, Yura Movsisyan kept RSL moving in a positive direction, scoring the only goal, a cheeky back-heel, in the opener of Salt Lake's Western Conference semifinal with Chivas USA. His 90th minute goal gives Real the advantage going into the second-leg in Los Angeles next week.

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Houston 1-1 New York (Giants Stadium)
After backing into the playoffs courtesy of a DC United loss, New York managed to lead the home leg of their series with Houston for almost 40 minutes, as Juan Pablo Angel put the Red Bulls up 1-0 in the 48th minute before the Dynamo's Kei Kamara in the 85th minute. By virtue of finishing of finishing fifth in the Easy, New York shifted over to become the fourth seed in the Western Conference semifinals.

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Columbus 1-1 Kansas City (CAB)
Davy Arnaud's 53rd minute strike looked like it would be the game-winner against Eastern COnference top-seed Columbus, when Steven Lenhart scored a crucial equalizer two minutes into injury time. Columbus will now host Kansas City at Crew Stadium, even on goals (there is no road-goal advantage in the MLS Cup).

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