Monthly Archives: May 2015

Soccer Therapy Does the 2015 USOC!

Posted on by
Reply

I am posting here to chronicle my journey (which is still in progress) during the 2015 Lamar Hunt US Open Cup (USOC). This year marks 102nd edition of the tournament, making it America’s oldest, most venerable, and super awesome soccer competition. It’s a journey began unknowingly on a Wednesday night. My Aztex season ticket package came with a pair of tickets to round 2 of the USOC, Austin’s only home match of the tournament. Naturally, I called Oliver, my live-soccer-watching-companion, and offered him the ticket to Austin’s USOC opener. When he accepted, our 2015 Cup Journey had begun.

Round 2: Austin Aztex 2 – 0 Laredo Heat, 5/20, House Park

The second round saw the introduction of USL teams into the USOC, and that is when  Austin’s and Soccer Therapy’s 2015 Open Cup experience began. Despite watching the entire match, I don’t remember much. It was muggy, there was beer, and we watched the whole match from the corner flag. Austin was expected to win this one and the action wasn’t particularly memorable, but the game is significant now in that it represents the beginning of ATX’s run in this year’s Open Cup. Below are two photos I took during the match.

IMG_4057

#10 Mozzi Gyorio prepares to take a corner from the SE of House Park Stadium.

IMG_4075

A Laredo Heat SG representing strong in ATX at the Open Cup

Like I said, I don’t remember much and we watched the entire match from the corner. While it was a great time and wins are always so fun to be a part of, I have little to report personally. Click here for an actual recap of Austin’s 2-0 win over Laredo in Round 2 of the USOC.

Round 3: SA Scorpions 0 – 2 Austin Aztex, 5/27, Toyota Field

This match is now referred to as the Hill Country Derby, the battle for the Queso Bowl. Austin beat SA 4-1 in the preseason edition, but that result meant little heading into this match, where a trip to Houston to face the Dynamo in Round 4 was at stake. The game was an absolute blast to be a part of. Open Cup games usually struggle badly at the gates. This creates a more intimate stadium environment, allowing fans to sit wherever they please and hear all of the action on the pitch and from the coaches box.This is why I believe fans are more a “part” of the game during cup play and why I’ve called the USOC a “charming” tournament.

As expected, few fans were in attendance at Toyota Field, a brilliant and inviting venue worthy of housing an MLS side. As an Aztex season ticket holder, it was nice watching the boys on a proper soccer pitch, a wide, all natural surface (Austin’s home pitch is a narrow turf surface with football lines on it). The Aztex have some nice attacking talent and dangerous wing men, so the Toyota Field pitch really lent itself to our style of play and we looked much sharper than usual. I thought Austin was stronger than SA in the first half with the best chance for either team coming on a Kris Tyrpak break where he failed to get the shot off. Despite the strong first half effort from Austin, the match was scoreless after 45.

The second half saw more impressive attacking play by the Aztex, with the pressure finally paying off when Mikey Ambrose smashed in a brilliant opener from outside the box. After the goal, ATX looked a bit gassed and SA put together their best stretch of the match, dominating possession and creating chances for the next 15 minutes. But the Scorpions simply could not break through, and ATX picked up the insurance goal on a brilliant strike from forward Caesar in the 78th minute. Check out the match recap and the second goal here.

It was a great night. Initially, I just wanted to enjoy the competition and check out a new venue (Toyota Field is worth a visit). Then Austin played their best match of the season and earned a trip to Houston, where Soccer Therapy’s US Open Cup journey can continue in June. Below is the photo album from our road trip down to SA.

1

Road tripping for the Hill Country Derby, USOC Style

2

One Scorpions SG marches to the match prior to first kick

3

Another Scorpions SG makes their way into the stadium

4

My first view of Toyota Field, a classy venue

5

The other end of the Stadium

5b

The San Antonio Scorpion trophy case

5c

An Eberly’s Army member props the Queso Bowl up with a cold beer

5d

National Anthem time!

6

First kick.

8

The boys huddle on the pitch before an epic 2nd half performance.

9

Caesar wastes time in the corner late in the 2nd half

IMG_4252

Post game emotions get the better of Soccer Therapy

Look for more on this post after round 4 of the tournament, where Soccer Therapy will be doing a little Texas Two Step. We are hitting the road to catch FC Dallas v. OKC Energy in Ft. Worth on 6/16 and Dynamo v. Aztex in Houston on 6/17. FCD and ATX on back to back nights in the great American Soccer Tournament. What a treat.

MLS Radar: Week 12

Posted on by
Reply

FC Dallas dropped all three points to start off a daunting road trip. The MLSinVegas series is in shambles. As a result, I am going to give the Radar Series a bit of a breather to refocus my energy on the MLS Timeline Series. You’ll still find the F-Up, Surprise, Goal and Tweet of the Week sections on this blog every Monday, but unfortunately, excitement and promise are the winds that move my blogging sails, and those winds have been absent lately. So have a look at what the Radar Series has to offer this week while I get to work on finishing off the MLS TL Series 2001 Tile.

F Up OTW 2Jonathan Osorio – Toronto FC

Toronto won the match so Osorio’s error didn’t cost his club any points, but I simply hate seeing a great buildup and composed effort on goal end like this. The play reminded a lot of this one http://www.mlssoccer.com/video/2013/07/13/shot-fabian-castillo-blocked-teamate-kenny-cooperI am sure there are more deserving individuals for this distinction. DC had a two man advantage in Foxborough but couldn’t take all three points against rivals New England. Columbus had a 2-0 lead at home over Chicago before deciding 60 minutes of soccer was enough for them. The Crew eventually settled for a 2-2 draw after Chicago’s equalizer at the death. The ref awarded a soft PK to Montreal that cost Dallas a point on the road. And I’m sure someone was to blame for Houston and Vancouver as they both lost narrowly on the road, to LA and Colorado respectively.

Surprise of the Week
NYRB 0 – 2 PHI

This one cost the MLSinVegas series a clean three hundo. I did not watch (Happy Memorial Day!), so I have no idea how this could have happened. I saw this match playing out either 2-0 or 3-1 to New York and thought the Red Bulls would make short work of The Union in Red Bull Arena.

GOTW imageIt comes down to three standout goals for me in week 12. Each one is listed below:

It’s clear that these three are the best of the bunch from round 12 in MLS. The voting on MLSsoccer.com will likely comes down to the long distance blast from Giovinco and the volley from Pittinari – each strike finished off a nice passing sequence and stood as the game winner. Both were top notch strikes and worthy of the award, but I’ll go with Pittinari for GOTW thanks to Gabi Torres’ brilliant flick, which was no doubt the Assist of the Week.

TOTWimageThere won’t be an official winner this week. I’ve got a pair of fascinating photos to share and a couple of decent tweets as well. Nothing great from the TwitterSphere in round 12, but interesting as always.

1) One of the most gorgeous pregame displays I’ve ever seen.

Picture12) A hilarious response to the Revs Twitter post regarding their own Chris Tierney seeing red against DC United. Even though he is a Galaxy supporter, @SeanSteffen is a massive smart ass (I mean that as a compliment) and a great follow.

Picture33) The sky is cryin’, Can’t you see the tears roll down the street… – SRV

Picture24) Anytime I get a retweet or a response out of MLSsoccer.com’s Matthew Doyle, I’m going to pat myself on the back for it and post it on the blog.

Picture4The days of the long Radar and MLSinVegas posts may be be coming to an end. The Radar Series, when done well with time and effort, is too much work. MLSinVegas is a blast, but until my picks and earnings start to improve, I’ll be minimizing the length of those posts as well. But I am always fascinated with soccer in North America. So if and when something “crosses my radar” that I simply must share, I’ll still be posting here on SoccerTherapy.net.

MLS Radar: Week 11

Posted on by
Reply

Logo 11Unfortunately I can’t fully recap a fascinating week of action in MLS. This abbreviated post will include all of the usual content, the GOTW, Surprise of the Week, F-Up of the Week, and the Tweet of the Week, but little more. I’ll dive a bit deeper into the meaning of the results with my Friday morning #MLSinVegas post, but the main take away from week 11 is that Major League Soccer remains wildly unpredictable. Montreal picked up their first win of the season, crushing a solid Real Salt Lake team by four goals to one. Toronto’s draw in New England came unexpected after their dismal home performance against a lesser Dynamo side in week 10. Orlando City picked up their first home win of the season, taking advantage of a badly struggling LA Galaxy side and exploding for four goals in the Citrus Bowl. For some perspective, The Lions had scored just three goals in their first five home games on their way to two draws and three losses – needless to say, four goals and three points seemed unlikely for Orlando prior to the match start on Sunday. And then, as if we hadn’t seen enough craziness, the Sunday night cap saw a dog Philly team take down red hot DC United 1-0 with a stoppage time winner.

pOINTS pARTYEvery time we begin to think we have this league figured out, something crazy like week 11 happens to remind us that parity rules the day. On a good day, a bad team can always spoil a Three-Points-Party, and no matter how many patterns emerge between now and the end of the season, that will always be the case in MLS as we know it today.

F Up OTW 2Everyone!

I thought about giving this award to the Galaxy for their 4-0 loss to an expansion side. I thought about the Chicago Fire for this award after they squandered a two goal and one man advantage in New York (also against an expansion side). I also thought about giving it to RSL for getting thrashed in Montreal. Vancouver came out flat at home against a top of the table competitor and hated rival. I just couldn’t decide, and unless I’ve overlooked something, I couldn’t point to one player costing his team the game in a single boneheaded moment.

Surprise of the Week
MTL 4 – 1 RSL

I’ve covered all of the surprising results already in this post, but Montreal deserves the shout out here. They’ve struggled to find their league form early in 2015 thanks to a miraculous run in the CONCACAF Champions League. Montreal were burdened by more non-MLS action right after that run with a home-and-home Canadian Cup semifinal against rivals Toronto. They advanced from that series in dramatic fashion just three days prior to meeting RSL, so I thought they’d struggle to find the energy and motivation in this one. Obviously that wasn’t the case and The Impact were damn impressive in their 4-1 win (it should have been 5-0: Piatti missed a PK off the post for Montreal and Sandoval’s goal for RSL was about as likely as me winning the lottery). Montreal have some quality, they can counter as well as any team in the league, and now they can really hone in on collecting points in MLS. The top four in the east will be tough to deal with in the table (DC, NYRB, CLB and NE) but perhaps Montreal could make a run at the five or six seed in 2015.

GOTW imageDevon Sandoval’s lovely one touch finish from the corner of the 18 yard box will likely take the honors on MLSsoccer.com’s GOTW voting, but I’m giving him the runner up. For me, this week’s winner is Michael Bradley, what a beast mode run and quality finish. Bradley’s return to MLS has been marked by visible frustration at times. On this goal, I feel like he channeled that frustration positively, using it to make a strong play and earn his club a point on the road.

TOTWimageThe TOTW section has been a little light on numbers lately. This week we’ll give credit to the two fellas below for sharing these stats about two of MLS’ best.

TOTW 11Hopefully week 12 will give us just as much to talk about as week 11 has. FC Dallas, who’ve played 7 of 11 matches at home, are about to embark on a five game road trip. It all starts Saturday at 8 ET in Montreal where we’ll see two of the best counter attacking sides in MLS go head to head. A lot could be learned about FC Dallas and the seriousness of their title aspirations from this road trip.

I’ll finish off this post with a quick mention of one of my favorite aspects of American soccer. The Lamar Hunt US Open Cup, the oldest soccer competition in the United States, is in full swing with the second round (featuring lower division and amateur sides) taking place this week. Check out the tournament schedule here. If you’re interested in watching the Austin Aztex throughout the competition (or in any of their matches for that matter), go ahead and bookmark the club’s YouTube page, where all their matches are broadcast live and for free. Cheers, and look out for the MLSinVegas post on Friday morning.

MLS Radar: Week 10

Posted on by
Reply

wk logo picWeek 10 offered some attractive soccer and nice story lines to follow. One of the trends that caught my attention in this round was the dominance of the west over the east. With four strong sides in Columbus, DC, New England and NYRB, the east is looking a more impressive conference than usual, but it’s evident to me ten weeks into the season that the west is stronger top-to-bottom. Chicago were on a three match win streak (all against east clubs) before losing at SKC in round 9 and at home to RSL in this round. Toronto FC seemed to be building some momentum with two straight Ws against eastern conference opposition, but western conference stragglers Houston came to town and defeated the Reds 2-1. We’ve seen DC United represent the east well with wins over LA and Vancouver, but it’s the middle to bottom of the table teams where the west has been better. NYRB will get their chance to represent the east’s elite in week 11 as they head to Frisco to take on an FC Dallas side that’s currently hauling in two points per match.

Speaking of FC Dallas, they are becoming easier and easier to figure out. It was Mauro Diaz who came to the rescue on Saturday night, providing two brilliant assists in a ten minute to boost the Hoops to a 2-1 win. While Fabian Castillo continues to wow, Blas Perez continues to score, and the homegrowns continue to flourish, it is and always will be Mauro who makes the difference for Dallas. Check out this stat from an article on Big D Soccer.

“Diaz effect. According to the game notes from the club, since Oscar Pareja was named head coach of FC Dallas, the club has only lost one game in matches that Mauro Diaz plays at least 45 minutes – a 3‐2 loss to Seattle – 12‐1‐4.”

That’s 13-1-4 after the win over LA this weekend. Dallas are a dangerous club with a wealth of attacking options, but the fact remains that Mauro Diaz is the piece that truly makes them a contender for MLS Cup. Below I have written about how Columbus are the most exciting team to watch in MLS. In terms of the most exciting player in MLS, that title may well belong to Mauro Diaz, Dallas’ Magical Little Unicorn.

The Crew
A lot has crossed my radar this season about Columbus and the attractive, attacking style that they play. I had the chance to watch them host a dangerous Seattle Sounders side and it’s true, the Crew are unquestionably the most entertaining team to watch in MLS. They have talent up and down the pitch with young midfielders and veteran forwards, but it’s the selflessness with which they play that makes them so dangerous. The 3-2 win over Seattle was the best watch in MLS so far this season, so I’ve included a few highlights of Columbus’ brilliance from the match below. If you are a neutral and ever looking to watch some MLS, Columbus is a great place to start.

These are only a few examples as Columbus does this kind of stuff throughout almost every match they play in. I’ll be keeping an eye on the Crew for the rest of 2015 and posting videos of their attacking prowess on Soccer Therapy’s YouTube page.

F Up OTW 2Junhino and Gargan – LA Galaxy

Junhino missed a 92nd minute PK attempt on Wednesday in Utah costing LA two invaluable points on the road. Give legendary ‘keeper Nick Rimando the credit for an amazing save, but you simply have to put it in the back of the net when the ref awards you a stoppage time PK in a 0-0 game on the road.

Dan Gargan cost the Galaxy another point on the road when he failed to close in on Dallas forward Tesho Akindele, who put this 86th minute strike in the back of the net. Nothing angers me more than a goal that could have been avoided if the defender had simply stepped up and taken away the attacker’s space. But Gargan kept backing and backing and backing away and Tesho made LA pay the price, sending the Galaxy home with one point on the week when they could have had four.

A quick shout out to Rafael Ramos in this section for this careless back pass that cost OCSC another two points at home.

Surprise of the Week
TOR 1 – 2 HOU

The entire Toronto FC team almost took F-Up of the Week honors for that horrendous effort in their nationally televised home opener on Sunday. Instead, I’ll give Houston some credit and call this match my Surprise of the Week. Toronto were playing in their home opener and enjoying the momentum of a two match win streak while the Dynamo had dropped eight of nine points in a recent three game home stand. Naturally, most of us in MLS Land believed Toronto, seemingly a stronger club with a massive home field edge, were a lock to win.

Unfortunately for the Toronto faithful, the Reds were outclassed and outplayed by an average side on a day that was supposed to be theirs. We are now back to questioning how the team was constructed and if the three DPs can carry a thin roster through the season. Some folks in Toronto and around MLS would say this isn’t a surprise, but simply Toronto FC reverting back to their traditional form.

GOTW imageSoccer is loved and hated around the world for many different things, but if there’s one thing we can all agree on (even those who dislike soccer), it’s that goals are awesome. I like the selfish ones, the selfless ones, the long ones, the short ones, the hard ones, and sometimes even the soft ones. There were a handful of classy goals from round 10 in MLS, and most of them I enjoyed for different reasons. Because of this, my week 10 GOTW section is a top 10 list rather than a small sampling of highlights. The list ranks in order my favorites from the week and includes a video hyperlink for each goal.

#1: Darren Mattocks (VAN), 81′ v PHI – I love Jamaicans. I loved this move and the confident finish. Mattocks is a player who has loads of potential but hasn’t performed consistently. More please.

#2: Diego Valeri (POR), 70′ v MTL – Great commentary, great finish, and great to have one of MLS’ finest back in action with a world class, game winning curler.

#3: Blas Perez (DAL), 77′ v LA – A great chip assist by Magic Mauro and a calm finish from the Super Rat.

#4: Luke Mulholland (RSL), 56′ v CHI – A nice buildup of nine or so passes and the perfect cross from Sandoval to put it on a tee for Mulholland.

#5: Clint Dempsey (SEA), 24′ v CLB – A great finish. Deuce has always been good with his left.

#6: Tesho Akindele (DAL), 86′ v LA – A UCL caliber assist and a nice finish from the Canadian.

#7: Alvaro Saborio (RSL), 13′ v CHI – Quick and precise with a fine finish from the Costa Rican.

#8: Pedro Morales (VAN), 32′ v PHI – Well timed run and a finish only the Chilean could make look so easy.

#9: Chris Wondolowski (SJ), 19′ v COL – This one won’t get any “aesthetic build up” points but I thought it was vintage Wondo move. Three great touches in a tight space. How does he do this and then whiff the way he did against Belgium? I guess some folks were meant for the big stage and other weren’t.

#10: Charlie Davies (NE), 19′ v ORL – The defending was soft and the chance came from a poor giveaway, but I love seeing the aggressiveness and killer instinct from Davies on this play. It was a great finish (his fourth of 2015) from a player who has resurfaced on the USMNT radar after a horrifying car accident derailed his career in 2009. I don’t pull for the Revs, put how could you not pull for a guy like Davies?

Honorable Mentions.
Columbus had some nice goals but I featured them in their own section above. NYRB had a  pair of nice ones and BWP’s opener was nominated for GOTW on MLSsoccer.com. Giles Barnes sparked a brilliant counter that Will Bruin finished off nicely to seal the three points on the road for Houston.

TOTWimage

A nice selection this week. On your left you will see a brilliant John Terry joke, the top right shows Bruce Arena busting out the baseball cap like a boss (rare to see Bruce with the head-wear), and on the bottom left is the Third Rail, the most prominent SG for expansion side NYCFC.

TOTW wk 10That’s it and that’s all for the Radar Series here in week 10. This concluding paragraph provides an opportunity to look at some of the action to come. Week 11 features a Wednesday night match on ESPN2 with DC United set to host Orlando at 8 ET. Perhaps the best match of the week will take place in Frisco on Friday night at 8 ET as second in the west FC Dallas host third in the east NYRB. Over the weekend, a lot could be learned from matchups like MTLvRSL, VANvSEA, NEvTOR, HOUvPOR and ORLvLA. For now, I leave you with this.

MLS Radar: Week 9

Posted on by
Reply

wk 9 radar logoWeek 9 is in the books and the season fully under way as most clubs are starting to reveal their 2015 identities. RSL and San Jose played to a 1-1 draw in Utah, further establishing themselves as mediocre clubs with little hope for playoff success. Portland did the same in their scoreless performance at home against rivals Vancouver. DCU continued their early season run, taking down a good Columbus team 2-0 at RFK. United are now off to their finest start in franchise history, averaging 2.13 points per match through 8 games. That’s remarkable considering how successful the charter club has been over the last two decades. One club we haven’t had the chance to analyze in league play is Montreal, who’ve played just four matches so far this season while MLS accommodated to their unanticipated CONCACAF Champions League run. Speaking of that, it was fun while it lasted for the Impact, but inevitably, Club America finally turned it on with four goals in the second half of the second leg to take the final 4-2 on aggregate. In the midst of America’s goal explosion, Dario Benedetto stole the show with a nifty hat trick in a span of just 31 minutes – this highlight video was the best I could find, but some of those strikes are worth a look.

I frequently reference Matthew Doyle and his Sunday night piece that you can read on MLSsoccer.com. I’ll go ahead and throw in the hyperlink to his week 9 piece because it’s always a good read. Doyle has a way of describing things effectively and concisely. He’s long referred to FCD playmaker Mauro Diaz as a “Magical Little Unicorn” – which is both apt and hilarious. This week he offered another perfect player description – I’ve included the excerpt below:

Chris Rolfe is in one of his “I’m a freaking Wizard” streaks

I love this quote. It perfectly sums up Chris Rolfe because he really does look like a wizard on the pitch at times, whether creating quality chances or finishing off a world class goal himself. But then of course, he does have those stretches where he goes unnoticed and fails to impact matches, making him a streaky player.

BpyMzr6CUAAXcGaUPDATE:

The Aztex are 3-3-1 and currently sit tied for 4th in the USL’s western conference. Not bad at all for the club’s inaugural campaign in the USL, but a closer look at the results reveals a disturbing trend: they are struggling with the better USL clubs and picking up points against the weak ones. Six of the club’s 10 points on the year have come at home against expansion side Colorado Springs (While Austin are new to USL, we are not a new franchise. ATX were founded in 2011 and have three seasons of experience in the USL PDL. Colorado Springs Switchbacks were founded in 2014 and played their first ever competitive match against Austin in the USL season opener, a 2-0 win for the Aztex).

Three more points came from a 2-0 win on the road against Tulsa Roughnecks FC, another expansion club playing in their first ever competitive season. And the tenth point ATX has so far in 2015 came at home against OKC Energy FC – a 2-2 draw in which Austin allowed an 87th minute equalizer (OKC, founded in 2013, are another relatively new club and have just one season of competitive experience). On the other hand, Austin have dropped points against stronger USL opposition: losing at home to Whitecaps II and Arizona United, and on the road against Galaxy II.

The team is young and the current group has had relatively little time to gel. This trend is no cause for panic, but Austin will want to grab a win against a quality opponent soon, before their confidence suffers as a result.

F Up OTW 2Victor Bernardez (Defender) – SJ

Picture1Any time I get the chance to give this award to Victor Bernardez I am going to take full advantage. I hate this guy. Victor was the clear winner in week 9 with this hilarious own goal that cost the Quakes a pair of points on the road. That was the GK’s ball all the way and an easy stop, but no.

Runner-Up

I hate to give commentators a hard time as I appreciate the difficulty of talking for two straight hours without sounding like an idiot at least once (or twice or a dozen+ times). But Paul Caligiuri must be mentioned for his clumsy and hilarious analysis of FC Dallas’ opening goal on UniMas’ #ViernesDeFutbol. Before watching, note that Houston’s ‘keeper is named Tyler Deric. The Dallas ‘keeper is Dan Kennedy.

GOTW imageI love seeing two FC Dallas players nominated for GOTW on MLSsoccer.com, but all four of our goals against Houston were classy finishes. Week 9 offered a nice selection of goals to choose from, but two in particular caught my eye. Some might wonder why I didn’t choose Sebastian Giovinco’s 35-yard free kick goal that decided the 1-0 match in Philly over the weekend. I hate to take anything away because it was an awesome strike, but I believe a better GK would have read it earlier and made the stop. Thus, no GOTW for you, Sebas.

My official week 9 winner is the third and final goal in Seattle’s 3-1 win over NYCFC thanks to the sublime assist by Clint Dempsey. Once Deuce put him through, the control and the finish from Obafemi Martins was pure confidence and quality. Those two have been downright filthy of late and are proving to be in a class of their own every time they take the pitch. No play illustrates that better than the week 9 GOTW.

There’s nothing wrong with silver and I simply loved this goal, so the GOTW runner-up goes to the entire Revs attack for their second of the night in a 2-1 win over rivals NYRB. What amazing team work, kind of like a slow version of Arsenal! The passing was quick, crisp and crafty, and I love seeing the patience and composure from Teal Bunbury to finish off the move.

TOTWimage

@HeyHayward, producer of top notch programs Soccer Morning and The Best Soccer Show, had the best of the CCL tweets from Wednesday’s second leg. This is Jurgen Klinsmann in a nutshell, apparently Piatti was running his ass off at that stage in the match.

But the tweet below Hayward’s is the official week 9 TOTW. @BBCSporf deserves credit for spotting it, but the distinction is awarded to the Notts County FC social media team for their perfect response to a fan’s inquiry.

TOTW wk9

I’ve got little more to add to this week’s post. Week 9 was fun but 10 could be even better with matchups like CHIvRSL, MTLvPOR, CLBvSEA, DALvLA and a game the folks in New York have been waiting to see for nearly two years now: NYRB vs. NYCFC, 5/9, Red Bull Arena, FS1, 7 ET.