Tag Archives: Montreal Impact

MLS Radar: Week 11

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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 9

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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.

MLS Radar: Week 8

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Week8This series has taken a hit these last two weeks with coverage that has been weak to non existent. Not even a quarter of the way into MLS’ brutal 34 match schedule and Soccer Therapy’s MLS weekly, the Radar Series, is already struggling. But just as a club’s season is not defined by a poor run of form, my blog and this series will not be defined by this brief dip in production.

This week I was back to my MLS watching ways and a few things crossed my radar that I’ll be discussing below. I never like to give a minute by minute, event by event, or match by match recap of the action, but because it’s easy and I am rusty, I’ll be listing off week 8 results and offering some thoughts on each one. Below that you will find my F-Up of the Week, GOTW and TOTW (pure gold this week) sections, along with a brief mention of Montreal’s CCL exploits.

Picture22

A sneak peek of the Tweet of the Week

CHI 1 – 0 NYCFC
Chicago Fire took their third straight match and moved to 3-3-0 on the year. After a draw filled 2014 they have yet to draw a match so far this year. Their new DPs are starting to make an impact and Frank Yallop has his side playing some of the most positive soccer in MLS. See more on this match in the F-Up of the Week section.

COL 1 – 1 FCD
A brilliant assist by Fabian Castillo in the 31st minute looked to have FCD on track for all three points. But a senseless straight red card for striker Blas Perez forced Dallas to play down a man for the final half hour of the match and they eventually gave up the equalizer. Fabian Castillo has been brilliant of late – following up his brace against TFC with the breathtaking assist this week. it will be interesting to see Pareja’s starting XI for next Friday (vs. Houston Dynamo) – 2014 Rookie of the Year Tesho Akindele started on the bench vs. Colorado. I’d like to see him get the nod in place of the suspended Perez rather than any sort of formation change because I believe the 4-2-3-1 is Dallas’ most promising look.

CLB 4 – 1 PHI
A good team crushed a bad team. I didn’t see the match but the result is about what one could have expected.

NE 4 – 0 RSL
RSL have collected points in the early going but haven’t been overwhelming in their performances as they continue to work out the kinks from their formation change. I felt like this was coming coming from the Claret and Cobalt. RSL seem further and further away from the Kreis days. What’s next, Beckerman and Rimando get traded?

HOU 4 – 4 SKC
A crazy game with goals, lead changes and controversy. These two teams are struggling to find points and this is a result that will bug both managers. Fortunately for these two conference newcomers, quite a few points were dropped as Seattle were the only member of the west to collect max points on the weekend.

VAN 1 – 2 DCU
This match takes Surprise of the Week honors. Vancouver were big favorites in my mind, but then again, they haven’t performed their best at home in 2015. But with the rest of the west struggling, Vancouver have plenty of time to find their BC Place form.

NYRB 1 – 1 LAG
NYRB continue their run as the lone unbeaten in MLS in 2015. Promising young Galaxy forward Bradford Jamieson IV opened his MLS account with this classy move and finish. In a week marred by horrid officiating across MLS, this was a game filled with cowardly calls (see Simon Borg’s week 8 Instant Replay video) and some nasty challenges.

ORL 0 – 2 TFC
This guy (the tweet below) said it pretty good. Someone else on Twitter also brought up Orlando’s 3-0 loss in Columbus a week ago. That’s now two straight shutout losses. After a nice start to the season with some impressive performances and the points to show for it, I think a lot of us sort of forgot that OCSC are still an expansion side. Week 8, however, served as a rude reminder to Lions fans that their club is indeed in its infantile stages.

Orl torSEA 1 – 0 POR
Seattle is currently best in the west in terms of points per match, averaging 1.86 through seven contests while PTFC is struggling, averaging just 1.13 through eight matches in 2015. Clint Dempsey bagged the 77th minute winner, marking his fourth consecutive match with a goal in what some journalists are calling “The Great American Soccer Rivalry.” Going forward, PTFC need their midfield stalwarts Diego Valeri and Will Johnson playing and fully fit if they are to avoid a repeat of 2014, where they finished a point shy of a playoff spot after a slow start.

Fup OTW image

Ryan Meara (GK) – NYCFC

Ryan Meara made the gaffe of the year in the 20th minute, costing his side the result and the clean sheet on the road. Seriously dude, just let it go out for the corner next time.

GOTW image

Call me a homer, but I’m giving this week’s award to FC Dallas’ Fabian Castillo (assist) and Mauro Diaz – see the goal here in MLS’ GOTW video . The goal itself was nothing, the individual display by forward Fabian Castillo to create the look was breathtaking. Watch #5 for Colorado totally bite it as Fabian makes his first move.

I thought Fabian was massively dissed by MLSsoccer.com in week 7 when they failed to even nominate this strike for GOTW honors. That is a great through ball, two great touches, and a world class finish with his off foot. I have no idea how it wasn’t even nominated for GOTW a week ago – so I’ll give Fabian some love here in week 8.

TOTWimage

This week’s TOTW goes to @davisjsn for this perfect response to a bizarre goal celebration. See the amazing golazo and ensuing celebration here and check out the winning tweet below.

Picture18It was quite a week in the TwitterSphere, so I’ve listed some honorable mention tweets here below.

Picture19I don’t see the need to make this post any longer, but I simply have to mention the Montreal Impact in this concluding paragraph. Their unbelievable run in the CONCACAF Champions League looked all but over when they drew Mexican power house Club America in the final. But the club invested heavily, sending the team down to Mexico six days prior to the match and allowing the players to acclimate as much as possible to the altitude and environment. Then on Wednesday night, the Impact put forth a remarkable effort at the intimidating Estadio Azteca in front of 105,000 fans, leading most of the match before settling for a priceless 1-1 draw. Check out the highlights here – the music is hilarious. Every single CCL highlight video features that same ridiculous audio track and I love it!

The Impact took care of business on the road and now head home with an opportunity to finish the job in front of what will be a raucous crowd. But when you back a beast up against a wall you get their nastiest reaction, and that could be what’s in store for Montreal in leg two. Something tells me they’ll need to play even better in this second leg to have a chance. It’s been an amazing journey for all MLS fans thus far and it concludes on Wednesday night, April 29th, 7pm CST on FoxSports2.