The Footie » mls

Toronto FC Hires New Assistant Coach

Jyle Dupuis — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 06:26:42 +0000

The Toronto FC of the Major Soccer League has been through some major changes after the end of this season. With a new head coach scheduled for the 2010 season much has been done to shake things up. Today they have announced that they will be replacing their assistant coach as well.

Toronto FC

John Carver will be replaced by Leo Percovich, who acted as a goal-keeper coach for Chivas USA. Carver decided not to renew his contract after getting an offer from Nike to work for them in Beaverton, Oregon. Percovich has worked with Preki before as the two were coaches for Chivas USA. The combination did well before and it is expected to do well for the Toronto FC as well.

Image: TSN.ca

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Real Salt Lake Wins MLS Cup!

Jyle Dupuis — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 03:00:12 +0000

It was a remarkable victory for the Real Salt Lake after defeating LA Galaxy 5-4 in penalty kicks. Beckham was clearly in pain during the later part of the game but he trudged through showing his devotion for his team. He later told reporters that he had to be given shots in his ankle to settle the swelling but after just 50 minuites of play time he was back in serious pain again. Donovan did his best to help carry his team but in the end they fell short.

Real Salt Lake wins MLS Cup over LA Galaxy

Some called it a game of Russian Roulette where both teams were so clearly equally matched and that in the end the win came by the shear luck of the draw. Well after this whole ordeal Beckham was able to set aside his differences with his team and prove that he was devoted to them despite wanting to take off to Real Madrid this past summer. Well LA Galaxy, better luck next year…

Image: TSN.ca

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Montreal Regains Hope for MLS Franchise

Jyle Dupuis — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:03:04 +0000

The Montreal Impact felt like they were duped when they withdrew their bid for a MLS franchise after finding out that the MLS is charging a $40 million expansion fee. The Impact could have been playing in the MLS by 2011 had they followed through with the deal. However, not all is lost for the Canadian soccer team.

Montreal Impact's cause to celebrate!

Their hopes of being added to the MLS have been renewed after MLS commissioner Don Garber extended his desire to have Montreal added as the 18th team to the league. The hopes are that they will be able to expand to a well rounded 20 team. The $40 million Montreal refused to pay has since been reduced to a more reasonable $35 million. There are also rumors that David Beckham has expressed interest in being a part owner of the Montreal Impact. His contract with the MLS includes a clause that allows him to collect investments.

Image: TSN.ca

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England To Play Without Beckham

Jyle Dupuis — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 04:27:05 +0000

David Beckham promised himself that he would play for every England national soccer game. With over a hundred games played Beckham now holds the record for most games played with England. However his commitments with England will have to be on hold now that the LA Galaxy have made it to the Western Finals in the MLS.

David Beckham not happy about missing England game

The LA Galaxy kept the MLS Cup dreams alive by beating Chivas USA. They will now face Houston in the finals. In Beckham’s contract he give priority to all England games except in the event of a MLS playoff. Not sure why missing this game with England is such a big deal. England’s game is just a friendly against Brazil. The two teams will face each other in Qatar.

Image: TSN.ca

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Beckham Off To Milan After MLS Season

Jyle Dupuis — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 07:32:23 +0000

David Beckham has repeatedly reaffirmed his commitment to his LA Galaxy team, the MLS and soccer in North America in general. But he still hangs onto his dreams of playing on the team England squad and to do so he knows that he needs to be in the best shape possible. To do that he has to play for AC Milan during the MLS off-season. What that means for Beckham is that after the season is over in mid November he will be off to Milan to play for their club as well as play for any England qualifying matches that spring up.

David Beckham

With Beckham’s race over to Milan scheduled for January, many fans are wondering if he’s going to try to skip out on LA Galaxy again. Who know I suppose. He denies the rumours but lets face it fans should have the right worry about him not returning. The only thing that really keeps him in North America is his 5 year contract (that could be broken if needed), and his hopes of owning a MLS soccer team in the future. Some are even speculating that he’s plannning on buying the Montreal Impact if they joined the MLS.

Image: Newscom

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Seattle Sounders Eliminates F.C. Dallas

Jyle Dupuis — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 06:51:55 +0000

The Seattle Sounders shut down any hopes for the F.C. Dallas winning the Major League Soccer Cup this year by eliminating them from the playoffs. Saturday night’s game at the Qwest Fields in Seattle was a saddening loss for Dallas when they let in two goals, ending the game 2-1.

Sigi Schmid waves to the fans, in a 3-0 Seattle Sounders victory over the New Your Red Bulls, Thursday, March 19, 2009.

The lone point was enough to crush Dallas dreams for a cup this season but hey did they really think they could best the Seattle Sounders? The team was introduced this 2009 season and was marked as the team to beat after they acquired Steve Zakuani (who was the MLS first draft pick) and head coach Sigi Schmid.

Not only was the victory a important one for the Sounders it was also significant because it marked Sigi Schmid’s 125 game wins in the MLS, a new all time record.

Image: Newscom

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Toronto FC Has Gone From Bad To Worse

Jyle Dupuis — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 07:47:04 +0000

The Toronto FC soccer club has gone from bad to worse for midfielder Carl Robinson. Toronto FC are three points behind a spot that would give them a chance to play towards the MLS Cup this year and they have no hope of making it. To make matters worse Robinson collided with a team member during practice injuring his face.

Toronto FC midfielder Carl Robinson (33). The New York Red Bulls defeated Toronto FC 2-0 during a Major League Soccer match at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ, on August 17, 2008.

The injury was so severe that he was advised to get reconstructive surgery from his physician. The surgery will keep him off of the pitch for at least 6 weeks. That’s more than enough time to miss out on the painful last three game his team will have to play to end the season.

Image: Newscom

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Is Beckham Still a Hope For MLS?

Jyle Dupuis — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 20:42:57 +0000

Jeff Baker at New University wrote an interesting article today about David Beckham and his contributions (or lack thereof) to the development of soccer in North America. It’s true that this is a tough market to crack. We seem to love technical games like football and baseball or fighting games like boxing, ultimate fighting, wrestling and hockey. If you put those two together soccer represents a game we wouldn’t enjoy. Low scoring easy to understand games with players acting like pansy’s in the field.

David Beckham

Jeff Baker argued that Beckham was acquired by the LA Galaxy as a promotional tool rather than a player. He does play, but it looks like Beckham only saves his good moves for Real Madrid or Team England. Is it because he doesn’t have a good enough team to work with? I could have argued on that, but come on it’s been long enough now Beckham needs to prove that he’s playing in the MLS. Soccer will never be what it could be if no one really tries.

So far the only contributions Beckham has given the MLS and LA Galaxy is sales of Galaxy jerseys and increased ticket prices ($400, up from $100 pre-Beckham). I think it’s time to pull the plug on Beckham and just duke it out with North American soccer. Maybe change the rules, shorten the field size, allow tackles. That sort of thing. They’ll never get to play for FIFA but who cares, it will get people watching the game.

Image: Newscom

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Whitecaps Beat Aztex 2-1 in USL-1

Jyle Dupuis — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 16:51:10 +0000

It looked like they were going to lose after the first half of the game. However, the Vancouver Whitecaps managed to come back and defeat the Austin Aztex 2-1. The tie and winning goals where put in by Marcus Haber and Gordon Chin on home turf at the Burnaby Stadium near Vancouver. It was Chin’s first goal on home grounds.

Vancouver Whitecaps

The Vancouver Whitecaps and Austin Aztex are currently in the United Soccer League, first division. The Aztex are now 5-17-9 while the Whitecaps stand at 10-10-9. The leaders in the division are currently the Rochester Rhinos though they were unable to clench any victory over the Miami FC Blues.

Image: TSN.ca

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Toronto FC Keeps Hope Alive For MLS Cup

Jyle Dupuis — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 21:51:19 +0000

It was cause for some big celebrations yesterday when Toronto FC defeated the Colorado Rapids 3-2. The game earned Toronto enough points to keep their hopes for the Major League Soccer Cup dreams alive. For the last three seasons the Toronto FC have played in the MLS they have never made it to the playoff rounds.

Toronto FC players celebrate O'Brian White's goal during MLS action at BMO Field Toronto in a game between Colorado Rapids and Toronto FC. September 12, 2009

Dwayne De Rosario made the first goal of the game in the 19th minute giving Toronto the first lead. After two more points followed Toronto coach Chris Cummins jumped for joy and told reporters that he believes that the team now has the confidence to play in the playoffs. The last time Toronto faced Colorado it ended in a defeat 1-0.

Image: Newscom

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