Steve Nash wants to bring MLS to Vancouver in 2011

posted by kidpurple July 31, 2008

It was recently announced that MLS hopes to bring two more new teams to the league in 2011.  Seattle is coming on next season and Philadelphia the following year.  Now all the talk of expansion teams is in Canada.  I do still think that St. Louis will probably get one and likely Vancouver could get the other.

Phoenix Suns point guard Steve Nash is a big soccer fan and former player.  Nash along with USL’s Vancouver Whitecaps owner Greg Kerfoot want to bring MLS to Vancouver.  The best part of this plan is that they want the team to be not-for-profit.  All profits the team would make would be invested back into amateur soccer in BC.  As far as I know this would be a first for Major League Soccer.

The owner of the Vancouver Canucks, Francesco Aquilini, was meeting with Nash and Kerfoot recently about MLS in Vancouver.  It is yet to be known weather Aquilini would be a potential partner or competitor to Nash and Kerfoot when it comes to bringing MLS to Vancouver.

Posted in MLS Expansion, USL, Vancouver Whitecaps | Comments (0)

Brian McBride traded to Chicago Fire

posted by kidpurple July 30, 2008

The rumors were true. Brian McBride is going to join the Chicago Fire. Toronto FC had the right to McBride, but McBride made it known that he wanted to play near his hometown which is right near Chicago. The Fire sent forward Chad Barrett to TFC along with future considerations in order to get McBride.

McBride spent several years playing for Fulham FC in England after a long and very successful career in Major League Soccer playing for the Columbus Crew. At the league’s 10th anniversary they named the all time best XI team which included Brian McBride.

Any team should be happy to have a player like McBride, but Toronto doesn’t come out of this deal in a bad way at all. Chad Barrett has played with both the US Olympic team and the full men’s national team. He should be a welcome addition at Toronto.

Posted in Brian McBride, Chad Barrett, Chicago Fire, Toronto FC | Comments (2)

What are the chances your team makes the playoffs?

posted by kidpurple July 29, 2008

This morning I found a great site that tracks the odds that your team is going to make the playoffs at each week. Sports Club Stats tracks 8 different sports including Major League Soccer. It looks like a pretty neat thing Mr. Ken Roberts has built, a bit complex but still pretty cool.

So lets look at the chances of all the MLS teams as of right now:

99.0% Revolution
95.2% Crew
80.3% Fire
70.3% Real Salt Lake
62.2% CD Chivas
62.0% D.C. United
60.8% Dynamo
51.7% Wizards
——————–
51.4% Toronto FC
48.6% Galaxy
41.5% FC Dallas
39.0% Red Bulls
33.3% Rapids
4.7% Earthquakes

Looks pretty bleak for Earthquakes fans and very bright for Revolution fans. Only one time out of 100 would the Revs fail to make the playoffs according to his calculations.

Posted in 2008 Playoffs | Comments (0)

Olympics and All-Stars

posted by kidpurple July 28, 2008

The Olympics only comes around once every 4 years – so I figured I could take some time to think about the Olympics for a little bit. I had a hard time finding a full Olympic schedule – so here ya go: 2008 Beijing Olympics Soccer Schedule.

So a camping trip this weekend kept me away from everything happening, but I was able to watch the All-Star game on Thursday night before leaving for the camping trip. It was great to see the MLS All-Stars win again! Thats about all I have the energy to write today.

Posted in MLS All Stars, Olympics | Comments (0)

MLS players going to Olympics

posted by kidpurple July 22, 2008

Peter Nowak named his sqaud for the Beijing Olympics. The team includes several current and former MLS players. Real Salt Lake, Toronto FC and Houston Dynamo are all losing 2 players to Nowak’s Olympic roster while the Columbus Crew, Chivas USA and the New England Revolution will be missing a single player to Nowak during the Olympics.

The Olympic competition is largely a U23 game – with the addition of 3 overage players. A surprise (to me at least) was the addition of Brian McBride rather than Landon Donovan. LA Galaxy coach Ruud Gullit warned that taking Donovan to the Olympics would be a bad idea due to the World Cup Qualifiers that will be going on in the upcoming months.

Here is the full squad:

Goalkeepers: Brad Guzan (Aston Villa), Chris Seitz (Real Salt Lake)

Defenders: Patrick Ianni (Houston Dynamo), Michael Orozco (San Luis), Michael Parkurst (New England Revolution), Nathan Sturgis (Real Salt Lake), Marvel Wynne (Toronto FC)

Midfielders: Freddy Adu (SL Benfica), Michael Bradley (SC Heerenveen), Maurice Edu (Toronto FC), Benny Feilhaber (Derby County), Stuart Holden (Houston Dynamo), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA), Danny Szetela (Brescia Calcio)

Forwards: Jozy Altidore (Villareal), Charlie Davies (Hammarby IF), Brian McBride (None), Robbie Rogers (Columbus Crew)

Posted in Brian Ching, Chris Seitz, Marvel Wynne, Maurice Edu, Michael Parkhurst, Nathan Sturgis, Patrick Ianni, Sacha Kljestan, Stuart Holden, US Soccer | Comments (3)

Revolution win SuperLiga group B

posted by kidpurple July 21, 2008

Both of the final games of group B finished with 1-1 draws which was good enough to send the New England Revolution through to the semi-finals with the top spot from group B.  Defending champions Pachuca advance with 4 points and second place in the group.

PTS – W – L – T (GF-GA) Team
7 – 2 – 0 – 1 (3-1) New England Revolution
4 – 1 – 1 – 1 (3-3) Pachuca CF
4 – 1 – 1 – 1 (3-3) Chivas USA
1 – 0 – 2 – 1 (1-3) Santos Languna

Tuesday the semi-finals get underway with Houston Dynamo playing Pachuca CF.   Then Wednesday’s semi-final will see New England Revolution play Atlante.

Posted in Atlante FC, Houston Dynamo, New England Revolution, Pachuca, SuperLiga | Comments (0)

New England and Chivas shine for MLS in SuperLiga yesterday

posted by kidpurple July 17, 2008

After a bad for for MLS at SuperLiga on Tuesday group B came alive for MLS as the New England Revolution and Chivas USA both came up with important 1-0 wins today over Pachuca and Santos Languna respectively. The Revolution are in good position to advance to the semi-finals, but have not been guaranteed anything yet. The next games will see MLS vs MLS and Mexico vs Mexico. This is the current standings:

PTS – W – L – T (GF-GA) Team
6 – 2 – 0 – 0 (2-0) New England Revolution
3 – 1 – 1 – 0 (2-2) Pachuca CF
3 – 1 – 1 – 0 (2-2) Chivas USA
0 – 0 – 2 – 0 (0-2) Santos Languna

Posted in Chivas USA, New England Revolution, Pachuca, Santos Languna, SuperLiga | Comments (0)

Bad day for MLS at SuperLiga

posted by kidpurple July 16, 2008

Group A played the 2nd round of games yesterday and neither of our MLS teams fared very well. Chivas scored the only goal of the game to beat Houston 1-0. This put Chivas into the semifinals. Atlante secured a 3-2 victory over DC United which ensures that DC United has no chance at the semi-finals. So this is what the table looks like now.

Group A
pts – w – l – t – (gf – ga) team
6 – 2 – 0 – 0 – (3-1) CD Guadalajara
3 – 1 – 1 – 0 – (4-1) Houston Dynamo
3 – 1 – 1 – 0 – (3-6) Atlante
0 – 0 – 2 – 0 – (3-5) D.C. United

The remaining games are Houston Dynamo vs DC United and Chivas vs Atlante.

What if Houston and Atlante both win?

Chivas, Houston and Atlante all end with 6 points. Only the top 2 teams advance to the semi-finals.

In that case goal difference would be the first tie-breaker. Houston is already +3 and would improve that with a victory. Chivas is +2 but would go lower with a loss. This would make sure Houston is ranked higher than Chivas. Atlante is -3 currently meaning they would need to beat Chivas by at least 7 goals to match Houston’s total – and that is if Houston only gets a victory by 1 goal difference. In this situation Houston would likely win the group.

What if Chivas and DC United win?

In this case Chivas win the group with a perfect 9 points. Houston, Atlante and DC United all have 3 points. Houston is +3, DC United is -2 and Atlante is -3 on goal difference. Houston and Atlante’s GD goes down and DC’s goes up. If DC were able to beat Houston by 3 goals they would have the best GD of these three teams, sending them onto the semi-finals.

To simplify it a little bit: Chivas will probably advance and DC United is probably done. Houston is in better position to take 2nd place in the group, but Atlante has a shot at it.

Posted in Atlante FC, CD Guadalajara, DC United, Houston Dynamo, SuperLiga | Comments (0)

MLS All Star roster is completed

posted by kidpurple July 15, 2008

Coach Steve Nicol added 5 players to the MLS All Star roster and commissioner Don Garber added his 2 commissioner picks to the squad that will face West Ham.

Nicol added Pablo Mastroeni, Juan Pable Angel, Jim Brennan, Christian Gomez and Pat Onstad. Garber choose Edson Buddle and Dwayne De Rosario.

So this is what the full squad looks like:

Goalkeeper: Pat Onstad (Houston Dynamo), Matt Reis (New England Revolution)

Defenders: Jim Brennan (Toronto FC), Jimmy Conrad (Kansas City Wizards), Frankie Hejduk (Columbus Crew), Michael Parkhurst (New England Revolution)

Midfielders: David Beckham (Los Angeles Galaxy), Cuauhtémoc Blanco (Chicago Fire), Dwayne De Rosario (Houston Dynamo), Christian Gomez (Colorado Rapids), Shalrie Joseph (New England Revolution), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA), Pablo Mastroeni (Colorado Rapids), Robbie Rogers (Columbus Crew)

Forwards: Juan Pablo Angel (forward, New York Red Bulls), Edson Buddle (Los Angeles Galaxy), Kenny Cooper (FC Dallas), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy)

The bold names could be on an Olympic roster – so alternates will be named by Nicol soon.

Who is most deserving that isn’t on that list? Emilio? Schelotto?

Who would likely replace those 3 if they are not able to compete?

Posted in Christian Gomez, Dwayne DeRosario, Edson Buddle, Jim Brennan, Juan Pablo Angel, MLS All Stars, Pablo Mastroeni, Pat Onstad | Comments (0)

Mark Cuban buys Major League Soccer

posted by kidpurple July 15, 2008

It is simply amazing that Mark Cuban was able to buy Major League Soccer.  The Texas billionaire was previously owner of the Dallas Mavericks of the NBA, but now he owns so much more.  His recent purchase was not limited to Major League Soccer – but also included many other top professional sports leagues and FIFA.

Cuban has not said what he will do with Major League Soccer if anything yet.  The most disappointing thing he plans to do since his recent purchases is to cancel the Olympics.

Go to the source and read the full article for yourself.

Posted in Fake News | Comments (0)