Live The Pitch

Thierry Henry took the pitch for the first time tonight in a New York Red Bulls Uniform playing spectacularly in his debut against Tottenham of the English Premier League. Tottenham defeated the Red Bulls 2-1 in front of a packed Red Bull Arena.

Henry scored his first goal for the Red Bulls in the 26th minute to put the Red Bulls on top at the half. New York squandered great chances in front of goal throughout the opening half and should have held a larger lead at the break.

Tottenham came out in the second half and took control early with New York making eight changes at the break. Robbie Keane would even the match in the 62nd minute for Tottenham after Red Bulls backup goalkeeper Greg Sutton severely misplayed a corner allowing Keane to pounce on the loose ball.

The Red Bulls halftime substitutions would falter again in the 72nd minute when left back Jeremy Hall tried to head the ball back to Sutton. The back pass was intercepted by a streaking Gareth Bale who touched it into the net for the match winner. Red Bulls had a golden opportunity to tie the match in the 80th minute, but Connor Chinn’s header rang the crossbar

Henry couldn’t ask for a better start to his MLS career. Henry will look to get more playing time as they get back into league play. Henry was awarded man of the match and was arguably the best player on the pitch throughout the opening half. The Red Bulls should be proud of their effort in the match especially in the first half when their better players were on the pitch.

Manchester United continued their preseason tour in the U.S. defeating the Philadelphia Union 1-0 in an exhibition match. Manchester United are now 2-0 in their preseason tour, also defeating Celtic FC 3-1 over the weekend in Toronto. United will play the Kansas City Wizards this Sunday and then finish the trip with a match against the MLS All-Stars on July 28 in Houston.

Philadelphia gave United all they could handle and were very unlucky not to get a better result. United are missing key players such as Wayne Rooney, Michael Carrick, Nemanja Vidic, Park Ji-Sung, Patrice Evra, and Nani on the trip. Even without these top players, United still have a star studded roster here.

United looked strong as the match began knocking on the doorstep of the Union defense, but couldn’t find the last ball to get a decent chance at goal. Philadelphia took it to United creating numerous chances to goal toward the end of the half. Sebastien Le Toux had the best chance for the Union in the opening half, but his chance missed by inches.

Philadelphia came out in the second half and took it to United creating numerous chances with young star Jack McInerney sending a low driven shot just by the far post. United would weather the storm and finally break though in the 76th minute when Gabriel Obertan recieved a great through ball in behind the Union defense to net the match winner.

Even with the result not what they dreamed about, Philadelphia should be proud of their effort. It has turned out to be a great week for the Union after beating Celtic FC 1-0 last Wednesday. This is great to see for fans here in the United States as the MLS is largely looked as an inferior league to the rest of the world. With many more exhibition matches to come, hopefully the MLS teams can continue to hold their own.

The English Premier League is widely considered by many as the top league in the world known for its great fan support and beautiful soccer.  Fans in the EPL are some of the most passionate you will find in any sport.  Vuvuzelas have no place in the stadiums in England though.

Tottenham,Arsenal, Birmingham, Everton, Fulham, Liverpool, West Ham United and Sunderland have come forward and banned the controversial vuvuzela horn for the upcoming season.

“Following discussions with the police and representatives from the local licensing authorities, the club will not be permitting vuvuzelas or similar instruments into White Hart Lane on match days,” Tottenham said. “We are concerned that the presence of the instruments within the stadium pose unnecessary risks to public safety.”

Most teams are coming forward and saying that the dreadful horns would cause safety concerns.  I understand not being able to hear the PA announcer, but with all the talk about how flat out annoying they are had to have something to do with it.

This is great news to me!  The ear throbbing sound that comes from a vuvuzela has no place in the stadiums.  I would be thrilled if the entire EPL banned these horrendous instruments from stadiums.  It is understandable for the horns to be in South Africa, but they shouldn’t be allowed anywhere else!

After nine months of hard work, Vardar and Chicago Magic have been crowned U.S. Development Academy National Champions. This is the greatest accomplishment for a youth program in the U.S. Livethepitch would like to congratulate  both teams and also  all teams who participated in finals week.

In the U-17/18 division Vardar defeated Crossfire Premier 3-1 in the championship match. Kelyn Rowe found the back of the net for Crossfire to grab the early lead, but Vardar was not going down without a fight.

Vardar would score three unanswered goals to win the title. Peter Jacobson was able to knock in a rebound off the crossbar to even the match and Derek Schrauben would score two goals to lead Vardar to victory.
Final U-17/18 Standings

1. Vardar
2. Crossfire Premier
3. Real SoCal
4. CASL Chelsea Acadamy
5. Baltimore Bays
6. FC Dallas
7. Concorde Fire
8. Derby County Wolves

In the U-15/16 division Chicago Magic defeated Cal Odyssey in penalty kicks to win the championship. The fire took the early lead with a goal from Luis Medina in the 20th minute. Cal Odyssey were the runner up in this event last year and would not go down quietly with Gregory Antongnoli getting the equalizer ten minutes into the second half.

The match stayed tied throughout the rest of regulation and both overtime periods forcing a shootout. Chicago would make all five shots in the shootout winning 5-4 after goalkeeper Sam Euler saved the 2nd shot from Cal Odyssey.

Final U-15/16 Standings

1. Cicago Fire
2. Cal Odyssey
3. Baltimore Bays
4. De Anza Force
5. Internationals
6. Sockers
7. CASL Chelsea Academy
8. DC United

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I’m in DC for the weekend, planning my vacation around two DC United games.  The first was last night against Seattle.  In a game where DC had many more of the chances, Seattle popped a goal late to take the victory.  It’s really the story of DC’s season.

First, let’s start with the highlights.  Even for an old, beat up stadium, RFK has a great atmosphere.  It was nice to see that in a largely forgettable season, there was a good crowd on a Thursday night that were into the game.  The atmosphere picked up with every DC chance in the second half.  That’s why I love this team and love the possibilities of MLS.

As for the play on the field, I especially liked the play of second half substitutes Pablo Hernandez and Branko Boskovic in their United debuts.  While the season is pretty much over at this point, there’s hope for the future with these two signings as well as the play of young stars Andy Najar and Chris Pontius.  Hernandez’s movement off the ball was impressive, consistently making the right runs to create space.  He also looked good in the air, nearly scoring with a header that forced a point blank save by Kasey Keller.  Boskovic is a very technically skilled player with a great first touch.  Once he settles into the team, I think he’ll be very helpful in jump starting United’s woeful attack.  I’m still not sure if he wouldn’t be better as a winger, but that’s another discussion.

The defense, which has been playing well lately, ended up killing the team again.  A giveaway in possession by rookie Jordan Graye allowed Fredy Montero to break away.  Montero’s cross found a loosely marked Roger Levesque, who finished nicely with a diving header.  When you can’t score goals, there’s even more pressure on the defense.  DC’s defense has been held together by duct tape and prayers this season, and it shows in the stats.

I’m hoping we’ll get a better overall performance out of the team on Sunday night as the LA Galaxy come to town.  The thought of Landon Donovan and Edson Buddle running at this defense is scary though.