Live The Pitch

TORONTO-HOUSTON: 1-1

Toronto kept their seven game unbeaten run alive, although not in the most impressive fashion.  The teams traded headers, Brian Ching put the Dynamo up in the 73rd minute before Dan Gargan tied it for the Reds in the 84th minute.  The teams also traded red cards, with both Julian de Guzman and Joseph Ngwenya sent off.

REAL SALT LAKE-NEW ENGLAND: 5-0

RSL welcomed back Robbie Findley with an emphatic 5-0 win over the Revolution.  Costa Rican Alvaro Saborio scored two and put himself in contention for MVP status as he continued his great play since joining the club.  Findley contributed a goal late as RSL put four past Matt Reis in the second half.

COLUMBUS-CHICAGO:  2-1

The Crew beat Chicago at Crew Stadium in the regular season for the first time since 2004 with goals by Adam Moffat and Jason Garey. The Fire was able to equalize Moffat’s tally only through a Frankie Hejduk own goal right before halftime.  The win moves the Crew two points in front of New York for first place in the Eastern Conference.

DALLAS-KANSAS CITY:  1-0

David Ferreira drew a PK in the second half and converted it to give FC Dallas a 1-0 victory over the Wizards.  Kevin Hartman shut out his former employers in a rainy, sloppy affair.

SAN JOSE-DC UNITED:  1-1

Ike Opara put the Earthquakes up after DC was unable to clear a corner kick in the first half.  Andy Najar answered with an excellent finish off a Stephen King cross to earn United a point on the road.  San Jose owned the first half of play, but couldn’t put anything together in the second to hold their early lead.

CHIVAS USA-PHILADELPHIA:  1-1

The expansion Union were able to get a point at the Home Depot Center against struggling Chivas USA.  Rookie Danny Mwanga scored in the 21st minute to put Philly in the lead, Blair Gavin equalized with a blast from outside the box before halftime.  Zach Thornton made a huge save on Fred in the second half to preserve the draw for Chivas.

COLORADO-NEW YORK:  1-1

Juan Pablo Angel salvaged a point for the Red Bulls on the road in Colorado.  Omar Cummings put the Rapids up 1-0 on an excellent pass from Conor Casey.  Angel answered after being left alone on a New York corner kick.  The Rapids had their chances in the second half to take the victory, but couldn’t beat former goalkeeper Bouna Coundoul.

LOS ANGELES-SEATTLE:  3-1

Edson Buddle returned from South Africa with a goal off a Landon Donovan corner kick.  Juninho scored one of the goals of the season with a thirty yard blast that left Kasey Keller with no chance.  Seattle’s Steve Zakuani scored an excellent goal of his own to cut the lead in half, but a James Riley own goal ended up doing them in late in the second half.

With all of the World Cup excitement recently, it’s easy to forget about Major League Soccer here in the US.  Let’s try to get caught up, shall we?

STANDINGS

We are just under the midway point of the season for most teams, and it’s the Los Angeles Galaxy who have been the class of the league so far.  With 33 points in 14 games, and a stout defense only giving up four goals all year, LA is definitely setting the pace.  Landon Donovan and Edson Buddle are returning to the squad this Sunday at home against Seattle on ESPN2.  Will Donovan finish the season with the Galaxy, or will a European squad swoop in with a bag of cash?  We’ll see once the transfer window opens up…

Trailing the Galaxy in the West are the defending champions, Real Salt Lake.  Colorado is surprisingly in third, followed by three teams on 18 points in Houston, Dallas, and San Jose.  Seattle has been a disappointment so far with only 15 points and Chivas USA is on the bottom with only 10 points.  The road is only going to get harder for Chivas as they sold star midfielder Sacha Kljestan to Belgian giants Anderlecht last month.

The East is led by Columbus and New York with 24 points, although the Crew have a game in hand on the Red Bulls.  Toronto is chasing a playoff berth with 19 points.  Chicago is sitting on 17 points.  Kansas City and New England have struggled this season, Philadelphia is a tougher team than expected even in their first year.  It’s DC United that has been the biggest disappointment this season.  A promising run before the World Cup break was extinguished with a 2-0 loss in Columbus last week.

STARS

Edson Buddle’s early season tear earned him a trip to South Africa, he’s still leading the league with 9 goals.  Dwayne De Rosario (TOR) and Juan Pablo Angel (NY) trail him with 8.  Landon Donovan is leading in assists with 9, followed by the revival of Bobby Convey (SJ) who has 7.  San Jose has been one of the surprises of 2010, with Convey and Chris Wondolowski (7 goals) leading the way.

Sebastien Le Toux has kept the expansion Philadelphia Union competitive, showing the form that dominated the USL D-1 before the Sounders moved up to MLS.

The Galaxy’s Jamaican goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts has been the class of the league, only giving up four goals all year.  His defense, led by young American Omar Gonzalez, has been outstanding.

NEWCOMERS

Expect to see more additions as the transfer window opens on the 15th, but a few have started to be announced by MLS clubs.  Seattle made a deal to acquire Swiss international and World Cup player Blaise Nkufo.  He’s 35 years old and has starred with FC Twente for the last seven years, hitting double digits in goal in each of those seasons.  He started all of Switzerland’s games in South Africa.

DC United has made a pair of signings to try to reverse their fortunes.  Branko Bošković, a member of the Montenegro national team, and Pablo Hernandez, a young Argentine forward, will be joining United in the coming weeks.  Bošković played briefly with Paris Saint-Germain before settling at Rapid Wien in Austria.  Hernandez joins the team on loan from Uruguayan Club Defensor Sporting.

There is also the rumored signing of Thierry Henry to New York.  While nothing has been announced officially, Barcelona has let Henry out of his contract.  This paves the way for a free transfer to the Big Apple.

SCHEDULE

Highlights this week include an Eastern Conference battle in Columbus as the Crew take on the visiting Chicago Fire on Saturday night on Fox Soccer Channel.  ESPN2 picked up the homecoming July 4th match for Landon Donovan and Edson Buddle against Seattle.  Sunday also sees New York travel to Colorado in an interesting match between two of the league’s bigger surprises this season.

Check back with us Monday for a recap of the weekend’s action.

Landon Donovan, star of the U.S. national team has confirmed that he has been diagnosed with the H1N1 swine flu virus.  He allegedly contracted the disease from two Galaxy staff members sometime last week while in Foxborough, Mass.

Donovan, who was feeling terribly ill, played the full 90 minutes in the USA-Mexico match this past Wednesday. “I haven’t felt that way in a game in a long time,” Donovan said from Los Angeles. “During the game and even after the game I thought maybe it was the altitude, the heat, whatever.”

“The last time I was there [at Estadio Azteca] I didn’t feel that bad. I just felt lethargic, slow. I didn’t feel normal,” said Landon. Even with the swine flu he assisted in the only goal for the U.S. in the 2-1 loss.  Hang up the boots for a bit and get some rest Lando, you deserve it.

Donovan is not sure how long this will keep him off the pitch.  His next match is this Saturday with the LA Galaxy taking on the Seattle Sounders.  Let’s hope this is a mild strain of the virus and he is back at full-speed soon.

Everton took down the 2009 MLS All-Star’s with a 4-3 victory in penalty kicks after the match was tied 1-1 in regulation.  This was the first time that the MLS has lost this event since the format was changed.  Usually this game is full of action, but this all-star game lacked the flash and creativity of past events.

Everton opened the scoring in the 12th minute. Stuart Holden played a ball across the middle of the field to Louis Saha who found himself one v one with MLS keeper Kasey Keller.  It was an awful ball by Holden who has had a great summer with the U.S. national team.  Saha made the most of this opportunity finding the back of the net giving Everton the early 1-0 lead.

The MLS would tie the match in the 26th minute when Brad Davis struck one into the back of the net.  It was great combination play by the MLS with Connor Casey slotting the ball into Holden, who then tipped it to a wide open Davis on the back post.  Throughout the remainder of the half both teams were playing toe-to-toe with neither team able to break the deadlock.

In the second half both teams made major changes to their lineups.  The MLS sure seemed to get stronger with the addition of Landon Donovan on the field.  Donovan has been in great form the past few months, and hopefully this continues with the U.S. approaching a difficult stretch of World Cup qualifiers.

Both squads missed golden opportunities to score throughout the second half. The only reason the MLS did not go up a goal is because of the superb play from Everton goal keeper Tim Howard.  He made numerous key saves to keep the game tied as regulation came to an end.

Howard again was huge in the penalty kicks.  He made 3 saves in the shootout to give Everton a 4-3 win.  Bob Bradley had to be licking his chops seeing Howard perform this well.  Howard, who has had his ups and downs in the past, is now being considered amongst the worlds elite goalkeepers.

Overall, I was very disappointed in this game.  Neither squad really got into any kind of rhythm, which made the game drag along.  Yes, Everton is a top EPL team, but the MLS needs to put on a better performance if it wants to be considered a top league.  Right now the MLS is considered a lower tier league in the internatinal club scene, and if the All-Star team can not beat an EPL club team that will not change any time soon!