Liverpool FC co-owner George Gillett linked up with with Montreal Impact owner Joey Saputo to bring a Major League Soccer franchise to Montreal. Besides his ties to soccer through Liverpool, Gillett also has ties to the area as majority owner of the NHL’s Montreal Canadiens.

Montreal was one of seven candidate cities announced last fall, and seen as an early favorite, before becoming the first city to drop out of the bidding (depending on whom you ask. MLS says they dropped out. Montreal said they were forced). Gillett’s exact role in the bid’s failure remains unclear, but earlier this month the Racine, Wisc., native put the Canadiens and other sports holdings up for sale.

“From my experience, the level of play was better than that of the WUSA inaugural game.”–Washington Freedom head coach Jim Gabarra on the Women’s Professional Soccer inaugural, played Sunday at Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif. The Los Angeles Sol defeated Washington 2-0.

Gabarra should know about the subject, having coached the prior incarnation of the Freedom in the 2001 WUSA opener. Those Freedom won that game, 1-0 over the Bay Area CyberRays in front of 34,148 at Washington, D.C.’s RFK Stadium. Hopefully that’s a good sign for the nascent WPS.

Empty stands, lethargic players, disheveled coaches. Many questions but no answers. After two games FC Dallas already have the look of a last placed club. These are the sentiments after Dallas 2-0 home loss to Chivas USA in MLS' Sunday showcase. "A frustrating game," said FCD head coach Schellas Hyndman.

ASN's Philip Woodruff reports from Pizza Hut Park in Frisco, Tex.

Toronto FC drew kicked off the 2009 Trillium Cup in Columbus on Saturday, playing to a 1-1 draw in front of a large contingent travelling fans at Crew Stadium.

Having won 3-2 in Kansas City last week, John Carver’s Toronto side were looking to carry that momentum into a trip to the defending league and cup champions. The match represented the first of the 2009 Trillium Cup, a trophy awarded to the team with the most points from the regular-season meetings between the clubs and won by the Crew last season with a win and two draws against TFC.

What is quickly becoming an early-season ritual for Toronto fans saw more than 1500 pilgrims travel to Columbus again this season. The south end at Crew Stadium was covered in red for a second straight home opener, with the defending champions looking to repeat the 2-0 win that saw them start last year’s campaign in style.

Columbus were pressuring early on and won a penalty at the half hour mark, league and MLS Cup MVP Guillermo Barros-Schelotto playing a cross off the arm of Kevin Harmse in the area. The Argentine stepped up and sent the resulting penalty past a diving Stefan Frei and down the middle to take the lead.

Frei was on his toes to keep the lead at one through the rest of the first half, and pulled off a spectacular save from an Emmanuel Ekpo strike just minutes after seeing the post deny Eddie Gaven.

Greg Sutton replaced the Swiss keeper at halftime in what appeared to be a pre-planned switch by Carver, who had named two keepers on the substitutes bench with Brian Edwards staying on the sideline. Frei was diagnosed with a slight back problem at half time but club officials have since indicated it is not a serious injury.

Sutton managed to keep Columbus at bay in the second half until Dwayne De Rosario had a chance to whip in a free kick for the away side with 10 minutes remaining. With the Toronto fans lighting flares and setting off smoke in the south end, De Ro sent in a dipping ball that Gino Padula attempted to head out of danger and inadvertently sent past a diving Will Hesmer and into his own net.

Columbus had several late chances with Jason Garey particularly troubling the Toronto defense, but the Reds were able to hold on to claim a point at the defending champions.

Asked for his take on his side’s failure to maintain their lead, Columbus goalkeeper Hesmer was unequivocal.

“At the end of the game, you’ve got to close it out,” he told assembled media after the match. “Just pumping balls out, and throwing them into their half, and hoping that that is going to get the job done, just doesn’t cut it. We need a little bit more experience and [to] learn to finish the game and keep better possession.”

Columbus are in Salt Lake on Thursday night, while Toronto host Seattle on Saturday in the Canadian side’s home opener. The expansion side have won two home games of their own to lead the Western Conference early in their maiden MLS campaign.

It’s as overused a cliché as there is-“It was a tale of two halves” – but often it’s apropos and the 1-1 draw between DC United and Chicago Fire played at RFK Stadium in Washington, DC certainly fits that description.

United squandered another lead and the Fire came from behind on the road for the second consecutive week, earning four of a possible six points in their first two matches as the guests of two home openers.

United dominated the first half taking the lead in the seventh minute on a fantastic goal by Luciano Emilio, his first of the season. The Fire allowed a sensational 9th minute goal to Kenny Cooper at FC Dallas in their first match before taking over on their way to a dominating 3-1 result.

“We started the game very well. I thought we put a heck of a lot into it and then denied them all over the place,” said D.C. coach Tom Soehn. “I wish we would have come out with a little bit more in the first half because we put so much into it and it showed, because our legs were a little heavy coming out in the second half.

“The tide changed and then we were on the defensive end. And you know any time we play each other that it’s going to be a battle, and they’re going to compete right down to the wire.”

However, after a stern talking to and some tactical adjustments by coach Denis Hamlett, the Fire completely swung the momentum to their side in the second half, equalizing the match in the 53rd minute on a classy finish by Patrick Nyarko that was aided by a poor decision by United goalkeeper Josh Wicks.

“I’m not sure I can tell you,” said a smiling Hamlett, referring to the actual words he said he used during his halftime talk. “We put it out on the table. It was an honest talk as far as ‘look we need to step our game up’ we knew we didn’t play well.

“We didn’t pass the ball well, we didn’t move well but sometimes you are going to have that but the most important thing is that you still have to compete; you still got to want to win and the 50/50’s and the second balls that is what was disturbing about the first half because we talked about it prior to the game. When you play DC that is what is what this game is always about; two teams that are always competing.”

In the first half, United won nearly every 50-50 ball and held most of the possession despite Christian Gomez’ getting few quality attacking touches and needing to be a critical factor. Both coaches concurred that the difference was winning the second balls was the primary difference in the two halves.

“I think it was a lot tougher. The first half we were first to every second ball and 60-30 balls we were winning,” said Soehn. “The second half it went more to their side. I think we put a lot into it. Overall, I don’t think the structure of things changed as much as what we had at the start.”

“The first half was not a particularly good half for us,” agreed Hamlet. “But we talked about a few things at halftime and each guy as a group we needed to step up the intensity and competing and the will to want to win the game.”

“He said 50/50 balls, pick up your energy, they are beating us to every loose ball, just make it hard on them. If they have time and space, they are tough,” said Justin Mapp, giving a synopsis of Hamlet’s pleas at the break. “We were losing all the second balls in the first half and we brought more energy which made it harder on them and that is what got us back in the game.”

“DC came out with a great mentality in the first half. We knew they were going to do that for their home opener and it’s always tough to play here,” added goalkeeper Jon Busch. “We didn’t do good enough with that in the first half and we were fortunate to only be down one. In the second half our mentality was fantastic. We started picking up all of the second balls, started winning tackles and those were things we were missing in the first half.”

A soggy field after two straight days of rain didn’t help either team with good possession but United was definitively the more commanding side through the first stanza. The extra man in the midfield within United’s 3-5-2 formation caused significant marking problems for the Fire.

Emilio collected the ball around 20-yards from goal with open space directly into the Fire penalty area. He let a strong low, left footed shot go from 17-yards before the Fire’s Wilman Conde could close him down, beating an extended Busch just inside the right post to make the score 1-0.

Then matters got worse for the Fire when defender C.J. Brown injured his right quadriceps forcing him to come off in the 14th minute. Dasan Robinson came on for Brown in central defense, himself nursing a hamstring injury.

Brown and Daniel Woolard started on the back line in the absence of both Gonzalo Segares and Bakare Soumare who are away on international duty. Segares suited up for Costa Rica in their World Cup qualifier against rival Mexico at Estadio Azteca while Soumare was with Mali’s side for their qualifier against Sudan.

“We knew missing Bake and Gonzalo, they are two important guys on our team but at the same time we feel with the roster that we have it was an opportunity for other guys to step up and tonight I think Daniel (Woolard) stepped up and held his own and I’m disappointed for C.J. but he is a warrior and he’ll continue to work hard to get himself back up and running again,” Hamlett said. “We have a deep team and guys know that and that is what makes us a team that will compete.”

Chicago briefly got some quality attacking time midway through the half but after Wicks worked his way into traffic to knock away a John Thorrington free kick, the rebound fell directly to Marco Pappa whose shot sailed just over the top in the 24th minute.

United should have extended the lead three minutes later but Chris Pontius’ open attempt from 12-yards sailed harmlessly over the top. The rookie was set up by 40-yards of creative and crisp combination play down the right flank from Jaime Moreno and Bryan Namoff, with Namoff making the final ball off the touch line to Pontius standing alone near the penalty spot.

Gomez made his most significant and direct impact four minutes later floating a perfect diagonal ball from the right flank to Ben Olsen near the 6-yard box but Busch was equal to the task, flicking the header with a sharp reflex save diving to his right.

The subtle tactical adjustment of moving Logan Pause closer to Gomez, further limited the crafty and aggressive Argentine’s time and space. Outside of the Emilio goal and the occasional thrust forward by Moreno, the other two of United’s attacking threesome were also limited.

“That is simply all down to Logan Pause,” said Thorrington. “The way we went out in the second half he was able to be closer to Gomez rather than have multiple responsibilities and I think he showed why he is the best defensive midfielder in our league.”

“In the first half they were able to take advantage of their extra man in midfield,” Thorrington added. “We went out there and positioned ourselves in such a way that they didn’t have as much time to play. In the first half, we worked so hard to get the ball and then we gave it away a bit too easily.”

“I think we should have pumped the ball down the field a little right at the beginning. That’s what we did in the first half, got it into their half and pressured them;” said United defender Marc Burch. “As soon as they started knocking the ball around us on our home field, I felt like we dropped a little bit when we should have got stuck in a couple tackles early in the second to get the crowd back into it. Instead they got a couple shots, a couple breaks, we had some turnovers, and all of a sudden it’s swinging their way.”

“They came out with some intensity,” added rookie midfielder Rodney Wallace. “I don’t know if we were ready to match it. I think we should have been prepared, we knew they were going to come out hard. They had three chances and they capitalized on one of them. We just got to move on and get the next three points we need.”

Pappa’s ball down the right channel set up Nyarko’s superb equalizer with the slick young forward slipping around Dejan Jakovic, gathering the ball and firing past a charging Wicks from 17-yards, who inexplicably came out of his goal and made a poor effort as well against the low shot in the 53rd minute.

Moments earlier, Wicks let a harmlessly slow rolling cross from close in on the right touch line slip between his legs and tantalizingly near the goal line, scooping it up before Brian McBride could get a foot on it.

“The goal that they scored, you know, he should’ve stayed in his goal. But he did a lot of positives for us too, especially that save at the end on Chris [Rolfe],” said Soehn about his young goalkeeper. “Chris has a quick trigger and put it where he wanted to and Josh got across the goal very well. Unfortunately, the one time that he comes out, he gets punished.”

Rolfe had two significant opportunities after coming on for Mapp in the 81st minute. Wicks made his best save of the night fully extending high and hard to his left to get a hand on Rolfe’s blast from the top of the penalty arc. That was preceded by another Wicks bobble before any of the shocked Fire attackers could pounce on the loose ball in the 89th minute

The energetic, University of Dayton graduate nearly stole the full three points for the visitors just seconds before the final whistle but Wicks got down nicely to gather in his left footed shot from 22-yards out.

Scoring Summary:

DC — Luciano Emilio 1 (unassisted) 7
CHI — Patrick Nyarko 1 (Marco Pappa 1) 53

Chicago Fire — Jon Busch, Tim Ward, C.J. Brown (Dasan Robinson 14), Wilman Conde, Daniel Woolard, Marco Pappa (Cuauhtemoc Blanco 70), Logan Pause, John Thorrington, Justin Mapp (Chris Rolfe 80), Brian McBride, Patrick Nyarko,

Substitutes Not Used: Mike Banner, Stefan Dimitrov, Nick Noble, Brandon Prideaux

D.C. United — Josh Wicks, Bryan Namoff, Dejan Jakovic, Marc Burch, Chris Pontius, Christian Gomez (Brandon Barklage 86), Ben Olsen, Clyde Simms, Rodney Wallace, Luciano Emilio, Jaime Moreno (Francis Doe 65),

Substitutes Not Used: Andrew Jacobson, Thabiso Khumalo, Milos Kocic, Ange N’Silu, Anthony Peters

D.C. United Chicago Fire

Total shots: 9 (Ben Olsen 3) 10 (Brian McBride 3)
Shots on goal: 3 (3 tied with 1) 7 (3 tied with 2)
Fouls: 13 (Ben Olsen 5) 6 (Wilman Conde 2,
Logan Pause 2)
Offsides: 4 (Francis Doe 2) 0
Corner kicks: 3 (Christian Gomez 3) 2 (Marco Pappa 1,
Cuauhtemoc Blanco 1)
Saves: 6 (Josh Wicks 6) 2 (Jon Busch 2)

Misconduct Summary:

DC — Ben Olsen (caution; Reckless Foul) 30
DC — Dejan Jakovic (caution; Reckless Tackle) 79
DC — Marc Burch (caution; Dissent) 91+

Referee: Mark Geiger
Referee’s Assistants: Thomas Supple; Bill Dittmar
4th official: Andrew Chapin
Time of game: 1:50
Attendance: 15,895
Weather: Cloudy -and- 51 degrees

Ryan Johnson scored San Jose's first goal of the season a half hour into Saturday night's match against the Houston Dynamo and the teams were off to the races. Over the next 14 minutes of play, four more goals were scored, with Cam Weaver's first career MLS goal on the stroke of halftime concluding the festival.

Mitchell Diamond reports from San Jose, Calif.

Terry Cooke did not enter the Colorado Rapids home opener until the 63rd minute. Once he did, he made his mark very quickly, scoring the game's first goal (which he is shown here celebrating) and, after the Wizards leveled the game four minutes later, setting up the eventual game-winner. Patrick Shea reports from Dick's Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, Colo., with Mike Murphy and Nick Murphy providing the photo gallery.

After five years, women’s professional soccer is back in the United States, figuratively and literally. A new seven-team league, Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS), is set to kick off today. Two teams that figure to receive plenty of attention, the Los Angeles Sol and the Washington Freedom, will take the field at the Home Depot Center on Sunday at 3 p.m. local time to start a new and long overdue era in women's professional soccer.

ASN's Ivan Yeo reports from Los Angeles.

Fredy Montero scored another, his third in two games in a Sounders uniform and the MLS upstarts from Seattle notched their second win in as many games in the young 2009 campaign. Washington native Kasey Keller turned back seven shots and was named man of the match. ASN's Nick Schiffler reports from Qwest Field and turns in Sounders player ratings.

Led by a stellar performance by Macoumba Kandji, the New York Red Bulls were within stoppage time of defeating the New England Revolution for the first time in four years. Then, as it has so often in the history of the franchise, disaster struck.

Read ASN’s Giants Stadium match report, get the Red Bulls player ratings and vote on who was to blame for the equalizer.

Revs fans can read a happier recap as well as get player ratings for their team here.