During the blazing summer months, roster and lineup decisions become paramount in Major League Soccer. DC United got some good news as preparations started this week coupled with the obligatory bad news of course in advance of their match at San Jose on Saturday.

Dejan Jakovic returned to full training and is likely to start against the Earthquakes. Four other players have returned to training coming off concussions. Santino Quaranta, Devin McTavish, Brandon Barklage, and Blake Brettschneider all participated in some capacity or another during the week.

The former two are still out for this weekend, but Brettschneider and Barklage have been upgraded to probable.

On the flip side, Josh Wolff (left hamstring strain) and Charlie Davies (left knee inflammation) are both questionable while Joseph Ngwenya is probable after taking a knock in the 3-1 exhibition loss to Everton last Saturday. This makes the potential return of Brettschneider, who trained the most of three concussion returnees, even more imperative.

“It’s not ideal but the good thing is that Blake got through training today but we’ll be able to put something together. We need bodies right now and everyone who is training today is in the mix,” said United coach Ben Olsen about his roster options after Tuesday’s training session.

Injuries or not, Olsen has not been too happy with the effort and mentality of some of his regulars in recent matches, though he who he would not disclose any specific names.

“It’s summer so you are always going to need fresh bodies and it does push guys that maybe lately have been too comfortable in their role,” said Olsen. “I think you saw that a little bit in New England and I think you definitely saw it against Everton. I spoke my peace with them and let them know how I feel about that and hopefully I won’t have to address that again.”

Jakovic and Brandon McDonald played alongside each other in the first half during the loss to Everton and are the likely long term combination for United in the center of defense.

“He’s a smart player. He’s very technical, he’s good on the ball,” said McDonald about Jakovic. “Whoever the coaches decide to put back there we have to come along quickly because half the season is already gone. We have to come together and mesh well and get some results.”

Rookie Ethan White has been steady as Jakovic’s fill-in but is likely to step back in favor of the Canadian international. “I can’t really do anything but play my game and make it hard on the coaches so it’s really on them at the end of the day,” said White.

United were punched in the mouth by the Earthquakes on June 11, conceding a hat trick to Steven Lenhart in a 4-2 loss at RFK Stadium.

United have won only twice in San Jose and whether at Spartan Stadium or the current Buck Shaw Stadium, the field is small and not conducive to possession and quick ball movement, which is how United have historically built their teams.

“It’s on a smaller field and just like every other away game we have to be sharp defensively and ready for a real battle and that mentality has seemed to be good for us in our away games and hopefully that will continue,” Olsen said.

“We never really build our teams to be a Route 1, smash mouth team that can always go into those places and always succeed but saying that, we’ve been able to adapt a little bit better this year,” Olsen continued. “They are very opportunistic at home, their energy level is always high and it’s just a grind and they do it better than most of the league and it’s tough to go against.”

The burly Lenhart proved too much for the intelligent but slighter and naïve United defenders to handle in the earlier loss. McDonald, who came from San Jose shortly thereafter, has shared a few secrets with his new teammates on how to handle Lenhart and the Earthquakes in general.

We got stretched offensively and defensively where they were just knocking it in between us and playing long balls into Lenhart. We have to make sure we keep closed lines and go out and get a goal early.

“He’s given us some insight but I am not going to share them with you guys,” White said with a smile.

“He does his job very well. I think he’s a bruiser,” McDonald said about Lenhart. “His job is to get on defender’s nerves and he does a good job at it. You’ve got to keep your head. He’s one of those guys that can get under your skin a little bit but that is part of soccer and you have to be mentally strong for 90-minutes.”

Seattle Sounders have lifted the hearts of their supporters to new heights, winnning convincingly against LA Galaxy (including Landon Donovan) in the US Open Cup, winning in Portland, and most recently defeating the Colorado Rapids in Seattle. Sounders were slightly unlucky in Los Angeles on July 4th when Montero had his penalty kick saved by MLS noob Brian Perk. Seattle has been red hot.

Seattle has set out to be a model franchise in MLS. Celebrity owners, star players, championship coaches, amazing fan support, the only thing that has really been missing has been winning anything in MLS. Sounders do love winning the US Open Cup and the birth into CONCACAF Champions League that it provides.

Manchester United has what Sounders want. History prestige, romance.

It’s forgivable if there were some fans who thought Sounders could make a game of it with Manchester United. Although the first team did play level to a Manchester United side without Wayne Rooney they missed big opportunities to score, managed to leave Michael Owen unmarked, not once but twice. Second time he may have been offside, but was saved by Keller.

It was impressive that Sounders had opportunities to score and were still in the match.

The second half, Wayne Rooney & Ji-Sun Park came on, several key Sounders were subbed off and things fell apart quick. Wayne Rooney being Wayne Rooney. Hat trick in under 30 minutes.

Sigi Schmid termed this his most embarassing loss as a coach. If the stakes are so low is it really that embarassing? Is it worse than LA Galaxy 2010? Also known as, “refund day.” There is nothing at stake against Manchester United. That said, it is still 7-0.

If anyone thinks that exhibitions are for anything other than building Manchester United’s International brand, introducing MLS to a European audience, trying out players (Ngassa is fast), showcasing players, selling souveneirs & concessions you can go right ahead and leave your comment below.

I forgot FUN! That was the other reason Sounders played Manchester United. Did you forget that reason too?

It’s probably a good thing that Sounders did lose 7-0, losing is a more powerful motivator. This could be the perfect loss to keep Sounders focused and on track in MLS and other competitions that matter.

It was a familiar picture show with DC United and the New England Revolution Wednesday night at RFK Stadium. The Revolution absorbed some moderate pressure but never really broke as United held the ball for most of the first half. United had some good chances, mainly from the outside, that they couldn’t finish, goalkeeper Matt Reis made some excellent, timely saves, the Revolution subsequently counter, and lo and behold, they score on a set piece.

As United dithered away chance after chance in the first half, including a missed penalty that would have significantly opened up the match, only to see the scourge of their season rise up to bite them again. Stephen McCarthy nodded home a Kenny Mansally corner in the 73rd minute as United dropped a dispiriting 1-0 decision to the bottom team in the Eastern Conference.

“They sit back, Reis comes up with some big saves and they score on a set piece,” said United midfielder Chris Pontius. “It was one lapse but it shouldn’t come down to that. It was one of those nights where we don’t finish and if we do finish we can dictate the game from there. McCarthy gets into one and they are allowed to sit (back) the rest of the game.”

This was the Revolution’s first road win of the season and their first win of any sort since a 1-0 win over Portland on May 14, snapping a nine game winless streak in league play.

“It’s a tough one to take because of the opportunities we had early to put this one away. If you don’t do that; we’ve all seen this script, right? In the second half, they think they got through a half, and a new lease on life and then they get a set-piece goal and that’s what they do. It’s the one thing they are dangerous with and they punished us with that,” said United coach Ben Olsen.

After DC controlled the ball for most of the first half, Charlie Davies missed a penalty kick after Pat Phelan handled the ball in the box in the 44th minute that could have given United a deserved lead going into the break.

After both teams took the first quarter hour to get used to the heat, United garnered three good chances in succession but came up empty.

Dwayne De Rosario cut back into the middle from the left flank and cut loose a bender from 23-yards out that missed just high after some nice combination work from Pontius and Josh Wolff in the 16th minute.

A minute later, Davies cut into the left side of the box and tried to sneak a low shot past Reis on the short side but the veteran keeper was better, getting down quickly to get his right hand on the ball to knock it away.

Reis denied United again a minute after that chance, extending hard to his left this time to knock away a De Rosario shot from 18-yards out that was labeled for the inside corner.

Zak Boggs had New England’s first legitimate chance in the 32nd minute, scorching a volley off a bouncing ball at the top of the penalty arch that bent around two United defenders before Bill Hamid knocked it to safety with a good reflex save.

New England nearly capitalized on a sloppy pass out of the back by United in the 38th minute, and after one quick ball, Rajko Lekic was through but foiled near the penalty spot by an alert Brandon McDonald. Hamid alertly foiled another chance seconds later, coming off his line to knock a high floater away in a violent collision with the Danish striker near the top of the box.

On the penalty, Phelan jumped wildly to block a Josh Wolff cross from the goal line just outside of the right post and the ball struck him under his extended right arm drawing referee Michael Kennedy to point to the spot. Davies stepped up and missed badly, high and wide to the right.

By all rights, the Revolution should have taken the lead in the 64th minute as Phelan played a superb ball into the 6-yard box from the right flank that Zack Schilawski extended to get his head on but knocked slightly wide of the far post.

De Rosario’s driving run into the box in the 81st minute could have equalized for United but Reis came up large again, flicking away the short side, close quarters effort with a great foot save.

“We put a good effort in for the first forty-five (minutes) and the goal didn’t come, and then physically we tanked. I was disappointed we didn’t get through it a little bit more and find a way to get a result,” Olsen said.

“Again, you get these summer games where you go back and forth, you give up chances, you get chances – New England did well with one of them, and we didn’t do well with any of ours.”

Scoring:

NE — Stephen McCarthy 2 (Chris Tierney 2) 73

New England Revolution — Matt Reis, Kevin Alston, Ryan Cochrane (Darrius Barnes 22), A.J. Soares, Chris Tierney, Shalrie Joseph, Stephen McCarthy, Pat Phelan, Zak Boggs (Sainey Nyassi 58), Zack Schilawski (Kenny Mansally 68), Rajko Lekic.

Substitutes Not Used: Franco Coria, Diego Fagundez, Ryan Guy, Bobby Shuttleworth.

D.C. United — Bill Hamid, Perry Kitchen, Ethan White, Brandon McDonald, Daniel Woolard, Andy Najar, Dwayne De Rosario, Clyde Simms (Joseph Ngwenya 79), Chris Pontius (Austin Da Luz 71), Charlie Davies, Josh Wolff (Fred 63).

Substitutes Not Used: Stephen King, Chris Korb, Kurt Morsink, Steve Cronin.

Misconduct:

NE — Kenny Mansally (caution; Delaying a Restart) 77

Referee: Michael Kennedy
Referee’s Assistants: Kermit Quisenberry; Bill Dittmar
4th Official: Jose Carlos Rivero

Attendance: 15,597
Time of Game: 1:52
Weather: Partly Cloudy-and-91-degrees

Last year around this time, when the Union lined up Celtic FC and Manchester United a week apart, the break from the MLS regular season seemed a welcome one.  Philadelphia was sputtering in the middle of its inaugural campaign, the baby steps they had been making beginning to take their physical and emotional toll. Now, however, as Philadelphia prepares to take a week off and host world-renowned opponents Everton FC and Real Madrid in a span of just 4 days, they put on the back burner a highly successful first half of the season.

Head over to ASN Philly for more.

Courtesy of MLSSoccer.com

The New England Revolution (3-9-7, 9th in the East) fell 3-0 to a surging Philadelphia Union (8-4-7, 1st in the East) squad yesterday evening at Gillette Stadium. Carlos Ruiz, Carlos Valdes, and Sheanon Williams all tallied for the Union as they dispatched a Revolution team still looking for their first win since May 14th.

Revs ASN has all of the gory details. And Philly ASN chimes in as well.

Not even an opponent scoring three goals can stop the red-hot Seattle Sounders these days.

Behind goals from Alvaro Fernandez, Roger Levesque, Fredy Montero and Mauro Rosales, the Sounders knocked off the defending champion Colorado Rapids 4-3 at home on Saturday in a thrilling match. Seattle had to come back from 1-0 and 2-1 deficits, just as they had against Portland last Sunday.

“Who says soccer’s not exciting?” said Sounders coach Sigi Schmid. “Obviously the character we showed again coming back after being down twice was superb. My hat’s off to the team in that regard.”

Both sides hit the back of the net repeatedly, but it was Mauro Rosales’s goal in the 84th minute to make the score 4-2 that proved to be the difference.

The result continues a sparkling run for Seattle’s offense. The Sounders have an undefeated streak in their past 11 games. They have scored 10 goals in their past 3 games in all competitions – all of which were wins.

Just one minute into the game, it didn’t look like the run was going to be continued. Seattle gave the ball away easily and it fell to Wells Thompson at the top of the box, who lashed it into a net to give the Rapids a 1-0 lead inside of 70 seconds.

But the Sounders didn’t take long to respond, tying the game back up in the 5th minute. Alvaro Fernandez received a long pass, shook off his defender and sliced his shot home.

Colorado would re-take the lead towards the end of the first half on another Sounders defensive mistake. The home side left Jeff Larentowicz unmarked at the top of the box, and he slammed a left-footed shot off the far post, past Kasey Keller and in.

Keller was not entirely pleased with the defensive play from his side.

“That was shocking,” he said. “Our discipline and defending was just not there today. The positives you have to take out of that is that when you have a day like that defensively, and you’re able to win the game, that’s tremendous. It shows a lot of spirit.”

The Sounders tied the game for a second time just minutes into the second half, with Roger Levesque flicking in a cross from Mauro Rosales. Schmid said after the game that he thinks Levesque is playing as well as he has in his career.

Seattle’s other striker Montero took the lead for the Sounders in the 82nd minute. Substitute Brad Evans’s shot was deflected up into the air by Matt Pickens, and Montero was lurking at the far post to poke it home with a precise diving header.

Rosales put in the 4th goal of the afternoon for Seattle just two minutes later on a breakaway – and it was a goal that would prove crucial when Colorado scored again in the 90th minute.

“We never give up,” Rosales said. “They scored against us and we always work out to come back in the game. We score important goals in that game and I’m very happy about that.”

After a week full of games and goals, Seattle will get a bit of a break with no competitive games in the coming week – just a high-profile friendly match against Manchester United, one of the top teams in the world. But the way the Sounders are playing, they might be capable of beating just about anybody.

“Right now we’re 22 games in, and we have some more games to go and we want to maintain this,” Schmid said. “The guys have gone through a good run and now it’s time to relax a little bit, take a deep breath and prepare for the next stage.”

Coach Ben Olsen has DC United on the right track as the team crosses over the half way point at .500 (5-5-7). As they have become more used to one another and his system, the players seem to have become comfortable with his emphasis on strong supporting play.

All coaches talk a good game. The best obtain buy-in from their players by training them well and increasing their understanding of his approach to the game and how he wants it played. Beginning last year, Olsen gradually instilled an understanding of the need to move as a unit while maintaining width.

He has had to pay particular attention to the tendency of DC United’s strong cadre of wide midfielders to drift inside to an extraordinary extent. With the arrival of Dax McCarty, the team unintentionally reinforced this tendency.

It had been hoped that both McCarty and Clyde Simms could generate enough offense to allow the wide mids to patrol their sides and thereby maintain width. When it became obvious that McCarty was not well suited to the role, United made a wise trade to obtain the final cog in their attacking scheme.

The diamond midfield pairs solid cover man Simms behind Dwayne DeRosario, whose ability to either take on defenses or pass around them poses the central threat that will allow Chris Pontius and Andy Najar to keep the width that will open attacking channels for the entire striking cadre.

In turn, the stronger offensive threat allows the wide defenders to remain home a bit more often to lessen the stress on the central defense. That area, which would otherwise be United’s sole remaining weakness has been greatly improved with the addition of the strong and vocal Brandon McDonald.

With the return of Dejan Jakovic, the team will finally have some central defensive depth. His availability will allow Perry Kitchen to continue to play wide right to cover for the injuries to so many DC players.

The game Saturday at Dallas will provide a good test of whether the team has finally gelled.

On the injury front, the training staff has recently been more aggressive in post game recovery efforts. All players are encouraged to wear compression- recovery pants when they sleep. Many can be seen after games rolling the lactic acid from their muscles in the locker room.

The quick turnaround game on Wednesday against New England may show the benefits of the emphasis on recovery.

Foxboro, MA – Federico Macheda once again stole the show against MLS opposition on Wednesday night, scoring twice to lead Premier League champions Manchester United past MLS side New England Revolution 4-1 in front of a spirited crowd of 51,523 at Gillette Stadium. The match was the kick-off fixture of the 2011 HerbaLife World Football Challenge, pitting teams from around the world in matches across the United States and Canada.

Manchester United and manager Sir Alex Ferguson, taking the field for the first time in their pre-season tour of the United States, fielded a starting lineup filled with recognizable faces, including striker Wayne Rooney, Portuguese midfielders Nani and Anderson, and Serbian defender Nemanja Vidic. One of the bigger points of interest for United fans, was the debut of newly-signed winger Ashley Young, who had recently joined the club from Aston Villa. Young started the match up front with Rooney and Bulgarian striker Dimitar Berbatov.

With an eye towards an increasingly important match with Philadelphia on Sunday, Revolution head coach Steve Nicol was faced with a difficult task in fielding a starting lineup that could compete, but also wouldn’t be stretched too thin ahead of their upcoming league match. Nicol remarked, “we have a huge game coming Sunday, and we knew that would cause us some problems, but, we did what we had to do.” Nicol opted to play a 4-4-2, playing Benny Feilhaber up top with Rajko Lekic, with Sainey Nyassi and Zak Boggs on the wings. Veteran goalkeeper Matt Reis was more than pleased to stand between the pipes for New England, staring out at one of the biggest and most storied clubs in world football.

The match kicked off in front of a well-populated Gillette Stadium, and they were almost blessed with an early goal, when Chris Tierney found space down the left flank in the 12th minute and fired in a cross that was deflected and found the head of Shalrie Joseph, whose glancing header was only just wide of the far post.

As the first half continued on, Manchester United began imposing their will on the game, showing their world class talent and skill, which finally came through in the 18th minute, when Portuguese winger Nani worked his way through the Revolution defense along the right flank, weaving his way through and creating enough space to fire a cross to Wayne Rooney, whose header was too tall for the crossbar.

Both sides continued to trade punches with each other throughout the middle of the first half. New England played a nice piece of possession football through the middle of the field in the 24th minute, with Joseph and Feilhaber combining to find Pat Phelan, whose off-balance effort from long range was stopped easily. Manchester United then answered back a few moments later, earning a corner kick that failed to test the Revs goal.

Hands down the biggest impact moment of the first half came in the 41st minute, when United defender Fabio broke loose down the left flank and advanced to the goal line, cut back and delivered a pass to an open Berbatov, who was denied in close range by a sprawling Matt Reis, which kept the match level and delighted both groups of supporters.

The first half ended still scoreless, and as the teams walked off the field, it was evident that the home crowd was more than pleased with the effort. That sentiment seemed to be shared throughout both locker rooms as well, Manchester United midfielder, Nani, had high praise for the home club, stating “(Their) position was good. They play compact. In the first half, it was very, very compact. A lot of quality when they pass the ball. I think they can be a good team.”

Both coaches seemed pleased with the effort from their “first XI” in the first half. Revolution head coach Steve Nicol quipped, “Well obviously we’re happy with the way things went things went in the first half. I thought we were pretty solid, defended well. We were fitter and sharper than them, so it was important that we kept things tight and we did.” . The sentiment was shared across the hallway by Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson said of the Revolution, “The first half (New England) were very competitive. And I think what happens when you make changes in a game, sometimes you lose that momentum you had in the first half. I thought they did pretty well then, I think that maybe they weren’t as forceful and powerful as they were in the first half. Athletic, it’s what you expect of the States’ teams – they’re all athletic, very committed, fit, and organized. So yeah, they’ll be pleased.”

Both sides began the second half making wholesale changes in their lineups, with the Revolution changing their entire defensive lineup, and also inserting Bobby Shuttleworth in goal. Shlarie Joseph and Benny Feilhaber remained in the game to try to keep some sort of order through the middle of the field.

The lack of first team cohesion from New England was seen almost immediately after the second half whistle blew, when midfielder Michael Carrick opened up the New England back line with a great pass to England international striker, Michael Owen, who buried his first chance of the game after coming on at the half. It was a tidy finish, and even Steve Nicol had to marvel at the quality afterwards, “When you have the guys of that caliber, they have to give him the ball. Then there’s only one thing that’s going to happen and he’s going to put it in the back of the net.”

A second United goal came almost directly after the restart, when three minutes later it was Carrick again playing the role of creator, carving the Revolution defense with a brilliant pass to 19 year-old Federico Macheda, who easily slotted home the pass with the side of his foot.

New England did, however, manage to answer back and find the scoresheet only two minutes later. Benny Feilhaber stood over a dangerous free kick at the top of the Manchester United box and fired low and hard towards the net, but instead found striker Kenny Mansally, who almost in self-defense, redirected the shot past a diving ‘keeper. It wasn’t the prettiest of goals, and the culprit certainly knew it, as Feilhaber added after the game, “I miss-hit it a bit, and Kenny was in the right spot, hit it off the shins – or wherever it hit him – and great finish by him.”

The joy of scoring was short-lived for New England, when United answered in the 61st minute. Rafael stepped up to a corner kick and delivered a cross into the box that skimmed off the head of a leaping Sainey Nyassi, and found the feet of Macheda, who easily beat Shuttleworth back across the goal to the far post, giving United a 3-1 lead.

New England could only muster one more solid opportunity in the 74th minute, when Shalrie Joseph orchestrated a great counter attack off a United set piece. Joseph found space through the middle of the field and played to Mansally, who managed to weave his way into enough open space to fire off a shot that was saved well and parried away by the United ‘keeper.

Easily the prettiest and most eye-opening piece of play came on United’s fourth and final goal in the 81st minute. Second half substitute Gabriel Obertan won the ball down the left side of the penalty area, beat Zak Boggs to the line, and then played the ball to Ryan Giggs, who cheekily flicked-on to Korean international Ji-Sung Park, who collected the flick and deftly chipped over a diving Shuttleworth, igniting the crowd one last time on the night.

The match ended at 4-1 for United, and the Red Devils began their pre-season tour of the United States with a victory. Steve Nicol can certainly look to that first half and find plenty of positives from the play of his first choice team against an incredible opponent. Sir Alex Ferguson’s side looked better in the second half after the pace of play picked up, as he pointed out, “It was all about getting our tempo back and these are the types of games that help towards that. I thought in the second half when we speeded up the passing up through the last subs, we scored some very good goals through that. So I am satisfied.”

New England returns to league play on Sunday night, when the Philadelphia Union come to Gillette Stadium in a huge Eastern Conference matchup. Manchester United continues their tour with a cross-country trip to Seattle, where they will take on the Seattle Sounders next Wednesday night.

**********************************

2011 Herbalife World Football Challenge

New England Revolution vs. Manchester United

July 13, 2011 – Gillette Stadium (Foxborough, Mass.)

Manchester United 4, New England Revolution 1

Scoring Summary:

MUFC – Michael Owen (Michael Carrick) 51

MUFC – Federico Macheda (Michael Carrick) 54

NE – Kenny Mansally (Benny Feilhaber) 56

MUFC – Federico Macheda (Rafael) 61

MUFC – Ji-Sung Park (Ryan Giggs) 80

New England Revolution: Matt Reis (Bobby Shuttleworth 46), Chris Tierney (Darrius Barnes 46), A.J. Soares (Otto Loewy 46), Franco Coria (Ryan Cochrane 46), Kevin Alston (Kenny Mansally 46), Zak Boggs, Benny Feilhaber (Ousmane Dabo 65), Shalrie Joseph, Pat Phelan (Stephen McCarthy 46), Sainey Nyassi (Ryan Guy 65), Rajko Lekic (Zack Schilawski 64)

Substitutes Not Used: Tim Murray, Alan Koger, Diego Fagundez, Andrew Sousa, Ryan Kinne

STATS*: Shots: 12; Shots on Goal: 6; Saves: 4; Corner Kicks: 0; Offside: 1; Fouls Committed: 4

Manchester United: Anders Lindegaard, Fabio, Jonathan Evans, Nemanja Vidic (Rio Ferdinand 46), Rafael, Ashley Young (Gabriel Obertan 67), Anderson (Mame Diouf 75), Michael Carrick (Ji-Sung Park 75) Nani (Ryan Giggs 67), Dimitar Berbatov (Federico Macheda 46), Wayne Rooney (Michael Owen 46)

Substitutes Not Used: Sam Johnstone

STATS*: Shots: 19; Shots on Goal: 8; Saves: 5; Corner Kicks: 7; Offside: 1; Fouls Committed: 10

* Note that all statistics are unofficial

Misconduct Summary:

None

Referee: Mark Geiger

Assistant Referees: Claudio Badea, Steven Taylor

Fourth Official: Niko Bratis?Weather: Cloudy and 69 degrees

Attendance: 51,523

PRESS RELEASE

Allston, MA (July 10, 2011) – The Breakers got a goal each from rookie Keelin Winters and first-year Breaker Katie Schoepfer, and keeper Alyssa Naeher made three saves to record her league-leading fourth shutout of the season in Boston’s 2-0 win Sunday night over the Atlanta Beat. The Breakers improve to 4-5-3 on the season and move into a third-place tie with magicJack in the WPS standings.

“We’ve been talking about this game for a long time because of the break (during the Women’s World Cup), and we were disappointed to get the tie down in Atlanta (on June 19), but we kind of had a little bit of an off day. So, today we said, ‘Go at them, let’s dictate the tempo of it, and when we get chances, let’s make sure we put them away,’” said Associate Head Coach Lisa Cole, filling in for Head Coach Tony DiCicco, who is in Germany covering the Women’s World Cup for ESPN. ” I felt like it was good for us to get this win because we’ve got a long road to go to make sure we finish where we want to finish.”

The Breakers opened the scoring in the 5th minute. It started with a corner kick from Schoepfer, who hit it to Kasey Moore far post. Moore headed it to Winters, who headed it past Atlanta keeper Allison Whitworth for the 1-0 lead. The goal was Winters’ second of the season. Her first came against Atlanta in the opening game of the season. The score remained the same until Schoepfer scored her second goal of the season. It came in the 81st minute and began when Meghan Klingenberg sent a ball out wide to Schoepfer. With some space to move, Schoepfer took the ball into the top right corner of the box before striking it into the far post to put Boston ahead, 2-0.

Captain Leslie Osborne said the team had some extra motivation after watching the U.S. Women’s National Team come back to beat Brazil on penalty kicks Sunday afternoon in the Women’s World Cup.

“It was so inspiring. It was incredible,” Osborne said. “At halftime, I was just reminding everybody just how inspirational they were and how they had so many things going against them, and we have this 90-minute game here with this amazing field and fans. It’s just a blessing. I was saying, ‘Let’s just come out here and give the fans a show.’ It felt good to win tonight.”

The Breakers are off until Sunday, July 24, when they host the Western New York Flash, featuring Brazil’s Marta and Maurine, Canadian captain Christine Sinclair, and U.S. Women’s National Team forward Alex Morgan.

Boston Breakers vs. Atlanta Beat Box Score for July 10, 2011: http://www.womensprosoccer.com/boxscores/2011/1041952

Foxboro, MA – Tonight marks the beginning of the 2011 HerbaLife World Football Challenge, when the New England Revolution take on the 19-time English Champions and 2010/11 UEFA Champions League Runner-Up, Manchester United.  For fans new to the World Football Challenge (which are quite a few, seeing as this is only the second time the competition has been held) have seemed a little unsure of the “format” or whether it was an actual tournament at all.  So, allow me to educate you over the next five minutes with a crash-course, FAQ-style primer on this summer’s biggest international club soccer tournament.

What exactly IS the World Football Challenge? - The WFC was created in 2009, with an eye towards pitting some of the finest international club teams in the world against each other on American Soil. The first tournament in 2009 (won by Chelsea FC of England) had 4 teams: Chelsea (ENG), Inter Milan (ITA), AC Milan (ITA), and Club America (MEX). The original tournament was done round-robin style, with each team playing three matches in venues across the United States (Revs fans will remember the Milan Derby was played at Gillette Stadium), with the club with the best record taking home the title. This edition of the WFC is quite different, as it now includes Major League Soccer teams as well.

Who is participating in this tournament? - A total of 13 clubs are participating in this year’s tournament: 8 international clubs, and 5 from MLS. They are as follows:

Manchester City (ENG)

Manchester United (ENG)

FC Barcelona (SPA)

Juventus (ITA)

Club America (MEX)

CD Guadalajara (MEX)

Sporting Clube de Portugal (POR)

Chicago Fire (USA)

NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION (USA)

Philadelphia Union (USA)

Los Angeles Galaxy (USA)

Vancouver Whitecaps (CAN/MLS)

What is the format for the tournament ? - The round robin style has been scrapped.  Seven of the international clubs (Sporting Clube being excluded) will play three matches each. The MLS clubs are grouped together by conference, equalling three matches played (thus, New England, Chicago, and Philadelphia play one match each, while LA Galaxy will play two and Vancouver one) and this is done for competition purposes. There will be NO DRAWS in this particular tournament. If the match were to end level, the teams will advance directly to penalty kicks.

What is the scoring format? - Teams are awarded (3) points for a win in regulation, (2) points for a win in penalty kicks, (1) point for a penalty kick loss, (0) for a loss in regulation. Teams are also awarded (1) point per goal in regulation up to a max of three in each match. So, for an example, if a team were to win a match 3-0 in regulation, they would be awarded 6 points (3 for the win, and a max 3 for each goal). The club, or in the MLS case the Conference, with the highest point total at the end of the competition will be crowned champion of the 2011 HerbaLife World Football Challenge.

Are there any limits on rosters and/or substitutions? - Twenty Five (25) players are allowed on the team sheet for each match (11 selected and 14 substitutes), and teams are allowed to use up to 11 of those 14 substitutes during the match.  No cautions or sending-off will carry forward into the next match except red-cards for violent play, serious foul play, or two yellows in the same match (resulting in a red).

What does the schedule look like for the WFC ? - The fixture list for the competition is as follows:

New England Revolution vs.Manchester United  - July 13  -  Gillette Stadium

Los Angeles Galaxyvs.Real Madrid    -July 16  - Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum

Club America  vs.   Manchester City   -July 16  -     AT&T Park

Manchester City  vs.   Vancouver Whitecaps FC  -  July 18   –   Empire Field

CD Guadalajara   vs.  Real Madrid    -  July 20  -    Qualcomm Stadium

Manchester United  vs.Chicago Fire    -  July 23 -   Soldier Field

Philadelphia Union  vs.   Real Madrid   –  July 23   -Lincoln Financial Field

Juventus   vs.  Sporting Clube de Portugal  - July 23     –    BMO Field

Los Angeles Galaxyvs.Manchester City  - July 24   -The Home Depot Center

Juventus  vs.     Club America   -July 26  -   Citi Field

Juventus  vs.     CD Guadalajara-  July 28  -   Carter Finley Stadium

FC Barcelona   vs.    Manchester United –  July 30   –  FedEx Field

FC Barcelona   vs.   CD Guadalajara -    August 3  -   Sun Life Stadium

FC Barcelona   vs   .Club America-August 6  -      Cowboys Stadium

It promises to be a great competition and affords American Soccer fans a great opportunity to see some of the World’s best players. Be sure to check back here often as we here at Revs ASN will keep you updated throughout the tournament!