Seattle Sounders looked to keep the winning streak alive by making it 3 in a row versus FC Dallas on a mild night in Seattle. Dallas had been red hot riding a 9 game unbeaten streak (6-0-3) and are 1st on the table comfortably with 6 points on the next in line Portland Timbers. They have been stellar this season at home (6-0-1) but haven’t showed the same strength on the road (1-1-2). Seattle was looking to heat up and keep their winning form as they are slowing moving their way up the table with another 3 points in their home match tonight.

The Sounders brought high intensity high pressure game to the first half and it paid off big. Seattle struck first and quickly with Eddie Johnson hitting his first goal of the night in the 15th minute off of a goal kick that went unchallenged and headed by Ozzie Alonso to split the defenders as Johnson ran on, brought it down and hit it into the side netting after breaking behind the Dallas defense. 15 minutes later Lamar Neagle struck for a second goal for the Sounders. Neagle earned his goal with strong work rate intercepting a pass defensively and taking off on a run to get the ball back on a through ball from Evans. Neagle would go one behind the defense one on one with the keeper and dribble around him to earn his 4th goal of the season and make it 2 consecutive games with goals. Brad Evans missed 2 big opportunities, at 33 minutes Dallas keeper Raul Fernandez made a big save in a one on one and in the 42nd minute Evans missed wide of the goal both on fast breaks served by Mario Martinez.

The top team in the MLS would not be shut out for long though and more scoring came in the second half. At 54’ Dallas earned a corner kick and capitalized on the opportunity. Kenny Cooper went un-marked in the middle of the scrum just outside the 6 yard box and it was an easy finish for the big target forward to put Dallas back in the game. This would end a 272 minute shutout streak for Michael Gspurning. Dallas would go on to score their 2 goal off of a corner kick when Michel placed a beautiful ball into the upper corner directly in from the corner service.

The Sounders answered quickly with a 3rd goal in the 62nd minute more through ball service, this time from Lamar Neagle to Eddie Johnson. Eddie went on to beat the keeper and deliver an accurate shot for his second goal of the night. It was a physical game all night but an elbow to Leo Gonzalez eye would leave him bloodied and sent Blas Perez out of the game with a red card. Center referee Mark Geiger referred to the 4th official and line judge after seeing the injury to Leo and confirmed the flagarant foul before ejecting Perez. The Sounders took advantage of the man up advantage in the 83rd minute with a right footed goal from Obafemi Martins, his third goal of his MLS career. Brad Evans played a crossing ball into Oba after receiving a deflected shot from Eddie Johnson. Obafemi Martins celebrated his goal with the usual round off to double back handspring and the stadium went nuts.

Seattle found many opportunities to get in behind tonight. They played with intensity looking to play the deep ball immediately after winning it with hard work. Lamar Neagle’s goal was a great example of this type of play. DeAndre Yedlin is proving himself to be one of the Sounders’ most dynamic and exciting players. He continues to create unique opportunities for the Sounders with his blazing speed up and down the pitch, his defending is solid state, he rarely gets beat and he is so dangerous going forward. When you have a player like Yedlin it helps the style of play the Sounders are looking to build, he can jump a pass win the ball and play directly into the attack with support creating greater numbers. With the strength at the center mid field with Alonso and Carrasco holding this gives safety in defending for our outside backs to get forward. Alonso had to leave the game with a left groin injury in the 31st minute but his replacement Shalrie Joseph played the best we’d seen of him so far this year and the Sounders didn’t really skip a beat in the mid field. Seattle had 11 shots on goal, this would set a club record breaking the previous high of 10 on June 16, 2009.

In the post-game press conference head coach Sigi Schmid spoke of the importance of this game and the game well executed, a direct style that would look to get in behind the defense. “We want to win our games at home. That’s super important. Being able to measure ourselves against a first place team in our conference is important. Being able to show that once our weapons are healthy that we can score goals on the offensive end was another important factor, as well. We’re trying to use the abilities of the guys we have. We’re using our speed so we’re attacking a little more direct. We also knew this was a team that we could be direct against-we could get behind them centrally and we did that often in the first half. We had a couple of opportunities to get more goals. They had some opportunities, as well, off their set pieces.”

One team is heading in one direction while another team appears to be clinging onto its postseason life.
The Galaxy entered Saturday’s matchup against the Vancouver Whitecaps looking to continue its climb up the Western Conference standings while the Whitecaps came in mired in a three-match losing streak. When 90 minutes were up at the Home Depot Center on Saturday night, it was mission accomplished for LA, as they sent Vancouver to its fourth straight loss courtesy of a 2-0 win.

“We needed it to be a good performance,” Galaxy midfielder David Beckham said. “”We’re happy with the win, at times we could’ve played better, but overall, we’re happy with tonight.”

Beckham Juninho were the goal scorers, and both goals came in vintage fashion for the two, as Juninho blasted a trademark long-range volley just before halftime while Beckham’s goal came on a trademark free kick late in the second half. The Galaxy at the moment sit in third place in the conference pending the outcome of the Seattle Sounders matchup against FC Dallas on Sunday.

The Galaxy broke through in the 41st minute when Hector Jimenez crossed a ball to Robbie Keane, who then quickly touched it to a charging Juninho, and the midfielder’s volley from about 30 yards out beat keeper Brandon Knighton right post to put the Galaxy ahead. Los Angeles continued to maintain possession throughout the second half while holding down Vancouver on the other side of the field, and the Galaxy got a chance to put the game away in the 78th minute when Keane was fouled by Martin Bonjour 25 yards away from goal, giving Beckham a set piece opportunity. The Whitecaps’ John Thorrington initially covered the left post area, but with Keane making his way into the penalty area, Thorrington was caught in the middle of trying to keep the left post guarded and marking Keane in the box. Beckham then sent the free kick over Thorrington and the Vancouver wall into that left post area to give the Galaxy the two-goal cushion they rode all the way to victory.

“The Juninho goal was huge, and in the second half, I thought the energy Vancouver put into the first half fatigued them,” Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena said.

In addition to moving up the conference standings, the Galaxy are just seven points back of the San Jose Earthquakes in the Supporters Shield race, though that point differential could change when San Jose hosts Chivas USA, also on Sunday. The Whitecaps remain in the fifth spot and still five points back of FC Dallas.

“It’s something we’re going to have to fight through,” Whitecaps head coach Martin Rennie said. “We’re still in a good position, but we must find our form and now’s the time to find it.”

The Galaxy will be off next week due to the international break, as will most MLS teams. Los Angeles returns to the pitch on Friday, September 14 when they host the Colorado Rapids. The Whitecaps meanwhile brace for perhaps its biggest match of the season a day later on the 15th, as they go on the road to face FC Dallas.

It takes more than just attitude to take over a game, but combined with team rhythm and smarter tactics, it sure helps. DC United finally put two good halves together to knock off the Red Bulls 4-1 as Chris Pontius charged into the role of instigator and finisher to earn an MLS Player of the Week accolade. He did not do it alone.

The game began with both sides struggling unsuccessfully to create a rhythm. The same lack of flair that cost DC United a win against the Montreal Impact seemed to linger in the damp and chilly air of RFK Stadium. Then Pontius surged past Thierry Henry, fairly charging him off the ball and streaking toward the goal. He found a bit of space for his right foot and slammed home the opening goal.

A few days before, the same sort of move would have encountered several more defenders as the forward would have had more distance to cover. While the Impact had imposed their line of restraint well into United’s turf days before, United learned the lesson and set their own collective resistance well into the Red Bulls’ turf with great good effect.

Nick DeLeon explained, “We can’t afford to have that start (against Montreal). We came out bangin’.“ He went on to point out how at practice the team emphasized total defense up front, “We preached that pretty hard….bring the energy right from the get go.” He clearly enjoyed the approach and wants more of the same against Houston next Saturday, “We gotta keep that going.”

The emergence of DeLeon and Danny Cruz as aggressive players who also maintained their width freed up the entire center of the pitch for the trio of Dwayne DeRosario, Maicon Santos, and Pontius. Yet, it was an attack from the left side by Santos, who refused to give up the ball until he was almost on the goal, which gave Pontius a deflection with which to put United up 2-0.

Attitude combined with variety left a depleted Red Bull side with too many problems to solve. Not to be outdone, Dwayne DeRosario took on a series of players and forced the issue to set up DeLeon who happened to show up in front of the net just in time to make the score 3-0.

Deleon, whose selection by DC United had been panned by some, has proven himself to be a most aggressive and confident rookie. He believes that the main thing he learned from his father, a former professional player himself, was to have confidence and to use, “My attitude of going at defenders without fear. Sometimes you lose it, sometimes you get by them; but you just gotta keep going.” It was this quality that inspired DC’s Coach Ben Olsen to choose him.

The stunning success of both Deleon and Cruz pushed Pontius out of the starting lineup as he continued rounding into form after his broken leg from last season. Andy Najar, a former rookie of the year was also pushed aside as he went off to have a successful tournament for the Honduras National U-23 team.

Both had become too predictable for MLS opponents who knew that both tended to attack too directly into the center, thereby closing off options for their entire team. The switch of Pontius to forward simply played into his natural style.

Najar has been coming off a minor illness after the Olympic qualifying U-23 tournament, but seemed to stay wider in his stint on Wednesday and should continue to push for a starting slot.

Perry Kitchen, who suffered through a horrible spell as a central defender for the US U-23s, has grown rapidly into a leader in his defensive midfield role for DC. He could be seen directing traffic constantly while working smoothly with Emiliano Dudar, whose communication comes mostly from confident body language.

United’s strength down the middle left the Red Bulls with some options down the wings, but Daniel Woolard was just strong and wise enough to keep Dane Richards from wreaking havoc down the Red Bulls’ right. Good backup by the rest of the defense and hard work by DC’s wings kept the score sheet clean until Henry curled a classic free kick in to console his teammates.

The win continues the recent alternating win/tie pattern but the margin of victory and obviously improving team cohesion may portend the first successive MLS victories in Olsen’s coaching career when Houston comes to town on Saturday at 7:30.

The 1-1 tie on Wednesday showed yet again that it’s parity time in MLS. DC United has barely lost to the extremely hot Kansas City and barely tied expansion Montreal. Even their big win against FC Dallas was not as easy as it looked. Most games this year will be close.

The team that reads its opponent well, devises a good strategy, and then has the discipline to execute it will win more often than not and rise toward the top. DC United is not quite there yet, but has settled into an interesting pattern that resembles a frustrating bowling game, strike, spare, strike, spare, but no real strings that pile up the points.

Still, at that rate, the team will finish the regular season with 64 points and a playoff position. Just as the coaching staff analyzes each opponent, the other side reads DC’s tendencies and plans to exploit them. No side in MLS is sufficiently superior to simply impose its style on the other side.

Josh Wolff points out how the Montreal Impact resemble United and why the game was so often contested in midfield, “They’re an up-tempo, hard working team. They come at you pretty much all over the field. They want to try to force you to play. We didn’t deal with it that great in the beginning.”

That pressure by both sides had a predictable effect, “Obviously, we didn’t have a good bailout as far as going long. They’re physical in the back; Shavar and Ferrari were good for them. Those are tough balls for Pontius and DeRo to hold.

“So at that point we needed to do a better job of switching the field of attack, getting out of pressure, so that we could get some numbers on the weak side. When we did that we were OK, but we just didn’t do it enough.”

This season, DC United has generally played stronger in the second half than in the first. Wolff was one of many to observe, “I don’t think we were particularly solid in the first 25 minutes … the balance of being inside and then getting outside was sort of lacking a bit.

“As the game went on, I thought we did a bit better. The more we had possession, the better we were. It took a half for us to get that.”

It has become clear that other teams choose to pressure United higher than has traditionally been the case in soccer. For example, most away teams will begin serious resistance near midfield or slightly into their own half. The concept is to contain the other side and counter.

Montreal came out and made it immediately clear that they would play as if they were a home side, setting their restraint line ten yards inside United’s half and having their forwards pressure defenders almost constantly. This was a wise exploitation of United’s depleted defense and it forced adjustments.

Wolff explained the appropriate response to higher pressure, “We talked about being a bit more patient, not giving balls away.” As the game progresses, a good team will become more comfortable, “In the second half we did a better job of certainly moving the ball, creating a few more numbers out wide.”

That led to good results, “We got some good service and obviously the introduction of Maicon (Santos) was a big difference. When you have a guy that can hold balls continuously that can just batter their backs, and it provided us with a goal.”

Perry Kitchen had the huge burden of protecting his backs as the pressure game and switches of play forced him to cover both wide and deep. He responded well, “I just try to keep the pressure off the backs. Overall, I think it was decent.

“We weren’t our sharpest in the back. We gave up a goal; you never want to see that. Saying that, I think we showed well in the second half to come back and get it tied up.”

Switching to a bit of an attacking role, Kitchen provided the ball that set up Santos’ tying goal. He was modest about his first assist, rightly crediting the Brasilian’s skill, “When he came in there was an instant change and we started getting more chances, becoming more dangerous.” He went on to state the obvious, “He can do special things with his left foot. When he lets it rip it can create dangerous plays.”

Santos has two skills that combine to give defenders big headaches. Either he holds the ball, which allows his teammates to move and find space, or he is played more aggressively, which means he can beat his man to get enough space to crack a good shot on goal.

DeRosario presents a similar dilemma, but does it with guile and touch while Santos uses more strength. Thus, the Canadian does his best holding work a bit further out with a bit more space. In this particular game, he set an early pattern of quick one-touch flicks which sadly found no one running into the spaces where he sent the ball.

Finding no success, he changed tactics. Wolff was pleased to see the change, “It was good to see him moderate it. The flicks are tough to do. Certainly when they don’t come off you want to limit them a bit. For Pontius and DeRo it was tight up top. It would have been nice just to simplify things; when it comes in you hold, lay it off, and let’s get some guys in.”

With both Andy Najar and Danny Cruz reasonably fresh after limited time on Wednesday and Pontius having played the full ninety, I expect to see those two starting on Sunday while Nick DeLeon comes in later along with Pontius. It would be nice to see what problems Santos gives the Red Bulls’ defense.

He and DeRosario will draw double coverage, giving disciplined wide midfielders some room to maneuver. Najar has shown a greater willingness to keep wide, but Wolff explains why the Honduran is allowed to cut inside as often as he does, “Our wide guys have pretty good instincts, so you kind of want them to find the game as best they can.”

A coaching staff can only lay out the overall strategy, it is up to the players to improvise and the best coaches will let them. DC United has only found a rhythm sporadically, but the tools are there.

Wolff believes that the team is doing well so far and should improve, “You go through years of finding different players, systems, coaches, so I think you’ve got good enough personnel now and we’ve gotta take care of it. You’ve seen when we play properly and move the ball around and are calm on the ball that we can possess it and when we do we have good success.”

Kitchen agrees, “If we can put 90 minutes together, a solid performance, I think we’ll be a tough team to beat.” Yes, it’s a cliché, but accurate nonetheless.

United is not in a bad rut. Averaging 2 points per game (after 2 initial losses) is OK, but that pace can continue only if Olsen can get his charges to start out focused as opponents continue to refine their own countermeasures.

Seattle Sounders coach Sigi Schmidt is one of the best in Major League Soccer. He reads his opponents well, prepares a strategy to beat them, and relies on his well trained and motivated troops to execute his plan. He was moderately successful on Saturday, being deprived of a win by an industrious DC United side.

The best teams play compactly front-to-back and maintain width to create space. DC United has struggled to keep that sort of shape and indeed does best when their wings play mostly near the lines. It was reasonable to expect that coming off a nice win with that style, United would continue toplay that way.

After all, in a home game, most coaches will seek to impose their style on the visitor. Away, they counter the home team’s strengths. I think what we saw Saturday was Schmidt’s imposition of a good counter-strategy and United’s determination to prevail despite it.

Both teams played mostly in a voluntarily narrowed half width style. DC’s Danny Cruz described the result, “When we tried to switch the ball, there were so many people in the midfield that we didn’t have time“. He and Nick DeLeon couldn’t maintain as much width as they might like when their Seattle counterparts moved inside.

Each team wants width on attack, but, as Cruz put it, “It’s more like a puzzle. You want to get wide, but if you’re in the wrong spot and they counter, there’s a lot of thinking involved. We got a little too involved in the middle and maybe didn’t switch the ball enough.”

Inevitably, the center becomes crowded and playmaking becomes either long ball over the top or physical play all night. While Seattle’s choice to play inside neutralized DC’s new-found strength, it played into the tenacity that United coach Ben Olsen favors.

Cruz is in that mold, “We invite that. We’re a pretty physical team ourselves…It’s important that people are afraid to come here.” Deleon, his teammate on the other flank, also noticed how pressure was concentrated, “Their outside backs were staying kind of high on us.”

This leads to why I believe that Schmidt chose to narrow play as he did. DC’s defensive midfielder, Perry Kitchen gave Seattle’s dynamic Osvaldo Alonso a straightforward compliment, “He really controls that midfield. “ Pairing him with the creative Freddy Montero who also chose to stay central most of the game, offered Schmidt a better than even chance that his side would sneak a goal.

They nearly did, especially very late when a header by former DC United left back, Marc Burch bounced off the crossbar to the relief of most of the 15,651 in attendance. The emphasis on defense and a tightly fought game meant that either side could catch or create a break, and United’s Hamdi Salihi had his own ringing of the woodwork earlier in the game.

Statistics slightly favored Seattle and Olsen cited the play of United’s Joe Willis as the reason why he felt he was man of the match. While he needed to make only two saves to his opponent’s four, his positioning and confidence and the hard work of the defenders in front of him earned him a clean sheet.

There was a ten minute period in the second half when both teams tired enough to slacken pressure sufficiently to allow some nice attractive and effective play by both teams as the game opened up a bit. The development illustrates the wisdom of Kitchen’s comment on countering a crowded midfield, “The best way to break down pressure is to keep the ball and keep it moving.”

That’s easier to do when fatigue sets in, but the game soon settled back into tight quarter combat with some over the top attacking until the end as the substitutes brought renewed defensive pressure and a concurrent desire to score the winner.

DC United travels to New England on Saturday for a late afternoon game before returning to RFK to face Montreal on 18 April and The Red Bulls on 22 April. With the return of Jakovic from injury, Brandon McDonald from suspension and Andy Najar from a slight illness, Olsen should have solid depth to use in the busy week around the corner.

Two weeks was suppose to be enough time for the Los Angeles Galaxy.

A two-week break in MLS action was suppose to allow the Galaxy valuable time to rest some weary legs while at the same time, establish chemistry for the recently-assembled squad and correct some mistakes that had plagued LA in its first four games.

However, after a rainy Saturday night tilt against the New England Revolution, the same mistakes, namely poor marking on defense among other issues, were still evident. Two early goals in the first half, both assisted by midfielder and captain Shalrie Joseph, set the tone for the Revolution’s dominant night at the Home Depot Center. The Revs outplayed the Galaxy for most of the night, and the end result was a 3-1 win over LA.

“We were certainly beat tonight from the opening kickoff,” Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena said.

New Enlgand got on the board 10 minutes into the match. Following a quick throw-in, Joseph crossed a ball into the penalty box toKelyn Rowe, who had his initial volley denied by Saunders, but the ball ended up back at his feet and Rowe made the most of the second chance, burying the rebound attempt past Saunders upper net for the first goal of the game. New England wasn’t done yet though. Three minutes after Rowe’s goal, Joseph sprung right back Kevin Alston with a through ball into the 18. Alston’s short cross found the foot of left back Chris Tierney, whose volley beat Saunders near post for a two-goal lead.

“Kelyn Rowe is 5-foot-7, and he’s getting behind our backline on a cross, and the second one, their left back is scoring a goal inside out box. That’s unacceptable,” Galaxy defender AJ DeLaGarza said.

Things apparently were bad enough in the first half that Arena decided that midfielders David Beckham and Marcelo Sarvas would be his first two substitutions during the halftime break.

“If I had 11 substitutions, I would’ve considered that,” Arena said.

The substitutions apparently didn’t have much effect, as New England got its third goal inthe 65th minute when Ryan Guy crossed a ball into the 18 and Saer Sene headed the ball past Saunders near post to pretty much end matters on the night as far as the Revolution was concerned. The Galaxy did pull one back, as Robbie Keane finished a point-blank attempt in the 78th minute, but it turned out to be mere window dressing on a pretty dreary night for LA.

“The issue in the game was that 11 players from New England soundly outplayed 11 players from the Galaxy,” Arena said.

Things won’t get any easier for Los Angeles, as their next game will be against Sporting Kansas City at Livestrong Sporting Park next Saturday afternoon.

Over the years, the Colorado Rapids had enjoyed success against the Los Angeles Galaxy at the Home Depot Center.

The Rapids had beaten the Galaxy in its last three visits to the stadium, with one of them being a US Open Cup match, which Colorado won in a penalty shootout. This time however, LA made sure the result was to their liking. One strike in the first half off the foot of Landon Donovan was all the Galaxy needed to break the Rapids’ hex at the HDC and more importantly, re-assert themselves in the Supporters Shield race, as Los Angeles became the first MLS team to clinch a playoff spot with a 1-0 win over the Rapids.

“It was a big game for us tonight,” Galaxy midfielder David Beckham said. “Colorado always comes in here and gives us a hard time, so I think it was important we were on top of our game.”

The win gives Los Angeles 55 points, seven ahead of the second-place Seattle Sounders pending the outcome of its important matchup with Real Salt Lake tonight at Qwest Field. Just as important for the Galaxy, they are the first team to clinch a playoff spot.

“I think we clinched one a while ago,” joked Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena.

After countless opportunities for Los Angeles went begging, the Galaxy finally delivered in the 36th minute. It started when Chad Barrett played a ball forward from the right to a sprinting Sean Franklin. The midfielder, who had a brace on Labor Day against Sporting Kansas City, saw Landon Donovan unmarked at his left and quickly played a ball to him and Donovan’s one-timer beat Matt Pickens to the back post to put LA ahead.

“Between Paolo (Cardozo), David, Chad (Barrett) and Sean, they did a great job of combining and Sean did a great job to find me,” Donovan said of the goal.

The Galaxy, bolstered by the return of goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts between the pipes, held Colorado to only two shots, one on goal, in the first half. The Rapids didn’t improve that number by much, but the chances it had were very dangerous. Colorado’s first real chance at an equalizer actually went in when Wells Thompson buried a rebound shot far post after Ricketts had denied Sanna Nyassi inside the penalty area, but Thompson was ruled offside thus negating the goal. Ricketts came up huge again in the 71st minute when he denied fellow Jamaican countryman Omar Cummings point-blank inside the 18, though Ricketts was again aided by the linesman.

“The second half was much better for us,” Rapids head coach Gary Smith said. “Possession was much better and we were able to disrupt the possession that the Galaxy had had in the first half (and) we had better territorial advantage in the second half.”

Midfielder Paolo Cardozo got the start for Los Angeles as part of Bruce Arena’s plan to conserve bodies ahead of the Galaxy’s huge CONCACAF Champions League matchup at Monarcas Morelia on Tuesday. Cardozo rewarded Arena with a solid performance, controlling possession and igniting several chances for LA. Cardozo himself had as many as four chances to put one in the back net, but was undone either by bad luck or the efforts of Rapids keeper Matt Pickens.

“He’s responding well,” Arena said of Cardozo. “He’s had such a great attitude over the last couple of months to get better and listen to some of the things we’ve talked to him about. Tonight, his performance was real good.”

While Cardozo and Ricketts were in the starting 11, forward Robbie Keane began the match on the bench as Arena preferred to play it safe just days after Keane had returned from Europe following international duty with the Ireland national team. Keane eventually entered the match in the 60th minute for Chad Barrett.

“If Robbie had his way, he’d probably play 90 minutes.” Arena said. “We’ve got to think about the player as well as the team and we didn’t want to put him in a position where he could get hurt.”

The Galaxy now turn its attention to its scintillating CONCACAF Champions League matchup with Mexican Club Monarcas Morelia at Estadios Morelo on Tuesday. The Rapids will also be busy in CCL play with a Mexican squad on Tuesday night, though they will have the fortune of having it in the friendly confines of Dick’s Sporting Goods Park, as they host Santos Laguna.

Los Angeles Galaxy 1, Colorado Rapids 0
September 9, 2011; Home Depot Center

Scoring Summary
LA – Landon Donovan (Sean Franklin, Chad Barrett) 36

Discipline Summary
Col – Brian Mullan (Reckless challenge) 66

Colorado Rapids – Matt Pickens, Kosuke Kimura (Omar Cummings 69), Marvell Wynne, Tyrone Marshall, Danny Evans, Brian Mullan, Jeff Larentowicz, Pablo Mastroeni, Wells Thompson, Caleb Folan, Macoumba Kandji (Sanna Nyassi 39).

Substitutes not used: Steward Ceus, Mike Holody, Scott Palguta, Joseph Nane, Ross LaBauex.

Los Angeles Galaxy – Donovan Ricketts, Bryan Jordan, AJ DeLaGarza, Omar Gonzalez, Todd Dunivant, Sean Franklin, David Beckham, Juninho (Michael Stephens 73), Landon Donovan, Chad Barrett (Robbie Keane 60), Paolo Cardozo (Mike Magee 67).

Substitutes not used: Josh Saunders, Frankie Hejduk, Jovan Kirovski, Miguel Lopez.

Referee: Kevin Stott
Assistants: Mike Rottersman, Anthony Vasoli.
Fourth Official: Alejandro Mariscal
Weather: Partly Cloudy and 69 degrees
Attendance: 20, 068
Time of match: 1:50

The big news in the MLS today is this morning’s announcement that they have struck a new 3-year TV deal with NBC. The deal is worth a reported $10M per year and will put at least 45 games per year onto a combination of NBC and NBC Sports (currently known as Versus but being re-branded in January 2012). The deal essentially replaces the one MLS has had with Fox Soccer Channel.

The deal appears to be a boon for MLS on multiple levels.

The most obvious improvement for MLS is financial. NBC is set to pay somewhere between $2M and $4M more per year more than FSC did.  Additionally, this 3-year agreement replaces a 1-year deal.

Maybe more importantly, NBC is going to bring its quality of production and promotion to the MLS. Let’s be honest, $10M per year isn’t going to suddenly make MLS profitable. But getting MLS into twice as many homes (Versus currently reaches 70M to FSC’s 40M) with high-quality production will give the MLS a great deal of growth potential.

Versus, under the control of NBC Sports, has developed a reputation for high-quality production with its NHL broadcasts. They are also forward thinking in utilizing advertisement potential to maximize profitability. Add to that the national availability of HD, and you have a recipe for excellent ratings growth for MLS matches.

Here’s the breakdown of each network’s responsibilities:

NBC:

2 regular season matches

2 playoff matches

NBC Sports:

38 regular season matches

3 playoff matches

Here’s where this gets exciting. Add to those the games already on ESPN:

ESPN:

MLS First Kick

1 MLS game
The MLS Cup

The MLS All-Star Game
MLS Draft coverage (1st round)

ESPN2:
26 MLS games
3 MLS playoff games

And that all up and you can see that the MLS is in a 2012 with strong television coverage. Obviously, this is nowhere near the NFL, MLB, or NBA. But we are now approaching the NHL, and that’s pretty good company to be in.

In this episode, ASN Revolution beat-writer Hank Alexandre is joined by New England Soccer Today Correspondent Sean Donahue and RevsPress author Julian Cardillo to discuss the Revs loss in seattle as well as what to expect in Real Salt Lake.
Click here to listen

ASN Philly has an interview with potential top five pick in this year’s SuperDraft Zarek Valentin.

Zarek Valentin leaves the Akron Zips as a 19-year old NCAA Champion with boundless potential and a  near future, at least, that lies in Major League Soccer. The Lancaster, PA native has left quite the footprint in only two seasons, one  that has been duplicated on the international level with Thomas Rongen’s U-20s as well. A  local product projected to be a top 5 pick in this year’s SuperDraft and a starter of every game as a Zip, regardless of where he ends up in Major League Soccer, he looks set to do well. And if his rookie year is not with the Union, there will still be fans in and around Philadelphia wishing nothing but the best for his professional career. Valentin, however, is one of two potential first rounders that are local products. Both Zarek and Penn State’s Corey Hertzog (a Reading native) could very well be on Coach Nowak’s shortlist heading into the SuperDraft. A defender known for his composure and proper distribution out of the back, at only 19 and on big stages, could be the best pick to make. Only time will tell but wherever Valentin ends up, he’ll be one Philly area prospect to keep an eye on.

The interview is over at ASN Philly.