D.C. United and the Washington Freedom play a doubleheader on Saturday, and it’ll be interesting to see how many United fans stick around for the women’s game. The typical MLS-women’s doubleheader has been ladies first. This one’s reversed. I’ve posted about it at The Huffington Post, tracing what has happened since a Freedom-United doubleheader would draw more than 20,000 by halftime of the first game on the bill.
The MLS game could have added interest thanks to a dramatic development today — D.C. United re-signed former league MVP Luciano Emilio. He might be cleared to play Saturday, says the Post‘s Steven Goff. The injury-riddled team has started 0-4.
Seattle fans have had a frustrating season so far, victimized by a couple of late goals and a strange scheduling quirk.
One of those late goals came from a controversial call Thursday at Dallas. The only person I’ve seen defending Terry Vaughn’s call is MLSSoccer’s Simon Borg, dissecting the video here:
So we hear that Seattle fans may make some sort of protest. Or not. Judging by what we’re seeing at BigSoccer, cooler heads have prevailed.
And that’s good, for several reasons:
1. Refs are human. No league operates without complaint. I’m still bitter about a few calls in last week’s Inter-Barca game, frankly.
2. This call was a tough one. Borg says Seattle’s Leo Gonzalez stepped on Jason Yeisley’s foot. Borg is surely outvoted (maybe we’ll take a poll here just to see), but it’s not an unreasonable point of view. And that’s after viewing several replays — Vaughn gets one look in real time.
3. Vaughn wasn’t the one who embellished (at best) or flat-out dived. That would be Yeisley.
So why get all worked up about someone who made a mistake — or not, according to Borg — in one of the most difficult, thankless jobs on Earth?
– D.C. United, mired in a horrible losing streak, got the week off. Seattle got two rough road games in four days, and Sigi Schmid’s roster rotation scheme didn’t really pay off, even if they deserved a win in Dallas. Endeavoring to find out why the schedule-makers did that.
My player of the week pick: Toronto's Dwayne De Rosario. Smile, man!
– Toronto got terrific performances from O’Brian White and Dwayne De Rosario, but the Reds are still playing an ugly “physical” style.
– The highlights this week are terrific, particularly for NE-COL, CHI-HOU, CHV-SJ.
– Also recommended: MLSSoccer.com’s “Kick Off” feature, highlighting some game coverage from here and there.
– The “Please don’t forget your Wake Forest education” award goes to Columbus keeper William Hesmer for this comment: “They’re walking around as a champion, saying they’re a champion,” Hesmer says of Real Salt Lake, the MLS champion. His beef, of course, is that Columbus was sooooo much better than Real in the regular season, finishing a whole nine points ahead before Jason Kreis’ club won all those playoff games. Better for Hesmer: He saved the Crew early with a fantastic recovery after being beaten and made a few good saves later.
– On-field lowlight of the week: Kei Kamara may have a hard time living this one down — with the ball bouncing along the goal line, the Wizards striker slid to knock it in. He whiffed with his feet. He got it with his arm. Ref saw it. No goal. Yikes. The mitigating factor: The weather was iffy.
– And the bad weather affected crowds all over. Even Toronto had trouble filling seats before kickoff.
The roundup with a new feature: Each team’s lineup, highlighting changes from the last game.
Dallas 2, Seattle 2 (highlights)
– The Thursday ESPN2 game, decided on a dive.
– FCD: (4-1-4-1): Dario Sala; Zach Loyd RB, George John CB, Ugo Ihemelu CB, Jair Benitez LB; Daniel Hernandez DM; Atiba Harris RM, David Ferreira CM, Dax McCarty CM, Heath Pearce LM; Jeff Cunningham F
– Dallas changes: I had Pearce at the back and Benitez in midfield last week; ESPN listed them the other way around this time. But the same 11 players started.
– SEA: (4-4-2): Kasey Keller; James Riley RB, Tyrone Marshall CB, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado CB, Leonardo Gonzalez LB; Osvaldo Alonso DM, David Estrada RM, Brad Evans CM, Steve Zakuani LM; Fredy Montero F, Roger Levesque F
– Seattle changes: Evans for Peter Vagenas, Levesque for Pat Noonan, Estrada for Freddie Ljungberg. The latter was resting an injury with two games in four days.
New York 2, Philadelphia 1 (highlights)
– NY(4-4-2): Bouna Coundoul; Jeremy Hall RB, Mike Petke CB, Tim Ream CB, Roy Miller LB; Dane Richards RM, Seth Stammler CM, Joel Lindpere CM, Mac Kandji LM; Juan Pablo Angel F, Salou Ibrahim F
– Red Bull changes: Danish midfielder Brian Nielsen made his debut after a single practice.
– PHI (4-4-2): Chris Seitz; Cristian Arrieta, Michael Orozco, Jordan Harvey, Danny Califf; Stefani Miglioranzi, Andrew Jacobson, Roger Torres, Fred; Alejandro Moreno, Sebastien Le Toux
– Philly changes: Danny Califf was out thanks to last week’s red card.
– Challenge to NY fans: Never let us see the Red Bull logo in the seats. Seriously.
– Paul Gardner asks why Peter Nowak keeps taking out Roger Torres, whose incisive passes give the Union the attacking spark they need. Good question.
Columbus 1, Salt Lake 0 (highlights)
– CLB (4-4-1-1): Will Hesmer; Frankie Hejduk RB, Andy Iro CB, Eric Brunner CB, Gino Padula LB; Brian Carroll DM, Eddie Gaven RM, Robbie Rogers LM, Adam Moffat AM; Guillermo Barros Schelotto WF, Steven Lenhart F
– Crew changes: Padula for Danny O’Rourke, Brunner for Chad Marshall (hamstring).
– RSL (4-4-2): Nick Rimando; Robbie Russell RB, Jamison Olave CB, Nat Borchers CB, Tony Beltran LB; Kyle Beckerman DM, Will Johnson RM, Andy Williams CM, Collen Warner LM; Alvaro Saborio F, Fabian Espindola F
– Real changes: Warner gets first MLS start for Nelson Gonzalez
– Schelotto’s penalty kick was the Crew’s only shot on goal. RSL not lucky early this season. I’m not the least bit convinced the late equalizer was offside, either — when the ball was played, a Crew defender had gone back deep in the box.
New England 1, Colorado 2 (highlights)
– NE (4-4-2): Preston Burpo; Kevin Alston RB, Cory Gibbs CB, Darrius Barnes CB, Seth Sinovic LB; Pat Phelan DM, Joseph Niouky DM, Sainey Nyassi RM, Marko Perovic LM’ Kheli Dube F, Zach Schilawski F
– Revs changes: Formation goes to 4-4-2, so Dube comes in for midfielder Chris Tierney.
– COL (4-4-2): Matt Pickens; Kosuke Kimura RB, Marvell Wynne CB, Drew Moor CB, Danny Earls LB; Mehdi Ballouchy RM, Pablo Mastroeni CM, Jeff Larentowicz CM, Wells Thompson LM; Omar Cummings F, Conor Casey F
– Rapids changes: Ballouchy and Thompson on the wings instead of Jamie Smith and Colin Clark. Thompson was traded from NE in the offseason.
– Steve Nicol apparently wants to change the way refs look at the advantage principle.
– Spectacular highlights in this one. All three goals from outside the box, and watch for a clever chip Cummings tries when he’s triple-teamed at the top of the box.
Chicago 2, Houston 0 (highlights)
– CHI (4-2-3-1): Andrew Dykstra; Tim Ward RB, C.J. Brown CB, Wilman Conde CB, Krzysztof Krol LB; Peter Lowry DM, Baggio Husidic DM, Patrick Nyarko RM, Marco Pappa AM, Justin Mapp LM; Collins John F
– Fire changes: Chicago is starting to like the one-striker formation, though it means choosing between John and McBride. John got the call last time; McBride this time. Also Tim Ward for Dasan Robinson. (Note that both “defensive” midfielders scored the goals.)
– HOU(4-4-2): Pat Onstad; Andrew Hainault RB; Bobby Boswell CB, Eddie Robinson CB, Mike Chabala LB; Corey Ashe RM, Lovel Palmer CM, Geoff Cameron CM, Brad Davis LM; Brian Mullan F, Dominic Oduro F
– Dynamo changes: None.
– Fun to watch what the wind does with Onstad’s hair.
– LOVE the shot from Tim Ward to set up Baggio Husidic’s opening goal.
– Great game from Andrew Dykstra, denying Brad Davis a couple of assists.
– Dumb “physical” stuff near the end with red cards for Krol and Houston sub Danny Cruz.
– Fire unis going green. It’s not easy.
Kansas City 0, Los Angeles 0 (highlights)
– KC (4-3-3): Jimmy Nielsen; Michael Harrington RB, Pablo Escobar CB, Matt Besler CB, Roger Espinoza LB, Jack Jewsbury DM, Davy Arnaud DM, Stephane Auvray CM; Josh Wolff RM, Ryan Smith LF, Kei Kamara CF
– Wizards changes: Besler replaced Jimmy Conrad, who rested a calf strain. The broadcast called it a 4-3-3 rather than last week’s 4-5-1, but that really depends on how far forward Wolff and Smith are playing. The three-man central midfield also seems rather fluid.
– LA (4-4-2): Donovan Ricketts; A.J. DeLaGarza RB, Gregg Berhalter CB, Omar Gonzalez CB, Todd Dunivant LB; Charlie Birchall DM, Michael Stephens RM, Juninho AM, Mike Magee LM; Landon Donovan F, Edson Buddle F
– Galaxy changes: Sean Franklin was out with an injured ankle, so DeLaGarza moved from center to right and Berhalter played for the first time this season.
– Most of the game was a goalkeeping duel between Ricketts and Nielsen at Kansas City’s cozy Community American Ballpark.
Chivas USA 3, San Jose 2 (highlights)
– CHV (4-4-2): Zach Thornton; Mariano Trujillo RB, Dario Delgado CB, Michael Umana CB, Jonathan Bornstein LB; Michael Lahoud RM, Blair Gavin CM, Ben Zemanski CM, Jesus Padilla LM; Sacha Kljestan F, Justin Braun F
– Chivas changes: With Lahoud in, Padilla scoots to right, Gavin goes central and Jorge Flores sits. Then Kljestan goes to forward, which is curious, and he and Braun put Maicon Santos and Chukwudi Chijindu on the bench.
– SJ (4-4-2): Joe Cannon; Steve Beitashour RB, Ike Opara CB, Jason Hernandez CB, Ramiro Corrales LB; Joey Gjertsen RM, Brandon McDonald CM, Ramon Sanchez CM, Bobby Convey LM; Ryan Johnson F, Chris Wondolowski F
– Quakes changes: Sanchez for Andre Luiz, who had swelling in his left knee.
Toronto 2, Seattle 0 (highlights)
– TFC: Stefan Frei; Maksim Usanov RB, Raivis Hscanovics CB, Adrian Cann CB, Nana Attakora LB; Dwayne De Rosario RM, Julian de Guzman CM, Martin Saric CM, Nick LaBrocca LM; O’Brian White F, Chad Barrett F
– Reds changes: Hscanovics in center, pushing Attakora to left, with Ty Harden out. De Ro is listed at the unusual spot of right mid, opening a forward slot for White and pushing Sam Cronin to the bench.
– SEA: (4-4-2): Kasey Keller; James Riley RB, Patrick Ianni CB, Tyrone Marshall CB, Tyson Wahl LB; Osvaldo Alonso DM, Sanna Nyassi RM, Peter Vagenas CM, Nathan Sturgis LM; Freddie Ljungberg F, Brad Evans F
– Sounders changes: Sigi Schmid rotated his lineup through the two games in four days, with Ianni for Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Wahl for Leo Gonzalez, Nyassi for David Estrada, Vagenas for Brad Evans, Sturgis for Steve Zakuani, and Ljungberg up front for Fredy Montero. Also, Vagenas is in midfield for Evans, who plays up front for Roger Levesque. Keller was banged up Thursday and had to be replaced, but he returned for this one.
– Another stadium with a visible logo in the stands, though this was technically a sellout. Lots of weird weather this week.
– We don’t want to encourage Preki to persist with this “physical” play (Ljungberg should’ve asked to borrow some Maple Leafs gear at halftime, and Gareth Wheeler provides the latest in a string of excellent analyses of TFC’s “style”), but attacking players White and De Ro created very well. De Ro gets my vote for Player of the Week ahead of LA’s Donovan Ricketts.
For posterity, here’s D.C. United’s most recent lineup (4-4-2): Troy Perkins; Carey Talley RB, Devon McTavish CB, Julius James CB, Rodney Wallace LB; Kurt Morsink DM, Santino Quaranta RM, Jaime Moreno AM, Andy Najar LM; Chris Pontius F, Danny Allsopp F
Don’t let the volcano or blown calls get you down. All times ET, which seems appropriate given the birth of new I-95 rivalries in MLS and WPS this weekend.
TRACK AND FIELD
Penn Relays, featuring the “USA vs. The World” events,will have a same-day delay broadcast, 8 p.m. ET Sat., ESPN2
The Drake Relays also will have their big names competing Saturday, though they’ve already seen a meet record with U.S. champion Diana Pickler in the heptathlon.
Also the first official IAAF event of the season, the Dakar Grand Prix on Saturday.
Two marathons Sunday: London and Madrid. London will be broadcast on Universal Sports.
CHESS
The World Championship match between champion Vishy Anand and challenger Veselin Topalov starts Saturday morning. Grandmaster Ian Rogers, writing for the USCF’s Chess Life Online, provides a helpful and witty guide to following the event.
MMA
Some other writer wrote a preview of WEC’s first pay-per-view card at 10 p.m. ET Saturday. Spike will have two prelims at 9 p.m. The main event has two of the most exciting fighters in the world — featherweight champion Jose Aldo vs. former champion Urijah Faber. There’s also a lightweight title fight rematch between Ben Henderson and Donald Cerrone, plus a compelling featherweight matchup with former champion Mike Brown facing Manny Gamburyan.
EUROPEAN SOCCER
Now would be a good time to mention the World’s Greatest Football Fan contest, complete with video from one “Cobi J.” Good thing to fill out while you’re agonizing over your favorite team in the stretch run this weekend.
The key German and French games aren’t televised this week.
England (3 games left; Chelsea lead Man U by 1)
For fourth place: Tottenham (64) and Man City (62) have game in hand over Aston Villa (61).
Relegation race: Bolton (35), Wigan (35), Wolves (34) near safety. West Ham (31) on bubble. Current relegation zone is Hull (28), Burnley (27) and Portmouth (farewell).
Tottenham-Manchester United, 7:30 a.m. Sat., ESPN2: For the second straight week, Manchester United carries its title hopes against a team fighting for the final Champions League berth.
West Ham-Wigan, 10 a.m. Sat., FSC: Vital for West Ham (Jonathan Spector).
Hull-Sunderland, 10 a.m. Sat., Fox Soccer Plus: Hull (Jozy Altidore) are in worse shape.
Arsenal-Manchester City, 12:30 p.m. Sat., FSC: The Gunners are pretty well stuck in third after collapsing last week; Man City still wants that Champions League berth.
Everton-Fulham, 9:55 a.m. Sun.: Everton (Tim Howard) still in the mix for a European spot; Fulham (Clint Dempsey) might want to cool the jets in the Premier League and focus on that second Europa League semifinal leg.
Chelsea-Stoke, 11 a.m. Sun., FSC: Possible lead change?
Spain (5 games left; Barcelona lead Real Madrid by 1)
New FC Dallas technical director Barry Gorman has already paid dividends for the Hooray Beers. He coached Jason Yeisley at Penn State, and Yeisley made the difference last night with a textbook … dive. (See the currently non-embeddable video.) Jeff Cunningham made his second PK of the night and Dallas got a draw with the unlucky Seattle Sounders.
The weekend (home teams first; all games Saturday except the last):
New York (3-1-0) – Philadelphia (1-2-0), 4 p.m., TeleFutura
New England (2-2-0) – Colorado (2-1-1), 7:30 p.m., DK/MLSS: Better matchup than you might have thought a month ago.
Columbus (1-0-1) – Salt Lake (2-1-0), 7:30 p.m., DK/MLSS: Past two MLS champs meet as RSL continues brutal early schedule.
Kansas City (2-1-0) – Los Angeles (4-0-0), 8:30 p.m., DK/MLSS: Good test for Galaxy’s streak.
Chicago (1-2-1) – Houston (2-1-1), 8:30 p.m., DK/MLSS
Chivas USA (1-3-0) – San Jose (2-1-0), 10:30 p.m., FSC
Toronto (1-3-0) – Seattle (2-1-2), 2 p.m. Sun., DK/MLSS: Temperamental TFC vs. some angry Sounders. Yikes.
D.C. United is the idle team this week. Not exactly sure why.
WPS
FC Gold Pride (1-1-0) – Atlanta (0-1-1), 10 p.m. Sat.: Fun fact – Atlanta keeper Allison Whitworth leads the league with 19 saves. Second place is Hope Solo with 12. Expansion defenses are fun!
Philadelphia (0-0-2) – Washington (1-1-0), 6 p.m. Sun.: Abby Wambach was WPS player of the week with a goal and two assists for the Freedom.
Chicago (0-1-1) – Sky Blue (1-1-0), 6 p.m. Sun.: Facing each other for the second time already. First game was 1-0 Sky Blue in their Jersey home.
St. Louis (1-0-1) – Boston (1-0-1), 6 p.m. Sun., FSC, Webcast, iPhone: Looks like the only way to make this more readily available would be to beam it directly into your head. Coincidentally, these teams are tied for first in the early going.
CYCLING
Athens Twilight Criterium, Saturday: Not a major event, but it draws a few good riders and will bring back pleasant memories for all us former Athens residents.
Liege-Bastogne-Liege, Sunday: Classic ride through Belgium and one of the last big rides before the Giro d’Italia. Among the riders: Alberto Contador, Cadel Evans, Christian Vande Velde, Chris Horner, Andreas Kloden, Yaroslav Popovych. Earlier this week at La Fleche Wallonne, Evans beat Joaquin Rodriguez and Contador in the final sprint, with Horner 7th. On Versus May 1.
BOXING
Super Six super middleweight tournament continues: Carl Bloch vs. Mikkel Kessler, 9 p.m. ET Sat., Showtime
Heavyweights Cristobal Arreola vs. Tomasz Adamek, main event on 11:15 p.m. ET Sat. HBO card
When the news came through that FC Dallas had hired former Penn State head coach Barry Gorman as their new technical director, the reaction wasn’t hard to predict.
FCD owner Hunt Sports Group has lost a few fans. Among the issues: FCD’s head coach is Schellas Hyndman, the longtime Southern Methodist coach whose former players in college happen to include Clark Hunt.
So when you tell a few Dallas fans that the team is hiring a friend of Hyndman’s who has been in the college game for a few decades, that’s akin to announcing a Beatles reunion with Yoko Ono taking John Lennon’s spot.
From the comments at Buzz Carrick’s excellent 3rd Degree blog:
“Sounds like Barry just received a nice retirement bonus from the Hunts.”
“I wish the Hunts would go play family reunion somewhere else.”
The buddy system, though, shouldn’t be such a problem. Bruce Arena and Sigi Schmid have always had “their guys” around. Real Salt Lake has an MLS Cup under the leadership of Dukies Jason Kreis and Garth Lagerwey.
But can today’s college game prepare a front-office executive to dig up and evaluate talent for an MLS team? BigSoccer blogger Bill Archer thinks not:
I don’t care what sport you’re talking about or what league, the people who are best equipped to identify and develop players who will succeed in that league are guys who have been there themselves, who’ve spent a lot of time playing and/or coaching there and have direct, intimate, personal knowledge of how you do and don’t succeed there. This guy brings none of that.
Indeed, not many people are making the jump from college to MLS in the head coaching or front office ranks these days. In the early days, Bruce Arena and Sigi Schmid were plucked from the college ranks because that was one of the highest levels of soccer running in the USA before MLS launched. It helped that Arena and Schmid had college dynasties at Virginia and UCLA. As Archer points out, he has seen Sigi Schmid, and Gorman is no Sigi Schmid.
But there’s one reason why the wailing over Gorman’s hiring may be premature: The college game, like it or not, is still quite important in MLS.
Consider the New England Revolution, where Liverpool legend Steve Nicol has been in charge for nearly a decade. He’s not building the team through some questionable lower-tier signings from his friends in England. The roster has been replenished year after year through smart SuperDraft selections and the occasional scouting of African teams.
Gorman should have a good sense of who’s coming through the college ranks. That’ll put him one step up on many pedigreed coaches and personnel guys who came to MLS and failed.
Will that be enough to make him a valuable addition to the Dallas front office? Will Dallas outperform everyone in future drafts? Time will tell.
But it’s a gamble, to say the least. Dallas fans are casting skeptical eyes on the team these days, and the current regime will have little margin for error among the Hoops, er, Red Stripes faithful. (Really? You guys prefer to be named after a beer than a geometric shape? OK, then.)
Dallas has two more immediate concerns tonight. First, getting fans to make the trip to Pizza Hut Park on a school night. Second, dealing with a strong Seattle team and trying to avoid going winless in April. 8 p.m. ET, ESPN2 — game notes here.
Correction: First version of this post incorrectly referred to FCD’s new TD as “Danny” Gorman. Obviously, I had him confused with Danny Szetela.
Quick reminder: Boston Marathon this morning on Universal Sports.
So what happened this weekend?
SOCCER (Americas)
– MLS: The Galaxy look great. The bottom teams look terrible. Full roundup already up.
– WPS: Six and a half years ago, Abby Wambach scored both goals in the last WUSA final as the Washington Freedom defeated the Atlanta Beat. On Sunday, Wambach had a goal and two assists as the Freedom won their first WPS meeting with the Beat 3-1. Trivia, true to the best of my recollection (let me know if I forgot someone): The only two players from the Beat’s 2003 final lineup to play in WPS, Briana Scurry and Homare Sawa, are on the Freedom’s roster. Sawa scored for the Freedom.
It was another 3-1 decision in the Bay Area, where FC Gold Pride unleashed Christine Sinclair (two goals) and Marta (one) on the defending champion Sky Blue.
1-1 ties elsewhere: Boston-Philadelphia, Chicago-St. Louis. The great news was that St. Louis’ Lori Chalupny was in action after some concussion concerns, and she scored Athletica’s early goal. Chicago rookie Casey Nogueira, who looked amazing in the W-League a couple of years ago, had the equalizer.
USL/NASL: The early Division 2 pace-setters are the Austin Aztex, who spoiled St. Louis’ home debut with a 2-1 win. Only three goals in the other four games over the weekend, with road wins for Tampa Bay (at Baltimore) and Minnesota (at Carolina), a home win for Portland (vs. Rochester) and a 0-0 tie for Vancouver at Miami.
Charleston took the early lead in USL-2 with a 3-2 win over Charlotte. Former D.C. United developmental player/JoJo video star Mike Zaher scored for the Battery.
Mexico: American Herculez Gomez was red-carded after two goals and will wait through the regular-season finale to see if he can share the league’s scoring title. (AP)
SOCCER (Europe)
England: Arsenal fell from legit Premier League contenders to head-scratching also-rans in 10 minutes in their fourth-to-last game, conceding three goals to Wigan to fall six points behind Chelsea, which left the door open with a loss to Tottenham. The other decisive game: Manchester United got a late goal (again) to beat Manchester City in a classic derby, keeping United within a point of Chelsea and dropped City behind Tottenham in the race for the fourth Champions League spot.
Spain: Real Madrid wins, Barcelona ties — Barca’s lead is down to one.
Germany: Schalke stays within two points of Bayern Munich as both teams win, but Bayern pretty well settles the goal-difference tiebreaker by blasting Hannover 7-0. Steve Cherundolo’s side is in the relegation zone.
Italy: Milan’s loss to Sampdoria likely leaves a two-team race between Roma and Inter. Roma and Lazio “fans” had a knife fight. Shocker.
Americans in action: Goal.com’s roundup has an unlikely lead — Eric Lichaj scored a vital winner for Leyton Orient. (Goal.com)
MMA
The results were surprising for Strikeforce’s CBS show Saturday night. Inexperienced “King Mo” Lawal upset light heavyweight champion Gegard Mousasi, who re-upped with Strikeforce a couple of days earlier. Jake Shields outwrestled former Olympic wrestler Dan Henderson, and Gilbert Melendez easily handled top Japanese lightweight Shinya Aoki.
The bad news for Strikeforce: All three title fights went the distance and didn’t have a lot of crowd-pleasing action. (MMA Fighting Stances)
Then came the comedy: Jason “Mayhem” Miller, who won earlier in the night, jumped into the cage and demanded a rematch with Shields. Miller, known for entertaining entrances and his hosting duties on MTV’s Bully Beatdown, got a beatdown of his own from Shields’ camp, including the fiesty Diaz brothers. Mayhem’s immediate reaction on Twitter: “Whoops.” He has since issued a more formal apology. Not expecting one from the Diaz brothers.
TENNIS
Think Rafael Nadal is ready for the French Open? He won the Monte Carlo final over Fernando Verdasco 6-0, 6-1. (Yahoo!: Busted Racquet blog)
Top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki suffered an ankle injury and retired from her semifinal match at the Family Circle Cup in Charleston. Daniele Hantuchova upset Jelena Jankovic in the quarters but lost in the semis to Samantha Stosur, who went on to win the final over Vera Zvonareva.
BEACH VOLLEYBALL
Misty May-Treanor, who reveals in an upcoming book that she and her family struggled with alcoholism, teamed for the first time with Nicole Branagh and swept through the field at the AVP Fort Lauderdale Open. The final was rainy and windy, enough so that the men’s final that was to follow the women was canceled. (Miami Herald)
CYCLING
Alberto Contador seems to be in good shape for the Grand Tours, winning the Vuelta a Castilla y Leon. (Velo News)
With Fabian Cancellara and Tom Boonen not in the field, Belgian Philippe Gilbert won the Amstel Gold Race (Velo News)
BOXING
Not often that a Ring champion loses. Sergio Martinez landed the upset this weekend over Kelly Pavlik. (USA TODAY)
THIS WEEK
– Track and field: Penn and Drake Relays start Thursday and Friday.
– Soccer: Champions League and Europa League will go on this week despite the volcano.
–
Did MLS suddenly adopt the Scottish system of splitting the top half of the table from the bottom? That would explain why the bottom four teams in the MLS East all faced off this week in a macabre mini-tournament of sorts. Meanwhile, Los Angeles and Salt Lake played a terrific rematch of last fall’s MLS Cup final.
One of the bottom four matchups, Thursday’s Toronto-Philadelphia game, was already covered. On to the weekend (lineups are estimated from Match Tracker and from what was visible on the highlights; if you see someone who wound up playing elsewhere on the field, please pass it along):
Los Angeles 2, Salt Lake 1
– LA (4-4-2): Donovan Ricketts; Sean Franklin RB (Bryan Jordan 44), A.J. DeLaGarza CB, Omar Gonzalez CB, Todd Dunivant LB; Charlie Birchall DM, Michael Stephens RM, Juninho CM (Alan Gordon 81), Mike Magee LM (Alex Cazumba 69); Landon Donovan F, Edson Buddle F
– RSL (4-4-2): Nick Rimando; Tony Beltran RB, Jamison Olave CB, Nat Borchers CB, Robbie Russell LB; Kyle Beckerman DM, Will Johnson RM, Andy Williams CM, Nelson Gonzalez LM (Collen Warner 64); Alvaro Saborio F (Pablo Campos 81), Fabian Espindola F (Robbie Findley 59)
– The Galaxy loses their shutout streak on a fluky goal, with Kyle Beckerman’s shot taking a wild skip off the Home Depot Center non-FieldTurf.
– Edson Buddle has scored all seven of the Galaxy’s goals this year. Freaky. Landon Donovan has four assists.
– RSL’s 1-2-1 record is deceiving; the defending champs have had only one home game and a pair of difficult away games, and they haven’t been outclassed at all. Robbie Findley’s shot off the post would’ve been a tough one for the Galaxy to overcome had it been a few inches to the left.
Seattle 1, Kansas City 0 (highlights)
– Seattle (4-4-2): Kasey Keller; James Riley RB, Tyrone Marshall CB, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado CB, Leonardo Gonzalez LB; Osvaldo Alonso DM, Freddie Ljungberg RM (Patrick Ianni 90), Peter Vagenas CM, Steve Zakuani LM (Michael Fucito 85); Fredy Montero F, Pat Noonan (Brad Evans 70).
– KC (4-5-1, two defensive mids): Jimmy Nielsen; Michael Harrington RB, Pablo Escobar CB, Jimmy Conrad CB (Matt Besler 32), Roger Espinoza LB, Jack Jewsbury DM, Stephane Auvray DM, Josh Wolff RM (Teal Bunbury 82), Davy Arnaud CM, Ryan Smith LM, Kei Kamara F (Chance Myers 90).
– Bad miss for Pat Noonan in the 10th minute as Seattle pressed early.
– Both defenses lapsed in stoppage time. Jimmy Nielsen, who had a strong save earlier, couldn’t make the last save. Kasey Keller did, bailing out Michael Fucito, who Sigi Schmid said was still in a state of euphoria from scoring.
– Not shown in the highlights but mentioned in the recap: Zakuani made contact with referee Jair Marrufo but only saw yellow.
– Jimmy Conrad left in the first half with a calf injury. Think that might have affected the outcome?
Houston 3, Chivas USA 0 (highlights)
– Did you see the Lovel Palmer goal?
– CUSA (4-4-2): Zach Thornton; Mariano Trujillo RB, Dario Delgado CB, Michael Umana CB, Jonathan Bornstein LB; Jesus Padilla RM, Sacha Kljestan CM, Jorge Flores CM (Justin Braun 46), Blair Gavin LM; Maicon Santos F (Ben Zemanski 46), Chukwudi Chijindu F (Gerson Mayen 78)
– Houston (4-4-2): Pat Onstad; Andrew Hainault RB; Bobby Boswell CB, Eddie Robinson CB, Mike Chabala LB; Corey Ashe RM, Lovel Palmer CM, Geoff Cameron CM (Francisco Navas Cobo 93), Brad Davis LM (Adrian Serioux 86); Brian Mullan F (Danny Cruz 83), Dominic Oduro F
– Not sure why Oduro felt the need to do the “hot boot” celebration after his goal. He could’ve tapped that in with his knee, his backside or just about any other part of his body.
San Jose 2, New England 0 (highlights)
– NE (4-5-1 or 4-2-2-1-1): Preston Burpo; Kevin Alston RB, Cory Gibbs CB, Darrius Barnes CB, Seth Sinovic LB (Zak “No, not Wade” Boggs 82); Pat Phelan DM, Joseph Niouky DM, Sainey Nyassi RM (Kheli Dube 67), Chris Tierney LM; Marko Perovic AM, Zach Schilawski F (Kenny Mansally 85)
– SJ (4-4-2): Joe Cannon; Steve Beitashour RB, Ike Opara CB, Jason Hernandez CB, Ramiro Corrales LB; Joey Gjertsen RM, Brandon McDonald CM, Andre Luiz CM, Bobby Convey LM; Ryan Johnson F (Ramon Sanchez 92), Chris Wondolowski F
– Darrius Barnes, ever-present as a rookie last year, returned from injury. But the Revs were still without Shalrie Joseph.
– San Jose standouts: Terrific work by Ryan Johnson on the first goal, then a late series of saves from Joe Cannon.
New York 2, Dallas 1 (highlights)
– NY (4-4-2): Bouna Coundoul; Jeremy Hall RB, Mike Petke CB, Tim Ream CB, Roy Miller LB; Dane Richards RM (Sinisa Ubiparipovic 81), Seth Stammler CM (Carl Robinson 58), Joel Lindpere CM, Mac Kandji LM; Juan Pablo Angel F, Salou Ibrahim F (Danleigh Borman 71)
– Dal (4-1-4-1): Dario Sala; Zach Loyd RB, George John CB, Ugo Ihemelu CB, Heath Pearce LB (Eric Avila 69); Daniel Hernandez DM; Atiba Harris RM, David Ferreira CM, Dax McCarty CM (Eric Alexander 81), Jair Benitez LM; Jeff Cunningham F
– OK, New York — where’s the crowd? You don’t have Giants Stadium and its cavernous atmosphere, controversial security and lack of mass transit to blame any more.
– MLSSoccer’s anonymous recapper did not enjoy the game. And yet the highlights are 9 minutes long. Especially cruel in the editing — a Mike Petke blunder is immediately followed by a scene in which the electronic dasher boards read “Follow Mike Petke on Twitter.”
– Comeback player of the week is Bouna Coundoul, who shook off a blunder last week to snap right back into his terrific early-season form. (HT: Bill Archer)
D.C. United 0, Chicago 2 (highlights)
– Chicago (4-2-3-1): Andrew Dykstra; Dasan Robinson RB, C.J. Brown CB, Wilman Conde CB, Krzysztof Krol LB; Peter Lowry DM, Baggio Husidic DM, Patrick Nyarko RM, Marco Pappa AM, Justin Mapp LM; Collins John F
– D.C. (4-4-2): Troy Perkins; Carey Talley RB, Devon McTavish CB, Julius James CB, Rodney Wallace LB; Kurt Morsink DM, Santino Quaranta RM, Jaime Moreno AM, Andy Najar LM; Chris Pontius F, Danny Allsopp F
– Already went in-depth on the clinching goal and got some comments from Santino Quaranta (not the ones you’ve seen elsewhere).
And from Sunday …
Colorado 3, Toronto 1 (recap/goal highlights)
– Colo: Matt Pickens; Kosuke Kimura RB, Marvell Wynne CB, Drew Moor CB, Danny Earls LB (Scott Palguta 83); Jamie Smith RM (Wells Thompson 59), Pablo Mastroeni CM, Jeff Larentowicz CM, Colin Clark LM (Quincy Amarikwa 68); Omar Cummings F, Conor Casey F
– TFC: Stefan Frei; Maksim Usanov RB, Nana Attakora CB, Adrian Cann CB, Ty Harden LB; Sam Cronin RM, Julian de Guzman CM, Martin Saric CM (Dan Gargan 80), Nick LaBrocca LM (Jacob Peterson 60); Dwayne De Rosario F, Chad Barrett F (O’Brian White 66)
– Three PKs in this one. The first was, well, wrong. Adrian Cann, who played briefly for Colorado before a long trip through the USL and Scandinavia before TFC signed him a few days ago, was judged to have … handled the ball? Failed to slide safely into second base? Conor Casey then went for the smart-ass chip over the sprawling keeper, and he got a little lucky with the timing. The other calls and shots were much better.
– The non-PK was a Colorado free kick in which Jeff Larentowicz drilled the ball through a hole in the wall vacated by the sideways-jumping Julian de Guzman.
– Match Tracker isn’t showing a single TFC shot from inside the 18-yard box. Stats show six saves for Frei, zero for Pickens. The broadcast crew chose a highlight of Pickens tipping a cross away as the “Save of the Game.”
So if we look at the bottom eight teams in the league, we can give half of those teams a break. Salt Lake is playing pretty well against good teams. Columbus has only played two games. Chicago just has one bad loss at home. Dallas has played a couple of thrillers.
That leaves the following teams making a collective argument — with the usual “Yes, it’s only Week 4” disclaimer — that MLS isn’t really a league of parity:
– Philadelphia: Not easy to build an expansion team, though you have to wonder when they’ll lose the “physical” side of the game and just play.
– Chivas USA: A couple of injuries have made it tougher to replace the lost veteran leadership of Jesse Marsch et al.
– D.C. United: Three years of poor player acquisitions will take a toll on the roster. To be fair, the injury bug hasn’t helped — Bryan Namoff and Clyde Simms alone would make this team more solid, though it’s hard to see where the goals will come from.
– Toronto: Maybe they should get some players who weren’t cast aside by Skonto Riga.
Early in a 2-0 loss to Chicago on Saturday, Andy Najar — known to no one outside D.C. United’s staff a few weeks ago and now starting in MLS at age 17 — chased a ball down on his own endline and centered it across the face of his own goal.
That’s how things are going for the once-mighty team these days. Three years of atrocious personnel decisions and a recent rash of injuries have left a team that looks incapable of winning.
Santino Quaranta, now an elder statesman of sorts at age 25, pointed to the injuries — Clyde Simms, Bryan Namoff, Marc Burch, Juan Manuel Pena. But he wasn’t pleased with a game in which the only real test for young Chicago goalkeeper Andrew Dykstra was his own blazing free kick.
“If that’s our best chance of the game, that’s pretty sad.”
One thing looks better for United: Their clothes. After the game, every player was changing into a nice suit, though Carey Talley stretched the definition of “nice” with some bright green pants. Simms, who hopes to be back on the field for United’s next game April 28 against Dallas, said he thinks the idea originated with goalkeeper Troy Perkins.
Yet Perkins also has trouble looking sharp on the field. In the first 10 minutes Saturday, he had to scramble to avoid being chipped by Collins John, then flapped at a corner kick. At the end of the half, he raced out of his box to try to prevent a breakaway and couldn’t come up with the ball. And he could’ve done better on the second Chicago goal.
United are 0-4. They started 0-4 in 1996, though the last loss was in the since-discarded postgame shootout, and went on to win the first MLS title.
“Yeah, we’re not 1996, man,” Quaranta said. “We don’t have those kind of players here.”
The dagger for D.C. United started with former Woodbridge, Va., resident Andrew Dykstra, the young goalkeeper for the Chicago Fire.
Dykstra, who had 80-100 people coming to watch him, said he was looking for Brian McBride with his long distributions late in the game. He wasn’t able to get the ball to him in the corner a little earlier. Then he saw McBride drift into the box and figured he would aim there.
“I trust the 36-year-old veteran,” Dykstra said, undercounting by one year.
The 37-year-old veteran knew what to do next. He couldn’t see United keeper Troy Perkins, but he could hear him.
“The goalie was talking, so I knew where he was,” McBride said. “I was trying to put it on goal. I didn’t pick out the corner, but I knew where the goalie was, so I was just trying not to put it right at him.”
So now you know, MLS keepers: When a long ball is going to McBride, keep your mouth shut.
It’s a relatively slow time for the sports world outside the NBA and NHL, where the Capitals appear to have started breaking my heart. But you won’t be without viewing options this weekend. Read on for all of those (all times ET) and a look at the midweek news:
MLS
Comedy of errors last night in Toronto. Philadelphia keeper Chris Seitz let a Dwayne De Rosario free kick slip through his hands into the goal, and he committed the foul that let De Ro win it from the spot. Danny Califf, the “veteran leadership” for Philadelphia, made a poor backpass and decided to make up for it by slamming his forearm into Julian de Guzman’s face, an obvious red card by any criterion you use. Toronto was lucky to finish the game with 11 men after some gruesome tackles, particularly from Raivis Hscanovics. And Philly blundered by taking off Roger Torres, whose sublime pass set up the game’s best goal, to go for a more defensive shape.
Strong offense = best defense. When will coaches realize this?
Califf took responsibility. Toronto coach Preki snapped back at the media by asking if they would prefer a team of ballerinas. (Toronto Sun)
Grass looks nice, though. And click to #11 in this gallery for the best soccer fan photo so far this year.
This weekend (home teams first; all games Saturday except the last):
Seattle (1-1-1) – Kansas City (2-0-0), 3 p.m., DK/MLSS: Pick of the week
Houston (1-1-1) – Chivas USA (1-2-0), 4 p.m., TeleFutura: Still a nasty rivalry?
D.C. United (0-3-0) – Chicago (0-2-1), 7:30 p.m., DK/MLSS: Which team disappoints you more?
New York (2-1-0) – Dallas (0-0-2), 7:30 p.m., DK/MLSS: No, Thierry Henry isn’t playing
San Jose (1-1-0) – New England (2-1-0), 10 p.m., DK/MLSS: Any Kraft Soccer demons remaining for Earthquakes fans?
Los Angeles (3-0-0) – Salt Lake (1-1-1), 10:30 p.m., FSC: MLS Cup rematch
Colorado (1-1-1) – Toronto (1-2-0), 5 p.m. Sun, DK/MLSS: TFC plays twice this week; Columbus idle
WPS
Week 2 games Saturday and Sunday. Am I the only person not playing WPS fantasy soccer?
Chicago – St. Louis, 8 p.m. Sat
FC Gold Pride – Sky Blue, 10 p.m. Sat (or, if you prefer, Bay Area – New Jersey)
Boston – Philadelphia, 6 p.m. Sun, FSC
Washington – Atlanta, 7 p.m. Sun — 2003 WUSA final rematch at last!
EUROPEAN SOCCER
Americans Tom Hicks and George Gillett are selling Liverpool, and it’s safe to say they won’t be missed by the fan base. Commentator Jim White accuses them of having as much interest in the club as a real estate investor would in a house he’s flipping. (Eurosport)
England
Manchester City – Manchester United, 7:45 a.m. Sat, ESPN2: Both teams have plenty at stake in the derby.
Blackburn – Everton, 10 a.m. Sat, FSC: Tim Howard and company are on the road, trying to keep faint European hopes alive.
Tottenham – Chelsea, 12:30 a.m. Sat, FSC: Tottenham is one point behind Man City for the fourth Champions League berth. Chelsea has a four-point lead for first. Another great derby.
Spain (Barcelona lead Real Madrid by 3)
Espanyol – Barcelona, 2 p.m. Sat, GolTV
Valencia – Real Madrid, 3 p.m. Sun, ESPN Deportes
Germany (Bayern Munich lead Schalke by 2; both teams face Americans on Saturday)
Bellator’s second show of the season had a bit of controversy last night with a premature stoppage giving wrestling phenom Ben Askren a welterweight quarterfinal win. But as my colleague Sergio Non points out, you have to answer when the ref asks if you’re OK. I’d have more of an opinion myself if any local networks would pick up the FSN broadcasts. (MMA Fighting Stances)
The big show this weekend, no credit card needed, is Strikeforce on CBS (9 p.m.), which will have three title fights and a “Mayhem” Miller entrance:
Middleweights: Former two-division Pride champion Dan Henderson, who postured his way out of the UFC by getting a big head after his unsportsmanlike win over Michael Bisping, takes on current champion Jake Shields, who might be heading the other direction.
Light heavyweights: Former wrestler “King Mo” Lawal takes a big jump up in opposition in his budding MMA career, challenging champion Gegard Mousasi.
Lightweights: The hard-core fans are drooling over the matchup of Strikeforce champ Gilbert Melendez and Dream (Japan) champ Shinya Aoki.
BOXING
Why do people freak out when the UFC might go up against a big boxing card, and yet no one seems concerned about this Strikeforce-boxing scheduling conflict? We’re not just talking alphabet-soup champions here — Kelly Pavlik has the actual, legit middleweight title. (OK, so his challenger isn’t in The Ring’s top 10.)
On HBO, 10 p.m. Saturday:
The Ring/WBC/WBO middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik vs. Sergio Martinez
IBF super middleweight champion Lucian Bute (#1, The Ring) vs. Edison Miranda
OLYMPIC SPORTS
The big one’s coming up Monday: Boston Marathon, 9:30 a.m.
Men’s field seems a lot stronger than the women’s field this week.
ATP Monte Carlo: Rafael Nadal vs. David Ferrer in one semi; top seed Novak Djokovic vs. winner of Fernando Verdasco-Albert Montanes in the other.
Semifinals, 7:30/10 a.m. Sat, Tennis Channel
Final, 8:15 a.m. Sun, Tennis Channel
WTA Family Circle Cup, Charleston, S.C.: top seeds in quarterfinals are #1 Caroline Wozniacki (vs. #6 Nadia Petrova) and #2 Jelena Jankovic (vs. #8 Daniela Hantuchova)
Quarterfinal, 1 p.m. Fri, ESPN2
Semifinal, 1 p.m. Sat, ESPN2
Final, 1 p.m. Sun, ESPN2
More TV listings (baseball, NHL, NBA, motor sports, golf, rodeo, college baseball, high school basketball) at USA TODAY.
Duresport.com 