There are a lot of people in and around the United States who do not care for Toronto FC striker Jozy Altidore. Sacha Kljestan is one. Several of them even work here at the18 dot com. However, anyone who watched the Toronto FC-Columbus Crew MLS Cup semifinal has to appreciate Altidore's work during the series, namely keeping us from having to watch any more of it.
On December 6 in New York City, four Major League Soccer expansion hopefuls will stand in front of the league’s expansion committee and commissioner Don Garber and make their case to be one of two new sides slated to begin play in 2020. They’ll talk about things like business metrics (“F*ck that,” says Columbus), stadium plans and making bank.
Monday marked Contract Deadline Day in Major League Soccer, meaning that all clubs (apart from the four still participating in the MLS Cup playoffs) had to announce which player contract options they’d picked up and which players they’d effectively cut.
You could forgive Stefan Frei for suffering from a professional hangover following his heroics in the 2016 MLS Cup final. The 31-year-old native of Switzerland's legend is forever woven inside the fabric of the league following that save on Jozy Altidore in the second half of extra-time, one of seven saves for Frei in a performance that saw him named MLS Cup MVP.
Could Robert Lewandowski be the latest European star to make a move to MLS? According to his wife, Anna Lewandowski, the couple dreams of a move to Los Angeles and a chance to build their personal brands ahead of Robert's retirement.
"I think we will spend some time in the United States, too," Anna Lewandowski said in a recent interview with Business Insider Poland. "We dream of Los Angeles. There we want to develop our brands."
A capacity crowd of 21,211 at MAPFRE Stadium provided an electric atmosphere for Tuesday night’s MLS Cup Eastern Conference Final between the Columbus Crew and Toronto FC, but a deserved breakthrough for the Crew — who dominated the second half and landed three shots on target as opposed to zero for the visitors — never arrived.
AND THEN THERE WERE FOUR. Forgive me, but it’s been 15 days since the Conference Semifinals of the 2017 MLS Cup Playoffs wrapped up and I’m just trying to bring the edge back. Tuesday, Nov. 21, sees the first legs of both the Eastern and Western Conference finals kick off in Columbus and Houston, respectively, and we’re here to offer a quick take on what to lookout for in both matches.
Columbus Crew SC vs. Toronto FC
MAPFRE Stadium | Columbus, Ohio
November 21, 8 p.m. ET | ESPN
In a league where parity reigns unlike any other, the tenure of Caleb Porter as manager of the Portland Timbers will go down as one of the most wildly successful in Major League Soccer’s 22-year existence. According to reports, that tenure has reached a shocking conclusion — by mutual consent — after a season in which the Timbers finished at the top of the Western Conference.
Clint Dempsey, the all-time leading goal scorer in USMNT history was named Comeback Player of the Year by Major League Soccer on Wednesday, just edging out Columbus’ Federico Higuain. Dempsey missed much of the second half of the 2016 season with an irregular heartbeat but returned in 2017 to score 12 goals.
In the end, the snitches didn’t get any stitches. Jozy Altidore believed that video evidence would clear him of any wrongdoing during the tunnel bust up between Toronto FC and New York Red Bulls, resulting in red cards for both Altidore and Sacha Kljestan, but an independent panel has upheld Altidore’s one-game suspension after being unable to find enough evidence to overturn the ruling.