In a classic derby match where rivalry and home pride is all that matters, there is no telling what fans will do to help give their club any extra boost to win the match. New York is new to the whole derby experience, but that doesn’t mean they are short of energy and passion.
Giovani dos Santos wasted no time scoring on his debut for new club LA Galaxy after coming on as a sub in the CONCACAF Champions League group stage match against Central FC, from Trinidad & Tobago.
Galaxy beat Central FC 5-1. Dos Santos came on in the 57th minute for Alan Gordon, and got on the scoresheet in the 76th minute. He is scheduled to make his league debut Sunday at home against the Seattle Sounders.
What a weekend MLS had. Just about anything that could happen did happen. Here's a breakdown:
Record for goals in a day:
MLS broke its record for goals in a day with a 39-goal outburst across eight games on Saturday. The highlight was a 10-goal thriller between D.C. United and Real Salt Lake. Pay special attention to Taylor Kemp's volley and Nick DeLeon's shot to clinch it for D.C.
Cyle Larin's big year:
Drogba lands in Montreal
Everyone's likely already heard that Didier Drogba has signed with the Montreal Impact, a team that recently put up a second place result in the CONCACAF Champion's League. While the rumors were originally for Chicago, Montreal was able to steal him away with a combination of targeted allocation money — they backed the Brink's truck up to Drogba's front door — and location — Montreal being a French speaking town.
Nick Rimando looks like someone you'd want on your side in a bar fight. He's short for a goalie, but sturdy. He's friendly, gregarious even, but he gives off a subtle intensity, which loses its subtlety when he steps in front of a soccer goal. That's his territory, where he's made his living in MLS since 2000 with (now defunct) Miami Fusion, D.C. United and Real Salt Lake. At 36, he's an MLS lifer at this point.
The Club America U-20s defeated the MLS Homegrown All-Stars last night in penalties after the game ended 1-1 in regulation. This casts a poor light on MLS's player development efforts, however friendly the match ended up being. With that in mind, we did what we always do in trying times: we made a list of pros and cons.
Pro:
The MLS Homegrown All-Stars almost didn't lose!
Con:
The MLS Homegrown All-Stars lost.
Pro:
The MLS team was really young, with just eight players age 21 or older.
Denver, Colorado is 5,280 feet above sea level, and Tottenham Hotspur, along with most of the MLS All-Stars, won't be used to playing in those conditions.
"It's going to be a tough training session for us this afternoon and a tough game for us on Wednesday at this altitude, on top of the hotness" said Spurs midfielder Nabil Bentaleb.
"We had a gym session earlier, and it was quite tough," said forward Harry Kane. "We train this afternoon so we'll probably get a bit more used to it, being outside."
MLS All-Stars and Colorado Rapids coach Pablo Mastroeni said at the MLS All-Star Game press conference Monday that he thinks it might be time to bring back the old East vs. West format for the game, one used by other major sports leagues in the U.S.
"I think moving forward, as this league continues to develop, I think there's a shout to kind of reconsider that East vs. West, as you continue to get great talent coming in, to showcase all of it in a way that's ultra-competitive," Mastroeni said.
Hold on to your hats, America. In the coming years, it looks like MLS is set to get a lot more Swedish. And awesome.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic told reporters Thursday that he would like to go to MLS at some point. The 33-year-old striker has one more year on his contract at Paris Saint-Germain.
He told Yahoo Sports:
David, Goliath, etc.
English side Chelsea, in America on a preseason tour, got off to a hot start Wednesday against American powerhouse New York Red Bulls. It's safe to say New York's manager will give his team a talking-to after Chelsea were allowed to not only take the lead in the first half but to score two (!!!) goals in the game.
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