Aside from the more technical aspects of U.S. youth soccer development, there’s a very real and very obvious significance in having players worthy of serving as inspirations to young Americans in MLS. While Lionel Messi and Neymar will always be accessible via YouTube highlights, there’s something much more tangible and effective with regards to seeing an otherworldly talent live.
The Chivas vs Toronto CONCACAF Champions League final has divided soccer aficionados in Mexico. Of course every Guadalajara fan is all in for their team, and even some other Mexican soccer enthusiasts have expressed their solidarity with them.
However, not everyone in Mexico is longing for a Chivas victory.
That did not go as planned for Toronto FC. Having just knocked mighty Club America out of the Concacaf Champions League, the reigning MLS champions surely figured to have an easier time of it against Chivas Guadalajara in the final. Chivas are having a terrible season domestically, but for some reason have been kryptonite for MLS clubs in the CCL.
They were again, handing Sebastian Giovinco and friends a 2-1 defeat in Toronto and taking a solid lead back to Mexico for the second leg.
Rodolfo Pizarro opened the scoring just a few minutes in the game.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic did it again. In his first MLS start, the big Swede scored the only goal in a 1-0 victory for the LA Galaxy over Bastian Schweinsteiger and the Chicago Fire on Saturday in the Windy City.
Zlatan scored in first-half stoppage time, using his head again to nod home a cross from Ashley Cole for the game’s only goal.
Cole Zlatan #CHIvLA
Toronto FC are in the final of the Concacaf Champions League, where they will face Chivas Guadalajara, after fighting Club America to a 1-1 draw at Estadio Azteca to brush past the Mexican powerhouse 4-1 on aggregate.
Despite an early injury to Jozy Altidore that caused the striker to leave the game, Toronto struck first via Jonathan Osorio.
An extremely strong contingent of Guadalajara supporters inside Red Bull Arena watched their side hang on for the narrowest of victories on Tuesday night, Chivas doing just enough to retain their 1-0 first leg advantage over New York in the CONCACAF Champions League semifinals despite being outshot 20-1 in the second.
Major League Soccer crowned its first eMLS Cup winner on Sunday, with 21-year-old Guillermo Trevino claiming the grand prize. The gamer known as Kid M3Mito went undefeated in 21 matches of FIFA 18, a masterful display of finger manipulation.
But what the heck does any of this mean and why should anyone care? Let’s break it down.
In the four months since LAFC selected Tyler Miller with the first overall pick in the 2017 MLS expansion draft, he has rubbed shoulders with Will Ferrell, debuted with a clean sheet against his former team in Seattle and come face-to-face with the newly-elected mayor of Los Angeles, Zlatan.
The preliminary rounds of the inaugural eMLS Cup are in the books and a clear favorite has emerged. With 19 MLS clubs sending professional gamers to Boston to compete in the tournament, Houston’s Kid M3Mito has dominated the competition, the only player to make it through the first round undefeated.