HEAPS DOES WELL

Posted on  December 11, 2014  in 1

Jay Heaps has done a remarkable job since becoming the head coach of New England Revolution. He has slowly transformed the team into one that is capable of winning titles. They proved this attribute by claiming a crucial 2-1 win over New York Red Bulls in the Eastern Conference Championship on Sunday. Bunbury opened the scoring for the away team in this first leg match after just 17 minutes. The advantage, however, was soon cancelled out by the goal from Bradley Wright-Phillips in the 27th minute. It looked like staying this way through the game until veteran star Jermaine Jones stepped up in the 86th minute to provide the winner for the match.

Heaps admitted that the goal has completely changed the complexion of the tie. New England go into the return leg at home with real opportunity of claiming the title. Heaps has recalled the way his team have progressed by finishing in the play-offs last year and coming close to winning the title now. The team has been looking to promote youngsters under the regime of Heaps but it was one of their designated players who came with the crucial moment. Heaps lauded Jones by saying that everyone were aware of the veteran’s qualities and his competitive nature.

“[It’s rewarding to be here] because it goes back to how hard it was. Lots of sleepless nights from day one. We were a playoff team last year and knew we needed to add just a little bit more. Jermaine has really helped us get over the top in terms of how we play and what we want to do. We knew he was a great footballer, a great competitor. He’s all of the above, but when you pack in the competitiveness, it’s contagious. He wants to win every time he steps on the field,” said Heaps.

LA PLAY AWAY

Posted on  November 6, 2014  in 1

LA Galaxy managed to get a positive result away to Real Salt Lake in the first leg of the MLS cup semifinals. This result was largely possible due to the brilliance of goalkeeper Jaime Penedo, who has received a lot of praise since the match. The 33-year-old has been involved with LA Galaxy only since 2013, but he is starting to become a crucial player. He has already played 30 matches this campaign in the league alone. He made a whopping six crucial saves against Real Salt Lake to give LA Galaxy a fighting chance in the return leg in front of their own supporters.

Captain Landon Donovan, who is playing his last few games of professional football, said that Penedo has been playing at a different level in the last few months. He expects the performances to continue. A good performance from the goalkeeper often motivates other players on the field and this proved to be the case against Real. Penedo’s performances even got the applause of opposition players like right back Tony Beltran. Beltran said that the Panamanian goalkeeper was able to prevent anything thrown at him – making him worthy of the LFC tshirt he superstitiously wears under his strip. He was especially impressed by the save to prevent a great freekick from Javier going in.

“He made the saves you expect him to make, and then he made one really great save, the one on Plata. And in the past few weeks, he’s had quite a few similar plays at that angle that I think he would tell you he wants to do better on. Tonight he adjusted a little bit, and he made a really good save. That was the save we needed tonight. The other ones were some degree of difficulty but ones you expect a good goalie to make, and then that one was the save we needed,” said Landon Donovan.

Schmid Looking to put behind last season disappointment

Posted on  September 22, 2014  in 1

Seattle Sounders coach Sigi Schmid has claimed that his team are looking to put behind the disappointment of the last season U.S. Open cup by winning the trophy this time around. The team will be coming into the U.S. Open cup final to take on Philadelphia Union. A victory in this match will give Seattle Sounders their fourth successive in this competition in the last six years, which makes them one of the most prolific in this competition. Last season, they were knocked out of the third-round after a disappointing and surprising defeat against NASL’s Tampa Bay Rowdies.

In fact, Seattle Sounders have been taking part in the U.S. Open cup final in all of the last five occasions apart from this exception. Such is the strength of the team in this tournament that Sigi Schmid can have reasons to be complacent ahead of the match. However, after having won the last four league matches, he says that his team are in the best possible shape to get another victory. In contrast, Philadelphia are going through an inconsistent run of form that has seen them take only three wins in the last five matches. Those three victories came on the bounce before they suffered a 2-2 draw with New York Red Bulls last week.

“We’re just happy to be in the Open Cup final again. It’s a tournament that as a club we take very seriously. If you look at our past history, I think it reflects that. We were disappointed last year by getting knocked out early. But we’re very excited. We’re happy to be playing against a team that’s playing really well right now. It’s going to be a tough game, it’s going to be a competitive game, a fun one to watch,” said the Seattle Sounders manager.

Lampard and Villa continue MLS enhancement

Posted on  August 19, 2014  in 1

New York City FC might be treated by some football betting fans in Europe with derision given its very strong ties to Manchester City, but there can be no doubt the newest franchise in the MLS has already made a splash.

Despite having just six players on their roster at the time of writing, New York City FC have already demonstrated the growing allure of the MLS by signing Frank Lampard and David Villa.

Both are superstars in Europe, with Lampard Chelsea’s all-time leading scorer, while Villa tops the goal charts (more…)

Djalo Out For Four Weeks

Posted on  August 11, 2014  in 1

San Jose earthquakes will be without one of their key players for the upcoming few matches after Yannick Djalo has suffered an injury. The attacker will miss as much as four weeks of action after suffering a quad strain. Djalo has been one of the impressive players for San Jose in the last few weeks. He has scored two goals and created two more in the last two matches. This has helped him win the MLS player of the week award. Struggling near the bottom of the table, San Jose earthquakes came up against table leaders Seattle Sounders.

However, they were able to create a stunning upset after a 1-0 win, which was the second consecutive on the bounce. As a result, they have been able to climb above the bottom of the table. They are now level on points with Chivas USA but with two games in hand. They could potentially good mid-table if they win these two matches, but manager Mark Watson will be about that it will be difficult after the injury to one of his inform players. The 28-year-old has featured in 13 league matches are far, but it is only in the last few matches that he has been looking impressive.

Just when it seemed that San Jose were doing something right with their forwards, Watson will have to rethink their strategy once again.

“We’ve heard from one to four weeks. They’re still in the evaluation process. It’s still settling down from the weekend. He’s very optimistic. He feels he’s improved a lot just in the past couple of days. But we’re still working off that [one-to-four-week] timeframe. It’s kind of monitoring it day to day,” said the manager. San Jose Earthquakes have now won two of the last five matches, which is a major improvement to their form a few weeks ago.