retired_hellokity111

For full stats see the latest edition of MLS Gazette.

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retired_mallory08

Top Of The Heap, For Now....

All is going well for Kentucky so far in 2007. They hold the best overall record in points, wins, goal difference and joint best in defeats.

"It's especially pleasing as the conference we're in is very strong this year. Hopefully we won't do our usual and lead all the way into the playoffs before choking. I'd be the happiest man in the world if MLS moved to a single table championship!"

The team is playing well on all fronts, and Coach Clark is happy with the production from all areas. The team made a few minor roster changes, releasing the unhappy Tyrone Marshall, Brian Mullan and James Riley from the reserve squad. Christian Gomez was also released after failing to pick up his performances despite the imminent threat of Francismar's arrival in August. One arrival made his way to Commonwealth Stadium, as former Arsenal youngster Daniel Karbassiyoon arrived on a Bosman. It was Clark's first bosman signing in 3 years.

"Danny K is a gifted left footed player, and American too. Not many of those about. Because of his euro experience he commanded a hefty salary for his age and ability, but fortunately he'll be exempt for the next two years. If he can prove he's worth the $110k a year in that timeframe I'll be happy to pay him it. "

The cap was getting a little tight in the Bluegrass before the latest roster moves, and with both Onyewu and Beasley recently losing their GA contract eligibility, the cap took a $560k hit. Fortuntely, there was over $450k available, so the other moves have allowed Clark to retain his key players, without having to release club captain, Claudio Reyna. "It was never our intention to cut Reyna. His presence in the locker room and with the youngsters is priceless. Francismar is coming over on a decent deal, so we didn't have to cut too much. But we've got a couple of performers who will be loooking for raises in the not too distant future - Kai heads that que, and will have earned whatever raise he gets. If he can secure a green card he can practically write his own check as he'd get an exemption for a couple of years until he turned 25. Gabrinho is also angling for a raise, and he's turned up his performances on the field lately in order to make his point. If he continues that he'll be duly compensated."

So, whilst the first team remains unchanged at this point, the reserve team pack continues to be shuffled. Fans and personnel alike await the arrival of another Samba King, and if Francismar can emulate the success of Kai, Leozinho, Soho and Gabrinho then he will surely be a hit with the fans. He could even be enough to push Kentucky into a trophy winning season.

"Francismar was originally sought out for the AMR position, but with Ricky Clark playing so well there this term, I expect him to apply equal pressure on Soho, who has been solid but not exceptional. As always, I think competition will propell this team to greatness."

Soho's performance, averaging about a goal every other game, is fair. But two recent penalty misses have tarnished an otherwise excellent start to his time in MLS. "Yeah, thankfully, neither of those PK misses hurt us. Hopefully they're out of his system now. We've had real trouble converting from the spot in the last three seasons. I'm not sure why, we have an exceptionally gifted bunch of set piece players. Even old hand Claudio Reyna struggled with the duties before being replaced by Ruiz. Soho will be given more time for now."

So, onwards for Big Blue, the playoffs beckon and hopefully a decent cup run this season will give KK more than one option at silverware. "We've bailed out of the NA Cup early the last two seasons. I intend to give it a good go this year. Kirovski's 'trick in the first cup game showed our stregnth in depth. I intend to field a near full strength team the rest of the way."

retired_hellokity111

Marquette Manager talks about the future


Q: Overview of the year what has gone wrong
A: Well, the moment the decsicion was made to get rid of Roy, Conor and DaMarcus I realized that this year was going be a transitional year. I might regret Conor a little bit now but I think this has been a very valuable time for Sita, Greer and Chad. They have gotten valuable experience up front. It has especially helped Memo, he has made great strides this year and is starting to look like a franchise player for the team.

Q: You don’t seem to get many good players in the draft but you seem to do well getting players off Free Agency.
A: Well we find a lot of the diamonds in the rough. I commend my scouting department, we picked up Chris Jackson, who instantly got a spot on the first team. He is face with great ball handing and good skills. Best part is he is only 18 he is really going to be something in a very short time. We also picked up Aaron Media, who is just an amazingly good prospect. He plays the back line which we have been lacking him. I want to see him, Luke, Hunter and Robbie together. We also have Jeff Ellis coming in, surprisingly enough from the Australian league. He is American to be honest I was shocked when my scouts found him.

Q: Rumors have been circulating about some of your older players. Can you comment on any of them.

A: Well Kily has been having contract disputes with us and to be honest. I do not like his attitude in a position that right now he is a back up to one of our young stars. He seems to be slacking and to be honest he left us no choice. Than to look at other options he failed to negotiate a contract.

To be honest there are a lot of players that will be playing for there jobs. I have at least 5 or 6 that I want to see something out of. Or I will be looking at replacements in there postions.

Q: What should we expect out of the rest of the season?
A: Well I don’t see us making a run at the playoffs, Nerdington has done well and we are 13 points behind. While we are doing a lot better and have only lost once in our last few games. We are gelling together has a team. I think we can make a good stretch run maybe 5 or 6 wins out of our last 10 league games. The focus now is the NA cup, we want to make a good run and I feel we have the team for it. The team has impressed me as of late hopefully we can make something out of the end of the season.

retired_hellokity111

Vancouver Experience the Curse of the Cup

Last season Vancouver were virtually unbeatable, finishing off in style by winning against Texas in the MLS cup. This season has been a different story however as the opposition have now started to play Vancouver witch more intensity and determination and manager Roger Saint-Vil has failed to find the answer.

Vancouver squad still remains one of the most talented in the MLS certainly capable of making another run at the cup. But the team has looked a bit lost on the pitch recently having trouble opening up defenses and eventually conceding on counters often falling behind early in the match. The good news is that Okocha has put in an amazing performance thus far and in many matches made up for the inability of strikers to find space in opposing defenses.

With 12 matches left in the season, a shape up or ship out approach is expected from Roger Saint-Vil with several players underachieving should be shown the door at the end of the season.

retired_hellokity111

For full stats see the latest edition of MLS Gazette.

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retired_kcnoodle@cox.ne

SYCLONES UPDATE

- June 20, 2007

After struggling through the first two months of action, the Syclones are coming back to life, they played the last two games at a high level that they are capable of playing, and that’s what their fans are expecting. This is all started when Landon Donovan called for a team meeting after the lost against the Northmen.

“…we have to play as a team, we should follow our coach’s game plan every time we step out there, we should have trust in each other and work together. We definitely have the quality to compete with each and every team in this league, but the key here is chemistry and teamwork. No matter how many good pieces we have on the team, if we don’t work as a unit, we won’t have good results. Guys, lets turn this baby around. We are playing for ourselves as well as the fans, they are always on our backs, they support us no matter what the situation is. It is a character that we should be proud of, we have passionate fans. Like other Toronto sport teams, we should have the passion to win every single time. No matter where they are in the standing, they come out and play night in and night out…” - Landon Donovan

“…I am working hard with the coach staff, we are trying to sharpen our tactic, try to have better spacing on the field…” - Coach Ricky Lung

The players responded during the next two games, beating the Slingers 3-0 and breakeven with the Wolves at one apiece in Alaska. During the Wolves game, the Syclones showed some quality displays, they were playing evenly with the home team, it is a good sign as road games are a major concern for the team last season.

Up next, the Syclones are heading to Muskegon to face the rising Mismatch, they then come back home to face last year’s MLS Cup finalists, we will know by then what this refined Toronto team is all about.

- August 20, 2007

The Toronto Syclones keep on rolling as they won 7 of their last 11 league games with a total of 23 points during the span, beating top teams like Vancouver, Texas, and Kentucky. They are playing brilliant football at home all season, they are currently riding a 7-game winning streak at ACC. Their major concern is still their road performance, they have only won once away from Toronto so far this season. It will only be good if they can play all 32 games in Toronto, they are first in the east for home record, but dead last for road record.

Striker Oliver Occean has been coming on as of late, scoring in almost every game. He scored a hat-trick against the defending champs Vancouver a month ago. He is now back as the team leading goal scorer, a title which is written next to his name for the first two seasons. Goalkeeper Nick Rimando are also playing his best football as a Syclones, noting 5 clean sheets during the Syclones run. He went down during the game against the Northmen and will be on the shelf for two months. They are carrying only one goalie right now, will this come back and haunt them just like last season? Coach Lung had already sent one of his scouts around the U.S. trying to find an emergency goalkeeper. Second year Aaron Provan has to step up at this moment to keep the Syclones in the playoff.

The Toronto Syclones are sitting at the 4th spot in the east, and are 3 points ahead of the Kings. With only 8 games to go, every conference game counts as they affect not only the standing, but also head-to-head tiebreaker. They are having the advantage over the Northmen, tie with Vancouver, and losing out with the Kings, they still have one game left against each of these rivals.

As for the NA Cup, the Syclones are through to the semi, with win over Seattle and the Rangers. In the quarter-final, the Syclones took an early 2-0 lead, the Rangers had 2 chances at the spot before the half, and Provan denied one of them. The Syclones were withstanding a lot of pressure after the break, Provan came up big and kept his team on top until Guevara clinched it at the spot in the closing minutes. This is a big win for Toronto, not only they are through in the cup, but also a quality performance on the road, which will boast their confident level.

retired_hellokity111

retired_hellokity111

For full stats see the latest edition of MLS Gazette.

MLS Gazette - Tables, Rosters and Stats

retired_kcnoodle@cox.ne

READY FOR A SECOND STRAIGHT PLAYOFF APPEARANCE

Coach Lung is about the guide his Toronto Syclones to a second straight playoff appearance, something that he had never done before in his coaching career as a member of the RF Clan. With three games remaining, and a game with the outside looking in New Liskeard, the Syclones only need a point in their upcoming encounter to ensure a spot in the playoff. They are also through to the final of the NA Cup, they have a chance for the double, and no one has done that in the short history of this league.

With all the good news we are talking about, there is a bad news which can wipe out everything. The fact that they elect to carry only two keepers on their roster has come back to haunt them once again just like last year. Nick Rimando and Aaron Provan, both went down in the same month, and will be out for a few weeks. The lastest report on Rimando indicates that he will be out between 1 days and 3 weeks. The NA Cup Final is just around the corner, which means Nick is a no go in the game. It seems there is a curse that exists saying, “If you carry only two keepers, we will find a way to make them both injured in October.”

“…The Northmen are fading away in the second half of the season. As I said during the preseason, their lucky is over this year, especially with a pair of ancient strikers. I was right, Sand was cut due to injuries, though Shearer still has 12 goals, his influence is no where near the level when he was a few years younger. They need a young athletic striker, if Coach Hopkins sticks with Shearer, the United is going to overtake them next season…I think I have to mind my own business now, we are playing real good football right now, we are very organized on both end of the field, but if we need to play an academic goalie in the big games, it will be a huge setback for us. It is hard to shut down some of the explosive offence in the league, we just have to try to limit their opportunities and take the pressure off the kid if we have to go that way...” - Coach Lung

The Syclones need to put up some results in the coming weeks, throughout the season, some of the key players show they want to move to a bigger club, and now a couple of youngsters are complaining their playing time. The Syclones need to win some trophies if they want to keep the core group together for a few more years.

The Syclones are now preparing for the NA Cup final against the Longhorns. We will have another update in a short while…

retired_spaulsen

Texas on Fire...But Too Much, Too Early?

Including NA Cup matches, the Texas Longhorns have scored 25 goals in the last 7 contests. Texas is undefeated in its last 9 games and has won 8 in a row, making the Longhorns the hottest team in MLS. During that stretch, Texas has rocketed up to a tie with Vancouver for the league lead in goals scored. This is despite still not having any players amongst the league's individual scoring leaders, indicating a true goals-by-committee approach for the team. Midfielder Danny Powers, who has worn the captain's armband in recent weeks, has the most MLS tallies on the team. This is also evidence that the Longhorns are surviving the loss of Brazilian forward Bruno, who was injured for the season back in June. His absence has been offset partly by the solid play of first-year Longhorn Mikael Dahlberg and the more recent August addition of a new Brazilian playmaker, also named Bruno. To avoid confusion, Texas has listed the new signing as Bruno Ferraz in the team's media guide; the original Bruno is now listed as Bruno Luiz.

However, is Texas peaking too early with this winning streak? If one asks manager Ryan Thompson, this is a legitimate concern: "This is certainly a worry of mine. The playoffs are still a few weeks away and so much can happen between now and then. If someone had told me earlier in the season that I could push a button and the team would go on an 8 game winning streak, I'd definitely have waited till closer to the postseason to push it. That being said, I've enjoyed this run. Take our game against New Liskeard for example. I didn't think we ran the match as we have in other instances earlier in the season where we failed to win or even loss. Yet we came out 4-0 winners anyway. That's how you know when things are going well. My players are confident and in good spirit, and we hope to keep it this way for as long as possible. Still, you have to wonder if we're like a racehorse that has used its final burst too early." As the team that has fallen just short in each of the last two seasons by losing in the MLS Final, perhaps this is a concept that is too familiar with the Longhorns.

In other news, a source has reported that the capture of Bruno Ferraz cost Texas in the region of $7 million dollars, which would be the team's record transfer fee if accurate. It is believed that the addition of a new midfielder has prompted Austrian international and American-born Benny Feilhaber to request a transfer. Finally, it is rumoured that a potential blockbuster deal between Texas and Muskegon fell apart at the last moment.