RSL Game Summary:
Wow. That's all I can say. Wow. I will be joining the "Cut Rimando" campaign. If you were watching, all were immediately discouraged by Maykel Galindo's strike 33 seconds into the match. The fact that he scored eight minutes later made me want to kill Rimando. Both goals could have been prevented, especially the first. Maybe y'all were wondering along with me WTF was Rimando doing at the edge of the box? He had like two defenders behind him. If he had just played it well and stayed near the goal, they could have helped. Instead, all Galindo had to do was get it around Rimando, then tap it into the net for a goal. Oh well. When you're down two-nil ten minutes in, having another goal scored on you before half doesn't help. (Congrats, though to Ante Razov for scoring Goal #100.) Oh well, history figures. RSL has never won against Chivas USA at the HDC. In fact, their all-time goal differential there is -12. Here are all-time results against Chivas USA in Carson:
5/7/2005 CHV 1 : 0 RSL
7/9/2005 CHV 5 : 1 RSL
4/2/2006 CHV 3 : 0 RSL
10/15/2006 CHV 1 : 1 RSL
4/21/2007 CHV 4 : 0 RSL
0-4-1, 1 point, 2 goals for, 14 goals against, -12 goal differential
The numbers explain themself.
RSL Game Report:
Chivas USA : Real Salt Lake 4 : 0 (3 : 0)
Goal Summary
Chivas USA
Galindo (Zotinca) - 1'
Galindo (Zotinca, Kljestan) - 9'
Razov (Mendoza, Galindo) - 43'
Taylor (Unassisted) - 89'
Real Salt Lake
No Goals Scored
Card Summary
Chivas USA
Yellow - Galindo (25')
Yellow - Marsch (68')
Yellow - Kljestan (76')
Real Salt Lake
No Cards Received
Around the MLS
(0-0-3/3/5 East) CLB 2 : 2 NE (1-1-1/4/3 East)
(2-0-1/7/1 East) NY 1 : 0 HOU (1-1-1/4/3 West)
(2-0-1/7/2 East) CHI 2 : 1 KC (1-1-0/3/4 East)
(2-1-0/6/2 West) CHV 4 : 0 RSL (0-1-2/2/5 West)
(2-1-1/7/1 West) DAL 3 : 1 COL (1-1-1/4/4 West)
Didn't Play: DC United (0-2-0/0/6 East); Toronto FC (0-2-0/0/7 East); Los Angeles (0-1-1/1/6 West)
My Fantasy Team Update:
Altidore's strike for the Red Bulls gave my team 37 good points. Also, Lawson Vaughan's performance earned him 29 pts for me. Bouna Coundoul's poor performance lost me 6 pts. Marvell Wynne got traded to Toronto, so his good 29 points he would've gotten me were lost.
GK Bouna Coundoul (COL) : -6 points (9 pts Playing Time, -15 pts 3 goals allowed)
DF Craig Waibel (HOU) : 0 points
DF Marvell Wynne (TOR) : 0 points
DF Kelly Gray (HOU) : 7 points (7 pts Playing Time)
DF Lawson Vaughan (CHV) : 29 points (9 pts Playing Time, 10 pts Team Win, 10 pts Clean Sheet)
MF Pablo Mastroeni (COL) : 4 points (4 pts Playing Time)
MF Mehdi Ballouchy (RSL) : 9 points (9 pts Playing Time)
MF Freddy Adu (RSL) : 9 points (9 pts Playing Time)
MF Fred (DC) : 0 points (0 pts Playing Time)
(C) FW Jeff Cunningham (RSL) : 18 points (9 pts Playing Time, x2 Captainage)
FW Josmer Altidore (NY) : 37 points (7 pts Playing Time, 20 pts Goal, 10 pts Team Win)
League Scoreboard
rslnerd: 431 pts, #4203 overall
Jeppson United FC: 402 pts, #5307 overall
My Pick 'Em Update
We both broke even this week. We each lost every game, though he missed RSL-CHV while that was my folly. I didn't do a money this week, but I got DAL-COL exactly right. He got it with one score, and it was his money. 0-0 this week.
After 3 Weeks:
rslnerd: 7 pts
Jeppson United FC: -8 pts
Playoff Picture:
Top Two East: New York, Chicago
Top Two West: FC Dallas, Chivas USA
Four "Wild Card": New England, Houston, Colorado, Kansas City
MLS Performance Factors:
1. New York - 2334668
2. Chicago - 2334001
3. Chivas USA - 2001669
4. FC Dallas - 1750002
5. Kansas City - 1500503
6. New England - 1334335
7. Houston - 1333334
8. Colorado - 1333001
9. Columbus - 1000001
10. Real Salt Lake - 665334
11. Los Angeles - 499501
12. DC United - (-1499)
13. Toronto FC - (-3000)
rslnerd's Power Rankings:
1. New York
2. Chicago
3. Dallas
4. Chivas USA
5. Houston
6. Colorado
7. New England
8. Kansas City
9. Real Salt Lake
10. Columbus
11. DC United
12. Los Angeles
13. Toronto FC
MLS Goal Leaders:
Taylor Twellman (NE) - 3
Josmer Altidore (NY) - 2
Chad Barrett (CHI) - 2
Kenny Cooper (DAL) - 2
Jeff Cunningham (RSL) - 2
Andy Dorman (NE) - 2
Luciano Emilio (DC) - 2
Maykel Galindo (CHV) - 2
Herculez Gomez (COL) - 2
Ramon Nuñez (DAL) - 2
Ante Razov (CHV) - 2
Carlos Ruiz (DAL) - 2
MLS Points Leaders:
Taylor Twellman (NE) - 6
Maykel Galindo (CHV) - 6
Carlos Ruiz (DAL) - 5
Kenny Cooper (DAL) - 5
Josmer Altidore (NY) - 5
Ramon Nuñez (DAL) - 5
Chris Rolfe (CHI) - 5
Jeff Cunningham (RSL) - 4
Luciano Emilio (DC) - 4
Herculez Gomez (COL) - 4
Chad Barrett (CHI) - 4
Andy Dorman (NE) - 4
Ante Razov (CHV) - 4
Eddie Johnson (KC) - 4
Sacha Kljestan (CHV) - 4
Next for RSL:
vs. Colorado, 4/30/07, Rice-Eccles Stadium, Salt Lake City UT, 4:00 PM MST
Colorado has put on some impressive performances so far, and RSL looks to grab their first win in RSL's premier of "Monday Night Fútbol".
Next Weeks Games:
4/25
TOR @ KC
4/26
NY @ DAL
4/28
KC @ TOR
DC @ CLB
CHV @ LA
4/29
NE @ DAL
CHI @ HOU
4/30
COL @ RSL
RSL Schedule:
4/7 vs. Dallas T 2-2 (0-0-1/1/T3 West)
4/14 vs. Columbus T 0-0 (0-0-2/2/5 West)
4/21 @ Chivas USA L 0-4 (0-1-2/2/5 West)
4/30 vs. Colorado
5/5 vs. New York
5/10 @ Colorado
5/20 @ Dallas
5/27 @ Chicago
6/2 @ New England
6/14 vs. Dallas
6/17 @ Los Angeles
6/23 vs. DC United
7/4 vs. Toronto
7/7 @ Columbus
7/14 @ Kansas City
7/28 vs. New England
8/4 vs. Houston
8/18 vs. Chicago
8/26 @ Chivas USA
8/29 vs. Kansas City
9/1 @ Los Angeles
9/8 @ Houston
9/15 @ Toronto
9/19 vs. Los Angeles
9/22 vs. Colorado
9/26 @ D.C. United
9/29 @ New York
10/6 vs. Chivas USA
10/13 vs. Houston
10/20 @ Colorado
Monday, April 23, 2007
RSL vs. Kansas City/Fiji National Team
Sorry for the late post about this Wednesday Open Cup/Friendly game. I went mostly for Fiji, to see them get slaughtered by the reserves of this MLS team. But this Open Cup game was pretty good itself. Cunningham made a really stupid mistake in the fourth minute to earn himself a yellow card. He kicked it out of Hartman's hands. He KICKED it out of Hartman's HANDS. Sorry Jeff, but I don't know what you were thinking. Anyhoo [:-)], later in the thirteenth minute, Adu received a ball, headed it to himself, and went into the penalty area, where he was tackled hard by the hands of Kevin Hartman. Penalty Kick. Should have been a red card to Hartman, but amazingly enough, he was not booked. Oh well. Cunningham scored it. The game remained like this until the point that we thought that that would be how the game would end. But Seitz made a mistake (for the third time this game, the other two should have been goals, but good defending stopped 'em) and this time it actually cost him.
Sacha Victorine (unasissted) 88'
We're goin' to extra time. The first period passed uneventfully. However, four minutes into the second period, Jeff Cunningham played a great little ball into Andy Williams, who scored the game winner. RSL held off the Wizards for another eleven minutes, earning their first Open Cup win against an MLS team. But that wasn't it for that great night. RSL Reserves were to take on the Fijian National Team. Oh, I was sure hoping that RSL would have no mercy and they would make this game 15-0. Needless to say, it didn't happen. Oh well, 3-0 ain't bad. Brown scored two and Tejada put in one. It should've been 3-1 when a Fijian player beat Kyle Reynish but the wind blew the ball just wide of the wide open net. That was the best part of the game itself. But the game itself was not the highlight of the game. It was the weather and the fans. I had a Fijian man sitting a few rows behind me shouting, "Front Page News! Fiji plays in the snow!" And man, it sure did hail. We could barely see the field during those two or three minute outbursts two or three times. It coated the field! It was so hard to see the ball that the brought in a neon orange ball. That was pretty cool. Needless to say, though, by the end of the game, I was one of less than probably two hundred fans who braved that awful weather. The fact that only four Rogue Cavaliers remained should tell you something. Anyhoo, that's the game, Week 3 summary is coming soon. Below are some pictures from the game that I took.
Is this Scott Garlick? You decide.
Andy Williams after scoring the game-winner.
Coach Peter Mellor discussing strategy with Kyle Brown (thanks to Keith for the correction) at halftime of the Fiji game.
Sacha Victorine (unasissted) 88'
We're goin' to extra time. The first period passed uneventfully. However, four minutes into the second period, Jeff Cunningham played a great little ball into Andy Williams, who scored the game winner. RSL held off the Wizards for another eleven minutes, earning their first Open Cup win against an MLS team. But that wasn't it for that great night. RSL Reserves were to take on the Fijian National Team. Oh, I was sure hoping that RSL would have no mercy and they would make this game 15-0. Needless to say, it didn't happen. Oh well, 3-0 ain't bad. Brown scored two and Tejada put in one. It should've been 3-1 when a Fijian player beat Kyle Reynish but the wind blew the ball just wide of the wide open net. That was the best part of the game itself. But the game itself was not the highlight of the game. It was the weather and the fans. I had a Fijian man sitting a few rows behind me shouting, "Front Page News! Fiji plays in the snow!" And man, it sure did hail. We could barely see the field during those two or three minute outbursts two or three times. It coated the field! It was so hard to see the ball that the brought in a neon orange ball. That was pretty cool. Needless to say, though, by the end of the game, I was one of less than probably two hundred fans who braved that awful weather. The fact that only four Rogue Cavaliers remained should tell you something. Anyhoo, that's the game, Week 3 summary is coming soon. Below are some pictures from the game that I took.
Is this Scott Garlick? You decide.
Andy Williams after scoring the game-winner.
Coach Peter Mellor discussing strategy with Kyle Brown (thanks to Keith for the correction) at halftime of the Fiji game.
Monday, April 16, 2007
MLS Week 2 Summary
RSL Game Summary:
The game started on a bad note. This ref was making terrible calls and RSL was not playing how they did last week. Columbus was clearly controlling the game, but thanks to RSL's defense, we stayed in the game. Then the half came, and I was hoping that RSL would come out firing. They did, but still not at the standard they had set last week. Cunningham got a pretty good chance at one point, but was saved by Gruenbaum. RSL "won" the second half, but we still walked out of the stadium feeling grim about the game, and wondering if we have a chance against Chivas next week.
RSL Game Report:
Real Salt Lake : Columbus Crew 0 : 0 (0 : 0)
Goal Summary
Real Salt Lake
No Goals Scored
Columbus Crew
No Goals Scored
Card Summary
Real Salt Lake
Yellow - Talley (30')
Yellow - Torres (70')
Yellow - Stewart (88')
Columbus Crew
Yellow - O'Rourke (88')
Yellow - Herron (90+')
Around the MLS:
(1-0-1/4/1 West) COL 1 : 1 CHI (1-0-1/4/2 East)
(0-1-1/1/6 West) LA 1 : 2 DAL (1-1-1/4/3 West)
(0-2-0/0/6 East) DC 2 : 4 KC (1-0-0/3/4 East)
(1-1-0/3/3 East) NE 4 : 0 TOR (0-2-0/0/7 East)
(1-0-1/4/2 West) HOU 1 : 0 CHV (1-1-0/3/4 West)
(1-0-1/4/1 East) NY 3 : 0 DAL (1-1-1/4/3 West)
My Fantasy Team Update:
This was a decent week. Craig Waibel and Kelly Gray of the Dynamo won me 29 pts apiece for their playing time plus wins plus clean sheets. For some reason the cRapids are favoring Bouna Coundoul over the much more expensive Zach Thornton, and so I received no points from him. Other than that, nothing all that significant.
GK Zach Thornton (COL) : 0 Points
DF Kevin Goldthwaite (HOU) : 0 Points
DF Craig Waibel (HOU) : 29 Points (9 pts Playing Time, 10 pts Clean Sheet, 10 pts Team Win)
DF Marvell Wynne (NY) : 0 Points
DF Kelly Gray (HOU) : 29 Points (9 pts Playing Time, 10 pts Clean Sheet, 10 pts Team Win)
MF Quavas Kirk (LA) : 0 Points
MF Mehdi Ballouchy (RSL) : 9 Points (9 pts Playing Time)
MF Seth Stammler (NY) : 19 Points (9 pts Playing Time, 10 pts Team Win)
MF Freddy Adu (RSL) : 9 Points (9 pts Playing Time)
(C) FW Jeff Cunningham (RSL) : 18 Points (9 pts Playing Time, x2 Captainage)
FW Pat Noonan (NE) : 22 Points (2 pts Playing Time, 10 pts Assist, 10 pts Team Win)
League Scoreboard
rslnerd: 324 pts, #3764 overall (-2526 places)
Jeppson United FC: 260 pts, #7280 overall (-2945 places)
Next Week's Fantasy Team:
GK Bouna Coundoul (COL)
DF Lawson Vaughn (CHV)
DF Craig Waibel (HOU)
DF Marvell Wynne (NY)
DF Kelly Gray (HOU)
MF Pablo Mastroeni (COL)
MF Mehdi Ballouchy (RSL)
MF Freddy Adu (RSL)
MF Fred (DC)
(C) FW Jeff Cunningham (RSL)
FW Josmer Altidore (NY)
My Pick 'Em (Game Prediction) Update:
I did pretty darn well this week. Picking HOU-LA correctly won me three, while JUFC missed it. Hey missed his money game of DC-KC, while I got result plus one score on mine of TOR-NE. This week, rslnerd 6, JUFC -4.
After 2 weeks:
rslnerd: 7 point
Jeppson United FC: -8 points
Playoff Picture:
Top Two East : New York, Chicago
Top Two West : Colorado, Houston
Four "Wild Card" : Dallas, New England, Kansas City, Chivas USA
MLS Performance Factors:
1. Kansas City - 3002004
2. New York - 2001502
3. Colorado - 2000502
4. Chicago - 2000501
4. Houston - 2000501
6. New England - 1501502
7. Chivas USA - 1500501
8. FC Dallas - 1332668
9. Salt Lake - 1000001
10. Columbus - 1000000
11. Los Angeles - 499501
12. DC United - (-1499)
13. Toronto FC - (-3000)
MLS Goal Leaders:
Jeff Cunningham (RSL) - 2
Kenny Cooper (DAL) - 2
Luciano Emilio (DC) - 2
Carlos Ruiz (DAL) - 2
Herculez Gomez (COL) - 2
Taylor Twellman (NE) - 2
17 Players with 1 Goal
Top MLS Point Leaders:
Carlos Ruiz (DAL) - 5
Jeff Cunningham (RSL) - 4
Kenny Cooper (DAL) - 4
Luciano Emilio (DC) - 4
Herculez Gomez (COL) - 4
Taylor Twellman (NE) - 4
Next for RSL:
vs. Chivas, 4/21/07, Home Depot Center, Carson CA
Chivas played a good game against expansion side Toronto first game, but lost to Houston in a defensive battle this week. RSL looks to capitalize on this.
Next Week's Games:
4/19
NE @ CLB
4/14
RSL @ CHV
KC @ CHI
HOU @ NY
4/15
COL @ DAL
RSL Schedule:
4/7 vs. Dallas T 2-2 (0-0-1/1/T3 West)
4/14 vs. Columbus T 0-0 (0-0-2/2/5 West)
4/21 @ Chivas USA
4/30 vs. Colorado
5/5 vs. New York
5/10 @ Colorado
5/20 @ Dallas
5/27 @ Chicago
6/2 @ New England
6/14 vs. Dallas
6/17 @ Los Angeles
6/23 vs. DC United
7/4 vs. Toronto
7/7 @ Columbus
7/14 @ Kansas City
7/28 vs. New England
8/4 vs. Houston
8/18 vs. Chicago
8/26 @ Chivas USA
8/29 vs. Kansas City
9/1 @ Los Angeles
9/8 @ Houston
9/15 @ Toronto
9/19 vs. Los Angeles
9/22 vs. Colorado
9/26 @ D.C. United
9/29 @ New York
10/6 vs. Chivas USA
10/13 vs. Houston
10/20 @ Colorado
The game started on a bad note. This ref was making terrible calls and RSL was not playing how they did last week. Columbus was clearly controlling the game, but thanks to RSL's defense, we stayed in the game. Then the half came, and I was hoping that RSL would come out firing. They did, but still not at the standard they had set last week. Cunningham got a pretty good chance at one point, but was saved by Gruenbaum. RSL "won" the second half, but we still walked out of the stadium feeling grim about the game, and wondering if we have a chance against Chivas next week.
RSL Game Report:
Real Salt Lake : Columbus Crew 0 : 0 (0 : 0)
Goal Summary
Real Salt Lake
No Goals Scored
Columbus Crew
No Goals Scored
Card Summary
Real Salt Lake
Yellow - Talley (30')
Yellow - Torres (70')
Yellow - Stewart (88')
Columbus Crew
Yellow - O'Rourke (88')
Yellow - Herron (90+')
Around the MLS:
(1-0-1/4/1 West) COL 1 : 1 CHI (1-0-1/4/2 East)
(0-1-1/1/6 West) LA 1 : 2 DAL (1-1-1/4/3 West)
(0-2-0/0/6 East) DC 2 : 4 KC (1-0-0/3/4 East)
(1-1-0/3/3 East) NE 4 : 0 TOR (0-2-0/0/7 East)
(1-0-1/4/2 West) HOU 1 : 0 CHV (1-1-0/3/4 West)
(1-0-1/4/1 East) NY 3 : 0 DAL (1-1-1/4/3 West)
My Fantasy Team Update:
This was a decent week. Craig Waibel and Kelly Gray of the Dynamo won me 29 pts apiece for their playing time plus wins plus clean sheets. For some reason the cRapids are favoring Bouna Coundoul over the much more expensive Zach Thornton, and so I received no points from him. Other than that, nothing all that significant.
GK Zach Thornton (COL) : 0 Points
DF Kevin Goldthwaite (HOU) : 0 Points
DF Craig Waibel (HOU) : 29 Points (9 pts Playing Time, 10 pts Clean Sheet, 10 pts Team Win)
DF Marvell Wynne (NY) : 0 Points
DF Kelly Gray (HOU) : 29 Points (9 pts Playing Time, 10 pts Clean Sheet, 10 pts Team Win)
MF Quavas Kirk (LA) : 0 Points
MF Mehdi Ballouchy (RSL) : 9 Points (9 pts Playing Time)
MF Seth Stammler (NY) : 19 Points (9 pts Playing Time, 10 pts Team Win)
MF Freddy Adu (RSL) : 9 Points (9 pts Playing Time)
(C) FW Jeff Cunningham (RSL) : 18 Points (9 pts Playing Time, x2 Captainage)
FW Pat Noonan (NE) : 22 Points (2 pts Playing Time, 10 pts Assist, 10 pts Team Win)
League Scoreboard
rslnerd: 324 pts, #3764 overall (-2526 places)
Jeppson United FC: 260 pts, #7280 overall (-2945 places)
Next Week's Fantasy Team:
GK Bouna Coundoul (COL)
DF Lawson Vaughn (CHV)
DF Craig Waibel (HOU)
DF Marvell Wynne (NY)
DF Kelly Gray (HOU)
MF Pablo Mastroeni (COL)
MF Mehdi Ballouchy (RSL)
MF Freddy Adu (RSL)
MF Fred (DC)
(C) FW Jeff Cunningham (RSL)
FW Josmer Altidore (NY)
My Pick 'Em (Game Prediction) Update:
I did pretty darn well this week. Picking HOU-LA correctly won me three, while JUFC missed it. Hey missed his money game of DC-KC, while I got result plus one score on mine of TOR-NE. This week, rslnerd 6, JUFC -4.
After 2 weeks:
rslnerd: 7 point
Jeppson United FC: -8 points
Playoff Picture:
Top Two East : New York, Chicago
Top Two West : Colorado, Houston
Four "Wild Card" : Dallas, New England, Kansas City, Chivas USA
MLS Performance Factors:
1. Kansas City - 3002004
2. New York - 2001502
3. Colorado - 2000502
4. Chicago - 2000501
4. Houston - 2000501
6. New England - 1501502
7. Chivas USA - 1500501
8. FC Dallas - 1332668
9. Salt Lake - 1000001
10. Columbus - 1000000
11. Los Angeles - 499501
12. DC United - (-1499)
13. Toronto FC - (-3000)
MLS Goal Leaders:
Jeff Cunningham (RSL) - 2
Kenny Cooper (DAL) - 2
Luciano Emilio (DC) - 2
Carlos Ruiz (DAL) - 2
Herculez Gomez (COL) - 2
Taylor Twellman (NE) - 2
17 Players with 1 Goal
Top MLS Point Leaders:
Carlos Ruiz (DAL) - 5
Jeff Cunningham (RSL) - 4
Kenny Cooper (DAL) - 4
Luciano Emilio (DC) - 4
Herculez Gomez (COL) - 4
Taylor Twellman (NE) - 4
Next for RSL:
vs. Chivas, 4/21/07, Home Depot Center, Carson CA
Chivas played a good game against expansion side Toronto first game, but lost to Houston in a defensive battle this week. RSL looks to capitalize on this.
Next Week's Games:
4/19
NE @ CLB
4/14
RSL @ CHV
KC @ CHI
HOU @ NY
4/15
COL @ DAL
RSL Schedule:
4/7 vs. Dallas T 2-2 (0-0-1/1/T3 West)
4/14 vs. Columbus T 0-0 (0-0-2/2/5 West)
4/21 @ Chivas USA
4/30 vs. Colorado
5/5 vs. New York
5/10 @ Colorado
5/20 @ Dallas
5/27 @ Chicago
6/2 @ New England
6/14 vs. Dallas
6/17 @ Los Angeles
6/23 vs. DC United
7/4 vs. Toronto
7/7 @ Columbus
7/14 @ Kansas City
7/28 vs. New England
8/4 vs. Houston
8/18 vs. Chicago
8/26 @ Chivas USA
8/29 vs. Kansas City
9/1 @ Los Angeles
9/8 @ Houston
9/15 @ Toronto
9/19 vs. Los Angeles
9/22 vs. Colorado
9/26 @ D.C. United
9/29 @ New York
10/6 vs. Chivas USA
10/13 vs. Houston
10/20 @ Colorado
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Week 2 Predictions
Now that JUFC has made his picks, I can release both of ours. Home Team is listed first.
LA vs. DAL rslnerd: 1-1 JUFC: 2-1
RSL vs. CLB rslnerd: 3-1 JUFC: 3-0
HOU vs. CHV rslnerd: 1-0 JUFC: 1-1
DC vs. KC rslnerd: 2-2 JUFC: 2-0 (Money)
NE vs. TOR rslnerd: 3-0 (Money) JUFC: 3-0
NY vs. DAL rslnerd: 1-0 JUFC: 1-2
COL vs. CHI rslnerd: Folly JUFC: 2-0
LA vs. DAL rslnerd: 1-1 JUFC: 2-1
RSL vs. CLB rslnerd: 3-1 JUFC: 3-0
HOU vs. CHV rslnerd: 1-0 JUFC: 1-1
DC vs. KC rslnerd: 2-2 JUFC: 2-0 (Money)
NE vs. TOR rslnerd: 3-0 (Money) JUFC: 3-0
NY vs. DAL rslnerd: 1-0 JUFC: 1-2
COL vs. CHI rslnerd: Folly JUFC: 2-0
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Stadium Issues
I just wanted to express my anger for those who oppose the RSL Stadium for the simple reason that the don't like soccer. That pisses me off. A few of my friends are like this and I'm pissed. They don't take into account the fact that the state is not paying for this, but rather tourists to the state. They also don't realize that the state will actually make money off of this. They just want Real to go because they don't like soccer.
Sunday, April 8, 2007
MLS Week 1
RSL Game Summary:
There was soccer in the air as I stepped out of the car and walked across the street to Rice-Eccles Stadium to watch RSL take on the team from Dallas. RSL began the game on fire, with a Nelson Akwari shot saved in the first minute, only to be rebounded and shot off the top crossbar by Mehdi Ballouchy on a wide open net. Things from there continued at a regular pace, with RSL controlling most of the game. Then, in the 19th minute, Kenny Cooper broke free on a ball from Carlos Ruiz, and slotted it past Rimando into the bottom corner of the net to open scoring. This made RSL simply crave a goal, and soon enough, ten minutes later, in the 29th minute, when Chris Klein played a nice ball to Jeff Cunningham into the box, a Dallas defender slipped and Cunningham slotted it past goalkeeper Shaka Hislop to even the score at ones. The scored stayed like this through halftime and into the second half until in the 50th minute when RSL took a quick corner from Mehdi Ballouchy. After passing the ball around, Jason Kreis took a poweful shot from about twenty yards, but Hislop made a great save. Luckily for RSL, Jeff Cunningham was there, and he took the "no-angle" shot wide open to score his second of the afternoon. Things continued just like this going into stoppage time, and us RSL fans were excited, as we believed that we were about to get our first season-opener win in history. Four minutes of stoppage time were allotted. (Kreis got injured and was down for 2-3 minutes in about the 80th minute) For those of us in the stadium, that turned out to be one too many. In the 94+ minute, miscommunication between RSL GK Nick Rimando and RSL DF Jack Stewart caused Rimando to charge on a ball he shouldn't have. He punched it, but went behind him, where Dallas FW Carlos Ruiz put a small header on the ball to even the game at twos and essentially ensure a tie. What a heartbreaker! We left the stadium feeling like we had lost the game. As the Deseret Morning News (Salt Lake City) quoted Rimando, "We won the game for 93 1/2 minutes."
RSL Game Report:
Real Salt Lake : FC Dallas 2 : 2 (1 : 1)
Goal Summary
Real Salt Lake
Cunningham (Klein) - 29'
Cunningham (Unassisted) - 51'
FC Dallas
Cooper (Ruiz) - 19'
Ruiz (Goodson) - 90+'
Card Summary
Real Salt Lake
Yellow - Talley (9')
Yellow - Kreis (68')
FC Dallas
Yellow - Goodson (28')
Yellow - Moor (82')
Around the MLS:
(1-0-0/3/2 West) COL 2 : 1 DC (0-1-0/0/T5 East)
(0-0-1/1/T2 East) CLB 0 : 0 NY (0-0-1/1/T2 East)
(1-0-0/3/1 East) CHI 1 : 0 NE (0-1-0/0/T5 East)
(1-0-0/3/1 West) CHV 2 : 0 TOR (0-1-0/0/7 East)
(0-0-1/1/T5 West) HOU 0 : 0 LA (0-0-1/1/T5 West)
Didn't Play: Kansas City (0-0-0/0/4 East)
My Fantasy Team Update:
What a wonderful week! Picking Cunningham as my captain (double points) sure paid off, as he was the week's top goal scorer. That came out to be 98 points! I was excited when I heard that Columbus posted a 0-0 draw with New York, until I heard that my GK Bill Gaudette of Columbus didn't start! No clean sheet bonus! Oh well. The only other notable achievers are DFs Kelly Gray (HOU), Craig Waibel (HOU), and Marvell Wynne (NY) with 19 pts apiece for their minutes plus their teams' clean sheets. This good week put me ahead of my cousin in our two-man league. I'm ranked 1238 overall with 189 pts, top scores in all fantasy going to "Thistle & Lissell" and "orange_juice" with 327 pts apiece.
GK Bill Gaudette (CLB) : 0 Points
DF Kevin Goldthwaite (HOU) : 0 Points
DF Craig Waibel (HOU) : 19 Points (9 pts Playing Time, 10 pts Clean Sheet)
DF Marvell Wynne (NY) : 19 Points (9 pts Playing Time, 10 pts Clean Sheet)
DF Kelly Gray (HOU) : 19 Points (9 pts Playing Time, 10 pts Clean Sheet)
MF Quavas Kirk (LA) : 0 Points
MF Mehdi Ballouchy (RSL) : 7 Points (7 pts Playing Time)
MF Richard Mulrooney (TOR) : 9 Points (9 pts Playing Time)
MF Freddy Adu (RSL) : 9 Points (9 pts Playing Time)
(C) FW Jeff Cunningham (RSL) : 98 Points (20 pts Goal, 20 pts Goal, 9 pts Playing Time, x2 Captainage)
FW Alecko Eskandarian (TOR) : 9 Points (9 pts Playing Time)
League Scoreboard
rslnerd: 189 pts, #1238 overall
Jeppson United FC: 136 pts, #4335 overall
Play MLS Fantasy Soccer!
Next Week's Fantasy Team:
GK Zach Thornton (COL)
DF Kevin Goldthwaite (HOU)
DF Craig Waibel (HOU)
DF Marvell Wynne (NY)
DF Kelly Gray (HOU)
MF Quavas Kirk (LA)
MF Mehdi Ballouchy (RSL)
MF Freddy Adu (RSL)
MF Seth Stammler (NY)
(C) FW Jeff Cunningham (RSL)
FW Pat Noonan (NE)
My Pick 'Em (Game Prediction) Update:
Scoring Procedure:
My personal competition with my cousin is going pretty well for me so far. Missing the money game of DC-COL lost me two points, though the same thing happened to Jeppson Utd. FC, so that kept us even. Predicting CLB to defeat NY 2-0 lost JUFC a point, and my choosing of it as folly put me a point ahead. We both predicted RSL wins, so another point is deducted. I predicted a CHI-NE draw, while he chose NE to win, but CHI won, so another point is lost by each side. We both chose CHV over expansion side TOR correctly, me 4-0, him 2-1, he got CHV's score right, and I got TOR's score right for two pts apiece. Tonight's LA-HOU game made broke the small margin. He chose a 2-0 LA win, while I chose a 0-0 tie. 0-0 was indeed the final score. -1 for him, 3 for me. I would publish my picks for next week, but he's reading this blog, so I can't.
After 1 week:
rslnerd: 1 point
Jeppson United FC: -4 points
Playoff Picture:
Top Two East : Chicago, Columbus/New York
Top Two West : Chivas USA/Colorado
Four "Wild Card" : Columbus/New York, Dallas, Salt Lake, Houston/Los Angeles
MLS Performance Factors:
1. Chivas USA - 3002002
2. Colorado - 3001002
3. Chicago - 3001001
4. Dallas - 1000002
4. Salt Lake - 1000002
6. New York - 1000000
6. Columbus - 1000000
6. Houston - 1000000
6. Los Angeles - 1000000
11. DC United - (-999)
12. New England - (-1000)
13. Toronto - (-2000)
MLS Goal Leaders:
Jeff Cunningham (RSL) - 2
Sacha Kljestan (CHV) - 1
Carlos Ruiz (DAL) - 1
Roberto Brown (COL) - 1
Kenny Cooper (DAL) - 1
Luciano Emilio (DC) - 1
Herculez Gomez (COL) - 1
Logan Pause (CHI) - 1
Ante Razov (CHV) - 1
Top 10 MLS Point Leaders:
Jeff Cunningham (RSL) - 4
Sacha Kljestan (CHV) - 3
Carlos Ruiz (DAL) - 3
Roberto Brown (COL) - 2
Kenny Cooper (DAL) - 2
Luciano Emilio (DC) - 2
Herculez Gomez (COL) - 2
Logan Pause (CHI) - 2
Ante Razov (CHV) - 2
Terry Cooke (COL) - 2
Next for RSL:
vs. Columbus, 4/14/07, Rice-Eccles Stadium, Salt Lake City UT, 4:00 PM MST
Columbus put in a valiant effort against New York on Saturday, but came away with just a scoreless draw. They look to defeat a talented RSL team at their strong home site, where they drew more fans for the game against Dallas than any other game in the MLS that day.
Next Week's Games:
4/12
DAL @ LA
4/14
CLB @ RSL
KC @ DC
TOR @ NE
CHV @ HOU
4/15
DAL @ NY
CHI @ COL (First time COL GK Zach Thornton faces his old team... Gonna be interesting)
RSL Schedule:
4/7 vs. Dallas T 2-2 (0-0-1/1/T3 West)
4/14 vs. Columbus
4/21 @ Chivas USA
4/30 vs. Colorado
5/5 vs. New York
5/10 @ Colorado
5/20 @ Dallas
5/27 @ Chicago
6/2 @ New England
6/14 vs. Dallas
6/17 @ Los Angeles
6/23 vs. DC United
7/4 vs. Toronto
7/7 @ Columbus
7/14 @ Kansas City
7/28 vs. New England
8/4 vs. Houston
8/18 vs. Chicago
8/26 @ Chivas USA
8/29 vs. Kansas City
9/1 @ Los Angeles
9/8 @ Houston
9/15 @ Toronto
9/19 vs. Los Angeles
9/22 vs. Colorado
9/26 @ D.C. United
9/29 @ New York
10/6 vs. Chivas USA
10/13 vs. Houston
10/20 @ Colorado
Major League Soccer
There was soccer in the air as I stepped out of the car and walked across the street to Rice-Eccles Stadium to watch RSL take on the team from Dallas. RSL began the game on fire, with a Nelson Akwari shot saved in the first minute, only to be rebounded and shot off the top crossbar by Mehdi Ballouchy on a wide open net. Things from there continued at a regular pace, with RSL controlling most of the game. Then, in the 19th minute, Kenny Cooper broke free on a ball from Carlos Ruiz, and slotted it past Rimando into the bottom corner of the net to open scoring. This made RSL simply crave a goal, and soon enough, ten minutes later, in the 29th minute, when Chris Klein played a nice ball to Jeff Cunningham into the box, a Dallas defender slipped and Cunningham slotted it past goalkeeper Shaka Hislop to even the score at ones. The scored stayed like this through halftime and into the second half until in the 50th minute when RSL took a quick corner from Mehdi Ballouchy. After passing the ball around, Jason Kreis took a poweful shot from about twenty yards, but Hislop made a great save. Luckily for RSL, Jeff Cunningham was there, and he took the "no-angle" shot wide open to score his second of the afternoon. Things continued just like this going into stoppage time, and us RSL fans were excited, as we believed that we were about to get our first season-opener win in history. Four minutes of stoppage time were allotted. (Kreis got injured and was down for 2-3 minutes in about the 80th minute) For those of us in the stadium, that turned out to be one too many. In the 94+ minute, miscommunication between RSL GK Nick Rimando and RSL DF Jack Stewart caused Rimando to charge on a ball he shouldn't have. He punched it, but went behind him, where Dallas FW Carlos Ruiz put a small header on the ball to even the game at twos and essentially ensure a tie. What a heartbreaker! We left the stadium feeling like we had lost the game. As the Deseret Morning News (Salt Lake City) quoted Rimando, "We won the game for 93 1/2 minutes."
RSL Game Report:
Real Salt Lake : FC Dallas 2 : 2 (1 : 1)
Goal Summary
Real Salt Lake
Cunningham (Klein) - 29'
Cunningham (Unassisted) - 51'
FC Dallas
Cooper (Ruiz) - 19'
Ruiz (Goodson) - 90+'
Card Summary
Real Salt Lake
Yellow - Talley (9')
Yellow - Kreis (68')
FC Dallas
Yellow - Goodson (28')
Yellow - Moor (82')
Around the MLS:
(1-0-0/3/2 West) COL 2 : 1 DC (0-1-0/0/T5 East)
(0-0-1/1/T2 East) CLB 0 : 0 NY (0-0-1/1/T2 East)
(1-0-0/3/1 East) CHI 1 : 0 NE (0-1-0/0/T5 East)
(1-0-0/3/1 West) CHV 2 : 0 TOR (0-1-0/0/7 East)
(0-0-1/1/T5 West) HOU 0 : 0 LA (0-0-1/1/T5 West)
Didn't Play: Kansas City (0-0-0/0/4 East)
My Fantasy Team Update:
What a wonderful week! Picking Cunningham as my captain (double points) sure paid off, as he was the week's top goal scorer. That came out to be 98 points! I was excited when I heard that Columbus posted a 0-0 draw with New York, until I heard that my GK Bill Gaudette of Columbus didn't start! No clean sheet bonus! Oh well. The only other notable achievers are DFs Kelly Gray (HOU), Craig Waibel (HOU), and Marvell Wynne (NY) with 19 pts apiece for their minutes plus their teams' clean sheets. This good week put me ahead of my cousin in our two-man league. I'm ranked 1238 overall with 189 pts, top scores in all fantasy going to "Thistle & Lissell" and "orange_juice" with 327 pts apiece.
GK Bill Gaudette (CLB) : 0 Points
DF Kevin Goldthwaite (HOU) : 0 Points
DF Craig Waibel (HOU) : 19 Points (9 pts Playing Time, 10 pts Clean Sheet)
DF Marvell Wynne (NY) : 19 Points (9 pts Playing Time, 10 pts Clean Sheet)
DF Kelly Gray (HOU) : 19 Points (9 pts Playing Time, 10 pts Clean Sheet)
MF Quavas Kirk (LA) : 0 Points
MF Mehdi Ballouchy (RSL) : 7 Points (7 pts Playing Time)
MF Richard Mulrooney (TOR) : 9 Points (9 pts Playing Time)
MF Freddy Adu (RSL) : 9 Points (9 pts Playing Time)
(C) FW Jeff Cunningham (RSL) : 98 Points (20 pts Goal, 20 pts Goal, 9 pts Playing Time, x2 Captainage)
FW Alecko Eskandarian (TOR) : 9 Points (9 pts Playing Time)
League Scoreboard
rslnerd: 189 pts, #1238 overall
Jeppson United FC: 136 pts, #4335 overall
Play MLS Fantasy Soccer!
Next Week's Fantasy Team:
GK Zach Thornton (COL)
DF Kevin Goldthwaite (HOU)
DF Craig Waibel (HOU)
DF Marvell Wynne (NY)
DF Kelly Gray (HOU)
MF Quavas Kirk (LA)
MF Mehdi Ballouchy (RSL)
MF Freddy Adu (RSL)
MF Seth Stammler (NY)
(C) FW Jeff Cunningham (RSL)
FW Pat Noonan (NE)
My Pick 'Em (Game Prediction) Update:
Scoring Procedure:
- Predict correct result (win/loss/draw) of a game: 1 pt
- Incorrect result: -1 pt
- One "folly" may be used each week for an automatic 0 pt game.
- One game may be labeled as "money" for automatic double points.
- For each team's score you predict correctly, 1 pt, but only if result is correct.
My personal competition with my cousin is going pretty well for me so far. Missing the money game of DC-COL lost me two points, though the same thing happened to Jeppson Utd. FC, so that kept us even. Predicting CLB to defeat NY 2-0 lost JUFC a point, and my choosing of it as folly put me a point ahead. We both predicted RSL wins, so another point is deducted. I predicted a CHI-NE draw, while he chose NE to win, but CHI won, so another point is lost by each side. We both chose CHV over expansion side TOR correctly, me 4-0, him 2-1, he got CHV's score right, and I got TOR's score right for two pts apiece. Tonight's LA-HOU game made broke the small margin. He chose a 2-0 LA win, while I chose a 0-0 tie. 0-0 was indeed the final score. -1 for him, 3 for me. I would publish my picks for next week, but he's reading this blog, so I can't.
After 1 week:
rslnerd: 1 point
Jeppson United FC: -4 points
Playoff Picture:
Top Two East : Chicago, Columbus/New York
Top Two West : Chivas USA/Colorado
Four "Wild Card" : Columbus/New York, Dallas, Salt Lake, Houston/Los Angeles
MLS Performance Factors:
1. Chivas USA - 3002002
2. Colorado - 3001002
3. Chicago - 3001001
4. Dallas - 1000002
4. Salt Lake - 1000002
6. New York - 1000000
6. Columbus - 1000000
6. Houston - 1000000
6. Los Angeles - 1000000
11. DC United - (-999)
12. New England - (-1000)
13. Toronto - (-2000)
MLS Goal Leaders:
Jeff Cunningham (RSL) - 2
Sacha Kljestan (CHV) - 1
Carlos Ruiz (DAL) - 1
Roberto Brown (COL) - 1
Kenny Cooper (DAL) - 1
Luciano Emilio (DC) - 1
Herculez Gomez (COL) - 1
Logan Pause (CHI) - 1
Ante Razov (CHV) - 1
Top 10 MLS Point Leaders:
Jeff Cunningham (RSL) - 4
Sacha Kljestan (CHV) - 3
Carlos Ruiz (DAL) - 3
Roberto Brown (COL) - 2
Kenny Cooper (DAL) - 2
Luciano Emilio (DC) - 2
Herculez Gomez (COL) - 2
Logan Pause (CHI) - 2
Ante Razov (CHV) - 2
Terry Cooke (COL) - 2
Next for RSL:
vs. Columbus, 4/14/07, Rice-Eccles Stadium, Salt Lake City UT, 4:00 PM MST
Columbus put in a valiant effort against New York on Saturday, but came away with just a scoreless draw. They look to defeat a talented RSL team at their strong home site, where they drew more fans for the game against Dallas than any other game in the MLS that day.
Next Week's Games:
4/12
DAL @ LA
4/14
CLB @ RSL
KC @ DC
TOR @ NE
CHV @ HOU
4/15
DAL @ NY
CHI @ COL (First time COL GK Zach Thornton faces his old team... Gonna be interesting)
RSL Schedule:
4/7 vs. Dallas T 2-2 (0-0-1/1/T3 West)
4/14 vs. Columbus
4/21 @ Chivas USA
4/30 vs. Colorado
5/5 vs. New York
5/10 @ Colorado
5/20 @ Dallas
5/27 @ Chicago
6/2 @ New England
6/14 vs. Dallas
6/17 @ Los Angeles
6/23 vs. DC United
7/4 vs. Toronto
7/7 @ Columbus
7/14 @ Kansas City
7/28 vs. New England
8/4 vs. Houston
8/18 vs. Chicago
8/26 @ Chivas USA
8/29 vs. Kansas City
9/1 @ Los Angeles
9/8 @ Houston
9/15 @ Toronto
9/19 vs. Los Angeles
9/22 vs. Colorado
9/26 @ D.C. United
9/29 @ New York
10/6 vs. Chivas USA
10/13 vs. Houston
10/20 @ Colorado
Major League Soccer
Friday, April 6, 2007
MLS Season to Begin!!!
Woohoo!!! The long-awaited day. Since I saw Jay Heaps' P.K. be saved by Pat Onstad four months ago, I have been wanting badly for this day to arrive. FC Dallas @ Real Salt Lake, April 7, 2007, Rice-Eccles Stadium, Salt Lake City, UT. I personally am predicting a 2-0 RSL Victory in a private competition with my cousin. Here is RSL's MLS schedule:
4/7 vs. Dallas
4/14 vs. Columbus
4/21 @ Chivas USA
4/30 vs. Colorado
5/5 vs. New York
5/10 @ Colorado
5/20 @ Dallas
5/27 @ Chicago
6/2 @ New England
6/14 vs. Dallas
6/17 @ Los Angeles
6/23 vs. DC United
7/4 vs. Toronto
7/7 @ Columbus
7/14 @ Kansas City
7/28 vs. New England
8/4 vs. Houston
8/18 vs. Chicago
8/26 @ Chivas USA
8/29 vs. Kansas City
9/1 @ Los Angeles
9/8 @ Houston
9/15 @ Toronto
9/19 vs. Los Angeles
9/22 vs. Colorado
9/26 @ D.C. United
9/29 @ New York
10/6 vs. Chivas USA
10/13 vs. Houston
10/20 @ Colorado
4/7 vs. Dallas
4/14 vs. Columbus
4/21 @ Chivas USA
4/30 vs. Colorado
5/5 vs. New York
5/10 @ Colorado
5/20 @ Dallas
5/27 @ Chicago
6/2 @ New England
6/14 vs. Dallas
6/17 @ Los Angeles
6/23 vs. DC United
7/4 vs. Toronto
7/7 @ Columbus
7/14 @ Kansas City
7/28 vs. New England
8/4 vs. Houston
8/18 vs. Chicago
8/26 @ Chivas USA
8/29 vs. Kansas City
9/1 @ Los Angeles
9/8 @ Houston
9/15 @ Toronto
9/19 vs. Los Angeles
9/22 vs. Colorado
9/26 @ D.C. United
9/29 @ New York
10/6 vs. Chivas USA
10/13 vs. Houston
10/20 @ Colorado
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