Jason Kreis preached patience to the fans and media ahead of Real Salt Lake’s season opener against the San Jose Earthquakes, considering the new additions and off-season departures that supposedly have left the team weaker than last year. Maybe he, and everyone else, underestimated this team a little.

The first half, San Jose were all over the unexperienced RSL back line. With top MLS top goalscorer Chris Wondolowski always preying on loose balls in dangerous areas, the chances he had were uncharacteristically wasted, leaving RSL lucky to get into half time with the score still level. Putting passes together and keeping the ball seemed difficult for the young team who were missing leaders Nat Borchers, Chris Wingert, Ned Grabavoy and Javier Morales, and I think most RSL fans watching were hoping to get out of Buck Shaw with, at most, a draw.

Photo credit to RealSaltLake.com

I don’t know what Jason Kreis said at half time, but a completely different team came out to play the second half! Attacking chances seemed to be flowing, Robbie Findley’s speed was finally being utilized, and the defense seemed to be settled into the game. Joao Plata came on in the 65th minute for Robbie Findley, a basic speed-for-speed swap. It took him just 5 minutes to make an impact as he trapped a ball out of the air and sent it over the SJ defense to Saborio who one-timed the ball into the net! 1-0 RSL in the 71st minute!

Although San Jose were pushing for an equalizing goal in the closing stages of the game, RSL gained possession, and put together 12 passes in the attacking half of the field. Sebastian Velasquez and Luis Gil had some great combination play, finding the feet of Kyle Beckerman who slipped a ball through to, you guessed it, Alvaro Saborio, who cushioned his first touch as he turned and slotted the ball past John Busch. 2-0 RSL 85′ minute. The score held through the end of the game, and Real Salt Lake took 3 points on the road from the 2012 Supporters Shield winners.

A few Real Salt Lake players also had some landmark games. Captain Kyle Beckerman played his 300th RSL game, and Nick Rimando earned his 100th shut out. Congrats, boys!

The MLS season rolls on this weekend. Make sure you keep with the ladies of @AerysSoccer for recaps, news and more!

Ahhhh. The first game of the season. So many hopes, so many dreams, and in my case, fears that this season will not live up to the last for the San Jose Earthquakes. I hate starting the season with any sort of reservations, but I think it is inevitable after the high of last year. Or maybe I’m just more cynical than most.

Quakes Take the Field

Wow, what a depressing opening! Despite tonight’s result, a 0-2 loss to Real Salt Lake at home, I am actually in a pretty good mood. Tonight was like a family reunion of sorts. All the fun cousins, cool aunts and oddball uncles descended on Buck Shaw. (I speak metaphorically, of course.) We got to see a few of the new additions to the Earthquakes family take the field tonight, including Mike Fucito (formerly with the Portland Timbers). He impressed me in the preseason, and while he may not have made a huge impact tonight, I am excited to see what he does for us.

I also got to hang out (I use that term generously) with a few stars from the other football sport— Alex Smith, Vernon Davis, and Joe Staley of the San Francisco 49ers. The cool thing about this was that Staley took the ceremonial first kick, and still hung around to watch most of the game with his fellow players. Even cooler was the fact that, while there were obviously people coming and wanting an autograph or a picture, it really wasn’t that big of a deal that they were there. I was encouraged by the fact that most people were still more interested in the stars on the field. Surely this is a small sign that soccer is beginning to take its place among the “big boys” of American sports.

While I am, of course, disappointed with the result, I am not completely immune to the aforementioned hopes and dreams that come with a new season. While the slate may not be quite blank anymore, I feel there is much to be excited about and I know there is a whole lot of soccer left to be played before all is said and done.

And, lest we forget, Goonies never say die!

Image courtesy of San Jose Earthquakes’ Facebook page.

Yay MLS is back!! And getting a win in your home opener is the best way to start off the season!

Jackson celebrates after the easiest goal he’ll ever score!

FC Dallas opened the 2013 season with a home game against the Colorado Rapids. The newly expanded Dallas Beer Gardens rocked the game from start to finish. The players on the other hand…not so much. The game was pretty ugly for Dallas, but hey a win is a win and you take it, say ‘thanks you’ and move on.

The only goal of the game came in the 11th minute when Rapids GK Steward Ceus misjudged a long ball by el capitan David Ferreira. The ball soared over Ceus’s head to Jackson who scored the easiest goal he’ll ever score in his career: a wide open, empty net. Few minutes later, I could’ve sworn Jackson had doubled Dallas’s lead, but his awesome 30-yard strike ended up in the side netting.

Other than those two shining moments, not much else stands out for the Texan team. They’ve got a lot of work to do. Colorado controlled most of the game while Dallas struggled to string more than 5 passes together. Kudos to the Rapids rookie Deshorn Brown who absolutely ran our defense ragged. That kid looks like he could compete with Usain Bolt out on that field! Not going to lie, as the game got a little boring in the second half, I started wishing we could watch a race between Brown and Castillo instead of the disjointed Dallas play hahah!

Next Sunday, FC Dallas takes on Chivas USA in Cali. This time around I’m hoping to see a little bit more of Kenny Cooper in the box and maybe Christ Seitz in goal instead of Fernandez who gave me more heart attacks than I’d like in 90 minutes. Until next time then! DTID!

Wow…what a game in the Rose City tonight against the New York Red Bulls and Portland Timbers! Mike Petke and Caleb Porter were both coming out with teams for the first time and let’s just say we were all entertained. From start to finish, this was not for the faint of heart. The Timbers Army even came out with an impressive tifo that was a nod to the Morton’s Salt Girl.

Fabian Espindola wasted no time in giving the New York Red Bulls their first goal of the 2013 season in the 9th minute against the Portland Timbers. He would once again capture a second goal in the 24th minute only after the Timbers got their equalizer in the 14th minute by Diego Valeri. NYRB’s Juninho (not to be confused with the Galaxy’s Juninho) would send a corner kick to Heath Pearce that would find its way to Olave where a third goal would happen in the 28th minute. It would stay that way until after half time but that does not mean anyone took the pedal off the gas. Each side had their chances but both defended well.

The second half at JELD-WELD looked promising for the Red Bulls and it looked like they had a few chances to capture the lead but whatever Caleb Porter told his team in the locker room, it looked like that they were not conceding anymore goals. Portland Timbers were ready and willing to do whatever they had to do to get a win.

And those goals? Yeah, they happened in the 56th minute from Nagbe and once last time by Valencia in the 83rd minute. Both teams share the point and New York goes home to prepare for their home opener on March 16th against DC United.

With an attendance of over 20,000 supporters, JELD-WELD had an electrified feeling. It definitely is something that this MLS supporter would love to experience one day. The last time New York played, they came back from being down two and had the same result of a 3-3. Showing us all that yes, they can share a point but I think we would much rather have the 3 points. Both teams are hungry that they will both be games to watch this 2013 season.

And now, let’s see Fabian’s first goal for NYRB! Check out the link below!

Espindola takes advantage of a mishap

Keep up with the 2013 MLS season with the ladies of Aerys Soccer at @AerysSoccer! 

For me, the kick-off of LA Galaxy’s season is right up there with my birthday and Christmas. I actually consider it a holiday. And it just makes it that much better when your team comes away with a win. It was good to get a win, because people have been skeptical about this season. Losing Donovan until April and Becks moving to Paris has left some people questioning who would step up and become a leader. Tonight, two people stepped up; Robbie Keane and Mike Magee. Both had one heck of a game. There were also two new names in the LA lineup; keeper Clark Cudicni and midfielder Colin Clark. Both players earned the starting spot by showing their talent in preseason. Both played well in tonight’s opener. Speaking of which, let’s hope right to it.

It took a while for LA to get into the swing of things, which makes sense. Sure you have preseason, but nothing compares to a real match. You could say the first half belonged to Sean Johnson, Chicago’s keeper, because he was the only reason LA didn’t find the back of the net sooner. Juninho was the man to step up to take the free kicks and corners. He did a heck of a job on his first free kick and made Johnson go for the diving save. LA kept knocking, and finally opened the door.

Photo courtesy LA Galaxy’s Facebook page

In the 38^th minute of play, after many misplaced chances, Mike Magee showed why he is always on FIRE. With the ball finding Magee’s foot (after three deflections) he took a volley, and found the back of the net. It was a great goal to open the season for LA. The second half started of sloppy, but in the 67^th minute, the man himself scored again. Magee came away with the ball in the eighteen, and found the back of the net with another tremendous goal. Then low and behold, in the 73^rd minute… guess who scored, again. Yup, MIKE MAGEE. On fire is an understatement.

There’s not a way to describe how remarkable Magee played. He had one heck of a game. Actually, that’s an understatement. He played pretty dang marvelous! A hat trick in the season opener, nothing is better than that. You’d think after a 3-0 lead LA would settle back… Not the case. In the 79^th minute Robbie Keane got the chance to show off his famous cartwheel. A well-deserved goal by LA’s newly crowned Captain.

At the end of the 90 minutes, LA came away with a 4-0 win. If this is any indication of how the season is going to play out then I’d say LA is well on their way to another MLS Cup.

Don’t forget to follow along with @AerysSoccer on twitter for the MLS season!

There’s nothing like kicking off your MLS season with a win. Especially when the game wasn’t that pretty and one of your goal-scorer was getting pushed around the entire game. That pretty much sums up the first match of Columbus Crew’s 2013 MLS season last night against Chivas USA in Los Angeles. But hey, there’s nothing like an angry striker to spark a 3-0 win for your team, and I will definitely take it.

In all honesty, I’ve been pumped about the Crew starting their season for weeks now. Following them along during their preseason in Florida has been great. Not only have the veterans shown they are still tried and true, but all the new guys have started to work into the fold really well. This has been something that’s troubled me with this team for a while – a lot of new faces and no real meshing. We’ve had several players leave during the past couple of years; players that have been great, but ones the front office apparently didn’t get along with.

Federico Higuain was exactly what the Crew needed last night to jump start their 3-0 win over Chivas USA. Photo courtesy of Crew’s official Facebook page.

I’m not here to point fingers, but it seems that things have finally settled for this team and starting to click. And all I can say as a fan is, that it is about damn time. The Crew had an excellent preseason in my opinion and now I’m just crossing my fingers that it translates over into the season. Last night proved that it is, although it’s not going to exactly be easy.

Chivas USA are looking to prove themselves too and nothing is more dangerous than a team with something to prove. The Crew may have won 3-0, but Chivas didn’t hand it to us. Juan Agudelo proved several times that he’s still a force to be reckoned with and if it weren’t for Chivas’ keeper Dan Kennedy, the rout might have been even deeper than three goals.

But what I enjoyed most about this match is the fact that, though he was pretty beat up during this match, Federico Higuain didn’t let that stop him from pushing back and sparking what would be a great win for the Crew. I said last season that there were sparks from this guy and if the team had a whole season to see how he and Jairo Arrieta would hook up on the pitch, we would see great things. This game gives further proof it’s going to be a great partnership.

I think defender Josh Williams – who notched the second Crew goal of the night – summed up Higuain’s performance last night perfectly to MLSsoccer.com

“He was getting beat up. They were bullying him around. It kind of lit a fire in him on that shot he had. I though there were a couple of cheat shots in there. They were beating him up but he kept getting up. That says a lot for him.”

 

Damn right it does. And I hope it says a lot about what’s to come this season too.

Stay with the ladies of Aerys Soccer during MLS’ 2013 season and follow us on Twitter at @AerysSoccer!

It’s MLS season, once again! Today, the Vancouver Whitecaps and the Montreal Impact faced off in the newest Canadian rivalry. The two sides were equal. Possession was almost 50-50. The Impact had more shots, on and off goal. But out of all fifteen attempts, the ball never hit the back of the net.

While Montreal looked like an expansion team, the Whitecaps decided to step it up a notch from their performance last season. No, that doesn’t exactly mean a few more wonder-goals from Eric Hassli. But he did assist in Sebastian Le Toux’s goal four minutes into the game. Two yellows to Montreal and a half time break later, Camilo hit it home to secure a win over the newest MLS team. But those two goals were ones that could have easily been dealt with, and it is disappointing that the Impact allowed the first one at all.

Let me say, right now, that I am not used to seeing teams I root for lose. This is nothing compared to seeing the Sounders drop out of the playoffs all those nights ago, but it is still disappointing to see Montreal give away two goals and not take at least one back. They had so many chances and they were pretty much even in skill level with the Whitecaps. But Vancouver isn’t the newest expansion team anymore and they definitely look like a team that will compete for a spot in the playoffs.

For a good portion of the game, the Impact were pressuring in Vancouver’s half of the field. But Montreal’s substitutes at forward didn’t seem to get a chance to touch the ball at all. Young-Pyo Lee had an excellent first game for the Whitecaps, stopping crosses and absolutely shutting down the Impact’s offense with his fellow defenders.

It is a real shame the two sides will not meet again until next year due to the unbalanced schedule. Once the boys on the Montreal roster get used to each other, I predict that Montreal will be able to be a force in the Canadian rivalry.

Keep an eye out for our recap of the LA Galaxy vs Real Salt Lake game later tonight!

Okay, so I know, it’s only the first game of the season. But with all the hype about changes and new players for the Columbus Crew, I was very excited. Especially since our first game during First Kick would be against our Western Conference rivals, the Colorado Rapids.

The Rapids had gone through their fair share of changes during the off season too, so the match was going to be a nice test for both teams. Unfortunately for Crew fans like me, it would be the Rapids that would come out looking stronger, calmer and with the win.

The first half was pretty even and back and forth. But no one was finding the back of the net. As the minutes ticked away, the Crew were slipping with possession and it looked as if they would be lucky to go into the locker room at half-time nil-nil.

But the Rapids pushed and suddenly, Drew Moor flicked a header past Crew keeper Andy Gruenebaum in the 43rd minute.

The second half wouldn’t look much better for the boys in yellow. The next 45 was filled with frustration, tiredness and little if any attacks on goal. The entire second half was all the Rapids.

And then the nail in the coffin; in the dying minutes of the game, striker Quincy Amarikwa with a hellish striker just inside the box. It sailed past Crew defender and shook the back of the net.

The faces and reactions of the Crew players pretty much mirrored my own; our season opener ended in a 2-0 loss to a team that have denied us a win many of times.

To be fair though, the Rapids looked really strong. Omar Cummings was definitely a forefront for them, making plays and passes that had the Crew defenders scrambling. And always a staple in any team he is in, Jeff Larentowicz was killer in the midfield. It was a great win for Colorado.

For the Crew, not exactly how any team would want to start the season off. It’s been a rough couple of years for the Crew, and a hope of an upswing for 2012 is buzzing about. It’ll take a hit after this game, but like I said at the beginning of this – it’s just the season opener. We’ve got a ways to go.

The key now for the Columbus Crew is to take the game and learn from it. They are known as the hardest working team in MLS, and it’s time to put that to the pitch and show it. Learn from the mistakes and get to building the team up.

With veterans like Chad Marshall and Eddie Gaven, coupled with young guys like Ethan Finley, I think it can be done. It’s just finding that right combination and synching up with one another.

If any team in MLS can work hard to achieve it, I think it’s the Crew.

Well, we’ve been talking about it all week, so I think you can guess that it’s finally MLS’ First Kick! And we can’t contain our excitement! We’ll have recaps later tonight after all the games and coverage tomorrow as well! Today’s DKA has all the MLS line ups, scores from the EPL and more! Here’s your Saturday game day DKA!

Major League Soccer

It’s like Christmas in March for the MLS fans today! It’s time for the rivalries, the excitement and the road to MLS Cup 2012! Everyone has something to prove this year, from expansion team Montreal Impact to Cup champs L.A. Galaxy. Be sure to follow all the action of your favorite club this weekend. Here’s the schedule:

Saturday:

Vancouver v. Montreal and Columbus v. Colorado; 6 p.m. ET
D.C. United v. Sporting K.C.; 7:30 p.m. ET
San Jose v. New England and L.A. v. Real Salt Lake; 10:30 p.m. ET

Sunday:

Dallas v. New York; 3 p.m. ET
Chivas USA v. Houston; 7 p.m. ET

Monday:

Portland v. Philadelphia; 9:30 p.m.ET

Check out the TV schedule for every game here!

English Premier League

Looks like Chelsea actually came away with a win this morning against Stoke, thanks to a goal from none other than Didier Drogba.  Bolton Wanderers also notched a victory against QPR, 2-1. Everton and Tottenham are going at it as I type, with Everton in the lead with a goal. Other scores from the morning are:

Aston Villa 1 – Fulham 0
Sunderland 1 – Liverpool 0
Wolves 0 – Blackburn 2

 EPL team owners are about to get a wake up call from league officials. After some criticism from British politicians, there will now be a new way to police the owners of EPL teams:

“Under the proposals, a licence system will be introduced to ensure clubs meet minimum standards on financial regulation, ownership and their stadium.”

This should definitely be interesting.

La Liga

Speaking of EPL teams seeing some change, there has been talk in the footy world that there is a shift in dominance of the game. English teams have performed poorly as a hold in the UEFA Champion’s League this year, and major EPL clubs aren’t showing well in Europa league either. This article talks about the swing from EPL to La Liga and the fact that maybe Real Madrid and Barca aren’t the only “good clubs” in La Liga anymore.

Happy Friday footy lovers! Are you ready for the weekend? I know I definitely am. MLS kicks off tomorrow, along with a full Saturday of EPL matches. And over in La Liga, Real Madrid had a special visitor to the stadium earlier this week…find out who, and much more in today’s Daily Kick Around!

Major League Soccer

Tomorrow, the 2012 MLS season will begin. One of the big matches headlining the first day will take place at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif. The reigning MLS Cup Champion LA Galaxy will take on Real Salt Lake in a clash that will surely be entertaining.

In case you weren’t quite up to speed with everything happening in the MLS off season and pre season, Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated has you covered. He interviewed every single MLS coach, and preview both the East and West conferences.

English Premier League

Chelsea fans, rejoice! It looks like John Terry is set to come back to the Blues starting line up this weekend. Terry has been sidelined since January, after he underwent knee surgery. After all the troubles Chelsea have had this season, Terry’s return is something to be pleased with.

Clint Dempsey has been absolutely on fire this season, both in the EPL and for the USMNT. Lots of buzz has been stirring about whether the 29-year old Texas native will move on from Fulham to a bigger club in Europe. Well, Fulham boss Martin Jol doesn’t look like he’ll let Dempsey go without a fight. Jol revealed today that talks about a contract extensive have begun. Jol says he wants to keep Dempsey around for at least the next three years.

La Liga

Real Madrid had a very special American visitor this week. None other than movie star Zac Efron. That’s right ladies, the sexy stud got an amazing tour of Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, and even met Jose Mourinho and some of the players. I’m not sure who was fan-girling more, Zac or the team!