Monday 28 March 2011

What a weekend!


What a weekend it's been for US football!

With some superb high-scoring league fixtures lighting up the domestic game, as well as the US National Team's inspired comeback against the Argies, American footy fans are being spoiled!

In the international friendly, Esteban Cambiasso put Argentina ahead with the easiest goal he's likely to score. Some Messi magic found the ball bobbling around in the US box, only for Inter Milan midfielder to smash it home from about 4 yards just before half-time.

But Bob Bradley sorted things out in the dressing room. The American team that came back out after the interval looked different altogether. Going to their preferred 4-4-2, they looked far more threatening going forward. Super-sub Juan Agudelo knocked in after a deflected free-kick came out to him, sending the fans into a frenzy.

Although the two goals in the international game might not have been the best, Javier Martina's was certainly up there. With easily the goal of the season so far, Toronto's 24-year-old Dutchman opened his scoring account in style.

(Big surprise to hear Robbie Earle back on the telly, by the way! He was famously dropped by ITV after selling loads of World Cup 2010 tickets to a bunch of trim Dutch models working for Bavaria Brewery. LAD!)

Elsewhere in the league, LA Galaxy received a 4-1 spanking at the hands of Real Salt Lake, and Chicago Fire managed a 3-2 victory over Sporting Kansas City. Here are the rest of the weekend's results:

Toronto FC 2-0 Portland
Columbus 0-0 New York
Philadelphia 1-0 Vancouver
Chicago 3-2 Kansas City
New England 2-1 DC United
FC Dallas 0-2 San Jose
Real Salt Lake 4-1 LA Galaxy
Chivas 0-1 Colorado

N.B: Just before I started this blog in January 2011, I asked a few people who'd seen the MLS what it was like - in terms of standard of football and support. The common answer seemed to be "Rubbish: the equivalent of League 2 in English football."

Even after watching just a few games this season, I can see that's far from the case. As far as I'm aware, the games have a good pace and the fans are loud. As anyone who watched the World Cup is aware, the National Team isn't to be underestimated, and for me, the MLS standard is decent.

Philip Wright-Lewis
@P_W_L

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