By Paul Gardner No, it wasn’t a dream final — these days we don’t see many of them — but it was a game with plenty of drama and enough good soccer to prevent it from everlapsing into banality. I’m interested here only in what happened on the field, during those 90-plus minutes of action. […]
columbus crew
Posted inSoccer America Confidential, Story
Timbers add a club they didn't have before — and it lands them an MLS title
By Paul Kennedy (@pkedit) Caleb Porter has never lacked for believing in his teams or his players. Nor has he been afraid tosay when they played well. After the Portland Timbers rode out their first MLS Cup title with a strong second half against the host Columbus Crew, Porter wasn’t afraid to tell it like […]
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Columbus-Portland MLS Cup 2015 Player Ratings
The Portland Timbers got strong games from a variety of players to defeat the host Columbus Crew, 2-1, in MLS Cup 2015. Columbus CrewSC: STARTERS 3 STEVE CLARK. An abysmal error that dumped his team into a hole it couldn’t climb out of and another fumble that could have been costly offsetseveral excellent saves. 3 […]
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
MLS Cup Takeaways: Timbers strike early, dominate late
The Portland Timbers won their first MLS championship when they downed the host Columbus Crew, 2-1, in a game that saw all three goals scored in the opening 18 minutes. Each in its own way was aflawed goal and marked a game often played out of control. But slowly the Timbers took control — “We […]
Posted inSoccer America Daily, What They're Saying
What They're Saying: Liam Ridgewell
“It’s a shame that it can’t be in the stadium, but it is what it is. It’s good everyone could see it leaving Portland and arriving today. Hopefully we can cut a few logs off it and make it a specialone.” — Portland Timbers captain Liam Ridgewell on the Timbers’ victory log, which was trucked […]
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
MLS Cup: Crew's Kamara is confident — if he gets to play
Columbus Crew star Kei Kamara is supremely confident of scoring against the Portland Timbers in MLS Cup 2015, but it remains to be seen what his fitness level will be. Less than 24 hoursafter saying he didn’t think the Timbers’ defense was that tough, he left the Crew’s practice at its EAS Training Center in suburban […]
Posted inSoccer America Confidential, Story
Flagship franchises duel in MLS Cup final
By Ridge Mahoney (@ridgemax) In its 20th championship game, MLS presents flagship franchises of its two generations. Host Columbus is one of the 10 original teams that set off 19 years ago into a world of hostility, skepticism and disbelief. Formerly owned by Hunt Sports Group, headed by sports entrepreneur andsoccer pioneer Lamar Hunt, Columbus […]
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Garber: 'Nothing is going to diminish our excitement'
Running a pro soccer league demands long hours and hard work from the man at the top, and during a media conference call with reporters Thursday, MLS commissioner Don Garber touchedon many aspects of that job as well as the league’s past, present and future. Garber took the post in 1999, the same year as […]
Posted inSoccer America Confidential, Story
What will new and Improved TAM mean for MLS?
By Ridge Mahoney (@ridgemax) Something about the number four must be messing with the MLS masterminds as they ponderother ways to permit teams to spend more money on players. Either that or they just love their newest acronym, TAM, which burst onto the scene earlier this year to great fanfare and,gasp, actual numbers provided! This […]
Posted inSoccer America Confidential, Story
Our MLS Playoff Best XI
By Paul Kennedy (@pkedit) MLS has released its Best XI for the 2015 season, Robbie Keane plus 10 first-time recipients. Just six of them werearound for the conference finals, and only two of them make Soccer America’s MLS Playoff Best XI, Luis Robles and Kei Kamara. GOALKEEPER Luis Robles (NY Red Bulls). The MLS Goalkeeper […]