Blaise Nkufo Hat Trick Pushes Seattle Sounders Past Columbus Crew 4-0

Was it an impressive evening for the Seattle Sounders?  It was the team’s most impressive performance of the season and arguably the best overall in the history of its MLS franchise. The broad-shouldered player served as the evening’s catalyst scoring the first three goals of his Sounders career in a stunning 4-0 shutout win. What made it all the more impressive was that he did it against the Eastern Conference leader, the Columbus Crew, and on its home turf before 17,144 patrons.The Swiss World Cup performer Blaise Nkufo shot home three goals and silenced his impatient critics.  What they should have realized was that it was just a question of time before he secured his breakthrough.  His midfield work was steady as his physicality and presence combined with an astute role as a facilitator aided the team’s effort.  Consider this fact—the Sounders are 5-0-1 in matches Nkufo started at forward.Prior to joining the Sounders for active duty Nkufo received the supreme honor of having a statue of him unveiled in Enschede, where he set a scoring record with 111 goals in seven years for FC Twente in Eredivisie, Holland’s first division.  When one adds the additional goals that he secured during that ...

Los Angeles Galaxy vs. Red Bull New York: A Star-Powered Showdown

Bruce Arena's Los Angeles Galaxy woke out of a nightmarish 80 minutes to rally a goal down to tear the heart away from D.C. United 2-1 last Saturday at the Home Depot Center.“I thought we played hard tonight and D.C. United played incredibly hard," Arena said after the match. "Getting the first goal didn’t make it easy for us. We had to fight and scrap, and that’s one of the few times this year we’ve been in that kind of position and come out with three points."This week, the Galaxy will look to tear another into shreds, this time from that of the New York Red Bulls under the Friday night lights of Victoria Street and the Home Depot Center.The top team in all of Major League Soccer—Los Angeles— is currently 15-5-5 (50 points) this season, but find themselves in a tight race with Real Salt Lake for the Supporters' Shield. As for the Red Bulls, they are 12-8-5 (41 points), good enough for fifth overall and second in the MLS Eastern Conference behind the Columbus Crew.And the Red Bulls have Thierry Henry. Oh yes, that Henry that put FC Dallas's Kevin Hartman out of commission for a while last week. ...

Los Angeles Galaxy’s Landon Donovan sinks D.C. United 2-1

Deep into the second half, the majority of the 20,094 in attendance were having a sinking feeling that the Los Angeles Galaxy would incur their worst loss of the season to date.It was a matter of "Here We Go Again." I personally believe it should have been this way. No, as a matter of fact, I'm going to go one step further in my slicing and dicing: I believe it should have been 2-0 in favor of Ben Olsen's D.C. United. And it should have been Danny Allsopp playing their chicken thief, if not Pablo Hernandez. (That honor went instead to Mr. Andy Najar; more on him later.)But there is a reason why Johnson Lyndon of Carib Press refers to the Galaxy simply as, "The Comeback Kids."That reason: a man by the name of Landon Donovan.In the 81st minute, Omar Gonzalez—whose services will take a leave of absence of Friday against the New York Red Bulls due to a card from a tactical foul in the 39th minute of play—found Landon Donovan, and Clyde Simms has no one to blame but himself for giving up the equalizer in unceremonious fashion. Oh yes, that was the sixth of the year for Donovan.And yes, the ...

Los Angeles Galaxy vs. D.C. United: A Play-By-Play (and Other Miscellany)

T-180 minutes to kickoff: I love Abraham Maslow, and his concept of self-actualization. Now he defines this as follows, so allow me to clear my throat before I utter these words. Ahem. "[Self-actualization is] the desire for self-fulfillment, namely the tendency for him [the individual] to become actualized in what he is potentially. This tendency might be phrased as the desire to become more and more what one is, to become everything that one is capable of becoming."T-170: In the case of Bruce Arena's Los Angeles Galaxy, they are a team capable of winning an MLS Supporters' Shield. But they have to keep winning. They have to deliver results. To have the desire to be the holder of the Shield is not enough. This side must get the results to back it up.One of those opportunities to get said results is tonight against the laggards of Major League Soccer, Ben Olsen's D.C. United, who are a horrendous 5-16-3 (18 points) and are essentially playing for pride and for a morale boost heading into next season.T-160: Many people far and wide that I have stumbled on across the interwebs have been lamenting the renewed press coverage of David Beckham, and how it ...

Breaking News: Real Salt Lake Puts Out The Chicago Fire In Utah

Real Salt Lake faced the Chicago Fire at Rio Tinto Stadium in Sandy, Utah. It was a decisive game for both teams since Real Salt Lake is in second place in the MLS Western Conference and the Chicago Fire is in fifth place in the MLS Eastern Conference. Chicago Fire was also starting its first game under its new President Julian Posada, who deserves to be congratulated. The game started with Real Salt Lake dominating from the beginning until the end. The team from Utah was great in its distribution, consistency, and organization when it came to playing a solid football/soccer game. The only goal was brilliantly executed by Alvaro Saborio for Real Salt Lake with a right-foot kick towards the left side of the goal net within 45 minutes of the game. The goal was the result of a penalty committed by Wilman Conde of the Fire against Ned Grabavoy of Real Salt Lake. Conde was expelled from the game for his offenses against Grabavoy. It appeared that he did not learn his lesson when he received the yellow card during the beginning of the game. The referee Jorge Gonzalez was fair since he awarded a yellow card for Kyle Beckerman of Real Salt Lake for misconduct ...

Chicago Fire Names Julian Posada As Its First Latino President

The Chicago Fire have named Julian Posada as team president. He will also be in charge of the administration and planning of the club. Julian Posada was born in Indiana to Colombian parents, and received his Masters of Business Administration from Northwestern University. He is also a graduate of Michigan State University. Before his appointment, he worked as director general of "Hoy," which is a Latin magazine based in Chicago. He is also the president and founder of the Magazine "Cafe" in the same city. Posada thanked the Chicago Fire for naming him as president, and considered it to be an honor as a supporter of soccer, especially the Chicago Fire, and as a businessman. He also talked about the opportunities for Chicago and the Fire in an environment which has become receptive to soccer. The Chicago Fire are currently in fifth place in the MLS Eastern Conference, with players such as Carlos Cobos and Nery Castillo. While I am a supporter of CD Chivas USA, it is a pleasure to announce this news as a writer who was born in Ohio to Cuban parents. The news has left me speechless, and full of emotion since soccer and our community is growing. My best wishes for the ...

New York ties Dallas 2-2 in a Texas Showdown

FRISCO, Texas—In a match where both teams couldn't afford to lose, the New York Red Bulls tied FC Dallas 2-2. With tonight's tie, the 12-8-5 Red Bulls remain in second place in the Eastern Conference and now trail the Columbus Crew by three points. For FC Dallas, they extend their unbeaten streak to 15 games. This was a game that may prove costly to Dallas as the regular season winds down. In the 28th minutes, team captain Daniel Hernandez went down to injury. A few minutes later, midfielder Brek Shea was given a red card for recklessly fouling Red Bull Chris Albright. If that wasn't enough, goalkeeper Kevin Hartman, who prior to tonight's game led the league with a 0.58 goals-against average, injured his right knee when Thierry Henry attempted to kick a celebratory kick and accidentally injured him. Despite the losses of Hartman, Hernandez, and Shea, FC Dallas was winning 2-1 due to goals by Milton Rodriguez and Eric Alexander. Playing with a man down, it appeared that FC Dallas was in control until an own-goal by Jair Benitez helped equalize the score for the Red Bulls in the 82nd minute. For New York, they continued to move the ball well and aggressively ...

Frequent Flyer Seattle Sounders Face Columbus Crew in Pivotal MLS Match

The frequent flyer Seattle Sounders played in San Jose, Costa Rica.  Their nearly 8,000 mile trip will be completed Saturday in Ohio’s capital city of Columbus.  They will confront the MLS Eastern Conference leader, the Columbus Crew, in a match set to begin at 4:30 p.m. PT. Columbus holds great significance for Sounders coach Sigi Schmid.  It is the city where he achieved an MLS Cup and Supporters' Shield in 2008, his third season of coaching the Crew. Saturday's match is also a preview of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Final, between Seattle and Columbus slated for October 5 on the Xbox Pitch at Qwest Field. Sounders FC reached the halfway point of its CONCACAF Champions League group stage campaign in a 0-2 loss to CD Saprissa in San Jose, Costa Rica on Tuesday night, leaving the team with an 0-3 mark in its first three Group C matches.  Earlier the Sounders lost 2-1 to CD Marathón in Honduras and 2-0 to CF Monterrey in Seattle.Sounders FC is last in its group, trailing Monterrey (3-0-0), Saprissa (2-0-1), and Marathón (1-0-2). The team is now 12-12-8 in overall competition and tied for fifth in the Western Conference of ...

Seattle Sounders Plagued by Red Card in Costa Rican Loss

It was a tough assignment in the first place, seeking to defeat a tough CD Saprissa squad on its home pitch of Estadio Ricardo Saprissa in San Jose, Costa Rica Tuesday night.The task became increasingly difficult when, in the 38th minute, Seattle Sounders FC defender Leo Gonzalez incurred a red card for a high kick foul in the thigh towards Jairo Arrieta.  Playing with 10 men for the remainder of the round three CONCACAF Champions League Group Stage match, the result was a disappointing 2-0 loss.The red card tragedy was made even harder to swallow in view of the fact that San Jose is Gonzalez’ home town.  This was his first trip back to Costa Rica in a year and the foul was incurred in front of friends and family members during a competition that he hoped would mark a successful homecoming.The Sounders, desperately needing at least a draw and one point after coming into round three action winless, began fast.  The team pressed the early action against a strong Central American rival known for its ability to play possession soccer and keeping the ball away from the opposition.After the red card misfortune with Gonzalez, Seattle was able to escape ...

Announcing a New LA Galaxy Combination: The BK Double

Ladies and gentlemen of the View and of Bleacher Report, I have some interesting news to tell you on this wonderful Tuesday. We now have a new combination that will take the slack off the Buddlevan Connection.I like to call it...drumroll please...the BK Double.Now, with all due respect to Burger King, I did not mean their sandwich (which is actually called the BucK Double, and yes, that's how the phrase is actually spelled). B stands for Buddle, but K stands for Kirovski.As in Jovan Kirovski.Edson Buddle scored his 14th goal of the season while Kirovski added a goal and an assist in LA's 3-1 rout of Columbus. The goal was Kirovski's fifth of the season.Now there's a tasty combination for you.“Obviously, Edson is not a surprise there and Jovan has played there a fair amount,” Arena said after Monday’s training session at the Home Depot Center. “We just felt in training Jovan was going to be the best choice for the week.“Wherever we play Jovan he brings us experience, a brain on the field. My analysis of our team is we needed that. We’ve needed smarter players on the field, and Jovan brings us that. We know that he’s probably ...