New England Revolution vs. Los Angeles Galaxy: Galaxy Hunting for Consistency

Bruce Arena's Los Angeles Galaxy will open up the home portion of their 2011 Major League Soccer season Sunday against the New England Revolution. The importance of keeping both feet on the ground could not be any more stressed, nor could the desire to avenge a 2-0 defeat to the Revs on July 10, 2010 in Foxborough, Mass.Still, the Galaxy's 1-0 victory over the Seattle Sounders came with great difficulty, according to team captain Landon Donovan."There's not another team in this league who would go without their two starting center backs, their starting goalkeeper and one of their Designated Players and get a win here," Donovan said. "We're very proud of that."Center backs Gregg Berhalter and Omar Gonzalez, goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts and forward Juan Pablo Angel were battling illness and injury, while the team braved a tough environment—literally and figuratively."We relish this," Donovan said. "If they want to open the upper deck and add more people to the stands, we would love it. We love this atmosphere, we love this environment, we love playing here."Despite a partisan sellout crowd of 36,433 and torrents of rain, the Galaxy's Juninho scored the first league goal of the year off a delivery from ...

New York Red Bulls To Contribute to NYC Parks and State Soccer Programs

Harrison, NJ—With the New York Red Bulls home opener against the Seattle Sounders only a few days away, the team held their annual Media Day. It's an event where the Press has access to watch the team practice as well as interview the players, coaches and staff about the upcoming season.  During the event, VP of Communications and Community Relations Jurgen Mainka announced the launching of the "New York's Got Wings" campaign. For every goal the Red Bulls score this season, $1000 in equipment and clinics will be donated to NYC Parks Youth Programs and NY Soccer Programs. "Programs like New York's Got Wings that utilize soccer as a means to integrate youth, promote health and give back to the community are very important to me," said New York Red Bulls forward Thierry Henry. "As someone that has received so much from this sport since I was growing up, I feel a responsibility to constantly use soccer as a tool of positive social change." "Parks & Recreation is thrilled to partner with the New York Red Bulls, the region's only professional soccer team, to bring soccer clinics and equipment to our Summer Camps sports programing," said Parks Commissioner ...

Cincinatti Bengal’s Ochocinco to Tryout for MLS Sporting Kansas City

Chad Ochocinco (Cincinnati Bengals Wide Receiver) is going to try out for Sporting Kansas City. If things go well during his four-day invite, it is expected that the tryout will be extended. While many people are thinking that this is a publicity stunt in response to the NFL Labor problems, I tend to disagree.My reasons are the following:Chad Ochocinco grew up around soccer during his childhood in Miami Florida. He even played it in high school before opting to play American Football.Ochocinco is friends with Thierry Henry, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Ronaldinho. He also visited Spain where he met with Real Madrid greats such as Jose Mourinho, Kaka, and Ronaldo.We also have examples of people who excel in many sports and have a tendency to participate during a certain period. One of the notable example is Brian Jordan who played for the St. Louis Cardinals in baseball and as a safety for the NFL Team Buffalo Bills.Who can forget Charlie Ward who was able to balance basketball, baseball, and American Football? The more a person is an expert in different sports, the more he or she can use their talent.My recommendation is to let Chad Ochocinco be Chad Ochocinco.Read more MLS news on ...

MLS: Juninho, Josh Saunders, Los Angeles Galaxy Escape Seattle with 1-0 victory

Maybe it was the timing for Blaise Nkufo getting the boot one hour before kickoff. Maybe it was the fact that it was a rainy night on a rainy surface in one of the rainiest cities in America.Maybe it was the fact that Seattle blew all their chances to send one through the net.Or maybe it was the fact that Josh Saunders and Juninho delivered in the clutch for Bruce Arena's Los Angeles Galaxy, who shut out the Seattle Sounders 1-0 before a hostile sellout crowd at Qwest Field in MLS FirstKick.You know what? I'll go ahead and do a favor for you lot here on Bleacher Report and the View. I'll take Saunders and Juninho delivering over the other two.First, let's talk about Saunders. After Donovan Ricketts went down with an injury in their club friendly with Club Tijuana, Saunders was thrust into the limelight once again.In front of one of the most hostile environments in the league, Saunders was ready and made stop after stop after stop. Of course, it did help that some of the shots he couldn't parry missed the net anyway.That leads us to Juninho. Can somebody from Sao Paolo FC just do the right ...

Los Angeles Galaxy vs. Seattle Sounders: Analysis, Reaction and More

Bruce Arena's Los Angeles Galaxy take on the Sigi Schmid's Seattle Sounders in MLS FirstKick, scheduled for 9:30 p.m. ET/6:30 p.m. PT. The Los Angeles Galaxy look to begin the long road back to redemption, after seeing their 2010 MLS Cup campaign end at the hands of FC Dallas. Meanwhile, Seattle has not been having their way against the Galaxy and saw their hopes for the Cup end up in smoke. Los Angeles is hoping that the acquisitions of Juan Pablo Angel, Adam Cristman and Chad Barrett will help in starting their 2011 Major League Soccer campaign on the winning track. The Galaxy are ranked first in MLSSoccer.com's preseason Power Rankings and third in Bleacher Report's MLS Power Rankings. Seattle will need a breakout year from Colombian international Fredy Montero and midfielder Steve Zakuani. Bleacher Report will provide live updates on all the action from Qwest Field in Seattle.Read more MLS news on BleacherReport.com

New York Red Bulls Should Be an MLS Cup Favorite, but Questions Still Remain

All eyes will be on the New York Red Bulls in 2011. A worst-to-first season in 2010, a great stadium and big-name foreign players to go with promising young Americans have everyone talking about the possibilities for this team. But this squad is far from a lock to win it all. Consistency has always been an issue for this club. While soccer seems to have more player movement compared to other sports in the country, the Red Bulls—going back to when they were the MetroStars—have had a constantly revolving door of players and coaches. Born in 1996, current head coach Hans Backe is the 12th man to lead the club. No coach has lasted more than three seasons, and only two have done that. So while Backe gets another crack at things, assistant coaches Richie Williams—who had been with the team since 2006—and Des McAleenan—the goalkeepers coach since 2002—were fired. The two have been with the club for long periods of time and have been through it all. Williams, for the past couple of years, has been a hot commodity for a head coaching position in the league. To fire those two only a few weeks before the season begins is a perplexing move ...

Los Angeles Galaxy Ins and Outs, March 14, 2011

So what's their motivation?The desire to meet high standards are a mantra for Bruce Arena's Los Angeles Galaxy, who made final preparations before the season opener against the Seattle Sounders.“We are clearly driven to win a championship this year,” Arena said. “No question about it.”When asked the question, midfielder David Beckham echoed the same sentiments.“It’s something that we’re always passionate about,” Beckham said. “Everyone wants to be successful. Going into this season, it’s no different than going into every other season. You have to be up for it. You have to want to win."“Not every team has the talent we have and our ability to win a championship every year," said team captain Landon Donovan. "So we want to take advantage of it.”“It’s almost one of those things that doesn’t need to be said,” defender Todd Dunivant said. “To be honest, it hasn’t been much different the last couple of years.”Case in point: the 2009 MLS Cup defeat to Real Salt Lake. Another case in point, the 2010 Western Conference Final defeat to FC Dallas.“It was such a disappointing end,” Dunivant said, “sort of a shocking end last year, to let the season get away like that. Without a doubt ...

Can Soccer Play a Role in Restoring the United States Economy?

One thing about Soccer and its History is that its always gone hand-in-hand with Politics. Since the time Benito Mussolini used Soccer to promote the Italian Fascist Party to the infamous “Soccer War” between Honduras and El Salvador, soccer was involved. In the relationship between Soccer and Politics, players have used Soccer as a vehicle to show their disapproval of the government. One famous incident involved Holland’s great footballer, Johan Cruyff. He made the decision to play for Barcelona FC over Real Madrid because he couldn’t play for a club associated with Spanish Dictator Francisco Franco. Throughout decades, soccer has been utilized as a vehicle to address Social, Political, Economic, and Religious conditions & struggles in other parts of the world. While all those issues may have been addressed, in the end...was soccer powerful enough to inspire the necessary Social, Political, Economic, and Religious change? In the case of the United States of America, is soccer powerful enough to create new employment opportunities in order to help restore the economy? While it maybe possible in other countries, is it possible in the United States where the NBA, NFL, and MLB are more popular than Major ...

New York Cosmos Front Office to Meet with the Borough Boys SC for Q&A

If you're a Cosmos fan who lives in the Tri-State area and have questions about the New York Cosmos, then I suggest you attend the "Q&A with the New York Cosmos." hosted by the Borough Boys Supporters Club. The event will take place at Legends Bar NYC on Wednesday, March 23rd, 2011 at 7PM. If you're unable to attend, Cosmos fans will have the opportunity to email and twitter their questions directly to the Borough Boys SC during the Q&A session with the members of the New York Cosmos front office. Please take into consideration that Borough Boys members in attendance will be first priority in asking their questions. So who are the Borough Boys SC? As stated in their website, BoroughBoysNYC.com: "Founded November 17th, 2007, by Nick Laveglia and Paul Morabito, the Borough Boys are a group of supporters who want to see a New York City team in Major League Soccer. The idea did not come out of nowhere, as there have been rumors that the Wilpon family, owners of the New York Mets Baseball team, are interested in building a Soccer Specific Stadium in the ...

2011 D.C. United Preview: Bolstered Attack Should Help DCU Make the Playoffs

Position in 2010: 16th Overall, 8th in Eastern Conference Key Additions: Charlie Davies, Dax McCarty, Perry Kitchen, Joseph Ngwenya, Josh Wolff Key Losses: Danny Allsopp, Julius James, Jaime Moreno, Troy Perkins Outlook: People have been treating the United's underachieving over the past three years as something rather unprecedented. In fact, the club had a bit of a swoon following their "golden era" from 1996–99. The club recycled through coaches hoping to find the right blend. Pitor Nowak managed to do that in 2004 and give the club their first Cup title since 1999. Subsequently, the second golden era came, with a run to the CONCACAF semifinals, two consecutive Supporters Shields and another U.S. Open Cup title. Since then, the United hit a tack in the road and have crashed in disastrous fashion. Ben Olsen has to overhaul this club, and the management has shown an intensifying gutting of the squad. The club has removed many international faces and brought in a core group of players who have proven themselves in MLS: Dax McCarty, Joseph Ngwenya and Josh Wolff. Perhaps the most ambitious addition has to be Charlie Davies, who joined the club on a one-year loan deal from FC Sochuax.  Add the rising of Blake Brettschneider to the mix, as well as the return of Chris ...