MLS Week 17: Complete Schedule and 5 Things to Watch for This Weekend

School’s out. The youth of America is on vacation, but a majority of MLS teams will return from theirs in Week 17. International duty severely hampered the MLS June schedule. With World Cup qualifiers out of the way, the action is ready to heat up. Twelve matches are scheduled for Week 17. Four were played on Wednesday. The Montreal Impact, Chicago Fire and Vancouver Whitecaps all returned to the win column, while the Los Angeles Galaxy and Portland Timbers played to a scoreless draw. Eight matches remain for this weekend. But with so much action on tap, what warrants your attention in Week 17? Read on to find out.Begin Slideshow

MLS Wrap: Recapping Wednesday’s Games

It was business as usual for the home teams in midweek action. All four of Wednesday's matches saw the host emerge with at least a point, but not without a bit of drama.Chicago came from behind to beat Colorado, while Vancouver had to do the same against Chivas later in the evening.The Timbers continued their remarkable unbeaten run in a closely contested match in SoCal, while Montreal showed why they are the pride of Canada with another impressive shutout at home.There are plenty of goals to discuss, so read further to recap all the action from the day.Begin Slideshow

Los Angeles Galaxy Unveil New Fan-Created 3rd Kit

During the time of the soccer calendar where plenty of European clubs are unveiling new kits, the Los Angeles Galaxy of Major League Soccer had a kit unveiling of their own.Just hours after the club acquired MLS veteran Pablo Mastroeni from the Colorado Rapids, they made a much bigger splash through social media with their new third kit (via MLSSoccer.com).According to the press release on the club's official website, the kit was designed by a fan named Carlos Rodriguez.The kit resembles the color scheme that the Galaxy used when they started as a franchise in 1996.Rodriguez's inspiration came from attending a Galaxy match at the Rose Bowl in that inaugural season against the New York-New Jersey MetroStars, which is the franchise now known as the New York Red Bulls. “That year set forth what this team is about. The team didn’t win MLS Cup that year, but this team is built to win and these colors represent winning to me,”                                                     -Carlos Rodriguez via lagalaxy.com June 15, 2013. Los Angeles president Chris Klein also chimed in on the fan contest that was in charge of choosing the new kit design. “It’s important to involve our fans in anything that we do, so to do ...

Week 16 MLS Power Rankings

It has taken three weeks for a new club to find their way to the top of the MLS Power Rankings and unseat Montreal from the top spot.That is exactly what happened this week after a small but important group of five league fixtures played on Saturday.Read on to see who is the new No. 1 in the power rankings this week.Begin Slideshow

Best and Worst from MLS Week 16

The MLS action in Week 16 was as awe-inspiring as it was disgraceful...and that’s just Kenny Miller.FC Dallas goalkeeper Raul Fernandez put forth a Herculean effort in a 1-0 loss to the Portland Timbers on Saturday. The Peruvian international exhibited his world-class ability in each of his seven saves. Steven Lenhart returned to his 2012 form for the San Jose Earthquakes. The 26-year-old forward scored his first goal of the season in emphatic fashion.But neither player was able to make the list of best and worst from MLS Week 16.Read on to find out who did.Begin Slideshow

US Open Cup: 3 Ways to Make the Tournament More Relevant

The US Open Cup is the domestic cup tournament in the United States, a single-game knockout competition only followed by hardcore soccer supporters in America. I love Cup competition and think there's an inherent excitement in them, so, to get others on board, here are three things that can be done to increase viewership.Begin Slideshow

MLS Saturday Wrap

With a plethora of international action highlighting Saturday's play across the sport, Major League Soccer delivered five entertaining domestic matches.The most excitement came from BC Place in Vancouver, as Kenny Miller became the focal point of the Whitecaps' win over New England for all the wrong reasons.In Portland, Darlington Nagbe was the focal point of the Timbers' match with FC Dallas for the right reasons as the league's longest unbeaten run was extended to 13 matches.Read on for comprehensive recaps of all five MLS matches played on Saturday.Begin Slideshow

US Open Cup 4th Round 2013: 3 Things We Learned

As always, the most recent round in the 100th edition of the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup featured plenty of great action, goals and surprising results.Some teams undoubtedly took the tournament more seriously than others, and some lower-division players made their marks by getting on the scoresheet or putting on a solid defensive showing.Let's examine the three biggest things we learned from the fourth round.Begin Slideshow

Two Teams on Upset Alert in MLS for Father’s Day Weekend

When you only have five matches to choose from over a weekend, it's not easy to come up with a whole bunch of teams to put on upset alert.Sometimes, you have to really stretch the meaning of the word "upset."Which is what I've done for this weekend's matches in MLS. Upset Alert #1: D.C. United v. TorontoIt's really a stretch to call either team winning this match an upset. Considering they have two wins between them in the league this season, the word for either team winning this match would probably be "shocking," "unbelievable" or "miraculous."However, I will put D.C. on upset alert due to the fact that they will be feeling pretty good about themselves after their 3-1 win over the Philadelphia Union in the fourth round of the U.S. Open Cup on Wednesday night. Dwayne De Rosario's hat trick in that game was 1 more goal than DC scored in the entire month of May, unless you count the penalty kicks in their game against the Richmond Kickers in the third round of the Open Cup.Toronto, on the other hand, has not played since June 1—a 1-1 home draw with Philadelphia. They've also scored twice as many goals in ...

MLS Week 16: Complete Schedule and 5 Things to Watch For This Weekend

Teams will need to deliver more than pizza in MLS Week 16. Crucial points are on the line. Ten teams returned to action on Wednesday. Five advanced to the quarterfinal of the U.S. Open Cup with victories. Inclement weather forced the Chicago Fire and Columbus Crew to postpone their match to Thursday afternoon.The MLS action continues this weekend with five matches scheduled for Saturday night. But what warrants your attention in Week 16? Read on to find out.Begin Slideshow