MLS Power Rankings: Week 2

The second weekend of play in Major League Soccer kicked off in Toronto and closed in San Jose, and in between we saw plenty of surprising results. The most surprising result came in Portland when the Montreal Impact continued their hot start to the season by beating their second opponent from Cascadia in two weeks. With three of the top teams in the league given the weekend off to prepare for the quarterfinals of the CONCACAF Champions League, the highest profile result came in San Jose on Sunday night when the Red Bulls handed the Earthquakes a victory. Here is how the power rankings look after the second week of the MLS season. Begin Slideshow

MLS Power Rankings: Week 1

The MLS season began this weekend with plenty of fireworks and surprises.Mike Magee was the standout performer of the week as he scored a hat-trick in the Los Angeles Galaxy's 4-0 home win over the Chicago Fire. While Magee provided fans with the most exciting individual display of the weekend, the best overall game of the weekend came in Portland as the Timbers and Red Bulls played to a 3-3 draw. The most disappointing result of the weekend came in Seattle as the Sounders fell to Montreal at home. Find out where all of these teams landed in the first regular-season edition of the MLS power rankings. Begin Slideshow

MLS Preseason Power Rankings

While the domestic leagues in Europe are reaching the home stretch, the Major League Soccer season is just about to begin. Last season saw David Beckham go out on top as the Los Angeles Galaxy defeated the Houston Dynamo in the MLS Cup Final. This season, Beckham is gone, but the Galaxy are expected to once again challenge for the MLS Cup.The Galaxy are not the only team vying for the MLS Cup crown with Houston, Sporting Kansas City, San Jose and D.C. United all in the mix as favorites in the preseason to go all the way. Here is the first edition of the MLS Power Rankings for 2013. Begin Slideshow

Report: Lampard Move from Chelsea to LA Galaxy Is “Done Deal”

The Frank Lampard transfer saga seems to be over as the Chelsea midfielder is reported to have a done deal in place to move to the Los Angeles Galaxy in the summer.Goal.com reported on Thursday night that the 34-year-old midfielder has a tentative agreement in place to join the Galaxy this summer. Lampard has been the topic of transfer speculation over the past month with Chelsea willing to let the club legend leave this summer. The England international would replace David Beckham as a big-name England international playing in the Galaxy midfield.Lampard would be the latest club legend to leave Stamford Bridge with Didier Drogba leaving for Chinese club Shanghai Shenhua this past summer. The Blues have installed a transfer policy focused on bringing in young players over the past few transfer windows, a policy that has seen Lampard being placed on the bench more often than he is used to this season. With young talent that includes Ramires, Oscar, Eden Hazard and others in the Chelsea midfield, the Blues have sought midfielders that will be roaming the pitch at Stamford Bridge for years to come as replacements for Lampard. For Major League Soccer, this is a huge capture for a league that was looking ...

MLS Transfer Rumors: Cudicini, Dunne Headed for America. Cahill to EPL on Loan?

With the January transfer window just a day away from opening, two Major League Soccer clubs have already found new players to bring in from the English Premier League.On Monday afternoon, the Los Angeles Galaxy brought in goalkeeper Carlo Cudicini from Tottenham Hotspur on a free transfer. The Galaxy confirmed the move via their Twitter account on Monday: OFFICIAL: @lagalaxy sign goalkeeper Carlo Cudicini (@capitancarloc) --> ow.ly/gs8tv— LA Galaxy (@LAGalaxy) December 31, 2012  The 39-year-old Cudicini joined Spurs from Chelsea in 2009 and has only made 20 appearances for the North London club due to the club's depth at the position.Cudicini began as the backup to Heurelho Gomes before Brad Friedel and Hugo Lloris were brought in to become the first-choice keepers over the Italian. After his move was made official, Cudicini took to Twitter to thank the Tottenham fans for their support during his time at the club: I'd like to thank THFC and the supporters for the 3 years we spent together.Your support has been incredible.I wish you all the very best.— Carlo Cudicini (@Capitancarloc) December 31, 2012  ESPN soccer analyst Taylor Twellman also chimed in on Cudicini's signing by stating that the move will help the Galaxy lure Chelsea's Frank Lampard ...

Major League Soccer: 2013 Home Openers Announced for Each Club

Major League Soccer announced the home openers for each of the 19 MLS clubs on Tuesday. The 2013 season will start on the weekend of March 2-3, with nine clubs each hosting their first game. On Saturday, March 2, there will be six matches on the schedule. The Philadelphia Union will host defending Eastern Conference champions, Sporting Kansas City, at PPL Park in a clash between two clubs who finished at opposite ends of the Eastern conference table last season. A rematch of the Eastern Conference final is also slated for March 2, as the Houston Dynamo welcome DC United to BBVA Compass Stadium. Two of the three Canadian clubs in MLS will square off at BC Place when the Vancouver Whitecaps host Toronto FC, who were the worst club in MLS last season. The worst team in the Western Conference last season, Chivas USA, will host the Columbus Crew at the Home Depot Center. Just one day later, the Los Angeles Galaxy will take to the same pitch and open their first season without David Beckham since 2006, against the Chicago Fire. The marquee match of the opening weekend in MLS, though, will take place on March 3 at Buck Shaw Stadium, between the San Jose Earthquakes ...

MLS Playoffs: Galaxy Capitalizing on Injuries to Opponents

Usually during the playoffs of any American sport, an injury to a key player effects the team's performance.The Western Conference playoff matches during the 2012 MLS Cup Playoffs this season have seen the injury bug cause two clubs to be eliminated, both by the Los Angeles GalaxyThe first team to have the injury bug eliminate them from the playoffs were the Vancouver Whitecaps.Whitecaps center-back Jay DeMerit went down with an injury that took him out of the one-match play-in game with the Galaxy in the 70th minute, and his replacement, Martin Bonjour, had an instant impact on the final score.Bonjour took down Landon Donovan in the penalty area just one minute after coming on for DeMerit.Not only did Bonjour earn a yellow card from that foul, Donovan converted the penalty kick he earned as well, and that goal was the difference in the Galaxy's 2-1 win over Vancouver.The Galaxy once again took advantage of a center-back injury on Wednesday night in the second leg of their Western Conference semifinal against the San Jose Earthquakes.The hero of the first leg for the Earthquakes, Victor Bernardez, who scored the winning goal at the Home Depot Center in Saturday's 1-0 win in Los Angeles, went ...

MLS Playoffs: Rimando Saves Real Salt Lake from Defeat in Seattle

There are very few goalless draws that can be called entertaining after the full 90 minutes have been played. Friday night's MLS Western Conference Semifinal first leg between Real Salt Lake and the Seattle Sounders has one of the select few 0-0 draws that left spectators and critics alike speechless.The man who single handedly made the match his own personal highlight reel was RSL keeper Nick Rimando. The United States international saved his club from being down by a few goals at the match played at CenturyLink Field in Seattle.Rimando's first moment of brilliance came in the 33rd minute when he saved the shot of Sammy Ochoa. He was at it again less than a minute later when denied Jhon Kennedy Hurtado's headed attempt on goal.Seattle's efforts on the RSL goal continued in the second half and again it was Ochoa who had an attempt on goal but he sent his shot high over the net after a wide open look in front of an empty net.Right after Ochoa's miss in front of goal, Rimando jumped back into the middle of the action with a save on Christian Tiffert.That interaction between Tiffert and Rimando would not be the last the two would have on ...

MLS Playoffs: Bruin’s Double Sends Dynamo into Semifinals

On Wednesday night, the 2012 MLS playoffs kicked off at Toyota Park in Bridgeview, Illinois, and a familiar playoff favorite continued their winning ways in the postseason.The Houston Dynamo once again came out to play in the MLS Cup Playoffs and advanced into the semifinal round with a 2-1 win over the Chicago Fire in the Eastern Conference knockout round.Houston went up early in the 12th minute with a goal from forward Will Bruin.Bruin's header found the back of the net off of a corner kick by veteran Brad Davis.On the corner kick, Chicago defender Jalil Anibaba slipped in the penalty area while defending Bruin, allowing the Dynamo forward to score the first of his two goals of the night.Bruin's second goal came in the 46th minute as he capitalized on poor defending by Chicago and fired his shot right past keeper Sean Johnson, who had a miserable night in the net.Throughout the rest of the second half it seemed like the Dynamo had the match all locked up, but the Fire gave the two-time MLS Cup champions a bit of pressure late in the second half.In the 83rd minute, substitute Alex scored to give the Fire and their home ...

7 MLS Players the Montreal Impact Should Choose in Expansion Draft

It has now become a yearly tradition in the week after MLS Cup to have an expansion draft held by MLS.On Wednesday, the league's 19th team—the Montreal Impact—will select up to 10 players to be on its roster for the squad's inaugural season in 2012.There are plenty of big names out on the market after the other 18 teams released the list of players they have chosen to protect.Here are seven players that the Impact should select in the expansion draft on Wednesday.Begin Slideshow