Archive for April 17th, 2011

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Whitecaps need to have more of the ball

By
Steven Sandor
– 04/17/2011

Wes Knight: Hit a goalpost and had a shot cleared off the line

There is a very real trend that has become evident in Whitecaps match after Whitecaps match.

Win, lose or draw, the Whitecaps will allow their opponents to have more of the ball and, in the case of Saturday’s 0-0 draw at home to Chivas USA, a lot more of the ball.

The possession statistic isn’t one you will find on MLS post-game reports; the tracking of who has the ball for how long isn’t as big a deal here as it is in Europe, where we see it regularly flashed on the screen during Premiership and Champions League broadcasts. But we do know that Chivas had almost 60 per cent of the ball in the second half of the game, and significantly more in the first half, too.
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D.C. United buries Toronto FC with early goals

By
Mark Polishuk
– 04/17/2011

Chris Pontius scored twice for D.C. United


Another match, another slow start for Toronto FC. The Reds found themselves down two goals after just 10 minutes on Saturday night against D.C. United, and the deficit proved to be too much for TFC to overcome in an eventual 3-0 loss.

“It’s not good to start that way,” said defender Danleigh Borman. “It’s really tough on a team and it’s really tough to get back from that. I think the guys tried to fight back but unfortunately it didn’t happen for us today.”

Though this MLS season is still young, Toronto has already fallen into a pattern of getting games off on the wrong foot. TFC has been consistently disorganized on both the attacking and defensive fronts during the first 20 minutes of their games. Sometimes TFC is able to weather the storm, as it did in Wednesday’s scoreless draw with the L.A. Galaxy. Against United, however, the Reds weren’t as fortunate.
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Impact loses for the second time in a row

By
Mike Wyman
– 04/17/2011

While the tornadoes that touched down in the Raleigh area earlier today may have kept some fans away from WakeMed Soccer Park, the weather did not put a damper on the Carolina RailHawks, who defeated the Impact 2-1, handing Montreal its second straight loss to open the NASL season.

Montreal dominated play in the early going, with forward Pierre-Rudolph Mayard showing speed but lacking a finishing touch on his chances. An 11th-minute corner taken by 2010 team MVP Philippe Billy found Zurab Tsiskaridze, who had his shot deflected into the net by Kevin Hatchi, his first-ever goal for the Impact.

But, soon afterwards, Etienne Barbara took advantage of confusion in front of the Impact goal — provoked by a flurry of headers following a Carolina cross-in — scoring from the swampy area to the right of keeper Bill Gaudette in the 21st minute as the momentum shifted in favour of the home side.
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Super strike from Surprenant gives FC Edmonton another win

By
Steven Sandor
– 04/17/2011

Rein Baart

Alex Surprenant’s audacious chip and a last-second diving stop from Rein Baart were the two defining moments of FC Edmonton’s 1-0 win over the Atlanta Silverbacks in NASL action Saturday.

FC Edmonton is now 2-0-0 in its first season of Div-2 soccer, and will go for a sweep of its three-game road trip Wednesday when the club visits the Carolina RailHawks.

After a scramble in the Atlanta penalty area early in the first half, the ball was sent well out of the box by the Silverbacks defenders. Surprenant came up from the left back position and, recognizing that goalkeeper Jimmy Maurer was still not set after the scramble in the box, sent a perfect lofted effort that the Atlanta keeper could only watch go over his head and dip under the bar and into the goal.

“The first half, I was wide open all the time,” said Surprenant. “Atlanta’s right winger was playing too far inside, so it gave me a lot of chances to push up.”
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