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No contest: Johnson is MLS Player of the Week

By
Steven Sandor
– 05/21/2013

Eddie Johnson

Eddie Johnson

Sometimes, you are so sure of the Player of the Week outcome, you almost forget to fill in your ballot and have it to the head office in time.

Sorta like an Alberta election: Voter turnout suffers because it’s assumed that the election is a done deal before the writ is signed by the lieutenant-governor.

This was one of those weeks. With two goals and an assist against FC Dallas, the team with the league’s best record, Seattle Sounders forward Eddie Johnson ticked off all the boxes when it comes to Player of the Week-worthiness. So, it wasn’t a surprise that he got the most checkmarks on the ballots from the members of the North American Soccer Reporters.
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Agudelo is MLS POTW, but Bernier establishes himself as Player of the Month favourite

By
Steven Sandor
– 03/25/2013

Patrice Bernier: Getting lots of votes, week after week

Patrice Bernier: Getting lots of votes, week after week

Juan Agudelo was named the MLS Player of the Week Monday. The Chivas USA forward got 10 first-place votes out of the 28 ballots cast by the members of the North American Soccer Reporters.

Agudelo set up Edgar Mejia’s goal and scored on a lovely curler as the surprising Goats won 4-1 over the Fire, who can claim to be the league’s worst team through four weeks.

But, for Canadian soccer followers, the interesting story is who finished second. Montreal Impact midfielder got five first-place votes as his team shut down the New York Red Bulls 1-0 to keep its perfect start to the season alive.

This week, Bernier got five votes and finished second in POTW voting. Last week, he got seven votes and finished second. Three weeks ago, Bernier finished third in POTW voting. Every week, Bernier is getting votes, and they are coming from all across North America.
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Galaxy’s CCL hopes force Impact to juggle its schedule

By
Steven Sandor
– 03/21/2013

LA-Galaxy-logoAs has been expected for almost two weeks, MLS has postponed the Montreal Impact’s April 6 road date against the Los Angeles Galaxy.

Commissioner Don Garber had been quoted on MLSSoccer.com, saying that the league was looking at clearing the schedules of the Galaxy and the Seattle Sounders, who each play Mexican opposition in the CONCACAF Champions League semifinals. That came to pass Thursday, as the league has cleared the Sounders and Galaxy of playing commitments for the April 6-7 weekend. That now gives both MLS clubs the chance to have a weekend off between their two CCL midweek semifinal legs. The Galaxy will play Monterrey, the two-time defending CCL champs, while the Sounders play Santos Laguna, who knocked Toronto FC out of the tourney last season.
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Magee wins first MLS POTW award of 2013

By
Steven Sandor
– 03/04/2013

Mike Magee

Mike Magee

The Los Angeles Galaxy may have lost the star power of David Beckham and, at least temporarily, Landon Donovan. Still, the team began its quest for an MLS Cup threepeat with a fine 4-0 win over Chicago and produced the first Player of the Week of 2013.

Mike Magee, who scored three times Sunday in that win over Chicago, won in a landslide in the first ballot of the season for the members of the North American Soccer Reporters. Of the 29 ballots received, Magee received the first-place vote on 25 of them.

Magee’s third goal was highlight-reel worthy, a volley struck across his body that he smacked into the far corner after he chested down a loose ball.
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Schallibaum makes tough decisions before Impact heads to Seattle

By
Steven Sandor
– 02/28/2013

Montreal Impact players model the new 3rd jersey Wednesday.

Montreal Impact players model the new 3rd jersey Wednesday.

Wednesday night the Montreal Impact hosted an invitation-only soiree at New City Gas, one of this town’s newer hipster hangouts. It treated its guests to snacks and a couple drinks, introduced this year’s edition of the team and kicked off the club’s 20th anniversary by officially unveiling the commemorative jersey the team will be sporting this season.

Thursday morning, the team invited media and fans to leave its practice.

“This was not a matter of a lack of respect for you but there are certain things I would like to do with the team in private,” head coach Marco Schallibaum said after the workout.

“There were a few surprises I wanted to prepare for Saturday. If you’ve been around the team regularly, you know how we play but I would like to have a half hour or so each week with only the players and coaches,” he said.
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Football fashionistas: We rate the new MLS kits

By
Steven Sandor
– 02/28/2013

impact_thirdFRONT(FORMATTED)Judging from the readership numbers — which spike every time we put up a story about new kits, redesigned kits, anything to do with kits — we’ve surmised that, to be a Canadian soccer fan, you have to be a bit of a fashionista.

If someone could create a tour of soccer stadiums and fashion weeks around the world, it’s be a smashing business.

But kits are important to fans. They want to be proud to wear the club’s colours. They want the road kits to be sharp. And marketers love it, because soccer kits change seasonally. Adidas gives us new MLS kits at almost the same pace as Marc Jacobs introduces new fashion lines.

With MLS creating a “Jersey Week,” where many MLS teams  revealed or will reveal their new kits at special events or, as they are known outside of the sports world, “fashion shows,” we thought it would be fun to play Vogue. That is, give you a one-stop look at the new kits, with our, ahem, expert commentary. With all three Canadian teams putting their new kits out there, we thought it would be fun to look at the best, the worst, the exciting and the boring of what’s already out there.

Just as a disclaimer — The 11‘s editor HAS judged fashion shows before. Seriously.

We’ll start with the Canadian teams:
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The Super-Duper MLS preview, 2013 edition

By
Steven Sandor
– 02/28/2013
Philip F. Anschutz Trophy, the big prize at the end of the season

Philip F. Anschutz Trophy, the big prize at the end of the season

With the MLS season moved up to its earliest start ever, forgive us if we don’t feel 100 per cent totally prepared for First Kick. Judging by the way many MLS teams finished preseason, with tentative matches and still looking at trialists with a week to go before the games count in the standings, a lot of coaches aren’t quite ready for the early start, either.

And that could be telling. The teams that got the jump and have their ducks in a row could have a real advantage in these March matchups; and they could find some bonus points that could help them in the fall.

Steven Sandor, Editor of The 11 and contributors Randy Davis, Aman Dhanoa, Mark Polishuk and Gavin Day all submitted their picks. We tallied the scores and we present our picks below.
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Neagle deal may seem minor, but it’s an indicator of the Impact rethink

By
Steven Sandor
– 01/28/2013

Lamar Neagle

On the Richter scale of trades, the Sunday deal that saw the Montreal Impact ship midfielder Lamar Neagle to the Seattle Sounders would barely rate as a tremor.

Neagle, who scored twice in 1086 minutes of MLS action last season, was sent back to Seattle, where he scored five times in 2011. He’s also from Washington State, so this is a deal that helps him out, too — allowing him to return to his roots.

But, as minor as the Neagle deal will seem on the Canadian soccer landscape, it’s an indicator of how the Impact is remaking itself for MLS season two. The Impact got an international roster slot from Seattle, which it can use in 2013 and 2014. It was already edging up against the limit, so it allows the club a little more roster flexibility.

The dump of an American — the kind of hard-working-but-hard-to-remember player that so many MLS teams have in abundance — is a sign of how the Impact will challenge the league status quo. Read the rest of this entry »

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TFC snatches Canadians Bekker and Welshman, Whitecaps aim for offence, Impact selects wild cards

By
Steven Sandor
– 01/17/2013

Kyle Bekker

Kyle Bekker and Emery Welshman are going home.

Bekker, the Oakville, Ont. midfielder, Canadian national U-23 player and MVP of the recent MLS combine was Toronto FC’s first selection of the SuperDraft. TFC then traded down, picked up a pile of allocation money, then selected Mississauga’s Welshman at No. 16.

It’s now clear that comments made by TFC President Kevin Payne on Wednesday, that TFC was concerned about Bekker’s size, was all just smoke and mirrors. GMs do that.

“Kyle is a player we know well and we rated him among the top players in the draft going into the combine and felt even more strongly after it,” said Payne in a release issued by TFC. “Our objective was to trade down so we could acquire more assets and we’re happy to accomplish that and still get the player we wanted.

Bekker came into the combine projected as a late first-round pick. But, after he signed a contract with MLS, he became the focal point of the combine — and, by, the beginning of the week, was being pegged as a top-five pick.
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Evans wins Player of the Week after starring for Sounders AND Whitecaps

By
Steven Sandor
– 10/23/2012

Brad Evans

Brad Evans was a Man of the Match for not one, but two teams on Sunday. And, on Monday the North American Soccer Reporters voted him the MLS Player of the Week.

Evans converted a penalty and then scored off a nice cross from teammate Christian Tiffert as his Seattle Sounders beat FC Dallas 3-1 on Sunday. The win not only ensured that Seattle would finish top-three in the Western Conference, but the Dallas loss locked up a playoff spot for the Vancouver Whitecaps.
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