De Rosario makes history with MVP nod 18 Nov 2011 Major League Soccer announced Friday that DeRo is the league’s MVP. He becomes the first Canadian to ever win MLS’ highest individual honour. He becomes the first player in North American pro sports history to take an MVP award in a season in which the winner played for three teams. He’s the first player from a non-playoff team to ever win the MLS MVP.
Hassli’s wonder strike doesn’t take MLS Goal of the Year 16 Nov 2011 Vancouver Whitecap Eric Hassli’s wonder strike against the Seattle Sounders didn’t win the Goal of the Year honour. Instead, rookie Darlington Nagbe got the award for his volley-and-shoot effort against Sporting Kansas City.
MLS to unveil unbalanced 2012 schedule with “rivalry focus” 10 Nov 2011 Garber wouldn’t say exactly what the new format will be, but it will have a “rivalry” focus. So, expect to see more Cascadia games for the Whitecaps. More Colorado vs. Real Salt Lake. More Chivas vs. Los Angeles Galaxy. And Toronto and Montreal could face each other more than twice next season.
Gonzalez’s Defender of the Year nod highlights Toronto FC’s draft-day mistake 9 Nov 2011 The scene: The 2009 MLS Superdraft. With the second pick, Toronto FC chose midfielder Sam Cronin, passing up on University of Maryland defender Omar Gonzalez, who the Los Angeles Galaxy took with the third pick. On Wednesday, Gonzalez became the youngest player, at 23, to ever be named MLS Defender of the Year.
TFC draws the Galaxy in CONCACAF Champions League quarter-final 8 Nov 2011 Toronto FC will face the Los Angeles Galaxy in its CONCACAF Champions League quarter-final. The two teams were matched together during Tuesday’s quarter-final draw at CONCACAF headquarters in New York.
Hainault’s Houston Dynamo to face Galaxy in MLS Cup 7 Nov 2011 Hainault, who was not invited to the Canadian national team camp for next week’s two upcoming World Cup qualifiers against St. Kitts and Nevis, scored the opening goal as the Dynamo beat Sporting Kansas City 2-0 in the Eastern Conference Final.
Galaxy needs to keep winning to avoid choker tag 4 Nov 2011 But, we need to look at the Galaxy in a truly North American sports context — after all, MLS is a North American league — where regular-season success means very little compared to playoff excellence. The Galaxy, until it wins MLS Cup, has to be compared to the likes of the San Jose Sharks or San Diego Chargers, talented teams who consistently lose when it counts.
Real Salt Lake sends message to all of MLS 30 Oct 2011 And if there is a group of Canadian fans who want to see Real Salt Lake return to the form it showed in the early part of the season — when it looked two steps better than anyone else in the league, including the Los Angeles Galaxy — they would have been overjoyed by Saturday night’s performance.
MLS playoff system makes Wednesday sudden-death game a tough sell 27 Oct 2011 The fact that just 10,017 people showed up at Pizza Hut Park to cheer on FC Dallas is troubling. And, it’s a sign MLS can learn some lessons on how much time is actually needed to generate interest in a one-and-done playoff game between lower seeds.
TFC gives Backe a blueprint on how to beat FC Dallas 25 Oct 2011 Toronto FC knocked FC Dallas out of the CONCACAF Champions League; and, in doing so, the Reds may have provided New York Red Bulls coach Hans Backe a blueprint on how his team can knock the Hoops out of the MLS playoffs, as well.