Vancouver’s Eric Hassli, who is likely to win the Goal of the Year for his stunning volley against Seattle, and who scored 10 times this year, finished third in voting, behind Rosales and New York Red Bull Luke Rodgers.
Vancouver’s Eric Hassli, who is likely to win the Goal of the Year for his stunning volley against Seattle, and who scored 10 times this year, finished third in voting, behind Rosales and New York Red Bull Luke Rodgers.
Danny Koevermans’ name wasn’t on the ballot for voters to select. And while his body of work, 10 MLS games, might not be enough to dislodge Rosales, he deserved to get some notice from the voters.
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.
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.
In a season where Toronto FC has frittered away over a dozen points due to late-game breakdowns and failures to defend set pieces, it's perhaps fitting that both demons combined at once in the game that officially eliminated the Reds from the postseason hunt. Thierry Henry's 88th-minute equalizer off of a corner kick left TFC with just one point in a 1-1 draw with the New York Red Bulls on Saturday at BMO Field.
After pulling off back-to-back wins over Vancouver Whitecaps and a third straight Nutrilite Canadian Championship last week, Toronto unraveled on Wednesday night in a 5-0 loss to New York at Red Bull Arena.
The script was reversed on Saturday. The fireworks came early at Empire Field, and then the Vancouver Whitecaps and New York Red Bulls played out a tense chess match in the second half as the club drew 1-1. When the Whitecaps play at home, Canadian soccer fans have become used to seeing last-second comebacks, second-half momentum changes and thrills right before the final whistle.
Luke Rodgers, who scored twice and set up Thierry Henry’s first goal of the season, was named the MLS Player of the Week after the ballots from the North American Soccer Reporters were counted.
The 11 offers insight, interviews and commentary by respected soccer journalists. It is affiliated with the Canadian soccer magazine, Plastic Pitch. Our editor, Steven Sandor, has covered Major League Soccer, United Soccer Leagues, World Cup qualifying, CONCACAF Champions League, women’s soccer and the Canadian Soccer League and has won numerous awards for his magazine work. His work has appeared in the Sun chain of newspapers, Soccer 360, World Soccer, Soccer Canada, Philadelphia Daily News and the Deseret News. His work has appeared in publications in Canada, the United States, Hungary, the Czech Republic, the United Kingdom and Namibia.