If you put your money on Bob Bradley getting rehired as the United States National Team coach, I commend you on your victory, but scoff at your imagination. When will it get better? When will US Soccer get it right?
Maybe someday, but not today.

So many people wanted US Soccer to go a different direction and hire somebody new, say somebody like Jurgen Klinsmann (photo). But after Jurgen went off on international television during the World Cup about the United States and how we have the pyramid inverted…did you really think US Soccer was going to hire a guy like that?

NO WAY…not today, not ever.

The reality that Jurgen Klinsmann will never coach the U.S. National Team is something that all fans who want him in there need to accept now. He was in the mix after the 2002 Bruce Arena mess in Germany. His name was brought up time and time again after this past World Cup, but the deal still isn’t done…so just forget it.

Maybe he’ll become the Technical Director for US Soccer…who cares! That would be a great waste of Jurgen’s talents…having him write yet another curriculum that nobody in this country will follow. So US Soccer chose to continue to plod along the same path it has for many years now…a coach leading the charge who has never been there as a player or coach (the late rounds of the World Cup that is)…and we’re continually expected to expect better.

It won’t get better unless a drastic change is made and that did not happen this time around. Don’t tell me we don’t have the players to get to the later rounds, because we do! The United States would have beaten Ghana had Bradley not started Findley and Clark. Can we please stop celebrating the 2010 second round exit as some kind of massive accomplishment?

The United States made it to the second round in 1994 and the quarterfinals in 2002…the expectation to go to at least the second round in every Cup is there, but should not be celebrated like we were raising the Cup over our heads.

There is a great expectation nowadays for the United States National Team. The stakes have been raised. The exposure is greater than ever before. The manager has more choices of full time pros than any coach before him ever has. Settling on mediocrity to save a few bucks and to keep control is not the right way for US Soccer to go about this.

It should have been Klinsmann instead of Bradley this time around…but that would have been too simple, it would have made too much sense and it would have forced US Soccer to loosen its grasp of the situation just a little bit more than it would have liked. And therein lies the biggest problem of all.
The only good thing about rehiring Bob Bradley is that nothing really matters for another four years. I could coach the team through qualifying…then we will all hope for a good draw and more luck than we had in 2010 (if that is humanly possible)…then we will go in with the same coach and many of the same players and expect a different result. That’s the definition of insanity, isn’t it?

Mark Vincent Lincir is the Editor-In-Chief of www.90soccer.com You can follow us on Twitter and Facebook too!

The end of the 2010 MLS campaign can’t come soon enough for Chivas USA.

After allowing three second half goals to the Colorado Rapids, two by Omar Cummings (68’, 81’) and one by Conor Casey (52’), Chivas USA are showing all the signs of a frustrated, tired, angered, and emotionally drained team.

With Jonathan Bornstein out of the match due to a hip injury, and designated player Giancarlo Maldonado also out due to a hamstring injury, head coach Martin Vasquez was once again forced to put out onto the field a totally different lineup.
However, it was the same result. The defensive four were over matched, out classed, and there was no collective play in the midfield. Forward Alan Gordon should be nicknamed the “magician” because he definitely knows how to disappear during a match.

What is even more frustrating is that Chivas USA only find themselves 7 points out of the final playoff spot. With that said, why would Head Coach Martin Vasquez keep Justin Braun, Chivas USA’s best player so far, on the bench until the second half? Don’t tell me he is concerned about him being tired; the lad is only 23 years old for crying out loud. It is this type of coaching decisions that has frustrated Chivas USA fans all season. Not picking a consistent starting 11, not playing with a sense of urgency, and not solidifying up the defense.

The season has come down to this Friday’s match. If Chivas USA cannot secure all three points against the New England Revolution, the season is over.

Davy Arnaud helped the Kansas City Wizards to a draw against the \Philadelphia Union on Saturday with a spectacular direct free kick from about 30 yards out on the left side. Arnaud sent the ball sailing over Union goalkeeper Chris Seitz and curving into the upper far corner of the net. The unassisted goal tied the game at 1-1 in the
69th minute.

Until that moment, it had looked like a bust for Kansas City. Well into the second half of the game at PPL Park in Chester, Pa., the Wizards trailed the Union 0-1.

Kansas City started strong. In the 9th minute, Arnaud’s 1st shot on goal was saved by Seitz, his 1st save of the game. Two minutes later, Roger Espinoza’s shot on goal went high. The Wizards would not threaten again for 24 minutes.

Philadelphia pushed back with a shot by Danny Mwanga (17th minute), which went high, and two shots on goal–by Stefani Miglioranzi (26th minute) and by Sebastien Le Toux (27th minute)–both of which were saved by goalkeeper Jimmy Neilson.

The Union, outshooting the Wizards, largely controlled play until Arnaud’s 69th-minute equalizer.

In the 33rd minute, Le Toux smashed the ball past Neilson from inside the 6-yard box, scoring the first goal of the game. He was assisted by Mwanga, who had made a nice run down the left side.

After a 35th-minute shot on goal by Kansas City’s Shavar Thomas, which was saved by Seitz, Philadelphia made four separate attempts to widen their lead: a shot by Le Toux in the 43rd minute (deflected), a shot on goal by Justin Mapp in the 53rd minute (saved by Nielson), a shot by Roger Torres in the 54th minute (high), and a shot on goal by Mwanga in the 54th minute (saved by Nielson).

Kansas City pushed back with a shot by middle Ryan Smith in the 55th minute (high) and a shot on goal by Birahim Diop in the 59th minute (a header, saved by Seitz).

Espinoza received a yellow card for a reckless foul on Le Toux in the 64th minute.

In the 65th and 68th minutes, the Union and Wizards both missed shots: Le Toux’s–on goal–was saved by Neilson; Espinoza’s went high.

The Wizards were dispirited. They were playing before a Union crowd of 17,182, and they had been unable to score. The only thing going for them was that the Union had been unable to capitalize on their first-goal advantage.

Then, in the 69th minute of the match, everything changed with Arnaud’s spirit-lifting equalizer. The Wizards went on the offensive, controlling play for the rest of the game and outshooting the Union 4-1.

After suffering a reckless foul in the 71st minute from Michael Orozco Fiscal, who drew a yellow card, Smith sent the ball wide left in the 73rd minute.

A 76th-minute shot on goal by Teal Bunbury, his first of the game, was saved by Seitz. Bunbury started for Kansas City’s leading scorer Kei Kamara, who was away playing a national game for Sierra Leone.

A shot by Jonathan Leathers, also his first of the game, went high in the 85th minute. Leathers had subbed in for Thomas, who strained his hamstring after 65 minutes of play.

In the 91st minute, a second shot by Bunbury also went high.

During that time, Philadelphia managed just one attempt to score; but Mwanga’s 78th-minute shot went wide left.

In the end, Kansas City were unable to funnel that late-game surge into a win.

Playing for a berth in the playoffs, Kansas City moved within two points of San Jose, who currently hold the eighth playoff spot.

The Wizards next play Chivas USA on Sept. 19.

National soccer Coaches get the most blame whenever their teams perform poorly at tournaments especially in Africa. However I have come to comprehend that like a fish starts to rot from the head; the football administrators are to blame for their wrong choice of tactician’s for their national teams.

Three quarters of the National soccer team coaches in Africa are not appointed by the so called “technical committees”. The president’s of the football associations and their Henchmen hand pick the coaches depending on what they want and can afford. This mentality has led to the continent having many foreign coaches leading countries especially in major tournaments.

At the recently concluded World cup in South Africa, Rabah Saadane stuck out like a sore thumb as the only African leading a team in what was supposed to be an African World cup! A closer look at the previous world cups the story is sad. Of the 34 African teams that contested the World Cup before the 2010 world cup in South Africa, 24 have been led by a foreigner. Yet five of Africa’s six U17 or U20 World Cup wins have been won by African coaches!

African Managers are well known to be able to handle the African Nations cup, Champions league, Confederations cup and the other continental cups. Yet they never get the chance whenever it comes to International events. Meanwhile no country has won the world cup with an expatriate coach! Though there is always a first time for every thing, there is a reason why this has happened since 1930.

I would like to commend 51 year old Sunil Gulati the current president of the United States Soccer Federation for sticking with 52 year old Bob Bradley as coach of the USA national soccer team since December 8th 2006 to date. You would be blind if you failed to see the progress the USA team has made. If you have forgotten take a look at their confederations cup performance beating current world champions Spain 2-0 and losing 3-2 to 6 time world champions Brazil. This happened because Bob Bradley was given the chance and time to represent his country. He knows the players, Culture of the country and above all has the heart.

Foreign coaches are not bad in fact they are more experienced than the local based coaches but the structure in which they work is where the problem is.

An assistant anywhere in world in any profession is supposed to be able to complement his boss to produce better results, on top of that in case of an emergency the assistant should be able to fill the shoes of his boss with ease. However you can’t say the same for African football national team coaches since the gap between the foreign coaches and the assistants (who are local) is too big meaning they can’t compliment each other.

Africans believe that it’s the grass root structures that matter yes they do, but there is no way you can follow a system when all the time you are altering coaches. All overseas tacticians come with their own tactics and before you know it they are fired for poor performance and others come in with divergent tactics. African countries employ foreign managers who don’t understand the culture of the players. How do they expect the players to understand their tactics?

This puts enormous pressure on the Presidents since they quickly promise the impossible. After they have failed they look for a scape goat and the coaches take all the blame as usual. The desire for quick results has negatively affected the whole continent and this has started reflecting on the pitch.

Great thread, it really should not matter the color of the player or coach, since after all, France won the World Cup in 1998 with African players, and reached the 2006 final with African players.

At the group stage in the 2010 world cup, eight teams with native coaches and another eight led by foreign ones were eliminated. Of the eight foreign coaches who could not make it to the last 16, four were managers of African teams. 12 Native and four foreign coaches advanced to the last 16 of the tournament from which six native and two foreign Coaches qualified to the quarter finals. All the teams that made it to the semi final stage had native coaches. It therefore goes without saying that a native coach was the eventual champion, a tradition that has stood for 80 years.

The predicament of employing local coaches is that the Presidents then manipulate line ups to suite their personal interests. For fear of losing their jobs the coaches are forced to select players the “Big men” want since most of them are paid out of the president’s “pockets”.

One pure fact is that foreign coaches are more experienced than the local based coaches. However you can’t convince me that African coaches are not good enough. The European coaches are only a quick fix to a long term crisis. If the continent is looking at the future then they should heavily invest in local coaches.

With no African having ever taken his nation into the World Cup second round, these foreign appointments look set to continue. That doesn’t mean that the African coaches can’t be as good, because what man has done man can do irrespective of color and race. It’s even in the Bible Mathew 17:20 Jesus said that if you have Faith as small as a mustered seed you can be able to move a mountain! How much faith do we need to have an African Manager leading a team to a world cup trophy?

On a day where it seemed probable that the Philadelphia Union were going to walk away with three points in their match with the Kansas City Wizards, a late Wizards goal resulted in a 1-1 draw. While seemingly outplayed for most of the match, the Wizards earned the draw due to stellar goalkeeping from Jimmy Nielsen and a perfectly placed free kick from Davy Arnaud.

The Wizards, who in their last match blanked the Galaxy 2-0 in Los Angeles, were looking to come into Philadelphia and get the win to help increase their chances at securing one of the MLS Wild Card spots. A win against the Union would have moved Kansas City a point behind the San Jose Earthquakes who currently hold the last playoff position. Instead the Wizards came into PPL Park and faced a Philadelphia team that was playing a lot better than when the two teams met earlier this year in Kansas City. In that match, Kansas City controlled the game and won in convincing fashion, 2-0.

Sebastien Le Toux scored the first goal of the game in the 33rd minute on a play that was orchestrated by Justin Mapp. Mapp, who was acquired in a trade with the Chicago Fire on July 26th, has looked impressive when given the opportunity to play. In the Union’s last match, a victory against the New England Revolution, it was Mapp who led the comeback, first assisting on the equalizer and then adding the winning goal in stoppage time. Against the Wizards, Mapp directed a pass to a streaking Danny Mwanga who was able to then get the ball to Le Toux whose run had split the defense, leaving him one on one against Nielsen. Le Toux was able to line a shot over a sliding Nielsen as soon as he received the pass from Mwanga.

The goal was Le Toux’s tenth on the season, which makes him the first player this season to record ten goals and ten assists. He is the first player to achieve this since DC United’s Jaime Moreno did it in 2008.

While the Union had chances to add to their lead, the Nielsen’s excellent goalkeeping meant that if the Union wanted to get the win they were going to have to record their first MLS shutout. It seemed that they were well on their way to doing just that until Arnaud lined up to take a free kick in the 71st minute. Arnaud lined up near the left touchline approximately thirty yards out and placed a ball that seemed to fool Union goalkeeper Chris Seitz. Seitz came out slightly as if to defend a cross, not realizing that the ball was starting to curl into the upper right hand corner off the post. Seitz lunged at the ball but missed, and Kansas City was able to tie the score. While he may have had a better chance at stopping the ball if he made a better read on the play, it is still possible that he would not have been able to make a save because Arnaud’s ball could not have been placed any better.

Neither team was able to score another goal and the game ended in a 1-1 draw. The next game for Philadelphia is on Saturday, September 11th against the Chicago Fire at PPL Park. Kansas City looks to continue their run for the playoffs on Sunday, September 19th against Chivas USA.

Olsen Frustrated as United Miss Key Offensive Chances

WASHINGTON, D.C. — As is often the case with teams not faring well in league competition, there is more than meets the eye.

DC United, in Wednesday night’s US Open Cup loss to the Columbus Crew, displayed flashes of the  team that was once the dominant force in league.

A member of many of those teams, interim manager Ben Olsen was outwardly disappointed while talking with members of the press afterwards.

“We just can’t reward ourselves”, he remarked.

The frustration was written on his face during the press conference, the result of having a near wire to wire victory erased by a late equalizer and an extra time spot kick.

United could have taken the lead back less than a minute after the equalizer when Najar (photo courtesy D.C. United) found himself one-on-one with Gruenebaum, only to send his effort on goal wide. The beautifully executed set piece from the kickoff was straight from the training ground, a play drawn up to take advantage of the momentarily lapse in attention road teams tend to have after key goals. And it nearly worked in United’s favor, save for some untimely and unpolished finishing from Najar.

After producing the early penalty kick goal through Hernandez,  United looked like a team well versed in playing with the lead, dominating the first half possession and chances. A compact defense gave the Crew few opportunities, and speedy play out of the back also led to promising counterattacking forays by the home side.

For most of the first 60 minutes, the play on the field signaled a switch in roles for a match that, on paper,  was between the best and worst teams in the Eastern Conference. United, however, looked like the Eastern Conference leader; controlling possession, pressing when given the chance, but not being foolhardy in sending players forward.

The Crew had moments of disorganization, with several botched clearances out of the back due to poor passes and United pressure.

Even the managers seemed to be doing a little bit of “Freaky Friday” routine. Olsen looked at times the seasoned veteran, keeping his cool with players, negotiating diplomatically with officials, and standing with a cool demeanor, taking in the action.

Warzycha resembled what one would expect from a young and mostly untested interim coach, animating wildly at the drop of a hat, bickering with officials at every chance, and throwing a water bottle in frustration at one point.

The missed opportunities in front of goal would come back to haunt United, starting with Hernandez’s odd red card in the 59th minute. Hernandez, who had a real workman’s game up to that point, marred the performance with his kick out at O’Rourke in midfield, leading to his ejection.

Despite holding their on for most of the period after the ejection, the aerial attack looked as if it would cause problems for United, especially as Hamid seemed to have trouble handling high balls into the box on multiple occasions.

United inability to clear the ball in the 89th minute led to the goal and the ensuing extra time where Columbus took the lead with a penalty kick from Schelloto (photo).

There doesn’t seem to be any doubt that Olsen is the spark United needs to write the ship. His demeanor during the match in the technical area and after the match with press were genuine, a coach’s coach taking his role seriously and not accepting failure easily.

He continued after the match: “It’s just pretty cruel sometimes…the guys, for the most part do it all, and they go out and they fight and they do create chances, and we just don’t reward ourselves.

The match result means the elimination of United’s best chance at silverware this season, no doubt a big part of the overall disappointment felt by the manager.

There can be some solace, however, in the elements present on this DC United team that seem poised for a breakthrough. Najar’s deft dribbling electrified the crowd. Hamid made key stops all night from inside his own box. Quaranta and Alsopp, along with Najar and Hernandez are developing the psychic meld attributed to the success of top flight attacking units.

Despite the immediate disappointment for interim manager Ben Olsen, its back to the practice pitch, as they take on the Crew again Saturday night in MLS action.

James Mundia is the D.C. United correspondent for 90Soccer.com.

Philadelphia Union’s backup goalkeeper Brad Knighton stole the show in the international friendly between Chivas de Guadalajara that was held at the Union’s home stadium, PPL Park on Wednesday, September 1st. Knighton’s eight saves were the difference in the match as the Union were able to hold on to secure a 1-0 victory. The loan goal was scored by Jack McInerney with the assist being credited to Justin Mapp.

Knighton was given the start over regular goalkeeper Chris Seitz, who has logged the majority of the goalkeeping minutes for the Union in regular season play. Knighton, who has only received a couple of opportunities to play for the Union has had ups and downs. On July 14th, he split the minutes to in goal with Brian Perk to help the Union shut out Celtic F.C. in another friendly. On August 8th, Knighton was given a start against FC Dallas and received a red card early twenty-two minutes into the match that caused the Union to play a man down. The Union would never be able to recover and ended up losing the match.

Knighton’s effort against Chivas de Guadalajara perhaps has given Union Team Manager Peter Novak the confidence he needed to perhaps give Seitz a rest in a regular season MLS match. Although Guadalajara seemed to always be on the verge of scoring, Mexico’s popular team was not able to get anything past Knighton, who made a couple of acrobatic saves worthy for highlight reels.

The Union subbed their entire first team, except for Knighton and defender Michael Orozco Fiscal, after the first half. After a scoreless half, the Union opened the scoring early as Mapp was able to find a cutting McInerney who had slipped past the Chivas’ defense. McInerney received the pass within the box with only goalkeeper Sergio Arias to beat and simply hit a low strike past the disadvantaged ‘keeper giving the game its only goal.

This is the second time in as many games that Mapp and McInerney were able to connect on a scoring play. On Saturday, August 28th, the duo teamed together to find the equalizer against the New England Revolution. In that game, both Mapp and McInerney were used as late substitutions. With the Union struggling all season to find a scoring threat outside of Sebastien Le Toux and Danny Mwanga, both Mapp and McInerney are making strong cases for increased minutes.

The Union have short rest, as they are scheduled to host the Kansas City Wizards this Saturday, September 4th. In their previous meeting, the Union had a poor showing in Kansas City and fell 2-0. Perhaps with the experience of this friendly, the Union will be able to make the decisions needed to finish their expansion season on a strong note, starting this Saturday against Kansas City.

Both the men and women from Team Brazil captured the gold at the 12th World University Futsal Championship which was hosted in Novi Sad, Belgrade from August 23rd to 30th.

The men’s team of Brazil (photo) won the title of this FISU event after defeating Russia 3-2. With this victory, the Brazilian men’s team is crowned champion for the 4th time as they won the title previously in 1994, 1996 and 2000. The golden boys pocketed their fourth title after a genuine thriller against strong opponent Russia and the match was decided only in the last minutes of the final game of a sixteen team tournament.

Gabriel D’Angelo, Brazil’s number 10 netted the first goal. However, the game remained open and after some fine saves from goalkeeper Tarcisio, Russia managed to tie the game. A swift action by Gabriel and Geverson Freitas put Brazil back ahead. The Russians managed to keep the Brazilians away from their goal and equalized the score to 2-2 before the end of the first half. In the second half, Brazil mounted the pressure and in a counterattack, Felipe Cascalles kicked the ball in the right corner to score Brazil’s third goal. With one player sent off the pitch, Russia had a difficult time to take away the ball from the Brazilian ball wizards. While goalkeeper Tarcisio closed off his net to prevent Russia’s several attempts to tie the game, the Russians ran out of time and at the end-buzz Brazil could add a fourth title on its mantle piece.

Their male counterparts alike, the Brazilian women’s team proved to be ball wizards as well. The golden girls became back-to-back champion (they kept the gold at home in the inaugural event in Vitoria in 2008) beating Portugal 9-1 in the last round of the women’s tournament. The green-yellow team reached the final undefeated and was the title favorite from the start of the competition. Daniela Ribeiro opened the scoring for Brazil 2 minutes in the first half. WUC female top scorer Lucilia, gave Brazil a 2-0 lead. A third goal followed by Vanessa, while Lucilia closed the scoring in the first half 4-0. Back after the break, the Brazilians continued to steal the ball from Team Portugal. Jessica Spinola, Greice and Lucilia Jessiquinha netted the ball in the second half and closed the score at 9:1, ensuring the championship title for the second time.

With Manchester City having only conceded one goal out of five games in all competitions, it seems City have little to worry about by way of the defence.  However, with the departure of Craig Bellamy to Cardiff and now Robinho to AC Milan, the Blues are now arguably struggling in terms of title-winning attacking options. Their one exception, Carlos Tevez has won his fair share of trophies; unfortunately for Blues fans, with Manchester United. Since his highly controversial move across Manchester, Tevez has won over any doubters and become a real fans favourite, which is perhaps why Roberto Mancini decided to name him the 2010 Club Captain. Tevez’s commitment and hunger has never been in doubt, and with his cool head from the spot and ability to score in big games, it’s fair to see why comparisons have been drawn to the great Diego Maradona. However, one could suggest the Argentine lacks a top quality partner; let’s run down the list of options:

Jo, who was signed in 2008 for £18 million, failed to settle, and after two loan moves later has returned to Manchester in a bid to recapture his goal scoring form which saw him strike 44 goals in 77 games for CSKA Moscow. This outstanding record earned him a call-up to the Brazilian national team. However, Jo very much remains an unknown quantity in English football, although his spell at Everton hardly promised much with 5 goals in 27 games.

Roque Santa Cruz was signed by Mark Hughes in June 2009 for a reported £17.5 million. Low down on the pecking order since day one and hindered by injuries, the Paraguayan has been unable to transfer his impressive goal record from Blackburn Rovers to the City of Manchester Stadium. At the age of 29, Santa Cruz was understandably desperate for first-team football and a move in the transfer window looked a certainty. However, no deal was made with Italian club Lazio, leaving the striker to stay and fight for his place. But could his morale be at an all time low?

Emmanuel Adebayor’s Manchester City career started with a bang when he scored four goals in four consecutive matches for the club. In comparison to both Jo and Santa Cruz, Adebayor’s hefty £25 million price tag could perhaps turn into a good bit of business for City as the Togolese international netted a promising 14 goals in his first season. Nonetheless, as the ex-Arsenal star has lacked first-team opportunities in this year’s campaign, rumours have emerged that the temperamental striker is now unsettled. If he remains on the bench for much longer Mancini will do well to prevent him from disrupting the rest of the squad.

Turning twenty years of age just a fortnight ago, Mario Balotelli undoubtedly has the potential to be a world class striker one day. His pace and technical ability have been admired by some of the greatest managers across the globe, although it was his fiery nature which saw him more or less forced away from Inter Milan. A terrible disciplinary record in his home country of Italy, Super Mario now has a fresh start in England and can begin to pay back the faith shown by his former boss Roberto Mancini. However, Balotelli is still young and would be naïve to think he will walk his way into this side. With this in mind, English football and in particularly, Manchester City may not be to Mario’s tastes.

BMO Field graciously hosted the defending Champions Real Salt Lake Saturday night. With both teams coming off CONCACAF Champions League group stage losses midweek, both clubs were looking to get back to their winning ways. Toronto lost 1-0 to Arabe Unido in Panama on Tuesday while Real Salt Lake lost a high scoring affair to Cruz Azul 5-4 in Mexico City on Wednesday. Both teams looked visibly fatigued, especially Toronto, who was playing their third match in an eight day span.

As a result, Toronto extended their winless streak to three games after drawing Real Salt Lake 0-0, and is becoming evident that the reason for this lack of success in recent weeks is due to a lack of offensive production in the midfield. With injuries to Maicon Santos and Chad Barrett, the Reds desperately needed a spark from the middle of the park. Toronto only had 4 shots on goal and when asked what the initial problem was Preki responded by saying he was visibly frustrated with the quality of the midfield and its service to the forwards: ” The service could be better, It’s an area we’ve had trouble with from the start. We need to get
better in the final third of the field, but we keep working on it in
training.”

The best chances came at the hands of the visitors. Javier Morales forced a diving save off a well placed header from Reds Keeper Stefan Frei in the 60th minute after a well weighted cross. In the 82nd, Wingert danced his way through the defense and unleashed a snap shot that beat Frei but unfortunately not the woodwork. Five minutes later the same post helped Frei out once again when Canadian International Will Johnson’s attempt almost gave Real the lead.

The tie still keeps the Reds in third place in the Eastern conference but unfortunately after bouncing between sixth and eighth place in the playoff race, the Reds find themselves in ninth as San Jose, Colorado and Seattle have all moved up the ranks in recent weeks.

With only nine games to go in the season and only three left at home, the players know this is their time to shine: “We have to pull out some big wins on the road, “I hope every guy is ready and focused to do that because it’s a tough task ahead of us,” Toronto FC captain Dwayne De Rosario said after the match.

Toronto are a terrible 1-7-1 on the road this year and with two games remaining against FC Dallas and the upcoming absences to Dwayne De Rosario and Julian De Guzman due to Canadian National Team duties the pressure will be even greater on the team, and more predominantly who will fill the void in the midfield.

These two teams will face each other two more times, both as a result of CONCACAF Champions League group play. The first game will be played on September 15th in Utah at the Rio Tinto Stadium and the second encounter taking place September 28th at BMO Field back in Toronto.