2009 Has Begun!

And finally the 2009 MLS season has kicked off. I've been anxious for the season to start. Not only to see Gary Smith show good of a coach he but also to watch some of the commentators back peddle on their predictions about Seattle making the playoffs. It's great to see a team their but this is 1998. Expansion teams in the MLS don't do well in their first year.

WOW! And it's like the soccer gods knew I typed that and had to show me up. Freddy Montero scores the seasons' first goal Seattle's first ever goal in league play. 12' minutes in and NYRB is down 1-0.

Updated 1 :
Brad Evans scores his first for Seattle after getting a handful for the Crew last year.
Seattle 2
NYRB 0

Updated 2 :
27' That reminds me.... I don't get why some pundits previews were so questioning of LA's or FCD's defense when NYRB's got Goldwaite and Petke in the center of their backline.

Updated 3 :
First half winding down and Boyens looks to have been subbed due to an injury. Not sure what to make of this. I can see that the new matchtracker on MLSnet looks cool but the sound / animation needs to have the option of being turned off by users.

Updated 4 :
Half-time and it's still 2-0 Seattle over NYRB.

Updated 5 :
75' While I haven't fallen asleep but I haven't seen much going on in the 2nd half. Freddy Montero did have a nice goal to make it 3-0 Seattle.

Updated 5 :
Game over. Sounders win their first. But don't get too excited. After all Real Salt Lake won their home opener in their first season yet the season turned into a long, grueling, torturous even for their fans.

Rapids Waive Petke

Major league Soccer held their waiver draft today. The waiver draft process is as sexy as a pair of Rosanne Bahrs soiled undies. It's understandable tha tthe league's marketers didn't put effort into promoting the event.

Unfortunately for Rpaids fans Mike Petke was placed on waivers and taken by the New York Red Bulls. The Bohemia, New York native is the Colorado Rpaids all-time leader for games started with 129 in his 4 years with the team.

Petke looked good later in 2008 once he recovered from last years injury. At age 32 he likely has a couple years left in him. With Gary Smith showing in 2007 that he was happy to start a healthy Petke, it's likely that the Mike Petke wanted this move. It could be that this is a chance for Mike to work his way into the Red Bulls front office.

We wish Mike and his family the best fo luck with the move.

Rapids Beat New York.... Can They Do It On The Road?

Like most teams in the MLS, the Colorado Rapids have a single win on the road this year. As Nick over at We Want Rapidman points out, the key to the Rapids doubling that total this weekend at San Jose will be scoring first. Will things for the Rapids start to come together with another win to follow-up their season high 4-0 win over hapless New York.

If you didn't catch the news, again mentioned over at We Want Rapidman, the highly touted Rapids goalkeeper Justin Hughes recovered from his hernia injury only to turn around and see his bad luck continue in dislocating his shoulder. Best of luck in recovering Justin!

American Soccer News covers the game here.
Kyle at The Offside cover the game here.
We Want Rapidman's take on the game here.

Where'e The Beef?

It seems to be everywhere today; that is people having a beef with the league and the Galaxy after the New York Red Bulls traded Clint Mathis to LA for a 3rd round pick. There has been a lot of complaining by New York fans that they've lost a great player. More grumbling has been about how the league is playing favorites with Los Angeles yet again by letting them get Mathis on the cheap.

First off, I can't blame anyone for accusing the league of playing favorites. The DP-rule should have been a big step toward putting that sort of claim to rest. However, the league just went back on it's original DP-rule and said old signings like Landon Donovan wouldn't count as a DP in 2008.

As you can see below, Clint's output wasn't bad. It was a clear improvement over his time in Colorado and Salt Lake City. But it was still nothing near what one would expect from a player on a $400,000 salary in the MLS. Getting a that sort of production for a 3rd round pick may seem like a steal. But remember NYRB didn't give much for Clint to begin with, just a 4th round pick plus a conditional pick in the 2009 draft.

The real kicker in all this is that Mathis is out of contract. That's right, NYRB's technical director Jeff Agoos just gave the thumbs up to trading a player they have no way of guaranteeing that they'll have back in 2008. Los Angeles just gave up a third round pick for a player that hasn't shown he's worth $200,000 a year in the league; a player coming off of $400,000 salary that will surely still be looking to make a healthy six figures. Now exactly how is that a steal?

Clint Mathis

Regular Season Stats

YEAR	TEAM	GP	GS	MIN	G	A	SHT	SOG	FC	FS	C	EJ
2007	New York	26	19	1,723	6	2	47	22	16	15	2	2
2006	Colorado	25	16	1,346	2	1	31	9	19	14	3	1
2005	Real Salt Lake	27	27	2,123	3	4	45	17	26	28	7	1
2003	MetroStars	22	22	2,019	9	1	84	35	39	40	6	1
2002	MetroStars	14	14	1,106	4	2	40	20	20	24	3	1
2001	MetroStars	10	10	905	7	5	44	17	15	26	6	0
2000	MetroStars	21	20	1,796	13	13	61	31	23	42	6	0
	Los Angeles	8	8	724	3	1	33	16	9	11	0	0
1999	Los Angeles	27	20	1,890	7	6	63	19	22	26	1	1
1998	Los Angeles	30	15	1,550	5	10	50	14	23	19	5	1
Career		210	171	15,182	59	45	498	200	212	245	39	8

Playoff Stats

YEAR	TEAM	GP	GS	MIN	G	A	SHT	SOG	FC	FS	C	EJ
2007	New York	2	0	68	0	0	3	1	1	0	0	0
2006	Colorado	3	2	236	1	0	9	4	1	4	1	0
2003	MetroStars	2	2	180	0	0	4	2	3	4	1	0
2000	MetroStars	5	5	460	3	2	16	12	11	12	2	0
1999	Los Angeles	6	6	509	0	1	11	4	17	10	0	0
1998	Los Angeles	3	0	49	1	0	2	1	3	0	0	0
Career		21	15	1,502	5	3	45	24	36	30	4	0

All-Star Stats

YEAR	TEAM	GP	GS	MIN	G	A	SHT	SOG	FC	FS	C	EJ
2003	MetroStars	1	1	45	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2002	MetroStars	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2001	MetroStars	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Career		1	1	45	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

An Embarrassing Goal

Yes, yes Toronto FC chalked up another win at home Thursday night. And they're scoring goals again, winning 2-1. Nevertheless, how embarrassing is it that the allowed 5' 7" Dane Richards to score a goal off of a header. It's not just his height but also his slight figure that makes it baffling as to how any professional defense could allow the little guy to get in the air in a position that allowed him to nod home the ball for a goal.

MLS 2007 Team Moves : New York Red Bulls

A while ago we looked at the player moves by the Colorado Rapids for 2007. Since then the Rapids traded Kyle Beckerman to Real Salt Lake for Mehdi Ballouchy. To continue looking at teams around the MLS and the moves they've made this year, today we'll look at New York Red Bulls and the moves that Bruce Arena has made in the off-season and during the 2007 MLS season.

In
Juan Pablo Angel - Signed from Aston Villa & reported to be making $1.5m in salary.
Sal Caccavale - Singed on a free.
Danny Cepero - 2007 4th round Supplemental draft pick.
Kevin Goldwaite - Traded Todd Dunivant to bring him in from Toronto FC.
Hunter Freeman - Traded 4th round pick in 2007 Supplemental draft and 3rd round pick in 2008 Superdraft to Colorado Rapids.
Chris Karcz - Signed on a free... sort of. Another MLS club had his rights and it's unclear if NYRB had to give anything up for him.
Clint Mathis - Traded Colorado a 4th round Superdraft pick and conditional 2009 pick for Mathis.
Randi Patterson - 2007 1st round Supplemental draft pick.
Santino Quaranta - Traded to New York Red Bulls for a conditional pick.
Claudio Reyna - Signed on a free; First Designated Player signed.
Dane Richards - Selected by NYRB in 2nd round of 2007 Superdraft.
Dave van den Bergh - From Kansas City in exchange for a 3rd round pick in 2007 MLS SuperDraft.
Sinisa Ubiparipovic - 2007 3rd round Superdraft pick
Ronald Waterreus - Signed on a free.
John Wolyniec - From Los Angeles for a 4th round 2007 Superdraft pick

Out
Edson Buddle - Traded to Toronto FC for Tim Regan. Since then Buddle was traded to LA.
Youri Djorkaeff - Retired
Todd Dunivant - Traded to Toronto FC for Kevin Goldwaite.
Taylor Graham - Released on a free. Back with Seattle Sounders (USL-1).
Amado Guevara - Traded to Chivas USA for a designated player slot for 5 years.
Tony Meola - Retired
Danny O'Rourke - Selected by Toronto FC in the expansion draft. Since then traded to Columbus.
Marvell Wynne - Traded to Toronto FC for a partial allocation and a 2nd round pick in 2008 Superdraft.
Note : I'm sure there are players missing that were released after the 2006 season. Any help in listing those is appreciated.

Tony Sanneh Signs With...

It looks like for the time being ex-USMNT player Tony Sanneh has signed with the Minnesota Thunder (USL-1). Sanneh has been without a team since being released by the Chicago Fire after the 2006 MLS season. Since then he's been linked with a couple MLS teams and spent time training with New York Red Bulls. Recently the Colorado Rapids traded the Chicago Fire a 4th round Superdraft pick for Sanneh's rights. Those only apply in the MLS. Sanneh's deal with the Thunder is said to be only a couple of weeks. That should give him and any MLS team interested in signing him time to work out a deal for his rights with the Rapids and bring him in before the MLS roster freeze date of September 14th.

Angel + NYRB.... When?

It looks like the deal that brings Juan Pablo Angel to New York Red Bulls (NYRB) is going to be announced today. The question is, when will he arrive and at what price? Up to now the problem seems to have been a matter of Aston Villa and New York Red Bulls agreeing on a transfer fee. But now it appears that there may not be a transfer fee with NYRB picking up the last year of his contract worth $75,000 per week( @$4 million annually). And because NYRB does mind losing some money, they lost $14 million last year, they're throwing in a 2nd year. At least that's what My Soccer Blog is reporting. And from this it appears that Aston Villa will not be axing Angel's current contract. So instead of joining NYRB right away, he won't be joining them until the next international transfer window opens up in August. If Angel is going to be joining so late in the MLS season will the risks be worth it? After all, Juan Pablo Angel hasn't done much the last few years. And a salary of $4m / year would make him the 2nd highest paid player in the league with only LA's David Beckham ($5.5m / year) the highest paid.

The MLS Trade Merry-Go-Round

Rumors around Denver have it that Hunter Freeman has been traded to New York Red Bull. Toronto FC Blog is now reporting the same. If that is true, the question is what Colorado will be getting for Hunter (7th overall pick in 2005 Superdraft). As Toronto FC Blog sees it, if that's true it makes it all the more likely that the Jeff Parke to Toronto FC rumor is true. But what does Toronto have to offer for Parke? Future draft picks? They recently gave a partial allocation and a first round pick in next year's draft to bring Richard Mulrooney in from FC Dallas. Is Mo Johnston ready to give away next year's draft to make sure Toronto is competitive in their first year?