5th March 2013
Houston Dynamo v Santos Laguna
BBVA Compass Stadium
8.00 PM ET
IT ALL STARTS HERE ………………………………………………
2ND March 2013
Philadelphia Union v Sporting Kansas City
P P L Park
4.00 PM ET
The position of goalkeeper is an art in itself and not many can say they possess such ability. And transferring his knowledge for a great cause is Norwegian powerhouse Marius Rovde. Having played within his homeland for two of Norway’s soccer giants – Rosenborg and Lillestrom – , Rovde had spells playing in Scotland and in England’s league one. Following his retirement Marius Rovde moved into goalkeeping coaching, and currently occupies that particular role at the Vancouver Whitecaps. Soccer Night Exclusive caught up with Marius to discuss all things soccer ranging from his playing days, coaching expectations as well as his spell fighting in the Norwegian military. Exclusive to http://www.soccernightexclusive.wordpress.com
Real Salt Lake
Last Season: RSL fulfilled their regular season ambitions by finishing in a respectable play-off place. Jason Kreis’ side came 2nd overall, finishing behind eventual Supporters Shield winners San Jose Earthquakes in the Western Conference.
Only thrice did Real Salt Lake suffer back to back defeats, all coming mid season which never hampered any demolition from others. Alvaro Saborio played his part, with an outstanding 17 goal return, finishing 3rd overall in the standings, behind Kenny Cooper and MVP Chris Wondolowski.
However the play-offs failed to display any of the regular season form as the team Rio Tinto Stadium got dumped out by Seattle Sounders, and to make matters worse for RSL, they were unable to find the back of the net in either of the two legs. And prior to the end of season, RSL were also eliminated for the Concacaf Champions League, within the group stages, spelling the need to dismantle the current roster.
Montreal Impact
Last Season: Montreal Impact became the 19th team in Major League Soccer during the beginning of 2012. An inaugural season of stabilising and adapting the European brand to their new surroundings, materialised piece by piece. Two stadiums were privileged to be a part of such a historic occasion as well as many Canadians supporters sang from the first minute right to the very last.
Despite gaining a tie in their first home game of the season, it took the newly franchised side until 7th April to record their first ever three MLS points, with a 2 to 1 victory over Canadian rivals Toronto FC.
Even though the Impact moved home midway through the season, their home record was key to cementing a respectable 7th place in the Eastern Conference. A record of 10 wins, 4 loses and 3 ties tallied an impressive total come the end.
An unbeaten month of August nearly catapulted Marsch’s men towards a dream spot amongst the end of season posse. Defeating teams such as New York Red Bulls, DC United and San Jose Earthquakes. But too many defeats left them a little short.
Strengths: Montreal Impact head into the 2013 season with a vast amount of experience numbering up their roster. World soccer veterans combined with MLS seasoned professionals, shapes the Impact into a side counting on experience. Davy Arnaud led the team to great effect in 2012, his know how of the league will be more valuable this year as Montreal look to build on their initial period. The likes of Alessandro Nesta (36) , Matteo Ferrari (33), Di Viao (36) provide the European culture required in Montreal, with MLS games behind them, they will be looking to put more wheels in motion to navigate Montreal to cup glory. As well as this Troy Perkins, Patrice Bernier, Sanna Nyassi and Justin Mapp accumulate over 500 MLS games between, enabling them to become learning resources for the youngsters too.
Many North American Soccer players have the added dream of testing the waters in Europe and it was no different for Chris Rolfe. After spending a spell in Denmark the Chicago Maestro returned to where it all began, instantly making an impact. Continuous game changing moments came from the feet of Rolfe, eventually helping the Fire to reach the play-offs in 2012. With the new season a matter of weeks away, Chris stopped by to answer some questions on his Danish adventure, love for Chicago and his ambitions for the new campaign, EXCLUSIVE for www.soccernightexclusive.wordpress.com
DC United
Last Season: When Dwayne De Rosario was crocked with a season ending injury question marks showcased the play-off chances for DC United. Flickering like a light switch, the skippers voice of encouragement swooped through the minds of each and catapulted their surge to 2nd place in the Eastern Conference. Surprisingly for many since the setback DC managed to storm an unbeaten streak of seven acclaiming five wins and two draws in the process.
After finishing second, a double date was inked in for a clash with rivals New York Red Bulls. The tie pulsated one way then the other but when push came to shove Rookie De Leon stood up tall to win the two legged clash after a 1-1 tie in the first leg.
However the play-offs ended soon after for United who faltered against eventual runners up Houston Dynamo 4 to 1, with the first leg at BBVA finishing 3-1 to an orange drenched Houston and a 1-1 followed suit at RFK.
Strengths: The most notable return is no other than the DC United talisman Dwayne De Rosario. Despite him being largely missed towards the latter of last season his presence on the field makes the four time MLS Cup winners look that extra bit imposing on others. The Canadian maybe entering that stage where he is limited to the amount of games he can participate in, due to his tender age (34) and surplus to injury, but there is no doubting his ability to win games upon a sprinkle of his famous gold dust. His goal to game ratio last season wasn’t too bad either notching a goal every three games, and there is no doubt he will be doing his utmost to get near or defeat his best goal scoring tally, which was recorded in 2010 for Toronto where he found the net a staggering 15 times.
Schellas Hyndman and the FC Dallas hierarchy wasted no time in utilising the Brek Shea funds after nabbing two established MLS strikers. Eric Hassli and Kenny Cooper made the move to Texas after being traded from Toronto FC and New York Red Bulls respectively. Cooper was acquired in return for a fixed sum of allocation money whilst Dallas sent a 2nd round 2014 SuperDraft pick the way of the newly reformed Toronto is exchange for French Hit man Hassli.
Chicago Fire
Last Season: With what most would consider a solid and consistent season Frank Klopas’s troops finished fourth in the Eastern Conference just within goal difference of New York(3rd) and one point of DC (2nd) who piped them to the post on the last day of the regular season. 4th spot meant Chicago would face a tough wildcard game against a play-off earthed Houston Dynamo.
Fire undoubtedly kicked on with the return of Chris Rolfe from his hit and miss stint in Denmark with Aab. The thirty year old made his comeback at the beginning of June and his creative edge had a massive impact on The Fire applying more gloss to a play-off chasing campaign.
The season ended in sudden fashion for the men from Toyota Park as an orange filled Dynamo reeled away with victory. A late Alex goal wasn’t enough to cancel out a Will Bruin brace and prevent Dynamo from advancing.
As the new MLS season appears upon the horizon, many fans are looking to dust down their merchandise and vocal chords in preparation for welcoming their heroes back to the soccer field. And looking forward to it more than most are the Columbus Crew Supporters Group the ‘Yellow Nation Army’.
Despite a hectic schedule to juggle with I caught up with two members of the posse – Major Awareness and General Juicer – to get a greater insight into the set up and running of a Supporters Group as well as their hopes and aspirations on all things Crew.
Exclusive to www.soccernightexclusive.wordpress.com
soccernightexclusive 