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100 Days 'Til All-Star -- This Week in MLS

April 22, 2013 - Major League Soccer (MLS) News Release


North American soccer fans can begin the countdown to the 2013 AT&T MLS All-Star Game at Sporting Park in Kansas City, which is now 100 days away.

A popular fixture on the MLS calendar since the league's inception in 1996, the All-Star Game will be played on Wednesday, July 31, at 9 p.m. ET and broadcast live on ESPN2, UniMás, TSN and RDS. The game will feature the MLS All-Stars against a prominent international club to be named in early June.

The festivities and events, including live music, player appearances, and soccer activities for fans of all ages, begin on Saturday, July 27, in the greater Kansas City area and at Sporting Park, which has emerged as one of the North America's premier venues in any sport.

The MLS All Stars will be coached by Sporting Kansas City coach and recent United States Soccer Hall of Fame inductee Peter Vermes. Fan voting to select All-Stars will begin in late May.

"Jack Mac" is On Track

With his two-goal performance in the Philadelphia Union's 3-2 victory over D.C. United Sunday evening, Jack McInerney has taken over the lead in the race for the Budweiser Golden Boot, which goes to the leading goal scorer in Major League Soccer.

The 20-year old McInerney, who hails from Alpharetta, Georgia, has six goals in seven games for the Union, and leads the LA Galaxy's Mike Magee and Toronto FC's Robert Earnshaw, who stand on five goals. In his fourth year in MLS, McInerney is just two goals shy of the career-best eight goals he scored a year ago. If he can maintain his lead, McInerney would become the youngest player to ever win an MLS Golden Boot (Related story here).

Week 9 National Broadcasts

Saturday, April 27

Toronto FC vs. New York Red Bulls, 2:00 p.m. ET (TSN, RDS)

Montreal Impact vs. Chicago Fire, 4:00 p.m. ET (NBC SN, TSN, RDS)

Vancouver Whitecaps FC vs. FC Dallas, 6:00 p.m. ET (UDN)

Sunday, April 28

Houston Dynamo vs. Colorado Rapids, 5:00 p.m. ET (UniMas)

Quotables

"I'm almost there. Just a little bit more sharpness, but I felt almost back to normal. I felt like I was very close to 100 percent tonight. Don't count the old guy out just yet. I've still got a little bit left in me."

Landon Donovan after scoring his first goal since returning to MLS

"If you didn't enjoy watching that game, you probably should think about not watching soccer anymore because these were two teams that just went at it. It was end to end for a while tonight. Probably not my ideal situation, but for a general soccer fan I would hope they would have enjoyed it."

Real Salt Lake head coach Jason Kreis on their game against Chivas USA

"Probably the most impressive thing is that he slowed up, cut the ball back and beat guys, and on the bench, we're saying 'why's he slowing up?' because it looked like he had a step on them. But Jack's capable of those kind of goals. I know everybody says more than anything that he's a tap-in specialist, but he has a lot of arsenal in his bag. He can certainly hurt you from distance and hurt you in different ways, and he showed that today."

Philadelphia Union head coach John Hackworth on McInerney's two goal performance against D.C. United

"This is the deepest team that I can remember here. This is a deeper roster than our team that played for the championship. Now we'll find out if it's a better roster."

FC Dallas owner Dan Hunt on his team's depth this season

"I think everyone gets the sense that being part of this city and the Red Bulls organization is more than just playing games. It's about wearing that burden of having no trophies on your sleeve every game, because the fans certainly do. The fans hear it plenty...I've tasted that chance to win and I failed. For me personally that's my goal."

Dax McCarty on the higher expectations that come with being a New York Red Bull

Sweet Tweets

@louie_soffner - April 15

Prayers go out to all the victims and their families of the Boston Marathon bombings. Being only 200 yards away from the blasts was so scary

‏@zmnsk21 - April 17

Note To Self: Don't park behind the goal at training again. #smh http://instagram.com/p/YN6Q08v_dT/

‏@DaxMcCarty11 - April 18

One positive to take from last night: our fans are nothing but class. #PrayForBoston pic.twitter.com/XKSKBWfZx0

‏@oba_martins - April 21

For my Sounders family that wanted to see the backflip, hope y'all enjoyed it...had to be careful with the knee... Love u all and thanks...

‏@D6MERIT - April 22

#Sharesies RT @JoeCannonGK1: It would be nice if the Budweiser man of the match got a free case for the award!! #happymonday #morningtweeps.

MLS Week 9 Previews

(Home team listed first; all times Eastern)

Saturday, April 27

Toronto FC vs. New York Red Bulls, 2 p.m. (TSN, RDS)

- The Red Bulls have a seven-game undefeated streak alive (5-0-2) vs. Toronto FC, dating back to June 24, 2009, a 2-0 TFC win at BMO Field. New York has a win and two draws in their last three visits to Toronto, coming away with 1-1 draws on their last two trips (2011 and 2012).

- Thierry Henry scored his third goal of the season in the Red Bulls 4-1 win against New England. The Red Bulls have won three of nine games this season; Henry has scored in each victory.

- For a second consecutive week, Toronto FC conceded a stoppage-time goal to leave them in a 1-1 draw, this time with the Houston Dynamo. It was the fourth consecutive draw for TFC; the MLS record is six in a row, last done in 2011 by the Colorado Rapids.

- Toronto FC open defense of their four consecutive Canadian Championship titles against the Montréal Impact on Wednesday at BMO Field in the first match of their semifinal series. The return leg will be played next Wednesday at Stade Saputo.

Montreal Impact vs. Chicago Fire, 4 p.m. (NBCSN, TSN, RDS)

- The Impact return to league action after a week off, their last match a 1-1 draw with the Columbus Crew on April 14 at Stade Saputo as Marco Di Vaio scored his second goal in three matches.

- Before their league contest, the Impact will face Toronto FC in the first leg of their Canadian Championship semifinal series at BMO Field. The return leg will be played a week later in Montréal.

- The Fire have won two of their last three matches. Jeff Larentowicz scored his first goal for the club in a 1-0 win against Columbus on Saturday at Toyota Park.

- The Impact played the first home game in the club's MLS history vs. Chicago, attracting a crowd of 58,912 to Olympic Stadium last March 17 (the 18th-largest in league history) for a 1-1 draw. The Fire won 3-1 in the lone meeting at Toyota Park.

Vancouver Whitecaps FC vs. FC Dallas, 6 p.m. (UDN)

- The teams are meeting on the back end of a home-and-home series after FCD's 2-0 win Saturday in Frisco. FC Dallas have now won three consecutive meetings between the teams, and five of the six meetings all-time between the clubs.

- Blas Perez scored his third goal in the last four games over the weekend, sealing the FC Dallas victory against Vancouver.

- FC Dallas extended their current undefeated streak to six games with the weekend victory, the club's longest since going nine games without defeat from April 23-June 4, 2011.

- At home, Whitecaps FC are 2-0-1 this season. They fell to 0-3-1 away from BC Place with the result in Frisco.

- Whitecaps FC will play the opening leg of their Canadian Championship semifinal against the NASL's FC Edmonton on Wednesday in Alberta. The return match is set for May 1 at BC Place.

New England Revolution vs. Philadelphia Union, 7:30 p.m.

- Jack McInerney took over the lead in the MLS Golden Boot standings with his fifth and sixth goals of the season in Union's 3-2 win against D.C. United. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the official statistician of Major League Soccer, McInerney is the youngest player in history to hold the outright MLS lead in goals scored (20 years, 259 days).

- While the Revolution saw their goalless streak end at 394 minutes in their 4-1 loss at New York, a Revolution player still has not scored a goal since the season opener on March 2. The New England goal came through an own goal.

- The teams are meeting for the second time this season. Jack McInerney's 76th-minute goal gave Union a 1-0 win on March 16 at PPL Park, part of MLS Rivalry Week.

- Union are now undefeated in eight meetings all-time with the Revolution, with five victories. They've won two of their three visits to Gillette Stadium.

Columbus Crew vs. D.C. United, 7:30 p.m.

- The teams are meeting for the second time this season. The Crew's Josh Williams and United's Rafael traded goals in the first half, before Ben Speas scored the game-winner for Columbus on March 23 at RFK Stadium.

- United haven't won in Columbus since 2007, a span of five matches (0-4-1). They saw a three-game winning streak in Washington snapped in the first meeting this year.

- United suffered their fourth consecutive defeat - and their third in a row at RFK Stadium - in a 3-2 loss to Philadelphia Union on Sunday afternoon. It's the longest losing streak for D.C. in two seasons; the club record is six games, set over the end of the 2006 season and the start of 2007.

- The Crew saw their four-game undefeated streak come to an end in rounding out their two-game road swing Saturday, falling 1-0 to the Chicago Fire.

Sporting Kansas City vs. Portland Timbers, 8:30 p.m.

- Sporting Kansas City saw their three-game winning streak and five-game undefeated run come to an end in the back end of their bicoastal road trip, a 2-0 loss at the LA Galaxy on Saturday.

- SKC saw their shutout streak come to an end after 546 minutes, the fifth-longest streak in MLS history. They had previously been scored on in a 2-1 loss at Toronto FC on March 9, also their last loss.

- The Timbers equaled their MLS club record by extending their undefeated streak to five games in their 1-1 draw at San Jose, as Diego Valeri was able to return to the lineup and score after missing a game with a head injury.

- The Timbers won the only meeting between the teams last year, a 1-0 win April 21 at Jeld-Wen Field that put an end to SKC's season-opening seven-game winning streak. Sporting won both meetings between the teams in Portland's inaugural MLS season in 2011.

Real Salt Lake vs. LA Galaxy, 9 p.m.

- Making his second league start of the season, Landon Donovan recorded his first goal and first assist in the Galaxy's 2-0 win against Sporting KC. Donovan set up the first goal by Marcelo Sarvas, then provided the capper himself.

- Making his second start of the season, Javier Morales scored his first goal of the season to give Real Salt Lake a 1-0 home win vs. Chivas USA. Morales had contributed an assist the week before in his first start after a preseason knee injury.

- Newcomer Olmes García made his first MLS start and helped set up the Morales goal with his first assist. He scored his first MLS goal as a substitute the week before in the 1-1 draw at Vancouver.

- The visiting team won all three meetings a season ago. RSL won on both trips to The Home Depot Center to take on the Galaxy, while LA won on their lone visit to Rio Tinto Stadium. They were the first road victories in the series since 2009.

Chivas USA vs. San Jose Earthquakes, 10:30 p.m.

- For a second time this season, the Earthquakes struck with late magic, getting a stoppage-time equalizer for a 1-1 home draw with Portland. The Quakes hit for an added-time winner against New York on March 10. A year ago, the Quakes won or tied eight games with goals in second-half stoppage time.

- Rookie Adam Jahn scored his second late goal to give San Jose the share of the points vs. Portland. Jahn scored the first goal in the comeback win vs. New York, an 83rd-minute equalizer.

- Chivas USA suffered a second consecutive 1-0 defeat, falling at Real Salt Lake on Saturday evening. Chivas has allowed a single goal in each of their last six matches.

- The Quakes won the final two meetings between the teams last season, winning 4-0 at Buck Shaw Stadium (Sept. 2) and 2-0 at The Home Depot Center (Sept. 15). They had earlier played to a 1-1 draw in Santa Clara.

Sunday, April 28

Houston Dynamo vs. Colorado Rapids, 5 p.m. (UniMás)

- The Rapids have a six-game undefeated streak alive against the Dynamo, Houston's last victory in the series coming in a 1-0 win, April 19, 2009. The Rapids won the lone meeting between the teams last year, 2-0 in the regular season finale at Dick's Sporting Goods Park.

- Warren Creavalle scored his second goal of the season to give the Dynamo a late 1-1 draw at Toronto FC. He's now tied for the club lead in goals, along with Will Bruin, Giles Barnes and Brad Davis.

- The Rapids saw their three-game undefeated streak come to an end in a 1-0 home loss to Seattle Sounders FC over the weekend. Three of Colorado's four losses this season have come by 1-0 score lines.

- Having set the MLS record for the longest home undefeated streak in all competitions, the Dynamo can set the league mark for consecutive regular season home games without defeat. Real Salt Lake went 29 home games without a loss from 2009-11.

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Major League Soccer Stories from April 22, 2013


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