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Published on June 16, 2008 under Major League Soccer (MLS) News Release


MLS Week 13: June 18-22, 2008

Wednesday, June 18

New York Red Bulls at New England Revolution, 7:00 p.m. (DK, MLSLive.tv)

The Red Bulls have dropped three of their last four regular season contests by a combined margin of eight goals. New England, 8-3-2 with 26 points, sits at the top of the Eastern Conference and have gone undefeated in their last six games. These rivals have met 49 times in league play. The Red Bulls have gone winless against the Revolution in their last nine encounters. Zimbabwean striker Kheli Dube has four goals in five games for New England and leads the team in scoring.

San Jose Earthquakes at Real Salt Lake, 9:00 p.m. (DK, MLSLIVE.tv)

After losing three straight games in May (2 League games, 1 US Open Cup game), Real Salt Lake are in the midst of a strong run, having gone undefeated in three consecutive League matches. San Jose's match with RSL starts a four-game road trip that includes games against D.C. United, Chicago, and Chivas USA. The series, dating back to 2005, is tied at 2-1-2, but San Jose has not won at Rice Eccles Stadium.

Thursday, June 19

Chicago Fire at Chivas USA, 10:30 p.m. (ESPN 2 / Deportes)

Chivas USA have had Chicago's number over the past two seasons, going 3-0-1 against the Fire. Chicago suffered its first road defeat of the season last week, falling 1-0 to FC Dallas. The Fire still possess the best road goal difference in the league (+9). Chivas USA also suffered a first last week, losing to Real Salt Lake for the first time in club history.

Saturday, June 21

Kansas City Wizards at Toronto FC, 3:30 p.m. (DK, MLSLIVE.tv)

Toronto FC welcome back a number of starters who were away on international duty including Honduran international Amado Guevara - who scored two goals against the Wizards earlier this season. Toronto FC have only played Kansas City four times; after losing their first two games against the Wizards, Toronto FC tied the last 2007 meeting and turned the series around earlier this year by winning their first game, 2-0, at BMO field. Toronto FC forward Jeff Cunningham is looking to break the century mark, as he sits on 99 career goals scored but was held scoreless in last weekend's 3-1 win over Colorado.

FC Dallas at New York Red Bulls, 7:30 p.m. (FSC, FSE)

This series has been one of the most evenly contested between MLS's original teams. Entering the 2008 season, they had split 30 contests throughout the first 12 seasons (14-14-2 record for each squad). New York went undefeated against Dallas in 2005 and 2007; FC Dallas won both games against the Red Bulls in 2006 and won the first meeting this season, 2-0, on April 12.

Houston Dynamo at Colorado Rapids, 9:30 p.m. (HDNet)

This is the second of three regular season matches between the two Western conference foes; Houston defeated Colorado, 2-1, at home in the first game. Brian Ching continued his strong recent form on Sunday with the U.S. Men's National Team, scoring twice in the 8-0 win against Barbados. Ching has four goals, one assist in his past five League games. Despite being undefeated at home to Colorado, Houston has split its all-time series on the road with the Rapids (2-2-0 all time).

New England Revolution at Real Salt Lake, 9:30 p.m. (DK, MLSLIVE.tv)

Real Salt Lake is 1-3-2 versus New England in the all-time series. The Revolution's carries an impressive road record (5-1-1) but Real Salt Lake are undefeated at Rice-Eccles Stadium this season. Real Salt Lake have scored just five goals in six all-time games against the Revolution and none of the goal scorers remain on the RSL roster (Jason Kreis 2, Jeff Cunningham 1, Chris Klein 1, Carey Talley 1).

Columbus Crew at Los Angeles Galaxy, 10:30 p.m. (DK, MLSLIVE.tv)

- This is the first of two regular season meetings between the Galaxy and Columbus Crew in 2008. The teams split the 2007 regular season series, with each road team claiming a victory.

The Galaxy are in sole possession of first place in the Western Conference thanks to their explosive offense. LA is the league's highest scoring team and features the top two goal scorers (Landon Donovan 9, Edson Buddle 8). - The Crew sits in second place in the Eastern Conference with a 7-4-1 record and 22 points, while Los Angeles sits in first place with a 6-4-2 record and 18 points.

- In 2007 LA had a 3-5-4 record and 13 points through 12 games, while Columbus was 2-4-6 with 12 points in 2007.

- Crew Head Coach Sigi Schmid celebrated his 100th MLS regular season victory earlier this season. Of those victories, 79 came with the LA Galaxy from 1999-2004.

Sunday, June 22

San Jose Earthquakes at D.C. United, 3:00 p.m. (Telefutura)

- 2007 MLS MVP Luciano Emilio has regained his scoring touch and has tallied six goals in the past four games, after notching just one goal through the first nine games of the regular season.

- This will be the first meeting between the clubs since the Earthquakes relocated after the 2005 season. San Jose leads the all-time regular-season series with a record of 11-9-4.

- This match is the second of a four-game road trip for San Jose that spans 14 days, their longest of the season.

All times Eastern, live broadcasts in parentheses; schedule subject to change

LA Galaxy Forward Edson Buddle Voted Player of the Week for Week 12

Los Angeles Galaxy forward Edson Buddle was voted Major League Soccer's Player of the Week for Week 12 of the 2008 season. Buddle scored his second hat trick of the season and led the Galaxy to a 3-0 victory over the San Jose Earthquakes, which put them alone atop the Western Conference standings.

Saturday's performance was Buddle's fourth career hat trick, placing him third on the all-time MLS list behind Stern John (5) and Diego Serna (5). This is Buddle's seventh Player of the Week award. He won the award in Week 8 of 2008, when he recorded a hat trick versus FC Dallas in a 5-1 road victory. The Galaxy (6-4-2, 20 points) return to action on Saturday, June 21 when they host the Columbus Crew at 10:30 p.m. ET. For more on Buddle's performance click here.

The Major League Soccer Player of the Week is selected each week of the MLS regular season by a panel of journalists from The North American Soccer Reporters (NASR). The group consists of members of print, television, radio and online media. More information and membership information can be found at http://www.soccerreporters.com/.

Beckham/Donovan Still Lead All-Star Online Voting; Top 10 as of June 15 Revealed

Online voting for the 2008 Pepsi MLS All-Star Game continues and will be open on www.mlsnet.com through Wednesday, July 2. After approximately four weeks of votes being tallied, the duo of Landon Donovan and David Beckham lead all vote getters with the Chicago Fire's Cuauhtemoc Blanco not far behind. Beckham, Donovan and Blanco rank as the top three vote getters with players from the Chicago Fire, Columbus Crew, Toronto FC and Houston Dynamo rounding out the top ten.

Fans can vote for the All-Star First XI online at www.mlsnet.com by selecting one goalkeeper, three defenders, five midfielders, and two forwards. Fans can vote up to 10 times per day. The online fan balloting program, which concludes on Wednesday, July 2, will comprise 25 percent of the total vote for the All-Star First XI, with coaches and general managers, players, and media each holding 25 percent of the vote to combine for the remaining 75 percent.

The MLS All-Star First XI will be announced on Thursday, July 10 and the All-Star Reserves and Commissioner's Selections will be announced on Tuesday, July 15.

Top 10 Vote Getters as of June 15 (Ranked by percentage of total vote)

1. David Beckham (Los Angeles Galaxy) - 4.94%

2. Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy) - 3.67%

3. Cuauhtemoc Blanco (Chicago Fire) - 3.33%

4. Amado Guevara (Toronto FC) - 2.22%

5. Dwayne De Rosario (Houston Dynamo) - 2.05%

6. Greg Sutton (Toronto FC) - 2.04%

7. Frankie Hejduk (Columbus Crew) - 1.99%

8. Guillermo Barros Schelotto (Columbus Crew) - 1.81%

9. Maurice Edu (Toronto FC) - 1.81%

10. Jon Busch (Chicago Fire) - 1.48%

Coaching Race for 2008 MLS All-Star Game Heats Up; Current Rankings as of June 15

As the votes come in to determine which players will represent MLS against West Ham United on July 24, several coaches find themselves in prime position to coach at the 2008 MLS All-Star Game. The MLS All-Stars will be led by the coach with the most points per game as of Sunday, June 29.

As of June 15, Steve Nicol remains the front-runner to coach the All-Star game with 2.0 ppg. The Revolution have accrued 26 points in 13 games. Nicol's closest competitors, Sigi Schmid (1.83 ppg) of the Columbus Crew and Denis Hamlett (1.73 ppg) each have only two games before the June 29 announcement date, while Nicol and the Revolution have three games to play. If Steve Nicol manages to retain his lead he will be the first coach since Peter Nowak to manage the MLS All-Stars twice and the first to ever coach at consecutive All-Star games.

Coach Rankings for MLS All-Star Game (Ranked by points per game)

1. Steve Nicol (New England Revolution) - 2.00 ppg

2. Sigi Schmid (Columbus Crew) - 1.83

3. Denis Hamlett (Chicago Fire) - 1.73

4. Ruud Gullit (Los Angeles Galaxy) - 1.67

5. John Carver (Toronto FC) - 1.67

6. Juan Carlos Osorio (New York Red Bulls) - 1.36

7. Dominic Kinnear (Houston Dynamo) - 1.31

8. Fernando Clavijo (Colorado Rapids) - 1.25

9. Jason Kreis (Real Salt Lake) - 1.25

10. Tom Soehn (D.C. United) - 1.23

11. Preki (Chivas USA) - 1.17

12. Curt Onalfo (Kansas City Wizards) - 1.09

13. Frank Yallop (San Jose Earthquakes) - 0.91

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