MLS Major League Soccer

This Week in MLS

Published on November 1, 2011 under Major League Soccer (MLS) News Release


MLS Cup Playoffs match schedule

(Home team listed first; all times Eastern)

Wednesday, November 2

EASTERN CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS

Sporting Kansas City vs. Colorado Rapids, 8 p.m. (FOX Soccer / Deportes; TSN2)

- Sporting lead 2-0 on aggregate goals

WESTERN CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS

Seattle Sounders FC vs. Real Salt Lake, 10 p.m. (ESPN2 / Deportes; TSN2)

- Real lead 3-0 on aggregate goals

Thursday, November 3

EASTERN CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS

Houston Dynamo vs. Philadelphia Union, 8:30 p.m. (ESPN2 / Deportes; TSN2)

- Dynamo lead 2-1 on aggregate goals

WESTERN CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS

LA Galaxy vs. New York Red Bulls, 11 p.m. (ESPN2 / Deportes; TSN2)

- Galaxy lead 1-0 on aggregate goals

Sunday, November 6*

CONFERENCE FINALS

5:30 p.m. ET (to be confirmed)

9:00 p.m. ET (to be confirmed)

* If Real Salt Lake hosts, the game will be played Monday, Nov. 7 at 9 p.m. ET

Sunday, November 20

MLS CUP

9:00 p.m. ET (ESPN, Galavision, TSN2)

Wondolowski named MLS Player of the Month for October

San Jose Earthquakes forward Chris Wondolowski was voted MLS Player of the Month for October by the North American Soccer Reporters (NASR). Wondolowski scored five goals in the month of October, ending the regular season tied for the league lead goals scored with D.C. United's Dwayne De Rosario.

The 28 year-old U.S. national teamer was the only player on his team to score in three of the final four games of the season, and capped his 2011 campaign with a goal in the Earthquakes' 4-2 over FC Dallas. He finished the 2011 season with 16 goals and three assists. He led is team in game-winning goals (5), and was second in minutes played (2,672), behind goalkeeper Jon Busch.

This is the second time Wondolowski has been named MLS Player of the Month, after winning the award in October 2010. He received 14 of 18 available first place votes, while Seattle Sounders FC forward Fredy Montero, and Chicago Fire midfielder Marco Pappa also received votes.

The MLS Player of the Month is selected after each calendar month of the regular season by a panel of journalists from NASR. The group consists of members of print, television, radio and online media. More information can be found at http://www.soccerreporters.com/.

Save of the Year voting now open

The best save during the MLS regular season will be determined as voting for the MLS Save of the Year began Tuesday. The finalists for the award are the 32 weekly winners of the MLS Save of the Week.

Fans, media, clubs, and players are all encouraged to vote early and often to help their favorites advance. Voting will occur HERE, in four phases:

- The First Round (voting Nov 1-5) will consist of the 32 winners of the Save of the Week in 2011, placed in eight groups of four. The top two in each group, as determined by an online vote, will advance to the Round of 16. The voting schedule is as follows: Groups A & B (Nov 1-2), Groups C & D (Nov 2-3), Groups E & F (Nov 3-4), Groups G & H (Nov 4-5)

- The Round of 16 (Nov 7-10) will consist of the 16 remaining saves, placed in four groups of four. The top vote-getter in each group, as determined by an online vote, will advance to the Final Group.

- The Final Group (Nov 11-14) will consist of the 4 remaining saves, placed in a group. The MLS Save of the Year winner will be determined by an online vote.

Quotables

"We're lucky we didn't lose 6-0."

-- Seattle Sounders FC head coach Sigi Schmid after his team's 3-0 loss to Real Salt Lake

"We can score. I'm happy if we score in the 93rd minute to tie it. I don't care if we win in a penalty shootout after 120 minutes. But there is no idea to force it or play hectic football. It's a lot of time, 90 minutes."

-- New York Red Bulls coach Hans Backe after his team's 1-0 home loss to the LA Galaxy

"We were going through a feeling-out process with the new formation. That's the first time we played that way so it took a few minutes to get sorted. We lost concentration on the set piece and weren't on the same page during the second goal as well."

-- Philadelphia Union defender Danny Califf after his team's 2-1 home loss to Houston

"It may be good for this team to go into the second leg not feeling the pressure to defend a 1-1 tie or a 1-0 goal difference. So it maybe is a good thing that the pressure is off right now and we have nothing to lose going into Houston."

-- Philadelphia Union team manager Peter Nowak

"We've got seven players injured, six of them who played in the (MLS Cup) final last year. It's not going to be easy, that is for sure."

-- Colorado Rapids head coach Gary Smith, to the Denver Post

Sweet Tweets

@sprtswtr (Kerith Gabriel) - October 26

@FCDallas mid Andrew Jacobson's mohawk is boss. Brek Shea's...not so much.

@AroundTheHorn (Tony Reali) - October 27

The first correction I ever made on PTI - I'm talking Show #1 - was soccer. (Tony said it was played on a court) It hasn't stopped since.

@Peter_Nowak - October 28

A lot of unnecessary talk about playoff format everywhere I look It's not like two best teams didn't meet in quarter finals of the WC before

@zacrigg - October 30

The most telling stat, aside from Seattle's 0 shots on goal, was passing accuracy. RSL = 80%, Sounders = 64%

@d6merit - October 31

I did my@FOXSoccer interview in this yesterday. Halloween rocks! Cant wait to trick or treatlockerz.com/s/152127424

According to the Elias Sports Bureau: Road wins reverse playoff trend

Three teams emerged from the first leg of their total-goals quarterfinal series with a road win: Kansas City over Colorado, Los Angeles over New York, and Houston over Philadelphia. Only seven teams did so over the seven previous postseasons using this format. Despite seemingly long odds, two teams managed to advance after dropping the first leg at home: Colorado against Dallas in 2006, and San Jose against New York in 2010.

The only home team to win the opening game of its quarterfinal series did so resoundingly. Real Salt Lake posted a 3-0 win over Seattle-bad news for the Sounders. Only one MLS team has advanced after falling behind by three goals in a two-game, total-goals playoff series. The Earthquakes eliminated the Galaxy in the 2003 Western Conference semifinals after losing the first match, 2-0, and conceding two more goals in the first 13 minutes of the return leg at Spartan Stadium.

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