MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER
SPORTING KANSAS CITY 4 WHITECAPS FC 3
SATURDAY, AUGUST 15, 2015
SPORTING PARK, KANSAS CITY, KS.
WHITECAPS FC & MLS
‘We’re all professionals. This game is gone.’: Whitecaps aim to regroup after major disappointment in K.C. – The Province
A man came up to Whitecaps goalkeeper David Ousted at the Kansas City airport Sunday morning. He remarked what an amazing game it was Saturday night at Sporting Park and said it must have been fun to be a part of. “I didn’t know what to say to him,” said Ousted, whose Caps led 2-0 then 3-1 into the final 10 minutes but lost 4-3 in a great advertisement for MLS but not so much for how to defend a lead with tired legs.
Caps’ collapse won’t soon be forgotten – TSN
The “Kansas City Catastrophe-Calamity-Collapse” or “Missouri Meltdown”…no matter how you describe it, what happened at Sporting Park on Saturday will be etched in everyone’s memory for quite some time.
Are Whitecaps’ meltdowns a sign of problems? – Sportsnet
Could this be the year for the Vancouver Whitecaps? That’s a question you’ll hear fairly regularly in conversations with Vancouver soccer fans, as coach Carl Robinson’s side has flirted with first place in the Western Conference for most of this season.
Second straight late collapse pulls Whitecaps back into the playoff pack – AFTN
It could have been oh so different. At the 80 minute mark of Vancouver’s game at Kansas City on Saturday, the ‘Caps were sitting top of the Supporters’ Shield standings. By full time, they weren’t even top of the Western Conference.
Carl Robinson critical after Whitecaps blow two-goal lead to Sporting KC – Canada.com
Carl Robinson didn’t mince words after the Vancouver Whitecaps’ 4-3 loss to Sporting Kansas City on Saturday night. The Whitecaps coach was critical of the officiating after two late goals by Paulo Nagamura gave Kansas City the victory.
Robinson rants on ref: ‘People need to be better’ – The Province
Carl Robinson was fuming at the final whistle. He lambasted referee Juan Guzman in the centre circle as Robinson’s assistant, Martyn Pert, looked positively apoplectic. If this was an act, it was planned in a heck of a hurry, somewhere between Paulo Nagamura’s game-winner in the third minute of stoppage time and the bitter end one minute later.
Sporting KC stuns Vancouver with three goals in final 10 minutes – Goal
The Whitecaps owned a 3-1 lead on the road against Sporting KC, 10 minutes away from moving to the top of the Supporters Shield standings. But Dom Dwyer struck in the 81st minute, followed by a quickfire brace from Paulo Nagamura to give Sporting KC the thrilling 4-3 victory, leaving the Whitecaps to lament their second blown two-goal lead in under a week.
Table watching: A look at the Western Conference playoff race after Week 24 – Whitecaps FC
As you can see, the second-place ‘Caps are still in good shape despite falling 4-3 to Sporting Kansas City over the weekend in a game that many are calling the best of the season – for a neutral, at least.
MLS Week 24 Rundown: Sporting KC historic win, drama in Philly, Oba’s sparkling return – MLS
Forget about the game of the week. We may have witnessed the game of the year on Saturday night from Sporting Park. The Vancouver Whitecaps, who entered the match at the top of the West, went into Sporting Park and took two-goal leads twice only for Sporting to storm back in the final 10 minutes and win it with a stoppage-time goal from Paulo Nagamura.
Herculez Gomez looks sharp in TFC debut – Goal
It took Herculez Gomez a matter of seconds to make a good impression, and just a few minutes to flash the traits that Toronto FC hope will help the club end its playoff drought. Gomez made his TFC debut on Saturday night, and while he couldn’t stop his new club from suffering a 3-0 loss to the red-hot New York Red Bulls, Gomez did show all the qualities that helped him enjoy a successful run in Liga MX and with the U.S. national team.
TFC thoroughly outplayed in loss to Red Bulls – Red Nation Online
After being soundly beaten at home by Sporting Kansas City last weekend, Toronto were looking to get back on track with a crucial Eastern Conference matchup at Red Bull Arena on Saturday evening.
Sporting KC exhibit their superiority; Sounders return to winning ways – ESPN FC
At home against Vancouver, Sporting Kansas City did something shocking. A team with a reputation for solid defense and dominance in their own building fell behind by two goals — and not just once, but twice. After 45 minutes, Sporting found themselves down 2-0. A Kevin Ellis goal cut that deficit in half, but Pedro Morales put the Whitecaps up 3-1 with a fantastic free kick.
Seattle Sounders all smiles after return of Obafemi Martins, debuts of Nelson Valdez and Roman Torres – MLS
Obafemi Martins is back, Nelson Valdez and Roman Torres are here, and if the Seattle Sounders’ performance in their 4-0 blowout of Orlando City SC on Sunday afternoon is any indication, their season could very well be back on track.
Late Borchers goal lifts Timbers over RSL – SBI
In a return to Rio Tinto to face his former club, Nat Borchers sank the hearts of fans he once lifted. The Portland Timbers defender scored in a minute over the allotted added time to give the visitors a 1-0 win against Real Salt Lake. Both teams produced numerous chances to score throughout the evening, but missed chances and good goalkeeping kept things scoreless until the very end.
Chicago Fire laud Sean Johnson’s “outstanding” performance in dramatic draw vs. Union – MLS
It may not have earned the three points Frank Yallop and the Chicago Fire so badly craved, but there was much to admire in the resilience the team showed in securing a dramatic 3-3 draw at fellow strugglers Philadelphia Union on Sunday night at PPL Park.
FC Dallas blinks, and Galaxy’s Keane makes it pay – Soccer America
Even though the LA Galaxy had added Steven Gerrard and Giovani dos Santos and Sebastian Lletget (six goals in his first 11 MLS games) to its MLS Cup championship team, Bruce Arenasaid talk of his team being favored to win its fourth MLS title in five seasons was “garbage.”
Drogba reignites Impact fire inside – TSN
As we enter the business end of the MLS season for the Montreal Impact, things are mighty more upbeat than on that drab afternoon in early February when Joey Saputo gathered the media and laid out a rather grim assessment of how things were off the pitch for his club.
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UNITED SOCCER LEAGUE
PORTLAND TIMBERS 2 3 WHITECAPS FC 2 1
SUNDAY, AUGUST 16, 2015
MERLO FIELD, PORTLAND, OR.
WFC2 & USL
USL Match Report: Timbers FC2 3 – 1 Whitecaps FC2 – Eighty-Six Forever
The Vancouver Whitecaps FC2’s playoff aspirations were dealt a blow on Sunday evening after the Thundercaps fell by score of 3-1 to the Portland Timbers FC2 at Merlo Field.
Clarke scores but Whitecaps FC 2 fall 3-1 to Timbers 2 – Whitecaps FC
Kharlton Belmar registered a brace and Brent Richards recorded two assists in four minutes to lead Timbers 2 (9W-12L-2D) to a 3-1 win over Whitecaps FC 2 (8W-11L-5D) at Merlo Field on Sunday.
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BC SOCCER
BC Soccer Assoc. Launches New Discipline Management System – BCSA
BC Soccer Assoc. is pleased to officially launch their new online discipline management system and reporting tool. The new discipline management system is an integrated and easy to use system that all BC Soccer Assoc. member organizations, discipline representatives, and referees will be able to use to report, track and monitor discipline.
UBC T-Bird Men’s Soccer Tryouts – UBC
If you think you have what it takes to succeed on the pitch, here’s your opportunity. UBC Men’s Soccer will hold an OPEN TRYOUT on Friday August 21st, 5-6:30 on the UBC Baseball Turf.
WolfPack Wind Up Arizona Trip With Loss To Phoenix College – TRU
The Thompson Rivers University WolfPack men’s soccer team have finished their exhibition tour of Arizona with a defeat. Playing Saturday (Aug 15), against the Phoenix College Bears, the ‘Pack fell 3-2. That dropped their record in exhibition play to 2 wins and a loss.
WolfPack Women’s Soccer Opens Pre Season With Draw – TRU
Tom McManus got his first chance to see what his 2015-16 Thompson Rivers University WolfPack women’s soccer team will look like this season. The WolfPack opened their brief exhibition season off with a scoreless tie against the Grande Prairie Regional College Wolves of the Alberta College Athletic Conference. The match was played at Hillside Stadium.
CANADA
No medal for Canada’s Para Team, but Parapan Am Games good for the program – CSA
Samuel Charron’s fourth goal of a stellar 2015 Parapan Am Games Tournament gave Canada’s Para Team a slight glimmer of hope of a comeback but it came just too late as Canada dropped a tough 2:1 game to Venezuela on Saturday morning.
Canada 2015 Technical Report published, All-Star Squad announced – FIFA
This All-Star Squad was one of the conclusions of the Technical Report on the FIFA Women’s World Cup Canada 2015. This 234-page document, produced by the TSG during and after the tournament, is available in English, French, German and Spanish, and can be downloaded from FIFA.com. This technical report as well as the DVDs are important tools to promote and develop women’s football all over the world. They will be sent to the 209 FIFA Member Associations.
2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup Technical Report (PDF File) – FIFA
The Official Technical report on the tournament from FIFA.
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WOMEN’S SOCCER
USA turn on the style for record crowd – FIFA
World champions USA marched to an imperious 8-0 win over Costa Rica in Pittsburgh on Sunday in their first match since winning the FIFA Women’s World Cup™ in Vancouver last month.
USWNT vs. Costa Rica: Final score 8-0 – Stars and Stripes FC
The last time the United States played a match, they were being crowned World Cup champions. So as they embarked on their Victory Tour, who better to play Costa Rica, a team they had outscored 51-0 all-time. Well now it’s 59-0 after they crushed the Ticas, 8-0, on Sunday.
Crystal Dunn’s late goal lifts Washington Spirit into 2nd place in NWSL – Washington Post
League’s leading scorer subdues the Chicago Red Stars in stoppage time, 2-1, with her 13th goal.
Continental Cup: Arsenal and Birmingham City win to top groups – BBC Sport
Arsenal Ladies won 2-0 at rivals Chelsea to go three points clear at the top of Continental Cup Group One.
Why should women’s sport become more like men’s? Let’s shoot for a new model – The Guardian
The rise of women’s sport presents an exciting opportunity to think about the sports industry of the future. With adequate government funding, selected women’s sport could be broadcast free and live, without gambling ads, on our public broadcasters. Just look to the BBC coverage of women’s football to see women’s sport getting the media attention it deserves.
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NASL
Potent Eddies offence derails ‘Hawks at Clarke Field – FC Edmonton
Eddies striker Tomi Ameobi and midfielder Lance Laing both scored their seventh goals of the season and Salvadorian midfielder Dustin Corea scored his first goal since arriving in Edmonton. Between the woodwork, goalkeeper Matt VanOekel collected his fourth clean sheet of the Fall Season.
Eddies thrash Carolina 3-0, but it could have been much, much worse – the11.ca
You could make a strong case for Akira Fitzgerald’s inclusion in the NASL Team of the Week. Without the stellar play of the Carolina keeper, the RailHawks would have lost to FC Edmonton by a more lopsided scoreline than Sunday’s 3-0 result at Clarke Field.
MATCH RECAP: Minnesota Steal Late Victory in Ottawa – Ottawa Fury
It was unlucky 13 for Fury FC as Minnesota United stole all the points at TD Place Saturday night in front of 6,899 fans, the largest of the season. Ottawa has their hopes of tying the NASL record for consecutive games unbeaten wiped away by Daniel Mendes’ 94th minute winner. Ottawa’s lead atop the NASL Fall standings remains at five points after Atlanta fell in Jacksonville.
Minnesota snap Fury’s 12 game unbeaten run – Red Nation Online
Ottawa Fury’s twelve game unbeaten streak came to an end on Saturday evening as they fell 2-1 to Minnesota United. Fury had won five in a row and were looking to make it a thirteen game unbeaten run with a win or a draw, but a late Daniel Mendes free kick would give United the win and hand Fury their first loss since May 2nd.
NASL Weekend: Last-second golazo ends Fury streak – Soccer America
Daniel Mendes ended Ottawa’s unbeaten run at 12 games when his free kick from 25 yards nicked the far post and slid into the goal in second-half stoppage time to give Minnesota United FC a 2-1 win over the Fury before a season-high crowd of 6,899 fans at TD Place.
NASL’s split-season model, now in third year, offers unpredictable thrills – The Guardian
The NASL operates under a split-season model, with the league schedule separated into two competitions: a spring season, which is played from April to June, followed by a fall season, which takes place between July and November. Though not common in Europe or other American sports, the split-season model is used in a number of South American countries including Colombia, Mexico, and Uruguay.
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WORLD OF SOCCER
Chelsea’s tactical tweaks fail as Man City outflank the champions – ESPN FC
On Sunday at the Etihad Stadium, Jose Mourinho broke two records. Chelsea had more possession than Manchester City for the first time since his return to England. They also lost their first league game to a top-four rival over the same period.
A statement win by Manchester City over Chelsea – Sportsnet
City showed they are far from a spent force by thumping Chelsea at home on Sunday. Such was City’s dominance in the opening 45 minutes that Jose Mourinho substituted captain John Terry out at halftime in an attempt to shake things up. It didn’t work.
City’s precious blend of poetry and power is back and they are a sight to behold – The Telegraph
City’s destruction of Chelsea was in another universe. Here was proof that a team of City’s talent can stop buses being parked if the resolve and energy are there.
Chelsea and Jose Mourinho are lurching towards another crisis – The Telegraph
It may not be a crisis at Chelsea but precedent tells us that one may be looming. They say bad news comes in threes: first there was the storm of protest over Jose Mourinho’s unnecessarily brutal treatment of first team doctor Eva Carneiro and physio Jon Fearn – does anyone still believe it was some kind of deflecton tactic? – and then there was the 3-0 humiliation against Manchester City with captain John Terry hauled off at half-time.
Barcelona squad may be Luis Enrique’s undoing this season – ESPN FC
Erring on the side of caution tends to be a sound strategy when drawing conclusions from early-season games, but with losing 4-0 an incredibly rare occurrence for Barcelona, the events of the last week merit special attention.
‘Yes we can!’ – but Barcelona has never come back from four goals down – Goal
The Catalans will hope to keep their sextuple hopes alive Monday by producing the greatest comeback in their history, but the odds are stacked against them, writes Ben Hayward.
Liverpool’s Sean O’Driscoll: we had to buy our own training kit at Bournemouth – The Guardian
His job is to help ensure Bournemouth’s first away match as a Premier League club ends in defeat but few will take more pride in their presence on the historic Anfield stage than Sean O’Driscoll. For 22 years he served Bournemouth as player, coach and manager, a job that involved buying training kit from the market and organising a team photo on a yacht in an effort to keep the club financially afloat. They are part of the reason Liverpool’s new assistant manager “views this Premier League bubble through a different lens”.
Rooney’s form a concern ahead of UCL playoff – TSN
Manchester United will want more than just a first-leg lead from its Champions League playoff against Bruges on Tuesday. A goal from Wayne Rooney would be very welcome, too.
UEFA demands answers over Platini article – Goal
UEFA has confirmed a letter of complaint has been sent to FIFA as European football’s governing body attempt to find the source of an article that appears to discredit its president Michel Platini. Several German media outlets are reported to have received the story entitled ‘Platini: Skeletons in the Closet’, which casts doubt on the Frenchman’s suitability to replace Blatter as FIFA president.
Chung vows to ‘change FIFA’ after launching presidency bid – Goal
Former vice president Chung Mong-joon will run for the FIFA presidency in 2016, stating his intention to change soccer’s governing body in four years.
FIFA’s internal US investigators given power to knock on some big doors – Inside World Football
A report in the Wall Street Journal suggests an internal investigation by FIFA being conducted by lawyers from the Washington, D.C.-based law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, plans to compel testimony from dozens of current and former top FIFA officials and to seize documents and electronic records.
FIFA bribery suspect Rocha agrees his extradition to Nicaragua; US must agree to let him go – Canada.com
Switzerland’s justice ministry gave its approval on Friday for the extradition of FIFA bribery case suspect Julio Rocha to Nicaragua. However, the United States can block the process because it has already sought Rocha’s extradition in its own wide-ranging case.
Qatar League: Lekhwiya’s Flores targets title defence, Asian final – FIFA
Aside from defending the QSL title, Chico Flores is intent on going all the way in Asia’s top club competition, with Lekhwiya currently preparing for a quarter-final meeting with Saudi side Al Hilal: “The Asian Champions League is very difficult,” he said. “You play against the best teams from a lot of different countries. In the league you have more regular matches, but here one bad match or a sending off can be crucial. We want to reach the final, although we know it will be difficult.”
Blackpool shut down account after abusive tweet sent to supporter – The Guardian
Blackpool have distanced themselves from an abusive tweet from one of their official accounts that called a supporter an “arsehole wanker” during an argument over the state of the Bloomfield Road pitch.