September 11, 2008
The US got goals from Michael Bradley and Clint Dempsey in the first 20 minutes last night and they cruised from there.
Brian Ching added the knockout punch in the 57th minute and Tim Howard and crew kept the opponent off the scoresheet for the fifth time in five World Cup Qualifiers this year.
So, after all the talk about how the team was stagnating under Bob Bradley and didn't look great after 1-0 road wins at Guatemala and Cuba, let's look where this team is at today:
- They have won five straight qualifiers in a single cycle for only the second time ever.
- Add on the scoreless draw versus Argentina and the six straight clean sheets is a USMNT record.
- Clint Dempsey now has four goals in the last four US games.
- The US is now five points clear of T&T and Guatemala in Group A with three games to play, two of which are at home.
If that is a team that is struggling because of their coach, I'd love to see what they would do if they were really going good!
Montreal jumps past the Rhinos into 3rd place
The Impact went on the road and defeated Seattle 2-1 last night. The win over the Sounders pushed the Impact past the Rhinos and into 3rd place with 41 points.
The good news is that Montreal does have a slightly harder road to close the season as they travel to Vancouver on Saturday night, to Minnesota next Saturday, and close the season at home versus Puerto Rico next Sunday.
News & Notes:
- Canada's road to advance in World Cup 2010 qualifying got a lot harder after losing to Mexico in Blanco's last game for El Tri. Even though Blanco entered the game in the 88th minute, he did manage to get a yellow card.
- Eddie Johnson is trying to get his groove back.......
- Forbes Magazine is saying that the average worth of MLS teams (not including the expansion San Jose Earthquakes) averages out to $37 million with LA atop the chart at a valuation of $100 million. Some interesting numbers are the fact that the Kansas City Wizards, valued at $22 million, only pulled in $5 million in revenue and Columbus, valued at $23 million, pulled in just $6 million in revenues.
On the uptick, Real Salt Lake expects to see revenues jump from $7.6 million to $20.3 million in 2009 when they move into their new soccer stadium.
I wonder how much revenue an MLS team at PAETEC Park would pull in?
The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author, and not necessarily those of the Rochester Rhinos or SoccerSam.com. Feel free to send any comments or complaints to news@soccersam.com. James promises to read (but not to respond) to all of them.
