May 14, 2007
Rhinos 3 - California Victory 1
The California Victory had far from an ideal first ever home match as the expansion Victory fell to the Rhinos 3-1 on Saturday night.
Johnny Menyongar was able to get the Rhinos the lead in the 5th minute with his 2nd goal of the 2007 campaign when he took a goal kick from Chase Harrison and turned it into a goal thanks in large part to poor marking by the Victory defense.
Scott Palguta also had his second goal of the season in the 21st minute and the Rhinos were able to take a 2-0 lead into the locker room.
California pulled to within a goal in the 73rd minute thanks to Kiel McClung. However, Rey Martinez, who had come on in the second half for Hamed Diallo, was able to salt the game away in the 79th minute on a goal set up by Stephen Shirley-Black.
Portland Timbers 2 Rhinos 0
USL 1st Division leading scorer Andrew Gregor's 4th goal of the season in the 24th minute from former Rhino Chris Bagley was all the Timbers would need to get a win over the visiting Rhinos on Sunday night. Leonard Griffin scored on a bomb from over 30 yards out in the 32nd for the final goal of the match.
The bad news for the Rhinos coming out of the match is that defensive midfielder T-Bone Bonseu picked up his 2nd caution of the match in the 90th minute and will result in a one game suspension due to the red card. Also, Devo is reporting in his blog that Chris Aloisi and Rey Martinez picked up concussions in the match.
The Rhinos were planning on sending a few healthy bodies west for next weekends pair of matches in Seattle and Vancouver prior to last night's match. That plan will have to be implented now it appears to replace some guys that will be on the shelf.
One good piece of injury news is that Mike Ambersley saw his first action of the 2007 season versus the Timbers. He entered the match in the 40th minute replacing central defender Jason Perry as Coach Calloway tried to up the attack with the Rhinos trailing by a pair.
Nate Craft also saw his first action of the season as he gets into outdoor shape since his indoor season with the Detriot Ignition is now complete.
US U-20s practice under the lights at PAETEC Park
Freddy Adu and the rest of the US U-20 Men's National Team practiced under the lights at PAETEC Park last evening under the watchful eye of head coach Thomas Rongen and his assistants Dave Dir and Brian Maisonneuve.
Being Mother's Day, the players also shared with fans what they did to salute their soccer moms since they weren't able to be at home yesterday on US Soccer.com.
The Argentine U-20s are scheduled to practice today from 4:30pm until 6pm with the US squad practicing from 6pm until 7:30pm. Both practices will be open to the public and will be held at PAETEC Park.
New York Red Bulls and US U-20 forward Josmer Altidore was not at practice yesterday as the Red Bulls were hosting the Colorado Rapids at Giants Stadium yesterday afternoon. The good news for Rochester fans is that Altidore was a 77th minute substitute for the Red Bulls and that may mean that he'll see more playing time tomorrow night versus Argentina than previously expected.
Wambach nets career goals #70 & 71 versus Canada
The USWNT defeated Canada 6-2 on Saturday evening at Pizza Hut Park, the home of FC Dallas of MLS.
Sierra Mist Woman of the Match Abby Wambach scored her 70th career international goal for the US on a 3rd minute penalty kick. She then scored her 71st international goal on a header off of a Kristine Lilly free kick. Abby almost had the hat trick in the 71st minute as she almost got on the end of a Lori Chalupny cross to the back post.
Abby needs only 4 goals to tie Cindy Parlow for fifth all-time in USWNT goalscoring history.
Fans can also bid on the special edition pink jerseys worn by the USWNT on Saturday. The proceeds of the auction and sale of special edition pink merchandise will go towards breast cancer research. Kristine Lilly's jersey is the current leader with a current winning bid of $2500. Abby Wambach is 2nd at $1250.
Is the search for the new USMNT head coach over?
Steven Goff has a source telling him that Bob Bradley will get the interim tag removed from his title and will be given the full time job as USMNT head coach.
All I have to say to that news is "What took Sunil Gulati so long?".
In the end, I like that Bradley gets the job as I've been impressed with the job that he's done so far and I like the make up of the coaching staff he's put together.
Hopefully now the team can focus on the Gold Cup and Copa America this summer without an distractions with regards to the coaching situation.
It's all about Toronto FC
Toronto FC finally got the club's first goal and first win in a solid 3-1 decision over the Chicago Fire at BMO Field on Saturday afternoon.
New forward Danny Dichio scored, as did 2007 MLS SuperDraft 1st Overall pick Maurice Edu and the loud Toronto supporters got a show on the field to match their passion in the stands.
Up next for Toronto is the visit by the defending MLS champion Houston Dynamo who will be led by a couple of proud Canadians in Pat Onstad and Dwayne De Rosario.
I wonder if the Toronto FC faithfull will be trying to woo Onstad and De Rosario at all?
Claudio Reyna misses his second match of the 2007 season due to injury
Claudio Reyna says that his latest injury is "nothing major", but I doubt that makes anyone associated with the Red Bulls sleep well at night when there were major injury questions with Reyna prior to his signing and he's already missed 2 out of 6 matches in 2007.
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.
