Major Link Soccer - The Rain Continues Edition
by Dizzo on May 9, 2011 11:00 AM PDT
in Sounders: MLS Regular Season
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PrintThe rain continues for the Seattle Sounders and Major League soccer as injuries continue to mount. Both Brad Evans and Mauro Rosales were scratched before the Columbus Crew game due to injuries. An undermanned and a very tired Sounders team managed to squeak by Columbus 1-1 to secure a valuable point from their two game Eastern Road trip. David Falk has pictures and video highlights from the game. The Sounders have a week to recuperate before facing their arch-rivals, the Portland Timbers in their first MLS league game. Hopefully, with Steve Zakuani able to attend the match.
Morales Injured: Bad tackles and injuries continued to plague the league as early MVP candidate Javier Morales had his ankle broken by a Chivas USA defender Marcos Mondaini (caution: the linked clip is graphic). Morales is in good spirits and is scheduled to have surgery today in Salt Lake. While Morales may be staying positive, there are plenty of fans and a few teammates are incensed about the injury. I don't blame them as the Argentinian is the engine that makes Real Salt Lake's midfield run and fans of MLS will miss yet another dynamic, creative presence on the field. MLS will have a tough disciplinary decision to make this week just a week after handing down the largest suspension for an incident during play to Colorado Rapids midfielder Brian Mullan.
More Links From Around the League After the Jump:
The Big Tie: There wasn't a whole hell of a lot of movement point-wise this weekend. Eight games were played this weekend and five of those ended with both teams securing a point rather than three. The other three more decisive games were decided by a single goal. The big tie of the weekend was the 1-1 draw between the LA Galaxy and the NY Red Bulls. The game lived up to the hype as both teams played fluid attacking soccer with plenty of goal scoring opportunities. The result is a nice bonus to all the other teams looking to catch them in the standings.
Sounders Women Start Season: The Sounders men aren't the only Sounders team with a big game this weekend. The Seattle Sounders Women's team starts their season this Saturday when they visit the Victoria Highlanders. You can see the Sounders Women in action this season at Starfire Stadium in Tacoma. Prost Amerika has an interview with Sounders midfielder Tafara Pulse highlighting the upcoming season.
MLS Salaries Up: The MLS Player's Union released salaries numbers this weekend. The overall numbers show the financial growth and stability of the league. Overall salaries are up $8 million and only one team is currently spending less than the salary cap (and Chivas USA is likely to make some signings over the summer transfer window). The increased salaries hopefully will translate into better soccer across the league.
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Here's hoping!
Would be great to see Steve on the sidelines on Saturday! I’ll be keeping an eye out for him!
I'd like SSFC to increase its relationship with the women's team.
I didn’t realize the WPS is an east coast-only league, so the W-League is probably as high as they can go. Nice to see the ECS has a ladies auxiliary.
by yuniform on May 9, 2011 2:06 PM PDT reply actions 1 recs
It wasn't intended to be an east coast league
LA and Santa Clara had teams recently. In fact, the defending champion is the defunct team from Santa Clara.
Nos Audietis
Also of note
despite the fact that they carry the Sounders name, the Sounders Women are actually owned by the Tacoma Tide PDL organization.
Be nice for the Sounders to bring them back. I can’t imagine it’d be that expensive.
Nos Audietis
Yeah, good on the Tide (that's why I wrote SSFC).
I remember it being sad when Bend it Like Beckham came out, with all the girls wanting to go pro in the states, only to have the WUSA fold shortly thereafter. It’d be nice to see a women’s pro league grow – I think Seattle could be a part of that. Looks like DCU and Vancouver also have women’s teams in the W-League.
Pro sports isn't about nobility though
the fact is that WUSA and now WPS are not making any money, because so few people watch either live or on TV
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I watched a couple on FSC...
..and not a lot on the attendance that’s for sure, soo many empty seats.
I know--women's soccer doesn't have a big mens league like women's basketball to prop it up.
I’d like to see a league grow, but I don’t think it should be gifted 20 teams and a national TV contract.
First Look at Morales Injury
Wow, I hadn’t seen the tackle before this minute. Is it just me or was that even worse than the Mullan – Zak tackle? Perhaps the intent was worse with Mullan (he was retaliating for what he felt was a foul). Mondaini’s seemed to be an even more blatant infraction because it was a tackle from behind. He had plenty of time to decide to take Morales down as he gave chase to a superior player and in the end the result was the same as Mullan’s flash of anger. In court, isn’t premeditated is punished harsher than a crime of passion? All of the players in the league should have been more aware than ever of dangerous tackles after the recent events. I say give him at least 10 matches and clean up the MLS.
It's as bad although in a different way
The Mullan tackle was more violent while the Mondaini tackle was much more cynical. The injuries are both potentially as bad. The linked article on Morales’ surgery indicates that there’s some ligament damage in the ankle. That could permanently damage his game if its severe enough. I personally think a slightly lighter suspension and a higher fine might be the best way to handle Mondaini.
Worse in some sense
I won’t bust out the thesaurus for how bad Mullan’s tackle was, since we’ve covered it well here before. But he sort of had a shot at the ball, even if it was obvious that he wanted to get a piece of Zakuani on the way.
Mondaini had no shot at the ball. He started his slide 4 yards from the ball and never got within a yard of it. He was clearly just trying to take Morales out. On the other hand, despite being from behind and making no effort at the ball Mondaini’s tackle wasn’t particularly violent or forceful.
I’d give him 6 to reinforce that the league is not messing around with cynical tackles but recognizing that it wasn’t the flying tackle that Mullan’s was.
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