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On a day when Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes, two graduates of the much heralded Manchester United youth academy from the 1990’s, produced marvellous performances during the Red Devils’ destruction of Aston Villa, another former Carrington midfielder was also turning in a commanding display, captaining his side to a comprehensive victory in the MLS opener between Colorado Rapids and Los Angeles Galaxy.
Terry Cooke, whose early promise at Old Trafford was blighted by injuries, blasted the Rapids into a tenth minute lead, latching on to a rebound after Christian Gomez smacked the post with a long-range drive. From that moment, the home team never looked back and posted a 4-0 win in front of a record crowd at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park near Denver. Cooke turned in a match-of-the-match performance on the right flank, ably assisted by the Argentinian midfielder Gomez, Colorado’s major off-season capture from D.C. United, and the eager front duo of Omar Cummings and Colin Clark.
By the eightieth minute, when Clark became the final member of that quartet to register on the scoreboard, Cooke’s illustrious former team mate, David Beckham, had once again been relegated to the role of bemused bystander as Galaxy got their campaign off to the worst possible start.
Galaxy’s star seemed to be shining brightly in the early stages with Beckham supplying trademark service from an advanced position on the right towards Carlos Ruiz. The striker, re-signed from FC Dallas in the close season, becomes the club’s third designated player after Beckham and Landon Donovan. Under MLS rules, each franchise is only allowed one such player but the authorities seem rather lenient in enforcing their own rules when there is a potential cash cow to be promoted and milked.
The downside of this leniency for Alexi Lalas and Ruud Gullit, the Galaxy general manager and head coach respectively, is that the $1.2 million of salary allocated to this trio (only $400,000 of a DP’s wages contributes towards the $2.3 million annual team salary cap) leaves only $1.1 million to allocate across the rest of the squad. Quite frankly, it shows.
Bouna Coundoul, Colorado’s Senegalese international goalkeeper, snuffed out most of the early danger from Beckham’s deliveries, enabling his side to grow in confidence and begin mounting their own forays at a suspect Galaxy back four. With the early jousting complete and Rapids’ left back Jose Luis Burciaga repelling Beckham’s advances, the English icon was forced into dropping increasingly deeper to find space. His inviting crosses were replaced by speculative 40 yard diagonal hoofs into the penalty box, one of which fell invitingly for Ruiz who could only scuff his left-footed shot wide.
The game was effectively over fifteen minutes into the second half when the hapless Abel Xavier conceded a penalty which Gomez confidently converted. To be fair, the decision looked harsh on L.A., but Xavier does not help his cause by diving into tackles when he would be better advised to stay on his feet.
Cooke’s string-pulling in the Colorado midfield was now in stark contrast to his former colleague. As Cummings and Clark took turns to dance through Galaxy’s schoolboy defending and find the net, Beckham’s demeanour exuded the look of a man completely lost, uninterested and bewildered. He spent most of the last ten minutes behind Galaxy’s ravaged back line, collecting sideways passes and popping the ball off to another defender. If this was an attempt to create an impression of involvement, it failed dismally.
At full time, Beckham and his team-mates sheepishly made their way to the sanctuary of the dressing room as Colorado celebrated with their jubilant fans. He must be thankful that the flow of broadcast matches between Sky Sports and its sister station, Fox Soccer Channel, only travels in one direction, otherwise the ongoing debate about his inclusion within the England international squad would surely be at an end. Make no mistake; this was no one-off, but rather the standard that the American soccer viewer has quickly come to expect.
The good news for Los Angeles is that they have an early chance to redeem themselves with the returning San Jose Earthquakes franchise visiting Home Depot Center this Thursday evening for their first MLS match since 2005. Galaxy’s cause will be further aided by the suspension of Xavier, sent off during the closing minutes for dissent. However, it looks as though Beckham and Donovan will shoulder greater responsibility in galvanising the troops. Ruiz succumbed to a ligament injury late on that also saw Colorado’s Ciaran O’Brien red-carded for his challenge.
In the weekend’s other televised match, New England Revolution extracted some small measure of revenge on Houston Dynamo, the team that has defeated them in the last two MLS Cup Finals. Although Houston has walked off with the Championship on both of those occasions, they actually tend to struggle against the Revs with Steve Nicol sending his team out to stifle the Dynamo midfield and limit the contribution of Dwayne De Rosario, one of the league’s outstanding players.
Though without key players from last season in Pat Noonan and Andy Dorman, the early indications are that this Revolution side will pose greater attacking intent. Their midfield included the skilful Honduran international Mauricio Castro, who turned in an impressive debut alongside the equally exciting Gambian teenage duo of Sainey Nyassi and Kenny Mansally.
Despite the late withdrawal of Taylor Twellman, New England took a 2-0 lead in the first half through goals by the evergreen Steve Ralston and Adam Cristman, Twellman’s replacement. Dominic Kinnear, the Dynamo manager, adjusted his formation to match up with the Revs in the midfield after the break. His side fought back, but could not find the vital breakthrough. Stuart Holden came closest with a firm header which was brilliantly tipped away by a fully stretched Matt Reis, before Nyassi broke from halfway to complete a 3-0 win in injury time with a great solo effort.
Other results from Week 1:
Columbus 2 Toronto 0
Real Salt Lake 1 Chicago Fire 1 (Fabulous equaliser in injury time from Cuauhtemoc Blanco rescues a point for Chicago)
Kansas City 2 D.C. United 0 (Claudio Lopez makes a goalscoring start to his MLS adventure)
Dallas 1 Chivas USA 1
Terry Cooke, whose early promise at Old Trafford was blighted by injuries, blasted the Rapids into a tenth minute lead, latching on to a rebound after Christian Gomez smacked the post with a long-range drive. From that moment, the home team never looked back and posted a 4-0 win in front of a record crowd at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park near Denver. Cooke turned in a match-of-the-match performance on the right flank, ably assisted by the Argentinian midfielder Gomez, Colorado’s major off-season capture from D.C. United, and the eager front duo of Omar Cummings and Colin Clark.
By the eightieth minute, when Clark became the final member of that quartet to register on the scoreboard, Cooke’s illustrious former team mate, David Beckham, had once again been relegated to the role of bemused bystander as Galaxy got their campaign off to the worst possible start.
Galaxy’s star seemed to be shining brightly in the early stages with Beckham supplying trademark service from an advanced position on the right towards Carlos Ruiz. The striker, re-signed from FC Dallas in the close season, becomes the club’s third designated player after Beckham and Landon Donovan. Under MLS rules, each franchise is only allowed one such player but the authorities seem rather lenient in enforcing their own rules when there is a potential cash cow to be promoted and milked.
The downside of this leniency for Alexi Lalas and Ruud Gullit, the Galaxy general manager and head coach respectively, is that the $1.2 million of salary allocated to this trio (only $400,000 of a DP’s wages contributes towards the $2.3 million annual team salary cap) leaves only $1.1 million to allocate across the rest of the squad. Quite frankly, it shows.
Bouna Coundoul, Colorado’s Senegalese international goalkeeper, snuffed out most of the early danger from Beckham’s deliveries, enabling his side to grow in confidence and begin mounting their own forays at a suspect Galaxy back four. With the early jousting complete and Rapids’ left back Jose Luis Burciaga repelling Beckham’s advances, the English icon was forced into dropping increasingly deeper to find space. His inviting crosses were replaced by speculative 40 yard diagonal hoofs into the penalty box, one of which fell invitingly for Ruiz who could only scuff his left-footed shot wide.
The game was effectively over fifteen minutes into the second half when the hapless Abel Xavier conceded a penalty which Gomez confidently converted. To be fair, the decision looked harsh on L.A., but Xavier does not help his cause by diving into tackles when he would be better advised to stay on his feet.
Cooke’s string-pulling in the Colorado midfield was now in stark contrast to his former colleague. As Cummings and Clark took turns to dance through Galaxy’s schoolboy defending and find the net, Beckham’s demeanour exuded the look of a man completely lost, uninterested and bewildered. He spent most of the last ten minutes behind Galaxy’s ravaged back line, collecting sideways passes and popping the ball off to another defender. If this was an attempt to create an impression of involvement, it failed dismally.
At full time, Beckham and his team-mates sheepishly made their way to the sanctuary of the dressing room as Colorado celebrated with their jubilant fans. He must be thankful that the flow of broadcast matches between Sky Sports and its sister station, Fox Soccer Channel, only travels in one direction, otherwise the ongoing debate about his inclusion within the England international squad would surely be at an end. Make no mistake; this was no one-off, but rather the standard that the American soccer viewer has quickly come to expect.
The good news for Los Angeles is that they have an early chance to redeem themselves with the returning San Jose Earthquakes franchise visiting Home Depot Center this Thursday evening for their first MLS match since 2005. Galaxy’s cause will be further aided by the suspension of Xavier, sent off during the closing minutes for dissent. However, it looks as though Beckham and Donovan will shoulder greater responsibility in galvanising the troops. Ruiz succumbed to a ligament injury late on that also saw Colorado’s Ciaran O’Brien red-carded for his challenge.
In the weekend’s other televised match, New England Revolution extracted some small measure of revenge on Houston Dynamo, the team that has defeated them in the last two MLS Cup Finals. Although Houston has walked off with the Championship on both of those occasions, they actually tend to struggle against the Revs with Steve Nicol sending his team out to stifle the Dynamo midfield and limit the contribution of Dwayne De Rosario, one of the league’s outstanding players.
Though without key players from last season in Pat Noonan and Andy Dorman, the early indications are that this Revolution side will pose greater attacking intent. Their midfield included the skilful Honduran international Mauricio Castro, who turned in an impressive debut alongside the equally exciting Gambian teenage duo of Sainey Nyassi and Kenny Mansally.
Despite the late withdrawal of Taylor Twellman, New England took a 2-0 lead in the first half through goals by the evergreen Steve Ralston and Adam Cristman, Twellman’s replacement. Dominic Kinnear, the Dynamo manager, adjusted his formation to match up with the Revs in the midfield after the break. His side fought back, but could not find the vital breakthrough. Stuart Holden came closest with a firm header which was brilliantly tipped away by a fully stretched Matt Reis, before Nyassi broke from halfway to complete a 3-0 win in injury time with a great solo effort.
Other results from Week 1:
Columbus 2 Toronto 0
Real Salt Lake 1 Chicago Fire 1 (Fabulous equaliser in injury time from Cuauhtemoc Blanco rescues a point for Chicago)
Kansas City 2 D.C. United 0 (Claudio Lopez makes a goalscoring start to his MLS adventure)
Dallas 1 Chivas USA 1
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