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MLS: Five things we learned in week 11 | Graham Parker and Joe Prince-Wright
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• Chivas sign Juan Agudelo and Danny Califf and win at home
• Fredy Montero with another late goal for Seattle Sounders
• Is Saer Sene the true heir to Taylor Twellman?Chivas spin the trade wheel - with instant results
On Thursday afternoon, Chivas stole the headlines ahead of Saturday night's SuperClasico against Los Angeles Galaxy, with a double swoop for Juan Agudelo and Danny Califf, moves that also sent Heath Pearce and Michael Lahoud to the opposite coast. On Saturday night both new arrivals started against the Galaxy and Chivas ran out 1-0 winners.
The Agudelo move in particular caught the eye - something he's had a knack for since bursting onto the scene in 2010, as a precocious talent from New York's academy. Ironically enough, he first made an impression playing alongside his new team-mate Juan Pablo Angel in the New York legend's last game for the Red Bulls. After his scintillating display in that play-off defeat, Agudelo was brought in for a national team debut in a friendly against South Africa - and with his eye for the big moment, scored the winner in that game and an equalizer against Argentina the next time out, to cement his status in the minds of many casual observers as the next big thing.
The problem was, it seems to have cemented that status in Agudelo's mind as well - while he was appearing in ads and next-big-thing photoshoots, it became clear to nearly everyone except him that he and Henry would struggle to fit on the same team, due to a redundancy of styles and Agudelo's still raw positional sense. There was also the sense that in his head he was convinced he was ready for prime time - certainly in MLS, but perhaps also in Europe. So as first Luke Rodgers in 2011, then Kenny Cooper in 2012, slotted in to the team ahead of him (as better fits for the overall team shape), Agudelo grew frustrated - despite the fact that his total minutes on the pitch compared very favorably to other MLS youngsters at a similar stage in their careers. When he got his chance there were still flashes of inspired invention (such as the bicycle kick he fashioned from nothing against Philadelphia last week), but there have been diminishing returns in terms of allying that flair to tangible production, and his chances were restricted accordingly.
With Chivas lacking a spark in the final third, the gamble Robin Fraser has taken is that Agudelo's inventiveness can be allied to application. The early impression was inconclusive - Agudelo looked fairly anonymous on Saturday night against the Galaxy - though that's perhaps to be expected, given that he's coming off both an injury and the bench he's been riding in New Jersey.
One new player whose application and discipline won't be a cause for concern for Robin Fraser, is Danny Califf, who shrugged off the hurt he felt at being railroaded out of Philadelphia (he reportedly "felt sick" when he heard the news he was on his way out...), to have a very solid debut at the heart of the Chivas defense, as they fought their way to their first home points of the season against their LA rivals, via a Correa penalty and a sending off for LA's Lopes for his part in the incident that led to it.
Califf's departure was a tough sell to Union fans who'd already seen LeToux and Mondragon leave before the start of the season. The Union fans are unlikely to be appeased by the makeweight signing of Michael Lahoud - a decent man and decent footballer, but anonymous in comparison to Califf's iconic stature with the Union fans. The only consolation for them is that Philadelphia appear to be sitting on a pile of allocation money, so hopefully there are signings on the way. If not the mutinous atmosphere at PPL Park might get ugly. Their injury-ravaged side did get a battling point against fellow strugglers Dallas on Saturday night, but all is not well down in Chester.
Meanwhile Agudelo's former club were much happier with their acquisition of Heath Pearce to add to their stretched defense. Pearce had a solid enough debut, though one mis-timed tackle could have been costly in the second half. But the Red Bulls won't argue with taking a 10-man, 2-1 victory to bring their winning streak to five (their best since 2003) - and in doing so ending Montreal's unbeaten home start. With Agudelo down the pecking order at the Red Bulls (and their sporting director Erik Soler quietly confident Luke Rodgers will be on his way back to New York at the end of June), the New York management were happy to make the trade to get some defensive experience from the US international Pearce. Scoring goals has not been their problem (as Agudelo found to his cost) - so this looks like a good move for them on paper. Of course on paper their makeshift defense should have conceded a hatful in the last five games, instead of taking maximum points. Funny old game...GP
You have to watch Fredy Montero every minute of the game
Last week we discussed how New York's back and forth 3-2 victory over ten man Philadelphia was like a karaoke version of the Manchester City vs QPR game that came before it. When Vancouver and Seattle got under way in their Cascadia Cup clash on Saturday, the Champions League Final was still under way, but there were echoes this week as well. There were more goals at BC Place than in Munich, but the decisive ones came at similar stages of the match. After Eddie Johnson had cancelled out Rochat's early opener with a fierce header, moments into the second half, the two sides seemed destined for a draw. Then, with the sides entertaining the crowd but threatening to cancel each other out, Camilo's long free kick curled past everyone and just inside the far post, on 83 minutes. Just as Bayern thought their goal at the same stage was enough to give them the trophy, so Vancouver seemed to believe they'd done enough to condemn Seattle to their second straight defeat.
But just as Bayern forgot to watch Drogba in the last minute and found that the one chance they gave him ultimately proved fatal to their chances, in the 89th minute in Vancouver, the Whitecap's back two lost sight of the ever dangerous Fredy Montero, who wriggled into position and then hit the most perfectly struck sand wedge of a shot past Joe Cannon. Cannon knew he was beaten the second Montero hit it, and could only watch, flat-footed, as the ball nestled into the corner.
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A draw was about a fair result. Vancouver will be sickened to have dropped the points so late in the game, but in retrospect will be pleased to have become the only team to have scored more than once against Seattle this season. Hassli didn't score, coming off the bench, but his revived goalscoring form seems to have sparked confidence throughout the team in their goalscoring ability, which had stuttered for a little while there. Seattle will take an away tie and yet more evidence that the Montero/Johnson partnership has potential - the latter's barging run in to score showed the Sounders can be direct when needs be, while the latter showed that it's dangerous to switch off against them, even for a second, when Montero's on the field. GP
LennyWatch
San Jose should be renamed The Comeback Kings and Alan Gordon should take his rightful place on the throne, after yet another last-gasp equalizer. The Quakes once again claimed a point after trailing Columbus - courtesy of this beauty from Justin Meram - from the stroke of half time until the last minute. That's when Gordon came up big, with a spectacular flying scissor kick to snatch a draw.
It's not the first time San Jose have struck late: Against Chivas USA last week Gordon jumped off the bench to net an equalizer in the 89th minute; in SJ's comeback win against Vancouver earlier in the season, Gordon again came off the bench to win the game, with a spectacular diving header. San Jose also hit a late winner against RSL. After joining the Quakes during the 2011 season, Gordon also scored twice in the last 15 minutes last season.
Gordon spent the first five years of his MLS career with the LA Galaxy, winning the MLS cup with them in 2005. He then endured a nomadic period, spending brief spells at Chivas USA, Toronto FC and finally ending up back in his native California with the Earthquakes. One man has both stood in Gordon's way and aided him during his injury-hit time with the Quakes: Steven Lenhart. LennyWatch has been action-packed in recent weeks. Gordon's late equalizer against the Crew could have been a winner, had Chris Wondolowski converted a first half penalty that was brilliantly stopped by Andy Gruenebaum. Who won the PK? Lenhart. His tireless effort typifies San Jose's never-say-die attitude and Gordon both applauds and benefits directly from the mischievous striker.
Said Gordon:
"Lenny does a lot of dirty work, a lot of hard work for a long time up there. He really gives the back four a rough night every night. When I come in, I think they're a little bit worn down. I've been able to reap the benefits of his hard work. I'm here to push Lenny, and be there when called upon. Frank (Yallop) knows he can trust me to come in and do a job. And that's what I've done."
JPWSene: the new savior?
Since Taylor Twellman left in 2010 New England Revolution fans have been craving a goal scorer. Now they seem to finally have one.
With two goals in Saturday's 2-2 tie with the Houston Dynamo, Saer Sene and his golden Mohawk improved his tally to six for the season, making him fourth top scorer in the league in just his first season in the US.
The Frenchman was picked up after leaving this weekend's Champions' League runners-up, Bayern Munich. Sene had been with Bayern for three years, scoring 19 times in 55 appearances for the reserve side.
His first goal in the draw with Houston came from the penalty spot – maybe he could teach former teammates Bastian Schweinsteiger and Ivica Olic a few lessons? – while his second was a peach of a strike.
Sene was named man of the match by the sponsors and looked to have given the home side all three points until Brazilian Luis Camargo scored his first goal for the Dynamo with another of the weekend's late game changers.
The 25-year-old Sene, who has a habit of finding space in a crowded box, will next week travel to in-form D.C. United in a game which will be a true yardstick of the Revs improvement. JPW
DeRo on a roll but Toronto on a roll of a different kind
At 34, Canadian striker Dwayne De Rosario leads the way for a surging D.C. United who recorded their second win in four days on Saturday, against a hapless Toronto FC. DeRo, a native of Toronto and former TFC captain, didn't waste any time piling on the misery for his hometown side as he scored United's first after just 55 seconds.
The famed bird walk celebration was seen at RFK twice on Saturday night and it's been seen with increased regularity of late. De Rosario has scored five times in his last six appearances, adding three assist along the way. United have lost just two of their last 12 games, as Ben Olsen has utilized his squad remarkably well. In the wins over Colorado – a 2-0 success on Wednesday with goals from De Rosario and Salihi – and Toronto, the names you would expect to see on United's team sheet weren't there: No Chris Ponitus, no Maicon Santos, no Nick DeLeon and no Emiliano Dudar. Pontius, Santos and DeLeon have 18 of United's 25 goals between them. Such is the strength of D.C.'s squad this term; those players weren't missed.
As for De Rosario's former team Toronto FC, the pain of an embarrassing stretch of consecutive defeats continues. The streak now stands at nine. Against D.C. they showed some spirit in the second half, as Danny Koevermans came off the bench and reduced the deficit to 2-1. Yet less than two minutes later the Canadians gifted Salihi a third for D.C. and the final 15 minutes saw a lifeless display from the demoralized Reds.
Next up, the Vancouver Whitecaps in the second leg of the Amway Canadian Championship, the one competition which has given them respite in 2012. Toronto seem to be a team for cup competition - after their brief success in reaching the semis of the CONCACAF Champions League - but this cup competition come to an end on Wednesday night. Then it's back to the nightmare that is their 2012 MLS campaign. JPW
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Ian Holloway lines up crucial money talks with Blackpool chairman
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• Blackpool's players 'deserve an awful lot more than they get'
• 'I don't think the chairman realises how football is'Ian Holloway will go on holiday to Italy this week before returning to hold talks with Karl Oyston, the Blackpool chairman, about the need for realism over how football operates financially. He will stress the importance of investing more money in a team who have been punching well above their weight for the past few years.
Blackpool's unlucky Championship play‑off final defeat against West Ham United, in which they outplayed Sam Allardyce's side for long periods in the second half and could easily have grabbed a second goal before Ricardo Vaz Tê's late winner, has cast doubt on Holloway's future after three years in charge at Bloomfield Road.
Although Holloway never suggested that his time could be up at Blackpool, he made no attempt to conceal his frustration with the constraints he remains under at what he described as "a skeleton club compared to everyone else and [where] we do things on a shoestring".
The Blackpool manager believes that his players "deserve an awful lot more money than they get" and, in the wake of their failure to secure an immediate return to the Premier League, expressed fears that the most talented members of his squad could be tempted to leave this summer, much like 12 months ago, when Charlie Adam, DJ Campbell, David Vaughan and Luke Varney departed after relegation from the top flight.
Asked what defeat in the play-off final means for Blackpool, Holloway replied: "What it means is another season of Championship slog and 'what's happening?' and 'will we lose some of them?' and 'will we get people putting in offers for some of the young ones?' That's what it means.
"We need certain things in place because at the moment we've had to beg steal and borrow and I need some more coming through. I need to talk to my chairman about what we're going to do and how we're going to keep building. It's really important he actually understands where I believe we can go, because I think this was a shock to him again.
"I don't think he realises how football is, and how you can play and what you can achieve by playing that way. I have to say I'm proud to put my name to that, that's all I can ever do.
"I'm almost not looking forward to those chats because he gets on his high horse and starts bellowing about 'they're all wrong, everybody pays more than they should'. Sometimes you've got to look at it. But I'm not here to break the bank, I'm here to add to things. I think he should know what I can do now. As an investment for his football club, I almost got him another £90m. Before I came here, his dad [Owen] was worth £105m, now it's £200m-215m."
After three relentless seasons, Holloway said that he is desperate to have a breather and escape from football for a while. "I'm just going on holiday and I think I deserve that, to be blunt. He [the chairman] has had a couple of holidays this year. It feels like three years all in one go – went up through the play-offs, then Premier League survival when everyone joked us off and that hurt, everyone writing us off as the worst Premier League team in history, [saying] we wouldn't get 10 points, then our season went longer than the Championship and we had to start earlier. Now we've gone to the play-off final again, which I wouldn't swap for the world. But now I need a break."
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Sam Allardyce praises Carlton Cole's 'show of love' for West Ham
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• Striker took a pay cut to help fire West Ham back to top flight
• Contract talks with Robert Green a priority for West HamDavid Gold had a smile from ear to ear, Mark Noble was proudly wearing the play‑off winner's medal that was going with him on his stag-do in Dubai later that evening while the man who scored the opening goal and also had a hand in the winner could not help but chuckle at the "Sex, Drugs and Carlton Cole" banner held up by West Ham United supporters. "I can't condone the drugs part," Cole said, "but sex, we all love. You know what I mean?"
It was that sort of day at Wembley as West Ham raucously celebrated their return to the Premier League after a 12‑month hiatus that would have brought considerable financial pain had it been extended. "It would have cost probably another £30m," said Gold, West Ham's co‑owner, when asked what the ramifications would have been in the event of defeat. "It's painful. If you own 150 oil wells, then it's no problem. If you own 150 Ann Summers shops …"
Now there is another, albeit much more welcome, need for investment. Gold predicted "the club's got to find £20m to ensure it doesn't get relegated" from the Premier League, which seemed like a reasonable figure to put on the price of survival on the back of West Ham's performance against Blackpool. Blackpool had three decent opportunities before West Ham took the lead and Ian Holloway's side also dominated for long periods after the interval, carving open a defence who always looked vulnerable.
Had a couple of those Blackpool chances been converted, Sam Allardyce may have been facing a fight to hold on to his job this week. Instead, the West Ham manager was asked whether a new contract, to replace the 12 months remaining on his existing one, was likely.
"Not for me. I don't need one. I'm my own man now," said Allardyce, sounding a lot more confident than he had looked in the tunnel before kick-off. "I don't need the security of a contract to work in this game. Somewhere down the line in the middle of next year maybe, but not now."
Other contract talks are more pressing. West Ham have made a priority of negotiations with Robert Green, the former England goalkeeper who is out of contract in the summer. Discussions with Noble and Cole, who both have 12 months remaining on their deals, are expected to take place soon afterwards. Cole was close to joining Stoke City last summer but rejected the move and sacrificed a fair bit of money in the process to lead the line in West Ham's promotion assault.
"I've kept my mouth shut for quite a while but I did take a wage cut to stay in the Championship," Cole said. "Half my wages just went. I thought 'I want to help the club get back to where we belong'. I didn't want to leave the ship. I would not have been able to live with myself. It is just such a reward to get to the Premier League again with West Ham at the first time of asking. It was like D‑Day for all of us.
"No contract talks have been planned but we will see what happens. Hopefully both sides will be happy that I sign a new contract. I am here to help West Ham and if there is a relegation clause, then I am happy to do it. You can't be on Premier League wages in the Championship. I know money is a massive factor in everyone's career, and obviously I want to earn as much as I can, but when you don't deserve it, as you have been relegated, you need to work back to where you need to get to."
Allardyce paid tribute to Cole for demonstrating "a real show of love for this club" as well as for scoring 15 goals this season, the last of which was the superbly taken strike that gave West Ham the lead here. Ian Evatt was caught ball-watching on that occasion and Blackpool will also have nightmares about Ricardo Vaz Tê's scrappy winner, when the forward rammed home from close range after Cole's stabbed effort had squirted into his path via a touch from Matt Gilks, the goalkeeper.
Thomas Ince scored in-between to equalise for Blackpool, and for a period it seemed only a matter of time before Holloway's side would add a second. "They had gone and I think we had them," Evatt said. "Sometimes in football, you don't get what you deserve and we definitely didn't get what we deserved. I think we were much the better team. I think we play the game in the modern way, we don't smash it up to certain players, we try to pass it properly and play through midfield and that's something to be proud of."
Evatt's comments felt like a less than discreet dig at West Ham's style of play, which has also been a source of frustration for the club's supporters at times this season. For Allardyce, though, it was always all about getting West Ham back in the big time.
"The fans will know we're not going to win as many games next season as probably we've won this one," he said. "But if we get the right team together and get the right team spirit, then we'll give it a right good go."
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