With the start of the MLS season just days away, teams are finishing their preseason slates this weekend, and there's a full stream of games on Saturday:
- Sporting Kansas City 1, Minnesota United 0 | RECAP | HIGHLIGHTS
- Toronto FC 2, Costa Rica U-23s 1 | RECAP | REPLAY
- Columbus Crew SC 4, OKC Energy 1 | RECAP
- San Jose Earthquakes 3, LA Galaxy 2 | RECAP (LA) | RECAP (SJ) | HIGHLIGHTS
- Orlando City 0, Houston Dynamo 3 | RECAP (ORL) | RECAP (HOU)
- Vancouver Whitecaps 1, Chicago Fire 1 | RECAP (VAN) | RECAP (CHI)
- New England Revolution 3, FC Tucson 0 | RECAP
- Sporting Kansas City 1, Seattle Sounders 1 | RECAP (SKC) | RECAP (SEA)
- New York Red Bulls 1, Philadelphia Union 3 | RECAP (RBNY)
- New York City FC 3, Charleston Battery 0 | RECAP
- FC Dallas 1, San Antonio Scorpions 2
- Portland Timbers 1, Stabaek 0 | RECAP
- Colorado Rapids 1, Real Salt Lake 2
For now, you can follow all of today's news and updates from MLS training camps below, and for the entire preseason schedule, click here.
THE HOUSE THAT MIX BUILT
New York City FC have been navigating offseason landmines for the past several months, but one thing is obvious: the fan support is there. On Saturday morning the team announced that they'd be opening up the nosebleed seats at New Yankee Stadium for the opener, which means the buzz is real, folks.
Maybe some lucky fan will catch a dinger.
THE ROAD FROM TIMBUKTU
Mali has been good to Major League Soccer. Djimi Traore – a Frenchman of Malian descent – spent several productive years with the Seattle Sounders, while long-time Chicago Fire defender Bakary Soumare just had a strong debut with the Montreal Impact earlier in the week.
Next up? Houston Dynamo rookie Oumar Ballo hopes it's him. Read his inspiring story of patience, perseverance, tolerance and - yes - soccer.
UNFRIENDLY
Toronto FC got the win in their final preseason tune-up match, but they got some worries as well. Benoit Cheyrou limped off the field late in the first half – after some nifty footwork to set up the game's first goal – and he was later joined on the sidelines by left back Justin Morrow, the victim of a rash challenge near the midfield stripe.
The Reds will take the 2-1 win over Costa Rica's U-23s, but the idea of two starters spending the next few days on the trainer's table can't have anybody happy.
Silver lining? At least Jozy finally got his first goal:
COMMAND PERFORMANCE
Crew SC were playing a lower division foe in their final tune-up and, well, the talent differential between the teams was pretty evident. It was 4-1, everybody who Columbus wanted to get on the scoreboard did, and this team can enter 2015 knowing that there's no reason they shouldn't compete for some serious hardware:
UNFRIENDLY, PART II
It might be a good thing that Houston and Orlando City meet just once in the 2015 regular season, because Saturday's preseason tune-up was marred by a pair of red cards and some bad-intentioned play from both sides.
Everyone seems to have survived (mostly) unscathed, except for OCSC's pride as they were drubbed 3-0.
WHOSE HOUSE?
The Quakes opened up Avaya Stadium in style, hanging a 3-2 loss on their southern rivals. Omar Gonzalez will forever hold a spot in Quakes lore, as it was his own goal that opened the game's scoring.
ACCORDING TO PLAN
New England are probably the Eastern Conference favorites (sorry, Crew SC & TFC) heading into 2015. And in their final game of the preseason they played like exactly that, easily handling hosts FC Tucson to the tune of 3-0.
Now for the road trip while everyone waits for Boston to de-ice...
AT THE TOP
Suddenly Western Conference rivals, Sporting and Seattle played their final preseason game in a setting that was more notable for the scenery than for the soccer.
Here, have a peek:
The 1-1 draw was entirely fair to both teams.
OUT OF THEIR SYSTEM
Jim Curtin played around with a 4-4-2 and it worked as his Philadelphia Union team took apart the suddenly gaffe-prone New York Red Bulls to the tune of 3-1.
Andrew Wenger did most of the damage for the winners, but RBNY fans can take heart from the fact that Bradley Wright-Phillips still knows where the goal is:
STEAMROLLER
New York City FC will have plenty of questions to answer in the coming days and weeks, but at least they have some momentum heading into their first season after pounding the Charleston Battery of the USL. The final was 3-0, and it wasn't really that close.
DEEP IN THE HEART OF
It's not the Texas Derby, but it's a Texas derby, and for now the San Antonio Scorpions of NASL hold bragging rights over FC Dallas.
NO. 9
With Diego Valeri, Will Johnson and Ben Zemanski all injured, the Portland Timbers will have to rely upon two things: a solid defense and at least one goal-scoring forward.
They got both in their final preseason match -- a 1-0 win over Bob Bradley's Stabaek:
