One night after the Montreal Impact produced some late heroics to advance in their CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinal series with Pachuca, D.C. United try to follow suit at RFK Stadium on Wednesday evening (8 pm ET, FOX Sports 2, Univision Deportes). Of course around the country, everybody's hard at work, because the 20th season of Major League Soccer is set to kick off on Friday night.
With teams in their final week of preseason preparations, catch updates from MLS training camps below and, to look back at the entire preseason schedule, click here.
TIMBERS ARMY BLESSES LOG, SEASON CAN NOW OFFICIALLY BEGIN
Put down the pen and paper, Fred Armisen. The Timbers Army just wrote your next
Portlandia
skit.
In a story that seems too Portland to be true, about 100 members of the Timbers Army gathered this weekend for their seventh-annual log blessing ceremony. The Oregonian’s Jamie Goldberg has full details on the ritual, which featured a lumberjack breakfast, a tree planting and a recital of something called the Timbers Toast (who knew, right?).
OCSC’S PATERSON RULED OUT OF SUNDAY’S STARTING XI
We know one player who won’t be in Orlando City SC’s inaugural MLS starting XI, with Lions head coach Adrian Heath revealing on Wednesday that English forward Martin Paterson will not be fit for Sunday’s expansion derby between OCSC and New York City FC.
Paterson’s absence means we’ll likely see Young Designated Player Bryan Rochez start up top for Orlando. The Honduran striker has been a mainstay for OCSC this preseason, and should feature heavily on Sunday in front of a sold-out Citrus Bowl crowd.
FIRE FLY WEST
The 2015 campaign gets started when the new-look Chicago Fire drop in on defending MLS Cup champions LA Galaxy at StubHub Center on Friday night (10 pm ET, UniMas, watch via SAP), and the Men in Red hit the airport to embark on the regular season's first road trip on Wednesday morning.
Much is expected of high-profile Fire acquisitions like Shaun Maloney and Kennedy Igboananike, but another newcomer has impressed observers during Chicago's preseason, and might even get his shot in the starting lineup in LA. Local boy Michael Stephens is eager to take the field for his hometown club, but he might have even more motivation this weekend as he takes on his old squad.
NEW NAME, HEATERS WITH GAME
The venerable facility now known as
MAPFRE Stadium (hold the 'P' when you're saying it) is, like just about everybody north of the Mason-Dixon Line, figuring out how to deal with cold weather.
Columbus Crew SC staff seem to have a good plan for this one, using a combination of tarps and heaters to keep the field in reasonable shape.
Well-played, Crew SC. We just hope you kept some hardhats around to keep everybody safe.
KACIE STEPS UP
Sporting Kansas City are welcoming a new TV personality to their broadcast team this season, KSHB-TV 41 Action News reporter Kacie McDonnell, who joins play-by-play announcer Nate Bukaty, color commentator Andy Gruenebaum and lead analyst Jake Yadrich on the SKCTV broadcast team.
McDonnell has already been tabbed for a photo feature in INK magazine, and curious fans can get a bit more insight on the Philadelphia native by watching this behind-the-scenes video of the photo shoot:
WEST IS BEST, SAYS NBC PST
The Western Conference has been perceived as the stronger of MLS's two halves for several years now, and on Wednesday NBC ProSoccerTalk's Andy Edwards took a crack at explaining why.
Five of the last six MLS Cup champs have come out of the West, including reigning MLS kings the LA Galaxy. Edwards cites cash, crowds and trophies among the reasons the West has enjoyed a marked advantage over its Eastern counterpart, and with East powers Houston and Sporting KC moving to the West thanks to expansion newcomers New York City FC and Orlando City, he believes it will stay that way for the foreseeable future.
