The newest soccer stadium in America is only one match old but it already has a memorable moment written into its history.
Brad Davis scored one of the best goals of the MLS season to give the Houston Dynamo a 1-0 win over D.C. United in the victorious christening of BBVA Compass Stadium which featured a standing-room only crowd (watch the highlights here). "If this isn't the best [stadium], it's among the top three," part-owner Gabriel Brener said.
Check out the photo gallery of the Dynamo’s new digs courtesy of the Houston Chronicle and this time-lapse video spanning six hours worth of BBVA Compass Stadium activity.
The Dynamo, who will be back in action at BBVA on Tuesday night, may have won the match, but that didn’t stop two fans from crying their eyes out in The House That Ching Built. Find out who they were here: One of them was a two-time Olympic medalist. Also, check out the rest of the celebrity list on hand here.
Montreal fans set a new Canadian soccer record after 60,860 packed Olympic Stadium for Saturday afternoon’s match-up against the MLS Cup champs LA Galaxy. The match finished in a 1-1 tie with a David Beckham equalizing free kick grabbing the headlines (watch the highlights here). “I’m guessing that if there was another goaltender playing for them we would have won,” said LA’s Landon Donovan.
Next stop for the defending champion Galaxy: A visit with Barack Obama at The White House.
The attendance in Seattle was the third largest for an MLS match in club history and they saw a dandy, although the hometown Sounders came out on the wrong end of a 1-0 result against league leaders Real Salt Lake (watch the highlights here). "When top teams meet, there's sometimes not a lot that separates the two,” says Seattle manager Sigi Schmid.
After the road win, RSL now have just one league game and the US Open Cup on their schedule between now and June 16 due to FIFA dates. "It’s just goofy," RSL general manager Garth Lagerwey said, "It’s going to look goofy like this, I think, for the foreseeable future."
It’s always interesting in Philadelphia. An eventful 3-2 win by the first-place New York Red Bulls over the Union (watch the highlights here) had people talking about Freddy Adu’s red card (Adu says “it’s a 50-50 call”) and a rumored trade of captain Danny Califf: “There is no deal. That doesn't mean they can't put something on the table that is a real deal,” says Union CEO Nick Sakiewicz.
The Califf trade rumors involve Chivas USA and this report even mentions names of other players that could go either way in a potential deal.
The Red Bulls brass also addressed an off-the-field issue. Sporting director Erik Soler talked about the Wilman Conde situation after yesterday’s match. Here’s the latest update.
The Red Bulls leaped into first place in the East thanks in part to Sporting Kansas City’s 2-1 loss at Chicago (watch the highlights here). SKC manager Peter Vermes suggests “the score line is not indicative of how we played,” and he was also very direct regarding his thoughts on the ejection to Sporting’s Roger Espinoza: “It’s not a red card,” Vermes said. “There’s nothing to speak of other than that. It was not a good call and it changed the game completely.”
The Columbus Crew also made a move in the East standings. They used a stunning strike from Justin Meram and a rare header from Sebastian Miranda to overcome a Fabian Castillo goal that the Crew’s Tony Tchani was beating himself up about (watch the highlights here). The come-from-behind 2-1 win has the Crew dreaming big: “If we keep playing this way we can play with anybody in the league,” says defender Josh Williams.
Also feeling good about themselves were Chivas USA, despite conceding an equalizer two minutes from time to Alan Gordon and the San Jose Earthquakes on Sunday night (watch the highlights here). “I think if you were to tell us that we were going to come in here and get a point, we would have been happy with that,” admitted Chivas USA goalkeeper Dan Kennedy.
Lee Nguyen was the star of the show in New England’s 4-1 drubbing of Vancouver with two goals and an assist against the club that cut him on March 1: “I couldn’t have scripted it any better,” Nguyen said. (watch the highlights here).
Whitecaps manager Martin Rennie took the fall for his lineup selection but he also made sure to praise Nguyen: "If he plays like that every night, he'll be an all-star,” Rennie said.
It will go down as one of the most memorable finishes in soccer history for those that watched it unfold: Manchester City’s two-goal stoppage time comeback against QPR in England yesterday gave them the EPL title over rivals Manchester United. (VIDEO)
You don’t think it was epic? Look at this Sky broadcaster’s live reaction to the game-winner by Sergio Aguero for Manchester City: “They’ve got love bites and everything.” What? (VIDEO)
On the other end of the spectrum, Bolton Wanderers and the club’s Americans will be playing in the English second tier next year after the weekend results. Ex-Red Bulls defender Tim Ream nearly scored a dramatic late winner in the match.
It wasn’t exactly the same drama experienced in Manchester, but Santos Laguna pulled out a miracle to tie 3-3 and knock out UANL Tigres with two goals in the last four minutes by Oribe Peralta (watch the highlights here). Next they face Monterrey in the final. (VIDEO)
We can confirm that Spanish legend Raul will not be coming to MLS any time soon. The rumors were true for a change: He’s heading to Qatar.
Lastly, Americans Ricardo Clark and Sean Cunningham woke up to some sad news about one of their Stabaek teammates who was found dead at a construction site in Oslo.
MLSsoccer.com Must-Reads:
Young forward from Southern California wins Sueño MLS
RSL hero Espindola credits newborn son for extra motivation
Philadelphia Union confirm offer received for Danny Califf
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