Soccer By Ives

New York Red Bulls at Chivas USA: Running Commentary

The Red Bulls are in Home Depot Center tonight to take on Chivas USA in a key match for both teams. The Red Bulls are hoping to keep pace in the stacked Eastern Conference while the Goats are looking to exact some revenge for their loss at Giants Stadium earlier this month.

If you will be watching the match, or if you want to follow the match, you can check in here. Feel free to share your thoughts, opinions and some play-by-play in the comments section below.

I will be doing a running commentary so check in for that throughout the night.

Enjoy the match.

MLS Matchday: Your Running Commentary

Good evening folks. We are in Week 14 of the MLS season and tonight features several quality match-ups.

Headlining tonight's schedule of games is the New England-Toronto clash, which pits two of the top three teams in the Eastern Conference against each other. Can New England avoid the home woes that have led to a 3-2-2 record at Gillette Stadium? Can Toronto finally show some quality on the road (TFC is 1-4 on the road this year).

Some other storylines tonight include Chicago looking to snap a three-game losing streak against San Jose, Kansas City looking to snap a seven-match winless streak against a Real Salt Lake side that is unbeaten in five and Colorado looking to snap a four-match losing streak on the road against a Columbus squad that has scored three goals in each of its past two matches.

Here is the full schedule for tonight:

• Colorado Rapids at Columbus Crew, 7:30 p.m. ET.
• Toronto FC at New England Revolution, 7:30 p.m.
• Real Salt Lake at Kansas City Wizards, 8 p.m.
• San Jose Earthquakes at Chicago Fire 8:30 p.m.
• New York Red Bulls at Chivas USA, 10:30 p.m.

If you plan on watching any of these matches, please feel free to share your thoughts, opinions and some play-by-play in the comments section below.

Enjoy the soccer.

Ballack doubtful for Euro Final

Some six years after missing the 2002 World Cup final due to yellow cards, German national team captain Michael Ballack could miss the Euro 2008 final vs. Spain with a calf strain.

Ballack hasn't trained in two days and could be replaced in the lineup by Bastian Schweinsteiger or Tim Borowski.

Needless to say, if Ballack doesn't play then Spain will have that much better a chance of winning the battle in midfield, where Sunday's final will likely be won. With Spain likely to field a five-man midfield that could dominate possession with Ballack out of action.

What do you think of Ballack potentially missing the final? Do you think Germany will still win? Is this the break Spain needed? Are you just happy to see Ballack suffer because you haven't gotten over his game-winning goal against the USA in the 2002 World Cup? Share your thoughts below.

Dynamo 1, FC Dallas 1: A Supporter's View

Schellas Hyndman's transition to MLS reached a milestone on Thursday as the long-time SMU coach earned his first point in charge of FC Dallas. The Hoops showed far more energy and promise than they did against the Red Bulls a week earlier, and the result also helped the club walk away with the prize awarded to the winner of this Texas season series.

Houston can't be happy. The Dynamo continue to struggle for wins and still haven't shown the championship form expected of a two-time MLS Cup winner. Three straight matches without a win is troubling, especially considering the wasted chance Houston had to pull away from the lower teams in the Western Conference.

SBI correspondents Alex Swaim and Casey Corcoran took in the action and share their thoughts with us.

Morning Ticker: Adebayor changes mind, Italian club eyes Nakamura and Costa Rica boots Medford

So much for the whole "I'm staying at Arsenal thing."

Arsenal striker Emmanuel Adebayor has back-tracked from his statement last week that he was staying at Arsenal and is once again eyeing a move to AC Milan.

What should we believe? I think it's fair to say Adebayor is checking out options and is ready for a move.

On the bright side for Arsenal fans is news that Klaas-Jan Huntelaar's contract extension talks with Ajax have broken down, making a summer exit all the more likely. If Adebayor does leave Arsenal, you can bet that Arsene Wenger will be on the first plane to Amsterdam to lock up Huntelaar.

Here are some other news items from last night and this morning:

The Red Bulls Rebound

                                                                                Photo by ISIphotos.com

I won't deny it. I thought the Red Bulls were finished.

Watching D.C. United shred the Red Bulls to the tune of a 4-1 rout two weeks ago, I couldn't help but see the defeat as the first step in a total collapse. Jozy Altidore was off to Spain, Juan Pablo Angel was fighting injuries and Claudio Reyna was wrestling with the looming end of his career. The club's three best players were either gone, on their way out or in danger of not being the same. All that was left was a collection of youngsters and a list of veterans that didn't exactly have a ton of all-star appearances to their credit.

A losing streak seemed inevitable, but it didn't happen. Instead, the Red Bulls rallied to tie a red-hot New England squad on the road, then they outworked and defeated an FC Dallas team that beat them handily earlier in the season. Then they took that star-less squad to Phoenix where it thoroughly outplayed Mexican side Chivas de Guadalajara in a 1-0 friendly win.

Who are these guys?

Who they are is a team that looks to be coming together, and while they still need a major talent infusion to have any real title hopes, and they're still in jeopardy of missing the playoffs, these rejuvenated Red Bulls are certainly surviving without their big stars far better than anyone could have imagined.

It's Q&A Time

Good afternoon folks. It is that time again. Time for you to send your soccer questions my way and time for me to try and either find you an answer or give you my opinion on the subject.

You know the drill. Send one or two questions of modest length to me and I will try to answer them by next week. There have been problems getting the Q&A sessions finished because we surpass 100 questions so be warned ahead of time. If you get one of the first 50 questions in then chances are you'll get your answer sooner, but after 50 it could take me a week or it could take me two weeks. I'm shooting for middle of next week.

Also remember to check out the Q&A archives. Chances are if you aren't a regular reader and you have a question, I may have already answered your question before. If you submit a question and I don't answer it then it's because I have answered it before.

Let's get it started, Send your questions my way.

Copa Libertadores: Liga de Quito smashes Fluminense

The best team in South America just might come from......Ecuador.

Yes, you read that right. Liga Deportivo de Quito, a club most American soccer fans have never heard of, smoked Brazilian side Fluminense, 4-2, in the first leg of the Copa Libertadores final on Thursday night. The second leg is set for next Wednesday at the Maracana.

Surprise teams are nothing new in Copa Libertadores, but if Liga de Quito does win the Copa I can just imagine the clamor from MLS fans to get MLS into the tournament.

So who have you heard of on Liga? Well there's Ecuadorian national team star Agustin Delgado. And well, that's probably it. If you know your business then you might have heard of young Ecuadorian forward Joffre Guerron, who is on his way to Spanish side Getafe after the Copa Libertadores is over.

Have you been following the Copa Libertadores? Has Liga de Quito's run surprised you? Share your thoughts on the Copa final in the comments section below.

(The rest of) Your Questions Answered

Hello all. Apologies for the lack of posts this morning but I was finishing off the last of the most recent Q&A and also working on a piece for ESPN.com on my picks for the MLS All-Star game Starting XI.

First things first. I definitely wanted to answer the remaining questions from the last Q&A so I could clear the way for another Q&A session later today (stay tuned for that). Now, without further delay, here are the rest of your questions answered.

Morning Ticker: Villa out for Euro final, Adebayor staying at Arsenal and Asian WC draw set

                                                     Photo by ISI Photos

Good morning folks. It is the end of an unforgettable week of soccer action and while today may not have any games to look forward to, there is still plenty of news to go over.

Let's start the day with a few stories from last night and this morning to get your Friday going:

Villa set to miss Euro final

Spain striker and Euro 2008 goal-scoring leader David Villa looks set to miss Sunday's final against Germany with a leg injury. Villa injured himself during Spain's 3-0 win against Russia and looks very unlikely to add to his tournament-best four goals.

With Villa out, Spain will likely turn to Arsenal star Cesc Fabregas, who came on for Villa against Russia and promptly set up two goals.

Chivas USA 2, Fire 0: A Supporter's View

The Goats are back (for now).

After a two-game losing streak with two shutout losses, Chivas USA looked like it might slip back into its early-season funk. Not so fast. All the Goats did was put together a convincing 2-0 win against the suddenly slumping Chicago Fire. A win that has Chivas USA thinking about moving up in the West.

What has happened to the Fire? Winless in June, Chicago dropped their third straight MLS decision and look like a shell of the team that dominated the league for the first two months. With a defense showing cracks, and an attack that has managed one goal in three matches, the Fire need to regroup in a hurry in the loaded Eastern Conference.

SBI correspondent John Sandate was at Home Depot Center for the match and gave us his report on the action (Chicago correspondent Stephen Wattles' was unable to file a report due to the birth of his child last weekend.)

Euro 2008: Russia vs. Spain (Matchday)

Good afternoon folks. Apologies for the delay in getting this post up but it's been a busy day.

Today marks the semifinal we've all been waiting for. Spain vs. Russia. Andrei Arshavin vs. Marcos Senna, Roman Pavlyuchenko vs. Carlos Puyol, Guus Hiddink vs. Luis Aragones.

There should be plenty of drama and plenty of skill in what should be a much better match-up than the first meeting between these teams in group play.

If you will be watching the action, or if you just need a place to follow along, please feel free to check in here and provide your thoughts, opinions and some play-by-play in the comments section below.

Enjoy the match.

Dynamo 0, Rapids 0: A Supporter's View

There may not be two more inconsistent teams in MLS than the Colorado Rapids and Houston Dynamo. The Rapids have bounced between good stretches and bad stretches and pushed their winless streak to three games against a Dynamo team that has its own issues. In its past six matches, Houston has tied, lost and won, then won lost and tied. That isn't exactly the consistency you would expect of a defending champion.

To be fair, both teams had national team absences, but Houston still had plenty of firepower to pull off the road win. As for Colorado, the Rapids had to at least be happy not to surrender three goals for the third straight game.

SBI Correspondent Craig de Aragon took in the action and provided his perspective on the state of the Rapids (Houston correspondent Alex Swaim just returned from a trip out of the country).

Nash/Reyna charity game: A Look Back

Standing in the middle of an energized crowd, Jozy Altidore rattled off autographs and posed for picture after picture. Even after most of the other stars who played in the Steve Nash/Claudio Reyna charity match in Manhattan's Chinatown, Altidore stood on the turf at Nike Field and signed and posed for fans eager to meet American soccer's most exciting young star.

I stood just a few feet away from Altidore, watching the display when three young kids (somewhere between nine and 12) ran up to the group. One kid says, "I think he's a player. Is that Solomon Kalou?" I leaned over to the boys and said, "That's not Kalou, that's Jozy Altidore." One of the boys followed with, "Is he a player?"

After eventually giving the youngsters a quick rundown on who Altidore was, they ran off to get his autograph. I turned to ESPN colleague Doug McIntyre, who could barely contain his grin. Yes folks, this is soccer in America.

Yes, there were hundreds, probably a few thousand, of fans lining the fences at the charity game in Chinatown on Wednesday, but they weren't all soccer fans. Most fell into three groups: soccer fans hoping to see some good action and catch a glimpse of a soccer star, basketball fans hoping to see an NBA player and curious New Yorkers hoping to see something, anything entertaining and possibly see a celebrity or two.

What all those fans got was a funny, sometimes skillful and entertaining show that was a credit to the sport. Here's a look back at some of the more memorable moments:

On MLS in Phoenix and the Red Bulls-Chivas friendly

When USA and Mexico squared off in a friendly at University of Phoenix Stadium about 16 months ago, the crowd was great and packed the place in a memorable display of soccer passion. When the New York Red Bulls and Chivas de Guadalajara met last night, the scene was slightly less memorable.

Okay, a lot less memorable.

The paltry crowd was treated to a forgettable game, though the Red Bulls gave their fans plenty to feel good about. Despite being short-handed, the Red Bulls thoroughly outplayed a top Mexican club (which to be fair, was also not in season and missing several key players). No matter. The Red Bulls can feel proud about their performance.

SBI West Coast correspondent Odeen Domingo was in the house on Wednesday night and gave us his take on the exhibition and the Red Bulls' performance:

Reyna display a slight to Red Bulls fans

Claudio Reyna calmly placed the ball on the artificial turf where the penalty spot was and readied himself for a chance to score a goal. After a brief interruption from an opponent, Reyna confidently strided up to the ball and blasted it past the goalkeeper, drawing applause from the New York fans who ringed the venue.

No, this didn't take place at Giants Stadium. This took place at Nike Field in Chinatown at a charity game. The opponent who interrupted Reyna's kick was a joking Thierry Henry, who drew a yellow card that made many of the fans in attendance laugh.

Red Bulls fans weren't laughing at all. Not at the news that Reyna, the same player who has played in just six of the team's 13 matches this year, was able to play in a soccer game despite being too injured to join his team on its current West Coast swing, or play in any of the team's past five matches.

For many Red Bulls fans, it was the ultimate insult and the last straw.