Back in MLS With a Bang!

My voice is more than a little froggy this morning after calling a wild 3-2 win for D.C. United over Orlando City in a Major League Soccer game Saturday night.

We don't have time or space to go through all my emotions leading up to the show, my first on the primary English TV feed of an MLS game since an ESPN game I called in 2021. Suffice it to say, I've been looking forward to it! The event itself certainly delivered more than I could have asked for.

Five goals, multiple lead changes, and a 90th-minute game-winner from the home team in front of their supporters? Yeah, that's how you draw it up. What's more, the decisive goalscorer, Kye Rowles, was the D.C. United representative we talked to on Friday to prepare for the match. I did not expect that he would be the hero less than 36 hours later!

Here are the highlights of a game I thoroughly enjoyed calling with my partner, 12-year MLS veteran Jalil Anibaba, who I only met on Thursday but already consider a friend. We had a blast!

For my first broadcast on Apple TV and my first full broadcast in almost six months, I felt very good about our show. Getting fooled by the 80th-minute chance and calling goal on a shot that didn't go in will not make my personal highlight reel, but it happens to the best of us.

It was also a treat before the game to say hello to a broadcasting legend, Dave Johnson, for whom the broadcast booth at Audi Field is named. He is battling multiple sclerosis and doing so with remarkably good humor, maintaining a busy schedule of Wizards and United broadcasts, working with Bruce Murry on the latter.

Dave is a true class act for whom I have so much respect. He showed that American broadcasters can put their own stamp on soccer. Ever the insider, he had confirmed both lineups and bench rosters way before us TV folks, helpfully sharing that information to help us prepare.

I have a few weeks for my voice to recover before I call three more MLS games in May, and then everyone's focus will flip to the World Cup.

But for now, I'm very happy to have gotten my feet wet. As I texted a friend this morning, "God was it fun!"

Flashback 2010: Cruz energy on display in first career start, goal

I was hoping to do some flashbacks this year to look back 10 years to 2010, when I was in my second year as the radio play-by-play broadcaster for the Houston Dynamo. Now with sports shut down and so much of life seemingly on hold, it seems like the right time to aim for a series of retrospectives, looking back at some memorable or quirky moments from my career in sports.
 
May 22, 2010
Danny Cruz always stands out for one thing: energy.

I'm just going to leave this here and let you enjoy Danny's first foray into the starting lineup.



A former hockey player who always brought that mentality to the soccer field, Danny is one of my favorite people to cover and work with, from his draft day in 2009 as a 19-year-old to his appearance on MTV's Made in 2011 (more on that here) to his years with the Philadelphia Union to the present day as an assistant coach with Louisville City. A relentlessly positive guy with an amazing attitude.

Having come to the sport a little later than most, Danny was never the most technical player at the professional level. But his speed, athleticism, and work ethic earned him a Generation adidas contract out of UNLV and led to him starting a good run of matches in both 2010 and 2011, including the Dynamo's run to the 2011 MLS Cup final.

We in the Dynamo communications office got some laughs over the years from times the wrong Danny Cruz would be listed on our team page on various sites. There was the time Soccerway listed him as Daniel Cruzeiro, a Brazilian goalkeeper, and, of course, the time the Dynamo invited a Colombian named Daniel Cruz for a trial.

I'm not going to lie: I was kind of glad that one didn't pan out. Although the two later shared the field for five minutes in a Houston-Dallas MLS game, to me there's only one Danny Cruz.

Video: D.C. United vs. New York Red Bulls call on ESPN

On Sunday, I finally got to call a game with ESPN's lead soccer analyst, Taylor Twellman. He's given me a lot of support and encouragement in my career, but somehow, every time I've gotten an ESPN assignment, Taylor has managed to be somewhere else!

After a crazy night of travel from his last game in New York, he made it down to D.C., where I had flown Saturday morning, and we were able to call Sunday's D.C. United-NewYork Red Bulls game together.

Here's how it looked / sounded as it happened:

Soccer's back already? Escaping New York for MLS preseason in Florida

The snow just keeps coming in New York this winter, only my third in the Northeast in the last 13 years, so I was only too glad (and very lucky) to escape to Florida on Tuesday to cover some Major League Soccer preseason action.

Going from this:

to this:

certainly brightens your day, even if that day starts at 5 a.m. on about three hours' sleep.

At any rate, I'm working with MLSsoccer.com as part of its preseason coverage, and on Wednesday night we'll offer one of the best preseason matchups you could ask for: D.C. United vs. Toronto FC (7 p.m. ET, MLSsoccer.com). It sounds a little strange, given that those teams finished last and second-to-last in the Eastern Conference last year. But these are teams in the midst of big-time makeovers, and being the first to get a look at the new groups is exciting. Even if those groups are still assembling.

We'll also cover the Columbus Crew's first game under new head coach Gregg Berhalter when they take on Swedish champion Malmö at 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday, and I'm excited to get a first look at the new Crew.

Here's a pre-game look from each perspective:
Columbus Crew website
Toronto FC website
D.C. United via Washington Post

The new IMG Stadium seems like a good preseason venue,
even if it does have a track.

The Toronto-D.C. game stands out because there are SO many new faces on each side. Well, not NEW faces, exactly - familiar faces in new places:

D.C. United brought in seven MLS veterans in the offseason and could probably start six of them at some point (three are center backs). The cast of characters has plenty of talent and could instantly put D.C. back in the playoff hunt. Why don't more teams re-build this way? It's expensive, since D.C. acquired several players through the re-entry process, but a double dose of allocation money (for missing the playoffs AND for reaching the CONCACAF Champions League) sure helps. One of those new guys is defender Bobby Boswell, who began his career with D.C. from 2005-07 and who I consider a friend after working together for four years in Houston. It was great to see him on Tuesday and catch up on his busy offseason, including the birth of his second son, Nash, last month.

Another former Houston friend in town is Dwayne De Rosario, who went from D.C. United to one of his old clubs, Toronto FC, in the offseason. Yet De Ro - always entertaining and still as confident as ever - is one of the lower-profile acquisitions by free-spending Toronto FC, which brought in seven new signings of its own, including the high-priced trio of England international Jermain Defoe, U.S. international Michael Bradley, and Brazilian forward Gilberto.

MLSsoccer.com's Samantha Yarock sat down with Toronto FC on Tuesday, and I listened in on some very entertaining interviews. Among the lines of the day were Ryan Nelsen saying "a hardened MLS player is gold dust for me" and De Ro pointing out that one of his fingers is feeling lonely right now (he has four MLS Cup championship rings).

It's all got me ready for my first MLS action of 2014 on Wednesday at the IMG Stadium here in Bradenton!

Preseason invitees 2013 - Eastern Conference

The MLS preseason is inevitably a blur of players coming and going as teams try to fill out their rosters. Here is an attempt to keep track of who's under contract, who's in camp with whom, and which teams are keeping spots open for the summer.

Information is unofficial, acquired to the best of my ability via team and media reports.

Eastern Conference:

Chicago Fire (17-11-6, 4th East) -- Frank Klopas			Signed: 26 / Open: 4
2013 Newcomers: MF Joel Lindpere (trade, New York), FW Maicon Santos (re-entry, D.C. United), MF Jeff Larentowicz (trade, Colorado), MF Brendan King (1990, Bray Wanderers - Ireland), MF Dilly Duka (trade, Columbus), FW Quincy Amarikwa (trade, Chicago), MF Yazid Atouba (draft, 1993, Cameroon),
Draft: Atouba, LB John Gallagher (1990, Penn State), GK James Belshaw (1990, Duke), DF Caleb Konstanski (1991, Indiana)
Trial: GK Alec Kann (1990, Charleston Battery), FW Colin Rolfe (1990, Houston), DF Pascal Chimbonda (1979, Guadeloupe), DF Leo Lelis (Fluminense, Brazil)
Other: GK Jay Nolly (1982, Vancouver) - rights acquired, unsigned

MLS Cup Playoffs Best 11 (+7) so far

My apologies for the lack of posts - I've doing some mix of working and procrastinating, and I'll leave you to determine which has won out. I've also been watching as much of the MLS Cup playoffs as possible and have enjoyed the ridiculous drama, even though I'm often watching on delay and could simply open a new tab to find out who won.

Rather than a whole, long, drawn-out, "I told you so," I'll just point out that one team will have a huge competitive advantage in the MLS Cup final (home field) based on a difference of five points or fewer over its opponent, one which may have played a more difficult regular-season schedule. As long as that schedule is unbalanced and the final is a single game, I believe it must be played at a neutral site, purely for competitive reasons.

But I digress.

Today, just for fun, I'm picking a Best 11 from the first 10 playoff games of 2012. Why? Because I want to inspire an official all-tournament team for the MLS Cup Playoffs. It's gotta start somewhere, right? Unlike most Best 11s, I will use the Arabic numeral 11, rather than the Roman numeral XI. And unlike most Best 11s, I will choose a starting lineup with players in their actual positions. Groundbreaking, I know. OK, here we go:

MLS Cup Playoffs Best 11 (+7) (conference semifinals and knockout round games only)
GK - Nick Rimando, Real Salt Lake - I'm actually not a huge Rimando fan, because I prefer a 6-foot-plus goalkeeper who can control the penalty area, but a shutout with a broken nose and that exceptional save on Brad Evans early in the second half Thursday night make him a must-choose. Honorable mention to Michael Gspurning and Tally Hall.
RB - Robbie Russell, D.C. United - I know he only played one game, but it was a great game, and all the other right backs who played both games did very little. Seriously, count them. Sarkodie, Myers, Franklin, Beitashour, Lade, Johansson, Beltran. I really like some of those players, but Russell's 90 minutes stood out more than their 180.
CB - Omar Gonzalez, LA Galaxy - This guy is a giant. Not only that, he's really good. If LA wins the title, people will complain about how low a seed they were, but LA was 7-2-3 during the regular season when Gonzalez started, and he was excellent against Wondo and Lenhart. How many center backs were secretly pleased when he elbowed Lenhart in the face?
CB - Jeff Parke, Seattle Sounders - The Sounders didn't allow a goal in 180 minutes against a very good team, and while some of that is on RSL's pathetic execution in the final third (they finished the year being shut out in their last five games), Seattle's defense has to get credit, and Parke's the man for that. Honorable, honorable mention to Bobby Boswell.
LB - Seth Sinovic, Sporting KC - I know, I know, you think I'm picking a defender just because he scored a goal, but really I'm going with Sinovic because Boniek Garcia was relatively quiet in both legs for Houston, none of the Dynamo goals came on Sinovic's side, AND he was the only KC player to find the net. With a diving header. Hard to beat. Honorable mention to Corey Ashe, who was outstanding in the knockout round against Chicago.
RM - Landon Donovan, LA Galaxy - This is tricky, because he did play forward in this series, but I thought this was the best spot for him. He silenced a lot of doubts with a two-assist performance on Wednesday, and I never pick against Landon in the playoffs.
CM - Osvaldo Alonso, Seattle Sounders - This guy works his butt off, and even though it seemed like he was fouling Javier Morales every five minutes in last night's game, the Sounders rarely got pulled out of position against RSL's very tough midfield, and he deserves a lot of the credit. Honorable mention to his partner in crime, Brad Evans.
CM - Ricardo Clark, Houston Dynamo - He has been everywhere in the Dynamo's three playoff games, sliding to break up a play and set up the game-winning goal against Chicago before frustrating Roger Espinoza in Houston last week. His range has reminded everybody of why Dom Kinnear's 4-4-2 was so successful from 2005-09.
LM - Mike Magee, LA Galaxy - All he does is score big playoff goals. And occasionally play goalkeeper really well. But really, it's the clinical playoff goals that put him here. Honorable mention to Nick DeLeon.
FW - Robbie Keane, LA Galaxy - Duh. I enjoy disagreeing with statements made by Bruce Arena (he wants you to disagree with most of them), but when he praises Keane as the best player in the league this year, you can't really argue. Especially when Thierry Henry won't take a last-minute free kick with his team down a goal in a playoff series.
FW - Will Bruin, Houston Dynamo - Clinical, clinical finishes. Three of them. Two of which are not the type usually scored by Houston forward. Easy choice here. Honorable mention to his wingman, Calen Carr.

Bench (these players were actually used as replacements in the postseason)
GK - Joe Willis, D.C. United - If he can come off the bench and save a PK, it's good enough for me. Might be better than Bill Hamid right now anyway. He's definitely more composed.
CB - Andre Hainault, Houston Dynamo - He had really struggled in the second half of the year (and he was on the field for Honduras 8-1 Canada), but he looked confident and competent when called upon against KC.
CB - Tommy Meyer, LA Galaxy - I'm cheating a bit here, but the guy had only started 4 MLS games since May, so I don't consider him a full-time starter.
DF/MF - Lewis Neal, D.C. United - Surprise under-the-radar pick-up who helped Orlando City to USL title last year. Makes you want to promote them straight to MLS, doesn't it?
MF - Oriol Rosell, Sporting KC - He got to play with lower-than-usual pressure because of the situation, but I was impressed with his composure and ability to keep things simple from that deep-lying midfield slot.
MF - Mario Martinez, Seattle Sounders - Yes, I'm picking him just because of his one, series-winning shot. It was that good.
FW - Alan Gordon, San Jose Earthquakes - Goonies never say die. Even when they sprain an ankle.