For those watching Mexico play New Zealand in a friendly match in early October, it was easy to scoff at the sight of Giovani dos Santos wearing the captain’s armband for El Tri. Leadership has never been a quality directly associated with the Mexican attacker, but his continued evolution as a footballer speaks to his newfound maturity.
Once again, Didier Drogba took his place on the sidelines to watch his Montreal Impact in the 2016 MLS Playoffs. Once again, his replacement, Matteo Mancosu, proved a more than reliable substitute.
The Italian striker made it three goals in two playoff games for Montreal, lifting his side to a shock 1-0 first-leg victory over the top seeded New York Red Bulls.
Montreal were the only away side to win in the knockout round, defeating D.C. United 4-2 in the capital. On Sunday, they recorded another shocking result by blanking the Red Bulls at Saputo Stadium in Quebec.
The Seattle Sounders and Sporting KC played out a contentious Western Conference knockout round match in front of 36,000 at CenturyLink Field, the Sounders advancing with a controversial 1-0 victory.
The subject of all the controversy was two offsides calls, both of which went against Kansas City. Sporting started off the match with terrific intensity, Benny Feilhaber in particularly inspiring form in the midst of one of his best years as a professional.
A quick refresher: USWNT star Megan Rapinoe chose to join other athletes in kneeling during "The Star-Spangled Banner". We first saw Rapinoe participate in the silent protest on September 15, 2016, and that was not the last of it. Various athletes are refusing to stand during the anthem to draw attention to racial injustice in this country.
Though Montreal Impact coach Mauro Biello has yet to admit it, Didier Drogba has turned his back on his teammates. After losing his starting role to newcomer Matteo Mancosu, the former Chelsea star has only managed 10 goals in 22 games this season, Drogba only played in four of the team’s final seven games; starting two and coming off the bench in two more.
Landon Donovan, the all-time leader in scoring, assists and second most capped player in USMNT history, to go along with MLS’ all-time top scorer, assists leader and playoff goals leader has added another distinction to his legacy: he’s now MLS’ all-time leader in playoff assists with 15.
The Galaxy mercilessly ended a careening Real Salt Lake season, the Claret and Cobalt having limped into the playoffs after collecting only three points from their final seven regular season games.
For a long-suffering Toronto FC fan base, it was history. For Sebastian Giovinco, it was about time. Toronto FC scored its first playoff goal in franchise history and advanced past the knockout round for the first time. Toronto will now face New York City FC in the conference semifinals in a match pitting a large majority of the league’s major star power.
It's easy to forget Julian Green is only 21 years old. He's earned a spot in Bayern Munich's first team, been dropped from Bayern's first team, rejected moves away from Bayern, scored in a World Cup knockout game and started in the Champions League. This season Green is trying to carve out a spot in Bayern's rotation, and his play in his first start for the senior side since 2015 will certainly help his case.
Green scored his first competitive goal for the first team against Augsburg Wednesday with a wonderful header.
Building off a record breaking 2015 season that saw an average attendance of 21,558, the 2016 MLS season managed to set another landmark by edging that total with an average attendance of 21,692 fans per game.
The growth of MLS is exemplified by this being the third consecutive season that the record has been broken. Leading the way for MLS is the Seattle Sounders (42,636 fans per game), Orlando City (31,324) and New York City FC (27,196).
Cameron Carter-Vickers, an 18-year-old American center back, made his second appearance for Tottenham Tuesday. It did not go well. His debut came in the EFL Cup against Gillingham and he played well in a win. Tuesday, though, the likes of Gillingham were nowhere to be seen. Tottenham played Liverpool.
Mauricio Pochettino continued the time-honored tradition of playing his second-string in the EFL Cup because who cares it's the EFL Cup, so Carter-Vickers got the nod.
Liverpool also trotted out a fairly inexperienced side except for, um, the strikers.