Seattle, Toronto set for MLS Cup breakthrough battle

“It’s a blessing to even be here today, to go out on the field and train, to be amongst these guys”, he said Thursday.Things have turned around since returning to North America.Altidore had 13 goals in 25 games (21 starts) in 2015, his debut season at Toronto.He missed 11 of the first 18 games this season, plagued once again by hamstring injuries.

Lodeiro continued to inspire his team-mates, centre-half Chad Marshall seemed to recover his assuredness and young Cristian Roldan looked the second best Sounders youth product ever (after Deandre Yedlin).

The ESPN FC crew debate who will emerge victorious from the MLS Cup final between Toronto FC and Seattle Sounders. Seattle was ninth in the West with a 6-12-2 record on July 26 when Schmid, the team’s only head coach, stepped down.

MLS commissioner Don Garber confirmed during Friday’s State of the League address that the league has provided teams with an additional $400,000 of targeted allocation money (TAM) for next season, pushing the total for each team to $1.2 million.

I have a text from you in my phone from August 11 that says “See you in the playoffs …” “But I think there have been some big moments”.

While Zavaleta scored 28 goals for the Hoosiers, he had spent time as a defender growing up. “We flip-flopped a couple of times”, he recalled. Can you imagine? This year of all years, and off the back of Portland doing it last year, and this come-from-behind mentality. That, for me, was gratifying, but once the season was over I felt I needed a change.

“You don’t have body language, it’s harder than it is straight to the face and so he just got frustrated that he couldn’t understand everything that I’m saying”.

He made just five appearances with the Sounders, spending just 31 minutes on the pitch.

“He knew details of my career that blew me away”, Johnson said. Just like they had done for months, the Sounders went into this match as underdogs.

“Technically, they both are very good players”, Vanney said. The coach’s preference was as a forward with the NASL’s Indy 11 in Zavaleta’s home town of Indianapolis. But a critical mass of fans of a sort that was a novelty in MLS at that time. “It was another opportunity for me to play at that level and get comfortable at that level”. “I respect the way he approaches the game and the way he handles himself”. “By the end of my stint at Chivas, (I) felt confident that I could play in this league”. Seattle players looked like they had landed on Pluto when they ran out for their first practice in Toronto on Thursday.

A Sounders spokesman said Anderson would be “fully diagnosed” Monday in Seattle.

Returning U.S. Men’s National Team head coach Bruce Arena has had a hand in both club’s M.L.S. Cup success, winning the 1996 and 1997 titles with United and 2011, 2012 and 2014 editions with the Galaxy.

And how these two create offense – their own or for others – is key to which team will win their first MLS championship. In most ways, Toronto uses just a sole defender in Drew Moor.

If anything, Zavaleta believes Vanney has been tougher on him because of the blood bond. “We can’t make any excuses for the weather”, said Irwin. “He played with several of my friends”. Toronto has been so historically inept for most of its existence that the memory of its arrival had been largely erased from popular accounts of the league and supporter culture.

BACK TO TORONTO: Stefan Frei was once considered the goalkeeper of the future for Toronto, before an injury that cost him almost the entire 2012 season derailed those plans.

Still, Seattle has had to do without star striker Clint Dempsey since late August due to an irregular heartbeat.

The 2013 final in Kansas City was played in frigid temperatures hovering around -7 degrees at kickoff, said to be the coldest match in league history.

Sportsnet’s Soccer Central podcast (featuring James Sharman, Thomas Dobby, Brendan Dunlop and John Molinaro) takes an in-depth look at the attractive game and offers timely and thoughtful analysis on the sport’s biggest issues.

“I’ve still got another four hours of work”, Schmetzer cracked with a grin as he walked away. “So I might not need it (Saturday)”.

Lodeiro might think much of the direct comparisons, but there was a bit of game recognizing game in how he described his peer. Zavaleta is getting married December 17 in Indianapolis.