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DC United failed to continue their good run of form after suffering a 3-2 defeat against Portland Timbers this weekend. DC United, however, were favourites for the three points going into the match after having dropped only two points in the last four matches.

They also looked quite comfortable in the latter stages of the match after having come back twice in the encounter. Portland took the lead after just one minute through Fernandez. Despite going down to this early goal, DC United showed a lot of courage to get back into the match in the 21st minute through Arnaud. Continue reading “DC SUFFER FORM”

Xabi Alonso recently agreed a contract extension with Real Madrid that will see him remaining with the Spanish club until 2016 but when he was asked if he would like to play in the USA, the midfielder stated that anything is possible.

“Moving to the USA? I don’t reject that in the future,” he told France Football. We will see how I feel in two years’ time. I don’t discount anything Europe, Real Sociedad or staying longer at Real Madrid if I notice that I still have the physical abilities.” Alonso replied.

At his 32 years of age, Alonso remains being an important and consistent player for Real Madrid but if his body is not able to continue playing at what the club and the coach requires him to, the possibility of him making a move to the MLS is possible as he already stated.

The Spanish midfielder admitted that his transfer of Liverpool to Real Madrid was a correct one and he does not regret doing it, as he stated that he needed a different challenge.

“In 2009, I think I made the right decision. After five years at Liverpool, I needed a change. Can you expect anything better than Real Madrid, the greatest and most demanding club? It was the right moment to seize the opportunity.

“Everyday life in Madrid is tougher than in any other team. What the club demands is win, win and win again, and play well too. Liverpool have five European trophies, but it is not the same. There the daily life is more relaxed and not so heavy. At Real, pressure and demand are constant.

“But I wanted to see if I could match such a challenge.”

Alonso has been a Real Madrid player since 2009 and just like he did with Liverpool, he could make a switch to another club if he wants a different challenge and end his career in the MLS.

Chivas USA made extensive changes to the team last season, as 17 players made their debut for the club during this period. However, the rollover players have been much less pronounced in this campaign. The club are expected to give debuts only to a handful of players with signing Thomas McNamara being one of them. He was the 20th overall pick during the recent January SuperDraft . Midfielder was one of the problematic areas to the club last season and the new signing has already revealed his ambition to solve this problem.

Chivas USA head coach Wilmer Cabrera said in a recent interview that the player was dealing with the team pretty well, while he does not think that he is far from being considered as a first-team regular. Regarding fitness, Cabrera said that McNamara was looking fit and ready to play. The club finished bottom of the table last season, but they will be hoping for a lot of improvement this time around. Things do not get easy at the start of the season because they will be playing against Chicago Fire in the opening round of the season.

This will be followed by matches against Vancouver Whitecaps and New York Red Bulls in the opening few matches, but the manager is feeling confident.

“I bring versatility. I’m able to play a few different positions and play a similar system in all of them. The good thing is: This is a brand new team this year. Obviously, there’s some returning guys, but as a whole, this a brand new team, and it’s a whole new season. Right now, we’re in first place with everybody else. Once the season starts, we’re going to try to keep it that way,” McNamara said. He has been very confident for a rookie player.

Montreal Impact has appointed Frank Klopas as its new manager. He will take over from Marco Schallibaum.

Klopas has got a decent amount of experience in the field of management. He has been managing teams since the last 9 years.

The 47 years old Swiss had been in charge of Chicago Fire in the last couple of seasons. He got sacked from there in October last year and since then; there were speculations that he might be making his way to Saputo Stadium. Those speculations didn’t prove to be wrong.

Klopas’ tenure as manager at Chicago fire was quite good. He managed them in a total of 76 games out of which they won 34. He also guided them to the MLS play offs once.

Klopas had a fairly successful playing career as well. He featured for as many as 5 clubs during his 16-year long playing career and scored more than 80 goals. He also represented United States of America at international level for about 8 years.

It is believed that the relationship between Klopas and Nick De Santis who is the sporting director of Montreal Impact is quite good and that’s one of the reasons why he has been selected for this job.

Apart from the appointment of a new manager, the Coaching Staff of Impact is more or less the same. The fitness coach and the goalkeeping coach are going to continue in their respective roles.

Klopas might be adding one or two persons more in the staff. However, nothing regarding that is clear yet.

Impact hadn’t performed up to the expectations of the fans in the last MLS season. They had secured 49 points in 34 games and that was not satisfactory at all considering the kind of players they had got.

Columbus Crew recently appointed Gregg Berhalter as their new coach. He will also be the club’s sporting director as well. The new appointment has led to many questioning if there will be any changes to the style of play at the club. Berhalter has answered these questions by saying that his team will be attempting to play a possession style of football, while they will also be looking to move the ball quickly. One can also expect attacks to also become much quicker than at present according to Berhalter.

Overall, Columbus Crew will be playing an attacking style of football, which is expected to be pleasing on the eye. Berhalter did admit that it was not going to be easy to achieve that because it takes a lot of effort to bring that into effect. He wants the full-backs to be attack minded rather than defending alone. The team has to improve significantly in order to move up the table. They are close to the bottom of the table this season. The new manager has also revealed that he has seen at least 15 matches of this season so far and he has identified areas where the team can improve almost immediately.

Columbus Crew are eighth in the table after the matches of the season.

“I would say that my style is a style of ball possession, of quick attacks, looking to get behind the defense and moving the ball quickly. I know that’s easier said than done, but by putting players in the right positions and getting them to think about their positions on the field you can achieve that. It’s an offensive-orientated style. I want fullbacks to get forward and really push the attack. I think that’s an important aspect of it,” said the new manager after his appointment.