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Team Focus: Caps Locked in Battle for Play-Off Place

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Team Focus: Caps Locked in Battle for Play-Off Place The post-season is approaching fast and MLS is scrambling over 10 play-off places. The best and most successful coaches tune their team’s performance towards the end of the regular season (see Dominic Kinnear) but only a few have mastered that skill. If you get the timing wrong your team could...

Player Focus: Diego Valeri Staking His Claim for MLS MVP

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Player Focus: Diego Valeri Staking His Claim for MLS MVP While the Los Angeles Galaxy are seen as MLS’ flagship and most glamorous team, the Portland Timbers have taken on a contrasting identity since their expansion season in 2010.Their growth has been organic. The Timbers haven’t had a David Beckham or a Landon Donovan to help sell replica s...

League Focus: MLS Eastern Conference Title Contenders Compared

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League Focus: MLS Eastern Conference Title Contenders Compared Major League Soccer is notoriously difficult to predict and this season has proved no different.While only six points separate the top five in the West the Seattle Sounders, Real Salt Lake and the Los Angeles Galaxy have distinguished themselves as clear favourites for the regular season title. No s...

Team Focus: Will Sporting KC Miss Kei Kamara?

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Team Focus: Will Sporting KC Miss Kei Kamara? As pacesetters for the Eastern Conference title Sporting Kansas City had no intention of selling Kei Kamara.But just as has been proved across the spectrum of the summer transfer window – with moves for Gareth Bale, Mesut Ozil and Marouane Fellaini – everyone has a price. For Sporting KC...

Player Focus: Landon's LA Loyalty a Timely Boost for Galaxy

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Player Focus: Landon's LA Loyalty a Timely Boost for Galaxy Major League Soccer is looking after its own right now. Having tempted Clint Dempsey back to home shores with a record contract at the Seattle Sounders the North American top flight has now persuaded Landon Donovan to remain in Southern California.With speculation swirling that Donovan could be set ...

Match Focus: Seattle vs Portland the Main Event in MLS Thus Far

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Match Focus: Seattle vs Portland the Main Event in MLS Thus Far The play-off season looms in the distance and the pressure is starting to build across Major League Soccer. There have been some titanic battles this year but Sunday night’s Cascadia Cup clash between the Seattle Sounders and the Portland Timbers feels like the climax of the season so far.Almo...

Team Focus: Can New York Red Bulls Break their MLS Cup Duck?

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Team Focus: Can New York Red Bulls Break their MLS Cup Duck? It has been said that the New York Red Bulls are the Arsenal of Major League Soccer. However, it’s not because they have Thierry Henry as their number 14. It’s because for all the fluster and hype the Red Bulls remain an unsuccessful club, having failed to register a single MLS champions...

Player Focus: What Dempsey's Signing Means for the Sounders

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Player Focus: What Dempsey's Signing Means for the Sounders Such was the delirium across the Pacific Northwest when rumours of Clint Dempsey’s potential return to the States surfaced that a crowd of Seattle Sounders supporters camped out at the city’s airport, hoping to get the scoop on their alleged new signing. There was even a trending hashtag...

Player Focus: Jurgen Klinsmann's Centre-Back Dilemma

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Player Focus: Jurgen Klinsmann's Centre-Back Dilemma Major League Soccer skeptics took a hit last week when Jurgen Klinsmann’s USA team lifted the Gold Cup for the fifth time in Chicago.Those who still doubt the strength and quality of North America’s top flight will be pointed to the USA’s 2013 Gold Cup winning squad, with 13 of the...

Player Focus: Resurgent Kenny Miller Benefitting Vancouver Whitecaps

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Player Focus: Resurgent Kenny Miller Benefitting Vancouver Whitecaps As the Vancouver Whitecaps prepared for their third season in Major League Soccer, the likelihood of Scottish designated players Barry Robson and Kenny Miller remaining at the club appeared slim.The duo failed to live up to their DP status in their first season with the Caps, with Miller particularl...