The Portland Timbers reported back to town this week to begin preparation for their 2nd MLS season, with the message to the players being that they will make the playoffs this year. Portland narrowly missed out of the MLS playoffs during their expansion year.
Former Timbers Forward Kenny Cooper celebrating a goal. Cooper was traded to the NYRB's for a draft pick.
The Timbers have made a lot of changes to their roster for this season, including signing more Colombian International players, trading star forward Kenny Cooper to the New York Red Bulls, and drafting Andrew Jean-Babtiste in the first round of the MLS Super Draft.
There are many familiar faces in training camp too, including Futty Danso who has been with the Timbers since their pre-MLS days.
“All the players I’ve talked with want to be stronger than last year and want to improve on where we were last year,” Danso said. “Everyone I’ve talked to during the offseason, the first thing they say is that, ‘I’ve been working out, and I need to make a difference this year.’ So I think everyone has the mentality of I want to make a difference this year. We all definitely want to have a good season.”
The Timbers 2012 schedule has also been released, and is front-loaded with lots of travel to the Eastern Conference. That means the Timbers will play the bulk of their western conference games in the second half of the season, which could be good or bad news for the club because western conference teams are more talented.
The Timbers will play Seattle twice at home and once on the road. They open their season on March 12th in Portland against Philadelphia. The game will be broadcast nationally on ESPN2.
The Timbers recently finished their first Dribble-Oregon event, where players were sent out all over the state to conduct soccer training camps for kids, meet the locals, and host pub parties to get to know the fans. The event demonstrated the teams commitment to the community and their power to bring people out and get them active.
“We think the Timbers have become and will become even more so Oregon’s team,” said Golub. “Many of our games are broadcast throughout the state, we’re looking to increase that distribution of our games on radio and TV. Papers around the state are covering us more and more. We’re introducing our Academy and Olympic Development Program so we’re involved in player development on a state level.”
The US Women's National Team, who came one score away in a shoot out from winning the World Cup this last summer, is back to domination as they begin the group round of Olympic Qualifying matches in Vancouver B.C.
The Women's Team has played two games against the Dominican Republic and Guatemala in the qualifying tournament and won by a combined score of 27-0.
Hope Solo continued her mastery of the goal-keeping position by posting two shutouts and the USWNT's offense had a lot of practice finding the back of the net. Abby Wombach, the team's captain, was substituted early in both games after taking a large halftime lead. Sydney Leroux took her place and quickly scored four goals in the second half.
The US Women will face their toughest challenge in the qualifying matches against Mexico on Tuesday January 24th. Mexico has also beaten the Dominican Republic and Guatemala...but only by a combined score of 12-0. The US lost to Mexico in their previous qualifying tournament.
"We understand that 14-, 13-goal games can be looked down upon by some of our viewers, our fans, by fans of other countries," said Abby Wambach, who scored twice in the first half. "But the truth is we didn't get our job done the last qualifying tournament, and this is a statement that we're making to the rest of the world, we're making to our region, and we can't take any game for granted. We have to play hard, play physical and respect the game. That's why the results are the results you've seen."
U.S. Men's National Team:
The Men's National team played a friendly in Phoenix against Venezuela. It was a hard fought match going into extratime at the end of the game, and the score was tied at 0-0. The US Men had played a great game, with many chances to score but couldn't ever finish their opportunities. In the 97th minute though, Ricardo Clark scored on a header in front of the goal off a corner kick from Jeremiah Jones.
With both sides playing their "B" teams because starters were playing with their regular clubs, the US was able to come away with an exciting victory.
"Ricardo came in and you could see that he was struggling because he hasn't played for many months," Klinsmann, the US coach said. "He was trying hard to catch up with the group and still not there because of that long stretch. But once on the field he is a player that is technically very gifted."
Midway through the second quarter against Pittsburgh a sign appeared over Mile High Stadium. This wasn't an airplane pulling a banner or a skydiver with a flag.
Fans all over the stadium were point to the sky. The man and woman next to me gasped. I heard others saying it was a sign.
I said to my dad, jokingly, "This proves God is a Bronco's fan," referencing the infamous bumper stickers.
For about a minute, a halo of smoke hung over the stadium.
I believed the Broncos were going to go on to win their first playoff game since 2006.
But as with any miracle, Denver would not accomplish a great feat with out first facing adversity.
In the second half, Denver would only score one field goal and Pittsburgh would tie the game at 23 after a costly fumble by Willis McGahee that allowed the Steelers to score the equalizing touchdown.
Denver would then have to face a furious Steeler's offense as they tried to get into field goal position in the final seconds. It was a scene Bronco's fans were used to seeing their own team doing. Driving down-field in the waning seconds of the game. But the defense held, and pushed Rothelisburger back to his own side of the field. These Broncos would not be beaten on a hail mary, and on to overtime we went.
It is fitting that this Broncos team, who had won 3 overtime games this season, would play the first game in NFL history under the new overtime rules that allow each team to get a possession unless the first team scores a touchdown on the initial drive. Denver won the coin flip and got the ball.
The man in front of me stood up, and pointed to his watch. Today, overtime, would be known as 'Tebow Time' he announced to our section. Steelers fans threw taunts at him. The little boy in the Steelers hat behind me yelled at him 'Tebow can suck it!"
All day the Steelers had been stacking the box against Denver's run. "There's no way we can run against this defense. They have all 11 guys within 10 yards of the line of scrimmage," a friend texted me earlier in the game. And sure enough to start overtime, Pittsburgh brought nearly all their defenders to the line. And Mike McCoy, Denver's offensive coordinator called the perfect play.
Denver had run on all but one first down play during the game, and Pittsburgh assumed they would do it again. The ball was snapped, all defenders but one ran to the line of scrimmage. Tebow faked the hand off perfectly to McGahee and threw a beautiful ball 20 yards down-field to Thomas who had one man to beat and then a sea of green grass that Broncos love so much in front of him.
Thomas stiff armed the defender, broke free, and ran 80 yards into the endzone.
11 seconds into overtime and Denver had won a playoff game the entire nation had predicted them to lose.
Mile High shook in celebration, just like the old days. That old Mile High Magic was back, and showed that no matter what, Denver will always be a football town. And just like it should be, there was The Duke of Denver himself, John Elway running onto the field, fist pumping for joy just like when he used to lead these come-back wins.
This was one of the best games of football ever played in Denver.
The Mile High Miracle, led by the Mile High Messiah, Tim Tebow.
For celebrating the Bronco's win, Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale is my new favorite! It's a fresh hopped beer that is very hoppy and bitter. A pleasant surprise compared to other holiday ales that are usually very malty.
Game Winning Replay of the Week:
Here is the Conan O'Brien version of how Denver beat Pittsburgh.
Big news coming out of DSG Park this week! Rapid's have hired a new coach, Oscar Pareja, a former MLS Best XI. Pareja has been on the coaching staff with FC Dallas, and the job in Colorado will be his first head coaching position.
“I am honored to join such a great organization like the Colorado Rapids, and want to thank everyone at Kroenke Sports & Entertainment for the opportunity.” said Pareja. “This is a dream come true, and I am excited to get started at the Player Combine this weekend and the SuperDraft next week. We already have a great team and everyone is optimistic about what we can achieve this season and beyond," said Pareja at his press conferece.
The Rapids have also announced their schedule for 2012, with the home opener on Saturday March 10th against the Columbus Crew. The Rapids will also play RSL once at home and twice in Salt Lake for the Rocky Mountain Cup. The Portland Timbers will come to Colorado twice, and Montreal, the expansion team, will also visit DSG Park.
Avalanche Thoughts of the Week:
The Avs are on a two game losing skid, but have won seven out of their last ten. They also possess winning records both at home and away.
The Avalanche have been a very streaky team this season, winning many in a row and losing many in a row. Let's hope that the current 2 game losing streak doesn't last much longer.
The Avs will play the second half of a home-home series against the Predators in Nashville this Thursday. This game will be important for Colorado to keep pace with a team slightly ahead of them in the standings.
Center, Ryan O'Rielly, had the Avalanche's lone goal against Nashville in Denver and is continuing his streak of leading the Avalanche in points.
Nuggets Thoughts of the Week:
After losing their first home game of the season to New Orleans, the Nuggets came back and beat the Nets in Denver 123-115. Denver is proving to have depth on it's roster in this abreviated season, but is still looking to find a good groove.
The Nuggets will face a big challenge as Miami comes to town this week, and the Nuggets will hope to hand them their second loss of the season.
Here's my list of the 10 most exciting games of 2010 for teams that I am a fan of. My teams won all of these games and helped to make 2010 a great year!
I had been looking forward to the Broncos vs. Texans game for three weeks, ever since the Broncos failed comeback against the Rams. This was to be the first home game since McDaniel's was fired. It was also Tim Tebow's first home game as the starting quarterback. My dad and I arrived at the game wearing our brand new personalized orange jersey's I had gotten us for Christmas. We were excited to see what the Broncos could do. The announcer introduced the starting offense to chants of "Tebow Tebow!", and then the Broncos were off to the races.
After two screen passes for a bunch of yards, the crowd was psyched about Tebow, but then he threw an interception to the Texans in the North Endzone that silenced the crowd. Two quarters later our Broncos were down 17-0, and the stadium felt like this would just be another blow out in an already miserable season.
But in the second half Mile High got a glance at Tebow's potential. Tebow drove the Broncos downfield and he made some good throws, but Brandon Lloyd made some even better catches that saved Tebow from being picked off again. With Knowsheon Moreno out with an injury (as usual) Correll Buckhalter rushed up the middle for a 6 yard touchdown, making the score 17-7.
The Broncos defense played inspirational football and kept Huston out of the endzone the entire second half, a rarity this year. By the end of the third quarter Huston and Denver had traded a couple field goals making the score 23-10.
The game was still in reach, with the Broncos just needing two touchdowns to take the lead. Memories of Elway's 4th quarter magic came back, and everyone in the stadium held onto a little hope that Tebow could pull it off. Five minutes into the 4th quarter, Buckhalter caught a pass in the slot and ran it 23 yards to drop the Texan's lead to only 6. The Broncos needed just one more touchdown to win, and the crowd was going crazy!
Tebow again drove Denver down the field, and with a little help from a pass interference call on Huston on third and long got a first and goal at the one. Two plays later, Tebow took the snap, faked right and then ran left into the corner of the endzone! It had been a long time since I had heard Mile High rumble like that. Everyone around us in the South Stands was leaping up and down, with high fives all around. Chants of TEBOW TEBOW filled the stadium and suddenly, the Broncos had hope for next season.
After Haushka's extra point, the score was Houston 23, Denver 24.
Houston still had 2 minutes left, and with the way their kicker was hitting 50+ yard field goals, it didn't look good for Denver. I hoped the defense would stop them, but Houston kept driving down field, into field goal range. I hoped Denver would get a turnover, but thought that would never happen with the season we were having. Suddenly, Schaub's pass is deflected, and as if time had stopped I saw the ball slowly falling to into Denver's Syd'quan Thompson's hands. INTERCEPTION! BRONCOS WIN! The South Stands finally felt like they should, loud, proud and happy!
Tebow's first win and his first NFL 4th quarter comeback gave Denver fans something to look forward to next season. Though there's still much work to be done on the coaching staff and improving Tebow's throwing mechanics he has the leadership, passion and the skills to make Denver a proud football city once more. This is why this game tops my list of most exciting games in 2010.
