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Hey everybody. Welcome to another edition of The Daily.
It's Wednesday, August 3rd here with Jason Saghini.
I'm Nick Firchau. Jay, a lot to get to.
We're going to start with Tuesday night's action in the CONCACAF Champions League.
It's Toronto FC advancing to the group stage. They knock out Real Esteli 4-2 on aggregate.
Ryan Johnson is really the hero in this one. Yeah, Ryan Johnson got the opening goal.
The great volley that he hit really surprised the keeper.
This was an interesting game because the field really played a part here.
The grass was thick. It looked like they were playing on a cow
pasture. It actually played into Toronto's favor.
It forced a lot of long balls. Ryan Johnson was really a beast up top.
He was hitting the balls up in the air. That's how Toronto was creating chances, and
really once Real Esteli went down, it was hard for them to comebacks because of that
field. You couldn't pass the ball around.
You couldn't move it quickly. Toronto gets by.
They got a gift on the 2nd goal, which really put Esteli out of this game.
A goal keeper basically just passing it to Ryan Johnson.
Johnson did well to finish it to the corner. A 2-1 win in this one.
That's Toronto FC's first ever road win in CONCACAF Champions League.
They advance to Group C of the CONCACAF Champions League.
That will open in a couple weeks here, later this month.
Some other news for Toronto FC, and Jay, this one is a bit of a surprise.
They trade Maizon Santos to FC Dallas. They get Eric Avila in return.
Interestingly because these two teams might be in the same group in Champions League if
Dallas were to advance tonight. FC Dallas, they know they needed a forward,
they went in the league to get one. Santos has been the guy.
Very inconsistent, but at times he's looked great.
So maybe does he fit into the system at Dallas, does he help out to give them some depth as
forward. Eric Avila, who we thought would go on to
Mexico anyway. He was out as far as FC Dallas was concerned,
but he's the guy who maybe fits the mold of what Vinter is looking.
He's kind of like a guy that can play on the left.
He's a little bit of an attack minded guy. He can fit into that system, play all the
little parts, and offer depth to their side. Some other news for FC Dallas, and some very
good news. Last year's MVP David Ferriera back in camp
on Tuesday. He's gonna start his rehab stint down there
in Dallas. What do you expect from Ferriera's return?
They're talking about a potential September return, which would be great for FC Dallas.
It does put Charles Himan in an interesting position though.
How do you leave last year's MVP out of your team.
FC Dallas right now, doing great without him. Is that gonna upset the flow, and do you wanna
upset the flow come September, October, right when you're ready to head into the playoffs.
Charles Himan has his work cut out for him to figure out how to get him back into the
team. Let's take a look at some big news out east
with the New England Revolution. They finally have their first designated player
in franchise history. It's Argentine youngster, Milton Caragilo.
He's a striker Jason. That's potentially gonna help bolster the
Revs attack going forward. Mike Burns, their technical director, had
mention that this is something they need. They need the extra guys, extra ability in
the attack. Right now it's not looking good when they
go forward. There's not much for them that's really contributing.
The good thing I think is if you're a New England fan, is that it's a younger player.
We've seen them bring in a bunch of veterans this season, and not really pan out.
It's a younger player coming in here. It's really tough to tell from his body of
work in Argentina, what he's going to bring to the US.
The hope is that New England scouted him well, and they know that he is gonna contribute
to this team. On to the action from Wednesday night.
The CONCACAF Champions League resumes. We talked about FC Dallas there against Alianza
FC, the El Salvador side, 8pm Eastern on Fox Soccer out at Pizza Hut Park.
Jay, the Seattle Sounders in the Nightcap up against San Francisco in Panama.
Part of a double header there on Fox Soccer. The sounders really the only ones up against
it. They're down 1-0.
Seattle has to make up the 1 goal deficit, and really be careful not to give up road
goals. Obviously that will become an issue.
For Seattle, they were the better team when they played down in Panama.
I think that they don't think they're really fearing coming out and getting beaten on the
play. It's really just, can they finish their chances.
Can they put a couple goals on the board and ease some pressure.
Another double header on ESPN2 tonight. The World Football Challenge resumes.
It's Chivas USA vs Guadalajara. That's at 8pm Eastern down in Miami.
Then Jay, probably the best game of the night, the Portland Timbers playing host to the LA
Galaxy at 10:30pm Eastern on ESPN2. We're gonna have a live chat for both those
teams. Jay, the best team in the league faces off
against the best fans in the league. The Timber's army really know when they're
in the spotlight. This game on ESPN2 is the spotlight, a nationally
televised game. I expect a lot out of them.
Really, the question is, is it enough. Lately, Portland on the field has not been
able to get the results that the home fans would want to see.
David Beckham, Landon Donovan coming to town. We saw what they did to Vancouver last week
without Beckham. Really, I thought they were outplayed by Vancouver,
then they just turn it on, and really come after you.
Portland really having trouble holding the lead against Toronto, is a similar game to
what LA did to Vancouver last week. LA turned it around late.
Portland needs to learn how to close a game at home I guess.
We've talked about Portland and their success early in the season at JELD WEN.
They have struggled as of late. They may have to turn it around here against
the LA Galaxy. Two other league games we want to mention,
Sporting Kansas City at home against Reals Salt Lake, and the Chicago Fire at home against
the Philadelphia Union. You can follow along on MatchDay Live.
In that Chicago game, we're going to see some new faces in the lineup.
We're gonna see the MLS debut of Pardel Pavo and Sebastian Gresini.
This is something that I think Chicago fans have wanted to see.
A little spark to this team. See them scoring more goals.
Maybe these are the guys that can help spark the confidence.
Remember that Philadelphia, burned last week by speed against Colorado.
Chicago has a lot of speed. You're looking at Domic Oduro, Patrick Niako,
guys that can attack with pace. Could be another problem for Philadelphia.
That does it for us. For a full schedule of all the games in CONCACAF
Champions League, and all the MLS regular season, log on to mlssoccer.com