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Morning Ticker: Ralston suffers broken leg, Vancouver wins USL title and Jamaica upsets Mexico

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                                                                             Photo by ISIphotos.com

New England’s quest for an elusive MLS Cup title took a major hit on Saturday after Revs midfielder Steve Ralston suffered a broken right leg.

The broken right fibula suffered by Ralston came after a clumsy challenge from Herculez Gomez during New England’s 1-0 loss to Kansas City on Saturday.

New England has already qualified for the playoffs, but losing Ralston will make advancing past a likely first-round match-up against Chicago very difficult. There is an outside chance that Ralston returns in time for the MLS Cup final if the team reaches it again, but his prospects for a 2008 return look bleak.

Here are some other stories from the weekend to get your day going:

Vancouver wins USL title

The Vancouver White Caps won the USL championship on Sunday, defeating the Puerto Rico Islanders, 2-1, in the final. Charles Gbeke scored both goals for the White Caps, which won their second title in three seasons.

Jamaica keeps World Cup hopes alive

It happened two days ago but Jamaica’s 1-0 World Cup qualifying victory against Mexico definitely merits a mention. The victory keeps Jamaica alive in the CONCACAF Group of Death. Honduras, which defeated Canada on Saturday night, is tied with Mexico on points with nine. Jamaica has four points and needs wins in its final two matches to reach the Hexagonal.

These are just some of the stories from the weekend to get your day start.

Share your thoughts on these, and any other stories from the weekend in the comments section below.

Comments

  1. the Fact that jamaica defeated mexico at home with a much stronger team than they used in the earlier games should surprise no one. i said it before everything started that Jamaica is the underrated dark horse in the group. canada alwasy flops and Honduras is known for choking so Jamaica still has a chance . Had they been playing their best players from the start i believe this group would have been much tighter with the top three teams.

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  2. Svencito?

    Mexico played Oswaldo in goal. He’s not their #1 keeper but has played well for Santos in the past year.

    Almost didn’t recognize Rafa with his new haircut!

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  3. revs season:

    twellman injured

    mansally and dubi find form

    ralston injured

    dubi still scoring some goals

    dubi injured

    ralston returns

    twellman returns

    after coming back from 2 goals down to tie at rsl dare i say we show some semblance of form?

    bam ralston injured.

    seriously, revs need another player with some attacking abilities so bad. this is what happens when you put all the eggs in one basket… atleast we won the superliga…

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  4. i am surprised to see canada as the first team eliminated from the group. i thought they had a chance, but never really played up to their potential.

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  5. Shame about Steve R. He is a tribute to the MLS every time he steps on the field. Hope he comes back next year.

    NE won’t get out of the 1st round without him.

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  6. I agree with everyone here. Suddenly, the group of death truly becomes the group of death and not even Mexico is safe. Go Canada! Maybe an upset in Edmonton could really shake things up in Concacaf. Eriksson, consider yourself warned.

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  7. I watched the Mexico-jamaica game, and I’m not certain I’d say Jamaica dominated Mexico. They beat them 1-0 and the result was a fair one. Jamaica was quicker, tougher perhaps. One thing I noticed is that Mexico’s GK, whats his name?, spills a lot of balls….I counted 3. Dos Santos on the right was invisible most of the night. Vela played on the right and did slightly better. But Mexico’s CM bit the big one, they were terrible all night, little linking up.

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  8. Sad to see that happen to Ralston. He is a great ambassador for the MLS and an example of the kind of domestic player they need to continue to develop.

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  9. Well, as others have noted above, I hope all those guys that were so peeved that we didn’t annihilate Cuba and Guatemala on the road realize now how important those wins were. It’s hard to win on the road. If you had asked me before those games were played what I would have been pleased with, I would have said a tie against Guatemala and a win against Cuba.

    In international play, there are no guarantees. Ask Scotland about Macedonia, or Sweden about Albania, or Brazil about Bolivia…you see my point. Guys, we’re “sitting pretty,” and we should be thankful and proud our team is getting it done.

    BTW, whoever thought Mexico should “cruise” against Jamaica obviously hasn’t seen them play. They are very quick, and when they get behind your D they finish.

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  10. What I learned this weekend:

    1.Herculez Gomez is a hack of the highest order.

    2.The Revs are done.

    3.Mexico has sooo much talent and zero heart.

    4.JB saying that the MLS season has been a poor one, proves that he has no idea what he is talking about.

    5.A Crew-Dynamo Cup final looks like a pretty good bet right now.

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  11. what a horrible game by mexico. their attack looks bad without guardado. great game by jamaica tho. they looked inspired and focused. did you all see when the jamaican started celebrating after d goal and d other player told him to chill out and focus?

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  12. Ralston was having a great season. That’s really too bad. I hope he has a quick recovery.

    Mexico has all its remaining games on the road. Forecast for Wed in Edmonton is 48 for a high so you know it will be much cooler by 7pm. Canada has an opportunity for a result. If they do it could make for an interesting last round.

    Then if Jamica wins out (v Honduras in Honduras adn Canada at Home) and Honduras beats Mexico on the final day….

    One can dream right?

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  13. I loved that result between Mexico and Jamaica. I didn’t watch the match, but I looked at who played and low and behold it was about the best side Mexico could have fielded. They don’t have a “we played young guys” excuse. They lost with their big guns. If you consider Marquez a big gun.

    Way to go Jamaica. He’s to hoping Jamaica and Honduras make it through!

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  14. PS Do you think Mexican fans are being told today that their team shouldn’t have been expected to play well–it was, after all, an away qualifier in CONCACAF.

    Yes, some people did make too big of a deal out of a road WIN for us, but the team didn’t play well and I don’t get why people are so defensive about it? I am a fan of calling it how it is…I don’t know about everybody else.

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  15. Are you aware that it is more difficult to get a road result in MLS this season than it was to get a road result in CONCACAF in WC06 qualifying? Yes, there is such a thing as home field advantage–no one can deny that. But people make too big of a deal out of the “difficulty of CONCACAF away qualifiers.”

    I think people who say Bradley should be fired over a 1-0 in Guatemala City are flat out wrong. But I do think fans have a right to say the team should have showed a little bit more control in that game. It’s completely fair.

    Both sides of this debate need to chill out. Yes, it’s harder to play on the road as it is for any team in any sport–we can’t expect to go into places and completely run the game. But away games should also not be a crutch–if the team plays bad, people should be allowed to say something without being shot down.

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  16. I read an interesting article on Project 2010 (a wordpress blog) about the difficulty of away qualifiers. They seem to think that both sides overreact on the issue…lots of stats…puts things in perspective.

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  17. Is there any team other than Columbus that wants to win in MLS this season? Ralston’s injury just severely weakens one more team in what has already been a poor MLS season,.

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  18. I hope the Mexico loss puts a damper on the complaints that the US won only 1-0 in Guetemala and Cuba. By now all US fans should know how tough it is to win in these qualifiers away from home.

    With due respect to both teams Jamaica is not a world power yet did enough to beat the use-to-be CONCACAF Champion.

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  19. Let me just say Jamaica dominated Mexico.

    I mean dominated. Physically, effort wise (where many Mexes seemed to want nothing to do with Boyz players)and precision wise.

    To bad they didn’t have a lot of their starters and only managed a tie in Canada. With that result it would have gone down to the end no matter what for all 3. Now we need a Canda result. The thought of a Mex-Hond final match with both teams lives on th eline would have been spectacular. Oh well.

    Not much faith in Canada.

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  20. Anybody know of where there is a highlight video of the Mex-Jam game? I can’t find one any of the normal places.

    Bad news for the Revs with Ralston, really think that swings the advantage to the Fire.

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