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MLS Week 1: LA Galaxy vs. Chicago Fire (SBI Live Commentary)

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The 2015 MLS Season is here, and it will kick off at the home of the defending champions.

The Los Angeles Galaxy will begin defense of their MLS Cup title at the Stub Hub Center against the Chicago Fire in the first match of the 2015 campaign (10pm, UniMas/Direct Kick).

The post-Landon Donovan era will begin for Bruce Arena’s side as the Galaxy take on a Chicago Fire team that has undergone a dramatic transformation. Frank Yallop has brought in a slew of new signings to try and help the Fire return to the glory of old, and at the very least improve on what was a largely disappointing 2014 season.

SBI will be providing live commentary on tonight’s match, with LA Galaxy beat writer Mark Edward Hornish on site, and members of the SBI editorial staff will be providing updates throughout the match. Feel free to join us and follow all of the action here. As always, you are welcome to share your own thoughts and opinion in the comments section below.

Enjoy the action (Tonight’s commentary is after the jump):

 

Live Blog MLS Week 1 (LA Galaxy vs. Chicago Fire): SBI Live Commentary

Comments

  1. Wow, Chicago sucks and yallops needs to go study soccer abroad or go back to the books. I can’t believe MLS teams keep going back to this sucky coaches that are stuck in MLS 1.0 and if I say something about sigi, sounders fans defend him like if he’s guardiola or something.
    In addition to the sucky term, I think the east sucks and any east team can win the conference, like tfc or Columbus. Not like the west, that will be a massacre with Houston and skc in the west.
    But before I close this comment, if sigi doesn’t win MLS cup, will he quit.

    Reply
    • Spent a bit of time with Sigi several years ago. The guy is a soccer addict. If he can stand up, he’ll keep coaching.

      Reply
  2. Very encouraged by Zardes’ play tonight. He was dangerous. All eyes will be on him this year with his strong showing in the January camp. Didn’t get a goal, but he delivered a strong effort tonight.

    Also pleased with Gonzo’s play. He was a rock every time he was called upon.

    Reply
  3. Amerikwa was the only Fire attacking player hustling back for the ball. Man this teams attack is toothlees without magic mike. I hope their DP adds some fire to the Fire.
    The palmer / big red pairing was out of sync. More communication was needed on the Villarreal Goal. Palmer was too close to Larenowitz and he didnt have to be. Palmer needs track the man coming into the box, he couldve cleared the wiff by big red if there was better spacing.

    Reply
    • Dynamo fan here but it is obvious that Yallop sucks. If you can’t teach your team to press in the modern day game you suck. Pressing doesn’t require the most skillful players and and if you are a less skillfull team like the Fire and you don’t press you may as well just roll over and die. How this guy keeps getting jobs is something I don’t understand.

      Reply
      • It’s true that Chicago was abysmal, but your characterization of the modern game being all about pressing is not true. Mourinho wins most of his big matches by sitting back, being organized and scoring on the counter. Real Madrid won many of their Champions League matches playing a counter attacking style. Atleti plays counter attacking soccer. There are many, many top teams that play this style, especially in matches where the manager perceives the opposing side is equal or better in talent.

      • maybe I misread, but I think the point was that if you have a team with less talent it’s important to be able to high press; Mourinho’s teams and Real Madrid obviously don’t fit that criteria

        and basically I agree with the thought that in today’s game pressing defensively has become a more effective tactic and almost an evolution of the increased athleticism of all the players, including the skill guys; it’s a way to level some of the talent gap with organized effort up high to create easier scoring opportunities. Thoughts?

      • Yeah, Mourinho will press and play positively against far weaker competition but when the opposition is anywhere near their level, he puts 10 behind the ball and looks to counter.

        RM doesn’t typically put 10 behind the ball, but they do look to play organized defensively and score many of their goals via their lightning counter.

        I think to some extent, the counter has always been a popular way to combat a more powerful opponent, but there’s an element of copycat tactics which also lends it recent prominence. When Barca was preeminent, many sides wanted to play with possession and many teams evolved counters to deal with those high possession teams. Also many managers idolized TSO and imitate his tactics. Ultimately, though, you’re right that personnel dictates style. When you have studs like Benzema, Bale and Ronaldo, you’re going to want to counter to take advantage of their athleticism.

  4. Maloney with a super frustrated dangerous tackle. Chicago looking in shambles.

    followed by Ishizaki missing a wide open Keane…. wow….. i could have gotten an assist there…

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  5. I’m sorry Chicago fans.. but your team is uninteresting and they look over whelmed thus far.. a better opponent should have been scheduled for this marquee game.

    But better than nothing!

    Reply
  6. SAP doesn’t work. Contacted optimum and they said there’s no such thing as Spanish to English notwithstanding the prominent promotion of exactly such a service on the MLS website. What a joke. Way to go MLS. Great start.

    Reply
  7. Dish Network : anyone get the SAP working on Unimas or UDN? I tried setting the Alternate Language to English then Spanish, and then Alternate but audio is still Spanish.

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  8. The instructions for DISH users are to set the language to “Alternate”. I’ve done that but am still in Espanol. Ugghhh.

    Reply
    • Supposed to be able to just hit the SAP button on the remote. Mine isn’t working but maybe because I’m watching on Roku through my Time Warner app. Not shocking that Time Warner sucks at just about everything.

      Reply
      • how are you watching it tho? my MLS Live says it’s blacked out….. weak…….

        anyone have a unimas cable package login name and password i can use? lol I use my friend’s xfinity login to watch espy and hbo etc but i guess xfinity doesn’t have unimas so i can’t watch it.

        sidenote: the MLS’ package of MLS Live should show ALL games. doesn’t NBA league pass do it that way? I thought that was the benefit of paying for MLS LIve instead of just watching the nationally televised games. pretty annoyed over here…..

      • help a brother out TomG!!! haha help a fellow Sunderland watcher (read:sufferer) out! lol

  9. Why were the English commentators from UniMas talking through the entire National Anthem? Can they not hear the audio from the stadium?

    Reply
  10. Landon doing gan interview on Univision! Deportes! A Spanish dialect I can understand!

    Univision is running English commentary for all MLS games via SAP.

    Reply

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