Steven Gerrard - into the world of management

The start of June brought its first game, an away trip to face DC United ...

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This is more like it!

We'e getting back to our best performance now with a relatively straight forward 2-0 win here.

The game was done and dusted by half time thanks to goals from left back, Paito and midfielder Brad Evans.

The only disappointment was an injury sustained to Brad Evans just as he was enjoying a settled run in the side.​

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Evans has been ruled out for up to 3 weeks with a groin strain.​
 
Up next was the US Cup match against Minnesota United, the winner of this will progress to the Quarter Finals.

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Again, this was fairly straight forward. Although the game was made harder after finding out that Juninho, Gonzalez, DeLaGarza, Osorio were all on international duty as well as Brad Evans still being injured.

This meant we couldn't play our standard 5-3-2 so went for a box standard 4-4-2.

We won the game thanks to second half goals from Robbie Keane and Matt Hedges.

This means we'll play Orlando City in the Quarter Finals after they beat Colombas in their 4th round match.​
 
Next up we faced New York Red Bulls at home ...

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Another good win.

Our day was made harder when as we had Keane, Juninho, Gonzalez DeLAGarza, OSorio all on international duty with Evans still injured.

It was a pretty close game but a goal from, fit again, Jose Villareal bagged us all 3 points. In truth, if the game finished as a draw we couldn't really complain, but still, a win's a win!​
 
Next up was the start of a double header, two games both against Orland City - one in the cup, one in the league. First up, the league encounter ...

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I think that's about as dominant as you can be!

A great result which could have been even better had we been more clinical in front of goal.

Robbie Keane and Juninho with the goals which put us 2-0 before half time. Orlando looked as though they might have a fighback when they pulled one back but in truth we were fairly comfortable.​
 
And now onto the cup Quarter Final game against the same opposition ...

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We're through!!

A good 1-0 here which makes it 2 out of 2 against Orlando in the same week!

A solitary goal straight after half time from Jonathan Osorio ensured we make it through to the semi finals.

Can we now go on and retain the cup?​
 
Just before the final game of the month, we discovered who we'll be playing in the US Cup semi final.

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Portland are the next team to stand in our way of retaining the cup.

This is the same draw as last year when we went on to win 11-10 on penalties after drawing 4-4 after extra time.​

Onto the final game of the month where we faced DC United for the second time this month.

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Another 2-0 win, this time over DC United.

An early goal from Juninho put us on our way before Jonathan Osorio doubled the lead shortly after half time.

We're slowly starting to get back to playing our best football now!

This brought an end to the month with the tables looking like this ...​

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After a brilliant month where we won every game, we move 13 points clear of Portland, although they do have a game in hand.

I can't believe how different the table looks after only 5 or 6 more games than last time I showed it.


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The Supporters Shield is a similar story, although much closer. We moved 10 points clear of Toronto here, although they have 2 games in hand which would close the gap to 4 points.


​
 
Just before I talk about our next game, I looked through the rest of the leagues in Europe to see who was leading the chase and stumbled across this ...


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Brendan Rodgers led Liverpool to another European Cup success which see's the club lift the Champions League for a 6th time!!

This came as a real shock as Liverpool are actually struggled in the league, finishing 5th. Fortunately they qualify for the tournament again by winning it this season.

Raheem Sterling with the winner in injury time.​

This was the second success for Liverpool this season:

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Liverpool also went on to lift the League Cup after defeating Chelsea 2-1 in the final.

Glen Johnson and Jordan Henderson with the goals.​

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Quite rightly, Brendan Rodgers is being worshipped by Liverpool fans. Hopefully he can bring more success in the coming seasons ... maybe the firs Premier League title?​
 
SeanKeaney said:
Orlando look to be struggling! :( congats on your form though, bossing it!
Click to expand...

Yeah, I was quite surprised to be honest, especially that the other new team - NYCFC were bottom as well. Hopefully you'll do better with them on your save.
 
July saw us start the month with an away trip to Vancouver who are struggling and in 14th place in the Supporters Shield.

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Well what a terrible start that was!

The game was made harder for us as Penedo, Juninho, Gonzalez and Osorio were all on international duty again. For some reason none of the games in the MLS are called off for International call ups.

A 1-0 defeat to s side more concerned with the bottom of the league than the top.

The solitary goal of the game coming late on, with only 10 minutes to go, from Kianz Froese.​
 
Just after that defeat, news had filtered through about the future of Omar Gonzalez ...

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Our star center half signed for Monterey who play in the Mexican Premier Division.

When Gonzalez came to me and says he wanted to play in a better division, the Mexican leagues isn't really anything I had in mind.

I knew he was leaving but a little, tiny, bit of me thought we could win him around if we had an amazing season ... sadly not.


We were then greeted with some more bad news, this time an injury to a star player ...​

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Robbie Keane was ruled out for 4 weeks after pulling his hamstring during a training session.

I think his body is catching up with him now, at 35 years old he seems to be getting more and more injuries. Maybe he should be used more sparingly from now on.​
 
The next game saw us take on the newly founded, Colorado.

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Another defeat!

Again, our side was decimated thanks to international call ups.

We conceeded in injury time with no time left for a response.

I really hope our form can pick up soon as we're allowing teams back in the title race now.​
 
Next up we faced Real Salt Lake, we really need a win here or risk other teams catching us in the title race.

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Thats a relief.

A comfortable 2-0 win with first half goals from Luke Moore and Zardes ensuring we took away all 3 points.

Again, Gonzalez and Osorio were on international duty with Keane still injured.​
 
That brings an end to the month with the tables looking like this ...


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We end the month top of our Western Conference by 5 points and have a game in hand over our nearest challengers, Fc Dallas.

With only 10 games to go, our lead SHOULD already be too big to catch.


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It's a very similar story in the Supporters Shield with Fc Dallas again our nearest challengers here as well. Although Philadelphia are only 6 points behind having played the same amount of games as us.

The end of the month also brought some more injury news ...

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Goalkeeper, Jaime Penedo was ruled out for 5 weeks with a hernia.

This is a real shame as Penedo's been one of the players who played every game and has performed in every game as well.

This makes the title run a little more difficult.​
 
The start of August brought with it the start of a whole new competition for me.

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The North American Champions League starts. We entered this tournament by winning the US Cup last season. The start at the group stage with the first game being a home game with Tauro. We go into the match as heavy favourites, can we go out and impress here ...​

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Okay, so thats why we were favourites ... because Tauro are RUBBISH!!

A completely dominate performance, I mean, just look at those stats!

Omar Gonzalez actually played for us today as opposed to being on Internation duty which is seems like that's all he does these days. Zardes then doubled the lead before Luke Moore grabbed a brace to make it 4-0.

A late penalty, converted by Brad Evans, then grabbed the 5th.​
 
Now, the last league game before the US Cup semi final saw us face San Jose away from home ...

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A scrappy 2-2 with very little quality on show.

I think our minds were all on the cup game to be played next.

San Jose took the lead early on in the second half before Zardes scored yet again to level up. Robbie Keane then took the lead to make it 2-1 before San Jose equalised.​
 
I'm learning so much about the MLS from your story, didn't even know there was an American Champions League! Have you got your head around the draft system yet?
 
SeanKeaney said:
I'm learning so much about the MLS from your story, didn't even know there was an American Champions League! Have you got your head around the draft system yet?
Click to expand...

Haha, its ridiculous mate! Yeah either win the league or US cup to qualify I think, the Mexican sides seem to win it every year though.
To be honest I didn't really bother with the draft as there wasn't anyone great available. I cherry picked players from other sides instead. It's amazing who you can get by trading them your pick in the draft!
 
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