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MLS is Back Tournament draw: Players, coaches and GMs react to groups – MLSsoccer.com

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The groups have been drawn for the MLS is Back Tournament, starting July 8 in Orlando. Matchups are forming, MLS is back.

Players, coaches and general managers throughout the league have been giving their thoughts on the six groups, highlighted by an opening game clash between Florida foes Orlando City SC and Inter Miami CF and an El Trafico in Group F between LAFC and LA Galaxy. You can get the full details on the group draw here

As reactions emerge, here are some key takeaways from Thursday’s group draw, setting the stage for 56 games over 26 matchdays at ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Disney World Resort in Florida.

Atlanta United

After being drawn alongside old foes the New York Red Bulls, and Hell is Real rivals the Columbus Crew and FC Cincinnati, Atlanta Technical Director Carlos Bocanegra said is primary emotion was excitement and getting back to the field after the long hiatus.

“We’re just excited to get back to playing soccer,” he said. “We knew we were going to be facing all Eastern Conference teams in the tournament. Obviously, we’ve had some good games against the Red Bulls lately. And Columbus rebuilt and have been really strong. And we’ve played Cincinnati already this year. We’re excited to play, excited to be back out on the field and looking forward to a good month down in Florida.”

Colorado Rapids

There are a few groups in the MLS is Back Tournament who can lay claim to being the group of death, but perhaps the strongest resume is that of Group D.

Between the Colorado Rapids, Sporting Kansas City and Minnesota United, the group have three of the four teams in the league to start 2020 a perfect 2-0-0. The other is Real Salt Lake, who finished third in the West in 2019.

“We’re going to embrace it, I’d say it’s arguably the toughest in the tournament,” Rapids EVP and GM Padraig Smith said. “But it’s going to make for some really compelling games.”

“Our group is probably as challenging as any in the tournament, but to win, you’ve got to beat great teams,” head coach Robin Fraser added. “So be it.”

Inter Miami CF

Inter Miami Sporting Director Paul McDonough joined Extratime after the draw and said that being in the only group of six teams would present a challenge.

“I think we’re happy to be back playing,” he said. “But the group of six is definitely something that I don’t think we’ve even wrapped our heads around. I came into [head coach] Diego [Alonso] this morning after training, I said look w’ere going to open up, we’re going to play Orlando to start and he said ‘OK.’ And then I said but we’re in the group of six, he said ‘No Ok.’

“I think it’s a little bit harder to get out of a group of six but we’re just happy to be playing. A lot of work has gone into it. Philly we saw in preseason, they’re very good. They’ve got a really good system, they’re tough. Chicago, they’re kind of rebuilding so we’re not really sure what’s going to happen there/ but really for us right now we just have to focus on ourselves.”

Montreal Impact

Montreal’s place in Group C means a date with a bitter rival in Toronto FC, making that fixture one of the biggest games to watch in group play.

There’s already plenty on the line for every team with the regular season points and Concacaf Champions League berth that are at stake, but Impact midfielder Samuel Piette said that the clash with TFC will add even more luster from the players’ perspective.

“I feel like it was written in the sky that we needed to be together in the same group,” Piette said. “I think it’s good, obviously playing games with no fans under a new format will be much different than we’ve experienced before so maybe [playing Toronto] is motivation.

“To have Toronto, to have the chance to play against them, will obviously raise that motivation bar for us.”

Nashville SC

Along with Inter Miami, Nashville arguably have a tougher task than most going into the tournament, as an expansion side that was still trying to find its footing before the league’s hiatus, and will now have to rebuild the chemistry they’d established with one another during preseason.

Nashville dropped each of its first two games of their debut season against Atlanta United and the Portland Timbers, but captain Dax McCarty said there are plenty of positives that he’s taken away from those matches that can be applied looking ahead to Orlando, particularly defensively. If Nashville can maintain that defensive solidity and iron out their attack, McCarty said his side should be going into the tournament with high expectations.

“As far as I’m concerned, I want to win this tournament,” McCarty said. “There’s so much incentive to go out every single game and try to play open, exciting, attacking soccer to try and win games and score goals. That’s what we’re going to try to do.”

New York City FC

NYCFC started the MLS season without scoring a goal and ending up with two losses. This was at least partly due to the fact that Ronny Deila’s put most of their focus on the Concacaf Champions League, where they defeated San Carlos in the Round of 16 and had just finished their Leg 1 match against Tigres UANL before play was halted.

Drawn into Group A, the Cityzens will be facing Orlando City SC, Chicago Fire FC and the Philadelphia Union.

“I’m happy with the grouping. Exciting games. It’s tough games with whoever we meet in MLS, it’s a very competitive league,” sai Deila. “All these teams are new for me so I’m looking forward to study and make our team ready to play them and hopefully beat them in Orlando.”

One area where NYCFC seemingly have an edge is the depth of their roster, as they brought almost the full squad back after finishing first in the Eastern Conference in 2020.

“I think so,” Deila said when asked if NYCFC’s depth is an advantage in the tournament. “I think we have good depth in our squad. We have a very, very tough competition in different positions and this is something we can use to our advantage.”

New York Red Bulls

After a number of classic, heated matches between the New York Red Bulls and Atlanta United over the last few years, the Eastern Conference rivals are ready to do battle again at the MLS is Back Tournament in Orlando in Group E.

Despite being away from their home stadiums and with no fans in attendance, Red Bulls head coach Chris Armas isn’t worried about the game lacking its trademark intensity.

“The games are different without fans… but I don’t think we could meet Atlanta at a park with no one watching and it wouldn’t be heated,” Armas said. “We’re not scared, we love the challenge every single time. That’s one of the reasons why we’ve done well, we went after them in preseason too. There’ll be a lot going on in that game, it’ll be great.”

Orlando City SC

As the “home” team for the tournament, Orlando City was placed as the seeded team in Group A, the only group to feature six teams. As well as Inter Miami, Orlando will face off with NYCFC, Philadelphia Union, Chicago Fire and Nashville SC.

“Feels good to be home,” said Orlando’s EVP of Soccer Luiz Muzzi, who took part in Thursday’s draw. “I don’t think there’s a whole lot of advantage there. We’re playing against great teams and they’re all prepared. We’d like to have fans and we know our fans are following us. But everybody has a strong team. We’re just glad to be back and looking forward to starting.”

Real Salt Lake

RSL head coach Freddy Juarez took part in Thursday’s draw and later reacted to his team being drawn alongside Sporting Kansas City, the Colorado Rapids and Minnesota United.

“First of all, it’s a tough group,” he said. “Rivalries with Colorado and with Sporting. And Minnesota is a very, very good group,” Juarez said. “A lot of respect there. We’re a competitive group, a tight-knit group and improving every year the last four years. We know what we have, we know what we are and we have a chip on our shoulder that we want to go out and compete against anyone in MLS. That’s the mindset of the whole group.”

Seattle Sounders

Vice President of Soccer and Sporting Director Chris Henderson also took part in the draw, and saw the Sounders land in Group B, alongside FC Dallas, Cascadia rivals the Vancouver Whitecaps and the San Jose Earthquakes.

“It’s a tough group,” he said. “Some rivalry games for sure and some history between the clubs. We’re looking forward to get starting again. November and MLS Cup seems like a long time ago. We’re looking forward to getting to the warm weather, adjusting and excited to be playing again.”

Sporting Kansas City

Sporting KC head coach Peter Vermes spoke to reporters via conference call after his team was drawn into a group with Real Salt Lake, Colorado and Minnesota. It figures to be one of the more evenly-matched groups in the tournament, and though Vermes didn’t get into specifics about his team’s initial opponents, noting that they still figure to play every MLS team this season, he did like the look of a lot of the matchups across the tournament.

“In regards to group itself and all the groups, I think it really wouldn’t have mattered who we got in my opinion, and I say that because we’re going to have to play everybody anyway at some point coming out of this as well,” he said. “So however we start, if you want to get to the final you’re going to have to play all the teams anyway. I thought the groups wound up pretty good because there are some good rivalries and a lot of them will be good for television.”

Vermes also noted that now having games and specific opponents to look forward to would add a much-needed element to his team’s training sessions and preparations for return to play.

“Having a date — that’s the way that we work in our business — everything is centered around dates and times and when our next opponent is and where we’re traveling to. So you’re always kind of reverse engineering from that and now having a date a team to play, all that, is going to help immensely in what we’re trying to get prepared for. Athletes are almost always goal-oriented, so then now having something is going to make it that much different just in training and how we prepare going forward.”

Toronto FC

In one of the highlights of the draw, Toronto FC were drawn alongside Canadian Classique rivals Montreal Impact, as well as the New England Revolution and D.C. United.

“It’s Eastern Conference teams,” Toronto General Manager Ali Curtis said. “Those are battles. We ‘ve got some good teams, good competition. Montreal of course is a rival. But DC and New England are strong teams. You’re looking at some playoff teams and Montreal won the Canadian Championship. There’s a lot at stake and we’re going to do the best we can to get results.”

Vancouver Whitecaps

One of the prominent rivalries to highlight the group stage will be the Vancouver Whitecaps vs. the Seattle Sounders in Group B. Vancouver aren’t fretting about drawing the reigning MLS Cup champions, in fact, head coach Marc Dos Santos prefers it this way.

“We were very glad that we ended up in a group that’s incredibly balanced, any of the groups can qualify,” Dos Santos said. “It’s good for our fans that we ended up in a group with Seattle or Portland, we wanted that.”

“Whoever is that first game we have to be ready,” he added. “For our fans, I hope our first game is against Seattle.”



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NHL roundup: Hurricanes beat Flyers 6-4 for seventh straight win

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RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Martin Necas scored a go-ahead goal with 29 seconds left and the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Philadelphia Flyers 6-4 on Tuesday night.

It was the seventh straight win for the Hurricanes, who also got goals from Jack Roslovic, Jordan Martinook, Eric Robinson and Jackson Blake. Seth Jarvis added an empty-net goal in the final seconds.

Necas typically saves his game-winners for overtime, with nine in his career, but he was able to take care of business in regulation with his team-best seventh goal of the season.

Travis Konecny scored two goals and had two assists for the Flyers. Morgan Frost and Owen Tippett also scored for Philadelphia.

Aleksei Kolosov made 28 saves for the Flyers, who trailed 2-1, 3-1 and 4-3 but kept coming back. Carolina’s Pyotr Kochetkov struggled in net allowing four goals on just 16 shots.

Elsewhere in the NHL on Tuesday:

SABRES 5 SENATORS 1

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Bowen Byram and Tage Thompson scored 16 seconds apart to open the third period, and Buffalo snapped a three-game skid with a win over Ottawa.

Byram scored twice, JJ Peterka had two goals and an assist and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 37 saves.

Ridly Greig converted his own rebound in cutting Buffalo’s lead to 2-1 with 7:31 left in the second period. Linus Ullmark made 29 saves in dropping to 1-4 in his past five starts.

Buffalo went up 3-1 on Byram’s second goal 21 seconds into the third period. The defenceman’s shot from inside the blue line sneaked through Ullmark, with the puck rolling down the goalie’s pad, dropping into the crease and trickling across the line. Thompson scored when he crashed the net, was knocked over by defender Jake Sanderson and was lying in the crease when Alex Tuch’s shot went in off his shoulder.

MAPLE LEAFS 4 BRUINS 0

TORONTO (AP) — Anthony Stolarz made 29 saves for his first shutout of the season in Toronto’s 4-0 victory over Boston.

Morgan Rielly had a goal and two assists as Toronto connected three times on the power play. William Nylander and Matthew Knies added a goal and an assist each. Mitch Marner had two assists of his own. Steven Lorentz rounded out the scoring into the empty net.

The Leafs played without captain Auston Matthews, who is listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury.

Jeremy Swayman made 23 stops for Boston, which was coming off consecutive weekend shutouts of the Philadelphia Flyers and Seattle Kraken.

Toronto’s porous 31st-ranked power play scored for the second time in as many games at 8:44 of the second period when Rielly fired through a screen. Nylander banked in his team-leading 10th goal of the season on another man advantage 1:14 later for a 2-0 lead.

The Bruins entered the game 8-0-0 in the regular season against their Atlantic Division rival dating back to Jan. 14, 2023.

FLAMES 3 CANADIENS 2 (OT)

MONTREAL (AP) — Matt Coronato scored twice as Calgary came back to defeat Montreal in overtime.

Coronato tied the game with 2:46 remaining in regulation when he cruised into the slot and went off the post and in. He then buried the winning goal seven seconds into the extra period.

Connor Zary also scored for Calgary, which won its second game in seven outings. Dustin Wolf stopped 21 shots.

Joel Armia — with a short-handed goal — and Brendan Gallagher scored for Montreal (4-7-2). Armia also provided an assist, while Sam Montembeault made 32 saves as the Canadiens’ losing streak extended to four games.

Zary opened the scoring with his third 4:20 into the second period when he pounced on a loose puck in the slot and fired a shot past Montembeault.

Gallagher then slipped the puck between Wolf’s pads at 16:23 to level the score with his fifth of the season.

BLUES 3 LIGHTNING 2

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Jordan Kyrou, Alexey Toropchenko and Oskar Sundqvist scored to help St. Louis beat Tampa Bay 3-2.

Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington made 21 saves for his 149th career win moving him past Jake Allen for second place in franchise history, just two wins behind Mike Liut’s 151.

Nick Perbix and Victor Hedman scored, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 20 saves for the Lightning who have lost three straight games.

Kyrou scored his fourth goal of the season 8:51 into the third period to give St. Louis a 3-1 lead.

Toropchenko scored his first goal of the season with 1:35 remaining in the second period to put St. Louis ahead 2-1 after Sundqvist tied the game with his first of the season 7:47 into the period.

ISLANDERS 4 PENGUINS 3 (SO)

NEW YORK (AP) — Bo Horvat scored the only goal in a shootout and New York rallied past Pittsburgh 4-3.

New York goalie Ilya Sorokin denied Rickard Rakell, Sidney Crosby and Kris Letang in the shootout and finished with 32 saves. Kyle Palmieri had a goal and an assist for the Islanders, who trailed 3-1 midway through the third period.

Simon Holmstrom and Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored in the third for New York. Horvat had two assists.

Evgeni Malkin had a goal and an assist to lead Pittsburgh. Crosby got his 598th career goal, and Michael Bunting also scored. Rakell added two assists.

Alex Nedeljkovich stopped 23 shots for the Penguins, who have lost seven of nine. They won their previous two following a six-game skid.

KINGS 5 WILD 1

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Trevor Lewis scored twice, Kevin Fiala added another on the power play and Los Angeles beat Minnesota 5-1.

Warren Foegele and Quinton Byfield also scored for Los Angeles, which was playing the second night of a back-to-back after a 3-0 win in Nashville a night earlier. David Rittich made 23 saves for the Kings.

Fiala, who was traded to Los Angeles in 2022 by Minnesota for a first-round pick draft pick and defenceman Brock Faber, scored his seventh goal of the season. He now has three goals and six assists in his last seven games against the Wild.

Minnesota, which had won three in a row, opened the scoring in the second period on Zach Bogosian’s first goal of the season. Goaltender Filip Gustavsson stopped 23 shots for the Wild.

JETS 3 UTAH 0

WINNIPEG, Man. (AP) — Nino Niederreiter scored twice in his 900th NHL career game and Connor Hellebuyck made 21 saves to help Winnipeg defeat Utah 3-0.

It was Hellebuyck’s second shutout of the season and 39th of this career.

Gabriel Vilardi also scored for the Jets. Adam Lowry assisted on both goals by Niederreiter.

Utah ended a run of picking up points in three consecutive games (1-0-2).

Karel Vejmelka stopped 25 shots for Utah in its second stop on a four-game road trip.

Jets winger Kyle Connor had his franchise-record, season-opening points streak end at 12 games.

AVALANCHE 6 KRAKEN 3

DENVER (AP) — Arturri Lehkonen scored the go-ahead goal on a power play in his season debut and Nathan MacKinnon had five assists as Colorado beat Seattle 6-3.

Mikko Rantanen added two goals for the Avalanche, who snapped a three-game losing streak. Ivan Ivan, Nikolai Kovalenko and Chris Wagner also scored for Colorado.

Cale Makar had two assists but the star defenceman barely played in the second half of the game and appeared to be slowed by an apparent injury during a brief shift.

MacKinnon and Makar extended their season-opening point streaks to 13 games.

Lehkonen played for the first time since off-season shoulder surgery.

Jared McCann, Jaden Schwartz and Brandon Montour scored for the Kraken.

CANUCKS 5 DUCKS 1

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Brock Boeser, Danton Heinen and Kiefer Sherwood had a goal and an assist apiece, and Quinn Hughes recorded his 300th career assist in Vancouver’s victory over Anaheim.

Jake DeBrusk and Elias Pettersson also scored and Hughes had three assists for the Canucks, who have won six of eight. Kevin Lankinen made 21 saves in Vancouver’s sixth consecutive win over the Ducks.

Olen Zellweger scored a power-play goal early in the first period for Anaheim, which has lost seven of nine. Lukas Dostal stopped 31 shots.

Canucks goalie Thatcher Demko took shots from teammates again after the morning skate, and he could return to practice this week. The Southern California native and 2023-24 Vezina Trophy finalist hasn’t played this season due to a knee injury incurred late last season.

SHARKS 2 BLUE JACKETS 1 (OT)

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Alex Wennberg scored 3:11 into overtime and San Jose celebrated the return of No. 1 overall draft pick Macklin Celebrini with a win over Columbus.

Defenceman Jack Thompson scored his first career goal for the Sharks (4-8-2), who entered the night with the worst record in the NHL. San Jose has won four of five.

Celebrini, the top pick in the 2024 NHL draft, missed 12 games with a hip injury he sustained in the season opener Oct. 10 — an injury first incurred during the pre-season. Celebrini didn’t score and missed a shot early in overtime.

San Jose goalie Vitek Vanacek was fantastic in net, making 49 saves.

Blue Jackets right wing Kirill Marchenko scored for the second consecutive game. Columbus (5-6-1) has lost three straight.

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Canada’s Dabrowski and New Zealand’s Routliffe pick up second win at WTA Finals

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RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski and New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe remain undefeated in women’s doubles at the WTA Finals.

The 2023 U.S. Open champions, seeded second at the event, secured a 1-6, 7-6 (1), (11-9) super-tiebreak win over fourth-seeded Italians Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini in round-robin play on Tuesday.

The season-ending tournament features the WTA Tour’s top eight women’s doubles teams.

Dabrowski and Routliffe lost the first set in 22 minutes but levelled the match by breaking Errani’s serve three times in the second, including at 6-5. They clinched victory with Routliffe saving a match point on her serve and Dabrowski ending Errani’s final serve-and-volley attempt.

Dabrowski and Routliffe will next face fifth-seeded Americans Caroline Dolehide and Desirae Krawczyk on Thursday, where a win would secure a spot in the semifinals.

The final is scheduled for Saturday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on Nov. 5, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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Allen nets shutout as Devils burn Oilers 3-0

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EDMONTON – Jake Allen made 31 saves for his second shutout of the season and 26th of his career as the New Jersey Devils closed out their Western Canadian road trip with a 3-0 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Monday.

Jesper Bratt had a goal and an assist and Stefan Noesen and Timo Meier also scored for the Devils (8-5-2) who have won three of their last four on the heels on a four-game losing skid.

The Oilers (6-6-1) had their modest two-game winning streak snapped.

Calvin Pickard made 13 stops between the pipes for Edmonton.

TAKEAWAYS

Devils: In addition to his goal, Bratt picked up his 12th assist of the young season to give him nine points in his last eight games and now 15 points overall. Nico Hischier remains in the team lead, picking up an assist of his own to give him 16 points for the campaign. He has a point in all but four games this season.

Oilers: Forward Leon Draisaitl was held pointless after recording six points in his previous two games and nine points in his previous four. Draisaitl usually has strong showings against the Devils, coming into the contest with an eight-game point streak against New Jersey and 11 goals in 17 games.

KEY MOMENT

New Jersey took a 2-0 lead on the power play with 3:26 remaining in the second period as Hischier made a nice feed into the slot to Bratt, who wired his third of the season past Pickard.

KEY RETURN?

Oilers star forward and captain Connor McDavid took part in the optional morning skate for the Oilers, leading to hopes that he may be back sooner rather than later. McDavid has been expected to be out for two to three weeks with an ankle injury suffered during the first shift of last Monday’s loss in Columbus.

OILERS DEAL FOR D-MAN

The Oilers have acquired defenceman Ronnie Attard from the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for defenceman Ben Gleason.

The 6-foot-3 Attard has spent the past three season in the Flyers organization seeing action in 29 career games. The 25-year-old right-shot defender and Western Michigan University grad was originally selected by Philadelphia in the third round of the 2019 NHL Entry Draft. Attard will report to the Oilers’ AHL affiliate in Bakersfield.

UP NEXT

Devils: Host the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday.

Oilers: Host the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 4, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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