Those days are happily behind him

[Easyhomeshopping]

Washington, DC (Sports Network) - A pair of struggling Eastern Conference rivals clash on Saturday as D. Tim Thomas USA Jersey .C. United welcomes Toronto FC to RFK Stadium. United enters the match riding a two-match losing streak in league play and sits in 10th place in the East with just 13 points from 24 games this season. Last time out, D.C. went toe-to-toe with playoff contenders Montreal Impact put fell by a 2-1 count at Saputo Stadium. D.C. hung around for most of the opening 45 minutes, but Montreal found a break through two minutes before the break when Justin Mapp crossed low to the penalty spot from the right flank, and Felipes dummy fooled Uniteds center backs, leaving the ball for Marco Di Vaio to curl a right-footed strike into the top corner of Bill Hamids net. The home side drew level nine minutes from time when promising young striker Conor Doyle when he pounced on a Luis Silva through ball on the outside left and beat Montreal goalkeeper Troy Perkins at the far post. But it was Di Vaio that put the Impact back in front when he curled a beauty past a powerless Hamid just two minutes later to secure three points for his side. Additionally, United head coach Ben Olsen will not be on the touchline as he will serve a suspension for an altercation with Montreal head coach Marco Schallibaum. "I hate to make this about me because we all have learned a lot from an organizational standpoint," Olsen said. "Players, coaches, maybe front office, fans, we all have gone through this together. And that is what Im proud of is that were still hanging in there and were still trying to get better each day and we found ourselves in a final, still." Toronto. meanwhile, is coming off a 2-0 defeat to the Columbus Crew at Crew Stadium last week and sit in ninth place in the Eastern Conference with 20 points from 24 matches. Toronto fell behind last time out 19 minutes into the match as Chad Barson found Bernardo Anor with a cross, and he fired a shot into Toronto goalkeeper Joe Bendik. The rebound popped out to Federico Higuain and he slotted it home. Higuain completed his brace in the 67th minute when he floated a perfectly placed chip over the Toronto goalkeeper. "Our defenders were not really treating the ball with respect and keeping it," Toronto head coach Ryan Nelsen said of his teams effort. "When we did keep it for like four or five passes, generally something half decent happened. We werent at the office. Im not going to single out anybody but I think everybody, from one to eleven, wasnt that great." In 16 all-time meetings between the sides, United holds a 10-4-2 advantage, including a 4-2-2 mark at home. Brian Rafalski Jersey . - Their offence is underperforming. Ryan Kesler Jersey . Quarterback Drew Willy appeared to injure his throwing hand on the third last play of practice Thursday. http://www.hockeyteamusajerseystore.com/Jimmy-Howard-Jersey/ . According to a report from ESPN, the veteran safety has signed another one-year deal with the team Raiders, the team that drafted him, and who he returned to last year after a long stint with the Green Bay Packers.He was already an entertainer. The smiles came before the passes, before the dribbles, the crosses and the shots. It was early March when Pedro Morales joined up with his new team in Vancouver and the public and his new teammates got to see what the coaching staff had warned them about. This was no ordinary DP. Morales immediately impressed. He held court with the media showing tremendous dignity and a humbleness seen so rarely when a top player arrives from Europe. The Chilean made the media smile as he tried to answer some questions in broken English, sometimes telling his interpreter that he didnt need him. It was only his first day yet it was clear he was not willing to take the easy route. That attitude quickly transformed on to the field. I brought him here to be a difference maker, said new head coach Carl Robinson. Robinson had found the crown jewel to his new system. When he was given the job last December, the Welshman already had a list written down inside a notebook of the players he wanted to target. That list was full of creative number tens, players who can play in between the lines and be the conductor of the teams offensive orchestra. In a league where the likes of Diego Valeri and Federico Higuain had starred, the head coach allowed himself to wonder what his team would be like with a similar South American in that position. Robinson knew he needed one and Morales was top of his list. Morales told the media on his first day in Canada: Set pieces are one of the virtues I have – free kicks, penalties, I hope this can help the team, Help the team? How about transform the team. Just over seven months after telling us all about his qualities, those words rang louder than ever as the DP ran towards the corner flag at a raucous BC Place on Saturday evening. The Whitecaps were on top against a stubborn Colorado team that was playing for nothing more than pride, but their dominance was not on show in the score. It remained deadlocked. Fittingly, in a season where the team couldnt get goals out of their strikers, here was a team, desperate for a goal, hoping for a moment of individual brilliance. Someone to make a difference, as the coach had said from the beginning. That is what you pay your DP players for. Moments like this. With 20 minutes left in the season, Morales adjusted his socks and took as many steps backwards as the territory would allow. He glanced towards the box and his sight was Kendall Waston, a man he has only known for three months but one he had already learned to target from dead ball situations. The two had combined last month at home to San Jose when the big defender had headed home a Morales corner just outside of the six-yard box. Morales sent this corner in closer to the goal, in the perfect place, just over the top of any defenders at the front post. It arrived with at the exact right speed for someone to meet. Andy OBrien and Erik Hurtado made the dummy runs and in behind Waston nodded it into the back of the net. Morales had delivered. At the time he was playing solely in central midfield, slightly deeper than the number ten role he had started the game in, which allowed Kekuta Manneh to come on (and win the corner) whilst the Chilean could dictate the teams tempo from deep positions. There is no doubting the brilliance of Morales further forward, linking with the wide attackers and the front man, but this season the Whitecaps fans fell in love with the playmaker because of his vision. No matter where he was positioned he had an ability to look up and spray a pass oveer a long distance to a teammates foot. Matt Niskanen Jersey. . The 29-year-old is a ball craver. He isnt shy to come deep to get it and many of Vancouvers successful attacks have begun when Morales has created something special from deep. In fact, for a lot of Whitecaps fans, the first memory of Morales came when he did exactly that on his debut, claiming his first assist with a delightful long-range pass for Kenny Miller to run onto. He would go on to gain 11 more assists, including the biggest of all on Saturday night. Morales was sixth in MLS this season with 6.2 long balls per match and the only outfield players ahead of him all played much deeper on the field – Wil Trapp, Will Johnson, Michael Bradley, Aurelien Collin and Tony Tchani. Despite occasionally playing deeper, he also finished the season with 2.5 key passes per game, only behind Landon Donovan, Javier Morales, Higuain, Valeri, Brad Davis and Graham Zusi who, unlike Morales, do most of their damage exclusively in the final third. Stats only tell a small part of his debut season in MLS, however. Everyone will have his or her favourite Morales moment. Sometimes you just had to be there to see it and it didnt always have to be a goal or an assist. For his teammates it is likely to be a moment away from the game. Hes a fantastic example of a proper professional, said Robinson. He conducts himself right, he talks to the younger players. In the changing room, hes dancing and singing, so hes a character. And I want characters in the squad. Anyone lucky enough to watch this group train this season will have seen just how close they are. Before a ball is kicked no one would have any idea who the most expensive player is. There was no special treatment, no arrogance and no ego from the former Malaga man. He was just one member of the squad. Yet, when Jay DeMerit retired he was the clear replacement for the club skipper. Morales doesnt need to be a vocal leader. He leads by example. He also knows where to lead to. A man who played under the guidance of world class coaches like Marcelo Bielsa and Manuel Pellegrini knows what you need to do to succeed at the top level. The Whitecaps have had a mixed bag of expensive talent since joining MLS but as every game passes the Chilean maestro is leaving behind a trail of special moments that makes him arguably the most complete player since joining the league. This is not a DP whose best days are behind him or a DP who is using the North American market to improve and get a better deal elsewhere. Morales has been a small fish in a big pond before, and perhaps has dipped in the biggest pond of all by playing at the Nou Camp with Isco against the likes of Lionel Messi, Xavi and Andres Iniesta. Those days are happily behind him. He is too good to be used as a substitute. Here he is the talk of the town wherever the Whitecaps land. The opposing coach, players and fans cannot talk about the team without raising their voice to praise the guile and creativity of Morales. This will be no different in Dallas on Wednesday night. It is the second-ever MLS playoff game for the Whitecaps but that is where the comparisons should end between this one and the game in Los Angeles 24 months ago, one they narrowly lost 2-1. That team could only have dreamt about having a player like Morales. Now he is leading the team out for their biggest match of the season. Entertainers continue to find ways to make their fans smile and in Morales the Whitecaps have a magician whose box of tricks will give FC Dallas many reasons to be concerned. Cheap NFL Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale NFL Jerseys Jerseys From China Wholesale NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys ' ' '