Top Saves From The Texas Pro Soccer Festival
Soccerlens writer Eddie Griffin did a super job of covering the Texas Pro Soccer Festival the past week. Eddie really did the hard yards in putting together some great articles together to give fans of the MLS an insight into the super effort that my mates Jason Chronkite and Chris Campasano pulled off at last weeks event.
Eddie travelled down to the event with his better half, and took the time to take some great videos and also super interviews with the stars of the MLS and coaches alike. Following is a review of some of the best saves during the Texas Pro Soccer Fest, and I have to thank Eddie for being so kind and giving our readers an insight into some great saves by some of th best goalkeepers in the USA.
Some of the MLS' best talents were on display at the Texas Pro Soccer Fest last week, as the Houston Dynamo, D.C. United, Chivas USA, and Toronto FC came to the San Antonio area.
The tournament started and ended with scores of 4-3 and 3-2 - both of those involving Toronto FC, but even with quite a few goals, the week wasn't all bad for the keepers.
Houston's Pat Onstad has been in professional soccer for two decades, and is still going strong at 40. He didn't have his best night on Wednesday, when Toronto put three past him, but one of the marks of a good keeper is having a short memory.
On Sunday against D.C. United, Onstad did see a late equalizer go past him, but he also made two big saves in the final 20 minutes to ensure that the Dynamo took home the tournament trophy. In the 71st minute, D.C.'s Guy-Roland Kpene was one-on-one with Onstad in the box, and 9 out of 10 times, you'd expect the attacker to come out on top, right? Unfortunately for Kpene, Onstad was alert and timed the striker's move perfectly, getting down to deflect the low shot out of harm's way.
After the equalizer in the 78th, D.C. had another golden opportunity in the waning minutes. A free kick came into the box, and a D.C. player got his head to it, forcing Onstad into having to react more quickly than before. But, the veteran keeper dived and got a hand out to beat the bouncing ball away.
Here's the video of Onstad's saves:
Click To Play
From a Canadian goalkeeper to a Canadian team for the next great piece of shot-stopping in Texas. During the Toronto FC-D.C. United match on Friday night, rookie Toronto keeper Brian Edwards flashed his great potential with what may have been the save of the tournament before Onstad's duo on Sunday.
Cezar (scorer of Sunday's equalizer for D.C. - that guy is a menace when he's anywhere near the box) stole the ball near Toronto's box and teed himself up for a rocket that Edwards dived down to deflect up and out of play. If Edwards makes more saves like that, it won't be long before he overtakes Greg Sutton as TFC's #1. I'm not sure if the video gets the full save, thanks to Cezar taking the shot as quickly as he did, but it was a great save, you can take my word for it!
Here's the video of Edwards' save:
Unfortunately, Chivas USA's Brad Guzan didn't play in the tournament, as he suffered an MCL sprain shortly before the team's trip to Texas, so we were deprived of the chance to see the 2007 MLS Goalkeeper of the Year, and one of America's brightest promising talents.
Let's hope that there'll be many more moments like these at next year's tournament, but until then, expect to see quite a few in the upcoming MLS season, which is right around the corner.
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John Stevanja
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