March 31, 2010
MLS INFORMER
News and notes from around the league

PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Real Salt Lake midfielder Javier Morales is Major League Soccer Player of the Week for the first week of the 2010 season. Morales scored two goals and set up the third as the defending MLS Cup champions blanked the San Jose Earthquakes 3-0 on Saturday, March 27 at Buck Shaw Stadium.

Morales opened scoring in the 14th minute. With two deft touches, Morales controlled a pass from Fabián Espíndola and blasted a swerving volley past goalkeeper Joe Cannon into the upper-right corner of the goal.

In the 27th minute, Morales recovered an attempted clear by Earthquakes defender Jason Hernandez and fed the ball through the defense to Espíndola, who doubled RSL’s lead with a chip over Cannon.

Morales netted his second goal in the 54th minute, blasting a free kick into the upper roght corner from the top of the 18-yard box in the 54th minute.

This is Morales’ second career Player of the Week award, with the other coming in Week 6 (April 22-26) last season. The MLS champs have two “consecutive” MLS Players of the Week, as Robbie Findley captured the honor in the final week of the 2009 regular season.

EXORCISM
Real Salt Lake appear to have banished the demons that plagued them away from Rio Tinto Stadium last season. In 2009, RSL went six games into their road schedule before scoring a goal, and won only two of 15 away matches (2-11-2). So far in this young season, they are 1-0 on the road, with three goals scored and none allowed.

PLAYING TO THE CROWD
The Chicago Fire might have come out on the short end of the scoreline against the New York Red Bulls last Saturday night, but they came up with two of the most entertaining near-misses of the season to date – Brian McBride’s point-blank bicycle kick that bounced off the post in the first half, and Mike Banner’s curving free kick that sailed over the wall of defenders and sent netminder Bouna Coundoul soaring to keep the ball from dipping under the bar for the 1-1 equalizer.

A SHORTER SUPERCLASICO
Stadium-mates the LA Galaxy and Chivas USA will meet only twice this season, making 2010 the shortest Honda SuperClasico competition since the trophy was introduced in 2005. For the first three seasons of its existence, the two teams met four times in the regular season. For the past two seasons, they played each other three times. This year, the Galaxy will host the first SuperClasico match this Thursday (April 1), while Chivas USA will be on the home bench for the return on October 3.

ON THE MOVE
The San Jose Earthquakes signed goalkeeper Jon Busch, who was waived by Chicago days before the team’s season opener. Busch started in goal for the Fire the past three seasons, posting 21 shutouts in 63 regular season appearances. He played every minute of every Fire match in 2008 and 2009, and was the MLS Goalkeeper of the Year and Team MVP in 2008.

Philadelphia Union released defender David Myrie. The 21-year-old Costa Rican started and played the first 78 minutes of the team’s season-opening loss to Seattle on April 25.

The Kansas City Wizards signed 2009 India Player of the Year Sunil Chhetri, pending approval of his P-1 visa and International Transfer Certificate. Chhetri, a forward, has been a regular with the Indian national team since 2004, scoring 16 goals in 35 appearances for his country. His most famous moment with the team came in 2008, when he scored a hat trick in the final of the 2008 AFC Challenge Cup against Tajikistan, qualifying India for its first Asian Cup tournament since 1984. Chhetri becomes the eighth citizen of an Asian country and the first Indian to play in MLS. He will also be the first Asian citizen to play for the Kansas City Wizards and the second Indian soccer player ever to ply his trade outside of his home nation.

YOU CAN QUOTE ME…
"It's an unbelievable environment to play in…It's the way a sporting event should be. I'm hoping we'll keep winning and it continues like this." -- New York Red Bulls defender Mike Petke on playing in the new Red Bull Arena


THIS WEEK’S GAMES
Thursday, April 1
Real Salt Lake @ Houston Dynamo (9 p.m. ET, ESPN2/ESPN Deportes)
Chivas USA @ LA Galaxy (11 p.m. ET, ESPN 2, ESPN Deportes)

Saturday, April 3
Chicago Fire @ Colorado Rapids (4 p.m. ET, TeleFutura)
New England Revolution @ DC United (7:30 p.m. ET, CSN, DirectKick)
New York Red Bulls @ Seattle Sounders (10:30 p.m. ET, FSC/FSE)