On Monday, the Impact announced that they had acquired the Costa Rican international, who has scored 15 times for his club throughout 58 appearances over two seasons.
Montreal continues to get stronger
The Canadian outfit have already significantly strengthened their squad during MLS's summer transfer window by signing formerChelsea striker Didier Drogba, and on Monday they added to the list of improvements made by signing Costa Rican internationalJohan Venegas from Alajuelense.
Familiarity with the player
Venegas is a player with whom the Impact are familiar, given that they faced off with each other twice back in the spring during Champions League play. He has appeared 58 times in league play for the Costa Rican giants, scoring 15 times and assisting on 10 occasions. His play there caught the attention of Costa Rican national team manager Paulo Wanchope, who called him up for the first time last September for the Copa Centroamerica. Venegas scored two of his four international goals in that tournament, and has been capped 14 times by the Ticos.
The club are pleased with the signing
The 26-year-old winger appears to be exactly the sort of player Impact manager Frank Klopas was hoping to sign before the transfer window closed.
"Johan is a quality player at a good age," said Klopas. "He will help this team in the second half of the season and he is a good addition for the future of this club."
It is not just the on-field staff of the club who are pleased with the acquisition. No, Venegas has impressed the club brass as well.
"We are very happy to have completed the transfer and signing of Johan Venegas," said Adam Braz, Montreal's technical director. "He is a quality player with international experience who can play in multiple positions. He will be a very good addition to the team."
The winger will have his first opportunity to make his debut onWednesday night, when the Impact play host to the New York Red Bulls. If he doesn't play on Wednesday, he'll get another chance to debut in front of his home fans on Saturday when the Impact hostDC United.
Chicago Fire Snaps FC Dallas' Five Match Winning Streak
Sitting at the bottom of the Eastern Conference table, the Chicago Fire needed to come out strong against Supporters' Shield contender FC Dallas.
Chicago Fire
FC Dallas
It was a big game for both the Chicago Fire and for FC Dallas. It was a game between two teams in opposite positions but a good result was needed for both teams. The Fire were at the bottom of the Eastern Conference table and are trying to make a playoff push while FC Dallas was riding a five game winning streak and were at the top of the Western Conference table while trying to stay in the mix of the Supporters' Shield race.
Chicago off to a flying start
The game started out fast for Chicago when David Accam flew byMatt Hedges and got on the end of a pass from Jason Johnson in the 4th minute. Accam then calmly shot the ball through Dan Kennedy's legs and into the net. It was a perfect start for the Fire, who have struggled scoring the ball all season but additions like Johnson and Accam have helped as of late. Accam's pace has shown to be a problem for defenders all season, but there have been times when the Ghanaian hasn't had his shooting boots on. That was the only major action in the first half but in the second half things got crazier.
Chicago continued to look for a second goal
It was a slow start to the second half, but Chicago came within inches of doubling their advantage in the 63rd minute when Johnson hit the post. Shaun Maloney had picked up the pieces off of a cleared corner, and clipped in a cross which Johnson got on the end of. Using the outside of his left boot, he looked to hook the ball inside the near post. It was inches away from sneaking in, but caromed back off the woodwork. In the 77th minute, the Fire again almost made it 2-0 when Razvan Cocis hit a missile to the upper corner which it was pushed away by Kennedy, who made a great save.
Hope for Dallas
However, things suddenly looked grim for the Fire as Matt Watsonsaw a straight red for a reckless challenge in the 79th minute. While pursuing a loose ball, Watson dove in studs first with both legs late and raised. He came over the ball, and seemed to leg lock his opponent. It was a obvious red card. It seemed to be a crushing blow for the Fire, who have struggled to keep leads in the second half all season. With FC Dallas' fire power on offense, it surely seemed that the Western Conference table toppers would find an equalizer.
They can't capitalize
But, once again, Accam made a play that sealed the game for Chicago. Accam raced into the box, and lost the ball in a good position. However, Kennedy Igboananike was right there and was tripped on the inside edge of the area, prompting the referee to point to the spot. Maloney stepped up and sent the goalkeeper the wrong way to give the Fire a 2-0 lead. It would be a lead Chicago wouldn't give up as they earned a huge win over Dallas.
This game had some impact on the standings in both conferences.For the Fire, it helped them jump up a spot in the standings and has put them in position to make a potential playoff run. They have games in hand and are now just five points out of sixth place.
For Dallas, they are now 2nd in the Western Conference table as Vancouver jumped them with a win over Seattle. However, Dallas has a game in hand so they can still potentially be first in the table when all is said and done.
Drama As Houston Dynamo Draw Sporting KC
In typical fashion, the Houston Dynamo and Sporting KC played a physical matchup with controversy galore in a 1-1 draw at Sporting Park.
Sporting KC
Houston Dynamo
In what is quickly becoming one of the most heated rivalries inMajor League Soccer, the Houston Dynamo traveled to Sporting Park to face off against Sporting KC. There was a lot predictable about the match, with fouls being racked up and cards handed out to what seemed like every single player. In the end, despite drama (a requisite to any Houston/KC match) the game ended in a 1-1 draw.
First, let's get the drama out of the way. Not every card will be discussed, as there were way too many to discuss in one article. There were seven cards in total handed out by referee Jorge Gonzalez. Of the yellow cards, the only ones worth discussing would be those handed out to Tyler Deric and Dom Dwyer. Dwyer and Deric went up to get a ball in the air. Deric got there ahead of the striker rather comfortably. When Dwyer slammed into the goalkeeper, his cleats made contact with the netminder's leg. Once he got up, Tyler got into Dwyer's face and shoved him to the ground.
After the ensuing shoving match between both teams concluded, the fighters were given their deserved cards. While the way the referee handled the situation isn't worth discussing (he did his job perfectly) the fact that these two were constantly going at it all night is worth talking about. It was another late challenge from Dwyer that would lead to an injury suffered by Deric. It was a challenge worthy of another yellow, as it wasn't the first time he'd been late on the keeper but, Gonzalez decided to simply award the foul. After receiving treatment, Deric went to kick the ball into play and immediately asked for a substitution. He was asked to tough it out as the Dynamo were down to one subtitution left.
It was a good decision from Dynamo manager Owen Coyle asRicardo Clark injured himself coming down from a header that tied the game. It was a case of Clark landing awkwardly on his leg.
But enough of the lightweight talk. Down to business. That red card on Nathan Sturgis. It was certainly rough and looked bad but the Laws of the Game don't allow for cards on that judgement alone. Replays clearly show that the tackle, with both players on the ground, was shin to shin, or at worst shin to knee. Sturgis' feet were not a factor (check out the chunk of turf he kicked up). At worst that was a yellow card, and a red was extremely harsh and frankly unwarranted (the second time that's happened this season). Oddly enough the Dynamo still played well for most of the remainder of the match.
More on that in a bit.
The other controversy came in late, late, late (like, Mexico v Panama late) stoppage time off a KC corner. The ball went over everyone's heads, and towards the top of the box where Luis Garrido was alone in the box. As he turned to get out of the way of the box (to let it roll out of bounds most likely) the ball bounced off his arm and out of play. The referee was in perfect position to see it and said the contact was incidental (or ball to hand in referee parlance). The fans (and players and staff and coaches) felt otherwise. Naturally.
This one is fifty-fifty. It's easy to see both points of view so this will get chalked up as a make up call for that horrible penalty given to Sporting earlier this year at BBVA Compass Stadium (even the league felt it was a bad call as they recinded the red card that came with it).
Moving on.
Oddly enough this game saw Sporting on the defensive side of the ball for most of the match. Kansas City scored early off a set piece when Dwyer shook off Ricardo Clark for an open header in the 6th minute. As mentioned earlier, Clark would redeem himself in the 78' when he scored off a set piece of his own. In between, the Dynamo held onto the ball 55% of the time, completing 77% of their passes on 347 passes. It was a very good day in midfield.
The biggest problem for the Dynamo came in the finishing from the strikers. Will Bruin had a horrible night in front of goal, missing two quality opportunities in the first half. Even worse was Giles Barnes, recently returned from guiding his team to a silver medal at the Gold Cup, who was on the wrong end of a hard tackle that left his knee worse for wear and clearly limited him for the remainder of the match. This forced him to play more as a #10 rather than a strike partner alongside Bruin.
Man of the match, though? David Horst. The center back was solid from the opening whistle and even had a good night offensively (though if he had managed to turn some of his headers on frame...). It was the late game heroics that pushed him over the top for the reward, including a highlight reel tackle on Krisztian Nemeth.
31 fouls, six yellow cards, one red card, two goals and tens of thousands of upset fans: just a typical night out between these two sides. Controversy and all.
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