As Atlas rumors swirl, Márquez "not ruling out anything"

GUADALAJARA, Mexico – Reports in the Mexican press are linking New York Red Bulls midfielder/defender Rafa Márquez with a move back to the team of his boyhood, Guadalajara-based Club Atlas, although the Mexican international says there has been no official approach as yet. "I would like to help Atlas get out of this situation it is in, but there has not been a formal approach," Márquez said in a press conference on Monday to promote his charity here. "I am ready to listen to see what they propose and what the possibilities are. First, they have to get in contact. I’m not ruling out anything." For their part, the Red Bulls expect their Designated Player to return to the team next season. "He has two-and-a-half more year[s] on his contract," New York head coach Hans Backe said after last week’s Western Conference Semifinals second leg that saw the Red Bulls eliminated from the MLS Cup Playoffs. "Now I think he got [a two-game] suspension. But he will be in the team for next year." Márquez received a red card in the first leg of the Red Bulls’ Western semi against the LA Galaxy for his role in a postgame fracas. The Major League Soccer Disciplinary Committee subsequently handed the former Barcelona star a two-match ban, which will carry over into the 2012 regular season. He was then left out of the Mexican national team squad for Friday’s friendly against Serbia, although Márquez says he is unaware that it was punishment for his behavior against the Galaxy. The 32-year-old made his professional debut for Atlas back in 1996 and has regularly professed his desire to end his playing career with the club. Cash-strapped Atlas are also confident that "El Kaiser de Michoacán" will return.   "I am sure that he will arrive," Atlas vice president Víctor Flores Cosío told Mexican daily

Galaxy Notebook: Short rest ahead of RSL matchup

CARSON, Calif. – In a typical season, teams participating in the Western Conference Championship would have a full week to prepare for the match and recover from the first round of the MLS Cup Playoffs. However, the LA Galaxy and Real Salt Lake are faced with unique circumstances this year. The Galaxy will have exactly two full days off between games while RSL will have three ahead of Sunday’s clash (9 pm ET; ESPN, ESPN Deportes, TSN2, live chat on MLSsoccer.com). At least all four teams left standing in the postseason are dealing with the same situation. WATCH: Galaxy discuss facing RSL "The challenges for all the teams now left in the competition are fatigue, injury ... but it’s difficult. It’s a lot of games in a short period of time and a lot of travel," Galaxy coach Bruce Arena said. "MLS … fully understood some of the issues surrounding the schedule of the MLS Cup this year, and certainly with World Cup qualifiers and with European qualification next week, it took precedence over our league schedule." Since the first weekend of September, MLS has stepped aside for international fixture dates. With European Championship qualifying games and World Cup qualifying already underway around the world, FIFA set aside weekends in order to get games in. In the past, MLS has played through such dates but this year the league has followed suit with most of the rest of the globe, as most leagues across the world typically do not schedule games on such dates. Even though it puts stress on his club, Arena did not disagree with the postseason setup. "It’s very important that we do that. We actually had a game scheduled [during an international weekend] – Salt Lake, in Salt Lake the third game of the season this year – and you can’t do that," Arena said. "During international fixture dates, official competitions, I think the league has to shut down." Ultimate carrot That MLS Cup 2011 will be played at the Home Depot Center is nothing new – that particular announcement came out months ago. However, an MLS Cup at the HDC now carries a bit of a different meaning. Instead of coming up with scenarios and waiting for weeks and months to see if the Galaxy actually had a chance of making the match, the situation is now quite simple: Win, and MLS Cup will indeed be a home match. Players thus have the ultimate carrot dangling before them. "It’s a huge incentive, the fact that we have the chance to play in front of our fans," Galaxy defender Sean Franklin said. "It would be big for our team and our organization to play in the final since we’re hosting. It’s all the more to go out and just win, not just for ourselves but for our fans who have watched us the whole season." Revenge no factor Now that RSL and the Galaxy are set to have their rematch of MLS Cup 2009, is it time for LA to exact some revenge? "That’s in the past," Franklin said. "It’s a new year, kind of the same teams but all that’s in the past." Losing in MLS Cup was disappointing, but the match saw a pair of Galaxy players leave with injury, adding to the difficulty of the game. Early in the second half, Omar Gonzalez and Donovan Ricketts collided with one another as Robbie Findley scampered into the penalty area. Both players eventually left the match. Gonzalez has stored that somewhere in the recesses of his memory bank. "That was something that happened in the past," he said. "Of course it is on our minds, but we can’t think about it as revenge. It’s a whole new year. We’ve been working on getting better and better since 2009 and we’ve got new players on our team and everyone is focused and just ready to win."

American Exports: Howard, Toffees continue rough patch

AMSTERDAM — It was a somewhat rough Saturday for American Exports, with Tim Howard and Everton extending their skid with a 2-1 loss at Newcastle. Not at his best on this day, the US netminder managed but two saves as the Toffees lost for the fifth time in their last six EPL matches. Elsewhere, Brad Guzan acted as back-up custodian for eighth place Aston Villa's 3-2 win over Norwich City. Down a flight in the Championship, Robbie Findley put two first half chances wide and was robbed of a goal midway through the second as Nottingham Forest fell 3-0 at Portsmouth. The result dropped the Reds to 20th place. Making his first start of the season, Conor Doyle saw his best crack at goal over 65 minutes denied by a fine save in Derby County's 3-2 loss at Peterborough. After going ahead by two just past the half hour, the Rams would eventually fall on a stoppage time own goal to slip to seventh. In nearby Scotland, all three Americans patrolled the park to help Rangers move 12 points up in the league penthouse with a 3-1 defeat of visiting Dundee United. Carlos Bocanegra and Maurice Edu each pitched in solid 90-minute efforts, while Alejandro Bedoya emerged for the final quarter hour of action. Turning to the Bundesliga, Fabian Johnson switched from midfield to right back for the final 20 minutes and Daniel Williams went into the ref's book during his 22 minutes as Hoffenheim hosted a 1-1 draw with Kaiserslautern. Timothy Chandler and FC Nürnberg suffered a galling 2-1 home loss to Freiburg on a stoppage time penalty kick.

Califf, Union need time to grasp sudden postseason exit

Danny Califf doesn’t want to think about next season. Not yet. Sure, the future may be bright for the Philadelphia Union. But in the wake of Thursday night’s crushing playoff loss to the Houston Dynamo, the veteran defender wasn’t in the mood to look ahead. "Tonight’s more about reflection and disappointment," Califf said following Philly’s Eastern Conference semifinal series loss. "Each one of us put so much into the season, and I’m not ready to do anything aside from thinking about what happened tonight and take the next few days to reflect on that. It’s going to be probably a solid week before I think about what’s going on next year." When he does start to think about next year, though, he’ll probably become reinvigorated. Despite their early exit from the postseason, the Union were able to follow a tough expansion season with a run to this year’s MLS Cup playoffs. And if they continue to harness their young talent, they could be poised for even bigger things in Year No. 3. "We’re young, and our young guys are getting a lot of good experience," Califf said. "I think we’ve done a lot this year to build a good foundation, and I think that’s only going to benefit us going forward." HIGHLIGHTS: HOU v PHI Following Thursday’s season-ending loss, Union manager Peter Nowak also tried to keep things in perspective. He told his players how proud he was of their accomplishments and reminded them about the good things that could lie ahead. "I told them in the locker room that maybe it wasn’t our year," Nowak said. "Maybe we still have work in front of us to make sure this will happen soon. But I think there are a lot of things to be proud of during the season – how they developed as a group, how they came together. Of course, things need to be corrected and we’re going to have a whole preseason to do it." Certainly, it will take a little bit of time for the 2012 season to completely come into focus. But while Califf and the rest of the players have the luxury of taking some time off, Nowak and the coaching staff will soon begin to determine what their offseason priorities are. Then, they’ll go to work. "We’re going to have a very hard look at what we have and what we need, and try to do the same types of tings we did last [offseason] to help us move forward – not just being in the top eight of MLS but higher," Nowak said. "That’s the goal for next year."

LA, NY preaching caution ahead of West showdown

CARSON, Calif. – Matches between the LA Galaxy and New York Red Bulls have typically garnered a little more glitz than other MLS rivalries. When Thierry Henry and Rafa Márquez joined the Red Bulls in 2010, the hype machine revved into an even higher gear for the bicoastal battle. It won’t be any different heading into Thursday’s Western Conference Semifinal second leg at the Home Depot Center (11 pm ET, ESPN2/TSN2, live chat on MLSsoccer.com), and with a trip to the Conference Championship on the line, the game certainly has a potential to live up to its billing. Then again, maybe not. "It’s like any game in the playoffs," Galaxy coach Bruce Arena told reporters on Wednesday. "The teams are ready – you just have to make sure you bring it on game day." The Galaxy currently lead the series 1-0, but just how that will affect the two teams at the start of the game is anybody’s guess. New York certainly need to score a goal if they want to keep their postseason alive. But conceding one might be disastrous as well. "It’s a long time, 90 minutes," New York coach Hans Backe said at training on Wednesday. "It’s probably most important at the beginning to have a clean sheet and not go 1-0 down." A win by two or more goals will see the Red Bulls through to a Monday date at Rio Tinto Stadium against Real Salt Lake. A one-goal New York edge after 90 minutes would send the match to extra time and, if necessary, a penalty shootout. And the Red Bulls won’t be picky about which of those scenarios plays out. "I don’t care so much if we score in the 88th minute or something like that and go to extra time but I think the key thing is not going down early in the game," Backe said. "We need to stay in the game at least 60, 70 minutes." That the match is at the HDC – where the Galaxy have not lost a single match in 2011 – puts pressure on LA to see the job through. "We’re obviously the favorites – we’re at home and one-nil up," Galaxy forward Robbie Keane said. "Going into the game, people expect it but you have to respect who you play against. By no means is it going to be an easy game. They have quality players and are a tough team. We just have to be careful." The prospect of handing LA their first home loss of the season is daunting, but perhaps no less daunting than the hurdles New York have faced all season. If anything, it’s just another in a string of challenges that the Red Bulls have overcome. "We have definitely raised our game when we have had our back against the wall," Backe said. "Probably when we had seven games to go we had to win four, five of them just to get in the playoffs. We don’t perhaps get used to it but we have players with a lot of experience being involved in these types of games and that has probably helped us."

Physical Dynamo ready for another rough go vs. Union

HOUSTON – While the New York Red Bulls and LA Galaxy got the headlines Sunday night for their postgame melee, the real physical match took place just a few miles southwest of Red Bull Arena. The Houston Dynamo and Philadelphia Union played a 2-1 game that saw six yellow cards, three of which were borderline reds. Brian Ching told the

Seattle's Keller calls for better effort in 2nd leg vs. RSL

TUKWILA, Wash. — Going into the second leg of their Western Conference Semifinals on Wednesday (10 pm ET, ESPN2/Deportes, live chat on MLSsoccer.com), the Seattle Sounders will have a mountain to climb to advance past Real Salt Lake to the next round. And, already down 3-0, where to start? According to goalkeeper and captain Kasey Keller, step one is simple: effort. Once the game in Utah, started going against the Sounders, Keller thought the field players weren’t doing everything they could to defend. Specifically, the game tape showed that players weren’t making the defensive runs needed to cut down on Real Salt Lake’s opportunities. "There are a whole lot of factors involved and we could talk here for a long, long time, but we didn't come in for the fight," Keller said. "In the first 10 to 15 minutes, if you look back at the tape, you thought, ‘Maybe this is going to be OK.’ Then as it got a little bit more physical and a little bit harder, we just didn't compete all the way around. "In the playoffs, you think that'd be first and foremost in your frame of mind in an away game, where whatever happens I'm going to run hard and tackle, and it wasn't there," added Keller. Keller was at a loss to explain the lack of urgency. In single-game elimination scenarios, Seattle have been excellent this year, including four consecutive wins in the US Open Cup. In the CONCACAF Champions League, an overtime goal from Nate Jaqua in the preliminary round started another run of four consecutive victories, including an away win at Monterrey. With those games in mind, Keller wondered if the thought of the return leg sapped some of the urgency from the team. "We didn't step up and perform in a do-or-die manner," Keller said. "That's probably the thing that's the most disappointing for everybody." But despite the setback, the Sounders players have said they can make up the difference. Erik Friberg, who earned his first 30 minutes of playoff action in relief of Lamar Neagle, acknowledges the tough task. The Swedish midfielder cites Seattle’s league-best 56 goals scored in the regular season as a reason Seattle might pull of a shocking comeback.   "Of course we’re really disappointed with the game we played, but now it’s just ‘score goals,’" Friberg said. "I think we have a good chance to do that. We scored a lot of goals at home all year, so it’s a chance."