Frank Lampard scored a hat-trick as New York City strengthened their
position at the top of Major League Soccer's Eastern Conference with a
5-1 thrashing of 10-man Colorado Rapids.
The Rapids went into the game in second place in the Western Conference, with games in hand on leaders FC Dallas.
However,
they faced an uphill battle after Michael Azira was sent off in the
37th minute -- nine minutes after Lampard had opened the scoring.
Tony
Taylor doubled the lead three minutes before the interval, and then
three goals inside the last 15 minutes completed the rout.
Substitute
Steven Mendoza got the third, before former England midfielder Lampard
netted twice in three minutes -- the second of which was a penalty -- to
complete his hat-trick
Shkelzen Gashi replied for the Rapids in the last minute - but it was little consolation.
The Philadelphia Union are in advanced negotiations to bring U.S.
national team midfielder Alejandro Bedoya home to Major League Soccer,
sources told ESPN.
The Union are aggressively trying to complete the acquisition of
Bedoya from Nantes in France's Ligue 1 before the MLS transfer window
shuts on Wednesday.
Sources told ESPN FC that Bedoya's move will include a one million transfer fee and a salary between $750,000 to $850,000.
Philadelphia sit No. 2 in MLS' current allocation order behind the
Chicago Fire, but sources say they're working through the requisite
compensation details to put themselves first in line to land Bedoya, who
was born in nearby New Jersey.
Bedoya, 29, has spent his entire professional career abroad, emerging
as a key figure at Nantes over the past three seasons and a fixture in
Jurgen Klinsmann's national team setup with 53 caps after successful
stints with clubs in Sweden and Scotland.
In an interview last month with the "Soccer Today"
show on ESPN Radio in Dallas (103.3 FM) after the Copa America, Bedoya
said he "still obviously prefers to stay in Europe" but did acknowledge
at the time that there were "ongoing discussions" about a move to MLS,
motivated partly by the desire to raise his young son in the States.
Bedoya signed a contract extension with Nantes in February 2015 that
was scheduled to keep him there through the 2018-19 season, but sources
say Philadelphia is pushing hard to finalize a move for the midfielder
this week as the Union -- currently fourth in the Eastern Conference --
work to solidify their playoff position.
Nicolas Lodeiro, the Seattle Sounders new designated player, turned
some heads in a fine debut on Sunday, but both he and his coach said it
would take some time to fully adapt to his new club.
And time might not be a luxury the Sounders have with the team nine
points out of a playoff spot with two and a half months to play.
Lodeiro signed from Argentina powerhouse Boca Juniors last Wednesday and immediately impressed, leading Seattle in touches and taking four shots in Sunday's 1-1 draw with the LA Galaxy.
"You guys saw it. He was very good," Sounders interim coach Brian Schmetzer said after the game.
But Schmetzer, in his first game in charge since the club sacked longtime coach Sigi Schmid last week, said the final link between the new midfielder and star forward Clint Dempsey is not where it needs to be.
"We just need to fine-tune to make sure Clint and he figure out the
right spacing, because a couple of times I thought we could have done a
better job in keeping Clint a little higher which would be my
preference," Schmetzer said. "Get Clint closer to goal because we're
going to need to rely on Clint to score some goals.
"So other than that little glitch, you saw his ability to cover
ground at a high level, connect passes, run the team. There was a lot of
positive out of that.
"I think together Clint will work a little higher up the field. Clint
leads the front line, Nicolas leads through the middle, we've got
experienced guys at the back, I was encouraged." Nicolas Lodeiro played well in his debut with the Seattle Sounders on Sunday.
Lodeiro said it was a "fast week" in trying to adjust to his new
club, as well as playing on artificial turf for the first time in his
career.
"It was hard to adapt, obviously new team, new players, perhaps not
enough time to get accustomed to each others' play," he said through a
translator. "The only surprise was the synthetic field. I've never
played on a synthetic field before so I have to get used to it."
But Lodeiro was confident that the Sounders have the talent to turn their season around before the playoffs.
"It's a good team, good players, and when you have a good team with
good players, you feel at ease right away," he said. "It would have been
better if we'd won the game, but we have good players.
"In the short time that I've been here I like to tell my teammates
what I like to do, that I like to assist and my tendencies, and they
understood me."
Major League Soccer expansion fees could nearly double to $200 million in the future.
A host of cities are competing to be one of the last four teams in
the league's plan to reach 28 clubs, and MLS deputy commissioner Mark
Abbott told Bloomberg that they would have to pay up to secure a spot.
"There has been incredible interest from cities across the country in
acquiring a Major League Soccer expansion club and we continue to have
productive discussions with a number of prospective ownership groups," Abbott said in a league statement.
"Following the Board of Governors meeting, the league is continuing
to work on the timetable and the details, including pricing, for future
expansion and no decisions have been made.
"Based on the increasing value of MLS clubs, expansion fees could be as high as $200 million."
The league should expand to 22 teams next season with Atlanta United and if all goes to plan with the Minnesota franchise.
Then LAFC is set to join in 2018, and the league is hopeful David Beckham's Miami club will be prepared to start then as well.
LAFC paid $110 million to join the league, but that could seem like a
bargain compared to what the league hopes to make from the last four
teams.
In April, MLS commissioner Don Garber said St. Louis and Sacramento were the "front-runners" in the race to join, which also includes Detroit, San Diego, San Antonio, Austin, and Cincinnati.
Bay Area business consultant Andy Dolich told the Sacramento Bee that the "buzz" at the All-Star Game last week was that the expansion fee would be between $125-135 million.
But he believes Sacramento could pay the $200 million despite playing
in a relatively small market -- and having to pay at least that amount
again to build a stadium. Follow ESPN FC across social media on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram
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