MLS Round-Up
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Called into the Chicago Fire’s starting lineup due to a suspension to Jalil Anibaba, Austin Berry’s MLS debut was certainly an eventful one as the Fire took a 2-1 win against Chivas USA this past Friday night.
Things didn’t start smoothly for the former Chicago Fire PDL standout as he conceded a penalty in the 21st minute after felling Alejandro Moreno, allowing Chivas to take the lead, but the 22-year-old rebounded quickly to score the equalizer two minutes later, volleying home a corner kick. The goal allowed Berry to become just the third rookie in the Fire’s history to score on his MLS debut, and the seventh player to score in his first game for the club.
According to Berry, though, it was giving up the penalty kick that allowed him to settle into the game.
“One thing we talked about before the game was to keep a shutout,” Berry told MLSSoccer.com. “Since [the goal] was kind of my fault, to get the goal back and get things back to even, it just helped me settle into the game even more.”
From then on, Berry put in a flawless performance defensively, and remained a threat from set pieces as he finished with four shots as he earned a berth on the MLS Team of the Week announced on Tuesday. Having been part of the Fire’s PDL system, which this January saw 11 former players selected in the MLS SuperDraft, making the transition to the club’s first team was a step up for the former University of Louisville standout, but not altogether an uncomfortable one.
“It’s just part of my growing experience,” Berry told MLSsoccer.com. “It’s just good for me to get on the field, to get a feel for what the speed of play is like, and to get the visualization.”
Berry was joined on the Team of the Week by fellow Fire PDL alum Brandon Barklage, who put in a second consecutive strong performance for the New York Red Bulls in their 1-0 win against the Los Angeles Galaxy. While injuries have hit the Red Bulls’ backline hard in recent weeks, former Jersey Express goalkeeper Ryan Meara has been able to record back-to-back shutouts in their past two games as a makeshift crew has performed admirably to help the Red Bulls move up to third place in the Eastern Conference.
Meanwhile, another pair of players made their first starts for the Seattle Sounders FC, with former Kitsap Pumas goalkeeper Bryan Meredith posting a shutout and Ventura County Fusion midfielder Andy Rose playing his first minutes in the club’s 1-0 win against the Philadelphia Union.
Meredith, who made his debut last Wednesday as a halftime substitute for Michael Gspurning in the Sounders’ 2-0 win against the Los Angeles Galaxy, recorded his first MLS shutout against the Union. After helping Kitsap with the 2011 PDL Championship this past summer, he earned a berth on the roster with the Sounders this season after missing out a year ago.
“He’s come a long way,” Sounders goalkeeper coach Tom Dutra told MLSsoccer.com’s Jeremiah Oshan. “He really had to go through what he went through last year to get to where he’s at now, which was being cut and having to earn that spot every day.”