MLS season off to a rousing start with big crowds and plenty of goals

MLS fans and owners could not have asked for a better opening weekend to the MLS season.  Capacity crowds at stadiums across the country were the norm.  Exciting matches and plenty of goals should hopefully keep the fans coming back.

Vancouver opened their MLS initial season in grand fashion as they defeated Canadian rivals Toronto FC 4-2 in front of nearly 25,000 wild fans decked out in the home white.

“This was the most intense set of emotions I’ve ever felt,” said midfielder Wes Knight, entering his third season in Vancouver. “I knew it was going to be magnetic, but not like this. To get a win was great, not just for our confidence, but to help the city continue to get behind us.

FC Dallas and the Chicago Fire played to an entertaining 1-1 draw at a sold out Pizza Hut Park while The LA Galaxy went into a wild Seattle Sounders stadium and escaped with a 1-0 victory.

The story of the weekend though might be the stirring return of Charlie Davies to DC United.  Only 18 months ago Davies survived a terrible car accident that  broke the femur, tibia and fibia in his right leg, tore ligaments in his left knee, fractured an eye socket, his nose and left elbow, and left him with head injuries and a lacerated bladder.  It cost him a spot at the 2010 World Cup and it was questionable as to whether he would ever play soccer again.

Well a year and a half later, Charlie Davies has burst back onto the scene in grand fashion as he notched two goals in DC United's win over Columbus.

“Best night of my career?” Davies said to the Columbus Dispatch afterward. “No. Best night of my life.”

Real Salt Lake are the real deal and look to be serious MLS title contenders this year.  In the span of a week they knocked off Saprissa in a CONCACAF Champions League semifinal and then went on the road and won in San Jose on a Kyle Beckerman goal.  The MLS Western Conference is looking to be a real dogfight between RSL, FC Dallas, Colorado and the Galaxy.