nned by Wawrinka in the final. Murray is a two-time major tit

SHAPES OF MLS Toronto FC had week one of the new MLS season off, but their first opponents, the Seattle Sounders, kicked the campaign off with a home match against current MLS Cup champions, Sporting Kansas City. Miami Heat Gear . Rain and a slippery surface made passing difficult for both sides, but Ryan Nelsen and his coaching staff were given more than a few glimpses at the way a new Seattle side will want to play. The Sounders would win the game 1-0 in the fourth and final minute of added time through substitute and former TFC striker Chad Barrett. Front Two With Clint Dempsey only named on the bench, the attention was already on the front two of Seattle before the game began. Once it started, it was interesting to see Kenny Cooper, acquired from FC Dallas last December, as the striker who dropped deep. Lamar Neagle and former Chicago Fire star Marco Pappa were named by Sigi Schmid to play out wide, but neither of these players hugged the touchlines, instead choosing to play narrower to help their midfield duo. Full backs, Dylan Remick and DeAndre Yedlin in particular, were asked to provide width. It is worth noting that Yedlin had a very good game and whoever plays on the left for Toronto FC next week will have to work very hard defensively on that flank. The choice of Cooper to drop in, while surprising, turned out to be effective. First of all, Cooper recognized his defensive responsibilities. He knows Sporting Kansas City like to play the ball out to the centre backs, so he sat well on their first outlet, Lawrence Olum, as this image shows, while also highlighting the narrowness of the three behind Obafemi Martins. Coopers ability to drop into space also confused the centre backs who were unsure how deep to defend once he was able to get into the channels between the lines. Aurelien Collin, on this occasion, found himself guessing whether to stay deep and track the run of Martins or go to win the aerial battle against Cooper. If Cooper starts against Toronto, his positioning will need to be tracked more by the defensive midfielder, likely Michael Bradley, to stop Steven Caldwell from stepping up and leaving space in behind him, which is what happened for Martins here. Finding space behind Alonso and Evans There are very few midfield pairings in MLS better than Osvaldo Alonso and Brad Evans. The two have an excellent understanding, but one thing Toronto FC will look to exploit next week is the space they leave behind them. Seattles centre backs are not the quickest, so they like to sit deep and usually the midfield is diligent in its positioning, but when the team loses second balls, there is space behind them to exploit quickly on the counter. Toronto FC will need someone with the intelligence of Graham Zusi, who did it for KC, to recognize those times. Here you see Alonso lose concentration and Evans press, leaving space for Zusi to run into… Seconds later, Zusi is away to orchestrate a scoring opportunity for the visitors against an unprotected defence…. It helped that Sporting Kansas Citys 4-3-3 had someone with Zusis intelligence but Torontos likely 4-4-1-1 will have three candidates to get into that space with the wide men and whoever plays off the striker, likely Dwayne De Rosario, who, perhaps, wouldnt be best suited on the left against Yedlins attacks. Midfield structure essential to the end This game looked destined to end 0-0 when Benny Feilhaber was withdrawn in the 92nd minute, but a minute later his replacement, Ike Opara, was easily beaten by Alonso deep in his own half and suddenly Seattles DP had acres of space to sprint into. Suddenly, Alonso had their opponents where he wanted them, as he transitioned into their half and connected with Dempsey, who would lay it out wide for the cross that would win the match. It was a fairytale finish for Seattle who now head into next weeks game against Toronto FC with a perfect three points. We have seen that they do allow space in behind their full backs and the central midfield, but you have to be intelligent enough to exploit that when the opportunities arise. It will be interesting to see what they do with Dempsey. When he came on in the second half, he played just off Martins with Cooper moving out wide before he was later taken off. For that moment, there was room for all three on the pitch, but it will be rare to see that from the start. The key for Toronto will be tracking whichever player joins Martins in attack. The former Newcastle striker was quiet in this game, but this season will feast on slow defensive lines by running in behind when Cooper or Dempsey plays him in. Wholesale Heat Jerseys . Their 9-19 record remains identical to the crosstown rivals in Brooklyn and trails both Toronto and Boston in the Atlantic Division. Raymond Felton, their declining point guard, is back on the sideline nursing his third injury of the season. Miami Heat Store . - The Baltimore Ravens and tight end Dennis Pitta reached agreement on a five-year contract Friday. https://www.cheapheatonline.com/ . The stakes were higher, the competition more fierce and the atmosphere was that of a playoff game - something the young, upstart Raptors have five weeks to better prepare themselves for or the result will be eerily similar.Melbourne, Australia (SportsNetwork.com) - Four-time champion Novak Djokovic, reigning titlist Stan Wawrinka and Japanese star Kei Nishikori highlighted Mondays fourth-round winners at the Australian Open. The world No. 1 Djokovic got past Luxembourg left-hander Gilles Muller 6-4, 7-5, 7-5 in Mondays nightcap at Laver Arena to reach his 23rd consecutive Grand Slam quarterfinal. The seven-time Grand Slam champion and reigning Wimbledon titlist is seeking his fourth Aussie championship in five years, having captured three straight of his four Melbourne crowns from 2011-13. Up next for the great Djokovic, who has yet to drop a set through four matches here, will be eighth-seeded big-serving Canadian Milos Raonic, who is 0-4 lifetime against the Serb. Meanwhile, the fourth-seeded Swiss slugger Wawrinka pulled out a 7-6 (7-2), 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (10-8) victory over Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez. Garcia-Lopez won the first five points of the fourth-set tiebreak and had five chances to force a fifth set at Melbourne Park, but Wawrinka saved all five before moving on. Garcia-Lopez stunned Wawrinka in the first round at last years French Open. Wawrinkas quarterfinal opponent on Wednesday will be the fifth-seeded U.S. Open runner-up Nishikori, who handled ninth-seeded former French Open finalist David Ferrer of Spain 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 on Day 8 of the fortnight. Looking ahead to his clash with Wawrinka, Nishikori said, Its going to be a really tough match because I have seen him play on TV a couple of matches. Even today he was playing really good. He can hit balls forehand, backhand -- great backhand actually. He can hit from anywhere at the back. Its going to be a tough match. But obviously Im in the quarterfinals, so no easy matches comingg up. Stitched Heat Jerseys. . Hopefully I can play another good match. For sure it gives me confidence that I beat him in the U.S. Open. Its not like I cant beat him. Its going to be a fun match for sure. Nishikori made history as he became the first Asian man to contest a Grand Slam final last year when he defeated three Top-10 players, including Wawrinka in five sets in the quarters, to reach the U.S. Open final. The aforementioned Raonic had to outlast 12th-seeded Spanish lefty Feliciano Lopez, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 6-7 (7-9), 6-3, to reach the round of eight. Raonic became the first Canadian man in the Open Era to reach the Aussie Open quarters and is also the second Canadian man in history to reach three major quarterfinals, following in the footsteps of Robert Powell at Wimbledon in 1908, 10 and 12. Its great to be doing what Im doing and that it is making a difference, said Raonic. It is, I guess, part of some history, if you look really deep. But at the end of the day, at the same time, Im always pushing myself for what I want to achieve. Im always sort of looking in the mirror and saying, Thats who I have to compare myself to: to myself. The quarterfinals will commence Tuesday, as third-seeded former world No. 1 Rafael Nadal will take on seventh-seeded Tomas Berdych and sixth-seeded Andy Murray will battle heavy Aussie crowd favorite Nick Kyrgios. Nadal beat Berdych in the 2010 Wimbledon final and is 18-3 lifetime against the big Czech. The reigning French Open king Nadal is a 14-time Grand Slam champ, including an Aussie title in 2009. Hes also a two-time runner-up in Melbourne, including last year when he was stunned by Wawrinka in the final. Murray is a two-time major titlist whos lost in three Aussie Open finals. ' ' '