www.mls-daily.com

Starting this week, I will be a regular contributor for American Soccer News, focusing on the Los Angeles Galaxy and - to a lesser extent - Chivas USA.
Check it out... that site should manage to keep you updated on all things MLS and American soccer much better than this one ever could. www.

There's an excellent read in the upcoming issue of SportsBusiness Journal - an article focused on Major League Soccer season-ticket sales. Year-to-date, there are 60,783 season-ticket holders league-wide, 16% more than last year at the same time. That number includes partial-season plans and mini-packages and excludes the going-on-4,000 strong in the Bay Area.

On Monday, the Colorado Rapids announced the signing of Brazilian midfielder Rafael Gomes for the 2008 season. Gomes, 27, most recently played for Clube Desportive Santa Clara of the Liga de Honra (2nd-tier) in Portugal. Prior to that, he played in his home country for the likes of Vasco de Gama, Bragantino, Olaria, and Atletico Mineiro.

Fulham midfielder/forward Clint Dempsey is expressing optimism over his club's outlook for the rest of the 07-08 Premier League season. The former New England Revolution star says he is confident the Cottagers will avoid being relegated, despite their current troubles - FFC sits six points from safety, having taken maximum points from a match just once since early November.

The Los Angeles Galaxy were defeated in penalty kicks by Korean side FC Seoul in an exhibition game on Saturday night. The friendly marks the latest loss in a disappointing preseason tour of Hawaii and Asia that has seen the Galaxy win just once - over Sydney FC in the third-place game of the Pan-Pacific Championship.

Major League Soccer has awarded its 16th franchise to the city of Philadelphia, ending months of competition between the City of Brotherly Love, St. Louis, and - most recently - Miami for the increasingly coveted spot in the league. The news was made official at a press conference on Thursday with key members who made the deal possible, including the 1,000-member-strong supporters club Sons of Ben.

The Columbus Crew have acquired forward Nicolas Hernandez from the Colorado Rapids in exchange for Generation Adidas defender Tim Ward and a third-round pick in the 2009 MLS SuperDraft.Hernandez, 28, is coming off a down year with the Rapids in 2007, scoring just once and adding a single assist in 21 games with 17 starts.

The San Jose Earthquakes have added a key offensive weapon to their arsenal, trading away their first-round pick in 2009 and an undisclosed amount of cash to Toronto FC for All-Star midfielder Ronnie O'Brien.
For O'Brien, 29, it will mark his second-straight campaign with an expansion team, having played for Toronto in their inaugural season last year.

United States U-23 Men's National Team head coach Peter Nowak has called 24 players into camp in preparation for the upcoming 2008 Olympic qualifiers. Headlining the roster are several players who have seen time with the senior squad, including Benfica's Freddy Adu and MLS sensation Jozy Altidore.
In 2004, the United States failed to make the Olympics after losing to rivals Mexico in the semifinals of the qualification stages.

The Chicago Fire are in Mexico as part of their preseason training, which means throngs of fans are surrounding the team in hopes to get a better glimpse of Floyd Franks, Jeff Curtin and the rest of the club. They may also be interested in following midfielder Cuauhtemoc Blanco, but I'm not sure.
One person who is not in attendance as the Fire continues preparing for the start of the regular season is Colombian defender Wilman Conde, who is demanding that the club release or trade his rights to the New York Red Bulls so that he may rejoin Chicago's former coach Juan Carlos Osorio.

In a result few people saw coming, Gamba Osaka rolled to a stunning 6-1 victory over the Houston Dynamo in the final of the inaugural Pan-Pacific Championship. Brazilian striker Bare put on a show for the 23,087 in attendance - the largest crowd to watch a professional soccer game in Hawaii - by scoring four times for the J-League side, two in each half.

There are several newsworthy Red Bulls items coming out of New York this morning, provided to us from omnipresent MLS snitch Ives Galarcep.
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Firstly, the club has traded Dema Kovalenko to Real Salt Lake. In return, New York will receive an undisclosed draft pick in the 2010 SuperDraft.

Sure, the MLS preseason only got underway in the last few weeks, but the opening round of the inaugural Pan-Pacific Championship offered a little glimpse of what we might be able to expect from the Los Angeles Galaxy and Houston Dynamo in 2008.For Los Angeles, a shaky defense didn't show any signs of improvement.

Billy Witz of the LA Daily News recently wrote a story about how the Los Angeles Galaxy continue to face salary cap problems. As part of that story, he interviewed defender Abel Xavier, who offered some insight into the issue.
"Luis (Figo) is my close friend. He would like to come to join the Galaxy," Xavier said.