Visionary.Weird, Kasey Keller...I had the same dream the other night, too. Only I wasn't wearing any clothes and was being chased by a pack of wolves. Scary stuff, for sure. OK. Maybe we had two completely different dreams, but I'm still on the same page as Keller.
Keller, speaking Friday at a press conference announcing his contract extension through the 2011 Major League Soccer season, talked about the future of the sport in the United States:

"We're the first group that grew up truly playing the sport," Keller said.

Chicago Fire's All-Star defender Wilman Conde is leaving MLS for Atlas of the Mexican League. How much did MLS sell this talented and clearly sought-after player for? Nothing, of course. They just waited for his contract to run out and hoped he would re-up. Does anyone in MLS pay attention to the rest of the world of soccer?

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A "moment" has several definitions but for our purposes, we'll go with this one: a time of excellence or conspicuousness.

It's this easy....Soccer is a game of undeniable beauty, but there are times of tragic ugliness. That ugliness is no more apparent than when a player crosses the TV screen or right in front of your face at the stadium that just gets your blood boiling. So mad that you just want to punch that mother f*cker right in the face!

Major League Soccer is rounding out 2010 with a series of "Best of..." awards and fans of the United States National Team (including many, many of our compatriots in the American Outlaws) were honored with the "Celebration of the Year" for their captured-by-video ecstasy following Landon Donovan's dramatic late winner against Algeria in the World Cup.

The new year is still more than a week away, but we will learn quiet about the new year for American soccer after a pair of announcements later today.

The U.S. Men's national team will unveil its roster for next month's training camp in Carson, California, a roster of close to 30 players made up mainly of MLS players and Scandinavian-based players.

By JOSE M. ROMERO

The supporters groups from the Seattle Sounders, Portland Timbers and Vancouver Whitecaps have spoken, and Major League Soccer apparently listened.

The league approved a plan for hardcore fans of the three Cascadia MLS clubs to purchase up to 500 tickets for away matches against each other in 2011, the three teams announced Wednesday.

Teal Bunbury is one of the hottest young "Americans" up-and-coming on the USMNT. We say "American" because he's actually Canadian, but was recently capped for the good guys against South Africa back in November.
And what better to signal your arrival on the American soccer scene then your own YouTube compilation video?

The bid representatives for all the nations bidding for either the 2018 or 2022 World Cup are presenting their bids today and if you regret not being able to be in Zurich for it all, you can see it as if you were there.

FIFA is providing a live streaming video of the bids. You can watch them here.

The Atlanta Silverbacks, who just recently were announced as one of eight teams to play in the newly provisionally sanctioned North American Soccer League, held a press conference on Wednesday. Attending the press conference were Atlanta Silverbacks Chairman Boris Jerkunica and President Michael Oki.

As just about everyone knows, I have a day job. My employer prohibits me from using my cellphone at work (can't even bring it into the building), so Tweeting is out of the question until I leave for the day. I am able to read news sites, though, so I was able to find out the results of the World Cup 2022 selection.

Jay Bell dreams up a scenario where Landon and Stuie go clubbing together.

The MLS season is over and once again we keep hearing multiple rumors about loan options for the Los Angeles Galaxy's two superstars.

Can celebrations occur elsewhere?

David Moyes has never once said that he would not like to have Landon Donovan back on his team.

As American soccer fans, it's probably about time we moved on from last week's bid disaster. What's done is done, whining about it isn't going to change anything.
Any fallout to come from what is either FIFA business as usual or the final malfeasant straw won't be our doing; for all the marketing clout contained within American borders, US Soccer is hardly in a place to leverage it.

A week after the US loss of the 2022 World Cup, much ink and internet type has been spilled on whether the U.S. deserved the bid or was robbed, whether we American soccer fans have a false sense of entitlement or a shady process overwhelmed everything, and even whether U.S. soccer is ok without the Cup or seriously set back.

We don't often get personal on the Free Beer Movement site. No one knows our favorite Major League Soccer team. We haven't said "boo" about which English Premier League side we support. We try to keep it about you, the fans, the supporters of the FBM, and, of course, the American game.

So this weekend, I watched most of Akron's two matches en route to the school's first ever National Championship in any sport. I must admit, I was gob-smacked by what I saw.
With the proviso that I was too young to remember Arena's teams at UVA, Akron was the single best college team I have ever seen - seriously.

Quote: The Re-Entry Process will consist of two separate drafts, a Stage 1 draft and a Stage 2 draft. In Stage 1, Clubs may select Option Decline Players at their option price and Out of Contract players at their Bona Fide Offer price. In Stage 2, Clubs may select players that were unselected in Stage 1 and who may be under contract or not under contract at that time.

Good morning folks. As we draw closer to Christmas, there is plenty of news on the American soccer front and plenty to discuss. Let's go over some of the items making the rounds, and some of the things I'm hearing.

The 2011 MLS Draft is shaping up to be a strong one, with sources telling me the mass exodus from Akron is set to take place.

When it comes to interviews Lisa Eisenmenger is one of my favorite American soccer writers . She has just completed a Q & A with FIFA-licensed player agent Mike Wheeler. In this interview Wheeler explains third-party contracts and how they work in regard to MLS the NASL and USL.

Yesterday we recapped our top five 2010 stories from the world of American soccer business. Today, we thought it worth taking a look at the coming year to predict the big business stories for 2011. We'll dispense with the list format, but here are some thoughts on what will make headlines in 2011.

After two years of extremely hard and diligent work by the U.S. Bid Committee, and many others, the 22-member FIFA Executive Committee will vote today on the host countries for the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cup, possibly charting a culturally altering course for American soccer. The announcements are expected to begin at 4 p.

It's decision day in Zurich. The 2018 bidders have completed their presentations, and an announcement is expected (though don't be surprised if they makes us wait) around 10 AM ET. While FIFA's Executive Committee mulls their options over lunch, those of us following along at home or work are left to try and handicap a race that is literally unhandicapple-able.

Qatar has been chosen to host the 2022 World Cup. The middle Eastern nation beat out the United States among others for the bid.

My early take on this decision? FIFA can't be serious can it? Qatar was favored for some time by bookmakers and it's clear they knew something. The USA bid for 2022 was the most viable and made the most sense, but FIFA voters went with the highest risk bid.

Black is appropriate
Dear friends,
It's a dark day. FIFA, in their grand wisdom, has chosen to give the 2022 World Cup to Qatar. We know you have thoughts, we know you want to share them. We're here to give you a forum. We'll probably also touch on the 2018 race, won by Russia over England and others.

Rest assured, the United States will host another World Cup, it just won't be in 2022 as FIFA award the honor of hosting that tournament to tiny Qatar, which put forth an impressive bid based on Middle East solidarity, an entirely new geographic region for the World Cup, state of the art technology and of course, billions of dollars pledged for new infrastructure.

After losing out to Qatar in their pursuit of hosting the 2022 World Cup, United States Soccer Federation (USSF) President Sunil Gulati expressed his disappointment with the decision, but insisted that soccer in America will continue to make forward strides.

In an email to the "Go USA Bid" supporters, Gulati said: "Despite our best efforts, the United States was not chosen for this honor.

The reaction was swift, visceral, and, in the case of Zach, loud. Here's the live episode recorded last night in which we attempted to capture it all. There's plenty of talk about the legitimacy of Qatar's bid, FIFA incompetence, a missed chance for American soccer, and of course, good old Sepp.

What can I say that hasn't been said? There's only one angle that matters, that FIFA finally crossed whatever lines remained that it hadn't managed to cross already. As Americans, we're disappointed we won't have the World Cup at home again. As soccer fans, we're angry that FIFA so baldly flaunted what we knew all along; that they're corrupt, incompetent, or both.

So what's the best team in Europe you may not know much about? Unless you're a fan of Serie A, that team could be Lazio.

The Roman club boasts some of the best young talent in Europe, with players such as Brazilian playmaker Hernanes (pictured above) leading Lazio into the race for the Scudetto.

We lost the bid. To a country which (as other writers have eloquently explained) has absolutely no business being in the World Cup, much less hosting the World Cup. I am really, really getting tired, however, of the defeatist attitude of American soccer fans. FIFA is a corrupt, stupid organization which shames the game.

It is that time of year again. The time where American soccer fans get the chance to vote on the very best of 2010.

U.S. Soccer is once again running its Best Of Awards contests and you, the fans, are getting a chance to once again make your selections on more than a dozen categories, including everything from Best Soccer Bar to Best Soccer Bog.

Dear Friends and Fans of the Free Beer Movement -
It is not often that we send requests out to the whole of the FBM community, but we thought this was an extraordinary moment for us.
We were recently nominated for the 2011 Austin-American Statesman Texas Social Media Awards.

Crystal Palace Baltimore
CP Baltimore told us little if anything new in a press release last Friday. Led by Pete Medd, the team had financial problems before the season even began and if not for the help of the NASL and US Soccer, would not have made it through the season.

As one of Sunil Gulati's chief defenders over the years, I think I ought to come out of hiding to discuss the near-majority position of American soccer fans (at least those on Twitter and Bigsoccer), that US Soccer head Sunil Gulati must "go" for his role in the US 2022 World Cup bid failure.
Here's what I think.

Jason catches up with Sports Illustrated soccer writer Grant Wahl, who was in Zurich for the World Cup bid announcements. Grant gives his opinion on whether Chuck Blazer voted for the US, if reform is in the offing, and how the lost bid might affect American soccer. CSRN MEDIA PLAYER

by Jason Davis
Before there was Jermaine Jones, there was Thomas Dooley. In 1992, with a World Cup at home looming and international reinforcements needed, a international net was cast for US-eligible players. What came back was Dooley, a German defender with a dual citizenship by virtue of his American serviceman father.

We don't often get personal on the Free Beer Movement site. No one knows our favorite Major League Soccer team. We haven't said "boo" about which English Premier League side we support. We try to keep it about you, the fans, the supporters of the FBM, and, of course, the American game.

Manchester United and Arsenal will be battling for first place in the English Premier League and while Monday isn't exactly the weekend, we'll call it part of the upcoming weekend because that Premier League clash deserves top billing.

The Gunners are on a roll, and took advantage of Manchester United's cancelled match to vault past the Red Devils and into first place.

It wasn't too long ago when Tottenham would have been considered an underdog against Chelsea, but things have changed a bit over the past month. Chelsea is mired in a slump that erased a once healthy lead atop the Premier League while Tottenham comes in having won its Champions League group and having pulled within four points of Chelsea.

While most of the American soccer community struggles to reconcile FIFA's choice of Qatar to host the 2022 World Cup, and a few go about the business of tsk-tsk-ing anyone who questions the tiny country's worthiness, the planet continues to turn. Part of that turning involves weather. It being winter in this part of the world, things are bit dicey out there.