Founded in 2006 by Tom Dunmore, Pitch Invasion remains the cream of the crop of independent football writing on the internet. It has been packed to the brim with quality for five years, which is precisely why a "Very Best of Pitch Invasion" book was compiled by Mr. Dunmore. As an Englishman from Brighton who moved to Chicago to get his PhD at the University of Chicago, Tom has since taken to MLS and even became the chairman of Section 8, the supporters group of the Chicago Fire.

The news (and now confirmation) that NBC Sports has hired Seattle Sounders match commentator Arlo White as its lead man for MLS coverage is a loss for the Sounders and their fans but a much bigger boost to the state of American soccer commentary. White came over from the BBC but not without some familiarity with American sport as he had commentated a Super Bowl a few years before.

One of the big weekend stories involves America's most well known soccer player, Landon Donovan, and his decision to accept a short term loan deal to English side Everton. Though not a business story in the traditional sense, Donovan's temporary move has the added benefit of shining a global light upon Major League Soccer and bringing attention to the league.

Photo by John Todd/ISIphotos.com

It's not uncommon for American soccer fans and pundits to debate on who is the better U.S. men's national team player between Landon Donovan and Clint Dempsey, but one former U.S. international has weighed in on the matter and has created quite the stir in doing so.

Photo: Nicolae Stoian

There's only one piece of soccer news that really matters to American soccer fans today, and no, Eli, it's not that Philadelphia Union signed a deal with Rosenberg's Peanut Chews, which apparently are a source of some great conflict among the PSP staff.

Yep, it's Landon Donovan going to Everton.

Over the next couple of days (and in no particular order), we will present the top American soccer business stories of the year. Early next week we will conduct a vote to see which of the entrants you think is the winner. We'll start with two entrants today, one in Portland and the other in Kansas City.

Photo by Brad Smith/ISIphotos.com

Charlie Davies' comeback in 2011 was one of the stories of the year in American soccer, as he returned to the playing field less than two years removed from a horrifying car accident that nearly took his life and did take the life of another passenger.

In a season with high TV expectations from North American soccer fans due MLS on NBC, three Canadian teams and a huge local TV rights deal for the Los Angeles Galaxy the league will start with a lackluster lineup of games. Instead of Major League Soccer's television partners (NBC, ESPN, Galavision in USA; TSN in Canada) launching with the most popular teams in the nation thereby starting with a foot forward there will be some disappointment as the Galaxy nor the Seattle Sounders will be in the opener.

Perhaps Clint Dempsey, the man known as "Deuce," is the greatest American soccer player of all time. The Texan had an enormous impact on me as a child growing up in the Boston area. Dempsey's scrappy goals and occasional appearances ...
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Fairly quiet business weekend in American soccer, but here are a couple of stories worth noting. We'll start in New England, where owner Robert Kraft is pursuing a resort casino development across the street from Gillette Stadium, the current home of the Revs and Patriots. The story is significant to soccer fans only because of potential impacts on the Revolution's efforts to build a soccer specific stadium in the Boston area.

The opportunity for American managers in Europe haven't been easy to come by, but a young American is ready to blaze a trail after only recently retiring as a player.

Former U.S. national team defender Gregg Berhalter has been named the new manager of Swedish club Hammarby, the club announced on Monday.

Hat Trick

Steven Goff has some juicy and exclusive details on the United States Soccer Federation's budget for their 2013 fiscal year. The link is a must read but here are three highlights:

• Jurgen Klinsmann makes four times as much as Bob Bradley did when Bradley was USMNT head coach
• USSF has budgeted $3.

- Jason Davis
There's a piece of accepted truth in the blogging world, one of those bits of conventional wisdom impossible to verify, that the average blog's lifespan is three years. I'm not sure if this is meant to apply to all blogs, sports blogs, or specifically to soccer blogs, but it's a "fact" I've heard repeated more than a few times during the span of Match Fit USA's existence, and by extension, the time I have been penning my overwrought missives on the state of American soccer.

Caleb Porter's first camp in charge of the U.S. Under-23 national team is well underway in the Sarasota/Bradenton area of Florida, as some of the most talented young players in American soccer do their best to try and impress the coach assigned the task of helping the United States qualify for the 2012 Olympics.

Over the next couple of days (and in no particular order), we will present the top American soccer business stories of the year. Early next week we will conduct a vote to see which of the entrants you think is the winner. Yesterday we looked at the arrival of Portland and the re-birth of Kansas City.

The Montreal Impact (French: Impact de Montréal) is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1992, the team will move from the North American Soccer League (NASL) to Major League Soccer (MLS) starting with the 2012 season. A longtime powerhouse in Canadian soccer with seven Voyageurs Cup / Canadian Championship [.

Women's Professional Soccer (upper case) and women's professional soccer (lower case) are both in trouble in the United States and scrambling for survival.

I have the perspective of being intimately involved in the creation and launch of WPS from 2007 through 2009 as founding President of WPS' Chicago Red Stars.

December 2nd is becoming a day of retirements it seems. Earlier today the Terry Boss retirement became official, and now Taylor Graham is also retiring. Graham's MLS career may be one easy to pass over in history, but if there is one thing he was and always will be is a Sounder. Over the past several years with the team in two iterations playing for Adrian Hanauer and Brian Schmetzer he won the Defender of the Year, twice was was names to the First Team in the USL as well as the Humanitarian of the Year in 2009.

Stanford and Duke advanced to Sunday's national championship game of the NCAA Women's College Cup with three-goal victories in both semifinals on Friday night. Stanford defeated Florida State 3-0 in the first match, and Duke ran out 4-1 victors over Wake Forest. This year's College Cup was located at Kennesaw State University's new soccer-specific stadium, about 30 minutes northwest of downtown Atlanta.

Starrting: Juan Aguedelo, Brek Shea, Jeff Larentowicz, and Kyle BeckermanThe off-season ritual of heading to Europe for some extra training is no longer just the extra-curriculars of David Beckham and Thierry Henry. Now young Major League Soccer players and U.S. National Team players are getting time with clubs all across the continent.

Deportivo Saprissa is set to allow Josue Martinez to move to the Philadelphia Union, according to La Republica.

A throwaway line in the website's game recap of Saprissa's 2-2 draw with Alajuelense included a comment about Martinez's future with Saprissa, saying that the 21-year-old had played his last game with the Costa Rican power.

On Sunday December 4th, the United States finally managed to best Germany on the pitch with a 9-2 victory that will surely be remembered by American soccer historians for centuries to come. I kid, I kid. Actually, on Sunday a group from the US Navy managed to beat a group from the German Navy at that lovely little paradise in Africa known as Djibouti.

Heartbreaker, Record-breaker...

Once again Monday, it was Liverpool.

And given that Liverpool in some ways now represents the "English" hope as the home country Premiership super club, perhaps it was again appropriate.

And again, the conductor was Clint Dempsey with the symphonic high note on a little flick of his be-cleated baton.

On the latest edition of the Major League Soccer Talk podcast, your host Chris Riordan is joined by the Dalai Lama of Soccer, Simon Allen. Chris and Simon talk the latest news coming through the North American soccer pipeline ... ...
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Following the International Soccer League's solid beginnings in a New York relatively starved of sporting competition in the summer of 1960, the nascent league consisting of the New York Americans and a variety of high-profile visiting international clubs had begun 1961 with expanded horizons. This including growing the league from 12 to 15 teams, and moving beyond its home at the Polo Grounds in Manhattan by setting up a second location in Montreal, Canada.

Our story is not unique nor is it amazing but it really is indicative of how the Timbers have continued to be a big part of the Portland community. I asked my Dad to relate his thoughts and memories of the Timbers in the 70's and I will explain how his involvement shaped my family and our love for Soccer and the Timbers.

I guess that one advantage of having a schedule that doesn't match any other league's in the world is that, while MLS teams take a brake over the winter, competitions in Europe are just starting to heat up. And just as even the most faithful husband can't help but notice a pretty girl, it definitely isn't treason (or Eurosnobbery, for that matter) for an MLS fan to enjoy a match between European teams.

The North American Soccer League announced today their 2012 opening weekend schedule. The season will kick off Saturday April 7th, with four games across North America. The opening weekend will be highlighted by a matchup between the reigning NASL Champion Minnesota Stars and 2011 NASL Regular Season Champion Carolina RailHawks at Mall of America Field [.

On the latest edition of the Major League Soccer Talk Podcast : This Week in US Soccer ... your hosts Chris Webb and Chris Riordan discuss the latest happenings in the North American soccer world. There are plenty of player ...
Visit http://www.majorleaguesoccertalk.com for the rest of the story.

Psst, you might have noticed we've scaled Pitch Invasion down to periodic lengthy essays and photo features. We're happier this way, without feeling we need to post every day and with more focus on crafting quality posts (hopefully!).

But we still find interesting stuff elsewhere every day.

I never know quite what to make of the Cosmos, the Poltergeist that never stops haunting our domestic soccer community.

I plan to write more about that in the near future. For now, I'll just pass along something interesting that MLS commissioner Don Garber just said.

Garber was talking to myself and Marc Stein, co-host of our weekly radio show/podcast, Soccer Today.

HRH Kofi Sarkodie is at it again, wrapping up the European adventures of both himself and teammate Will Bruin with the Generation adidas team in the Netherlands.

And here you thought with that title that I was going to write about Landon Donovan heading back to Everton. Well, for Ginge's sake, I hope Donovan kicks ass across the Mersey.

16.12.2011 - Mas de 40 años pasaron desde que Nesuhi y Ahmet Ertegun (dueños de Atlantic Records) fundaran la franquicia "Cosmos" (New York Cosmos) y pasaron 36 desde que Steve Ross firmara el ampuloso contrato de explotación (u$ 7 millones) en concepto de marketing y retransmisiones para (con la ayuda de Henry Kissinger) mostrar reunidos a Pelé, Beckenbauer, Chinaglia y Carlos Alberto en el mismo equipo.

In the midst of the holiday season and American soccer's off-season now is the time to reload your fandom with these ten FBM must-haves.


And don't worry... there's still time to get all of these great things!


Hell... you can just buy these for you as well.

On the latest edition of the Major League Soccer Talk Podcast : This Week in US Soccer, your hosts Chris Webb and Chris Riordan get you up to date on the latest North American soccer news. The show starts off ...
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United States Under-23 coach Caleb Porter has been a star here in the US at the collegiate level, and is now charged with the responsibilities of managing the US Olympic team. His goals are not only to qualify for the Olympics, but also to help develop a nucleus that will compete for the US in the 2014 World Cup.

We're in the holiday spirit here at the Free Beer Movement. For us, it means more time off, a return to the FBM motherland (Wisconsin), and a chance to try all sorts of tasty Midwest brews.
That doesn't mean we've jumped away from our soccer minds, though. Our little ditty covers some of the biggest American soccer stories of 2011 and a few hopes for 2012 and you may recall the ditty as "The Twelve Days of Christmas".

By Clemente Lisi – NEW YORK, NY (Dec 21, 2011) US Soccer Players – Arizona will be the epicenter of American soccer over the next two months. The United States will play at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale on January 21st against Venezuela to open their 2012 schedule. A month later, on February 22nd, four MLS teams – the Los Angeles Galaxy, New York Red Bulls, New England Revolution and Real Salt Lake –.

There's a nice article in here on the Tmbers Army by iSportsWeb (never heard of em myself) with Garrett Dittfurth, one of the Board of Directors for the TA. I wouldn't go so far as to say it's embellishing what we've become in the north end, I will say, however, that it's a very flattering article.

Remember when, in the wake of a guy who posted a video himself screaming "nigger" at a Revs player who had scored on a penalty kick in the dying minutes of a game at Columbus Crew Stadium, MLS Rumors claimed Columbus Crew supporters chanted things like "Sieg Heil," "White Power" and branded their groups with fascist symbols?