From far too many discussions on message boards, I have determined that there are three types of "anti soccer fans", if it's possible to be an anti fan of anything. Here they are:
1. The Soccer Hater: this is your sports fan who understands the basic rules of soccer, but was most likely humiliated playing it as a kid.

MATTHEW FUTTERMAN and NICK WINGFIELD of Wall Street Journal talks of how the soccer boom this past month shows that soccer is in fact growing in the eyes and hearts of American sports fans.
For MLS commissioner Don Garber, the challenge is teaching Americans a new way of following a sport.

What the US proved yesterday was that if you take your chances,(2 for the US) and work your tail off,combine it with grit and intelligence (Keeping numbers behind the ball playing off the counter,stayting compact) sprinkle in some emergency defending you can create a guts and glory result that many teams who have faced Spain have failed to achieve.

ESPN has taken more than their fair share of stick for their football/soccer coverage, and for good reason. They're American (despite dubbing themselves The Global Leader) and, by and large, they do American sports well. Others: not so much.

But they've gone off-script with their latest venture, the Soccer Power Index, designed to render World Cup 2010 moot.

So who watched the game Friday night between Los Angeles and Houston? Or should I say who watched the semi-final match Saturday morning?

If you did watch the match, then you know exactly what I am talking about. You know that it was one of the worst planned and executed playoff matches in American sports history.

I wanted to follow up Kartik's excellent post on the nature of the MLS contract with a look at this situation from the MLS owner's perspective. If there is one thing the owners fear and will try to avoid at all costs, it is having a situation like what exists in Europe where a player contract is really a one-way street with the top players in a ridiculously powerful position.

The U.S. men's national team's stunning upset of Spain in the 2009 Confederations Cup semifinal was a game that won't soon be forgotten by American fans. Now, the victory has been awarded for its dramatic impact with an ESPY Award for Best Upset in American sports. The national team won the award at the ESPY Award Ceremony on Wednesday night in Los Angeles.

Bill Simmons, one of the most beloved messiahs of American sportswriting, is getting into soccer. I wish him the best, although I have a feeling he has no idea how big of a plunge he is about to take. His new attraction to the sport should make for an interesting experiment with fans of mainstream American sports.

Our boys are ESPY winners! (Getty Images)

The U.S. men's national team's amazing upset of Spain in the 2009 Confederations Cup semifinal is now an award winning upset. The national team won the award at the ESPY Award Ceremony on Wednesday night in Los Angeles for Best Upset in American sports.

Postmatch coming. Feel free to leave comments here

Related posts:

1. US-El Salvador 1997 Highlights of the US trip to San Salvador during the...
2. Blatter, Garber out of touch with American sports fans FIFA President Blatter's statement a couple weeks back regarding.

Some random thoughts and links to fill the morning/afternoon:
- I didn't actually get to write about the attendance figures for my PE column. In case you hadn't noticed, attendance figures around the league are sagging. MLS Daily does an excellent breakdown of this so you can click on this link to check out the figures.

The Core: Who was at their best at the 2009 Confederation Cup and seems assured of a starting role come 2010?

Well, LD earned his #10 jersey by validating his skill against some of the world's most feared defenders. Tim Howard's box scores didn't look appealing, but those who saw the games knew for every one he allowed, he stopped four rockets off the feet/heads of some of the globe's greatest playmakers.

I'm a regular listener to Bill Simmons' B.S. Report. Regardless of the subject matter, which ranges from traditional American sports to reality television, it's always worth a listen. Yesterday, Bill's guest was Colin Cowherd of ESPN Radio and ESPN2's SportsNation....

Premier League footballers make extraordinary salaries. The common implication from this is that they make too much money. Players are the scapegoat for the endemic money culture that has invaded football. It's held as common sense that salary caps and other punitive measures are the only way to save a game gone wrong.

Philadelphia Union's Sons of Ben appeal to the anti-establishment sports fan.
"MLS is like the Punk Rock of American sports."
Prophetic words.
Something tells us that when former MLSR contributor Jade1MLS (her BigSoccer nom de plume) wrote that many probably questioned where she was coming from.

ESPN's SportsNation has spoken in regards to what the average american sports fan thinks about soccer, and it certainly seems like this past summer has increased the interest level of our game-
Which is more likely in the next 10 years?
Cubs win the World Series - 40%
Danica wins the Indy 500 - 37%
U.

The Fire Bob Bradley movement has returned front and center. This movement's proponents continue to advocate the termination of the current US coach while offering little advice in the way of a realistic replacement. Many proponents of this movement have also vastly over rated the talent level in the current US Men's National Team Player pool, believing that the failures that can be rightfully blamed on a poor youth system, college soccer and a domestic league that doesn't focus on player development as it once did are all down to a single man.

Now that it's confirmed the United States will be participating in next year's World Cup, the American sports media will be ramping up their coverage of soccer here in the States. It's the way of...

I was thinking about the Seattle phenomenon and a thought crossed my mind.

Would it be good or bad for MLS if Seattle went deep into the playoffs in its inaugural year?

What would it say about a league if a brand new team could have such great success in its first ever season?

by Kevin McCauley I'm a regular listener to Bill Simmons' B.S. Report. Regardless of the subject matter, which ranges from traditional American sports to reality television, it's always worth a...

Everton has unveiled their new away jersey for the 09/10 season, and it's bound to generate a lot of debate whether positive or negative.

Everton's new away kit for the 2009-2010 season will be black with pink horizontal stripes. Not only does the entire kit feature pink quite prominently, but even the Everton crest is in pink instead of the traditional blue and white.

The US Team's next test will be October 10th against Honduras. With only one win to go before clinching a World Cup berth I think we need to start looking ahead. I mean, at this point the US is nearly assured of attending World Cup 2010 in South Africa.

All the time we say about Professional American sports: Don't fix it if it ain't broken.

I know, I know, it sounds silly. Anton Ferdinand puts in an own goal and gives Manchester United a draw (which allows them to stay atop the EPL rankings) and that somehow exhibits Man U's power? It does. Let me show you.

Remember, I'm writing from an American Sports perspective.

We're taking a look at the USA men's soccer jerseys of the last 25 or so years, not only to provide a bit of history, but also as a bit of a refresher before looking toward the future of the USA's kit. My main complaint about the USA kit is that there's no continuity. Unlike most national team kits, the design has changed drastically each time adidas or Nike has unveiled their latest designs.

When Michael Lewis published Moneyball in 2003, it instantly became one of the most influential books about American sports in a generation. Michael Lewis, normally a financial writer, analyzed how baseball's Oakland A's managed to consistently produce highly competitive teams despite a payroll that was a fraction of their biggest rivals.

We could probably spend a day listing all the difference between our traditional North American sports leagues (MLB, NFL and NBA) with the way European soccer clubs are run, or in fact almost all leagues around the world are run, aside from MLS. For me, one of the key differences is roster construction.

The love-hate relationship American soccer fans have with ESPN is legendary. The sports television behemoth (and I'm not sure even that word captures how much ESPN bestrides the world of American sports in the 21st century) is at once derided (too dumbed down in its coverage; too focused on the Beckham-cam) and desired (ratings are picked over with a Bigsoccer-sized toothcomb; HD coverage is drooled over) by fans for its coverage of the sport.

While David Beckham is a forgotten man in the English Premier League, the world's most popular man is still causing controversy around Europe. When he signed for the Los Angeles Galaxy, he promised to make a splash into the American sports market. Being here in America, I witnessed the entire episode first hand, including seeing the reception he received in person at Gillette Stadium just outside Boston, Massachusetts.

North American sports broadcasters Setanta Sports and Fox Sports International acquired the media rights in the US for the Uefa Champions League. The agreement covers the 2009-10, 2010-11 and 2011-12 seasons and will see Setanta and Fox broadcast up to 110 matches each on their television channels. The deal also includes [.

American sports company Under Armour has launched its first line of soccer boots / cleats. This follows a period of rapid growth during which Under Armour introduced form-fitting, moisture-wicking performance apparel that became popular with athletes across many sports. The launch of Under Armour's soccer boot collection follows its forays into the American football, baseball [.

The takeover battle at Arsenal, the one remaining top four club in predominantly English ownership, has hotted up. American sports tycoon Stan Kroenke has become the largest shareholder with a 28 per cent stake by acquiring the holdings of the Carr family who had more shares than was generally realised.

Immigrant. The old country is Scotland. And the old American story, yeah, yeah, yeah, we all came from somewhere else. But when do you actually become an American, for an immigrant when does the tipping point occur? Well, glad to say it happened to me last week in Chicago.

Futbolita seems to think this is Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola.
What is he, 18 years old here?
Why haven't American sports stars flocked to the modeling industry as much as Europe's soccer finest?

Serie A will get a major lift when the brilliant Diego starts pulling the strings for the "Old Lady" of Juventus. Here are some highlights of the dazzling skills and strengths of Diego Ribas da Cunha for your enjoyment, specially created by Ctheoson.
The closest I have seen to the great Diego Armando Maradona.

Other than for the games, I don't watch much ESPN. I don't listen to its radio stations either, or read its magazine. Yes, I read Bill Simmons and check out Soccernet, but don't own an Insider web account. If it ever came down to it, I probably could live without ESPN in my life. Still, let's throw out a number -- 90 percent -- maybe more, of American sports fans get their agenda set by the

Ok, so the United States gave Brazil all it could handle in the 2009 Confederations Cup final, falling to the 5-time World Cup champions, 3-2.
But what does it really mean?
According to the Boston Globe's Mark Stokes, this final could be the match that pushes soccer into the forefront of American sports.

Q: I am a die-hard soccer fan living abroad and agree with your theory that international soccer could take off in the States. But not everyone listens to your podcasts, so could you please make the same case in one of your columns so everyone can see it? I think it's important. Thanks and cheers from the UK!

From www.usopencup.com:

Since 2003, USOpenCup.com has been the only place fans have gone to get in-depth information about one of the best kept secrets in not just in American Soccer, but in American Sports: the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. While the site is not affiliated with theUnited States Soccer Federation (USSF) in any way, it has always been approached professionally, in an effort to fill the void in media coverage for this great tournament.

Where Major League Soccer dares to go, other major American sports leagues follow. That's the rare conclusion to be drawn from an article at Sports Business Daily which says NFL and NBA teams may be "not be as far as you'd think" from following MLS by allowing jersey sponsorship. Indeed, this season the NBA and NHL are following the NFL's lead by allowing sponsors on practice jerseys, and the WNBA has already taken the step on its proper jerseys.

It was the perfect set up; A Mexican squad in dire need of a win to gain back confidence, A U.S. squad playing with benchwarmers. U.S. Soccer executives probably didn't figure on 5 - nothing.

The damage is done. After huge summer gains with the American sports fans, U.S. Soccer blunders.