It behooves any country with serious aspirations on the world soccer scene to entrust the development of its young players to the pros. To the country's professional clubs, that is. Like in most endeavors, privatization tends to lead to more efficiency, and Major League Soccer's nascent academies are slowly but very concertedly wresting youth soccer away from the traditional avenues.

The MLS is certainly unique among major U.S. sports - it is the only draft in which a team passes on a player because he needs to establish residency. But such is the reason why MLS fans love the MLS - it is unique in both the world of soccer and the American sports world. And the draft is another unique aspect; it is an event dedicated to the selection of what are essentially late blooming players who went to college, an oddity in Europe but an essential part of the American soccer landscape.

A second consecutive successful weekend by Major League Soccer at the gates and with television ratings sees the game continue to climb into the hearts of American sports fans.
Total Soccer Blog writes of how soccer is growing to the point where it might leap frog hockey among the US 'big four sports' of baseball, football, basketball and hockey.

Amendments are meant to assist the shortcomings that have followed the game under FIFA's watch.
FIFA has been slow to evolve. This is not anything new and just about anyone would agree.
American sports fans have high demands for their sports and they insist on common sense and the best possible drama in every match.

On January 12, 2011, the Philadelphia Union of Major League Soccer announced a four year, $12 million dollar deal with Mexican food conglomerate Bimbo. While the notion of prominent uniform advertisements is foreign in most American sports, MLS has embraced such sponsorships as an important source of revenue.

By Jason Davis - WASHINGTON, DC (Feb 3, 2011) US Soccer Players -- It wasn't crazy to think that John W. Henry and New England Sports Ventures were just what Liverpool Football Club needed when the group, also owners of the Boston Red Sox, took over the club back in October. Henry and his partners had a track record of success, custodianship of an American sports franchise with obvious parallels to Liverpool FC foremost on.

There are a lot of things I love about The Beautiful Game. One thing in particular I find great is how short the off-season is. Soccer goes on for ten months which is so gratifying considering, in contrast, the extended breaks of all American sports. However, two months is still plenty of time and nothing takes it up quite like the transfer market.

In an American sports landscape dominated by four primary sports (football, baseball, basketball, and hockey), Major League Soccer has always faced an uphill battle since it's inception in the mid-90's. Some would say that the saturation point may have been reached long ago, especially with the increased popularity of fringe sports such as NASCAR and Tiger Woods'-generation golf.

A few years ago, a friend invited me to see a documentary on the New York Cosmos. I must admit. I found the movie, Once In A Lifetime: The Extraordinary Story of the New York Cosmos to be quite entertaining. It was a cinderella story of an American soccer club that appeared out of nowhere, did the unthinkable by signing the best player in the world and then crashed out of existence in a larger-than-life fashion.

From The Americano

Mid-July 2011.

What is the significance of this date?

That's when training camps for the 2011-12 NFL season would open. For the first time since 1987 however, the National Football League may experience a work stoppage due to the expiration of their Collective Bargaining Agreement with the NFL Players Association.

There's been a littany of problems in so many American sports lately. College football has an annual crisis of players, coaches and boosters scheming the system, Ohio State University being the latest. College basketball has its own share of problems as witnessed earlier in the year when the University of Connecticut got busted for recruiting violations only to bounce back and win the national championship a month later.

2011 has been a banner year at gate across Major League Soccer. The league is averaging more than 17,300 fans per game in 2011. This is the first time since the league's inagural season that average attendance has crested the 17k figure. Perhaps even more impressive, the median attendance in 2011 is at an all time high, easily surpassing the previous high (1996) of approximately 16,100.

Few things differentiate the business Major League Soccer from the other major American sports than the availability of the teams' jersey fronts to potential sponsors. Over the last few years, major companies such as Best Buy and VW have paid significant dollars to put their names on the uniforms of the teams of MLS.

Grant Wahl may not get the credit he deserves, but his discoveries on the madness of FIFA politics carried heavy influence on USSF's decision to stand up and fight as an independent organization in its most recent dealings with CONCACAF. In the vote for FIFA president and for what may take precedent for future decisions, the USSF is making a power play for more influence inside CONCACAF.

Whether you are a fan of Jim Rome or not, his influence on the American sports world is undeniable. He has a daily 3-hour national sports talk radio show and a half-hour TV show on ESPN, Rome is Burning (He is reportedly leaving ESPN and taking his show with him to CBS). His style is different than other personalities in that he references his followers as 'clones' and what they have to say as 'takes.

Part of the joy of loving the sport of soccer is getting to deal with carcass picking vultures that swoop in when they smell the decay of a negative story that can roost on for a few days.
This time, it's Dan Wolken, national sports columnist for The Daily.
I swear, these idiots probably have a file folder labeled "Insulting Things to Say About Soccer" that they pass down from writer to writer like some kind of ancient book of useless wisdom.

Editor's Note: This is probably one of the only personal bits you'll see on this site. The Free Beer Movement isn't about me, but about, you, the collective American soccer fans that help build this sport one beer at a time. Yesterday's USWNT win, though, moved me to put into words the "love story" I've had with the Lady Nats.

On the face of it, Mario Balotelli is exactly the type of player I, as a thoroughbred American sports fan, should hate: an aloof, cold, joyless sourpuss who even at twenty years old possesses the trappings of a career mercenary. When Super Mario...
This is a content summary. Visit http://www.

One of the criticisms you hear about soccer from Americans who don't know/understand/like the sport is that there are too many draws. I've always liked that draws are possible in soccer and find the need of some American sports fans to have a clear cut winner and loser frankly incomprehensible. For myself, I know I've probably had more draws than wins or losses in the game of life so why should the sport I love most be any different?

MLS is on the rise at the turnstyle, too...
2011 has been a banner year at gate across Major League Soccer. The league is averaging more than 17,300 fans per game in 2011. This is the first time since the league's inagural season that average attendance has crested the 17k figure. Perhaps even more impressive, the median attendance in 2011 is at an all time high, easily surpassing the previous high (1996) of approximately 16,100.

The Need For Advanced Football Stats - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

As a sports fan living in America, you're bombarded with statistics of increasing complexity across every sport except football (or soccer, as the US calls it). Media analysis of football still relies on the same statistics we've seen for years, which are generally cumulative totals.

Happy Friday to you! This past week saw some interesting happenings in Major League Soccer, not the least of which was New York actually winning a game... against the LA Galaxy no less. We also saw Real Salt Lake fall to the Vancouver Whitecaps and Seattle became three time champions of the US Open Cup.

Financial planning website, Mint.com, (why they're all of a sudden doing this we dunno) posted this fascinating graphic comparing American soccer's salaries, budgets, etc with other American sports.
The contrast, in graphic form, is well.... graphic.
Thoughts, anyone?
Support the Movement.

With the United States government issuing a travel warning, and even planning to help Americans leave Egypt, it is highly unlikely that the two national teams face off in Cairo on February 9th. While the level of violence in this revolution is relatively low for a nation with such a large population, there is still violence.

The DC United third shirt announcement got me thinking about the distribution of shirt colors in MLS, notably the common complaint amongst league fans that "everything is red and blue" with navy blue often singled out as a particularly egregious offender. So I did what seemed logical and headed for a spreadsheet (sad, I know, but true).

It was an admittedly slow week in American soccer as the American sports scene shifted to Dallas and the American football Super Bowl. Within the soccer world some amazing results and goals from the English Premier League overshadowed almost all the other soccer news. But nevertheless there were some noteworthy happenings in MLS this past weekend; as usual, share your thoughts and anything I missed in the comments section.

LONDON, England Premier League Tottenham Hotspur and David Beckham's Los Angeles Galaxy are planning closer ties that could lead to players crossing the Atlantic in both directions. Tim Leiweke, president of the American sports and entertainment giant AEG that owns the Galaxy and is bidding in partnership with Spurs to take over the London [.

By Jon Levy A week prior to the tipoff of college basketball's NCAA Tournament, the only American sports playoff which inspires anything near World Cup-level madness, The World's Most Famous Arena hosts a yearly five day competition that doesn't garner half the prestige of "the big dance." No one fills out brackets, and Sally the [.

No real time for a big rant this weekend. I know you're all disappointed to have 10 to 15 minutes of your Friday back but it can't be helped. Between a lot going on at work and yesterday being one of the great days of the year in American sports (St. Patrick's Day/First Day of College Basketball Tournament/One of the first warm days of the year) there was no excuse but to be out enjoying it.

Since being sold to Dan Borislow and turned into one of the sorriest excuses of a "professional sports franchise" in recent American sports history, the once proud Washington Freedom are now the...
[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more!

Every year about this time the MLS players union releases the salaries for all the players in the league. There is something tawdry about how excited I get, looking over our players' personal incomes. I feel like an honorary member of the yenta-net, gossiping about who makes the most money.

Once again, we are fortunate to have a guest post from Dave Laidig. Dave is a contracts attorney for a large corporation who occasionally submits posts about soccer. He resides in Minnesota, which is not an MLS market. And he may be a little bitter about that. Thanks to Dave for some great thoughts and insight.

Guess, to borrow a relevant word, the 2011 Gold Cup got a lot more "buzzy".Or did it?Or (apologies for a bad joke) was U.S. coach Bob Bradley the only person on planet Earth who actually got raptured away over the weekend.Freddy Adu on the U.S. roster for the Gold Cup.This is not a joke, though it might trigger an LOL or two from some people or at least have some mainstream American sports fan

While American sports players usually go with the "I'm Going to Disneyland" line after hoisting a championship trophy, the Europeans go a completely different route. While their play on the... Read more »

[Editor's note: While I cannot say that I heard the language that Espindola reportedly used, I was only a row up from where he flipped off fans. Despite my best efforts, no video or pictures are currently in my possession to use for this article. If any do come about I will update with them.]

At halftime of the Philadelphia Union's 1-1 draw on Saturday, frustrated Real Salt Lake striker Fabian Espindola lost his composure and made an unprofessional 'salute' to the Sons of Ben in the River End on his way to the away team locker room.

The Ukrainian Nationals are hosting this year's Region 1 Tournaments this weekend, June 18/19. The tournaments will crown regional champions for the USASA Open, Amateur, Over-30, Womens, Mens u-23, and Womens u-23 Cups.

All matches will be played at the Tryzub Ukrainian American Sports Center, County Line & Lower State Roads, Horsham PA.

Photo by Lorianne DiSabato

As MLS fans, we often fail to realize how lucky we are that our clubs offer us a wide variety of fan experiences. If we are attending a game with a soccer newcomer or our kids, we can sit in the more traditional American sports seating sections and watch the action from our seats.

The President's posse... the Colorado Rapids.The President welcomed the reigning Major League Soccer champions Colorado Rapids to the White House this week building on his already bulging soccer credentials. He even compared himself to Barcelona great Lionel Messi.
Even though its customary for Presidents to welcome league title holders in American sports, Barack Obama has proven to be unique in his soccer fandom from his predecessors.

A number of things had to happen for the United States Women's National Team to wrestle their dramatic win away from an overconfident Brazilian squad on a hot night at Rudolf-Harbig Stadium in Dresden, Germany.

Sure, Megan Rapinoe had to deliver a perfect cross which she did. And Abby Wambach had to fight through the arms of Andreia and put Rapinoe's ball into the net which she did.

Jon Busch was having quite a game. The San Jose keeper had made a few really good saves and the 'Quakes were hanging on at home against Real Salt Lake. Despite being outplayed, it looked like the home team could grab a point from the match to help their playoff run. Then in the 61st minute Alvaro Saborio was played through with a great pass and made a move to avoid the San Jose defenders.