Latest crowd figures from the Major Indoor Soccer League, where Rochester has taken over the lead from Baltimore. The Blast has led its league in average attendance in each of the last seven years.

Team G Total Avg. Med Hi Lo Rochester Lancers 9 48,961 5,440 5,212 6,997 3,997 Baltimore Blast 10 53,769 5,377 5,740 8,078 2,316 Missouri Comets 8 33,340 4,168 3,640 8,276 2,853 Milwaukee Wave 9 33,591 3,732 3,316 5,416 3,059 Wichita Wings 10 34,903 3,490 3,350 5,000 2,000 Syracuse Silver Knights 8 22,569 2,821 2,637 3,670 2,317 Norfolk SharX 8 11,574 1,447 1,082 3,422 635 MISL TOTAL 62 238,707 3,850 3,461 8,276 635

The league is projecting to finish at slightly under last year's average of 4,007 per game.

The Seattle Sounders have played in three U.S. Open Cup title games and three MLS Cup playoff series, but the match against Santos Laguna in the CONCACAF Champions League on March 7 may be the biggest match in franchise history. Not to be too much of a shill, but if you're enough of a fan of this team to be reading this blog, you probably should plan on being at Century Link Field that day.

First week's training has finally concluded. It was a good week and I hope you guys enjoyed our coverage of it. We really tried to get to as many trainings as possible and, I believe, we only missed one so we were able to cover most bases. Heading into next week we'll try something similar, but I'm not sure if we'll be able to keep up the same pace.

Following the announcement by the Philadelphia Union that a press conference has been scheduled for Tuesday at 11am to take place at City Hall in Center City Philadelphia, philly.com reports that the Union will host the 2012 MLS All-Star Game at PPL Park.

The press release from the Union says that team CEO Nick Sackiewicz, MLS Commissioner Don Garber, Chester Mayor John Linder and Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter are all scheduled to be in attendance.

The result was important - but the attendance of 1750 at the weekend semi final was a record for Canberra United, has all associated with football in Canberra delighted.
In fact the crowd increased by over 100% from the previous game - could the same happen for this weeks final?
Brisbane will take on United in the W-League final this weekend and it should be a cracker.

Wednesday 3PM:

For whatever crazy reason I ended up driving to KC. It wasn't always meant to be that way. At first I was going to fly, then I was going to travel with other like minded lunatics, then that all fell through and here I was traveling on my own during the first real snowfall of the winter season.

An undisclosed location in Kansas City. A temporary Sigi-bunker has been erected in an underground location and is currently host to a predraft party. The computer monitors are flooded with bright colors and visualizations mixing with a reel of Sounders highlights. My World by Iggy Azalea is pumping through the speakers, continually being remixed over with bits of Justice and LMFAO by the Sigibot who is serving as DJ for the night.

Skillful wingers in the player pool are at a premium ahead of Thursday's MLS SuperDraft, but three of the top players available at the position are some of the more sought-after attackers eligible for selection.

Sam Garza, a Generation adidas signing out of UCSB who can play up top or on the wing, helped his stock considerably with his showing while playing for the adiPure team at the Combine and had a big hand in helping set up Ethan Finlay as part of the Creighton forward's hat trick.

Newcastle Reserves beat Wigan Reserves 3-1 at home this afternoon and Bognor Regis trialist Jason Prior scored the last Newcastle goal on his Newcastle debut. Jason Prior scored a nice goal from 14 yeards out With Alan Pardew, John Carver and Steve Stone are in attendance the Reserves ran out worthy winners and certainly Reserve team [.

Mail: How to save the FA Cup: Sportsmail's verdict

Some grounds failed to feel the effects of Cup Fever this weekend — just 14,594 attended Birmingham's half-empty St Andrew's, Newcastle saw a 20,000 shortfall on their usual attendance and Spurs, Liverpool and Wigan all made eight or more changes to their starting XIs.

::: FistedAway welcomes a guest post from Elliott,
editor of the rather lovely Futfanatico :::

As the year comes to an end, awards circulate. Everybody speculates as to who will win the Ballon d'Or. Some say Messi. Others say Xavi. A few say Ronaldo. However, the most shocking award involves none other than Ricardo Kaka.

Congrats to Sevilla striker and Spanish international, Alvaro Negredo, who took advantage of the winter holidays to wed his girlfriend Clara Tapia at the El Salvador church in Sevilla. The bride looked beautiful in her dress with a gorgeous lace veil and the groom looked incredibly hot, which is really unfair since he's officially off the market.

Following you will find pictures and fan video taken during the meeting with MLS Commissioner Don Garber on January 8, 2011. None of the video is professional so bear with us. The video does give you a little taste of what it was like to be there.
If you haven't read all the progress made in South Florida be sure to check out www.

Back after a hiatus, I present you the latest attendance figures from the Major Indoor Soccer League. As you may or may not know, United Soccer Leagues took over the MISL this season and brought it under their umbrella along with its nascent I-League. The result is a seven-team league that's averaging right about what the old one was through the same number of games a year ago.

Couple of pieces I found on the web.

First, our friends at New England Soccer Today reports that Milton Caraglio has signed with a Chilean club, C. S. D. Rangers. Here is the link: http://nesoccertoday.com/?p=8201

This is a definite weakening of an area which was not a strong point last year.

With it being New Year's Eve, I figured it was time to take a look back at the 2011 wishes that I'd posted at the end of last year.
1. Return to the Playoffs - This was filled 100%, not only did KC qualify for the playoffs again, but the team won the regular season Eastern Conference crown and had home field advantage.

On Monday we held a the last live Q&A on the Brotherly Game for the 2011 year. Some of the formatting got screwed up by the conversion to SBN. Here's the transcript:

Hello everyone! Welcome to the Brotherly Game's last live Q&A of the 2011 year. Ask your questions as we head even closer to the 2012 MLS season.

Fulham Football Club today announced a record profit of £5.4m and a record net profit of £4.8m for the year ended 30 June 2011. The Cottagers have also revealed a record revenue of £77.1m for the last season.

Fulham recorded a profit of £5.4m, before interest and taxation, and enjoyed a 4.

Time To Vote For Constitution/Charter Running Out

Click on the title/link above to vote. I've made the case for yes, but I beg you vote.

If you are an Alliance member you may also be interested in the Alliance End of Year Meeting. Speakers include Drew Carey, Joe Roth, Gary Wright and Adrian Hanauer.

Today MLS announced the national television games for MLS First Kick the weekend of March 10th. Sporting KC isn't going to be on national television for their season opener, but the announcement does narrow the field for who Sporting KC could play on the first weekend. The national broadcasts kick off on Saturday on TSN in Canada as one of last year's expansion sides, Vancouver, take on this year's expansion side, Montreal in Vancouver.

Colorado announced this afternoon that Managing Director Jeff Plush is leaving the club. Depending on which report or rumor you believe Plush either resigned (ESPN), amicably split (press release), or was fired (poster's inside sources). Regardless the Rapids will now need to find a new Managing Director and a new Head Coach.

Busy few days in Major League Soccer as teams have been aggressively signing players, preparing for the re-entry draft, unveiling jerseys and generally trying to remain relevant in the news cycle. While I've never personally understood the excitement around the release of a new kit, the oft criticized Revolution front office handled their unveiling rather well, usual social media to spread the word.

The Revolution unveiled their new kits for the 2012-2013 seasons tonight at the Gillette Stadium Pro Shop. The jerseys feature a deliberate lack of silver and a return to the inclusion of red as well as the new addition of the flag of New England displayed prominently and proudly on the back of the jerseys just under the collar.

The Professional Arena Soccer League 2011-2012 season is just barely under way with 20 games played league wide by it's 12 teams through the end of November.
All season long, Indoor Soccer News will track the attendance of both the MISL and PASL to guage fan support.

Last Friday we were too busy fawning all over the fiercely fashionable Alonsos to realise that this hot to trot Spanish couple was also in GQ Man of the Year attendance. Less than a week later they've given us another shot at showing them off, which we're very appreciative of.

Certainly Real Madrid's Arbeloa and his equally beautiful wife, Carlota, looked stellar as usual at the Chocron New Catalague event this past Wednesday.

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has dismissed suggestions that Manchester City midfielder Samir Nasri will forever be a villainous figure at the Emirates Stadium, hoping that the former Gunners playmaker is given a better reception in the future.

Before his club's 1-0 defeat to City in last night's Carling Cup quarterfinal, Wenger had urged the home crowd to respect Nasri's contributions to the club rather than jeering him for the infamous summer exit.

By J Hutcherson - WASHINGTON, DC (Nov 28, 2011) US Soccer Players -- Rugby Park seats 18,121 and far less were in attendance when Kilmarnock beat Rangers 1-0 on Sunday in the Scottish Premier League. Though you might not have thought so if you watched the Rangers TV team's postgame coverage, Rangers remain top of the table by four points over old friends Celtic level on games played with 16.

photo courtesy of Jarred Donalson
It's amazing what a new stadium, with a capacity over 10,385 can do for a team's average attendance. Combine that with a team that is doing well on the field and an atmosphere that has vaulted the Cauldron up into the upper echelon of supporters' groups and you'll see a massive increase in attendance.

More from Grant v. Garb...

SI.com: Is it possible you may have some teams not playing each other at all in the regular season next year?
Garber: Yeah. Just by the fact it'll be unbalanced. That's possible.
SI.com: That sounds like a bummer.

The game with Sweden looks set to be the lowest attendance at the new, improved Wembley since it opened in 2007.

And to be frank it was only a matter of time.

The stadium lacks any sort of character and that makes it an almost unplayable atmosphere for the players because they can hear people's disgruntled whispers when things are not going to plan.

World Cup Qualifiers
Singapore v China 0-4 5,474
4 - Singapore 5 0 0 1-13 0
Thailand v Australia 0-1 19,400
3 - Thailand 5 1 1 3 4-6 4
Indonesia v Iran 1-4 (Bambang Pamungkas) 2,000
4 - Indonesia 5 0 0 5 3-16 0
I posted yesterday on Twitter my concerns over the likely attendance at the Bung Karno for the Iran game in a week when the Indonesian Under 23 team were wowing fans at the SEA Games.

UPDATE (16 Nov): Formal press release sent out today. It lists capacity as 2200. Tickets go on sale on Thursday the 17th.

In an email sent to various email lists the Seattle Sounders announced that the little triangle of metal bleachers rising above the North End Faithful (known as the Hawks Nest for Seahawks Games) will be open for all 2012 regular season matches at CenturyLink Field.

Felizzzz Segunda-Feira! It's Match day today as Brazil prepare to take on Egypt tonight in Doha, Qatar! Aaah, Doha, we remember the PAIN you put us through with our luggage and your never-ending steps that needed climbing in the coldness of Doha Airport.

Major League Soccer has surpassed the NBA and NHL in attendance and is now the third-most attended professional sport in America on a per-game basis.

The annual MLS State of the League audio conference, held prior to the MLS Cup, is usually good for some news and gossip from the MLS league office. This year's conference was no different, as The Commish touched on the ...
Visit http://www.majorleaguesoccertalk.com for the rest of the story.

Seattle Sounders general manager Adrian Hanauer is delighted with the rate of growth within Major League Soccer.
The North American domestic league has been going from strength to strength both on and off the pitch in recent years and Hanauer is ‘thrilled' with how things are fairing in MLS.

Seattle Sounders general manager Adrian Hanauer is delighted with the rate of growth within Major League Soccer.
The North American domestic league has been going from strength to strength both on and off the pitch in recent years and Hanauer is ‘thrilled' with how things are fairing in MLS.

Soccer America reports on the rising attendance in college soccer, lead by the University of California Santa Barbara.
UC Santa Barbara drew 13,822 fans, the largest crowd of the season and second largest crowd ever for an on-campus regular-season game, for its 2-0 win over Cal Poly.

By Chris Wright

"You come to me, my youngest son, and ask me to attend the wedding of my youngest son? Get....OUT!!!"

Word has it, or rather, the Independent has it that Fabio Capello is ducking out of his youngest son's wedding to watch England get mauled to bits by Spain at Wembley on Saturday a game, it's perhaps worth pointing out, that is nowt more than a friendly.

By Jimmy LaRoue
Here is video from the Tues., Nov. 8 Norfolk SharX media day. Team president Marcie Laumann addresses, fans, media, team staff and others in attendance.
The SharX open their inaugural Major Indoor Soccer League season at Scope Friday against Syracuse.