Following you will find pictures and fan video taken during the meeting with MLS Commissioner Don Garber. None of the video is professional so bear with us. the video it does give you a little taste of what it was like to be there.
I've seen much criticism out there from fans from other cities concerning the number of fans that showed up to the event.

After MLS Commissioner Don Garber received an onslaught of emails for months from a limited number of Miami Ultra supporters who wanted MLS back in the South Florida market, Garber met with them last weekend to have his say. He didn't mince words with the group.

"Miami needs to change its reputation as a market that believes in professional soccer," said Garber to 60 Miami Ultras and other soccer supporters.

As you know, year 16 wasn't pretty for the NASL:

At this same juncture the NASL was contracting, struggling to survive, which it would do for one more season. From a high of 24 teams in the 1980 season, the league had been sliced in half in just two years, with only 12 teams remaining.

We're about halfway through the current season of the Major Indoor Soccer League (yes, there is still an MISL, this is the third version, basically, long story, tell you later) and average attendance is about where it was last year.

Which is to say, not good. Not good at all.

With 27 of the 50 scheduled games in the books as of this morning, the MISL is averaging under 4,000 (announced) per game, following a season that saw the league average dip under 4k for the first time this century.

when you blow out like a dead star
it reminds me how uniform your beautiful is
we carry on like it's easy
like you're all out
and i'm your man
baby i'm your man
-Matt Good, Giant

Or go with the last time I referenced Stars Die, your pick.

We are out town today, but the MLS Combine is upon us. We thought it worth re-posting our interview from last year with Buzz Carrick about the business of the event. Enjoy the post and the great insights from Mr. Carrick.

It's time for the MLS combine, when college seniors and Generation Adidas players showcase their wares for MLS coaches and general managers.

The U.S. staff got its first look at the game venue, the Yongchuan Sports Centre, which seats 28,000. The playing surface looks in good shape and the organizers are hoping for anywhere from 10,000 fans for the non-China games to 20,000 for the China matches. Canada played China at this venue in April of 2010 and there were 22,000 fans in attendance.

Photo courtesy of HoustonDynamo.com

The Houston Dynamo held a press conference today to introduce four new players to the media. Houston's two MLS SuperDraft picks, Kofi Sarkodie and Will Bruin were in attendance, along with Academy signees Josue Soto and Alex Dixon.

Team president Chris Canetti and head coach Dominic Kinnear both made brief comments and answered questions from the media.

Manchester United are officially the best supported club in Europe according to Futebol Finance.

Futebol Finance based their analysis on attendances last season, and with an average Old Trafford attendance of 75,304 last season, United surpassed Real Madrid, the 2009-2009 winners.

What is surprising is the lack of Premier League sides on the list.

Here's a great Third Eye clip from Soccer AM -- Carlo Ancelotti was in attendance at Stamford Bridge for the Chelsea U-18 team's FA Youth Cup match against Arsenal when he found out that being Carlo Ancelotti does not trump the writing on an old woman's ticket.

There are only a few hours left in 2010, here are the wishes for this year.
1. Return to the Playoffs - Two years of missing the playoffs and it's time to return. KC has never missed the playoffs 3 years running so it's time for KC to return to the playoffs. Missing the playoffs this year would be a major disappointment with the new stadium.

IMS sat down with Djorn Buchholz yesterday immediately following the Minnesota Stars press conference where it was formerly announced that the former Thunder GM and Aztex CEO will now take the reigns of the Minnesota Stars.

A confident Djorn Buchholz listens to questions from the media during Wednesdays Minnesota Stars press conference.

I'm not typically a big fan of finding ways to quantify an individual player's contribution to a team's success absent lots of information about the team the player plays on or plays against - that is, lots of good statistical control and lots of observations. But I thought these journalistic efforts by Leander Schaerlaeckens for ESPN (and Lawrence Donegan for The Guardian) were well worth sharing.

Oh, an application for a press credential for the US friendly on the 22nd. This should be amusing.
Quote: Originally Posted by USSF We have received your application and will notify you of the status in due course. Sounds promising!

The 2011 MLS Combine is set to kick off in Fort Lauderdale, Florida with most of the top players in the MLS Draft Pool in attendance trying to impress MLS coaches.

MLS Soccer will be providing live video from the combine so you can follow the action there. I will be providing commentary through the day so please feel free to follow along here.

Which are the best soccer teams or leagues in the world? Of course we can see which teams win more matches, and for leagues, UEFA's league coefficient allows us to answer that question with a fair amount of precision. Less systematic but popular ways of determining league or team quality involves looking at international head-to-head competition, or evaluating which leagues attract the best players and managers.

Premier League newcomers Blackpool want to sell the naming rights for their Bloomfield Road stadium to bolster commercial revenue and better compete in the top tier of English football.

The annual Midwest Indoor College Showcase is being held again this year on January 17, 2011, sponsored by Springfield Soccer Club. Online Registration HERE. College coaches from throughout the region will be in attendance. Be seen!

WHAT: College Showcase
WHERE: Springfield, MO at the Lake Country Soccer Dome
WHEN: Monday, January 17, 2011 (MLK Holiday) from 9:00am-5:30pm
WHO: High School Juniors and Seniors
WHY: Numerous College Coaches will be in the same place at the same time.

It seems that people are always looking to find value for money, and never more so than in tough economic times. Football's no different, so to help us look for value in football from a supporter's perspective, I dug up some interesting data from Stadionwelt.de, the very helpful portal with stadium-related statistics.

Welcome to the Virginia Online Soccer News live coverage of the 2011 WPS Draft.
- Looks like the Freedom picked up another draft pick and now are drafting #3, #4, #10, #17, and #22
- Brianna Scurry is in attendance as the new GM for the Washington Freedom
- Just about ready to get underway here in Baltimore.

A short interview with Bacary Sagna. Enjoy!

Here's the links:

• Who has the best youth system? [Behind The Goal Post]
• Villa go for Makoun [ESPN]
• Charlie Adam [SI]
• Gossip [Yorkshire Post]
• Transfer talk [Telegraph]
• Attendance talk [Offside Rule]
• Becks to watch from sideline [Yahoo]

Feel free to follow me on Twitter and let me know if you'd like to suggest an article, video or photo for inclusion on the Premier League Links Of The Day.

DOHA, Qatar — Shinji Okazaki scored a hat trick and Ryoichi Maeda struck twice to give Japan a 5-0 victory over Saudi Arabia on Monday and a place in the quarterfinals of the Asian Cup. Japan will play host Qatar on Friday after completely dominating its last Group B match. "We improved with every game [.

South Korea 2 1 Bahrain
Attendance: 6,669

Ji-Sung Park was captain and played just behind the striker Ji Dong-Won. It was left winger Koo Ja-Cheol who scored both the goals though.

Australia 1 1 South Korea
Attendance: 15,526

Park played the same role and Koo Ja-Cheol scored the only goal again.

College Coaches at 1st Showcase

It's the final semester of the school year and there were 65 players out yesterday at the Indoor College Showcase event put on by Springfield Sports Club. An annual event open to any junior and senior in the region, players came from Oklahoma, Arkansas and Missouri in order to showcase their skills to the assembled college coaches.

Bizarrely, Eric Cantona has returned to football as director of 'soccer' at New York Cosmos.

"I am very honoured to join the legendary New York Cosmos," said Cantona. "It's a big project, a wonderful project. The Cosmos are very strong, beautifully made, with a great past. It's kind of a mix between football and art.

You may well have come across Rocco Cammisola's football writing at ITV Sport, In Bed With Maradona or maybe on his blog The Football Express. Oh and Rocco is also a Twitter legend so follow him @RCammisola .. this is his account of the last ever goal in the European Cup Winners' Cup ..

Manchester United are officially the best supported club in Europe according to Futebol Finance.

Futebol Finance based their analysis on attendances last season, and with an average Old Trafford attendance of 75,304 last season, United surpassed Real Madrid, the 2009-2009 winners.

What is surprising is the lack of Premier League sides on the list.

Andy Gray has officially been released from his contract at SkySports it has been revealed today. This follows the sexist comment incident that took place at the weekend, for which Gray received a warning.

But, in the days since, an incident that took place in December has caused the English company to part ways with the controversial soccer pundit.

Why the fuck are we practicing now? This is total bullshit. It wasn't that long ago I got knocked out of the playoffs. Now it's January and I have to shlep around the field barking shit at supplemental draft picks. What the fuck is this schedule? I can't even gloat about our attendance like I did last year.

Manchester City midfielder Shaun Wright-Phillips has been given the green light to exit the club before the close of the January transfer window. City have been unable to find any team willing to pay any sort of fee for SWP due to his already big contract, yet there is still plenty of interest.

Add that to the fact that City just want to get him off the books, and you have a club that is grudgingly letting him go for free because they are so desperate to get rid of him.

Chicago, IL With less than two months to go until the Fire kick off their 2011 MLS campaign, the Fire's front office has expanded its search to the internet in order to replenish its badly depleted roster.

Fire honcho Frank Klopas launched an exhaustive scouting search of Chicagoland parks (from "Highland to Tinley") this off season, but after several months he had nothing to show for it except frost bite and syringes of dubious origin.

After an initial initiative from the breakaway Liga Primer Indonesia comes news that the Indonesia Super League are considering foreign refs for the second half of the season.
Under the plans not all games would be officiated by foreign refs but selected taking into account the attendance, any previous between the teams, clubs' position in the table and TV coverage.