This week on MFUSA, Jason and Zach discuss the playoff system in MLS, talk to Ben Berger of Footie
Business about MLS in the poor economy, bring in Sean Wheelock to cover the state of the game,
and...
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Ben Berger at Footiebusiness was kind enough to include me in a piece he did on the business of
soccer blogging; soccer information is predominantly disseminated through blogs (or pseudo-blogs,
or...
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While Arsenal skipper Cesc Fabregas has clearly enjoyed his Spain side cruise to the World Cup
2010 finals with a perfect record (and no goals conceded at home), he has spoken to
Arsenal.com to offer some backing to a couple of his teammates who won't be appearing in
the showpiece event next summer.
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goalpost.tv 12 October @ 04:53 AM EST
.Spotted this offer and couldnt resist letting you guys know , its a brill saving of £70. From
sportsshoes.com : Nike T90 Laser SG Football Boot. The ultimate professional level boot for the
player that values power and accuracy. For use on soft ground surfaces. The upper combines Kangaroo
leather, an innovative SSP technology and an E-vent [.
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Something called World Business --which you could assume is like Forbes for foreigners--does their
take on the always popular "Is soccer succeeding in America?"-piece. They never get tired of that
one do they?
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Another week of Premiership action is now in the books, and Thursday means one thing: it's time
for the Thursday Throwdown from A to Z. Here we go...
AÂ is for Anelka. Chelsea fans should be counting their lucky stars that both
Nicolas Anelka and Didier Drogba are in spectacular form.
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Another week is past, and you know what that means: yet another A to Z breakdown of this week in
Premier League action. Here we go...
A is for Abou Diaby. The underrated Arsenal midfielder grabbed a brace on
Saturday as he led Arsenal to yet another early season romp.
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As Chelsea strolled out of Sunderland on Tuesday night, most of Sunderland's players headed home
with their heads down and their tails between their legs. One man, though, is enjoying a phenomenal
start to life at a new club. That man is none other than Darren Bent.
In the first half Darren Bent gave the Black Cats a 1-0 lead over Chelsea.
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So, after months of speculation, it seems that Emmanuel Adebayor's departure from Arsenal is
inevitable. With Manchester City's spending spree the talk of the town at the moment, the asking
price of £25 million, which was once astronomical for clubs like AC Milan, seems to be pocket
change for the Eastlanders.
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goalpost.tv 23 June @ 02:29 AM EST
Having heard talk a few weeks back that ESPN was buying out
Setanta in a rumoured multi million dollar takeover , one wouldnt be surprised to
hear that ESPN , a Disney owned company have won the rights to 46 of the Premier
League Matches next season.
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Ever wondered why Betfair is the biggest online betting company? Did you know
that Betfair is the biggest online betting company? Most people recognise the names William
Hill and Ladbrokes due to the strong presence they have on our high
streets.
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Dear American Non-Soccer Media-
Did you know that Major League Soccer was here before David Beckham? Are you aware that Major
League Soccer will be here after David Beckham? Do you know that every time you conduct an
interview with someone not named Beckham but spend 75% of your interview asking questions about him
you only show your ignorance?
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Much has already been said of Manchester United's thrilling comeback against Tottenham this past
weekend, but more important than the result I witnessed something great happening at United. For
the first time this season, United fans got the chance to see Dimitar Berbatov, Carlos Tevez, Wayne
Rooney, and Cristiano Ronaldo all on the pitch at the same time and all firing on all
cylinders.
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Let it be known that in return for extending David Beckham's loan to AC Milan, Major League Soccer
received Arab money"Jozy Altidore money". The Don revealed it all today and basically said he
doesn't care who's paying him just as long as he's getting paid. So gangta. Glad to see that they
didn't give up the cash cow with putting something else into the pasture.
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You guys already know that I am a nerd for soccer and music. I also completely geek out on
marketing, advertising, branding and things of that nature. So this interview with a few of the big
brains at Wexley School for Girls is so up my street.
Don't let the playful name (and equally irreverent website) fool you; they may be a non-traditional
ad agency but they go hard and as their blog says, they will help you get your "mind blown out of
your ear canal".
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Following last week's Champions League quaterfinal first legs, the remaining eight teams have a
very clear view of what they need to do this week. With two English sides in action today and
another two tomorrow, fans around the country are all anxiously awaiting their team's kickoff.
Here are my predictions for the matches:
Bayern Munich v Barcelona
I know what you're thinking.
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I typically am not in the business for apologizing for being me. But just this once, and only once,
will I apologize for my accent. I know that I can get to twangin' but damn, this lady's voice is
the most annoying thing to come out of the South since Jim Crow. You can literally see misery wash
over The Don's face.
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The newest hero in Manchester, Federico Macheda, has made an immediate impact on his club, while
at the same time exposing a flaw in the way Serie A does business.Â
The Italian Macheda was born in Rome in 1991, and began playing for the youth squads of the
Serie A club Lazio when he was 15.
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I promise you that I have not altered that photo in any way. Dan Schlatter at Seattle Business
Journal took it for this piece about how the Sounders are outselling the Mariners in season
tickets. That is truly incredible to me; I never thought I'd see the day that an MLS team was
outselling an MLB team in anything except maybe branded soccer balls.
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You can pretty much ignore the "Is he really back with LA?" bit at the beginning of the
clip because that seems to change by the day. More interesting is the money talk in the middle. As
the Leprechaun™ points out, MLS is a frugal league to begin with so while it may have to make
some cutbacks it may not suffer as bad as some other sports during the recession; if you're used to
eating off of the McDonald's dollar menu it ain't no thing to start eating Ramen.
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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.
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While opposing fans used to sing about Arsenal's Highbury being as quiet as a library, it's easy to
see where that comparison comes from. Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger often plays the role of a
librarian - always very astute in his approach to business and never loud. This January is no
different, and Wenger is once again insisting that everything is quiet on the transfer front.
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With this month's transfer window full of lots of talk and little action, Phil Brown and Hull have
quietly been going about their business. Hull, who were top of the table at one point this season,
have finally hit a rough patch of form and have slowly been moving down the table. The Tigers now
sit just six points above the relegation zone.
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Soccer / Business - Since US government now owns part of AIG because of the bailout of the
insurance company, it is restricting AIG's spending which includes the advertising deal with EPL's
most popular soccer team Manchester United.As the result Manchester United has started exploring
other sponsors and recent news is that it has signed [.
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Tired of listening to every financial consultant under the sun parroting on & on about how
monumentally screwed we all are on CNN? So am I. Partially because it's true and really, really
scary and partially because I'd rather distract myself by listening to Jeff Agoos tell me about
capitalism and soccer.
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I'm starting to feel like European clubs are picking MLS clubs to partner with as part of some sort
of soccer homesteading scheme. You know, claim some territory in the New World before your neighbor
does...that type of thing. Chelsea have The Galaxy, FC Dallas is the Lucky Pierre with Tigres &
Atletico Paranese, Arsenal are locked up in love for days with Colorado, Red Bull are but aren't
mobbed up with their Austrian cousin in Salzburg, Chivas USA is the stepchild of Chivas Guadalajara
and Real Salt Lake are down like clowns with Real Madrid.
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Time Magazine has just published it's list of Best and Worst Sports Executives of 2008 and Don
Garber came in at number 14, four places above Roman Abramovich and his scary self. Some of the
other footie luminaries who made the list where Sir Alex at No.2, EPL boss Richard Scudamore, and
Inter Milan capo Massimo Morretti.
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Gooner Talk 06 September @ 12:10 PM EST
Vodafone chief executive Paul Donovan is being linked with the job at Arsenal - to replace
already-departed Keith Edelman. Edelman had held the job since 2000 and was instrumental in
steering the club through its move from its old home Highbury to its new Emirates Stadium at
Ashburton Grove. According to The Daily Mail, Donovan [.
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Can he walk on water, no? But by some metrics he seems to have gotten pretty damn close to being
able to turn MLS water into box wine. Which isn't all that bad so long as you don't try and compare
it to Tuscan Chianti.
There's an article on Soccernet today about how even though this season Beckhamania is not at the
Purple Rain Tour heights that it was last year, our David is still bringing the message to masses.
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You know how you know MLS is doing really well now? Because when you read about it in the Wall
Street Journal or Forbes or when you see it discussed on Fox Business it always seems to be about
sponsorship deals or something else positive. It used to be that everything you mentioned in the
financial press mentioned the contraction of Miami and Tampa.
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Remember that photo? It's from back in October of last year when Seattle was still in the rumor
phase of it's expansion bid. Some guy who was commissioned by Adrian Hanuaer did a few mock-ups
like the one above that were the talk of the blogosphere for a few days in the fall that now seem
more than a little bit prescient: XBOX 360 Live will be Seattle's front of kit sponsor for a cool
$4million a year.
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