Philadelphia Union

Sebastien Le Toux tweeted this morning, "I spent a great week at BWFC. Great club with great people. Now back in Philly." We are waiting for confirmation on this from the Union on this and if this means there will be no transfer to Bolton.

Following the successful appeal to secure Tim Ream the UK work permit necessary to complete the defender's move to the Wanderers, Owen Coyle tells The Bolton News that he plans to "add one or two more to take us on to the second half of the season" before the close of the transfer window on January 31.

The MLS SuperDraft was held on Thursday and broadcast live on ESPN2. After two hours of televised coverage, the feed switched to ESPN3.com. Adrian Healey manned the desk while Alexi Lalas and Taylor Twellman handled much of the commentary heavy lifting and despite some hiccups, the broadcast was generally well done.

Over the last couple of years, MLS has made a long string of significant decisions aimed at advancing the league and improving the quality of soccer on the field. These have included the Designated Player rule in all of its iterations, the Generation Adidas program and recently, the mandating of team specific academies tasked with developing young players and retaining young talent in the league.

And don't bet on the draft becoming any less super, as this year's two-round format may not be etched in stone, according to the Commissioner.

"I hope to expand it in the years to come," he said, "as opposed to any alternative."

Garber Talks Draft with MLS Insider

That quote says to me that the number of internationals will increase in future years.

MLS Submits Bid For Samuel Eto'o

It would easily be the largest transfer fee ever paid, even if only about half of what Eto'o's current team wants. The National is not a news organization with which I am familiar, but the rolling David Beckham deal is the current news and MLS & Didier Drogba have been linked before.

A WORK IN PROGRESS (Pt. 2) Garber sees bright future for MLS

Watch MLS Supporters Summit Live

There will be a running commentary here as well. It will be interesting to see the differences from 2009 (which I helped run) to 2011. It isn't expected that Garber will announce the schedule, playoff and other changes, but he may.

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.

Grant Wahl interviews the Don...

SI.com: What are the chances of D.C. United playing in Washington D.C. in 2012? Garber: Very strong. Very strong. I think my comments were misconstrued as if we're trying to move the team. That couldn't be further from the truth. We need to find a stadium solution there, and the folks we're trying to work with don't seem to understand how unfair it is for D.

2012's first competitive match will be on 7 March at 7 PM Pacific as the Seattle Sounders face Santos Laguna at home. Their next match in the CONCACAF Champions League will be a week later down in Torreon, Mexico at 5 PM Pacific on the 14th. The 7th will in fact be MLS night in the CCL as the early match will be the Los Angeles Galaxy at Toronto FC.

Well it's now official. Yesterday was the very last day of the Timbers training for the year. The guys are now officially on vacation until late January when they have to report to training. Just about two months worth of time off... I'm not even sure I would know what to do with that time off.

Anyway, I'm keeping it short this morning as the US-Slovenia game is going on right now.

Coaching changes aren't usually fodder for this website, but since the Revs have reached into their broadcast booth when grabbing a coach for the 2012 version of the team, we can file this under media coverage of the team. Heaps retired after the 2009 season and spent two years paired with Brad Feldman while providing color commentary.

• Dynamo's Brian Ching says he'll be back [Houston Chronicle]
• Top 50 MLS Cup Moments: #10 Mr. Clutch [MLS Soccer]
• Boswell's 2011 season a story of highs and lows [MLS Soccer]
• Galaxy, Dynamo to play for MLS Cup in sold-out HDC [MLS Soccer]
• Interview with Houston Dynamo president Chris Canetti [YourHoustonNews.

Yesterday we posted a poll to determine what you think the best candidate destination would be for Major League Soccer's 20th team. The overwhelming winner was Minnesota, and although an e-mail and Twitter campaign may have significantly contributed to the success of the Twin City area, there are definite upsides to moving MLS up North.

A must-win that our team actually won. Can you believe it? Yes, it's true - the Red Bulls kept their faint playoff hopes alive with a 2-0 victory against the expansion Portland Timbers. A Dane Richards golazo, in the first half, and a Luke Rodgers penalty, in the 2nd, ensured all three points for the desperate Red Bulls.

The online soccer community is abuzz with recent statements from Commissioner Garber (courtesy of Steve Davis), that MLS has raised its expansion fee for a 20th team to $100 million for the New York market. According to Davis' article, the league remains focused on New York for team 20, but has not set a timetable for that expansion.

By Andrew Villegas A column about promotion and relegation should come with a warning label. "Write about promotion and relegation at your own peril. Side effects may include loathsome comments from all sides, headaches, nausea, and gratuitous feigning of vomiting." So it's with some hesitation that I should take on writing about the Orlando City [.

Their Words Last year we were disappointed in our performance in Champions League, maybe even a little bit embarrassed. It was definitely a goal we had set for ourselves that we wanted to get better as we came back into it. Seattle coach Sigi Schmid. Other Sources Garber talks schedule as Crew kick off "Goal 10K" initiative - from MLSsoccer.

New York Red Bull To Make Aggressive Fall Marketing Push

They are now expecting to average over 20k on the year, currently at only 18.8k for 2nd best of MLS 1.0. MLS 2.0 teams are still 800+ average gate better than 1.0 (including new KC stadium). All Garber teams at +5121.

Also, there is a note that the MLS on NBC deal could be worth 20M$, and that could move the salary cap needle.

Today's TTnT is brought to you by the letters R, S, L, C, and K and by the numbers 2 and 3.

RSL, of course, is Real Salt Lake, who have the most Euro-poser name in the league, at least until Garber announces the introduction of Bayern Milwaukee. CK stands for corner kick, and two is the number of goals that RSL scored off corners in their last game, played at home against the Philadelphia Union.

Before we get to the attendance wrap-up, here are some bonus business items from the press Q&A Commissioner Garber did with the print/online media at the All-Star Game.

1. Still trying to put a second team in New York, but Cosmos are not the only option. Believes the Wilpons would make excellent soccer owners and noted that Citi Field had hosted a WFC match the night before the ASG.

Major League Soccer's Mid-summer classic went off in Harrison on Wednesday night before a (mostly) packed house at Red Bull Arena. We thought we would offer some random business observations on the pre-game festivities and the match itself. Prior to the game, the MLS sponsors were out in force, with an entire section of the stadium grounds devoted to the major MLS sponsors.

But regardless of where Seattle end up at the end of the season — if they win a third straight US Open Cup, if they qualify for the knockout rounds of the CONCACAF Champions League, even if they finally get past that first round of the MLS Cup playoffs — it's remarkable to consider how quickly the Sounders have become a force in this league.

Around the League Extra Featuring Me, ok not just me..

Much of this episode is about supporter v club, and we also talk about MLS 1.0, 2.0, 3.0 and how good Garber has done growing the game.

No need to be so rude Kyle Beckerman!
IN THE TUNNEL:With the Gold Cup Final taking place simultaneously (smooth move Garber), the Women's World Cup starting tomorrow, The UEFA U-21 Final earlier today and the FIFA U-17 Championship under way - nearly zero eyes are on this match.

Before we begin, let's all shake our righteous heads at hockey hooligans. Although I can understand Vancouver fans being upset - I didn't even know UCLA had a hockey team.
Back to Gold Cup coverage. We have a special guest here on the blog - sports fan and dictator, Fidel Sarcastro. Nice to have you with us, Fidel!

Galaxy Post Match:

• Houston continues winless in May [MLS Soccer]
• Donovan's PK gives LA 1-0 win over Houston [MLS Soccer]
• Galaxy prolong Dynamo blues [Houston11Soccer]
• Dynamo's winless streak reaches five [Houston Chronicle]
• GALAXY: Flank D plus PK equals victory [ESPN Los Angeles]

In Other News:

• Cameron ready to fill in at center back during Gold Cup [MLS Soccer] - Also says shin injury hurting his finishing
• Dynamo form 2012 supporters section [Houston Dynamo]
• Garber talks MLS at Sports Franchises and Facilities conference [Soccer by Ives]

This past weekend was huge for the Portland Timbers. Despite losing a reserve game, our primary team came away with a point on the road against an overtly hostile team and atmosphere. These puts as being tie, once again, with the Seattle Sounders with 14 points apiece. The Timbers do still have two games on Seattle however.

Back in April, Portland had raised the tifo bar in the Cascadia region of North America at their home opener in Major League Soccer at Jeld-Wen Field:

(Though, honestly, I preferred this Kings of Cascadia display from last year less self-reverential. And of course, the Space Needle tifo.

Life doesn't always work the way it should. How else to explain how a show like Joey could last three seasons before someone kicked the plug on that silliness?

In our soccer world, important decisions aren't always made through high-level board room discussions and execution of prudent marketing plans.

It's because of you that all must be destroyed.
Quote: Speaking Thursday with the Associated Press Sports Editors, MLS President Mark Abbott said "promotion-relegation is not something we're looking at."
"I don't see that in the future, certainly in any reasonable future for us," he said.

There are a surprising number of threads that connect the Seattle Sounders to the Philadelphia Union. Superficially, there's Sebastien Le Toux on the field, as he tries to build on the tremendous offensive season he had last year immediately after being left off of Seattle's protected list. And will we ever hear the end of that?

This young season saw a celebration of the league's founding, but the topics are typical.

• There is parity, well except for Real Salt Lake. Sure, other teams have points, but they aren't manhandling their opponent's like Kreis' team is. With 3.00 PPM and +2GD per GAME, they are the class of the league.

In recent interviews to kick off the 2011 season, Commissioner Garber stated often that he is pressing for referees to make more consistent calls on fouls. He seems to gloss over the matter of improving refereeing to cover up the bigger issue that there is not enough scoring. His position seems to be that hard-line refereeing is needed in order for the offense to open up and for more goals to be scored.

In Major League Soccer, the quality of marketing can be extremely hit or miss. While some teams have stepped up and done things right, many are still lagging behind and failing to properly represent their product, and the league's product as a whole, to their local market.
We've seen some tremendous work from the new kids Portland and Vancouver (at least until their rather unnecessary and trashy campaign) and now one of the old kids in the neighborhood has released an excellent marketing video that can't help but get you excited, even if you're a New York or Philadelphia fan.

Davis and DuBois, talking Dragnet, the Donner Party, MLS playoff format, La Guerra Fria, CONCACAF Champions League drudgery, Garber's interview with AOL Fanhouse, Donovan backing Beckham, Mo Edu repping for Scotland, Baby Bradley not playing, the anticipation for I AM PLAYR, and MLS fantasy. CSRN MEDIA PLAYER

I will stop, I will stop at nothing. Say the right things when reading the Anti-Power Rankings I trust I can rely on your vote.

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#5 - The King of Limbs: The only bigger than football is the release of Radiohead's new album, 'The King of Limbs'.

Si, the title is a little dramatic, Burrito admit that. Pero, the way the United States Soccer Federation has handled this Division 2 matter kind of makes Burrito wonder if they really want NASL to succeed? Burrito listen to teleconference while playing with chew toy and Burrito was the first to cry bloody murder (Well, bark bloody murder) when USSF President, Sunil Gulati said the 5 U.

Bill Archer lays out the awesome committee maneuvering the USSF had to engage in to come to the result of granting the NASL "provisional" sanctioning in 2011:

So it's fair to say that in this process Gulati violated both the spirit and the letter of the USSF Bylaws in two ways:
1) The Board voted to approve an application despite the fact that the Bylaws clearly state that they may not do so in the face of a negative committee report.

Beginning on Tuesday, the PSP will run a series of interviews with some of the growing number of alternative Union supporters groups. Here's a quick preview of what to expect.

Before there was the Union, there was the Sons of Ben.

Before the Union had a staff, let alone a name or players on the pitch, the Sons of Ben were making the case for an MLS franchise in Philadelphia—and a name for themselves.