Seventeen years ago today, I fell in love again. My heart had been broken a decade before. So to be seduced again, at last, made me appreciate that much more how precious and fragile such a relationship can be. I don't know what made me take the Tube that morning to buy tickets to Highbury for the derby between the Arsenal and Queen's Park Rangers.

An inside look at the Whitecaps' under-construction enormodome in downtown Vancouver. Thank the god of your choice that this big boy is smack in the center of town, otherwise we could be looking at the makings of Giants Stadium Part 2, The Return.

That's right, folks; to go along with the laundry list of accomplishments the Metro Bulls have attained in their illustrious history, you can add 2011 Emirates Cup Champions to it. Now while it's no La Manga, it ranks right up there with the Mickey Mouse Cup of 2010. Hey, this is about the only Red Bulls news I can get excited about nowadays, so get off my back.

Wednesday night at Red Bull Arena for the 2011 MLS All-Star Game, the electricity was floating in the air and you could feel it, sense it and smell it.

Before the game, the streets near Red Bull Arena were filled with games. Hardest shot contest, Soccer tennis, playing X-Box with FIFA 2011, writing signs for your favorite players and of course a picture next to the Philip Anschutz trophy (MLS Cup) so you could have a keepsake.

I wasn't always anti-All-Star Game.
I remember the first one, and how exciting it was. I seem to remember the first half being much better than the second half, but it was a large crowd at Giants Stadium and I thought it was awesome seeing all the league's stars come together for a game. And you had big stars then like Marco Etcheverry, Carlos Valderrama and Jorge Campos as well as guys like Eddie Pope and seeing all of them play on a team was cool.

"I don't like your fashion business, mister." – Leonard Cohen
First they play Old Trafford. Then they'll play who, Hertha Berlin? What happened to the "inspirational" games to be played locally by a team wearing Umbro's retro-Cosmos gear? Nearly two years have passed since Paul Kemsley paid Peppe Pinton's ransom for the rights to the Cosmos brand.

How the Other Half LivesEver since I starting attending Red Bulls games regularly in 2007, I've only ever sat (or stood) in mid- to low-priced sections - first sweltering in 109 at Giants Stadium, then moving to "Boca 107" last year in the inaugural season of Red Bull Arena, before settling in the South Ward (132/133) in 2011.

Henry: Cut Out to Be a Captain?Perusing Twitter yesterday I came across an article by Alex Labidou on Goal.com in which Thierry Henry expressed frustration with a number of different aspects of Major League Soccer, including travel and the continued presence of Field Turf in several markets. I can sympathize with Henry on both points.

With his 2006 work Soccer in a Football World, David Wangerin shone a light on the murky history of American professional soccer in a way that other historians hadn't. While most writers concentrate on the NASL era and beyond, Wangerin filled in the gaps between Belo Horizonte and Port of Spain, documenting the failures and missed chances of the United States national team alongside the well-worn story of the NASL's death and MLS's launch.

RBNY (and Agudelo) Fans Have a Reason to Celebrate (Photo by Dan Dickinson)Toronto FC (and its dwindling number of traveling fans) must absolutely dread coming to New York to play the Red Bulls. Who can forget the 5-0 thrashing in the rain that brought down the curtain on Giants Stadium, when Macoumba Kandji and Juan Pablo Angel ran riot, splashing through puddles on their way to destroying the Reds' playoff hopes?

LIVESTRONG Sporting Park for its opening match.
The brand new LIVESTRONG Sporting Park becomes the 16th venue in the United States to host the U.S. team in the CONCACAF Gold Cup and just the second soccer specific stadium to do so after The Home Depot Center hosted a pair of group games in 2007.

Welcome to the New England Revolution vs. the New York Red Bulls live game thread! This will be the first time the I-95 rivals meet this season after splitting the series in 2010 with home victories for each side. It is also New England's second-ever visit to Red Bull Arena and the first time they will face Thierry Henry in league competition.

Goals from Keith Andrews and Simon Cox in either half saw Ireland pull off a famous victory over Italy in Liege.
Andrews scored with a low effort into the corner of the goal on 36 minutes after an excellent back heel from the impressive Stephen Hunt.
Giovanni Trapattoni's 'Boys In Green' then had to withstand pressure from the former world Champions before substitute Cox tapped home a Hunt cross at the death to make sure of the win.

A modest one, courtesy of the Associated Press:

CARY, N.C. (AP) -- The U.S. men's national team will be trying to follow a well-traveled path to more World Cup success in a few years.

Four years ago, the Americans won the Gold Cup to earn an automatic bid to the 2009
Confederations Cup.

In FireStingDoug's continuing series of trips down memory lane this edition takes a look back at the May 17, 1981 battle between the Sting and the New York Cosmos. A match that was televised on WGN TV.

The Cosmos had world class talent but the Sting seemed to own them through the years holding an overall 4-1 all time lead in the series.

New York heads down I-95 to PPL Park to take on the (shockingly) first-place Union tomorrow. Most teams heading on the road will usually be looking to take a point, let alone when facing a team that's at the top of the conference. But the Red Bulls aren't most teams. With the amount of talent on this team, and against a bitter rival, you'd be believe New York will be looking to send a message to the Union, and the rest of the league for that matter, by taking all three points in Chester.

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (March 26, 2011) – The U.S. Men's National Team came from a goal down to earn a 1-1 draw with Argentina in front of a record crowd of 78,936 fans at New Meadowlands Stadium on Saturday. Forward Juan Agudelo's second-half strike from close range and goalkeeper Tim Howard's Budweiser Man of the Match performance secured the result for the United States, whose record against Argentina now stands at 2-6-2.

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (March 26, 2011) – The U.S. Men's National Team came from a goal down to earn a 1-1 draw with Argentina in front of a record crowd of 78,936 fans at New Meadowlands Stadium on Saturday. Forward Juan Agudelo's second-half strike from close range and goalkeeper Tim Howard's Budweiser Man of the Match performance secured the result for the United States, whose record against Argentina now stands at 2-6-2.

Photo by Rich Schultz/ISIphotos.com

By JOHN BOSCHINI

CARY, N.C. - Over the last few years, Tim Howard has had no shortage of memorable moments in a United States jersey. His performance in the 2-0 upset of Spain in the 2009 Confederation Cup, a kick in the ribs courtesy of Emile Heskey during the World Cup in Rustenburg last June, and, nine days later, the throw that initiated perhaps the most famous moment in American soccer history spring quickly to mind.

CHICAGO (March 14, 2011) — More than 50,000 tickets have been sold for the U.S. Men's National Team's match against two-time World Cup champions Argentina on March 26 at New Meadowlands Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. Kickoff against the No. 4-ranked Argentines is set for 7 p.m. ET, and the match will be broadcast live on ESPN2 and Univision.

With actual MLS clubs involved in competition for the first time in months, we got to wondering whether the Champions League, which has struggled to capture even hard care MLS supporters, could ever be a draw European soccer fans. Out of town with only intermittent internet access, we thought now would be a good time to re-run Part III from our 2009 Bringing the Fans series.

Everyone was curious to know what the big announcement was coming from the front office of Major League Soccer this week. Some were expecting the announcement of the 2011 regular season schedule, or possibly the long awaited new playoff format. Well you would be wrong on both accounts.

NEW YORK, NY The MLS All-Star Game will return to the New York metropolitan area for the first time since 1997, the league announced on Tuesday. The 2011 contest will be played at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, N.J., on July 27. The now-demolished Giants Stadium hosted the first two MLS All-Star Games in [.

Well, it seems as though Don Garber's "big announcement" was a big PR letdown and irked many MLS fans, but it works just fine for me. Red Bull Arena will play host to the MLS All-Star game for the first time since 1997 back at Giants Stadium, although the opponent has yet to be released.

I had heard whispers about this during the World Cup, and now it is a date. Argentina is scheduled to take on the US Men's National team on March 26, at the New Meadowlands Stadium at 7:00 p.m. ET. In case a trip to Jersey isn't in your cards, you can watch the match on ESPN2 or follow via ussoccer.

Finally, the long rumored friendly was confirmed today by officials within the U.S. Soccer organization. The Argentina match on March 26th will be the first of a pair of friendlies that the U.S. team will host, with the second being USA v Paraguay which will be played on the 29th in Nashville, TN.

The United States men's national team is going to be taking on two of South America's top squads this spring.

The United States Soccer Federation officially confirmed the U.S. men's national team's March 26 friendly against Argentina in New Jersey, but it also announced a friendly with Paraguay three days later in Nashville, Tenn.

photo by Howard C. Smith/ISIphotos.com

The U.S. national team's scheduled March friendly against Argentina is likely to be held in the same city where the two teams last met.

A source familiar with negotiations told the AP that the March 26 friendly is likely to be played at New Meadowlands Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ.

Just how damaging will it ultimately be for the game of soccer in the United States that we won't get a front row seat to the corruption circus of FIFA almost 12 years from now? Not all that much. I know that MLS and the USSF were looking forward to pounding the mainstream with the World Cup promotional bludgeon for the next twelve years, but I'm glad they won't get to do that for a couple of reasons.