Today's international fixture list includes some big ones in the English Premier League, the Coupe de France and Copa Libertadores, among others. Man City hosts Bolton Wanderers in a battle between a team looking to crack the top 4 and a team fighting to stay above the relegation zone. Other relegation battlers are on the field today as Portsmouth hosts Sunderland, Wigan hosts Stoke and Fulham hosts Burnley. Click to continue reading...

Via Goff: "We're going to look at this group," General Manager Dave Kasper said, referring to players in camp, including Santino Quaranta, Danny Szetela and Floribert N'Galula. Coach Curt Onalfo added: "First and foremost, we feel very... Click to continue reading...

While many state soccer players in the Class of 2010 are finalizing their college plans, with the NCAA signing period starting Wednesday, some of the state's top juniors are following quickly in their footsteps.

At least five Wisconsin girls have verbally committed to NCAA Division I programs, according to Brian Goff's Women's Soccer Recruiting Site and other sources.

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The only ESPN network not showing games.
Yesterday, ESPN announced the full 2010 FIFA World Cup schedule, which includes 44 ESPN games, 10 ESPN2 games and 10 ABC games (all in HD). The United States kicks off its 6th-straight World Cup finals Saturday, June 12 against England at 1 p.m. CT on ABC. Click to continue reading...

Kansas City's new digs, now under construction and set for a 2011 opening. It does look pretty good, eh?

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For you MLS freaks here's a little something to chew on while wondering whether the new grounds in Kansas City will really be open in 2011 as planned: (Hint: few things are as boringly predictable as MLS stadiums taking longer than expected to erect and open.

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Jeff Larwenowicz possibly on the move? (Getty Images)

The SuperDraft is over and now clubs all around Major League Soccer are making moves to improve their rosters. Several are hoping to beef up certain areas while others hoping to get the right pieces in place to make another deep run in the playoffs this year.

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I saw this picture over at SBI. It's a nice one to get us started:

• Sounds like Landon Donovan might be open to extending his loan with Everton. He's loving everything about the Premiership life. This would be good for American soccer fans, maybe not MLS fans, but I'm pretty sure they're not mutually exclusive.

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Want more positive news on a new CBA between the players and the league? John Wolyniec, the player-rep for the New York Red Bulls is said to be hopeful according to the New York Post.

After weeks without much progress being made, Wolyniec said concessions have been made on both sides and he termed his feeling as "hopeful.

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As promised, we are providing some analysis of MLS SuperDraft coverage from around the country. Before we get into the ESPN broadcast, a couple of quick notes. First, Philly.com, provided a fairly comprehensive running blog of the draft from the convention center in Philadelphia. Each pick was announced and fans permitted the opportunity to comment.

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John DiRaimondo is the young central midfielder brought to United in late March of last year. He has experience playing for Colorado and also had loan stints at Harrisonburg City Islanders and Richmond Kickers while with United last season. He scored two goals during his five games on loan with the Kickers and has been invited back to training camp by United this year according to Steve Goff. Click to continue reading...

As Señor Goff recently reported, Luciano Emilio has indeed moved on. The forward has signed with Rio Branco de Americana in Brazil's second division.

"We would like to thank Luciano for being a part of D.C. United and we wish he and his family the best of luck always," said United General Manager Dave Kasper of the Brazilian's departure.

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I stated yesterday that i was still hopeful that Ange N'Silu would turn in to a productive player, which may still happen, just not with United. Steve Goff reported yesterday that the team has waived him. He becomes the third player waived this offseason along with Janicki and Allen. Click to continue reading...

Oh, Red Bulls, you never cease to amuse me! In case you're not plugged into your Goff-IV drip today, Hans Backe has been installed at the Bulls' new boss. That's the same Hans Backe who was Sven's assistant with Mexico and quit the shambling... Click to continue reading...

There were some interesting quotes in the Washington Post today regarding some of the doubts supporters likely have regarding Onalfo's previous head coaching record at Kansas City. Steve Goff reports:

"I know people will question that, but situations are different everywhere," United President Kevin Payne said.

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The top Red Bulls news story of the new year (in my opinion) might just be that Mac Kandji (pictured above, with his girlfriend - who looks alot like Downtown Julie Brown) is a Lingerie Connoisseur.
But seriously, no Head Coach in place yet, although according to this post on Goff's blog, the Red Bulls have already decided on a yet-to-be-announced Foreigner. Click to continue reading...

During the course of the year we focused our attention on the business of bringing fans to Major League Soccer. The most popular post in that series was our interview with Messrs. Goff, Ives and Davis. Check below for that interview and click through the link to follow the rest of our series.

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I was intrigued by a headline of MLS's official blog, MLS Insider, last evening: MLS Insider Exclusive: 2010 Generation adidas Players Revealed:
Notice the time on the post, December 18, 2009 7:32 PM. The content of the post was that Akron sophomore Teal Bunbury and former Rutgers player Dilly Duka had signed Generation adidas contracts with MLS, and that Akron junior Blair Gavin was expected to sign a GA deal. Click to continue reading...

Here's some news that has to give some fans around the league a smile today. Steve Goff is reporting that Herman Trophy finalist from Akron Teal Bunbury is skipping his final two seasons of college to enter the MLS SuperDraft next month.

Bunbury had 17 goals in 25 matches this season and was named Soccer America's player of the year.

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And he signs a new five year contract to boot. Via BigSoccer:

Caleb Porter will remain the University of Akron men's soccer coach, UA Assistant Athletics Director/Media Relations Mike Cawood said Tuesday night.
Cawood said Porter and UA have reached an agreement on a new five-year contract.

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Via Goff:

"I have been contacted, yes, by Indiana. I have already made a statement I am not interested. I prefer not to answer any more questions on that. This is the College Cup press conference, and I think my players and myself should be talking about that. I'm focused on Akron right now.

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DC's Kevin Payne is looking high and low for a new coach.

Some more news has come out today about DC United's on-going coaching search to replace Tom Soehn. Yesterday we mentioned that Richie Williams is out of the running but a few more names have emerged thanks to Steve Goff's latest report this afternoon.

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Today, local media are gathering at the Red Bulls main offices to finally meet the long linked general manager of the club, the diminutive but savvy Mr. Erik Soler. Where will I be? Most likely reporting from my desk . . . damn, I need to get my name on that VIP list!

Anyhow, this weekend has produced a plethora of stories, rumors and speculation which I would love to dive right into.

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Chivas USA is set to name a new head coach tomorrow afternoon at the Home Depot Center and according to both SBI and Steve Goff that man will be Martin Vasquez.

Vasquez apparently beat out former LA Galaxy and USMNT head coach Steve Sampson for the gig. Obviously his roots were a big factor for this hire, not to mention his background with clubs in Mexico and with Bayern Munich in Germany helped him out.

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Steve Goff of the Washington Post's Soccer Insider blog is reporting that the Galaxy is attempting to rework Landon Donovan's contract with an eye towards keeping him in MLS for years to come.

The 27-year old's base salary has been $900,000, but Goff is reporting that "under a new pact, he would receive a major pay increase.

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So much has been made over the clubs starting this new NASL. Today we learned another has jumped ship leaving the USL-1 with only five clubs. That number could go down one more if Cleveland does what most expect and relegate itself back to the USL-2.

But back to the more topic at hand, yes another club jumped ship today and it turned out to be the club most expected to the Rochester Rhinos.

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The new kids of the block finally have some spots filled on their roster today as the 2009 Expansion Draft is complete with Philadelphia Union selecting their first 10 players. Some names won't shock you while others may leave you guessing what Peter Nowak and company have up their sleeve.

-Jordan Harvey Colorado Rapids
-Andrew Jacobson DC United
-Brad Knighton New England Revolution
-Sebastian LeToux Seattle Sounders
-Stefani Miglioranzi Los Angeles Galaxy
-Alejandro Moreno Columbus Crew
-David Myrie Chicago Fire
-Shea Salinas San Jose Earthquakes
-Shavar Thomas Chivas USA
-Nick Zimmerman New York Red Bulls

Five clubs escaped without losing anyone: Real Salt Lake, Dallas, Toronto, Houston and Kansas City.

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Head on over to US Soccer's site to vote for the best US soccer blog of 2009. There's a lot of good in the nominees, but some head scratching as well. It looks to me as though the actual web design might be an element of the evaluation process, as almost all the entrants have put some effort into looking unique (and in a couple cases, doing a very good job). Click to continue reading...

David Beckham will be a club owner in the near future. (Getty Images)

While we don't know where the location of the 20th Major League Soccer club will eventually be we do have a pretty good idea of who the owner of the club will be. It's been reported nearly everywhere that David Beckham has an option in his mega-MLS contract that stipulates he can own a club once he is done playing in the league.

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Getting off the topic of the "Hauptman Letter Debate" for a minute, some important info came out today regarding next Wednesday's MLS expansion draft. Here's the info, per Steve Goff (and NaperSteve -- who provided the tip):

Philadelphia will select 10 players; current clubs must submit their 11-man protected list by Monday afternoon; no club will lose more than one player, which means five teams won't lose anyone; Generation Adidas and home-grown players [(for the Fire that means Baggio Husidic and Patrick Nyarko] need not be protected; developmental players claimed must be offered a senior contract; clubs must protect designated players that have no-trade clauses.

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From Goff, about the earliest goal you can have.

That's Al Hilal's Nawaf Al Abed, last Saturday in a Prince Faisal bin Fahad Cup tie against Al Shoalah. The first goal in a 4-0 rout, so says the Times of London. That really set the tone, huh?

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I know I normally take the weekend's off but I do think this news is noteworthy enough to get me to the laptop to type it out. Steve Goff reported earlier today that former New York Red Bull academy player and Rutgers star Dilly Duka is set to sign with Major League Soccer.

Instead of exploring options in Europe like he had hoped after he left Rutgers earlier this fall, Duke now is set to sign a four-year deal with the league.

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FIFA vice president Jack Warner got a gift from the England World Cup bid people.
Needless to say, he had to give it back once people found out. Don't make your favoritism in awarding the next World Cup too obvious.
Fair and balanced, eh Jackie?
Now some links:

• Nigerian youth ages quickly.

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Okay, rather than that staid old, winner-take-all "next coach" poll that the Goffster is running, I'm going to run a tournament-poll competition in honor of our beloved MLS Cup playoffs. So take a look at the names that Goff has listed and toss out... Click to continue reading...

As always, Mr. Unprecedented Access, Steve Goff, has a sit down with Kevin Payne and Tom Soehn over on his blog. Some big quotes...

"We don't want to play like Colorado or New England, which most of the season sat with eight or nine guys behind the ball. How many people go to watch Colorado or New England play?

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I won't write what I wanted to write after watching the Kansas City game, because the more I kicked it around, it was a trite and cliche angle. The game was exciting, and the team fought as hard as they could (in the second half). Reckless desperation is always pretty fun to watch, but as DCUMD noted, a lack of defensive concentration (which is not a skill but an effort) ended our season.

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