We know Steve Nicol stands to lose one quality player, who will it be? (Getty Images)

While the rest of the world is waiting for a couple World Cup qualifiers to finish up here we move forward here with our expansion draft coverage. Earlier in the day we discussed the LA Galaxy, now we take a gander at the New England Revolution.

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Shalrie Joseph lead the way for the Revs in 2009. (Getty Images)

Sometimes less is more, and in the case of the 2009 edition of the New England Revolution less nearly became a lot. If you would have told me that the Revs would have lacked both Steve Ralston and Taylor Twellman for the majority of the season and still made the playoffs this year I would have called you crazy.

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The Major League Soccer 2009 Playoffs continued on Saturday, November 7, 2009 with the second leg between the Chicago Fire and New England Revolution. The Revolution were up 2-1 after the first leg but the Fire hosted the second leg on Saturday. The winner would go on to face Real Salt Lake next weekend, who earlier beat the Columbus Crew 4-2 on aggregate.

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The MLS playoffs have been engrossing and so far the upstarts have given the finger to the favourites.

This time it was the Revs taking it to the Fire who had all their big named players while the Revs have been without Twellman and Ralston. But the Revs African contingent stepped up admirably as Sainey Nyassi, Emmanuel Osei, and Kenny Mensally had a huge game.

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Eastern Conference Semifinals - First Leg
New England Revolution vs Chicago Fire
Sun., Nov. 1, Gillette Stadium (2 p.m. ET; FSC/FSE)

DF Chris Albright (L lateral meniscus tear); MF Steve Ralston (R ACL tear); FW Taylor Twellman (concussion)

That is pretty much the meats and bones of the team gone there.

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Major League Soccer suffered a loss to it's coaching community this past week when Paul Mariner resigned from his position with the New England Revolution to take a similar position with Coca-Cola Championship club Plymouth Argyle.
Soccer America's Ridge Mahoney outlines his significance in New England, as well as in MLS. Click to continue reading...

Those of you who never stop by for curry takeaway on the way home from work will be relieved to learn that Bob Houghton, famously bad original one-year-and-fired coach of the Colorado Rapids (and charter member of the soccer Good Old Boys network in the US) is advising his players in India, where he's the national team coach, to STOP PURSUING CAREERS IN MLS because it's just not good for their development. Click to continue reading...

You guys recently submitted your questions to us picking our brains about everything US Soccer (and some other stuff, as well). Thank you for participating. Some of the questions are obviously pretty old, but we don't get that many and we wanted to answer all of them. Now here are our answers:

HEJDUK FAN Hi guys.

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Honestly, I was so damn tired, I didn't even try to spin it like this game in New England was the game where we secure a spot in the playoffs.

"They have been able to stay very consistent in that back four of [Steve] Ralston and [Jay] Heaps on the outside and [Darrius] Barnes and [Emmanuel] Osei in the middle.

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Lennon's cross arcs over the box. It hones in on Steven Gerrard who waits just outside the crowd. He jumps, coils his neck and smashes the ball toward goal. His header flies down into the net. 2-0 to England.

I'm an American, but I still get chills when Gerrard scores for his country.

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In all seriousness, what the hell are you trying to do? That "win" against Trinidad & Tobago last night was the stuff of nightmares. And not normal nightmares where you're falling or you're being chased by a knife-wielding Jay Heaps in a Chivas mask. We're talking far worse.
I mean, my god, I turn on the TV and it's like your old Metrostars team has somehow found itself in a CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying Hexagonal. Click to continue reading...

There were only 3 league games this past weekend, but even on a weekend with a full slate of games, Josh Wolff's performance against New England would earn him player of the week. Still, Saturday night in New England, Wolff played a part in all 4 of the Wizards goals in their 4-2 win over the Revolution. Click to continue reading...

Week 25 was all set to be a quiet one in Major League Soccer with only three games scheduled. But there was plenty of action, a lot of red and no fewer than eleven goals. An adequate return from three matches, and here's my weekly MLS roundup to bring y'all up to date with the ever-bubbling playoff race. Click to continue reading...

It was a smaller weekend of matches in Major League Soccer as there was World Cup Qualifying and most teams had byes. There were three matches this weekend, all on Saturday, which included New England v Kansas City, DC v Toronto, and Colorado v Toronto. Here's a full recap of all the matches along with video highlights.

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2008 MLS Referee of the Year Jair Marrufo (pictured above with Sr. White), Michael Kennedy (hearing it from Jay Heaps to the left and below there) and the reliably bad Abbey Okulaja (who is so bad I will not stoop to searching the Internet for an image of him)have all been suspended for the rest of the season by the USSF. Click to continue reading...

After all I've done for you?

Of course after last night's Night of the Living Fat Man in RFK (featuing the amazing disappearing career of Josh Wicks) people are strewing palm fronds in the path of his badly overloaded donkey and proclaiming Sigi the King of the Coaches, a title which Bruce Arena, among others, may have something to say about before it's all said any done.

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After more than ten seasons of standing thru the test of time a single record held by a man who helped start MLS in the right direction was finally taken away. Juan Pablo Angel who was brought here from Aston Villa two years ago was on a goal scoring rampage and the only thing stopping him was injury or concussions, yet this past Sunday Afternoon at Giants Stadium against FC Dallas he started the scoring and finished it with class and grace.

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Buenas tardes , FútbolenSeattle esta en vivo y directo desde el XBOX Pitch del Qwest Field en Seattle, WA, para trasmitirles lo mas importante del partido entre Los Sounders FC de Seattle y el New England Revolution. -20 minutos: Se han dado a conocer las alineaciones, El Revolution forma asi: Mattt REIS-Jay HEAPS, Emmanuel OSEI, [. Click to continue reading...

US Soccer released the roster for the August 12 "Attack the Azteca" game today, and THERE ARE NO SHOCKS but a couple of mild surprises.
GK: Guzan, Howard
DEFENSE: Spector, Bocanegra, Onyewu, Marshall, Bornstein, Cherundolo and DeMerit
MIDFIELD: Bradley, Clark, Dempsey, Feilhaber, Holden and Torres
FORWARD: Altidore, Casey, Ching, Davies and Donovan
Looks like DaMarcus Beasley has finally played himself out of the program. Click to continue reading...

STARTERS
The streak is over. Mexico beats the USA in America for the first time in ages. And Holy Moly did they win! That second 45 minutes was brutal for any USA player or fan. Wow. The first Mexigoal was on a completely bogus Penalty call, and then the dyke colapsyed for our team. Click to continue reading...

Ridge Mahoney from Soccer America recaps the Mexico 5-0 victory over the US in the CONCACAF Gold Cup final.
Despite the scoreline, I was very encouraged by Bob Bradley's young team throughout the Gold Cup. Coach Bradley has to walk away knowing that he has strengthened his player pool with young talent, some of which might go to South Africa next summer. Click to continue reading...

Yesterday's 5-0 drubbing suffered by the U.S. Men's National Team at the hands of archrivals Mexico in the Gold Cup final is, on paper, one of the worst results in U.S. soccer history. You need to go back to the 1950s to find a comparable scoreline in games played on U.S. soil: specifically, April 28, 1957 and a 7-2 loss to Mexico in Long Beach, Calif. Click to continue reading...

It was bound to happen eventually, but not like this.

The U.S. men's national team's unbeaten streak against Mexico on American soil began modestly enough back in 2000, when Mexico fielded a patchwork team consisting of the players from just two Mexican league teams. Nobody seemed to care though as the American rattled off a 3-0 victory.

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Ouch.
What else can you say about that second half yesterday?
It's disappointing any time you lose to your rival 5-0. However, when it's the reserves from both teams playing, it's not quite as bad. It doesn't hurt as much.
It's disappointing to lose in a final 5-0. However, when it's the final of a tournament that is lacking in meaning (no Confederations Cup slot, reserves playing, etc. Click to continue reading...

What you all saw was the Frustration of ten years by Mexico not winning on American soil thru Friendly matches, World Cup Qualifiers and Gold Cup matches, finally being put to rest. But sadly it wasn't from their tactics or run of play that got it all started. This was a single call that turned the entire match around and when you hope to see the players settle it on their own without the interference from the referee, that's when it all went downhill very, very fast.

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That's the only word that can be used to describe the USA's performance today in the Gold Cup final against Mexico. The second half was just pathetic. First a quick note on the Wizards with the national team. There had been hope that Jimmy Conrad could have gone today but in the end they decided not to risk the Wizards captain. Click to continue reading...

Print this one off and quiz your buddies!
Courtesy of US Soccer:
U.S. Men's National Team Game Notes
USA vs. Mexico
2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup
PLACE ON THE PODIUM BECKONS: The U.S. Men's National Team is set to face Mexico in the final of the 2009 edition of the CONCACAF Gold Cup at Giants Stadium on Sunday, July 26. Click to continue reading...

The jersey-swapping tradition is great times. Every once in awhile, however, a player wants to keep his or her own jersey. There's no shame in that. Sometimes you want to rock your own kit instead of that Messi jersey you traded for, only to find out it was too small anyways.
One of those times came Thursday. Click to continue reading...

The United States national team will be looking to win its third consecutive CONCACAF Gold Cup this Sunday at Giants Stadium. The Yanks advanced to the final by beating Honduras for the third time in a little under two months and the second time in this tournament. Bob Bradley and company will be taking on Mexico, who defeated Costa Rica in the second semifinal at Soldier Field. Click to continue reading...

Courtesy of CONCACAF.
CHICAGO -- The United States returned to the Gold Cup final for a third straight time, subduing Honduras 2-0 Thursday night in its bid for a record fifth title.
Stuart Holden set up goals for Clarence Goodson just before halftime and did much of the work on the left side before feeding Kenny Cooper in the 90th for his second goal in as many games. Click to continue reading...

Clarence Goodson and Kenny Cooper each scored to give the Americans a 2-0 victory over Honduras on Thursday night and a spot in their third straight CONCACAF Gold Cup final.

It was the U.S. team's third win over Honduras in less than seven weeks, and the second at Soldier Field.

The Americans, winners of the last two Gold Cup titles, will play either Costa Rica or Mexico in Sunday's final at The Meadowlands.

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Game information for USA-Honduras here. Some highlights:

• The U.S. has advanced to the semifinals in the last five editions of the tournament. The last time the U.S. missed out on a semifinal place was in 2000 when Bruce Arena's team fell to Colombia in a quarterfinal shootout.
• The U.

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I was conversating with Kartik Krishnaiyer after a Miami FC game and this topic emerged. Although people don't want to admit it, there is quite a history in this town. Memory Lane was a place that we visited and all of these names started to surface. It was incredible as the history we started to retell came to life in my childish mind as Valderrama was the most relevant one. Click to continue reading...

The ratings for the U.S. Panama quarterfinal are in. Here are links to the ratings of Soccer365, Goal.com, Ives, and ESPN. As always, we give each source's average rating and list the ratings for each player in order lowest to highest. If you want to know what specific ratings a source gave, check out the source directly.

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Bob sent out an MLS domestic all-star team to take on Panama, and that only seems appropriate, given the physical, oft-times brutal approach of the Panamanian team. One hopes that perhaps that was Bob's reasoning for including Jay Heaps, who was... Click to continue reading...