By Clemente Lisi – NEW YORK, NY (Feb 7, 2012) US Soccer Players -- The MetroStars/Red Bulls are the most futile Major League Soccer club since the League's inception in 1996. There is little argument to the contrary. Nevertheless, the franchise has had a staggering track record when it comes to producing talented players who have gone on to succeed at other clubs and the US National Team.

In this new series, USSoccerplayers.com looks at how retired National Team players (alumni, if you will) are using their experience and knowledge to develop and grow the game in the United States. In a clip of highlights from the 2001 season, Manny Lagos, then of the Earthquakes, has the ball deep on the left side in the attacking zone.

First, no, I did not watch NBC's new show "Are You There Chelsea," but someone I follow on FaceBook did watch it and she posted this screen capture, & in her defense, her caption was: "This stupid ass show got interesting."

Mark Hughes is back in the Premier League after agreeing to become the new manager at Queens Park Rangers.

Hughes signed a deal through the 2013-14 season and replaces the ousted Neil Warnock, who was let go with the club lingering just a point above the relegation zone.

This is only my second post so I hope if you, the audience, doesn't mind if I share something a little more personal than what we usually see on Hot Time In Old Town. I have been in and around Section 8 on gamedays for at least seven years now, but I've always been the seen-not-heard type. I would like everyone reading this to get to know me a little better so as I begin my 25th year in this world today I would like to reflect back upon my Section 8 origin story, the wonderful experience of this past season, give my thanks to the Section and give words of encouragement to those who want to join in with this wonderful madness.

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.

Good afternoon! It's birthday time here at The Viper's Nest. Today, I'd like to wish a very Happy, Chuffed & Over The Moon Birthday to the one and only Matt Conroy (aka Who Shot Sam) of The Viper's Nest fame, of Talking Bull fame and of Once A Metro fame. Besides being a brilliant man (a Harvard educated bloke, no less), Matt's one of the greatest guys I know.

Two weeks after it was reported, the Portland Timbers have officially signed Colombian Jose Adolfo Valencia as a Designated Player.

The 19-year-old Valencia joins Portland from Colombian club Sante Fe pending the succesful completion of a physical, the Timbers announced on Thursday.

Arnie Ramirez was a pioneer in collegiate soccer here in the United States, and not just because of the success his Long Island University team had on the field.
Ramirez gave opportunities to Latino players long before anyone else was interested and able to do so at the collegiate level.
Michael Lewis writes of Ramirez and his journey to pay it forward for young Latino soccer players in the United States.

Let the Didier Drobga sweepstakes begin.

Drogba's agent said that the player has rejected a one-year contract extension from Chelsea and is prepared to go wherever he is offered the most money. Drogba's contract with Chelsea expires this summer, when he would be able to leave on a free transfer.

On the latest edition of the Major League Soccer Talk Podcast : This Week in US Soccer, your host Chris Riordan is joined by legendary USMNT, Metrostars and Wizards Goalkeeper, Tony Meola. In partnership with Allstate, (we've all seen the ...
Visit http://www.majorleaguesoccertalk.com for the rest of the story.

On the latest edtion of the Major League Soccer Talk Podcast : This Week in US Soccer, your host Chris Riordan is joined by legendary USMNT, Metrostars and Wizards Goalkeeper, Tony Meola. In partnership with Allstate, (we've all seen the ...
Visit http://www.majorleaguesoccertalk.com for the rest of the story.

For Carlos Bocanegra and Tim Howard, the 2003 Confederations Cup in France was more than just another round of games for the U.S. It was the first major tournament overseas for both of them and led to huge opportunities in their careers. Since the U.S. Men's National Team is back in France, ussoccer.

Get Used to It: They're StayingIt was bound to happen. It might even have happened if the Red Bulls had found a way to progress beyond the Los Angeles Galaxy on Thursday and make it all the way to MLS Cup. What am I talking about? The boatload of scathing editorials asking for Hans Backe and Erik Solér's heads on a plate as a result of the Red Bulls' failures this season.

And when I say "New York", I mean New York State. And when I say "returns" I mean playing indoor soccer upstate. Which isn't totally bad because A) there is a good beer garden in Albany and B) he's not "upstate" which in NYC hood parlance means "he's in prison."

By Michael Lewis - NEW YORK, NY (Nov 3, 2011) US Soccer Players -- When he took over the coaching reins of the MetroStars prior to the 2003 season, coach Bob Bradley decided to implement an extensive rebuilding process from top to bottom. That included positioning the club in the MLS SuperDraft, where they grabbed midfielder Ricardo Clark as the second overall pick, Mike Magee was the fourth choice, and Eddie Gaven became the the.

It's 26 days until MLS Cup kicks off at Carson's Home Depot Center.

While Galaxy fans ponder the news that a French club is reportedly printing up thousands of David Beckham T-shirts in anticipation of his arrival and monitor the progress of the injured Landon Donovan and Robbie Keane, the MLS playoffs start tonight.

Former New England Revolution midfielder and University of Rhode Island product Winston Griffiths passed away Sunday night at the University Hospital of the West Indies in Jamaica after reportedly being found in poor condition by friends on the side of the road on Saturday. He was 33 years old.

Griffiths' short stint on the Revolution is most memorable for his near miss in the 2002 MLS Cup Final against the Lost Angeles Galaxy.

Former D.C. United player and University of Virginia player and assistant Richie Williams has been named by U.S. Soccer as the new Head Coach of the U-18 men's national team.
While at UVa Williams played underneath former U.S. Men's coach Bruce Arenas. Williams went on to play for both the Richmond Kickers (1994, 1994-1995, 2004-2005) and D.

Game...on!

Philly Soccer Page's Adam Cann with a Union-tinged preview of tonight's major MLS match-up.

Philadelphia is the fifth largest city in the United States. When the Houston Dynamo rose from the ashes of the original San Jose Earthquakes in 2005, Philly became the largest US city without an MLS franchise.

Photo by Michael Janosz/ISIphotos.com

By AVI CREDITOR

HARRISON, N.J. -- With the U.S. national team frequently playing in the New York-New Jersey area, the novelty -- but not the joy -- of coming back has worn off a bit for a few of the players who call the region home.

Tim Howard got his start with the MetroStars
Several members of the U.S. squad have embarked on their professional careers in New Jersey. Juan Agudelo and Tim Ream currently ply their trade for the New York Red Bulls. Jozy Altidore, Michael Bradley and Tim Howard began their careers playing for the former MetroStars.

Montreal Impact head coach Jesse Marsch continues to fill out his staff for the team's entry into Major League Soccer with the announcement that Mike Sorber will join the team as an assistant coach. Marsch and Sorber previously worked together as assistant coaches with the U.S. national team.
"Mike's experience both coaching and playing at the international level will be invaluable for our organization as we build towards 2012," Marsch said in a statement.

At the end of a stressful work week spent on the road I like to take a moment to go over the things that I love about Seattle. I love living in city where the people are friendly and even the view from the C-Link parking lot can take your breath away. I love that no matter where I am in the city I'm about five minutes away from a good local coffee shop.

A 3-0 win might be considered an easy night for any soccer team.

Just don't tell that to the Los Angeles Galaxy, certainly not on Saturday night against the Vancouver Whitecaps.

Vancouver certainly didn't play like a team that was in last place in the Western Conference with only 22 points against the vaunted Galaxy on Saturday night.

Uniqlo is probably my favorite store. It's as cheap as a Dema Kovalenko foul and as stylish as a man of my age can get away with without looking like the old guy at the club. In an obvious bid to lay claim to even more of my money and closet space the Japanese retail giant is opening a second NYC outpost only blocks from my office and have enlisted Carlos Mendes --the last of the MetroStars-- as a pitchman; they may as well just start garnishing my paycheck.

With frustrations mounting around the Revolution fan nation over the team's forgettable season, many fingers (including our own) have been pointing to Steve Nicol. While just about any Revs fan will give due credit to Stevie's years with the team, especially the Revs' MLS Cup Final years of 2005-2007, sometimes a change is the best solution.

Foreigh coach? So what....

Data collaborators on this piece include: Jacob Chambliss, Gregorio, Robert Jonas, Luke Sandblom, Matthew Acconciamessa, Calvin Paquette, Garrett Tozier, Jonathan Stein

Please support: The Others May Live Foundation, The NorthStar Soccer Club

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As you've heard countless times at The Shin Guardian, one of our favorite expressions is, "You can't look at an observation in isolation, you need to look at the whole body of work.

Big publicity win for the Philadelphia Union who today introduced their new signing Freddy Adu from Sporting Lisbon on a free transfer

Hopefully the hype will not once overshadow what Adu does on the pitch. It is hard to believe that he is only 22, as it does not seem that long ago that he signed a professional contract at the age of 14 and was selected by D.

Five years is a pretty long time for a manager these days. In 2010-2011 the English Premier League saw 50% of its teams fire a manager before, during, or after the regular season. Talk about job security. International football is nearly as bad --14 of the 32 managers in the 2010 World Cup were either fired or resigned immediately after their team was eliminated from the tournament.

The USA have fired Bob Bradley as their manager.
The New Jersey-born coach was relieved of his duties today after five years at the helm.
Last month's loss to Mexico in the CONCACAF Gold Cup final proved his undoing, as the US had led 2-0 in that game before capitulating embarrassingly 4-2 and the defeat also meant they missed out on the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup.

Not long ago, someone with a long history with US Soccer was talking to me about Bob Bradley, and about what I thought about him continuing as coach of the men's team.
I answered honestly that I thought it had been a mistake to retain him, but that I didn't see it as an error that U.S. Soccer would rectify.

United States Men's National Team starting goalkeeper Tim Howard did not travel with Everton to Philly, according to multiple Philadelphia Union beat reports, and will not play against the Union tomorrow night.

The former New Jersey/New York Metrostars stalwart will not be coming to Philadelphia, but will rather join Everton when the team plays DC United for the team's Saturday night game.

Dan Wiersema of The Free Beer Movement puts together a star-studded broadcasting panel

Class, class....class!

As American crafts its own soccer identity on the field and in the stands another front has opened as well in the broadcasting booth. Major League Soccer's first generation of players (Jamie Moreno, who retired in 2010, was the last player to have played in the league's inaugural 1996 season) has taken off their boots and several have made the move behind the mic.

The Red Bull organization is taking a lot of heat for the way it went about its quarterfinal United States Open Cup (USOC) match against the Chicago Fire a game the Fire won easily 4-0. While I can understand the anger among fans and the media I also understand why the organization decided the USOC was not a priority.

Photo by ISIphotos.com

Richie Williams is set to join some exclusive company at RFK Stadium.

The former D.C. United player will be inducted into the club's Hall of Tradition at halftime of the team's match against the Portland Timbers on Aug. 27. Williams joins John Harkes, Marco Etcheverry, Jeff Agoos, Raul Diaz Arce and Eddie Pope as players to earn the honor.

Last night Jeff Cunningham scored to move into a tie for the career MLS scoring record and move ahead of Brian McBride to become the Columbus Crew's all time leading goal scorer. The former is a record which will, in all likelihood, one day belong to Landon Donovan, but Cunningham would be a fine player to overtake Jaime Moreno and make the record his own.

After heading home in the middle of their four match road trip earlier this week, the New York Red Bulls took on their first opponents in the 2011 Lamar Hunt US Open Cup -- FC New York.

This would be the first time since 1999 when this club, either as the MetroStars or Red Bulls, would face a side from the five boroughs.

The Philadelphia Union announced to fans today that the team's academy game versus the Everton academy team will have free admission for anyone who has a ticket to the first team game between the two sides.

Everton and the Union are set to play, at 7:30 pm on July 20, in the marquee match of the day.

Dave basically reported on this earlier in the week, but on Tuesday Sounders GM Adrian Hanauer confirmed that the Seattle Sounders will be essentially selling as many tickets as people want to buy for Thursday's match against the New York Red Bulls. The match was originally being marketed as part of a package deal that also got you a ticket to the July 20 friendly against Manchester United and the home finale against the San Jose Earthquakes.