The Montreal Impact will make the first draft pick of their MLS history today as the league's
19th team kicks off today's 2012 MLS Mock Draft.
The Impact are expected to pick between Darren Mattocks and Andrew Wenger as the top pick in
this year's draft, with Mattocks expected to be the selection.
The dust of MLS Cup and the Expansion Draft has settled and there is still one topic currently
making the rounds in MLS circles: the selection of Brian Ching by the Montreal Impact.
Jesse Marsch likely made few friends in Houston with his selection of Brian Ching in the expansion
draft. Really though, Houston have no one to be mad at but themselves.
The Philadelphia Union will play the first playoff game in their team's brief MLS history today
as they take on the Houston Dynamo at PPL Park (5pm, ESPN2).
The Dynamo finished the regular season on a strong run to grab the No. 2 seed in the Eastern
Conference playoffs, but take on a Union side that has been very tough to beat at home.
The Columbus Crew as a franchise has been historically kind to the Seattle Sounders in their
short MLS history. They've never beaten the Sounders, either at home or away, and their losses have
been some of Seattle's most memorable wins. Last season, a 4-0 win over the Crew in Columbus was
the most emphatic of the season.
North America Soccer Almanac (image via MLSSoccer.com)
A very interesting item was posted today over at MLSSoccer.com. The North America Soccer
Almanac.
First of all, saying North America is really broad for the league to do here with this
mini-site.
It's kinda cool, they had folks fill out a survey on Facebook not long ago to populate some of
the responses on here.
Well, last night kind of sucked a lot but luckily we recorded this on Tuesday so you won't have
to hear about it. Hooray! Well, you will have to hear about it just a wee bit but it will be Arlo
White talking about the game in a larger sense so it's not so bad. The man could get you excited
about an oil change or make the news of a warrant being issued for your arrest seem not quite so
bad.
Well, last night kind of sucked a lot but luckily we recorded this on Tuesday so you won't have
to hear about it. Hooray! Well, you will have to hear about it just a wee bit but it will be Arlo
White talking about the game in a larger sense so it's not so bad. The man could get you excited
about an oil change or make the news of a warrant being issued for your arrest seem not quite so
bad.
Looks like Sigi Schmid will be sticking around for awhile. The only coach in the Seattle
Sounders' MLS history -- and one of the most accomplished coaches in U.S. history -- signed a
contract extension that will keep him patrolling the XBox Pitch sidelines through 2015. Under
Schmid's watch, the Sounders have won two U.
As has become common during the 2011 MLS season, the Sons of Ben and Philadelphia Union fans as
a whole have attempted to create charity and celebrity events through social media networking.
Their most recent effort is to get Bolton Wanderers and USMNT midfielder Stuart Holden to a
Philadelphia Union game.
The other team in the Cascadia Cup rivalry is often overlooked. The Vancouver Whitecaps fans are
just hard to hate. The Southsiders in their brief MLS history have conflicted with their
front-office over seemingly small things, like who gets to travel here this weekend. In the
USL/A-League era they, like Seattle, had a small but dedicated group.
On the whole, there are two words I would use to describe the Seattle Sounder's play over the
month of May: sloppy and uninspired. Yesterday, by and large, was no different; but the result was
probably one of the better in this team's still short MLS history.
Lineup/Tactics:
It seems that Sigi Schmid has settled on the diamond midfield as his default shape, which
probably follows the lack of wingers available on this team.
Photo by ISIPhotos.com
By IAN HOLLIDAY
FOXBORO, Mass.-- The expansion Portland Timbers have earned the first point of their MLS
history, but the club could easily have gotten more.
The Timbers played to a 1-1 draw with the New England Revolution Saturday night at Gillette
Stadium in Foxborough, Mass.
Blaise Nkufo and the Seattle Sounders have severed ties, effective immediately. A team release
has confirmed the rumors that have been swirling around for several hours.
"This move improves our flexibility with regard to the salary cap," Sounders GM Adrian Hanauer
said in the release.
Unlike the situation with Freddie Ljungberg last year, this will not be a situation where the
player is left in a virtual purgatory.
