Soccer-lite. That sums up the US men's national team performance against Jamaica yesterday. As
if the players had been sinking Bud Light while the Jamaicans were hitting the hooch. The US
performance was thin and weak. And it is time for coach Jurgen Klinsmann to flush it away before it
is too late.
The biggest story of the weekend for the Sounders was clearly the return of Steve Zakuani to the
starting lineup exactly five hundred days after his injury. This was a huge step for Zakuani and we
all hope that his progress will continue.
Jurgen Klinsmann has announced the USMNT roster for the World Cup Qualifiers against
Jamaica.
The Unites States Men's National Team is playing a "friendly" against Mexico on Wednesday night
at the Azteca. The USMNT has never beaten Mexico in Mexico, and frankly they don't draw much there,
either. The last trip was during World Cup qualifying in 2009, and the US dropped a 2-1 result.
Ahead of their match against Mexico, Jurgen Klinsmann has released the full roster for the US Men's
National Team. Nine MLS players were selected to the 23 man roster and they will have their hands
full against a powerful Mexican team at Azteca Stadium in Mexico.
While Jamaica's win over the United States garnered much of the headlines on Friday, there were
plenty of other intriguing World Cup qualifying match-ups that took place in CONCACAF.
The most signifcant was Canada's win over Panama at BMO Field in Toronto.
Alex Olshansky with a statistical look at the quality of play in MLS. Is the league
in midseason form?
They played well ....
poorly despite .... because they are or are not in mid-season form.
We hear a variation of that quite frequently, especially in the context of the European summer
barnstorming tours or CONCACAF Champions League matches.
Three of Sporting Kansas City's four players on international duty had games scheduled last night,
but only one of those 3 saw the field. Roger Espinoza's Honduras teammates were in Cuba for a
mid-day kick off in their World Cup qualifier. Espinoza had to sit out the game due to his red card
against Brazil in the Olympics.
Well, the day is here. An entire summer's worth of internet rumors and manager tongue slips
dissected 5000 different ways comes to an end today.
August 31st is the last day for clubs in most leagues to be able to transfer players from other
countries into their squad. MLS is slightly different as clubs can only bring in international
players tied to other clubs from June 27 to July 27.
Roger Espinoza will be back with his national team midweek next week for an international date.
Honduras will be taking on Argentine club side, Boca Juniors in Miami on Wednesday August 15th.
Espinoza is one of 6 MLS players that have been called up for the game. The good news for Kansas
City is that for the first time in a long time they don't have a midweek game this week so Espinoza
is unlikely to miss any games with this call up as he should be back with the team for their game
against Toronto on the 18th at BMO Field.
Honduras pulled off one of the biggest upsets in Olympic soccer history on Sunday, riding an
early goal from New England Revolution striker Jerry Bengtson on their way to a 1-0 victory against
Spain. A defeat that eliminated Spain from the Olympics.
The Hondurans rode tenacious and organized defense, outstanding goalkeeping, and a healthy
amount of luck to hold off a Spain side widely regarded as a favorite to reach the gold medal
game.
This is something I am thinking of either doing from time to time or even on a weekly basis.
Just some random thoughts, questions going into the weekend for the state of MLS and US Soccer.
With a FIFA date upon us, a lot of MLS players are out with their respective countries, while some
MLS teams either have games (one league game and a few friendlies are on the menu this weekend) or
others are off completely hoping to get back in the swing of things for the playoff push.
Barry Robson has to learn that MLS refs are different than European refs. (Getty Images)
I wish I had more time over the weekend to really go into this. Saturday morning an email went
out to the media regarding the suspension of Vancouver Whitecaps midfielder Barry Robson for his
actions on last Wednesday night against FC Dallas.
Take one look at the headline to this blog post and you'll know why MLS players -- and others
around the world such as those in the English Premier league, which starts Saturday -- have
absolutely no interest in this silliest of FIFA international FIFA dates. "It's an awkward
Chivas USA had hoped the arrival of newly acquired holding midfielder Shalrie Joseph in time for
Sunday's final installment of the Superclasico with the Los Angeles Galaxy for this season would
help propel them back into the playoff race.
The Galaxy however had other ideas. Bolsters by two goals from Juninho, Robbie Keane's 10th of
the season and the first by Omar Gonzalez, the Galaxy sans David Beckham, had their way with their
in-stadium rivals once again, romping to a 4-0 win at the Home Depot Center.
Sunday afternoon US national team head coach Jurgen Klinsmann announced his roster for the
upcoming friendly against Mexico, which takes place this Wednesday at Estadio Azteca.
The 23 players that were selected saw a few surprises, including a total of ten MLS players
being named to the camp and the exclusion of a few notable Yanks playing abroad.
Chivas USA had hoped the arrival of newly acquired holding midfielder Shalrie Joseph in time for
Sunday's final installment of the Superclasico with the Los Angeles Galaxy for this season would
help propel them back into the playoff race.
The Galaxy however had other ideas. Bolsters by two goals from Juninho, Robbie Keane's 10th of
the season and the first by Omar Gonzalez, the Galaxy sans David Beckham, had their way with their
in-stadium rivals once again, romping to a 4-0 win at the Home Depot Center.
It was only a matter of time before Nelson Rivas received a decision from the MLS Disciplinary
Committee on his headbutt of the Philadelphia Union's Antoine Hoppenot, and as expected, the
Montreal Impact defender faced some harsh punishment.
Rivas was suspended for two additional games, on top of the automatic one-game suspension that
accompanies his red card, MLS announced Thursday.
By Clemente Lisi – NEW YORK, NY (Aug 6, 2012) US Soccer Players – The 2012 Summer Olympics have
featured many wonderful moments. The men's soccer tournament, for instance, has been loaded with
riveting matches, surprise outcomes, and penalty-kick drama in the elimination round. It's also
been a shop window of sorts for young Major League Soccer players like DC United's Andy Najar.
All thoughts in Major League Soccer shifted after Sunday morning's announcement that Columbus Crew
midfielder Kirk Urso had passed away. The Major League Soccer Players Union released the following
statement: "Kirk was just beginning his career as an MLS professional and his loss is felt across
the entire MLS community.
The Major League Soccer Player's Union updated the listing of MLS players salaries earlier
today, and shed some light on just how much the league's newcomers are costing.
From million-dollar strikers Kenny Miller and Marco DiVaio, to centerbacks making between $200K
an $300K like Arne Friedrich, Alessando Nesta and Bakary Soumare, MLS teams did some serious
spending to make their mid-season roster improvements.
Tonight the "best" of Major League Soccer will square off against UEFA Champions Chelsea FC in
the 2012 edition of the MLS All Star game. Since 2002 (exception 2004) to the present day the MLS
All Star Game has featured the league's best against a big name club. It started with the 2002
USMNT, a great chance to capitalize off the success of the 2002 teams World Cup run and since has
featured a foreign club from the top leagues in Mexico, Scotland and England.
This may be slightly confusing to some fans, but Brek Shea has been named an "Inactive" member
of the 2012 MLS All-Start team. The reason for the confusion is that the MLS Players Association
negotiated into their contract with the league a certain number of inactive players.
The post Brek Shea Named MLS "Inactive" All-Star appeared first on 3rd Degree.
While All Star games are always met with a touch of apathetic indifference regardless of the
sport, there's no denying that any time the current UEFA Champions League champions take the field
on American soil, the world takes notice. Tonight, in Chester, PA, some of the best players in
Major League Soccer will get the opportunity to test themselves against one of the greatest
football clubs in the world.
The list of the inactive MLS All Stars is finally out. A couple surprised on the list but for
the most part all names included are pretty justified based on their play this season.
Full list: Jon Busch (San Jose Earthquakes), Marvin Chávez (San Jose Earthquakes), Kenny Cooper
(New York Red Bulls), Geoff Cameron (Houston Dynamo), Brad Davis (Houston Dynamo), Fabián
Espíndola (Real Salt Lake), Roger Espinoza (Sporting Kansas City), Kei Kamara (Sporting Kansas
City), Fredy Montero (Seattle Sounders FC), Jámison Olave (Real Salt Lake), Marco Pappa (Chicago
Fire), Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake), Brek Shea (FC Dallas)
The players were decided in voting by MLS players.
The sunny day at Starfire Sports complex was most notable because of the presence of Eidur
Gudjohnsen. He's tall and a bit broad, but not unusually so when amongst MLS players. Standing next
to Eddie Johnson early in the session he looked similar though maybe not quite as fit. This may be
more of a testament to EJ's incredible build than a knock on Eidur.
Not much new to talk about here from our perspective, but the MLS Players Union has released an
updated mid-season salary list for all MLS teams, including our own Portland Timbers. While the
Timbers haven't been terribly active this mid-season with regards to bringing in new players,
specifically new players from outside the league, the two new players, Danny Mwanga and Kosuke
Kimura, you probably didn't catch last time salaries released are now there.
Over the past month 11 MLS players switched teams through trades (we'll ignore the waived
players for now because almost zero of those would make a difference this year). The players dealt
fill nearly every role on a squad, and a few would be probable starters is the Seattle Sounders had
acquired them.
The U.S. Men's Under-23 National Team didn't make it to the Olympics, but that hasn't stopped
one team from stepping forward to capture the appreciation of plenty of American soccer fans at
these Olympic Games.
Honduras has put together a dream run into the Olympic quarterfinals, and with four MLS players
on the roster, it has become easy to root for them (and let's face it, not many American fans are
going to root for Mexico).
The men's and women's Olympic soccer tournaments kicked off this week, and they will take center
stage over the weekend with the second games of the group stage taking place.
On the women's side, the U.S. national team has a date with Colombia and can take one step
closer to the knockout stage with a win.
Hello and welcome to today's Musket Rounds! It's been a while since I've been able to throw
these together. Law school's been rough on my time in the mornings, which is when the Rounds are
usually written and published. Nevertheless, in a slow news week for the Revs given the free
weekend, I will endeavor to bring you your daily dose of relevant New England Revolution and
general soccer news!
By now, almost everyone is aware that the USMNT lost to Jamaica on Friday 2-1. The loss means
that Tuesday's rematch against the Reggae Boyz is almost a must-win game. The Yanks will need to
perform much better in the return leg to get the result they need.
It wasn't all doom and gloom for the United States' teams this weekend.
Bayern Munich, Stoke Products Highlight U-18 Training Camp Roster - Stars and Stripes FC
Jalen Markey is one of 10 MLS players (Academy or 1st team) called into the US U18 camp out in
the Netherlands. Markey just recently committed to Syracuse after this year. This means he will
miss the first competitions for the USSDA but be back in time to play against the Timbers, which
will be much easier than the games he's about to play.
The only real news from the second release of contract information came in the form of Bakary
Soumare's salary information. At $280,000, Soumare could either end up a steal or overpaid as the
Union's second highest paid player, in front of even Carlos Valdes, despite coming off of a knee
injury and last playing in 2.
Brad Davis is the Dynamo's top-paid player with a base salary of $265,000, according to figures
released today by the MLS Players Union. The MLS' two top-paid players will be in town on Friday as
the Dynamo host the Red Bull, which feature Thierry Henry ($5.6 million) and Rafael Marquez ($4.6
million).
Last night's game against Chelsea FC was sold as a celebration of soccer. And it sure felt like
it. With the pressure off, the Sounders' offense showed the same spark against Chelsea that they
have when they have been at their best this season. Fredy Montero scored two very well-taken goals,
showing a striker's determination to get on the score sheet.
The past couple of weeks presented an unprecedented period of media attention for NASL, with
high-profile moves such as Eric Wynalda becoming the head coach of the Atlanta Silverbacks and the
New York Cosmos joining the league for the 2013 season being announced.
MLS Disciplinary Committee Suspends and Fines LA Galaxy Midfielder David Beckham; Fines
Arena and Marsch
NEW YORK (July 5, 2012) – The MLS Disciplinary Committee has suspended LA Galaxy midfielder
David Beckham one game and fined him an undisclosed amount for his confrontational and provocative
behavior during and immediately following the Galaxy's 4-3 loss at San Jose on June 30.
If you are like me you like your stats whenever you can get them. If those stats involve the
Fire, then it's even better. Unfortunately, MLS and soccer in general is a bit behind other sports
in terms of statistics. There is no fancy Sabermetrics like MLB employs, for example. Until
recently, it was hard to find much stat-wise for MLS other than the most basic match stats.
