It would be foolish to have too strong an opinion either way on the hiring of the new TFC coach. What he has done in the past may be a foundation, but right now Preki puts a face on the 2010 season and the countdown has begun.
Positives
-TFC moved quickly and hired a coach before the dust had settled on the season. Click to continue reading...

In case anyone else didn't notice, we've got the most expensive team in MLS going up against the least expensive team in MLS in the Cup final this weekend. From one of my posts earlier in the year on team wage bills:

1. LA $9.4 million
15. RSL $1.86 million

Of course that's with designated player salaries. Click to continue reading...

With J Hutcherson -- What was the takeaway from Major League Soccer's Conference finals? Short of expecting no goals in regulation or propping up parity, it's that it takes more than ninety minutes for two teams to figure each other out. It's hard to avoid questioning the decision to make the finals one game when the opening round plays out over two legs. Click to continue reading...

All you who criticized Bruce Arena, said the game had passed him by, said he relied too much on old veterans...all you who said Dema Kovalenko was a one-dimensional hack...all you who said there was no way Ricketts or Berhalter would make it through the whole season...all you who said that Beckham and Donovan couldn't work together. Click to continue reading...

So I promised my wife I wouldn't swear as much these days, for fear that our child will one day greet her preschool teacher as a Saracen pig-dog. Fine, I thought, the Chivas series is over, I can take the pledge.
Then I read something in the new book, "We're Ripping Off Freakonomics," by Simon and Stefan, that really frosted my cupcakes. Click to continue reading...

With only 3 weeks left in the Mexican Apertura regular season, we can be certain of one thing: we still have no idea who is going to make the liguilla. Some call it parity, others call it mediocrity. I call it chaos.
Only one team is assured of a post season birth: Toluca. Mexican futbol's cooky, crazy group system, though, offers no guarantees to the other teams that are in the top 8 slots of the table. Click to continue reading...

This is slightly late in the game, as it's a preview for the Norwegian 2009 Tippeligaen. The same Tippeligaen season which ended on Sunday. (Rosenborg are celebrating their 15th title in 17 years while Norway of off celebrating parity.) But this little season preview has popped up and it bears a striking resemblance to the [. Click to continue reading...

By Andrew Dixon - MIAMI, FL (Oct 29, 2009) USSoccerPlayers -- Like it or not, MLS has become parity central. Unless you entered the League courtesy of expansion and you're not named 'Fire' or 'Sounders,' you have a legit shot at winning MLS Cup. No matter how bad you were the previous year or how much winning tradition you have, everyone can go into the start of the season thinking they have a chance at. Click to continue reading...

World Series? Hey, you pre-empt "Glee," you're dead to me.
AND NOW...THE MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER 2009 REGULAR SEASON - A COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW
Well, that happened.
THIS HAS BEEN THE COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW OF THE 2009 MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER REGULAR SEASON
AND NOW, THE COMPREHENSIVE 2009 MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER PLAYOFFS PREVIEW
Dunno. Click to continue reading...

I won't put it on the main page because it's such a long post, so check it out here:
All Time Best & Worst MLS Teams (single season & multiple)
How do this year's teams stack up?

• Columbus lost three of their last four, which means that they ended up tied for the worst Supporters Shield winners ever with the 2004 Crew.

Click to continue reading...

This is why I don't subscribe to 24th Minute. Every time I go over there I see something that makes me want to stab my eyes out. Most of the Canadian blogs, actually. Which is kind of sad. I mean, most of them can write. It's just what's going on up their heads that's the problem.
Anyway, BA Duane with a rumination on the follies of the New York franchise, with commentary by yours truly:

Just as Canadians hate that everything here is Toronto focused (and, say, that USL-1 championship final is overshadowed by TFC's attempt to sneak into the playoffs), Americans don't much like to have it pointed out that it's important to have a presence in the New York market.

Click to continue reading...

The world game is rife with leagues dominated by a handful of clubs. The Prem takes turns passing the baton between the Big 4. La Liga often boils down to a two-horse race. The Bundesliga title race is only interesting when Bayern are faltering.... Click to continue reading...

The Carleton men's soccer team coached by Bob Carlson who is in his 13 year with the Knights are 8-1 in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and 12-3 overall. They are now on a 10-game winning streak and have moved up to number 2 in the NSCAA ranking for the North region in Division III.

Click to continue reading...

The Carleton men's soccer team, coached by Bob Carlson who is in his 13th year with the Knights, are 8-1 in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and 12-3 overall. They are now on a 10-game winning streak and have moved up to number 2 in the NSCAA ranking for the North region in Division III.

Click to continue reading...

Just because you can do something, doesn't necessarily make it the best option. As Toronto FC head into their last gasp attempt at making this year's playoffs, that conundrum does indeed rise. The enigma that is this season's Reds are quite frankly lucky to even have the chance to qualify for the post-season but that is the reality of MLS parity. Click to continue reading...

What a glorious tangle we've got, eh MLS HQ gargoyles? At this point, would you put it past any of the teams still in playoff contention (oh hell, let's throw in everybody but the Red Bulls) to beat any of the others? The Parity Police are slapping... Click to continue reading...

Chivas USA 2 Earthquakes 2

A Justin Braun header in the 66th minute from an Ante Jazic cross has restored parity. It looked suspiciously close to being offside, too.

Click to continue reading...

Many Canadian soccer blogs are ruminating on the mathematical jiggery that must take place for Toronto FC to inch their way to a playoff spot, but little has been written about what it would actually mean for Toronto to make it into the post-season. Is stretching the season out a little bit a victory in and of itself? Click to continue reading...

The Rapids just sent out a press release with the header, "A Special Message From Conor Casey." Swear to God, I thought it was going to be him rapping, "Tell me, how my ass taste?"
Also sent out today - a press release reminding the world that nine teams are still vying for the playoffs. Click to continue reading...

With this being Toronto FC's first realistic challenge at the bottom of the MLS playoff picture, Toronto fans are experiencing the frustrating yet forgiving parity that comes with this league. Championship playoffs and football are chalk and cheese as far as we are concerned but that's a complaint for another day - we will play with the hand dealt in MLS. Click to continue reading...

I haven't checked the numbers myself, but some other pedantic nerds over at BigSoccer used the maths and the latest list of player salaries to figure out how much teams were spending. I give you the list in order of ascending wage bill by team:
Salt Lake $1,861,029
Kansas City $1,907,213
New York $1,981,937
San Jose $2,035,803
Dallas $2,192,327
Colorado $2,208,967
Seattle $2,289,712
Chicago $2,308,326
New England $2,317,903
Chivas $2,369,294
Columbus $2,435,820
Houston $2,455,840
DC $2,770,707
Los Angeles $2,837,439
Toronto $3,241,416
So the guys in Toronto are complaining about having their hands tied why? Click to continue reading...

Spain
It took a couple game, but Cristiano Ronaldo is now in top form. He scored inside a minute and added a second in a 5-0 win against Xerez. And Real Madrid is scoring goals in bunches (who needs defense when you're scoring five goals a game, right?).
Italy
Big injury news in Serie A, Juventus defender Fabio Cannavaro (remember when he was on top of the world? Click to continue reading...

Yesterday Ben Knight tried to move the soft cap debate forward (we'll call it a salary cap debate at this point) and for some reason looks in my direction to provide rational discourse. And Dan Loney. Yeah. Did you read the part in his last column where Loney talked about using nerve gas on the promotion/relegation supporters? Click to continue reading...

Now that's the MLS we all know and love, right? Questionable officiating, the playoff race somehow getting even tighter, the Galaxy shipping six goals while scoring three...the Red Bulls losing. What's a poor blogger to do when the Parity Police... Click to continue reading...

Time to check in on the remaining strength of schedule for each MLS team. Listed below is the average PPG of the team's remaining opponents, and the second column is the home/away breakdown of their remaining games.
PPG H-A 1 COL 1.19 3-5 2 DC 1.22 5-2 3
CHV 1. Click to continue reading...

With the Russian Premier League's most important match of the season in the books, Russian Football Now's Chris Riordan (also of MLS Talk) and Richard Farley took ten minutes to break down the result in their second QuickCast.

After their 3-0 victory, Rubin sits four points ahead of Spartak atop the league's table.

Click to continue reading...

We proclaimed a "possible paradigm shift" in the power structure of Major League Soccer after a trio of 3-0 victories by Columbus Crew, New York Red Bulls and DC United (ASN, Aug. 26, 2008).

Clearly, we were wrong on two of the three. DC United didn't even make the playoffs last season and the Red Bulls only did so as the very last of eight teams.

Click to continue reading...

Real Salt Lake's Fabian Espindola is ecstatic about two things this week: 1) scoring a nice goal in Wednesday's match against Chivas-USA at home in Rio Tinto; and 2) probably getting the start in Kansas City today when RSL faces off against the Wizards. Even without Javier Morales or Yura Movsisyan in the lineup, RSL saw great play from Espindola, Robbie Findley , Kyle Beckerman, and of course Nick Rimando.

Click to continue reading...

This weekend marks the start of the 2009-2010 Serie A season, and with most of the Serie A transfer news being about high profile departures to La Liga, it appears that this season will once again highlight the existence of a certain parity that is hard to find in most major European leagues. Click to continue reading...

Some call it complacency, others the championship hangover. In Mexico it's known as campeonitis. Whatever it is, it stinks. And it is being measured in alarming levels at Ciudad Universitaria, home to Pumas UNAM. The only remnant that you can see on the pitch of the team that won the previous tournament is the itty-bitty little star they added to their jersey. Click to continue reading...

Excitement, parity, passion. That's the English Football League Championship the second tier of the English football pyramid featuring once great clubs like Newcastle United and Nottingham Forest. Here's highlight reel rounding up the past weekend's  action. After two rounds of play Coventry City surprisingly sites atop the league. Click to continue reading...

Houston and Columbus continues to roll. So strong have these two teams been that you have to say they are the favorites to meet in the MLS Cup in lovely Seattle later this year.
Los Angeles and been on an absolute tear of late (Bruce Arena for coach of the year?) and hosts the Sounders FC in a big, big game this weekend. Click to continue reading...

The sight of Jamie Carragher limping off the Anfield turf after just 10 minutes of the Reds' final pre-season friendly on Saturday struck fear into the hearts of Kopites dreaming of ending the club's 20-year wait for the championship.
With Martin Skrtel and Daniel Agger both also racing against time to prove their availability ahead of the big kick-off this weekend, losing the heart of the Reds defence could have disastrous consequences. Click to continue reading...

Week 21 (08/05)

Last Week's Ranking in Parenthesis...

1. Houston (1): A shootout victory (4-3) over United likely has Kinnear's boys dreaming about the 2009 Shield.
2. Chicago (2): A solid home win (again featuring great defense) has the Fire looking strong without McBride.

Click to continue reading...

I'm a little bit behind on the conversation, which is going on here in Bill's thread. Let me catch up a little.
I was growing to like Curt Onalfo. He was about number five on my list of former members of the 1996 Galaxy that I thought would be a good head coach, but he talked a very good game about bringing an attacking style to Kansas City, who had fallen on lean times post-Preki and post-Gansler. Click to continue reading...