Lots of business stories from the weekend. We'll start with the broadcast of the Arsenal/Manchester United match televised, live on Fox. The Sunday telecast was part of a large block of sports programming on the new FIFA partner that included the NFC Championship game from San Francisco. Rob Stone anchored the pregame and halftime festivities, but the network relied upon its English crew for the play by play.

Arsenal-Manchester United Live on Fox - NYTimes.com

Sunday morning will be the first time that an EPL match is shown live on network US television. It is part of the lead-up to the Fox's NFC Championship coverage, includes a 30 minute pregame and features two of the largest fanbases in the world.

This midseason league match is a big test about how big club soccer can be.

The inevitable: Thierry Henry came on as a substitute to score the only goal in Arsenal's victory over Leeds in the FA Cup. The way it was always going to happen.

How many minutes was he on the pitch? Ten? Maybe? (Yes ten.)

After the goal he appeared to be heading off for a full victory lap, running beyond the second bench, but unfortunately stopped shortly just past.

My apologies for taking a while to get these posted. Interviews after the jump Comets Coach Roentved SharX Coach Hall Comets defender Stokic Comets defender Andrews SharX midfielder (?) Massie Waltman doing his pregame flip off the wall

The Southeast Asian Games are more of a local flavor, unlikely to get any sort of global pub unless something big happens. Well, it happened, and under tragic circumstances, as fans unable to get tickets for the final in Jakarta between the hosts and Malaysia burned down two ticket booths, while the pregame resulted in a stampede of those attempting to get in (possibly without tickets?

The playoffs are looming and the last few regular season games are here. It has been a while since we looked at promotional efforts around the league, so we thought the stretch drive presented a good opportunity to look at ticket sales efforts for the end of the season and start of post season. We'll start in Chicago where the Fire are running a "pink" themed promotion as part of Breast Cancer Awareness month.

It was good being back in the Emerald City, a place that in many ways still feels like home to me. Though United's result against Sounders FC left much to be desired, I had a great time catching up with family and friends. Here are some of the snaps from my walk around town, our training session at Starfire and the club's pregame routine at CenturyLink Field.

Here is our most recent attempt at the Match Day Quick Reference Card (now powered by Tableau). I'm still working through how to list both last name and number without taking up too much space. I understand that this is our most requested tweak. I have slightly increased the size of the player dots, and changed the team data.

With the first positive impression of MLS on NBC from their promotion of it during Sunday Night Football there can be speculation about how much they are going to run with it. Sure, MLS doesn't have strong ratings (~300k viewers on ESPN2, ~70k on Fox Soccer) to merit strong promotion.
But there's a reason that NBC Sports will promote Major League Soccer in ways that the sport has never been promoted before 2012.

With the first positive impression of MLS on NBC from their promotion of it during Sunday Night Football there can be speculation about how much they are going to run with it. Sure, MLS doesn't have strong ratings (~300k viewers on ESPN2, ~70k on Fox Soccer) to merit strong promotion. But there's a reason that NBC Sports will promote Major League Soccer in ways that the sport has never been promoted before 2012.

PSP photographer Daniel Gajdamowicz's photo essay of pre-game festivities at the USA Mexico game.

That wasn't supposed to happen. On a warm, beautiful sunny night in downtown Portland, Oregon, a certain team from California came into Jeld-Wen with perhaps a bit of overconfidence, eh? And finally, FINALLY, the Timbers put together a top notch performance for a full 90 minutes at home to defeat the L.

I have been spending a lot of time since the Columbus and Vancouver games trying to figure out what is going on with Vermes' formations. I understand that with the options we have at forward, when they are all healthy, playing 3 forwards is a good idea. But, when we look at the lack of strength in the midfield we have to wonder if the the 4-3-3 formation is really the best formation or is Vermes trying to force these players to play in this formation instead of finding the best formation that works for these players.

Last week, MLSsoccer.com announced the formation of a new Fans section. The welcome letter to fans describes this initiative here's an excerpt:

Over the last decade, you have embraced Major League Soccer and created the most unique fan experience in North America. Each week, you unfurl your tifo displays, you sing your love songs to the players, you organize and attend watch parties, and you launch a thousand discussions at the watercooler, on the web, and just about anywhere people are talking social media.

By Puck First, before getting into my final thoughts on the Panama game, I need to give a huge shout out to the American Outlaws Tampa Crew for putting together one hell of an event. Everything from the pregame at MacDinton's Irish pub, the exceptional tailgate, and the transportation to and from was spot on.

While the result on the field, and some times in the stands was not the greatest last night, there are many more talking points about last night's game that need to be addressed. Specifically the opening of Livestrong Sporting Park. Seriously, the stadium is absolutely amazing. I'm not ashamed to say that for a while inside the Members' Club last night before the game I was tearing up and getting a little misty eyed.

Maurice Edu takes a shot during training.
Last night the U.S. took to the temporary grass installed inside Ford Field for a 45-minute training session; the only on the field prior to opening the Gold Cup. After a warm-up, the team got into formation to review some tactics and then also worked on corner kicks before doing some positional drills and finishing.

The game is on Fox, as in Q13/113. That means live, broadcast HD soccer in middle of the day. Last year's UEFA Champions League Final drew a "massive" rating of 1.0 (basically equal to MLS Cup Final on cable). This year with teams much more well known in the United States the ratings should be better, but for all the talk about how popular soccer is in America, it would help if people actually watched it when it is offered at the highest club level.

The Philly Soccer Page » Match report: Timbers 1-0 Union
How thin the line between success and failure.

Union @ Timbers 1st Half commentary « Unholy Union – The fan blog for Phi. Union

Pregame has started, and suprise! It's raining in Portland. Reasons why I'll never move south or to the west.

The supporters section at the new Dynamo Stadium is filling up, but there is still time for you to become a part of what will be the loudest and most passionate section in the Dynamo's new home next season. There are 25 days left to place your $50 deposit on season tickets and the longer you wait, the more extra benefits you'll miss out on.

A random fan selected out of the crowd at PPL Park during the halftime of the Philadelphia Union's game against the Chicago Fire will get a chance to meet striker Danny Mwanga.

Verizon, as part of its sponsorship with the Union, will have the "FiOS Fan of the Day" at halftime on May 21. Any fan who is at the game is eligible to win the promotion's prize, with a random seat number selected as the winner.

Friday, March 25 - 9:00 p.m. CT - Qwest Field, Seattle, WA

All-time record: Seattle leads 2-1-1

Broadcast: Television

FOX Soccer Channel, FOX Deportes (Pregame at 8:30)

Broadcast: Radio

KPRC 950 (ENG), La Ranchera 850 (SPN)

LAST YEAR (MLS):

8/8: SEA 2, HOU 0 (Montero 64; Fernandez 88)
10/23: HOU 2, SEA 1 (Cameron 27; Weaver 46 - Riley 12)

Dynamo Starting XI:

Dynamo Bench: Deric, Chabala, Robinson, Dixon, Cruz, Ching, Weaver

Sounders Starting XI: Keller, Scott, Ianni, Parke, Gonzalez, Friberg, Alonso, Evans, Zakuani, Montero, White

It's time for some Friday Night Soccer as the Dynamo travel to Seattle looking for their first win of the 2011 season.

Well it's game day, and for some pregame listening for you, this week's From the Byline to the Back Post is now up for your listening pleasure. This week Thad and I discuss the Gold Cup and Livestrong Sporting Park announcements, the "brawl" with Real Salt Lake, player signings, call ups, and trials (Chad Ochocinco), the season opener against Chivas USA, and the Comets playoff series against the Milwaukee wave.

Strange scenes at the San Siro this weekend previous the Milan Bari match. During the pregame, the pitch suddenly began to resemble a Cirque du Soleil performance sans acrobatics and incredible athletes, which is rather the point: they weren't the actual players, but lookalikes thrust into a troupe performance of curious manner.