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The U.S. men's national team's next World Cup qualifier isn't for another three weeks but all U.S. fans want to talk about is which new players Bob Bradley will bring into the World Cup qualifying mix.

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Ah, the names that might have been....

While we wait for Philadelphia to decide on a name we look back on some attempts to name or rebrand current MLS clubs.

Yes we all laughed at Penn Jersey Independence FC but there are other names which could have stuck elsewhere around the league. Click to continue reading...

For many years, many MLS fans have bemoaned the name of one club or another but what we have discovered makes, in our opinion, all current, and former MLS club names pale in comparison in terms of poor quality. This happened today while conducting a deep investigation into Philadelphia MLS club names that are or have been bandied about. Click to continue reading...

That's right. The Revolution is Joe Public's because after that result he basically owns them. It is good to see a role reversal from 200 years ago, if you know what I mean. Although, I'm getting the vibe that you don't know what I mean, and you are unsure if this is still a football blog. I can assure you it is. Click to continue reading...

Admit it, you probably gave up on ever seeing the answers to the last SBI Q&A session. It's okay, I don't blame you.

More than month has passed since readers submitted the last bunch of questions, but after a very busy July, I was able to knock out at least half of the record-setting batch of questions.

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In a few days the MLS will host their annual All-Star game in Toronto at BMO Stadium. This year they will be put up against West Ham a middle to low end of the table club in the EPL.


But lets get down to brass tacks (I never really got that saying.. does anyone really know where that comes from). Click to continue reading...

It seems to us that a great many of the problems going on in the stories of fan violence have to do with security or lack thereof. As Dougie Brimson pointed out, rather than place blame on a specific supporters group the major blame needs to be placed on the often goon-like security at MLS games. We have seen that in the incident with West Ham supporters, New England Revolution supporters at the Brazil game and Superliga and it is a constant at Giants Stadium in New Jersey where Red Bull New York play their home games:

The following videos illustrates why many in New York do not support the Red Bulls. Click to continue reading...

For all the MLS fans, it's always pretty depressing to see the best players head overseas, just as I'm sure is the case for other countries who play the 3 large American Sports. Lately however, it does seem like the league is picking up steam, and a big player like Ronaldo giving it the [...] Click to continue reading...

One of the major story lines heading into the 2008 MLS season was the big influx of foreign players. Concerns about there being too much reliance on foreign talent weighed on the minds of some MLS fans as more teams looked abroad to fill the needs of a growing league.

If the group of players named to the 2008 MLS All-Star First XI is any indication, those concerns may have been a bit premature. Click to continue reading...

Ahhhh yes its July and to American soccer fans that means the oppressive heat has returned to the east coast, MLS games are slowing down to a crawling pace, and the 2nd edition of Superliga is right around the corner. Last years tournament featured games with passion not really found in many MLS games, and that helped suck in a legion of MLS fans to this young fledgling tournament and turn it into something special. Click to continue reading...

MLS fans, it's time! Time to start thinking about the July 24 MLS All-Star game, where we can once again prove that our best-of-the-best can beat an off-season, mid-table European squad. After which we can say, for another year, "See? We can compete with Europe!" Unless we lose, in which case we'll [. Click to continue reading...

Scott Wolf and I both wanted LD quotes, but we had to wait until Donovan finished getting his massage. We were escorted down by the locker room. As we waited, Clint Mathis passed by from the equipment room with a Galaxy game jersey flung over his shoulder.
"Clint, is that an official Galaxy jersey you've got there? Click to continue reading...

D calls me out again, this time for my Olsen - Rizzuto post below, which I think it was really his way of drawing attention to it. But it's what reader "Big C" wrote in the Comments that I have to respond to. He wrote:

...for other MLS fans throughout the country, it didn't feel like the playing field was exactly level.

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D calls me out again, this time for my Olsen - Rizzuto post below, which I think it was really his way of drawing attention to it. But it's what reader "Big C" wrote in the Comments that I have to respond to. He wrote:

...for other MLS fans throughout the country, it didn't feel like the playing field was exactly level.

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Major League Soccer has provided us with little relief to the usual summer doldrums. As happens most MLS seasons the combination of high temperatures, half full stadiums and international call ups hurt the quality of football and make MLS in many ways a laughingstock of world football.

MLS' midweek performances against USL sides have sent off alarm bells in the halls of football support in this nation.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhVEapY6Dck How is Thierry Henry getting over France's early exit from Euro 2008? By coming to New York and kicking the ball around in a friendly 8-on-8 charity benefit with the likes of Claudio Reyna, Steve Nash and Jozy Altidore. And by teasing MLS fans with tantalizing comments like this, about coming to play [. Click to continue reading...

The best team in South America just might come from......Ecuador.

Yes, you read that right. Liga Deportivo de Quito, a club most American soccer fans have never heard of, smoked Brazilian side Fluminense, 4-2, in the first leg of the Copa Libertadores final on Thursday night. The second leg is set for next Wednesday at the Maracana.

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Its about that time. The time when the silly season is fully underway in Europe and when MLS clubs are looking to make mid-season changes. The sale of Jozy Altidore to Villarreal, for a nice chunk of change, $10 million also makes us consider the other side of the equation as MLS fans wonder, who they might loose as well. Click to continue reading...

D.C. United's epic quest for a stadium at Poplar Point continues. The haters are lining up, voicing their opposition in letters to the DC government officials, in the media and on blogs. DCU and MLS fans, you have the will and the numbers to match this and then some. Below are a few things you can do to help get another team out of NFL stadium hell. Click to continue reading...

One topic often discussed in US soccer and specifically MLS circles is the issue of in game commentary.

Many MLS fans often complain about the lack of quality play-by-play commentators in the league. Often this is because said announcers (especially on regional broadcasts) have either a lack of knowledge of the sport OR a lack of passion. Click to continue reading...

As mentioned earlier in the day, week 11 in Major League Soccer was a weird and wacky week that probably surprised most of us all. From a washed out game to some crazy final moments, this week had plenty of drama to offer MLS fans everywhere. As for the weekly award of player of the week [...] Click to continue reading...

Or do they want consumers, perhaps? Disturbing news out of New York (or rather, New Jersey), as Tim at Notes From a Soccer Junkie reports on heavy-handed security at last nights New York Red Bulls-Chivas USA game: Paid attendance was a miserable 10,500+ for a nationally televised scrap with a decent side from the Western [...] Click to continue reading...