- The big story for me was the cancellation of a friendly in soccer hungry Phoenix. The Club America/Pachuca match scheduled for July 7 will not take place because of what we know here as SB 1070, the new immigration law.
- RSL maintains home field dominance, defeat Houston.
- Video: 15 minute Q and A with Don Garber.
- Expansion: San Antonio dreaming.
- Findley leaving for Europe?
- FC Dallas signs Colombian striker Milton Rodriguez.
- Red Bull Salzburg win 2nd consecutive Austrian Bundesliga title.
- Crew sign French midfielder Leandre Griffit.
- Michael Lewis on fixture congestion. Certainly the first of the annual posts on the subject. I've written about it myself.
- Jeff Parke signs with Seattle.
- Special 1 TV making its return. All episodes in chronological order. Watch these and be ready to smile.
- Tom Meagher follows up his post from yesterday with another on soccer journalism.
- The rotten structure of English football.
- Manchester City to play Timbers. City will also play Club America in Atlanta.
- Mexico draws over 70,000 for friendly in Houston vs Angola.
- A good read from Dan Gaspar, US born coach at U of Hartford, and Portuguese assistant coach at the upcoming World Cup.
- Tim Vickery on Brasil and Argentina.
- Former USMNT player John O'Brien on the US squad.
- Alexi Lalas also comments on the USMNT squad.
- South Africa spends 3.5 billion pounds, but for what return?
- Team profile: Ghana.
- Korean teams dominate AFC.
- Indonesia Cup Quarterfinals.
- Internacional of Brasil defeated defending champion Estudiantes in the first leg of the last quarterfinal match.
Odd omissions, common misperceptions, and historical holes used by USSF, MLS and their partners to serve their version of the young and fragile history of the American game:
ReplyDelete1. US made the first World Cup. Then nothing happened until 1950.
Wrong. USMNT made three of the first four WC finals with teams composed almost entirely of American club players. After breaching the semifinals in '30, they made the trip to Italia '34 and Brazil '50.
2. Joe Gaetjens, scorer of the goal that sank the English in 1950, was a dishwasher.
True. He also won the ASL golden boot that year while playing for powerhouse NY Brookhatten. Like MLS players today, it was not uncommon for ASL players of that era to carry a second job.
3. According to the timeline at thecup.us, the new website for the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup, the "professional era" coincides with "the MLS era".
Tell that to Charles Schwab, owner of 1920s American superclub Bethlehem Steel, FC. Tell Chuck his five time Open Cup winning club in the second most popular pro sports league of the time wasn't professional.
4. According to the timeline at gousabid.com ASL, Bethlehem Steel, and the golden age of American soccer, never happened.
Take that, Chuck.
5. The billionaire backers at MLS couldn't keep the lights on in at the Soccer Hall of Fame in Oneonta.
News stories have placed it's future somewhere inside Lamar Hunt's Wizardland in KC, where it will be easier to enforce editorial content.
6. Where IS Archie?
Speaking of Bethlehem Steel, FC, We have a bona fide American Soccer Babe Ruth on that team who can't get his due. American Archie Stark netted 67 for the club in 1925. On top of incredible career accomplishments, this set a world record for goals in a top flight league season, one that remains unbroken.
In other nations whose leagues don't compete with one another, history is celebrated. Here, it's hidden and spun to deflect criticism for the weak status of our current federation and shortcomings of their current top league.
Isn't it sad?