Coming Soon: LA’s Pan-Pacific Preseason Tourney

Thanks to the guy(s) at The Offside Rules, I got wind of what looks like it will be an annual pre-season tournament featuring clubs from Australia’s A-League, Japan’s J-League, and Major League Soccer (MLS).  (Side-note to the editors at The Offside Rules: if you change your mind and decide to begin a career as a [...]

Early Daily Sweeper: Arena Means the Coaching Carousel Is Swingin’

Holy crap, things are moving quickly today!
As I started my web-trawling, what’s the first thing I see? A “rumor” that Head Coach, Technical Director Bruce Arena got canned by Red Bull New York, one that Sports Illustrated picked off Soccer by Ives, again, a source I don’t feel like publishes stories lightly. So…Arena’s [...]

MLS Conference Finals Picks: Don’t Think, Meat. It’ll Only Hurt the Ball Club.

Refraining from over-analyzing the second leg of the first round seemed to pay off, so, to rip another line from Bull Durham, smart players know to respect a streak…’cause they’re special and they don’t happen that often.  With that in mind, I’m going to throw my next set of picks for the Center Holds It/Who [...]

Two Quick(-ish) Thoughts: The Juan Carlos Osorio Experiment & MLS in EPL

A couple ideas came to me late last night.  These aren’t grand theses so much as the beginnings of a thought process on a couple themes familiar to any fan of MLS.
- First, seeing where the Chicago Fire are today has me thinking back a Halloween piece Ian Plenderleith posted on USSoccerplayas.com, the one where [...]

Yallop Ditches Star-Struck Team

I don’t often “go to press” – e.g. post on the fly – just because I see a big thing ambling down the pike (though, yes, I’m a on-his-back whore for rumors). But with ESPN reporting with faith in “multiple sources” that Frank Yallop will step down as head coach of Los Angeles Galaxy, [...]

MLS Conference Semis: It’s a Wrap

As The Hives sang not so long ago, hate to say I told you so. Before you think I’m feeling cocky, let me just confess right now that getting all Saturday’s picks dead right cost a tiny sliver of my soul. I didn’t read the document all the way through, but I’m pretty [...]