MLS expansion - 24 teams by 2013?

Canada's sports network TSN reports that "MLS Commissioner Don Garber will lift the original ceiling of 18 franchises and announce Thursday a new expansion plan of not less than 20 and up to 24 franchises by 2013-2014."

They add that, "Vancouver and Montreal are considered expansion priorities for Garber in 2011."

This is not the first time that similar rumors have jumped up, but let's say it is true that tomorrow will see a big announcement concerning expansion, what does it mean?

First off, if the league targets 20-24 teams in the next six years, they must do something concerning the player pool. What this means is more international players and an increase in the salary cap, but that starts bringing in thoughts of NASL. MLS has tried hard to stay away from any such comparisons but if this is their realistic goal, they will need to address it soon (quick note, MLS is in a much better financial state today then NASL ever was).

Next up, the schedule. Is the East/West divide soon to be gone in favor of a single table or might they break into two different leagues and never play each other except for in cup competitions (think old school baseball rules)? Also, how does Superliga fit into this? If clubs are playing 38-46 league games*, plus US Open Cup, plus Concacaf, plus MLS Cup matches, they could easy end up with almost 60 meaningful matches in a season so throwing on 3-5 more for Superliga would be asking a great deal. Is MLS ready to kill off a moneymaker?

Finally, there is the issue of television deals. The current broadcasts are a huge improvement over a few years ago, however it is time to push for more airing over non-cable channels. The fact that most games are not available for a large (perhaps majority) portion of the country hurts the development of a stronger fan base. What casual fan is going to go hunting for HDNet or Fox Soccer Channel, if they even have it on their cable system? If they can get a game or two a week on over-the-air, national networks, the perception of the sport will begin to change. Remember, if it wasn't on TV, it didn't happen.

I know, I'm really jumping ahead of everything here, but if this is to be the path for the league, they need to make sure it is a success and these are the big three issues as I see them.

On the plus side, 24 teams means just about every large urban area in the US and Canada will have a team. Also, if they broke the FIFA limit for 24, what would stop them from going higher and adding smaller markets that show an ability to support teams.

* this assumes that teams play each other twice

Nowak names his US Olympic Qualifying roster

Peter Nowak has selected the roster that he thinks will return the US men to the Olympic games. After an impressive showing in 2000, the U-23s won their qualifying group in 2004 but lost to Mexico in the semifinals and missed a trip to Athens.

The US should have a good chance of taking their group again this time around, however the question is can Mexico do the same or will they finish in second and force another semifinal showdown? Either way, this roster looks to be the best U-23 group the US has ever put forward, so they should be ready.

Here is Peter Nowak's full Olympic Qualifying roster:

GK (2): Dominic Cervi (out of contract), Chris Seitz (Real Salt Lake)

D (7): Hunter Freeman (New York Red Bulls), Kamani Hill (Vfl Wolfsburg), Patrick Ianni (Houston Dynamo), Michael Orozco (San Luis), Jonathan Spector (West Ham United), Nathan Sturgis (Real Salt Lake), Marvell Wynne (Toronto FC)

M (7): Freddy Adu (SL Benfica), Maurice Edu (Toronto FC), Eddie Gaven (Columbus Crew), Stuart Holden (Houston Dynamo), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA), Dax McCarty (FC Dallas), Sal Zizzo (Hannover 96)

F (4): Jozy Altidore (New York Red Bulls), Chad Barrett (Chicago Fire),
Charlie Davies (Hammarby IF), Robbie Findley (Real Salt Lake)

Jonathan Spector (West Ham United) is on this roster even though he was not called into the final training camp early this month. Oddly enough Benny Feilhaber (Derby County) did not make the final roster. Not sure if he suffered an injury, was called back to his club or just didn't fit in with Nowak's plans.

Overall, this is a great group, however there seems to be some weakness in the back. Look for Spector to play a big roll. I'll be watching Orozco as I haven't really followed him much in the Mexican league. He might just be the surprise of the group.

As far as which teams have the most players on the list, Real Salt Lake have the most with three while Houston, New York and Toronto each have two.

The US gets things started on Tuesday against Cuba at 8pm ET/5pm PT. Fox Soccer Channel and ESPN Deportes will air all the matches live. ESPN360.com will also stream the matches on the internet.

Here is the full Concacaf Olympic qualifying schedule.

2008 MLS schedule is out

Major League Soccer has released their full 2008-season schedule. Each of the 14 teams will play 30 regular season games. All teams will play each other twice (one home, one away) for 26 matches. The other four matches will be played against different intra-conference teams with a premium placed on rivalries. This represents the closest MLS has ever come to a traditional single table type schedule.

The season will run March 29 - Oct 26 for 31 weeks in total.

You can find a full schedule here.

Just like 2007, there are four national broadcast partners this season, airing 113 regular season games. In total ESPN2 will air 27, Fox Soccer Channel 32, HDNet 30 and TeleFutura 24.

Fox Soccer Channel will kickoff opening weekend with a doubleheader on Saturday March 29th. ESPN2 will have a doubleheader of their own on Thursday April 3. Big shock, both of those doubleheaders will feature the LA Galaxy. In total, LA will have 20 of their matches shown on national TV, including one on ABC when they travel to DC on June 29 (the full breakdown is FSC 5, ESPN2 5, HDNet 5, TeleFutura 4, ABC 1). Right after this game, ABC will air the Euro 2008 finally live (wow!).

Playoffs dates are:
Conference Semifinals Leg 1: Oct 30 - Nov 2
Conference Semifinals Leg 2: Nov 6 - Nov 9
Conference Championship: Nov 13 - Nov 16
MLS Cup: Nov 23

All the US-Mexico madness you can stand

US-Mexico
9:30pm ET/6:30pm PT
TV: ESPN2

If a 30-minute pre-game and 2-hour match is not enough to quench your cross border soccer thirst, don't worry, US Soccer has you covered. In addition to the broadcast on ESPN2, you will be able to watch the final press conference pre-game stadium warm-ups and post-game show live on ussoccer.com.

Today at about 5pm ET/2pm PT, Bob Bradley and goalkeeper Tim Howard will meet the press for one last time. Tomorrow at about 8:30pm ET/5:30pm PT, they will provide a live look-in on the stadium warm-ups and after the match (about 11:30pm ET/8:30pm PT), they will air a post-game show (which will also stream on ESPN360.com).

And as if that was not enough, there will also be a Studio 90 Pre-Game show at 5pm ET/2pm PT, plus ESPN Classic will reply the last year's 'friendly' meeting at 12pm ET/9am PT.

If you need addition hype for this match, you might as well just get on over to Houston and grab one of the few remaining tickets.

Got to hand it to US Soccer, they know how to exploit this rivalry to the fullest.

Here the full list of events in easy to use order:

5 Feb - Live Pre-game Press Conference (ussoccer.com) 5:15 p.m. ET
6 Feb - USA vs. Mexico – Feb. 7, 2007 (ESPN Classic) 12 p.m. ET
6 Feb - Studio 90 Pre-Game (ussoccer.com) 5 p.m. ET
6 Feb - Live Stadium Warm-ups (ussoccer.com) 8:30 p.m. ET
6 Feb - ESPN2 Game Broadcast (ESPN2) 9 p.m. ET
6 Feb - Live Post-Game Show (ussoccer.com & ESPN360.com) 11:30 p.m. ET

New broadcast team for US and MLS soccer - Dave O'Brien is out

ESPN and ABC have made the speculation official, Dave O'Brien and Eric Wynalda are no longer commentators for their soccer broadcasts. This includes MLS and US soccer matches.

Replacing them will be JP Dellacamera doing play by play and John Harkes with analyst. The rest of the team will be Allen Hopkins (sideline reporter), Julie Foudy (studio Analyst) and Rob Stone who will sub in for Dellacamera.

I really like this lineup. Dellacamera knows the game well and can call a fine match while Harkes should be able to explain why things are happening without looking to pick fights about every little thing.

One little bit of interest, Bruce Arena is nowhere on the list. Bruce has a lot of knowledge but his broadcast skills needed some serious work, so I'm happy about this.

Has Dave O'Brien called his last soccer match?

Dave O'Brien might be out of ESPN's booth if rumors from the MLS SuperDraft are to be believed. According to Soccer by Ives lead man, the buzz last night at the bar was a change a comin':

Another popular subject last night was word that Eric Wynalda and Dave O'Brien are being replaced as U.S. national team and major MLS game commentators for ESPN. A team of JP Dellacamera, Bruce Arena and John Harkes was being rumored to take over. Let me be the first to say that Dellacamera as national team play-by-play guy can't happen soon enough. He's the best in the business. Let me also say that the three-man booth model just doesn't work for soccer. Hopefully someone realizes this eventually. This hasn't been made official yet by ESPN though so stay tuned for confirmation.

Let me be as diplomatic about this as possible, 'it is about time.'

O'Brien is a talented sportscaster but his skills do not work well with soccer. As far as Eric Wynalda, he would do better as half-time host (or maybe his own show), because most of his call during games was more commentary on items not really related to the game in front of him.

What about the 'new' guys? JP Dellacamera is fantastic and will give the games the punch they need. John Harkes will bring a wonderful knowledge of the game to the booth. Bruce Arena, um, yeah.

I don't mean to hit Arena, but his time as a broadcaster has not been that spectacular. He does bring a huge amount of knowledge with him but he just doesn't have that great of a voice. Also, why is ESPN sticking with three in the booth? Have two in the booth, one on the pitch and a half-time analyst and everything is covered.

Still, if they go with Arena as the third, it will still be an improvement. As my wife said, "I can handle one million Arenas if it means no O'Brien!"

Fox Soccer to start off the season with a MLS doubleheader

Fox Soccer Channel will host their first-ever MLS doubleheader when the new season kicks off on March 29. FSC will air both the Houston Dynamo-New England Revolution MLS Cup rematch at 7:30pm (ET) followed by the LA Galaxy-Colorado Rapids 'we both missed the playoffs' match at 9:30pm (ET).

The network will begin their broadcast at 7pm with a 30-minute pre-game show and will conclude with a 30-minute post game after the LA-Rapids game.

What an excellent way to start off a season. Hopefully at some point this will become the norm instead of a one-time thing.

USL 2008 Fox Soccer schedule

Fox Soccer Channel will air 28 USL games in 2008 starting April 25. Of these games 25 will be USL First Division (22 regular season/3 post). The three other games will be the title matches for the W-League, PDL and USL Second Division (all of which will be in August).

Here is the full list of TV Broadcasts (all times ET):
Friday April 25 Montreal @ Atlanta 8:00 pm
Friday May 2 Seattle @ Atlanta 8:00 pm
Friday May 9 Miami @ Charleston 8:00 pm
Friday May 16 Minnesota @ Atlanta 8:00 pm
Friday May 23 Seattle @ Vancouver 11:00 pm
Friday May 30 Portland @ Montreal 8:00 pm

Friday June 6 Puerto Rico @ Atlanta 8:00 pm
Friday June 13 Vancouver @ Rochester 8:00 pm
Friday June 20 Minnesota @ Charleston 8:00 pm
Friday June 27 Portland @ Carolina 8:00 pm

Friday July 4 Puerto Rico @ Miami 8:00 pm
Friday July 11 Seattle @ Rochester 8:00 pm
Friday July 18 Miami @ Montreal 8:00 pm
Friday July 25 Montreal @ Rochester 8:00 pm

Friday August 1 Vancouver @ Carolina 8:00 pm
Sunday August 3 W-League Championship TBD
Thursday August 7 Seattle @ Portland 11:00 pm
Saturday August 9 PDL Championship TBD
Friday August 15 Miami @ Carolina 8:00 pm
Friday August 22 Portland @ Vancouver 11:00 pm
Saturday August 23 USL Second Division Championship TBD
Friday August 29 Puerto Rico @ Charleston 8:00 pm

Friday September 5 Minnesota @ Montreal 8:00 pm
Friday September 12 Puerto Rico @ Rochester 8:00 pm
Friday September 19 Carolina @ Charleston 8:00 pm
Sunday September 28 USL-1 Quarterfinals - Second leg TBD

Sunday October 5 USL-1 Semifinals - Second leg TBD
Saturday October 11 USL First Division Championship TBD

Houston Dynamo and the league's TV ideas

A number of fans in Houston were upset this past Friday when they could not find the FCD-Dynamo match anywhere on local television. Since the Dynamo are, by MLS rules, responsible for getting any non-national televised games on the glowing box, some felt that this lack of a broadcast was a way to insure a healthy crowd on Friday night.

However, Houston insists that their decision had nothing to do with ticket sales. Instead, it was the result of budget limitations. The team says they only had the money to pay for one of the legs of the first round and decided it would be better spent getting the match from Dallas aired since fewer fans had a chance to see that one.

The idea makes a great deal of sense, however it reflects another way that the league's structure is hampering the growth of the sport. The game on Friday night was one of the most exciting examples of league play this year, but only 30,000 out of 5.5 million people in the area had a chance to see it (Direct Kick and MLStv are nice, but they don't come close to matching broadcast numbers).

Oh I know, even if the game was aired, an overwhelming majority of people in the area still would not watch it, however, they would have got some people to stop and watch (and it probably would have been on in a number of sports bars). But even if the final number was 30,000 people, that still doubles the viewers for the game and increases the possibility of getting people involved with the club.

But the Dynamo have a budget that could not afford such an undertaking, which makes me thank that the league should step in at playoff time and assist teams that do not get national broadcasts. It doesn't have to be full payment for a match, a 50/50 split seems fair. Since the total matches would only be four, the cost is relatively small with the results being very worth while as every playoff team would be able to say that all their post season matches, which are suppose to be the most important games in the league, are on television.

If you are not going to air the games leading up to the biggest game of the season, how can you expect to build a crowd for it? And I know, not every match is going to be as action packed as Friday's, but when they are, it makes everything so worth while.

LA 0-1 DC - Beckham shows something but United get the points

Los Angles Galaxy 0-1 DC United
The fans at RFK got just about everything they wanted as Beckham played, Emilio scored and United won. Not a bad way to spend a night.

During the first half, ESPN kept showing Beckham on the sideline and mentioning how angry he looked but I'd be pissed as well if my club played as horrible as his did in the first 45. LA was getting nothing moving and could not hold a ball to save Donovan's life. Meanwhile United, thanks in large part to the work of Fred in the middle were everywhere while Gros and Olsen were having standout matches.

The second half saw LA actually start playing a serious match and not losing the ball with every touch, but it was United's Jaime Moreno that caused the most excitement. He was running at balls and putting himself into position. If only he could have kept his shots down, he might have broken the MLS record for goals.

And then it was time, Beckham entered the match and he showed what he could bring to the Galaxy. Even though they were down a man, LA was suddenly moving forward and controlling the tempo. Between enforcing calm and directed his players, Becks also found time to place a few near perfect passes including one that almost set Donovan free in the United box. LA played United close for the final 20-minutes and actually looked like they could get a tie out it. In short, this was the best the Galaxy looked all year and is reason enough for people to not write the club's season off.

Now a few other things about the match. How was that take down of Donovan by Devon McTavish in the box not a penalty? It was a textbook example of a play that should result in a pk. United was extremely lucky with that call.

Hopefully the league will give LA's Kyle Martino a huge fine for his disgusting tackle on Fred. As the video showed, Fred is lucky to be walking today.

What does it take for ESPN to actually call the match taking place right in front of them. Stop talking about the NASL or American's in Europe or Barry Bonds and talk about the action happening in the game. At least three times there was action taking place in the box and the ESPN boys were talking about something else. Eric Wynalda made a big deal about how MLS needs to focus less on getting fans from other sports and more on getting the soccer fans that already existence, yet he spent most of his time on mic not calling the game. Does he really think fans of European soccer want to hear about the hairstyles of players (or whatever garbage they were talking about)? It really is a simple concept, if the action on the pitch isn't exciting enough for the people who are being paid to pay attention to the game, why should anyone else. If ESPN wants them to talk about all this other stuff then why not either do it at halftime (like they do in the NFL and NBA) or, crazy idea, have a 30-minute pre-game show.

But let's end on a happy note, seeing RFK full for a soccer match was wonderful. Let's hope a number of those fans liked what they saw and return again soon.

Thursday Night Soccer - Colorado vs. Houston

Colorado Rapids (4-3-3) vs. Houston Dynamo (3-5-1)
9:15pm ET
TV: ESPN2

In the category of 'worst scheduled match ever' we have tonight's ESPN2 show down between the Colorado and Houston. Just about everyone knows by now that this one will start at just about the same time as the US men begin their Gold Cup campaign in LA (it would have started at the same time but ESPN is delaying it 15-minutes because they are going to show the first part of the NBA finals on all their networks), so who knows how many eyes will actually watch their broadcast.

Anyway, Houston finally got back to their winning ways last weekend when they knocked off FC Dallas, but they are going to be without a number of players due to the Gold Cup. Colorado will miss Roberto Brown and the offensive power he gives them (even if he never moves), but with Herculez Gomez coming into form, it might not be much of a big deal after all. Colorado has looked ugly of late yet they still get points. They should have everything they need to overtake Houston at home, but I just don't think the Rapids will be able to pull it together.

Zach Wells showed himself to be a wonderful keeper during the Dynamo's Concacaf Champions' Cup run, and he should be able to control the Rapids. With De Rosario, Ching and Dalglish unavailable, Houston will need to dig deep for their offensive spark. However, with the Dynamo's offense playing the way it has been, some digging can't be much worse then what they have had.

Predictions: Me CR 0-1 HD, Wife CR 1-2 HD

Chicago 0-3 New York quick recap

New York loves Juan Pablo Angel.

Angel was key to all three goals and was the constant thorn in the Fire's defense. Heck, he is so well licked, Clint Mathis is even willing to take a supporting role as he dropped back into the midfield to start some plays and give New York's defense some extra support.

Which brings me to the one weak part for the Bulls on the night, their defense. Now weak is a relative term as they did manage to keep a clean sheet, but Chicago did have some huge opportunities. The great news for the Reds was the Fire's fantastic failure to make anything of all their chances. Again and again they had poor first touches or did not give support in the box, thus leaving one man to try and make a meal out of scraps.

Had New York not gone up 2-0 early, they might have played a tighter back, but it is still their one weak spot. Actually, it is one of two weak spots as the other is the lack of fan support. Yet again the club saw less then 10,000 fans make it out to the game. Those that were there were into it and made the stadium seem fuller then it was, but come on New York soccer fans, you finally have a team worth cheering for so go do it.

By the way, I thought this was ESPN's best broadcast to date. Not only was the flying camera a nice piece of TV, but having just two commentators in the booth was so much better. You could actually follow that game because most of what they said was related to what was happening on the pitch. It also looks like Eric Wynalda's 'Red/Yellow card' segment is no more as it has been two weeks without it. This could have been something interesting, but instead it became ridiculous real fast.

That said, why is it that the only thing ESPN has on the crawl for MLS is their power rankings? Why not add information such as standings, goal leaders, goaltenders per game average, injury report, team news such as trades, yellow card totals or other such information? It just seems to me that you have a soccer audience watching, maybe you should increase your soccer information at the bottom of the screen.

Also, why don't they preview any of the weekend's match-ups? It seems like it could make a real nice 3-5 minute piece during halftime.

Anyway, back to the game, with the win New York moves up to top of the East with New England while Chicago wonders why the month of May hates them so much.
Goals: NY: Jozy Altidore (3) 1', Juan Pablo Angel (2) 3', (3) 68'

Thursday Night Soccer - Real vs Rapids

Real Salt Lake (0-2-3) vs. Colorado Rapids (2-2-1)
9:00pm ET
TV: ESPN2

The last time these two sides met, the Rapids handed Real a 2-0 beating that resulted in the sacking of their coach. The great news for Salt Lake, they've been undefeated ever since then. Oh, these two sides met just last Monday and Real have only played once since then, but it was an impressive, if not controversial, 3-3 tie with the New York Red Bulls.

The Rapids, on the other hand, crapped out of their weekend match in a brutal 3-0 affair with the Houston Dynamo. It was easily the worst game the team had played all season.

The question tonight is which team had the awkward weekend result. Has new coach Jason Kreis caused his team to flower or was it a little help with the calls that saw them get the point? Do the Rapids really stink of dead fish or were they just distracted by all the lovely rain? Hopefully we will know the answers tonight.

I suspect that Real will continue to get very little help from the backline allowing Herculez Gomez and Roberto Brown to get some good openings on goal. However, the Rapids looked horrible all over the place Saturday night. I'm sure they will be better, but I suspect their midfield will still be a little soft. If Chris Klein is not challenged, he will setup some situations. If he does enough, Real will break it through.
Predictions: Me RSL 1-2 CR, Wife RSL 0-2 CR

PS - It will be interesting to see how often ESPN talks about Freddy Adu in comparison to David Beckham.

FC Dallas 2-1 LA Galaxy - Recap

What a night for FC Dallas. They were outplayed for the majority of the 90-minutes yet they are still leaving LA with a full 3 points. If you are a Galaxy fan, you have to wonder if your team is about to repeat 2006 and dig themselves into an early hole.

So what happened? A simple question that can be answered with another question; where was Donovan? LA is only a threat against decent teams when Donovan is a threat and he was not a threat last night. After the first 15-minutes, he disappeared. He wasn't finding space, making passes or in anyway guiding the team. His only contribution was to waste set pieces with poor crosses. Others tried to cover but when the heart isn't working, there is trouble everywhere.

Okay, Landon did get one good cross in, which resulted in the Robbie Findley goal, but that really was his only decent cross of the night. When you take 11 corners and almost 10 free kicks and only have one good cross, you've got a problem.

But I can't just pick on one person because it was the entire Galaxy team that was failing to finish. They played a huge portion of the match in Dallas's final third but they only managed four shots out of 15 attempts on goal, that's just unacceptable. Shaka Hislop looked much better in goal for Dallas but he was still a little scattered. Had LA got a few more on target, they would have got another goal.

For Dallas, they continued to be very fluid in their attack. The quick counters and smart play by Carlos Ruiz had LA baffled. Throw in a little luck (Ty Harden's misplaced arm) and you have a team that was unstoppable.

As sweat as this victory is for Dallas, there is some bad to come out of it as midfielder Marcelo Saragosa went out with an injury in the 25'. Saragosa is an important part of their midfield as shown last night. Once he was out, LA had almost exclusive control of the center for the next 40-minutes. FCD got away with one last night but if they continued to lose it in the middle, they will have a difficult season ahead of them.

But enough about the game, let's talk about the broadcast. I've got to say that the images looked great. They were not washed out and the camera people did a wonderful job of following the action, but I thought we were going to see more replays. Time and time again there were no replays for things like offsides, missed shots and other such events.

I've got to hand it to O'Brien and Co. as they were actually talking about the action on the pitch whenever the ball got near goal that is except for the Kenny Cooper interview. Right after Cooper came out, they cut away to interview him, but were still showing the play on the field. Well the play that was happening was a horrible clearance by Hislop that ended up at the feet of Donovan inside the penalty box unmarked. A potentially very important moment in the match but what did we hear during this play? Cooper talking about Ruiz's leadership abilities.

Don't get me wrong, I like sideline interviews but someone has got to cut the sideline mics and go back to the announcers when these plays happen. Don't worry Cooper will still be there when it's over.

Finally, okay we get it David Beckham is coming to MLS. I started counting how many times the word 'Beckham' was used during the broadcast but stopped when I hit 26 by the 20th minute of play (I included pre-game in my little game). Yes, it is huge, so huge that MLS is trying to make it sound like first 11 years of the league were nothing, but enough already. There is such a thing as over hyping and with 3 more months till his first game, you are bound to hit that point soon.

As far as predictions, both the wife and I went with LA so we now stand at 1-6 for the season. Just pathetic.

FC Dallas 2-1 LA Galaxy
Goals: FCD: Carlos Ruiz (pk) 35', Kenny Cooper 43'
LA: Robbie Findley 86'

Toronto FC sign CBC TV deal

If you are in Canada, you'll get a chance to 14 TFC games this season on CBC. The TV channel and pro soccer team signed a deal yesterday that gives CBC the rights. The deal also gives CBC the rights to the 2007 MLS All-Star game, playoffs and final.

One last part of the deal gives the CBC rights to stream all TFC matches on demand via cbcsports.ca.

MLS must be happy to have yet another TV deal. Even if four of the CBC matches will be tape delayed (including one that will not air till 1am), it still great to see MLS soccer reaching another market.

USL sign three year deal with Fox Soccer Channel

United Soccer Leagues has announced the signing of a three-year deal with Fox Soccer Channel to televise a projected 27-game schedule annually. These games will include a Friday night USL First Division game of the week as well as W-League, Premier Development League and USL Second Division Championships.

These games will air also air on Fox Sports en Español, Fox Sports World Canada and Fox Sports Middle East/Africa.

In addition, all USL First Division matches not on FSC will be available via the new internet broadcast channel USLlive.com. The cost for the service is either $9.99 per month or $49.99 for a year.

Congrats to the USL on this deal and good work on USLlive.

Here is the list of games for the 2007 season (all times ET):

April 20 USL-1 Charleston v Minnesota 8:00
April 27 USL-1 Atlanta v Minnesota 8:00

May 4 USL-1 Rochester v Vancouver 8:00
May 11 USL-1 Portland v Seattle 11:00
May 18 USL-1 Miami v Minnesota 8:00
May 25 USL-1 Montreal v Miami 8:00

June 1 USL-1 Montreal v Vancouver 8:00
June 8 USL-1 Montreal v Portland 8:00
June 15 USL-1 Carolina v Seattle 8:00
June 22 USL-1 Charleston v Atlanta 8:00
June 29 USL-1 Rochester v Atlanta 8:00

July 6 USL-1 Rochester v Carolina 8:00
July 13 USL-1 Portland v California 11:00
July 20 USL-1 Puerto Rico v California 8:00
July 27 USL-1 Vancouver v Seattle 11:00

August 3 USL-1 Carolina v California 8:00
August 5 W-League W-League Championship TBD
August 10 USL-1 Atlanta v Puerto Rico 8:00
August 11 PDL Premier Development League Championship TBD
August 17 USL-1 Puerto Rico v Miami 8:00
August 24 USL-1 Rochester v Montreal 8:00
August 25 USL-2 USL Second Division Championship TBD
August 31 USL-1 Montreal v Rochester 8:00

September 7 USL-1 Charleston v Puerto Rico 8:00
September 16 USL-1 USL First Division Quarterfinal – Leg 2 TBD
September 23 USL-1 USL First Division Semifinal – Leg 2 TBD
September 29 USL-1 USL First Division Championship TBD

MLS makes Entertainment Weekly

Last night the wife was flipping through the new edition of Entertainment Weekly and came across a plug for Major League Soccer in EW's 'daily guide to notable shows.' This guide is their take on the best shows to watch for the week and sure enough, the DC United-Colorado Rapids match on Saturday makes the list.

3:30-6PM
ABC
Major League Soccer
Because sooner or later the rest of the world will wear us down, and we'll be forced to start caring about professional footie.

Always interesting to see where the league pops up.

MLS drops playoff spots, rewards good play

In a 'major announcement' Major League Soccer has decided to make performance on the pitch more important in 2007 then in past years.

Starting with this season, the two conference champions along with four 'wild card' teams will make the playoffs. These four teams are selected by point total and regardless of conference. This is fantastic. First, they have reduced the number of teams making the post season from 8 to 6, thus insuring that, for the first time, less then half the league will make it out of the regular season. And second, by making the playoffs an open system, teams will need to focus on everyone, not just those in the conference.

By the way, even though it is not mentioned anywhere, the six team playoff schedule would seem to suggest that conference champions will get a bye for the first round. If so, this is another excellent decision as it rewards a team who worked hard all season with two-weeks off ahead of their first playoff match. I wonder were I have read something like this before (so modest).

Edit: My bubble has been bursted. Sometimes I read what I want to read, not what is actually there. Turns out that, as the always wonderful manly ferry pointed out, there will still be 8 teams in the playoffs as the top two teams in each conference and four wild card teams will advance. Add those up and you still have the same magic number of 8. Sorry about my poor reading skills.

But it is not just MLS playoffs that will see the best of the league perform as next year's four participants will be go to the top four point earners during the 2007 season. This year's teams for the initial SuperLiga were selected more for location and fan draw then points, but do to the timing of the announcement and other such factors, the choice was understandable. However, there was fear that this choice would not be a one-time thing.

I am pleased that MLS has made the correct choice and let the play on the field and not the votes in the office, decide the teams that get to compete for the $1 million SuperLiga prize.

Some other bits of news from the announcement (all of which are much needed):

• MLS has hired a full-time consultant based in South America to assist MLS teams in scouting and acquiring players from that talent-laden region.

• MLS is working with TV broadcasters to provide more camera angles of the action with better and timelier replays.

• U.S. Soccer has hired full-time referees for the first time. Jair Marrufo, Ricardo Salazar, Baldomero Toledo and Terry Vaughn will become full-time referees, enabling them to focus their professional abilities on preparation and training.

• MLS is actively exploring new, meaningful international competitions.

• In-stadium commercial PA announcements during play will be significantly reduced.

Many of us have complained about all the items mentioned in this post. It is wonderful to see that MLS has been listening and has acted. I've been looking forward to this season since, well November, but I must admit, this announcement has even increased my desire for the season to get underway.

US-Mexico grabs great TV ratings

Last Wednesday's US-Mexico match saw the highest ever non-World Cup oriented ratings for the US team. Over the whole match, ESPN2 earned a .7 household rating, or 800,000 viewers. However, during the final 15-minutes, the game averaged a 1.0 household rating or 1.1 million viewers.

To put that in perspective, the number one cable program last week was WWE Raw with a 3.6 rating while American Idol often gets an 18 rating. Also, ESPN's Monday Night football averaged about a 12-13 household rating for 2006.

The numbers against those three forms of entertainment might not look so hot, but when you look at normal soccer ratings of .3, it is a marked improvement. Also, all three of them represent top rated shows.

A little added bonus to the numbers, since they were higher at the end, it means people who were just flicking by stopped to watch. It's a good thing the final 15-minutes saw some of the best play of the night.

Over on Univision the match also set records with more then 6 million total viewers, making it the second most-watched Spanish-language sports cast in history.

Here is the information on the great Univision numbers:

It beat the Super Bowl among Hispanic Adults 18-49, Men 18-49 and Total Viewers.

For the entire night, Univision was the second largest broadcast network among all Teens 12-17 with 573,000 viewers (beating ABC, CBS, NBC, CW), the third largest broadcast network among all Adults 18-34 with 2,074,000 viewers (beating CBS, NBC, CW), the fourth largest broadcast network among all Adults 18-49 with 3,617,000 viewers (beating NBC, CW) and the fifth largest broadcast network among all Persons 2+ with 5,931,000 viewers (beating CW).

In Los Angeles, the entertainment capital of the world, nearly 1.2 million viewers watched KMEX-TV’s broadcast of the USA's shutout win to make it the highest-rated program of the night beating out “American Idol,” “Lost” and “CSI: NY.” Additionally, the U.S. victory was the No. 1 ranked program in its time period among Men 18-49 in San Francisco and Dallas, and No. 2 in New York and Chicago (again, against competition like "American Idol," "Lost" and "CSI: NY").

Soccer still has a long way to go before it becomes a ratings powerhouse, but events like this show, that with good promotion and quality play, people will watch.

US player review and more

A couple of days ago, I posted my list of the pressure all 20 players on the US roster were facing against Mexico. This is how they lived up to that pressure.

Heavy pressure
Jonathan Bornstein (D) - Nailed it. The first half saw a few mistakes, but that second half was near perfect. He has earned himself a few more call ups. Grade: A

Landon Donovan (M) - Finally has a good international game. He proved that he still has the spark in him and that he is good on dead balls, however, the first half was still very disappointing. He is now going in the right direct, but he still has a way to go before he is where he needs to be. Grade: B-

Eddie Johnson (F) - Very little playing time and got very few balls. He didn't really change the game, but he did see the need to push forward. Good news is he did not look bored out there. Grade: C

Justin Mapp (M) - Had a great seat to watch the game. Grade: Bench

Brian Carroll (M) - Came in for Dempsey in the 75th and didn't really do much. No faults but did not stand out. Grade: C

Ricardo Clark (M) - Made some good passes and shutdown a few attacks. Needs to work on his feeds. Grade: B

Medium pressure
Joe Cannon (GK) - Almost got called on when Howard landed on a nail during warm up, but in the end saw no action. Grade: Bench

Chris Albright (D) - Not a good night for Albright. The longer he was in there, the easier he got beat. He was the weakest part of the backline. Grade: D

Bobby Boswell (D) - I think he won the 'sexiest man on the bench' vote. Grade: Bench

Jimmy Conrad (D) - Outstanding night for Conrad. He proved himself a leader and an inspiration for the team. Again and again, the big plays were a result of him. Grade: A+

Bobby Convey (M) - Was rusty and had a weak first half, but woke up and made some awesome runs in the second 45. Was surprised to see him go the full 90, but he looked good doing it. Grade: B+

Chris Rolfe (F) - A sad night for Rolfe. He didn't push the line, he didn't make his runs, his touch was slippery and he never threatened. Sure the midfield wasn't feeding him much, but he didn't make anything close to happen when he had the chance. Grade: F

Taylor Twellman (F) - No time on the field might have raised his stock as his competition didn't look so great. Grade: Bench

Josh Gros (M) - As Albright's sub, he brought some needed calm to the position, but he didn't make anything big happen or not happen. Grade: B-

Low pressure
Pablo Mastroeni (M) - He providing some much needed flair in the second half, but his first 45 were not pretty. He was able to hold the team together as captain, but he should have provided some better balls for Donovan and Rolfe. Grade: B-

Tim Howard (GK) - The first 10 minutes were rough but after that he was alive. He kept placing himself just in the right spot to stop the few shots Mexico got through. Grade: A

Carlos Bocanegra (D) - Although not the best he has ever been, it was still a good outing as he cleared some danger away and kept the first half from becoming real bad. Grade: A-

Clint Dempsey (M) - Mexico did a good job of keeping him off the ball and the few touches he did get were only average. No running at people and an early bit of exhaustion made the Deuce look a little out of place. That said, it seems he is more focused on finding a starting spot at Fulham then worrying about his place with the US and that is the way it should be at the moment. Grade: C

Bob Bradly (Coach) - He did something at halftime to wake the team up, but it still seemed strange that he waited so long to sub out some of the players. I mean Albright and Rolfe should have been gone at halftime. Still, he won and his team looked good doing it so more power to him. Grade: A-

ESPN2 (Broadcasters) - So much better. It is amazing what calling the game instead of talking about endless asides can do for a broadcast. It is obvious Dave O'Brien has picked up a few things since the World Cup. He still has room for improvement, but he actually talked about techniques with some knowledge, so I'm happy about that. Also, the pre-game was actually worth watching. But the best thing of all, just about every time the ball was in the final 1/3 of the pitch, they were actually talking about the action on the field. It really does make the game better. Added bonus for not bringing on Alexi Lalas to talk about Beckham or anything else like that. One last thing, Allen Hopkins was nice but I missed Brandi Chastain. Grade: B+

Sunil Gulati (US Soccer President) - The halftime interview did not look good for him. He keeps pushing back the goalposts on the date of his decision to hire Bradley fulltime or not and he is starting to look mighty foolish. His reason seems to have something to do with possibly hiring the manager of a European club team, but who knows. After months of interviewing and thinking, it appears Gulati is no closer to deciding on the direction of the national team then he was when he fired Bruce Arena last July 14. Grade: C-

I listed Eddie Robertson on my initial list, but he was dropped from the roster. Bryan Namoff took his place, but he did not see any game time.