The thud you heard last night was DC United - the proud Old Standard Bearer (and standard setter) for Major League Soccers' first decade of existence - finally hitting rock bottom.

Having desperately clung to a one goal lead for the vast majority of their Lamar Hunt US Open Cup semifinal against Columbus - the very last thing the District of Columbia had left to play for in 2010 - they somehow coughed up a last minute goal to a central defender and then, since it looked like Columbus wasn't going to score in the overtime they went ahead and coughed up a PK two minutes from time.

Whereupon Cbus' short, funny looking old Argentine headed for the spot and the RFK faithful began searching for thier car keys. 37 years old or not, with a game on the line the guy is pure money.

With the worst regular season record in team history and, astonishingly, a real shot at surpassing the worst MLS record of all time, the Open Cup was the last thing that could have salvaged something...click here to read more...

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If Beau Dure had waited until today to release "Long Range Goals," the last sentence would read "On August 30, 2010, it was announced that Adidas renewed their sponsorship with Major League Soccer, in a deal that will run through 2018 and is worth two hundred million - that's right, two hundred god-damned million American god-damned dollars. And everyone lived happily ever after. The end."

Assuming the United States is chosen to host the World Cup in 2022, we can pretty much guarantee MLS another twelve years of life. I think today we finally passed the point where if Phil Anschutz sees the Galaxy stink up the HDC again and says "Screw this," the league would fold.

It was fairly obvious before, but now it's undeniable. In March 2014, barring a meteorite strike, Dalek invasion, or the Mayas being depressingly correct about their calendar dating rationale, MLS will start its nineteenth season. That will make MLS the longest running first division professional soccer league in...click here to read more...

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It is a qualifying week in Europe and Africa and a FIFA week for the rest of the world. Far be it from FMF to miss an opportunity to parade its cash cow (they will be wearing a commemorative jer$ey) for these two games. So that is exactly what they will do. But instead of the Rose Bowl or Reliant, Mexico will be playing Ecuador and Colombia in Guadalajara and Monterrey. And their friendly in October will be In Ciudad Juarez.

Apparently CONCACAF is considering splitting the hex into two 4 team groups. The group winners qualify and and the second place teams will playoff for the third spot. The playoff loser will then go into another playoff against another .5 spot somewhere in the world.

Not a big fan.

It is no secret that the US and Mexico dominate the region. Only one other country, Canada, has ever won a Gold Cup. Logic suggests...click here to read more...

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Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City losses were our first hint that the league’s Big Three may been on their own for another season. On this edition of the EPL Talk podcast, I’m joined by the regular co-hosts – Kartik Krishnaiyer and Laurence McKenna – to talk about the league’s third weekend of action as well as the latest news around the Premier League.

Listen now to the Premier League Weekend Review Show now.

Visit the EPL Talk website at http://www.epltalk.com and subscribe to the EPL Talk Podcast on iTunes. Or better yet, download the free EPL Talk iPhone app which has the podcast episodes, blog posts and more....click here to read more...

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Well, they can't all be fantastic, and the Dallas trip was always going to pale in comparison to Toronto. July 3rd marked my fourth visit to Pizza Hut Park, but my first in several years. I decided to make it my first real "road trip", since it's one of the few MLS cities to which one can reasonably drive from Kansas City. Well, I sort of made it a road trip, anyway. My buddy Nick, a doctoral candidate at Oklahoma, was going to be headed home to KC for his family's epic 4th of July celebration, so I flew to OKC, then we drove down to Frisco, and back to KC in the same car. Close enough, right?

In fact, Dallas was the site of the first MLS roadtrip I ever made to watch the Wizards. 40+ of us went down in 1997 and saw the Wizards move into first place with a win in the Cotton Bowl. We had the full samba band with us, and marched and danced through the concourse. Pretty glorious, really.

That was the last time I saw the Wizards win an away match.

Given that we had time constraints,...click here to read more...

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This may not be the absolute perfect metaphor, but an American team winning in Mexico is like a particularly difficult Grand Theft Auto mission. It's going to feel really good when you finally make it, but it's only a small part of the overall mission - even assuming you needed to complete it in order to win the game.

Yeah, that metaphor sucked. How about this. An American team winning in Mexico is like losing your virginity. It's the most important freaking thing in the world until it actually happens.

No, that metaphor doesn't work, either, because in reality, MLS teams are getting ********ed all the time.

If we take away one of the myraid lessons of this week's continental games, it's that it will happen someday. If it were easy, it would have been done already. But if it were impossible, the Crew and Salt Lake wouldn't have gotten as close as they did. The main advantage FMF teams have is that they're richer and deeper. The more that gap closes, the closer US teams...click here to read more...

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