Pretty cool comment, Click top for the full quote. Josef Martinez: In Venezuela, they think everyone needs to play at Real Madrid. Well, this is my Real Madrid or my Barcelona. #ATLUTD— Joe Patrick (@japatrick200) January 16, 2019 Edit: Turns out he has just signed a 5 year extension with ATL
Cardiff City paid a $19 million transfer fee to acquire Emiliano Sala from Nantes. CNN is reporting that Sala's plane is missing and presumed lost over the English Channel. Life is fragile.
Re: Landon Donovan Comes Out of Retirement A Third Time. That isn't retirement. It's serial vacationing.
Let's see, retire from MLS and the Galaxy in 2014, return to MLS and Galaxy in 2016, retire again after 2016 season, join Leon of Liga MX in 2018, join San Diego Sockers in 2019 ... why not?
So I finally saw the MLS transfer news. Wow, Almiron sold for $27 million. and Giovinco's gone. He had a good run. That's a heck of a DP.
Locations/times for Switchbacks preseason games: February 6, 3:30 PM, Colorado Rapids 18 DA, Dicks Sporting Goods Park - Turf February 9, 1:00 PM, Pride U19's, Pride Complex February 13, 5:00 PM, Harpos FC, Metro State February 1, 10:00 AM, Reno 1868 FC, Zions Bank Real Academy February 21, 11:30 AM, Real Monarchs SLC, Zions Bank Real Academy February 24, 12:00 PM, Real DA, Real Complex February 27, 1:00 PM, Air Force Academy, Air Force March 2 ,1:00 PM, Denver University, Weidner Field
Shocking news. Thoughts with his family. It is with deep sadness that we deliver the news that our dear friend and former FC Dallas Technical Director, Fernando Clavijo, has passed away after a five-year battle with multiple myeloma. He was 63.https://t.co/I6orpyEgPK pic.twitter.com/cTRvWLXBhn— FC Dallas (@FCDallas) February 9, 2019
https://www.uslchampionship.com/news_article/show/996536 Move over Rocky Mountain Cup. There's a new competition - USL style - invading the landscape. The Switchbacks, Phoenix Rising, Real Monarchs, and newly formed New Mexico United will duke it out for the Four Corners Cup. I love this idea. There should be a fierce geographical rivalry between these clubs and I can only hope this fuels it. Kudos for all the supporters groups for spearheading this cup.
Very cool, but they stole the unofficial RMC tag line "By the Fans, For the Fans" Also, as one of the founders of the RMC, we all acknowledged at the time that if another Rocky Mountain team was ever added to MLS we would consider expanding the Cup to include them. I'm not sure Phoenix counts as a Rocky Mountain club though, and they would be the most likely of the 4 to make the jump. Any of the other 3 would count though (obviously FSL II will never make the jump).
Man, living in Arizona I would love to see a Phoenix MLS team. There was quite a bit of buzz back when Drogba got involved with Phoenix Rising. There were news reports all over the place, press conferences with the governor, billionaire investors being brought in, and a 250 million dollar stadium that in theory would be a better environment than the Houston summer games...plus no humidity. They even talked about having water wells to cool the breezes as they came through the stadium. See here for more info on the stadium: https://www.si.com/soccer/2018/03/15/phoenix-rising-mls-expansion-stadium-renderings. Sadly, nothing ever came from it, and Ohio got yet another team. It's a good thing California, Ohio, Texas, and Florida all have multiple teams...would hate to have teams in other states in the country.... In all seriousness though, the Phoenix market could definitely support an MLS team - and certainly better than Houston (wow their stands are always seemingly empty). Heck, I can't even tell you how many bumper stickers I see around here for Phoenix Rising. The city of Phoenix is also laid out in a grid, so where they were going to put the stadium would be easily accessible by the 1.6 million people that live in the city alone(putting us as the 5th most populated city in the country mind you). Also, all the other major cities nearby are within about 1-2 hours drive time (Casa Grande, Tucson, Flagstaff, etc), which would give plenty more people to pull from to support the team. It would also be easily accessible for away teams/fans to get in and out. Seems like a great idea to me...but hey, I'm not the commissioner. Oh well. Guess it's only a pipe dream for the next several years until the next expansion comes out, then we can get our hopes up again out here in the desert (Even though it's slightly Rapids related, I'll still say that it would also be nice to have the Rapids come down to AZ every once in a while - aside from the preseasons in Tucson that I'm still heartbroken about them not doing this year)
Agree with you on PHX supporting a team. Seems like politics always get int he way (2nd team in Ohio, Austin, Miami, etc.). Not sure where they would build the stadium, but Talking Stick sure seems to be pulling in a lot of sports teams these days.
Yeah. Talking Stick was talked about, as well as in the Tempe area near where their current "pop up" stadium is located. I'd prefer it in the north Tempe area over the Talking Stick area as it's a little more developed and near more of what makes Phoenix nice.
Lived all over the valley and definitely liked my time in Tempe the best. It would be a great location, but money talks. And Talking Stick has money.
Anyone watch the CCL games this week? I missed them, and was surprised by the scorelines for SporKS, TFC and Atlanta. Also: Terrence Boyd's on TFC? Interesting. Lots track of that guy after his injuries and after the callups stopped.
I didn't watch a full 90 of any of the three games more like 60 minutes here and there of each but the results, IMO were not all that surprising. TFC looked awful. They lacked preparation. They lacked effort. They lacked energy. It's been a tumultuous off-season for them and you had a sneaky feel it would carry over into the CL. It certainly did. I don't think anyone predicted the 4-0 waxing, though. As I suspected, Atlanta looked like they underestimated Herediano despite all the press clippings of them "knowing" what they were getting into. The pressure, heat, shitty turf, everything. They looked rattled. de Boer really got a taste of CONCACAF and how difficult it is to play there. ATL did have some chances and they did get an important away goal. I suspect they can turn it around at home. I wish the next match was at the Mercedes-Benz with 60K but it's going to played in front of 10-12K in Kennesaw. SKC....... wow. Maybe of the best performances from an MLS vs Liga MX side I've ever seen. Vermes had his boys prepped, locked-in, and had a clear game plan. Yes, they had the advantage playing at home and Toluca is struggling in Liga MX but they looked like they were in mid-season form. Toluca couldn't handle the 4-3-3 with SKC throwing numbers forward at every opportunity. I'm not shocked Vermes was much more prepared tactically than de Boer and Vanney. A 3-0 cushion is going to be needed on the away leg for SKC as they will be playing at nearly 9K feet in Toluca.
The Colorado Palace SG, which includes a number of Rapids fans, just showed up in the picture montage at halftime of the Leicester City-Crystal Palace game on NBC.
I'm in San Antonio for work and caught last night's friendly (San Antonio v El Paso). Nice stadium and fan base (they only opened one side, hence the empty seats). Worth a visit.
Frisbee dog highlights. This dog has some wheels. We'll never see them back at the Dick, it's minor league stuff (AAF football).
Hope this is in her best interests... 13 yo Olivie Multrie turns Pro (NWSL has an age 18 minimum and FIFA rule has to be 18 to sign outside of confederation). https://www.si.com/soccer/2019/02/25/olivie-multrie-turns-pro-wasserman-agency-nike-ad-soccer-phenom
Wow, that's young. It could work out if the Nike deal has college fees in there if the club stuff doesn't happen. Would it make sense for rules to change to accomodate this better? Don't tennis players tend to go pro well before age 18? Not everyone is up for it mentally/emotionally (I'm thinking of Jennifer Capriati growing pains) but it seems at least top women athletes hit a physical maturity level before 18.
I more or less watched the Thursday games on yahoo sports. I really like CCL - bizarre locations and entertaining high stakes games. Yahoo sports feed was good quality and needed as I no longer get the spanish channel that is broadcasting it. Only problem is that it is not on the yahoo sports app, thus I can't get it on my Roku and on the TV. I hope Yahoo fix this now that they have bought the rights, I don't like watching on my computer nearly as much. Thoughts: not that I am rooting for all of them, but all the MLS teams except Toronto will get through. The Toronto result was shocking though. There is a CCL thread on big soccer somewhere.