American Soccer News

What a day for being a Sounders fan. I’m honestly not sure what the bigger story of the day is.

The team won a match against the best team in the eastern conference 6-2. They are now 6-0-1 in the month of August. They are now just 3 points behind LA Galaxy in the race for the Supporters Shield.

Truly, no one could have asked for a better run of form for a month that starts a pretty crazy run of fixture congestion. A run that includes qualifying for group play on the CCL, a win in Dallas, and a win in Monterrey. And up next, a game at Starfire to move to the third straight USOC final.

Its a great time to be a Sounders fan. Let’s all sit back and enjoy.

Today, Josh Mayers at the Seattle Times tweeted that the Sounders would not take advantage of the summer international transfer window. We all know that it’s not for lack of trying. Adrian Hanauer has stated publicly that he was “working frantically” trying to bring in a top-talent target forward but that he wouldn’t bring in a player that was too expensive or a poor fit for the team.

Sounders supporters have formed two camps around this issue: one saying that this is further evidence of Hanauer’s limited ability as an MLS-level GM, and a second saying that Hanauer used sound reasoning and handled the situation as well as anyone could have.

In reality, both these viewpoints have a measure of validity but are far too strong.

Hanauer is the leader of the FO and is responsible for roster construction. The reality is that he put together a roster that has been competitive at the MLS level from day one. He put together the roster that won the USOC and made the playoffs in the Sounders’ inaugural season, then again last year. He has them poised to make another run at the USOC, the MLS playoffs, and the CCL.

Adrian Hanauer has earned our trust.

Having said that, this failure to bring in an international top-caliber target forward IS a statement on his job performance.  The Sounders clearly have a need and have the DP slot and cap room available. Several players around Europe and elsewhere are available. For whatever reason, Hanauer was unable to complete a deal.

But this one failure, in this one situation, for this one need, does not negate all the excellent work Hanauer has done.

Hanauer should not bring in a player for the sake of doing it. He should not overpay for anyone. He was almost certainly willing to slightly overpay on a short-term deal because of the benefit of progression through USOC, CCL, and playoffs.

I have developed a great deal of trust in our GM and you should too. He has earned our trust over the last 2 ½ years. Obviously, we want a big-time TF to pair with Montero. But more than that, we should all want the Sounders to maintain depth in the roster with long-term young talent supplemented with short-term vets. Above all, we should want the Sounders to maintain a strong viable business that will last for generations.

Seattle Sounders have lifted the hearts of their supporters to new heights, winnning convincingly against LA Galaxy (including Landon Donovan) in the US Open Cup, winning in Portland, and most recently defeating the Colorado Rapids in Seattle. Sounders were slightly unlucky in Los Angeles on July 4th when Montero had his penalty kick saved by MLS noob Brian Perk. Seattle has been red hot.

Seattle has set out to be a model franchise in MLS. Celebrity owners, star players, championship coaches, amazing fan support, the only thing that has really been missing has been winning anything in MLS. Sounders do love winning the US Open Cup and the birth into CONCACAF Champions League that it provides.

Manchester United has what Sounders want. History prestige, romance.

It’s forgivable if there were some fans who thought Sounders could make a game of it with Manchester United. Although the first team did play level to a Manchester United side without Wayne Rooney they missed big opportunities to score, managed to leave Michael Owen unmarked, not once but twice. Second time he may have been offside, but was saved by Keller.

It was impressive that Sounders had opportunities to score and were still in the match.

The second half, Wayne Rooney & Ji-Sun Park came on, several key Sounders were subbed off and things fell apart quick. Wayne Rooney being Wayne Rooney. Hat trick in under 30 minutes.

Sigi Schmid termed this his most embarassing loss as a coach. If the stakes are so low is it really that embarassing? Is it worse than LA Galaxy 2010? Also known as, “refund day.” There is nothing at stake against Manchester United. That said, it is still 7-0.

If anyone thinks that exhibitions are for anything other than building Manchester United’s International brand, introducing MLS to a European audience, trying out players (Ngassa is fast), showcasing players, selling souveneirs & concessions you can go right ahead and leave your comment below.

I forgot FUN! That was the other reason Sounders played Manchester United. Did you forget that reason too?

It’s probably a good thing that Sounders did lose 7-0, losing is a more powerful motivator. This could be the perfect loss to keep Sounders focused and on track in MLS and other competitions that matter.

 

The short answer: No. But short answers won't suffice in light of a recent Goal.com column that claims 10 reasons why New York needs another team. So a long answer it is.

As you may have heard by now, Juventus Turin will visit Red Bull Arena May 23 to play an exhibition match against the New York Red Bulls. These exhibitions are at best short-term solutions to generate a bundle of cash that can then be reinvested in the all-important "grass roots." But like many short-term solutions, you can't help but wonder about negative fall-out. Do the Red Bulls really want to cultivate an audience of this type for a one-off event that is unlikely to generate any kind of sustained interest in the team itself? Read the full story at ASN's New York Red Bulls page.

Fans of Major League Soccer are by now surely familiar with its new Web site, the ineptly-named MLSsoccer.com. The site is by all definitions a complete mess–so much so that MLS commissioner Don Garber himself saw the need to publicly apologize for it.

But that problem is well-documented at this point. Presumably, MLS is even doing something about it. The larger, less forgivable offense in my opinion is the site’s purpose. Specifically, MLSsoccer.com has taken to “break” news on its own. To wit:

MLSsoccer.com confirmed Tuesday that an MLS club is working on signing the Frenchman in a transaction that could take place during the summer transfer window.
–MLSsoccer.com, April 13

A source close to New York Red Bulls management has confirmed to MLSsoccer.com that the club intends to purchase a third designated player slot, as allowed by the recently expanded DP rule.
–MLSsoccer.com, April 14

Here is an organization (MLS) that for whatever reason has decided it needs to turn its official Web site into a news portal. That its area of coverage is identical to its end product (MLS) is in itself fine–after all, just about every organization’s Web site has a “news” page where it supplies updates on its activities. But MLS takes this a step further. Actually two steps. It cloaks its news updates as independent reports and has these compete directly with the myriad of actually independent news services (including this one) that already cover the space. Then, if that weren’t bad enough, it touts its own reports as “exclusive” stories and goes as far as to cite “sources”!

Can you say conflict of interest? USsoccerPlayers.com, itself no stranger to potential issues like this, has the following assessment:

What the League is actively doing is working on making themselves everybody’s direct competitor…Being able to scoop other outlets alongside providing media relations? That’s a tricky choice and one that could end up working against what was once upon a time the goal. The best possible coverage nationally and in the local markets. There’s a reason that normally means supporting the media rather than taking their place.

The sad thing here is that MLS never really gave supporting the media much of a try in the first place. The league seems to think it is dealing with issues of national security the way it safeguards information and generally stonewalls around media requests great and small. But MLS not only isn’t national security, it effectively has no competitors it needs to guard information against. It’s not like a rival U.S. soccer league is going to spring up out of the blue and compete with MLS for a player’s signature. Or that the Securities and Exchange Commission is going to launch an investigation into insider trading.

After 14 years, MLS has made scant inroads with the general U.S. public. Most people are barely aware the league exists at all. For sure, the sporting landscape is extremely crowded and competition for eyeballs is fierce. But interest in soccer is on the rise, as evidenced by the growing popularity of European leagues and U.S. national team matches. MLS as a league has to date failed to capitalize on this. Sure, it’s successful in select markets (Toronto and Seattle, basically) and deserves credit for that. However to sustain this success, and grow it to where it genuinely captures the imagination of the greater North American public, the media is going to have to play its part.

MLS has either failed to realize this or bungled the execution–badly. The greater mystery is why league brass thinks it is doing anybody a service with this latest attempt. Because as far as I’m concerned, doing nothing whatsoever would be a vast improvement at this point. A cheaper, less embarrassing one, too.

Houston Dynamo fans are not used to seeing their team lose at Robertson Stadium, as they did Saturday night against the Galaxy and they certainly are not used to seeing them play so poorly. To illustrate, ‘no one’ is currently in the lead in the man of the match vote from that game. With Brian Ching and Cam Weaver out with injuries the team clearly lacks firepower up front. One man can change that. His name is Joseph Ngwenya and he has been on trial for a week. ASN's Michael Simpson explains why the Dynamo needs to sign Ngwenya.

DC United coaching staff have been testing Santino Quaranta as the team's creative midfielder this preseason. It is part of a larger plan to broaden DC United's attack this season and its success (or failure) will directly influence the team's acquisition targets at midseason.

ASN's Steve Long reports from the nation's capital.

Consistency is the theme for defending MLS champions Real Salt Lake as the team heads into the 2010 season. Jason Kreis' team returns nearly all of the players who were on the pitch in last year's MLS Cup final. Still, there are questions, primarily about the team's attack, central midfield and depth. There's also the matter of the schedule to deal with; RSL, a team that won just twice on the road in 2009, hosts but one game before May.

ASN's Kali Korbis reports from Salt Lake City.

Fans of New York's Major League Soccer franchise, toughened by a decade and a half of hardship, are no strangers to misery. If their team's 15 years of dreary existence at the East Rutherford, N.J., Meadowlands accomplished anything, it certainly made them (at least somewhat) immune to such negative emotions. But now is not a time for negativity. Or is it? There are reasons to believe the curse that has hung over the team since its inception is not dead or even dormant, but healthier than ever--and indeed plotting its cruelest joke yet. The MLS labor impasse leaves a dark (metaphorical) cloud hanging over Red Bull Arena. Just when the New York Red Bulls franchise is ready to break free of the doom and gloom that has forever haunted it, fans are faced with the very real possibility that the season could be postponed (or worse) by a players strike. Read more at ASN's New York Red Bulls page.