Here are the ten things we learned from the 2015 MLS Cup. 1. The Timbers are champions It wasn’t a beautiful final, but this year’s MLS Cup from MAPFRE Stadium was a classic for all the controversy, intensity, and insanity it had from start to finish. The Timbers, thanks to two goals in the first […]

You’ve heard it by now, but Clint Dempsey lost it again on Tuesday night. It was the fourth round of the US Open Cup, Seattle Sounders against the Portland Timbers. The game was in extra time, and the Sounders, through both misfortune and misdeed, were down to nine men against Portland’s 11. The Sounders had […]

Here are the 10 things we learned from MLS gameweek 2: 1. A Little Joy For NYCFC NYCFC’s rollout was rough. It ranged from brutally mismanaged to the deliberately misleading in the signing of Frank Lampard. The team still doesn’t have a stadium plan, the New York Yankees are moaning about their use of Yankee Stadium, […]

Bob Bradley cuts an imposing figure on a touchline. Booming voice. Chiseled features. Wilting stare. And you’d kill for his posture. On Sunday afternoon, it was Bradley standing ramrod straight for 90 minutes on a clear, chilly Portland day, coaching his Norwegian outfit Stabaek in a friendly against the Chicago Fire. His counterpart, Frank Yallop, […]

On April 19th, 2013, Sunil Gulati – at least in theory – became one of the most powerful men in soccer. No one remembers the razor-thin margin of his victory – an 18-17 vote victory over Mexican Federation President Justino Compean elected U.S Soccer President Gulati to FIFA’s Executive Committee, football’s foremost ruling body. Gulati, […]

The question was only asked because there was nothing else to talk about. The press conference lasted all of 50 seconds. The Portland Timbers had just crushed Guyanese side Alpha United 6-0 in front of one of their smallest home crowds ever since joining MLS in a midweek CONCACAF Champions League respite from the furious […]

After the MLS All-Star Game Wednesday night in Portland, some misconceptions have been exposed. Keeping in mind that this was just a friendly where the result mattered little and playing to win wasn't at the very fore of the conversation and thinking surrounding the game, here are my 5 thoughts regarding the 2014 MLS All-Star Game: […]

People like Portland. You see that when you go out of town, and tell people where you're from. More often than not, you'll see faces light up. "Oh, I love Portland!" Or, "I've heard Portland is amazing, I've always wanted to go." People like Portland. People who live in Portland, and people who don't. This is […]

For sports fans who became enthralled by the World Cup coverage from Brazil, here's a guide to Major League Soccer, the top flight league in the United States. Major League Soccer has two conferences, Eastern and Western with five teams from each conference making the playoffs. There's one wild card game between 4th and 5th […]

The World Cup never let the USA breathe. From the moment they were drawn into the Group of Death and handed the World Tour travel plan, the American national soccer team couldn’t come up for air. There was the bombshell team selection, the smash and siege against Ghana, ultimate triumph snatched away with an afterthought […]

In many ways, it’s a classic matchup: A team with real belief whose sum is greater than its individual parts, against a sleeker, more fancied, more talented bunch who has a sum that is frustratingly less than its individual pieces. Perhaps that’s why the United States and Belgium – on paper, just as it was […]

As Graham Zusi lumbered off the sandy pitch at the Arena Amazonia to make way for a fresh, tall, athletic center-back in Omar Gonzalez, a decisive change was made. It may have been referee Nestor Pintana himself who communicated to the touchline that he wanted to add an extra minute for Zusi’s sluggish trek, boosting […]

We’re halfway through the group stage of the World Cup, and nearing the midway point of the tournament. Here is the good, the bad, and the ugly from the first week in Brazil. The Good 1. CONCACAF One of the most classically disrespected regions in world soccer has had a terrific tournament thus far, establishing […]

At some point, Jurgen Klinsmann made the decision that the formula that churned out the USA’s best ever year in 2013 wasn’t going to be good enough at the World Cup. When he named his 23-man squad, Klinsmann axed four of the players who started the crowning game of his tenure as manager, the 2-0 […]

For a manager, the World Cup is often one long heart attack. These men often prepare four years to lead their team into the biggest tournament in sport, and all that’s guaranteed is 270 minutes of soccer and a lack of predictability that make the games so much fun to watch. Few managers make it […]