Before the start of the 2015 MLS season, no one picked FC Dallas to win the Western Conference, much less the Supporters’ Shield or MLS Cup. With three games remaining in the regular season however, FC Dallas (with a game in hand) is tied with LA Galaxy on 51 points atop the Western Conference and three points behind New York Red Bulls in the Supporters’ Shield race. Dallas’ results have been up and down just enough in 2015 to keep them flying under the radar most of the season, but now, as Taylor Twellman said during last Sunday’s ESPN2 broadcast of Dallas’ 4-1 defeat of Houston Dynamo, “No one wants to play them [FC Dallas], particularly going into the playoffs.”

Not that FC Dallas’ 2015 results have come out of nowhere. Dallas finished fourth in the Western Conference in 2014, bowing out of the playoffs in the Conference semifinals against 2014 Supporters’ Shield winner Seattle Sounders via the away goal rule after 1-1 and 0-0 draws.

Though 2015 has been a boom year for Designated Players in the league, FC Dallas has persevered with the second smallest payroll in MLS. By comparison, the $4 million base salary of LA Galaxy’s latest DP signing Giovani Dos Santos alone is more than the base salaries of FC Dallas’ entire roster combined. With this relatively shoestring budget, second-year head coach Oscar Pareja has developed stability in all areas of the field, using primarily young players, solid goalkeeping from veteran Dan Kennedy, and lately, 20-year-old Jesse Gonzalez; a generally reliable defense anchored by team captain Matt Hedges and Zach Loyd in the center, along with wing back convert Je-Vaughn Watson; a robust central midfield in homegrown youngsters Victor Ulloa and Kellyn Acosta; offensive creativity from Mauro Diaz, and attacking speed from wingers Fabian Castillo and Michael Barrios.

SEE MORE: A convert’s journey to MLS: A review of ‘Dallas ‘Til I Cry’

The go-to story regarding FC Dallas in limited national soccer media coverage revolves around the club’s successful academy system, and the league-leading number of “home grown” minutes by academy products for the first team. FC Dallas does have a model academy system (in which it invests heavily financially) and it is paying dividends, but the bulk of those homegrown minutes in 2015 have come from midfielders Ulloa and Acosta (another homegrown signing, Jesse Gonzalez, has started the last eight games in place of injured goalkeeper Dan Kennedy). However, the rest of the typical FC Dallas starters are a mix of college draft picks like Hedges, Loyd, Ryan Hollingshead, or Tesho Akindele, MLS journeyman Atiba Harris, Jamaican international Je-Vaughn Watson, and young South Americans Diaz, Castillo, Barrios, and David Texeira.

Most pundits understandably pinned FC Dallas’ 2015 season prospects on having a healthy Mauro Diaz after the promising Argentine missed half of the 2014 season to injury. The team is usually better with Diaz on the field, but this year’s success has often been in spite of Diaz who has mysteriously disappeared for long stretches again this season, missing a third of the team’s games purportedly due to various injuries, though the club and Pareja have been consistently stingy with specifics.

Dallas’ worst kept secret now is Fabian Castillo, who has blossomed under Oscar Pareja’s tutelage. There is a definite father-son bond between the two, as Castillo even lived with Pareja’s family for a time when Castillo first arrived at FC Dallas in 2011 (Pareja was first team assistant coach and director of player development for the FC Dallas youth system at that time). Recently Castillo earned his first two call-ups for the Colombian national team, making a late substitute appearance Thursday night in Colombia’s 2-0 win over Peru in World Cup qualifying. His goal production has slowed in the second half of this season as teams have prioritized trying to neutralize his remarkable speed and finishing ability in the box. The added spotlight on Castillo has freed space for Barrios, his Colombian counterpart on the opposite wing, as well as Uruguayan forward David Texeira who has very slowly developed into a consistent starter in recent weeks.

A real surprise in Pareja’s lineups recently is the exclusion of Panamanian international Blas Perez. The second highest-paid player on the team (behind Mauro Diaz), Perez has been the team’s primary striker for much of his first three seasons in Dallas, leading the team in goals in each of those seasons. This year however, a mix of international duty, injury, and apparent lack of form have limited Perez to just 5 goals in 14 starts for the team, leading to speculation that the 34-year-old’s time at FC Dallas is nearing expiration.

Despite the team’s relatively consistent results this season, off the field there has been significant fan restlessness over the reluctance of the team’s owners (Hunt Sports Group) to keep up with other MLS teams in spending on Designated Players and in their general treatment of fans via a lack of comparable perks and overall customer service. Attendance is below the 2014 level and fan discontent bubbled over this summer with protest signs and banners at home matches and a “#sadFCDfan” Twitter campaign.

SEE MORE: While FC Dallas’ attendances are down, MLS average attendances are up 16%.

Fan ire toward ownership grew particularly loud with the recent release of 2016 season ticket prices, which include significant price increases in certain seating areas of Toyota Stadium. Though there is much disagreement among fans about the merit of this development, the price increases are apparently related to the construction of the new U.S. National Soccer Hall of Fame, which will be integrated with the current Toyota Stadium structure and will include several upgrades to the ten-year-old stadium itself. The $39 million project will include 95,000 square feet of additional facilities (including the Hall of Fame) and construction will close off the stadium’s south end seating for the 2016 season, temporarily reducing the stadium’s capacity by 4,000 seats.

Ironically, despite its frugal approach and atypical fan backlash, FC Dallas is still among the front-runners to earn home field advantage for the MLS Cup playoffs as well as win the Supporters’ Shield, which would be the club’s first trophy since the 1997 U.S. Open Cup. Dallas played to a 0-0 draw at Vancouver Whitecaps on Wednesday, and in a typical MLS scheduling quirk, the Whitecaps will play at Dallas again next Wednesday in a match with plenty of playoff and Supporters’ Shield implications.

The Designated Players from both teams took a backseat to less heralded teammates Saturday night as goals from Tesho Akindele and Michel propelled Dallas to a 2-1 home win.

Fouls – 35 total – marred the first-ever visit of NYCFC to FC Dallas.  Both teams continue heading in opposite directions in their respective conferences, with FC Dallas tallying their third win a row, while NYCFC recorded a third straight loss.

FC Dallas mustered the best scoring chances early on, but could not convert.  NYCFC goalkeeper Josh Saunders produced a key save in the third minute from a top-of-the-box half volley by Michel and later came off his line to snuff out a Fabian Castillo breakaway.

Passing turnovers and fouls around the box by FC Dallas gave NYCFC their best scoring opportunities of the first half.  Frank Lampard intercepted an errant Fabian Castillo pass in the 14th minute, but blasted his resulting shot over the crossbar.  Five minutes later, Andrea Pirlo’s free kick on the left edge of the box forced FC Dallas goalkeeper Jesse Gonzalez to make an outstretched save.  Otherwise, NYCFC mounted little first half attack with Dallas’ center back pair of Matt Hedges and Zach Loyd reading and neutralizing threats with marked accuracy.

SEE MORE: Where to find MLS on US TV and streaming.

At the half hour mark, the action turned contentious with a controversial non-call after Pirlo tripped David Texeira from behind near the top of the NYCFC box and moments later, a yellow card to Dallas right back Atiba Harris for a similarly harsh tackle on David Villa.  In the 33rd minute, Kelyn Acosta inadvertently nicked Lampard with an elbow as the two jostled for a header.  Lampard required a head bandage to patch the resulting wound.

In the 45th minute, Tesho Akindele ran onto a long pass from Michel and fired from a tight angle to net his fifth goal of the year.  Three minutes into first half stoppage time, Michel curled in a corner kick that somehow slipped through the crowded goalmouth and past Saunders to make it 2-0.  For Michel and Akindele, this match marked just their eleventh start of the season.

In the second half, the fouling trend continued from both teams.  NYCFC ratcheted up their attacking pressure after Mix Diskerud replaced Pirlo and Kwadwo Poku replaced Lampard (both in the 66th minute).  From that point on, NYCFC forced Dallas deep into their own half to defend a steady stream of shots and corner kicks.

In the 69th minute, Atiba Harris obstructed Ned Grabavoy in the box, sending Grabavoy to the ground and earning NYCFC a controversial penalty.  Patrick Mullins scored the spot kick, reducing his side’s deficit to 2-1.

The last quarter hour was all NYCFC.  Dallas brought in Ryan Hollingshead and Walker Zimmerman to reinforce their sagging defense which, combined with several Gonzalez saves, was just enough in the end to secure the three points.

The win boosts FC Dallas to second place in the Western Conference with 47 points, one point behind Vancouver Whitecaps.  New York City FC sits in ninth place in the Eastern Conference with 28 points, still three points below the sixth playoff spot.

NYCFC will host Toronto FC this Wednesday, September 16 on ESPN2.  Dallas travel to Sporting Kansas City next Friday, September 18 on UniMas (live on fuboTV).

Penalty kicks and Fabian Castillo stole the show Saturday night at Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas as FC Dallas defeated Real Salt Lake 2-0.

It may not have been one of the marquee matchups of MLS’ 2015 “Rivalry Week” encore, but both teams entered the match desperately seeking points.  FC Dallas looked to end a three game losing streak and keep the Western Conference title within reach, while Real Salt Lake hoped to gain momentum after just snapping a three game losing streak of their own with a win over Seattle Sounders one week ago.

Both teams saw plenty of scoring chances throughout the night, though Dallas enjoyed the lion’s share with 21 shots to Real Salt Lake’s 9.  Goalkeeper Nick Rimando kept Real Salt Lake in the match during the opening ten minutes, saving a blistering shot by David Texeira and rushing off his line to disrupt a darting dribble run into the box by Fabian Castillo.

Four minutes after the break, 2014 MLS Rookie of the Year Tesho Akindele received the ball in the box, turned to dribble, and was tripped by Demar Phillips.  Akindele placed his penalty shot up the middle past the diving Rimando to open the scoring.

For the next half hour, both teams traded several scoring chances, with Dallas seeming the more likely side to find the net.  In the 78th minute however, Dallas midfielder Kellyn Acosta clattered into the back of Real Salt Lake’s Juan Manuel Martinez in the box.  Acosta earned a yellow card for his foul and RSL earned a penalty kick.  On the ensuing penalty attempt, Gonzalez guessed correctly with an outstretched dive to his left, but it wouldn’t matter as Javier Morales’ shot ricocheted off the post.

Seconds after Morales’ penalty miss, FC Dallas midfielder Michael Barrios fed the ball to Fabian Castillo who pressed into space uncontested, surging toward the top of the box where he struck a hard, low shot past Rimando’s left to make it 2-0 for Dallas.  It was the kind of run and finishing shot that earned Castillo his first international call up for Colombia for next week’s international friendlies.

Rookie goalkeeper Jesse Gonzalez earned his first career shutout in just his second start.  The 20-year-old made his FC Dallas first team debut last week in Vancouver in place of the injured Dan Kennedy.

The win vaults FC Dallas into third place in the Western Conference with 41 points (5 points behind first place LA Galaxy, 4 points behind second place Vancouver Whitecaps).  The loss combined with Colorado’s win over Sporting Kansas City Saturday night drops Real Salt Lake to last place in the West with 32 points.

As MLS continues eschewing the FIFA international break, FC Dallas travels to Columbus Crew for their next match on September 6.  Real Salt Lake has a bye week before returning to Texas to face Houston Dynamo on September 12.

LA Galaxy traveled to Frisco to face FC Dallas Saturday night in the first 2015 meeting between the Western Conference foes. Both teams had unbeaten streaks entering the match (LA with five, FC Dallas with three), yet both teams are also dealing with injuries to key players. LA had to do without 2014 MLS MVP Robbie Keane, while Dallas missed their center-back and captain Matt Hegdes as well as his center-back partner Zach Loyd. Remarkably, the reigning MLS Champion Galaxy has not won on the road since August 20, 2014 and that streak continued as FC Dallas defeated LA 2-1.

In the first half LA held a slight edge in possession, but goalkeeper Jaime Penedo truly kept his team in the hunt with two huge saves of shots from Fabian Castillo in the last ten minutes of the half. The Galaxy almost had a goal in the 39th minute when a failed corner kick clearance fell to Ignacio Maganto who slid a shot past goalkeeper Dan Kennedy, but the goal was waved off as Galaxy defender Tommy Meyer was ruled offside.

Nearly 15 minutes into the second half of the fairly plodding match, Gyasi Zardes headed Stefan Ishizaki’s corner kick past Dan Kennedy and inside the far post to make it 1-0 for LA.

FC Dallas struggled to gain a foothold in the match, with their midfield playmaker Mauro Diaz particularly frustrated by his lack of touches. But as LA dropped back in the last 25 minutes to protect their lead, they conceded more midfield space that Diaz and Dallas slowly began exploiting. Fabian Castillo continued raising eyebrows around MLS with his swift forays down the right wing and into the box, but Penedo and the Galaxy defense kept him off the score sheet.

FC Dallas’ chipping away paid off in the 77th minute when Mauro Diaz made a remarkable scoop pass, lofting the ball over the Galaxy back line to find Blas Perez, who manoeuvred the ball around Penedo with his chest and tapped it in to tie the game.

Nearly 10 minutes later, Diaz found the ball on the right wing and made a pinpoint-switching pass to the opposite flank where 2014 MLS Rookie of the Year Tesho Akindele (who replaced Ryan Hollingshead at halftime) gathered the ball at the top of the box and curled a left-footed shot inside the far post for the game-winning goal.

With the win, FC Dallas remains tied with Vancouver for first place in the Western Conference with 20 points. LA Galaxy travel to Orlando City for their next match on Sunday, May 17, while FC Dallas hosts New York Red Bulls next Friday.

The Colorado Rapids hosted FC Dallas in the physical and controversial second game of the MLS Friday night double-header. The teams met just two weeks ago at FC Dallas where the Rapids won 4-0 in what is their only win so far in 2015. For this clash, FC Dallas had two key players back in the lineup that missed the previous match against Colorado due to injury: captain/center back Matt Hedges, and midfielder Mauro Diaz. The inclusion of Hedges and Diaz made all the difference for FC Dallas in the first half, until a second half red card to Blas Perez and injury to Hedges provided opportunity for Colorado to come back and earn a point.

In the first half, both teams’ goalkeepers came up big for their sides. In the 5th minute, Dallas forward Blas Perez slipped behind the Rapids defense and into the box for a one-on-one confrontation with Rapids keeper Clint Irwin, but Irwin rushed off his line to make the save. After battling injury for several weeks, former Chivas USA keeper Dan Kennedy made his debut for FC Dallas at Colorado, keeping his team in the game with two diving saves in the first half from low, close-range shots by Gabriel Torres and Dillon Powers.

Each team produced ample scoring opportunities in the first half, but FC Dallas struck first in the 31st minute when Fabian Castillo made one of his signature zigzagging runs into the box, out-dribbled two defenders, then angled a pass back across the top of the box to a wide open Mauro Diaz who finished a shot for his first goal of the season.

The turning point in this scrappy, contentious match came in the 59th minute when Blas Perez received a straight red card for allegedly knocking Colorado’s Drew Moor to the ground. Moor did fall, but replays of the off-the-ball incident were inconclusive.

Further chaos arrived moments later for FC Dallas when Matt Hedges sustained a bloody nose via an elbow to his head by Axel Sjoberg while defending a Colorado corner kick. As an apparent concussion precaution, Walker Zimmerman replaced Hedges.

Colorado seized on the numeric advantage, forcing Dallas on their defensive heels for the remainder of the match with wave after attacking wave. The Rapids’ pressure paid off in the 79th minute when a left-side cross from Lucas Pittinari found Dillon Powers in the box who headed the ball into the path of Nick LaBrocca who barely beat the on-rushing Kennedy to score the tying goal.

FC Dallas mustered a couple late counter-attacking shots, but the final ten minutes plus stoppage time was all Colorado, with Dallas center back Zach Loyd making two sliding clearances in front of the goal to help salvage the point for his team.

The shared point means FC Dallas enters the weekend in second place in the Western Conference with 14 points (behind Vancouver Whitecaps with 16 points). Colorado remains in last place in the West with seven points. Next week Colorado travels to New York Red Bulls for a Wednesday night game, while FC Dallas travels to in state and Western Conference rival Houston Dynamo on Friday.

After losing 4-0 at home to the Colorado Rapids last week, FC Dallas wasted no time trying to regain form as they scored just 30 seconds into their match against Toronto FC, a match that started Saturday night but ended early Sunday morning.

Dallas midfielder Fabian Castillo ran onto a long pass from left back Moises Hernandez and squeezed a right-footed shot between the near post and Toronto goalkeeper Joe Bendik to open the scoring. Toronto barely recovered from Castillo’s opening minute strike before the Colombian scored again in the 10th minute. Blas Perez sliced a precise diagonal pass into the box, which Castillo finished with a curling shot just inside the far post to make it 2-0.

Just as the game seemed to settle into a midfield quagmire, Dallas’ Je-Vaughn Watson made a long throw-in, which Toronto’s Ashtone Morgan accidentally headed backwards into his own box. Toronto center back Damien Perquis then tried to run the ball out of danger, but was obstructed by teammate Collen Warner, allowing Blas Perez to steal the ball and smash it underneath Bendik for FC Dallas’ third goal (27’).

Three minutes before halftime, heavy rain and lightning strikes suspended play. Half of the stadium’s lights went out temporarily as the 16,176 fans in attendance quickly abandoned the stands. Ongoing lightning stretched the weather delay to nearly three-and-a-half hours.

Play finally resumed near midnight with the last three minutes of the first half, highlighted only by Jackson’s shot for Toronto, which was cleared off the line by Dallas’ Zach Loyd. Frustratingly for all observers that remained through the long delay, the teams then returned to the locker room for the mandatory regular 15-minute “halftime”.

Toronto produced a few mild scoring chances early in the second half, but came up empty. Their frustration mounted as the half wore on, evidenced by Michael Bradley’s yellow card for a hard tackle on Je-Vaughn Watson in the 70th minute.

Sebastian Giovinco spiced up the proceedings with an 83rd minute goal, darting along the end line and beating Seitz at the near post. Six minutes later, Giovinco converted a free kick (after being fouled by Watson) with a terrific shot in the upper left corner.

Toronto’s two late goals made for tense stoppage time, but FC Dallas held on for the 3-2 home win – their fourth win of the season and Toronto’s fourth consecutive defeat. FC Dallas remains in second place (behind Vancouver) in the Western Conference with 13 points, while Toronto is in ninth place in the Eastern Conference with three points. Both teams play on the road next: FC Dallas at Colorado on Friday (April 24) and Toronto at Orlando on Sunday (April 26).

Mobile app users, watch the highlights.

Colorado Rapids snapped their long winless and scoreless streak in style, shocking FC Dallas with a 4-0 win in Frisco in the MLS Friday night match.

FC Dallas might have known they were in for a long evening against the Rapids when they learned they would be without their team captain, center back, and U.S. national team prospect Matt Hedges.  After the match FC Dallas head coach Oscar Pareja explained that Hedges was unavailable due to the team following concussion protocol for Hedges after a ball caromed off the post and struck him in the face during training yesterday.

Despite not winning a game since July 25, 2014 and not scoring a goal in 600 minutes (22 minutes shy of an all-time MLS record), from the opening whistle Colorado proved to be the more aggressive and cohesive team.  In the 2nd minute, Rapids midfielder Dillon Powers crossed a perfect ball for forward Dominique Badji to run onto.  Badji pounced and slammed in Colorado’s first goal since October 11, 2014.

Two minutes before the break, FC Dallas’ Michel fouled Marcelo Sarvas in a seemingly innocuous area of the field.  On the ensuing free kick, however, Sarvas slipped a simple through-ball to Dillon Powers who raced it into the box, striking a low shot that beat goalkeeper Chris Seitz to his left to make it 2-0 for Colorado.

FC Dallas shook things up to start the second half with Kyle Bekker replacing Michel in the midfield and Atiba Harris replacing Moises Hernandez at right back.  Dallas pressed the attack to make up the goal deficit, but Colorado maintained its swarming, well-positioned defense and continually threatened on the counter with Powers and Badji.

In the 70th minute, Powers was involved again for Colorado, snapping a pass across the box to Juan Ramirez, who then set up on-rushing midfielder Gabriel Torres whose finish made it 3-0.  Rapids head coach Pablo Mastroeni wildly celebrated each goal, rattling the glass of his press box perch (he was suspended from the touchline following his vehement protest of a penalty non-call against New England last weekend).

The third goal put the game out of reach for FC Dallas, but the Rapids weren’t finished – adding a fourth goal in the 85th minute, a 30-yard blast from substitute Dillon Serna.

FC Dallas had far too many turnovers to sustain their usually potent home-field attack.  The few Dallas offensive probes into the box were easily snuffed out by Colorado’s organized back line.  After allowing just one goal in their first four matches this season, FC Dallas has leaked seven goals in their last two games.

The next match for both teams is Saturday, April 18 with FC Dallas hosting Toronto FC, and Colorado hosting Seattle Sounders FC.  In an MLS scheduling quirk, Dallas and Colorado meet again on April 24 at Colorado.

Mobile app users, watch the video highlights.

FC Dallas arrived in Portland Saturday night with the best record in MLS (3 wins, 1 draw).  Dallas has never won in Portland however, and that streak continued as the Timbers felled Dallas 3-1 in an overall fast, physical battle between the Western Conference rivals.

After a relatively lifeless opening 20 minutes, the Timbers jump-started the clash in the 23rd minute when center back Nat Borchers headed in an uncontested corner kick from Jorge Villafana.  The consistently stingy FC Dallas defense (who had only allowed one goal this season entering last night’s match) uncharacteristically allowed the unmarked Borchers to get a free header on the back post.

FC Dallas did not take long to respond, however, as Michel’s corner kick in the 30th minute found Atiba Harris who nodded the ball down for the onrushing Tesho Akindele who smashed in his second goal of the season to even the score at 1-1.

The two goals ignited physically aggressive play from both sides that remained for the duration of the match.  Portland’s Darlington Nagbe looked dangerous throughout the first half, mis-hitting a shot just before halftime that was a big chance for Portland to snag the lead.  The Timbers successfully neutralized FC Dallas winger Fabian Castillo in the first half, as he couldn’t find as much time on the ball as he frequently enjoys.

Though the physical scrap intensified in the second half, both sides found several scoring opportunities.  Portland made it 2-1 in the 63rd minute when substitute forward Dairon Asprilla’s cross from the right found Maximiliano Urruti just off the right post where he deflected in the goal from a seemingly impossible angle.

FC Dallas brought on veteran striker Blas Perez (62’) and eventually their new Colombian winger Michael Barrios (87’) but couldn’t muster very much attacking consistency.  Dallas’ best chance to tie the game came in the 85th minute from another Michel corner kick.  Michel’s initial ball was cleared back to him, so he launched it back into the fray where Zach Loyd’s lunging header put the ball on target, but Timbers’ goalkeeper Adam Kwarasey finger-tipped it off the crossbar.

Michael Barrios’ first touch of the game was a turnover in the center circle, which Portland’s Fanendo Adi pounced on, sliding the ball forward to Diego Chara who raced toward a 1 v. 1 encounter with goalkeeper Chris Seitz.  Chara neatly slipped the ball past Seitz’s left-hand side to make it 3-1 and seal Portland’s first win of the season.

Immediately after the match’s conclusion, a bizarre encounter between the two head coaches marred the hard-fought game.  As the Timbers’ Caleb Porter approached FC Dallas’ Oscar Pareja for the customary handshake, Pareja appeared to offer Porter a tissue.  Porter accepted the tissue then immediately flicked it back toward Pareja, apparently insulted by something Pareja said.  Porter walked away and an agitated Pareja started toward him before assistant coaches from both sides intervened.  The MLS Disciplinary Committee will undoubtedly take a closer look at this thoroughly unprofessional end to an otherwise entertaining match.

FC Dallas falls to second place in the Western Conference with 10 points, behind Vancouver with 12 points.  Dallas’ next match is at home against Colorado on Friday, April 10.  Portland sits in fourth place in the West with six points.  The Timbers’ next match is also at home next Sunday, April 12 against Orlando.

Saturday night in Frisco, Texas marked the first meeting between FC Dallas and Seattle Sounders FC since the teams’ intense two-legged clash in the 2014 Western Conference Semifinals. The 1-1 aggregate score last November saw Dallas eliminated and Seattle advance via the away goals rule. Last night the teams picked up where they left off, drawing 0-0 in a scrappy match, though the story at kickoff was dominated by the number of key players missing from both sides due to injury or international duty.

Most notably absent for Seattle were Obafemi Martins, Clint Dempsey, and Chad Marshall due to injury, and Marco Pappa on international duty for Guatemala.  FC Dallas missed their top goal-scorer this season in Blas Perez (international duty for Panama) and midfielder Mauro Diaz (injury).  FC Dallas still had more of their marquee assets in the starting 11 than Seattle however, including 2014 Rookie of the Year forward Tesho Akindele, forward Fabian Castillo, and their center back captain Matt Hedges.  This personnel advantage became key when left back Kellyn Acosta received a red card in the 17th minute for his cleats-in-chest challenge on Seattle’s Andy Rose while trying to win a ball.

Despite the red card setback, FC Dallas was much livelier offensively for the remainder of the first half, with several speedy counterattacks punctuated by Castillo’s blistering runs with the ball through the center of Seattle’s defense.  One such run in the 28th minute led to Castillo being taken down just outside the box with Michel’s resulting free kick glancing off the crossbar.

Even playing a man down, the scrappy defensive work by fullbacks Matt Hedges, Zach Loyd, and Ryan Hollingshead (moved to left back after Acosta’s dismissal), and defensive midfielder Victor Ulloa held Seattle to zero shots in the first half.

The second half brought several scoring chances for Seattle, as FC Dallas tired and sat further back defensively.  One of the Sounders’ best chances of the game came in the 55th minute when a cross from Leo Gonzalez found striker Chad Barrett who headed it just wide. FC Dallas countered a minute later with their closest chance of the second half – another blistering run at the top of the box by Castillo, whose finishing shot just missed wide right.

Seattle mustered two more huge chances in the final 20 minutes. In the 72nd minute Barrett received the ball behind the Dallas defense, but goalkeeper Chris Seitz closed down the angle just enough for Barrett’s shot to miss wide right. In the 80th minute, Seattle’s Andy Rose found the ball in the box but a risky, impeccably timed desperation tackle from behind by Zach Loyd poked the ball away to save the night for Dallas.

FC Dallas maintains the best record in MLS and first place in the Western Conference with three wins and one draw. Seattle is currently seventh in the Western Conference with one win, one loss, and one draw. The next match for both teams is Saturday, with FC Dallas traveling to Portland, while Seattle hosts Houston Dynamo.

FIFA’s recent announcement that the 2022 World Cup in Qatar will take place in November/December just undermines what everyone who lives outside of FIFA headquarters knows – that the World Cup never should have been awarded to Qatar in the first place. At this point, the apparent corruption, miscalculations, lack of commonsense judgment, and all-around bloated, cartoonish villainy surrounding FIFA and its Qatar World Cup is so ridiculous that it hardly matters anymore what time of year the tournament takes place. FIFA will do what FIFA wants and that has become the big problem.

Last May, ESPN’s Jeremy Schapp produced this heartbreaking story for E:60 about the mistreatment of foreign workers in Qatar. It is essential viewing, stunning in its report of workers lured from countries like India, Pakistan, and Nepal by the promise of decent wages (which they could use to help support families back home) to work on stadium and infrastructure construction projects for the 2022 World Cup.

As Schapp reports, Qatar has less than 300,000 citizens, so over one million foreign workers comprise 94% of Qatar’s labor force. Once in Qatar, these foreign workers are made to sign restrictive labor contracts that make it impossible for them to leave the country (their employers even take possession of the workers’ passports). Hundreds of these workers have died of cardiac arrest attributable to extreme working conditions, poor diet, and unsanitary living quarters. Schapp interviewed Sharan Burrow, General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation, who says “Qatar is a slave state in the 21st century… [for these workers] It’s a life of squalor. You are trapped in Qatar.”

Unfortunately the E:60 story made few ripples in the media, swamped instead by the pre-Brazil 2014 World Cup hype. Naturally, people will find reasons to protest the World Cup taking place in just about any country in the world (Russia 2018 is a topic for another day), but the lack of human decency toward workers in Qatar as reported by Schapp is particularly grievous.

Disturbingly, FIFA has the leverage and resources to easily stop these abuses yet stubbornly refuses to do so. At the very least FIFA could and should pay for full-time inspectors on the ground in Qatar to help ensure these workers receive basic, fair protections. FIFA would never miss the money it would take to construct basic apartments for these workers that would easily be more luxurious than the sites where so many currently dwell.

I understand FIFA wanting to grow the game in other parts of the world and wouldn’t necessarily have a problem with a World Cup in Qatar (apart from its climate barely being conducive to outdoor soccer). The problem is the abuse of innocent people to construct stadiums that Qatar will have virtually no use for after the tournament. By now we are accustomed to such colossal wastes of resources (see South Africa and Brazil), but just because the practice has become commonplace doesn’t mean it should continue. The world has plenty of countries with more than enough stadiums to host luxurious World Cup tournaments.

How can soccer fans become aware of these human rights abuses, then shrug that we’re powerless to affect any change, and go back to playing FIFA on our game consoles, in turn helping fund the madness? As fans, it’s difficult to know where to begin solving this FIFA problem. Boycotting the 2022 World Cup seems a natural response, but it’s hard to imagine enough of the world’s fans uniting behind such an effort.

Perhaps it is time to create an entirely new governing body alternative to FIFA, and in turn, an alternative tournament to the World Cup. Farfetched? Completely unrealistic? Most likely, but it doesn’t mean such radical solutions shouldn’t be entertained. Would nations like the U.S., Great Britain, or Germany continue to stand by and let FIFA run riot if American, British, or German workers were suffering these abuses in Qatar?

Near the end of Schapp’s report he asks Burrow what kind of failure it would be on the part of the international community if in 2022 the World Cup is held in a Qatar that resembles the current Qatar. Burrow replies, “It’s insanely criminal.”

The World Cup is fun. I love it. I want to watch it. There will never be a World Cup devoid of some kind of human injustice somewhere – unfortunately that is the way of the world, not just FIFA – but these Qatar 2022 injustices deserve attention and demand action. Qatar 2022 is still seven years away so there is time to improve these working conditions, right some of the wrongs, and make the tournament at least semi-respectable. FIFA is the entity most culpable and capable of rectifying this situation now.

FIFA shouldn’t have a monopoly on the world’s game. An organized, unifying governing body for soccer that facilitates a World Cup tournament isn’t a bad thing. But FIFA has severely lost the plot and if soccer’s regional governing bodies or individual country federations can’t help them regain it, then it is time to write a brand new story – one that values human life and freedom over money.

I am a big fan of Michael Davies and Roger Bennett, better known as the Men in Blazers.  Like many soccer fans, I discovered their terrific podcast on Grantland two years ago and haven’t missed an episode since.  Their appreciation of all things soccer, their insightful analysis, and above all their contagious sense of humor – which runs the gamut from intellectually witty to schoolyard silly – continue to amass fans that they refer to as “GFOPs” (“Great Friend of the Pod”).

The British expat duo’s popularity soared during the World Cup this summer thanks to their often hilarious, rapid-fire segments during ESPN’s World Cup Tonight show.  The success of those segments and their weekly podcast led to their recent move from ESPN and Grantland to NBCSN where last week they launched the first episode of their new weekly TV show that airs Monday nights at 10:00 PM EST.

The Men in Blazers TV show is a sort of re-launch for the duo as they introduce themselves to a presumably larger audience on NBCSN than they’ve had for their Grantland podcast.  Through the first two episodes that has meant plenty retreading of jokes and lingo that listeners of their podcast are already thoroughly familiar with.  As for the look of the show, the Blazers aren’t messing with success as they’ve essentially copied the “panic room” set from their World Cup Tonight segments:  Davies and Bennett squeezed together in front of a single camera, wearing headsets, with bookshelves and a random assortment of quirky photos and knick-knacks in the background.  The show’s format is also a continuation of their shtick from the World Cup 2014 broadcasts, which primarily involves showing clips of players, managers, and fans from the previous weekend’s Premier League matches as the Blazers comment, and poke fun at all aspects of the game they love.

After viewing the first two episodes of the Men in Blazers TV show, the biggest question is whether the show is too much of a good thing.  If the general entertainment adage of “always leave them wanting more” applies to the Blazers, then that’s precisely what made their World Cup segments so successful.  The manic pace of their World Cup Tonight segments worked because of their brevity.  So far, I’m not convinced the same approach translates well in a half-hour format.  The same frenetic pace used in their World Cup segments begins to feel a little stretched by the time they reach the interview segment that concludes the new TV show.

One of the great things about the Men in Blazers podcast is the yin/yang quality of “Rog” and “Davo”.  You get plenty of silly and witty, but also plenty of reflective, more serious analysis.  They naturally flow between the two.  The TV format, at least so far, is mostly silliness/wittiness, with their “Wow!” segment even resembling Mike Myers and Dana Carvey in their fictitious show Wayne’s World.

Don’t get me wrong, Davies and Bennett are funny and they mostly pull off the silly, but they do seem more comfortable in the podcasting format, which allows them more opportunities to venture off-script.  For the TV version, Davies serves as the host, keeping the topics flowing as he cues video clips and peppers Bennett with questions, seemingly content to allow Bennett to deliver the zingers and snarky asides.  The TV show seems scripted to the hilt, so much so that it doesn’t allow the Blazers to chase rabbits or have much organic banter between them.

The main problem with the new show is its claustrophobia, both in the cramped set and shoulder-to-shoulder Blazers placement in-frame, and in the restrictions of the half-hour TV format, which doesn’t allow much breathing room in their dialogue.  Things get even more claustrophobic during the interview segment in which the guest is wedged in behind Davies and Bennett so that the Blazers either have their heads turned away from camera to address the guest, or awkwardly talk to the guest with their backs to him (the first two episodes’ guests were Food Fighters host Adam Richman and New York Yankees pitcher Brandon McCarthy).  To borrow one of the Blazers’ jokes, their set is tighter than an Arsenal jersey.

The one advantage the Men in Blazers TV show has over the podcast is of course the video clips aspect.  Being able to watch Brendan Rogers roam the technical area, for example, as the Blazers riff on his teeth, cuffs, and everything in between is a lot of fun.  It’s the Mystery Science Theater version of Men in Blazers.  Perhaps we’ll eventually see a merging of the TV and podcast formats, something akin to the Mike & Mike show on ESPN2.

If you only know Men in Blazers from their World Cup appearances last summer, you’ll probably love their new TV show.  If you were a fan of their podcast first, you’ll find the TV version much less substantive, as it’s a more polished, rehearsed version of the Blazers (they would probably find it humorous that any aspect of their self-described “sub-optimalism” would be called “polished”).  While the TV version isn’t as thoroughly entertaining as the podcast, there is still plenty of fun to be had.  Regardless of format, it’s definitely worth tuning in to these unique Blazer-loving connoisseurs of hearty laughs and fine football.

Despite Leicester City being the more aggressive, hungrier-looking team in the first half, Chelsea sparked to life in the second half, finding goals from Diego Costa and Eden Hazard for a 2-0 home win.

As for individual performances, here are my player ratings on a scale of 1 (lowest) to 10 (highest):

Chelsea

Goalkeeper:

Thibaut Courtois:  10

Courtois completely justified Jose Mourinho’s selection of him over veteran Petr Cech, doing everything a manager wants from a keeper.  Courtois kept a clean sheet, making a big 1 v. 1 save against striker David Nugent early in the second half.  His interception of crosses in the air and quick release for breakaway passes were superb.

Defenders:

Branislav Ivanovic:  10

Ivanovic had a quieter first half, but his intensity and right wing offensive contributions in the second half were key to Chelsea’s victory.  He showed excellent control on his assist of Costa’s goal and was a perpetual scoring menace in the air.

Gary Cahill:  9 

Cahill wasn’t as busy as Ivanovic and Azpilicueta who ventured up the wings, but he efficiently plugged the middle, neutralized threats, and didn’t commit fouls in dangerous areas.

John Terry:  9 

Terry’s high marks were earned primarily for his first half performance – a veteran showcase in calm defending, i.e. his deft steal in the 22nd minute as Riyad Mahrez streaked up the right flank toward goal.

Cesar Azpilicueta:  9 

Like his right wing defensive counterpart Ivanovic, Azpilicueta likes to get forward on the left wing and he did so more in the first half.  Very aggressive and disciplined throughout and kept Leonardo Ulloa from getting many chances.

Midfielders:

Eden Hazard:  9

Hazard still seems to be warming up to the new season, but he showed the brilliance we remember from last season with his second half performance when he stayed more in his favored wide-left area.  The strategy paid off with his 77th minute solo goal in the box.

Cesc Fabregas:  7 

A quietly effective match for Fabregas overall.  He was muscled off the ball too often in the first half, but his smart passing aided Chelsea’s attack throughout.  Slight subtraction for his choice to try to chip Kasper Schmeichel in the second half in a 1 v. 1 scoring opportunity.

Oscar:  7 

Like most of his teammates, Oscar didn’t warm up until the second half.  Once he did however, we saw the kind of pin-point passing and shots he can produce (he hit the post very early in the second half).

Andre Schurrle:  7 

Schurrle was Chelsea’s hungriest offensive player in the first half, but it wasn’t his best shooting day.

Nemanja Matic:  8

Matic was slightly less visible than the other Chelsea midfielders, but he did his job well, providing reliable defensive cover.

Ramires:  6 

(Replaced Schurrle in the 64th minute)  Fifteen minutes after entering the match, Ramires demonstrated his strength and limitation as he made an excellent run with the ball half the length of the field only to squander the work with a terrible shot over the bar.

Willian:  9 

(Replaced Oscar in the 70th minute)  Willian made the most of his 20-minute cameo, particularly late in the match with his nifty pivot in the center circle, run into the box, and shot on goal which was saved by Schmeichel.

Strikers:

Diego Costa:  8

Mourinho can’t have many complaints with Costa who has now scored in both of Chelsea’s matches this season.  Costa had a hard time getting involved in the first half, but he fulfilled his striker duty in the 63rd minute with his utilitarian goal off Ivanovic’s cross.

Didier Drogba:  7 

(Replaced Costa in the 80th minute)  Drogba’s appearance was certainly a gift for the fans more than anything else, as he didn’t have time to make much of an impact.  Though Drogba didn’t get any shots off himself, he made several smart, quality passes in and around the box during his short shift.

Leicester City

Goalkeeper:

Kasper Schmeichel:  8 

Schmeichel was effective enough in the first half and kept his team in the game with multiple saves in the second half, however, he will want do-overs on the Costa and Hazard goals.

Defenders: 

Ritchie De Laet:  7 

De Laet’s rating dipped because of Chelsea’s second half success on the left side, but he was one of Leicester’s best first half players, making several great runs and dangerous crosses from the wing.

Wes Morgan:  8

Morgan was very effective jamming the middle of the box in the first half, but couldn’t quite shut down Chelsea’s attacking swarm for the whole match.

Liam Moore:  8

Moore partnered very well with Morgan for most of the match.  A valiant, disciplined overall effort for such a young player.

Paul Konchesky:  6 

Konchesky had some errant header clearance attempts and allowed too much penetration on his wing.

Midfielders: 

Riyad Mahrez:  9 

Perhaps Leicester’s man of the match, Mahrez was a speedy threat on the right wing, creating several quality scoring chances.

Andy King:  7 

King provided decent enough midfield clogging, but Leicester needed some more help from him offensively.

Dean Hammond:  8 

Hammond gets good marks for his physical defensive midfield work, though his effort included several iffy tackles that resulted in fouls.

Jeff Schlupp:  9 

With Mahrez, Schlupp was one of Leicester’s top players.  Very strong and capable going forward, Schlupp served as Leicester’s offensive engine.

Marc Albrighton:  8 

(Replaced Mahrez in the 68th minute)  Albrighton provided a few crosses and decent corner kicks, but didn’t have much of an offensive impact.

Gary Taylor-Fletcher:  5 

(Replaced the injured Hammond in the 73rd minute)  Taylor-Fletcher didn’t provide as effective defensive cover as Hammond and offered little in attack.

Strikers: 

Leonardo Ulloa:  6

Ulloa was the quieter of the two Leicester strikers.  He did not find create enough scoring chances.

David Nugent:  8 

Nugent on the other hand had several clear chances.  His 55th minute 1 v. 1 opportunity against Courtois was his best scoring chance of the day and might have changed the match for Leicester.

Chris Wood:  5 

(Replaced Ulloa in the 84th minute)  Wood’s rating may be unfairly low, but he wasn’t in the match long enough to ignite anything for his team.

Leicester City acquitted themselves very well for a newly promoted team.  They were certainly no pushover, but in the end couldn’t quite contain Chelsea’s offensive versatility and tenacity.

The honeymoon period is over for manager Jose Mourinho in his second stint at Chelsea.  Last season, Chelsea fans serenaded the Special One at virtually every match, celebrating the return of supposed stability at the club after the wacky stretch that saw four different managers over two years.  The mood around Chelsea last season was fairly optimistic, with Mourinho ramping down expectations while promising to build for the future.

Now it’s crunch time for Mourinho and Chelsea.

Mourinho’s excuse last season that he was just doing his best with a roster he wasn’t responsible for building won’t fly anymore.  The Chelsea squad readying to kick off the 2014-15 Premier League season is decidedly Mourinho’s, with the colorful manager largely betting his genius on a trio of newly acquired La Liga stars.

This has been an unusual summer transfer window for Chelsea with headlines dominated more by marquee players the club relinquished rather than money spent on new signings.  David Luiz and Romelu Lukaku were sold to Paris St. Germain and Everton respectively.  The club opted not to renew contracts for Ashley Cole (now at A.S. Roma) and Chelsea’s all-time leading scorer Frank Lampard, who will join MLS expansion club New York City FC when they begin play in 2015.  In a strange twist, Lampard is currently on loan to Manchester City during the interim until the new MLS season starts next spring.  Other subtractions include Demba Ba (now at Besiktas) and last season’s temporary striker fix Samuel Eto’o whose one-year contract at the club expired.

Summer additions include midfielder Cesc Fabregas, striker Diego Costa, defender Filipe Luis, and in this season’s veteran striker cameo role, Chelsea legend Didier Drogba, who is back at the club on a one-year deal.  Though not technically a new player, goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois is staying at Chelsea for the first time after spending three consecutive seasons on loan at Atletico Madrid.  Courtois’ arrival should provide healthy competition with veteran Petr Cech for the starting role.  It would seem a classically shrewd Mourinho move to make Courtois the starter, but for now the job is Cech’s to lose.

Chelsea has an embarrassment of riches at midfield – so much depth that it makes it difficult to rotate the squad for maximum efficiency and adequate player contentment.  Most clubs would love to have the problem of choosing midfield starters from a list that now includes Eden Hazard, Willian, John Mikel Obi, Nemanja Matic, Ramires, Oscar, Mohamed Salah, Andre Schurrle, and Cesc Fabregas.  Chelsea’s robust midfield options should provide a quality blend of creative attacking with the tight defensive midfield posture Mourinho favors.

On the flip side, Chelsea better hope for plenty of goals from their attacking midfielders because, once again, the club has an (almost) embarrassing lack of options at striker.  Sure, they have new mega striker Diego Costa, but the backup options are slim with only the puzzlingly inconsistent Fernando Torres and 36-year-old Didier Drogba available.  Torres and Drogba can certainly produce occasional goals, but it’s difficult to see them adequately supplementing Costa across all competitions.  The offloading of Lukaku (and to a lesser extent Demba Ba) this summer definitely raises questions about Mourinho’s striker protocol, particularly after he essentially complained about Chelsea’s weak striker situation near the end of last season.  It won’t be surprising to see Chelsea shopping for an additional striker come Christmas time.

Chelsea nearly won the league last season even with an inconsistent midfield and a piece-meal striker situation.  Their stingy defensive structure of Branislav Ivanovic, Gary Cahill, John Terry, and Cesar Azpilicueta should be formidable again this season (bolstered by new arrival Filipe Luis), and the midfield will get an infusion of energy/creativity from Fabregas.

Expect Chelsea to concede the fewest number of goals in the league and, with the addition of Costa, to score just enough to win their first EPL title since 2009/2010.

Don’t miss a single Chelsea news story this season. Bookmark the Chelsea team page today.

The World Cup is over and yes, it’s depressing. While no league in the world can truly match the amazing month-long festival of soccer that is the World Cup, America has an immediate outlet where fans can get their soccer fix: Major League Soccer. Whether you’re a brand new soccer enthusiast sucked in by the vortex of World Cup fun, or a veteran fan dealing with post-World Cup letdown, it is the perfect time for fans of soccer in America to try supporting MLS.

If you’re rolling your eyes after reading that paragraph, this article is particularly for you. I understand your reaction. I reacted similarly for a long time until I decided to give MLS a try a few years ago. MLS has to wage an ongoing battle against its stigma as an inferior league, but the tide is turning and MLS is increasingly well respected and even scouted for talent by larger clubs and leagues. When Stoke City was on their preseason tour of the U.S. last summer, manager Mark Hughes said,

“There’s definite improvement in the standards and I think everybody accepts that. MLS is a well-regarded league by everybody in Europe, I think you will see more and more teams coming over [to the U.S. for preseason tours] because we now know that the challenge and the competition here is good and we get the right level of opposition to test us. The quality of the opposition is correct and we can benefit from it.”

If you’ve never paid attention to MLS or haven’t checked in on the league in several years, you’ll be surprised. The current MLS is not the league you remember. The league’s average per game attendance now tops the NBA and NHL, with Seattle continually attracts the best crowds in the league (64,207 attended last night’s Sounders/Timbers match in Seattle). The league’s stadiums are mostly state-of-the-art, intimate, fantastic soccer-viewing venues (and most of them are less than ten-years-old). Fifteen of the nineteen MLS clubs now play in their own soccer-specific stadium, with new stadiums currently under construction or planned for D.C. United, San Jose, and Orlando. The league continues expanding with new teams coming soon to New York City, Orlando, Miami, and Atlanta. In May, the league signed a new eight-year, $720 million TV deal with ESPN, FOX, and Univision. These are boom times for MLS.

During this World Cup, I heard the same hype/conversations during every World Cup about how Americans are flocking to soccer en masse and how much the sport is growing in the U.S.  Then we move on and forget about it (in the media at least) for the next four years. The success of MLS, however, is tangible evidence that American soccer growth is authentic. On July 4th weekend against Chicago Fire, Sporting Kansas City had its 45th straight sellout – no one could have predicted anything like that for a franchise like Kansas City during World Cup 2010.

Cynics protest that attendance figures are nice and all, but MLS’ on-field product is still vastly inferior. While soccer aesthetics are less quantifiable than tickets sold, the soccer quality of MLS is much better than it used to be. The league is now bearing the fruit of its youth development mandate and the post-Beckham Designated Player effect. MLS certainly wants to mature into a destination league for players in their prime rather than at the end of their careers (i.e. Thierry Henry), but attracting players like Kaka (Orlando City) and David Villa (New York City FC) are important steps in that direction.

To the so-called “Euro Snobs,” those who ignore MLS because they prefer exclusively following the English Premier League, La Liga, or the Bundesliga, I get it. I’m a huge Premier League fan as well, but not following MLS because it’s “not as good” as certain European leagues is a poor excuse. Do Mexican fans ignore Liga MX because it’s not as good as La Liga? Do Dutch fans ignore the Eredivisie because it’s not the EPL? A lot of American soccer connoisseurs are remarkably snooty toward our top domestic league compared to fans in other countries.

MLS may never be the top league in the world, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be near the top. Staying away from MLS is a self-fulfilling prophecy – we say we don’t like it because it’s not good enough, but it’s not good enough because we stay away (and that includes watching games on TV by the way). The great thing for modern American soccer fans is that with all the coverage and viewing options available, it’s easy to follow your favorite European league alongside MLS. You can have your soccer cake and eat it too.

Why wouldn’t serious soccer supporters in America want the U.S. to have the strongest possible domestic league? For those who enjoyed following the U.S. Men’s National Team at the World Cup, but found themselves craving more, wanting to see the U.S. advance beyond the Round of 16, you should want MLS to continue thriving. Consider how many MLS players saw the field in Brazil: Dempsey, Bradley, Beckerman, Besler, Zusi, Gonzalez, Yedlin, Davis, and Wondolowski. Of course we want to see top American players getting opportunities in the top European leagues, but we still need the strongest possible MLS to develop the rest. In the long run, a strong MLS means a stronger U.S. National Team.

So come on fellow American soccer fans, I understand your skepticism, but it’s time to give MLS a try. Besides, how else are you going to pass the time before the new Premier League season starts?

Now that the U.S. has, once again, exited the World Cup in the Round of 16, American soccer aficionados are in the self-reflective, hand wringing stage of sports grief.  We’re asking ourselves what went wrong?  What could we have done differently?  Why aren’t we better?  Will we ever win the top prize of the most popular sport on earth?

It’s good for us to hash these things out and conspire to improve.  As an American soccer fan, I want us to win the World Cup as much as anyone.  But we should also maintain the perspective that we’ve come a very long way in a relatively short period.  Holland wasn’t remotely a power on the world soccer stage prior to the 1974 World Cup (before that they’d never even made a quarterfinal).  As in Holland’s case, a single great generation of players can transform a country’s soccer fortunes.  It’s tough to become a world soccer power but the U.S. isn’t as bad off as we think.  Even our fierce CONCACAF rival Mexico has never made it past the World Cup quarterfinals (and they haven’t made a quarterfinal since 1986).  But Americans want results and we want them now.

The difference in the self-reflection this time around is that it’s happening, if only fleetingly, in the national media spotlight.  For those that remember the dearth of soccer coverage by American media in the 1990s and early 2000s, the mainstream attention showered on the U.S. team at this World Cup has been remarkable by comparison.  You know there has been a sea change when the lead story on NBC’s Today show is about the U.S. loss to Belgium.

There is a common refrain in this mainstream media attention, something that seems to confound many pundits unfamiliar with soccer’s nuances:  how can a nation that places such a high priority on sports and produces so many quality athletes fail to produce an elite soccer team on the world stage?  We always hear the stats, that more American children play soccer than any other country.  How can that be and yet the U.S. continually stalls out in the World Cup Round of 16?  The go-to argument (and one that I’m growing weary of) is that the U.S. loses their best athletes to the other major American sports.  The theory holds that if only our LeBron James’ and Tom Brady’s played soccer, we’d be lining up for July 13th tickets at the Maracana.

I don’t buy this theory that we have World Cup-winning caliber players out there, but they’re all suiting up for the NBA, NFL, or MLB instead.  Raw athleticism does not create elite soccer players.  Remember when Usain Bolt wanted to play for Manchester United?  Clubs haven’t exactly beaten down the door to give him a shot.  Soccer is not all about physical superiority.  Look at Romelu Lukaku, Lionel Messi, or Miroslav Klose – all very different body types who have succeeded quite nicely for their teams at this World Cup.  Or consider the great Spanish team that won the 2008 and 2012 Euros, and the 2010 World Cup – not necessarily a team of elite athletes in a purely physical, stereotypically American ideal of an elite athlete.  They were great athletes who were elite at playing cohesive, instinctual, creative soccer, but this didn’t come from bench-pressing prowess or fast times in the 40.  One of the unique things about soccer is its relatively level playing field athletically.  It is not all about stature and strength – those can be great tools, but they won’t typically win matches alone.

Yes, LeBron James is a superior athlete, but who’s to say his athleticism would meld with soccer, that he would have necessarily adapted to soccer as well as he did to basketball?  We have this American idea that grit, brawn, and hard work will get us to the top, but as we’ve consistently seen, in the World Cup it will get you to the Round of 16.  We need more.

By the way, saying that we lose our best athletes to other American sports is also quite insulting to our current national team.  The implication is that we’re somehow sending second-string athletes to the World Cup and that is simply not true.

If sheer athleticism doesn’t win the World Cup then, how do we do it?  I don’t pretend to have the best answers, but after 25 years of watching the U.S. play it does seem that our teams, generally speaking, still lack top-level soccer instinct.  This is vague and difficult to quantify, but it involves creativity and the ability to very quickly read the patterns of the game, to see the angles, having the intuition to know when to hold the ball and when to get rid of it.

The last thing I wish to imply is that the U.S. has never had this type of creative player.  Of course we have, we just don’t have a deep pool of this type of player.  We need the kind of depth that sees a Schweinsteiger, Khedira, Lukaku, or Hazard enter the match as substitutes as those players have for Germany and Belgium during this World Cup.

Why haven’t we produced a squad of 20 Landon Donovan’s yet?  It’s not about organization, funding, or facilities.  We have all those things in spades.  Perhaps it has more to do with the “10,000 hour rule” espoused by author Malcolm Gladwell and others which essentially holds that it requires an average of 10,000 hours of practice to become an expert at something.  This is a still-developing field of research, and opinions about the validity of this “rule” vary widely, but I think it is at least partially applicable to the development of American soccer players.  How many American players have practiced 10,000 hours by the age of 18, or even age 20, compared to their counterparts in soccer power nations like Brazil or Germany?

While I don’t believe we necessarily lose our best potential soccer players to other American sports, I do believe our best soccer players are more distracted by participation in other sports than their foreign counterparts.  Our young soccer players typically play a lot of other sports concurrently.  America has no shortage of excellent athletes.  We have a shortage of excellent athletes who are soccer experts.  Instinctive, creative soccer players with superior technical ability develop when players play a ton of soccer from a very young age (and play soccer almost exclusively).  I’ve heard it said that the U.S. won’t win a World Cup until American children are playing soccer in the streets and I tend to agree.

Despite its talent, the U.S. team in Brazil still resembled past U.S. teams in its inability to retain the ball in the right places at the right time.  The juxtaposition was jarring between the U.S. and Germany in ball possession and movement (Germany is the top-ranked team in the World Cup for completed passes).  As a team, we still aren’t as technically sound on the ball as the world’s best teams.

The psychological effect of soccer’s second-class status in America, combined with getting fewer “mental reps” (watching top-tier soccer in person and on TV) and not playing exclusively as much soccer from a very young age help account for the talent divide that still exists between the U.S. and the world’s top soccer nations.

Ultimately, becoming an elite soccer nation, advancing to a World Cup semifinal, final, or even winning it all is a marathon rather than a sprint.  America’s size and resources make it a good bet to eventually win the World Cup, but it won’t happen without additional cultural change in how we understand the game and develop players.  And that takes time.

Call it World Cup fever. Call it “I Believe That We Will Win” fervor, or just call me crazy, but if there was ever a World Cup the United States could actually win, Brazil 2014 is it.

When you’ve recovered from laughing, allow me to explain…

There is a certain tongue-in-cheek quality to the I Believe campaign by U.S. Soccer and Nike leading up to this World Cup, enhanced by ESPN’s TV promos and various celebrities chiming in with their belief in this U.S. team.  The cheerleading efforts are positive and fun, but does anyone who closely follows U.S. soccer actually believe that the U.S. can, much less will win this World Cup? Even died-in-the-wool American soccer patriot Alexi Lalas infamously looked the U.S. team in the eye before the World Cup started and declared, live on ESPN during a Times Square pep rally for the team, that he didn’t think they would advance out of Group G.

Then the actual World Cup matches began and conventional soccer wisdom was quickly tossed out the window. Spain eliminated after two games? Costa Rica winning Group D, with Italy and England sent home? Greece advancing instead of Ivory Coast? Netherlands and France suddenly looking like serious contenders? And of course, one of the tournament’s most surprising developments – the U.S. advancing over Portugal and Ghana? This has already been the World Cup of surprises with more surprises likely in store during the Round of 16.

Even the teams considered top contenders for the title look less than invincible so far.  Argentina minus Messi is not particularly intimidating. Uruguay without Suarez is beatable. Germany looks formidable, but Ghana nearly beat them and a battered U.S. held their own against them. Belgium, the popular pre-World Cup outsider choice to make a deep bracket run, doesn’t look as strong as many thought they would. As for the home team, Brazil is still the main favorite, but looked frequently vulnerable against Croatia and Mexico. There are no guarantees Brazil will get past a very strong Chile in the Round of 16.

There is no dominant Spain-like force remaining in the tournament. If a rested U.S. team builds confidence by squeezing past Belgium, a quarterfinal win over Argentina or Switzerland is no longer a pipe dream. That would set up a possible semifinal against Netherlands, undoubtedly a tough task, but what if the Netherlands falls to Mexico in the Round of 16? Assuming Costa Rica continues their surprising form by dispatching Greece, that would mean the U.S. would face a CONCACAF opponent in the semifinal – the least intimidating scenario possible for the U.S.  On the other side of the bracket, if Chile knocks out Brazil, Germany becomes the favorite to make the final. A rematch with Germany in the final would be no easy task of course, but at least the U.S. would fully know what to expect.

It is still a very long shot for the U.S. to make their first-ever World Cup final, but after surviving three brutal Group games against quality opponents, all bets are off for the Round of 16.  Considering the unpredictable nature of the tournament thus far along with the lack of a clear-cut favorite, there has never been a better opportunity for the U.S. to go all the way.  Laugh all you want, but I’m starting to believe.

In the first half of Nigeria’s 1-0 win over Bosnia-Herzegovina tonight, Edin Dzeko ran onto a terrific through-ball and beat Nigerian goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama with a precise finishing shot.  The offside flag went up late and the goal was disallowed.  Replays clearly show Dzeko was not offside.  It is another unfortunate high-profile officiating error that is entirely avoidable.

Fortunately, so far this World Cup tournament hasn’t been marred by many similar errors, but that is little comfort to Bosnia-Herzegovina who are now eliminated.

FIFA, an organization often lacking common sense, reversed that trend by wisely employing goal-line technology for this World Cup.  It is a vital, positive development, but FIFA needs to go one step further and allow limited instant replays.  The idea isn’t to use replay as referee replacement, but referee enhancement.  It would simply be available as backup for the most pivotal decisions of a match.

Coaches could be allowed a limited number of replay challenges during matches.  Otherwise, mandatory replay consultation would be limited to decisions made in the penalty box (particularly vital for examining dives) and for red cards – decisions with the most potential game-changing impact.  How different would the Brazilian national team’s current World Cup outlook be if the penalty kick decision that resulted from Fred’s opening match dive against Croatia had been reversed?  Brazil might be sitting on two uneasy points instead of four.

One of the primary objections raised in the discussion about replay use in soccer is that it would take too long and interrupt the flow of matches.  This might have been a more valid argument in the days of cueing up cumbersome videotapes, but in this digital age most decisions could probably be made by the fourth official using a hand-held device.  Most of the time the head referee wouldn’t even necessarily have to travel to the touchline for discussion.  The decisions could be made in less time than it takes most players to recover from their phony or exaggerated injuries.  Matches would not be significantly slowed down if replays were employed, and even if they were delayed a few minutes, wouldn’t making accurate decisions be worth the extra time?

Goals, penalty kicks, and red cards are too important to get wrong.  We use technology to solve things in everyday life all the time, so what is the harm in using the tools at our disposal to make accurate decisions on the biggest stage of the world’s most popular sport?  If these decisions were made in a vacuum, where fans were ignorant of the injustices, that would be one thing, but as in the case of the Dzeko goal tonight, the whole world knows the wrong decision was made within seconds.  It’s an absurd situation when fans clearly see a goal legitimately scored, yet the injustice stands in a competition as epic as the World Cup.

The World Cup only seems to grow more massive with each edition, so why wouldn’t it be in FIFA’s best interest to use technology, in a reasonable manner, to get these decisions right?  It could be the difference between a team staying alive or getting knocked out of the tournament.

At the beginning of the 2013 MLS season, FC Dallas surprised fans and pundits with their quick start. After the first month of the season, Dallas had a league-leading 12 points with four wins and a single loss. By the middle of May, Dallas still led MLS with 24 points from 12 games, but the trend did not continue. Somehow, FC Dallas didn’t even make the playoffs in 2013.

Fortunes can reverse quickly in MLS, where the league’s oft-maligned parity makes virtually every match a toss up. Dallas ended 2013 in next to last place, with only Chivas USA finishing below them in the Western Conference.

Fast forward to 2014, FC Dallas is baffling critics once again, off to an even more scintillating start than last season. Dallas is one of only two undefeated teams in MLS with four wins and a draw (Real Salt Lake is the other undefeated team with two wins and three draws).  Dallas has also scored a league-leading 13 goals.

FC Dallas definitively answered critics who chalk up their early season success to luck and/or their opponents’ early-season sluggishness with Saturday night’s 4-1 defeat of Houston Dynamo in Houston.  Before Saturday night Houston had not allowed a goal at home this season and Dallas had only won once before in Houston (in ten attempts).  Houston is a notoriously tough team and place to play; yet Dallas completely dismantled the Dynamo with a first half goal from Michel (a penalty conversion), a second half Houston own-goal, and two goals from midfielder Je-Vaughn Watson.

Critics also point out that three of Dallas’ first five games have been at home, but these have not been pushover wins.  Among them are 3-2 and 2-1 defeats of Montreal and Portland respectively (both teams that made the playoffs last season).  Then there is Dallas’ gritty 1-1 draw at Sporting Kansas City, another of the toughest places in MLS to earn points.

Considering the team’s total meltdown last year, FC Dallas fans have to remain cautiously optimistic at this point, but the team seems better equipped to remain a contender this season. 

For starters, the team has new leadership. Schellas Hyndman resigned as head coach just before the end of last season.  Though Hyndman led FC Dallas to their only MLS Cup Final in 2010 (where they lost to Colorado), the team lacked cohesion, discipline, and bench depth last year.  Former FC Dallas player and Colorado Rapids’ head coach Oscar Pareja is Hyndman’s replacement and there is a renewed energy about the club since he took the reins.

Personnel-wise, Dallas has perhaps more depth than the club has ever had.  Jamaican international Je-Vaughn Watson has become an indispensable midfielder under Pareja, scoring three goals in the last two games.  Backup goalkeeper Chris Seitz has stepped in admirably for Raul Fernandez who is still recovering from a post-season hernia operation (Fernandez was the only FC Dallas player to make the MLS All-Star game last year).  Third year center back Matt Hedges continues to make a case for himself as a future U.S. national team defender, anchoring a back line that is still missing its other stalwart, the injured George John.  Hedges’ partner in central defense, Stephen Keel, has been excellent filling in for John in all five matches so far. 

Offensively, Blas Perez continues to be a handful at striker and Fabian Castillo terrorizes teams with his remarkable speed on the wings (they have two goals each this season).  Knitting it all together is 23-year-old Argentinean midfielder Mauro Diaz, who joined the team last July, but only made sporadic appearances for the rest of the 2013 season.  Fans saw glimpses of his rumored creativity last year, but he never gained traction in Hyndman’s lineup.  Under Pareja, however, Diaz has been one of the best players in MLS this season (he was just named the league’s Player of the Month for March).  With sticky ball control in tight spaces, terrific vision, pinpoint passing accuracy, and quick-trigger shooting ability, Diaz is MLS’ Messi.

The next two games will tell us a lot more about this FC Dallas team, with home games against Seattle Sounders and the revamped Toronto FC.  But based on what we’ve seen so far, don’t expect FC Dallas to fade out of the playoff picture like they did in 2013.

In Friday’s press conference at FC Dallas Stadium, new Stoke City manager Mark Hughes confirmed his desire to help his new club play a more “progressive” style than the straight ahead, defensive style they’re known for, without getting rid of those elements that have kept Stoke in the Premier League since the 2008/2009 season.  On Saturday night, fans in north Texas had the opportunity to see Hughes’ latest project as FC Dallas hosted Stoke City in the second of Stoke’s three-match preseason U.S. tour.

In the first 20 minutes, Stoke didn’t have much opportunity to roll out any new strategy as they had their hands full with FC Dallas’ fast-paced attack.  Thanks to speedy midfielders Fabian Castillo and Jackson, Dallas challenged Stoke’s back line early on, with goalkeeper Asmir Begovic rushing out to the edge of his box to make a clutch save against Castillo in the 6th minute. Begovic also kept his team in the match by barely stopping two lethal corner kicks curled directly into the goalmouth from Dallas’ Brazilian set-piece maestro Michel.

As the first half progressed, Stoke slowly revealed traces of Hughes’ new approach.  New Dutch defender Erik Pieters frequently moved up to join the attack on the left wing.  Gone were the long balls into the box, replaced by more patient passing and overlaps.  Steven N’Zonzi was the busiest and brightest player for Stoke in the first half, criss-crossing the field with a lot of energy.  The only goal of the match materialized as a result of the new-look Stoke when a short passing sequence, on the ground, around the top of the box led to a through-ball from Pieters to Jonathan Walters who slid it past Dallas’ MLS All-Star keeper Raul Fernandez.

Early in the second half, Stoke’s speed through central midfield increased with the addition of Charlie Adam and Cameron Jerome.  Though Peter Crouch provided an aerial target, Stoke continued to play mostly on the ground, often working the ball all the way back to Shawcross or Huth to maintain possession.

Late in the match, Jerome’s speed running onto a ball caused defender Stephen Keel to bring him down in the box.  Dallas fans howled as the ref awarded a controversial penalty kick. Backup Dallas keeper Chris Seitz then saved Jerome’s kick from the spot.

In the final ten minutes, the friendly turned testy when Stoke defender Andy Wilkinson received a red card for his feisty cleats-up challenge on Danny Garcia.  By then, Stoke’s best scoring chances were behind them, though they wouldn’t require any more to get the win.

While Stoke definitely showed some preseason rust with errant touches and miscommunication, they also showed hints of creativity not usually associated with the club under Tony Pulis.  Will these “progressive” changes be enough to help Stoke finish higher than their 13th place finish last season, or will the fierce Premier League competition force them back into their traditional defensive shell?

Photo credit: Drew Epperley

Stoke City manager Mark Hughes, striker Peter Crouch and US defender Geoff Cameron attended a press conference yesterday evening at FC Dallas Stadium ahead of their preseason friendly tonight versus FC Dallas.

The trio discussed a number of topics relating to Stoke’s preseason tour of the United States, including Hughes’s opinion about his team’s 2-0 loss to Houston Dynamo that occurred Wednesday night:

“From our point of view it was more about preparation.  It was our first real test.  We knew it would be difficult for us because we’d traveled only 48 hours previous and maybe our body clocks were a little bit askew.  But I thought in terms of what we were looking to get out of the game, in terms of looking at things we’ve worked on at home, we’ve had two weeks together, and I was pleased with what I saw.  We talked before the game about transferring the work that we’ve done on the training pitch into matches and I think we did that to a certain extent.  Overall, it was absolutely what we needed at this stage of our preparation because we’ve still got three weeks to go.  The games that we have [on the preseason U.S. tour] are the right quality, they’re good tests, and that’s what we need at this stage of our preparation.”

Hughes was also asked how important this U.S. tour would be in selecting his starting eleven for opening day of the Premier League season:

“We’re still trying to get minutes into the guys, get game time into them, so we’re not about trying to formulate personnel for the team for the first game against Liverpool.  We’re not at that stage – that will come later.  Obviously I’m new to the team.  I’m still learning about the capabilities of the squad that I have, so these three games will be invaluable in that regard.”

Inevitably, the “what do you think about the quality of MLS?” question came up.  Every European manager visiting America on summer preseason tours gets asked this and I’ve yet to hear one say, “MLS stinks.”  The European managers are always diplomatic and complimentary.  Nevertheless, here was Hughes’ take on the MLS quality question:

“There’s definite improvement in the standards.  I think everybody accepts that.  The MLS is a well-regarded league by everybody in Europe.  I think you will see more and more teams coming over because we now know that the challenge and the competition here is good and we get the right level of opposition to test us.  And I think it’s a credit to everybody who has put so much hard work into the infrastructure of American soccer.  You can see it’s building and the interest here obviously is representative of that.  Maybe a few years ago that wouldn’t have been present.  So I think it’s very encouraging for soccer in this country.  We’re pleased to be here.  The quality of the opposition is correct and we can benefit from it.”

What does Hughes think of American midfielder Brek Shea, who only started one match in his half-season as a Stoke City player last spring?

“We haven’t had the opportunity to see Brek yet.  But, obviously he’s playing with the national team.  We’re pleased that he’s progressing.  Ideally, from my own point of view, I would’ve preferred that he was with us so that we could work with him.  But he’s part of a team that’s doing really very well and we wish him luck in the [Gold Cup] final.”

Shea will have a ton of catching up to do when he finally joins Stoke after the Gold Cup.

Crouch was asked about his first trip to Dallas fifteen years ago when he played in a Dallas Cup final when he was 17 with the Tottenham youth team.  Crouch reminisced about playing Corinthians in the final and what a great learning experience it was for him.  In the years since, he has enjoyed traveling all over the U.S., “on various holidays.”

Hughes interrupted Crouch’s U.S. travelogue with impeccable comic timing saying, “Vegas – they all go to Vegas,” which cracked up Crouch and brought down the house.

Meanwhile, the genial Cameron looked like a kid in a candy store.  He is obviously making the most of what he understands is a rare opportunity to play in the Premier League:

“It was definitely a big adjustment, leaving Houston and going to Stoke.  First is the weather in general.  That was a tough thing for me to deal with.  But the league itself, I mean, you’re playing against the best players on the weekend, so the fast pace, the physical presence of teams, everything is just a step up.  I think for me my adjustment [coming] from MLS and with the national team helped me out.  It’s been great.

“I think just being confident with knowing your opponents and knowing that you’re capable to play in this league.  You always question yourself and your ability.  Especially every weekend you’re playing against a guy like Van Persie or Steven Gerrard – those guys that you grew up watching on TV over in the States and you’re playing against them.  You might second guess yourself here and there, but now you have that year of experience under your belt and you’ve been through the whole process, you’ve been to the stadiums, you’ve been playing in front of big crowds, so you know what to expect.  And I think that confidence and experience will help for this year.”

Crouch confirmed that the team is in the midst of an overhaul from the staunchly defensive strategy they’re known for to a more attacking mindset. “The first week of training has been very different.  I think the boys have enjoyed the change.  There’s been a lot more of the ball on the ground.”

Hughes admitted that changes are afoot, though he emphasized he won’t dismantle everything that’s been in place at Stoke for several seasons.

“I think that would be crazy to do that, because it’s been successful for Stoke in the past.  It’s allowed them to stay in the Premier League for four or five years consecutively which is really important for the development of the club as a whole.  Now I’ve come in with a view to take them to the next level.  That’s certainly my aim.  I think we’re now an established Premier League club with a good base and good stability in all areas of the club so now is the point in time where we need to start to go to that next level.  And to do that I just feel that you need to play in a more progressive way, retain possession…

I know that they can change and embrace what we’re telling them [about] the direction that we want to go and I’m delighted with the response that myself and the coaching staff have had from the group.”

Tickets are still available for tonight’s game between FC Dallas and Stoke City with prices starting at $25.

It’s not every day that you get a chance to attend two international semifinals on the same night, in the same stadium.  Wednesday evening was a rare soccer spectacular at Cowboys Stadium, aka Jerry World, in Arlington, Texas, just a short drive from where I live in suburban Dallas.  Big time international soccer doesn’t make it to the Dallas area very often, so fans have to jump at the chance when it does. Last night, an eclectic mix of over 81,000 U.S., Honduras, Mexico and Panama fans did just that.

Cowboys Stadium may have been built for American football, but it makes a fantastic soccer venue.  I was there for the first-ever sporting event at Cowboys Stadium in 2009 — a pre-season friendly between Chelsea and Club America.  The crowd and atmosphere were impressive then, but that match pales in comparison to last night’s carnival atmosphere.  I’m not sure the stadium staff were prepared for the deafening chants, drums, whistles, and impromptu dances that filled the vast concourses, creating a constant, echoing din throughout the evening.  After two full consecutive matches, I’m pretty sure I lost some hearing.

American fans were out in decent force for the evening’s first match between the U.S. and Honduras, though Honduran fans also made a respectable showing.  Landon Donovan deservedly received the loudest roars from the crowd every time he appeared on the legendary Texas-sized high-definition screens above the field.  While I’ve seen Donovan play several times for the Galaxy at FC Dallas Stadium over the years, I’ve never seen him play as captivatingly as he did last night.  He is a player fully reinvigorated after his much-publicized (and criticized) soccer sabbatical earlier this year.  If there was any doubt before yesterday about his place on the U.S. team, it is surely gone after his assist (his seventh assist of the Gold Cup tournament) and two goals in the 3-1 U.S. victory.

Donovan had plenty of help, of course.  The U.S. dominated possession with a high-pressing and aggressive attacking style. And their passing has rarely looked sharper.  For a supposed “B” version of the national team, the Americans have dominated their Gold Cup opposition (with the exception of their 1-0 win over Costa Rica in group play).  Head coach Jurgen Klinsmann now has the best kind of squad selection headache on his hands going into the last round of World Cup qualifiers.

I’m not sure if every fan in attendance bought the same kind of match ticket I did (which was good for both semifinals), but for whatever reason, the majority of Mexican fans did not bother watching the U.S./Honduras match.  That meant the stands weren’t quite full for the U.S. game.  But by kickoff time for Mexico/Panama, there was barely a seat left, and Jerry World had turned decidedly green.

In the hour between matches, I walked around the interior of the stadium with my brother, enjoying the sights and sounds of the Mexican fans announcing their arrival.  Several friendly mosh pits of bouncing, dancing fans broke out around the main concourses.  In a couple of them, American and Panamanian fans jumped in with the Mexicans, creating a potentially volatile, but ultimately jovial mix.  My favorite sight of the evening, aside from the on-field action, was a very tall gentleman dressed from head to toe as Uncle Sam who spotted one of the largest of these mosh pits, made a beeline for it, and somehow danced his way right through the eye of the chaotic huddle of bodies.  His Uncle Sam hat bobbed above the dancing crowd as he impressively held aloft his beer, not spilling a drop.  The crowd roared approvingly as he made it through the dancers and continued on his merry, patriotic way.

The throngs of Mexican fans made it clear why U.S. Soccer never chooses Dallas as a World Cup qualifying venue.  Thank goodness the U.S. wasn’t playing Mexico last night because their fans provided an impressive, overwhelming atmosphere of support for El Tri.  It was like Estadio Azteca, with plasma TV screens.  I love my team and fellow American fans, but we still have a long way to go to catch up with our Mexican brethren when it comes to national team support.  While U.S. fans were scattered about in pairs, trios, and small groups of mostly over-18 males – the Mexican fans came as entire families, both sexes, from babies to grandparents.  My favorite Mexican fan sighting was a toddler riding on his dad’s shoulders, with the little guy wearing a green Mexico jersey and a tiny sombrero.  My hat’s off to the Mexican fans – they definitely know how to support their team.

From the beginning of the match, every time Panama’s goalkeeper Jaime Penedo took a goal kick, Mexican fans yelled out something in unison that I couldn’t make out.  After the fourth or fifth time this happened, I leaned over to the guy wearing a Mexico jersey sitting next to me and asked him what everyone was yelling during the goal kicks.  He grinned, looking a little embarrassed.  “It’s something that’s not very nice,” he replied.  We laughed.  “But if you really want to know…” and he proceeded to translate.

He was right about it not being very nice.  Welcome to international soccer.

Unfortunately for the Mexican fans, Panama was stubbornly impervious to the derisive roar aimed at them from the stands.  FC Dallas striker Blas Perez scored first for Panama.  The moment immediately following his goal was the quietest of the night.  Minutes later when Luis Montes equalized for Mexico, the explosive volume of the Mexican supporters’ celebration was the kind of aural magic soccer fans live for.

Panama’s underdog determination persisted however, and paid off in the 61st minute with Roman Torres’ shocking headed goal off a corner kick that put Panama ahead and ultimately sealed victory.

Some testy moments between Panamanian and Mexican fans flared over the last half hour.  The worst I saw didn’t progress beyond shoving and throwing food and drink, but the incidents were enough to make my brother and I decide to slip out with three minutes left in the match to avoid any potential wrath.  As we made our way out of our seats wearing our U.S. jerseys, a group of Mexican fans sarcastically heckled us, “Hope you enjoy your win…” and “Enjoy your night…”

We did, thoroughly.  And whether their team won or lost, everyone else seemed to have a pretty good time too.

As much good work as MLS Commissioner Don Garber has done for MLS in the United States, he occasionally makes American soccer fans scratch their collective heads, like with his recent comment that there’s way too much soccer on television.  Another confounding example in recent months is his effort to land a second MLS team in the New York area. Two weeks ago Garber declared an expansion team announcement was likely in four to six weeks. Last week, reports spread that Manchester City owner Sheikh Mansour is set to fork over the $100 million expansion fee for a new MLS team to be creatively called New York City FC.

I like the idea of the league having 20 teams, but it bothers me that Garber wants it to be in New York City so much.  I understand his rationale – the corporate cash that would flow, the major media exposure, the potential Manchester-like rivalry with the New York Red Bulls, etc.  Understandably, MLS is not going to turn down someone willing to pay that mind-boggling $100 million expansion fee.  But the thought of NYC having a second team and a brand new soccer specific stadium seems unfair when the New York Red Bulls don’t even consistently sell out their own practically brand new soccer specific stadium (Red Bull Arena opened in 2010).  Obviously, New York City is big enough to support two teams but they don’t even support one very well.  The Red Bulls currently rank tenth in the league in attendance, averaging 17,053 per game.

I realize the Red Bulls actually play in Harrison, New Jersey and that the proposed stadium for New York City FC would be in Queens, but it’s still asking a lot for two MLS teams in such close proximity to thrive.  Keep in mind that Los Angeles has the Galaxy and Chivas USA, but the Galaxy have the third highest average attendance in MLS this year (21,271), while Chivas USA have the lowest in the league (8,045).  I’m not saying the situation would absolutely be replicated in New York City, but it should give Garber pause.

With the league already spread so geographically thin across our vast continent, it seems redundant to shoehorn a second franchise in the New York City area when the Southeastern region of the U.S. doesn’t have a single team.  MLS did give the Tampa Bay Mutiny and Miami Fusion a try for several seasons before folding both clubs in 2001 as neither had solid enough fan support, but the soccer climate has changed significantly in the twelve years since those clubs’ demise and it’s time to set up a new team in the region.

For several months, it seemed Florida’s Orlando City SC (which plays in the USL PRO league) had momentum for the MLS expansion slot with their Portland Timbers-like fan support and diehard ownership.  But on Friday the Florida legislature voted down a stadium funding support bill that would have helped Orlando City construct a new downtown stadium and presumably boost their quest to become MLS’ 20th team.

Garber probably isn’t too disappointed about the Orlando City setback.  Now the inevitably splashy official announcement from MLS and Sheikh Mansour can proceed later this month without any loud opposition.  The announcement is expected to coincide with Manchester City’s post-season tour, which includes a match against Chelsea at Yankee Stadium on May 25.

Assuming the second New York City franchise materializes as the league’s 20th team, rather than eventually placing an uneven 21st club in the Southeast, a better option might be transplanting dismal Chivas USA to North Carolina, Georgia, or Florida.  I’m completely in favor of new teams, investors, and stadia that will benefit MLS overall, I would just rather see MLS expansion teams awarded to devoted and deserving fan bases clamoring for their own club (as the league did with Portland) rather than MLS trying to manufacture a new crown jewel of a team that no one is really asking for.  Well, except for Sheikh Mansour that is.

Brek Shea was the face of FC Dallas the past two seasons, but now — pending international clearance — he will play for Stoke City.  I’m glad for Shea.  It’s always good to see American players get a shot in the world’s top league.  But since I just bought an FC Dallas season ticket a few weeks ago, this is not welcome news.

I first saw Shea play in person in 2010, the season he made his first professional start and really came into his own for FC Dallas.  He almost immediately caught my eye as a special player.  It wasn’t just the flashy shock of ultra blonde hair.  He hustled hard and wasn’t afraid to run with the ball at opponents.  He had height, strength, speed, and all-important feistiness.  He could scoot around the edges and get passes across the box or get shots off when other players would have lost possession.  He spent that 2010 season under the radar and I shared FC Dallas fans’ pride of recognizing potential that the wider world hadn’t fully noticed yet.

By the start of 2011, the cat was out of the bag with Shea and opponents started marking him tightly.  It was a tougher season for him (and FC Dallas), yet he was still a standout and a finalist for the league’s MVP.  Buzz began building about him.  In the offseason, he got to train for a few weeks at Arsenal.  FC Dallas wisely renewed his contract through 2015.  By the start of last season, the media spotlight on Shea was blinding.  Even in Dallas he was becoming a household name (okay, still mostly just among us soccer nerds).  US National Team Coach Jurgen Klinsmann jumped on board the Brek train too, granting Shea several consecutive caps.

Then the 2012 MLS season got under way and Shea fizzled on field.  A turf toe injury sidelined him for several weeks.  I actually observed him up close as he was nearing recovery from that injury when he participated in demonstration drills run by FC Dallas Head Coach Schellas Hyndman at Hyndman’s annual clinic for local coaches.  I was impressed and surprised that Shea turned up for the demo – something he certainly wasn’t obligated to do on such a hot May afternoon.  The drills included a mix of academy players and FC Dallas reserve players, but Shea played as hard as if he were trying to earn a starting spot.  Afterwards he affably hung around to chat with coaches and pose for photos.  He certainly didn’t appear too overwhelmed by stardom that day.

Shea continued struggling with injuries throughout 2012, but even when he was in the lineup he couldn’t recover his near-MVP form from 2011.  Fans grumbled impatiently.  Brek and Hyndman got into a spat on NBC when Hyndman benched him late during a contentious match at San Jose.  Shea the wonder boy suddenly seemed mentally and physically drained.

Now it looks like the business side of soccer has reared its necessary and sometimes ugly head with Dallas apparently eager to cash in on Stoke City’s interest in the 22-year-old Shea.  Shea was a rare rising star for Dallas, a real potential franchise player.  I had a feeling it would just be a matter of time before a bigger club snatched him up – Dallas is too small a club to retain stars for very long.  The only real surprise is why now?  Shea had such a dismal 2012 MLS season that I was confident he would be in Dallas at least through 2013.  I was really looking forward to this being a comeback season for Brek.

I should have been suspicious when defender Zach Loyd began featuring a bit more than Shea in FC Dallas’ promotional efforts toward the end of last season.  Considering that and the rift between Hyndman and Shea, the writing has likely been on the wall for several months.  I wish Dallas would use the Stoke cash they get for Shea on a replacement star, someone for season ticket holders like myself to get excited about.  But I won’t hold my breath.

It’s a catch-22 for American soccer fans when deals like this come along.  On one hand, you want to see U.S. players get opportunities in the world’s top league – it’s great for their development, enhances our national team, and improves American soccer’s reputation.  On the other hand it highlights where MLS falls in the pecking order of the world’s soccer leagues.  It seems difficult enough (particularly in a market like Dallas) to get fans to support MLS teams that actually have an American star or two, much less when those stars get shipped to more prestigious European leagues.

I wish Shea all the best at Stoke City.  This FC Dallas fan will definitely miss him.

This week some American soccer fans have decried Jurgen Klinsmann’s decision to leave Jozy Altidore off the U.S. Men’s National Team roster for the two upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Antigua and Barbuda and Guatemala.  Altidore’s omission is a wise decision by Coach Klinsmann.  It is also a good thing for the U.S. team and for Jozy Altidore.

Ever since Altidore arrived in Holland to play for AZ Alkmaar, we keep hearing about his amazing goal-scoring prowess.  I must take others’ word for it since the Eredivisie doesn’t feature on American TV very often.  It may seem unfair to judge a player solely based on their national team performances, but I haven’t had the opportunity to see Altidore lighting up the Dutch league.  It’s fantastic that he seems to be doing so well there, but his supposed maturity as a player does not translate when he’s wearing the U.S. jersey.

It seems like Altidore has been on the verge of becoming a great player for the U.S. a lot longer than the five years since he made his national team debut.  American fans would like to see more consistency and fight from a guy with 51 caps under his belt.  Altidore is big and strong but doesn’t use his size to hold the ball long enough.  He’s rarely creative or explosive receiving passes in the final third and doesn’t force shots from difficult angles.  Over the years he has seemed lazy, unaggressive, and more interested in drawing fouls than muscling his way into shooting space.  There have been occasional flashes of potential and a few goals, but overall he just hasn’t blossomed into the player fans thought he might be.

Klinsmann is sending a good message to Altidore and other potential U.S. players that there are few tenured positions on this team.  Unless your last name is Dempsey, Donovan, Bradley, Howard, Bocanegra, or Cherundolo, you shouldn’t assume you’ve got a spot.  It doesn’t matter how amazing you play for your club – if you’re mediocre for the red, white, and blue, somebody else is going to get a chance.  Which is exactly as it should be.

Klinsmann can’t afford to allow these next two World Cup qualifiers to be further trials for Altidore.  Altidore had an incredibly generous trial period already, reaching back to the early days of Bob Bradley’s national team coaching days.  After the U.S.’ relatively shaky start to current World Cup qualifying, Klinsmann knows nothing less than six points from these next matches will suffice.  To that end, he apparently doesn’t want to risk a roster spot on the hot & cold Altidore.

Klinsmann needs consistency, aggressiveness, and finishing power up front.  Whether or not the resurgent Eddie Johnson or San Jose’s Alan Gordon (who are both on the current roster instead of Altidore) are superior alternatives is debatable, but I don’t blame Klinsmann for shaking things up.  In fact, it’s one of the things I like about him.  Klinsmann seems to be hunting for the hungriest players and that’s a very good thing for U.S. Soccer (as long as he eventually settles on a core starting eleven in time for them to gel before the World Cup).

Sitting out this round of qualifiers could be the best thing that ever happened to Altidore as far as his international career is concerned.  How will he respond to the adversity?  Will he slink away with damaged confidence, or will he show some grit and earn his spot back?  As a U.S. fan, I want to see Altidore succeed.  I’m proud of American players who do well in Europe.  Fans simply want the best players to represent the U.S.  If Altidore is one of them, we want to see him out there.  Currently he’s not at the top of the list, but that doesn’t mean his international career is over.  Qualifying for the World Cup is the important thing, even if that means benching veterans like Altidore along the way.

There is much speculation about which team may acquire American Clint Dempsey from Fulham at the end of this season.  Arsenal is one of the latest teams rumored to be interested in him.  Dempsey is in high demand after scoring a career-high 17 goals this season – more than any other American in Premier League history.  He is currently ranked number 18 in the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index among all Premier League players (13th among the league’s midfielders).  He has played more minutes this season than any other player in the Index top 30 except goalkeepers Joe Hart and Tim Krul.  Dempsey also placed fourth in last month’s voting for the Football Writers’ Association Footballer of the Year Award.  Not bad for a soccer player from Nacogdoches, Texas.

Like many American soccer fans, I am proud of Dempsey and his accomplishments in the Premier League.  I understand his desire to play in the Champions League before his career is over and I see why he would want to take advantage of a bigger club should the opportunity arise.  At the same time, the idea of him leaving Fulham after he’s become such a fixture at the club is a bit disappointing.  I like knowing every time I catch a Fulham match Dempsey will be there, putting in another gritty 90-minute shift.  I’m not sure he would get nearly as much playing time at a club like Arsenal as he does so consistently for Fulham.  At the same time, his ambition to win a trophy is understandable.  He has certainly paid his dues in the Premier League.

Along with a lot of other American soccer fans, I’ve developed an affection for Fulham over the past several years because of the American players who have played for the club like Brian McBride, Carlos Bocanegra, and Clint Dempsey.  So what if another club offers Fulham a deal for Dempsey that is too good to pass up?  How can Fulham keep this American connection going?  There is actually another Texan with a lot of potential as a Dempsey replacement at Fulham. His name is Brek Shea.

Shea is a tall midfielder with a skill set and competitiveness similar to Dempsey’s.  At only 22-years-old, he’s already in his fifth season with FC Dallas.  Last season he was nominated for the MLS MVP award and was named to the MLS Best XI.  Shea has also earned ten caps with the U.S. Men’s National Team, most of those coming within the last year.  This past January Shea was invited to spend a month training with Arsenal.  Although Arsene Wenger downplayed the invitation, it was still a great opportunity for Shea and an acknowledgement of his potential.

Shea is a Dempsey-style go-getter who would make a great acquisition for Fulham.  He’s young, still affordable, and could immediately help fill the gap if Dempsey leaves.  Shea would fit in well with Fulham’s aggressive, counter-attacking style.  He would be a speedy complement to Kerim Frei, another young Fulham midfielder who’s made a splash this year.  As an FC Dallas fan, I would hate to see Shea go, but the experience he could gain playing consistently at Fulham could do for Shea what it has for Dempsey – develop him into a world-class player.

Controversial calls have been a prominent feature of the Premier League this season. Barely a week goes by without claims of a diving incident, debatable red cards, or phantom goals. Of course this often irritates fans, particularly if your team is wronged. The fact that soccer’s major governing bodies continue to ignore fans by doing nothing to address these officiating controversies, only heightens that frustration. Soccer could very easily rid itself of certain contentious calls by embracing technology. Like the opening line from the old Six Million Dollar Man show said, “We have the technology…”

As arguably the world’s biggest league, the Premier League should look to lead the pack in adopting new technology. Goal-line technology is the bare minimum solution, as the recent Chelsea-Tottenham FA Cup semi-final demonstrated when Chelsea’s Juan Mata scored a goal that didn’t actually cross the line. Critics say adopting this technology would disturb the natural flow of soccer, but we’re not talking about 10 minute evaluations here. The goal-line systems that are already being tested can electronically beam a goal/no goal indicator to the referee’s watch within one second of the incident occurring. Typical goal celebrations last much longer than the time it would take to determine a goal’s validity.

In addition to goal-line technology, soccer desperately needs to incorporate limited video instant replay. A reasonable plan would limit reviewable decisions to red cards and any calls made inside the penalty box (including offsides in the box). That way, only decisions (like penalty kicks) that have the greatest potential to affect the outcome of a match would be reviewed. Again, critics say it would interrupt the game’s flow, which I refute. It often takes less than a minute for TV commentators to check replays and render judgment that is usually obvious once you see it from a few angles. Limited reviews wouldn’t interrupt a game any more than the injury-feigning players that annoy soccer fans every weekend.

I can understand soccer purists’ anti-technology stance, but they’re being stubborn and ignorant to think the game would be severely altered by adding goal-line technology and instant replay for major decisions. If purists need proof, just look at tennis -a game steeped in its own traditions and history. Yet even tennis has shot-spotting technology. It hasn’t hampered the game. It hasn’t even replaced umpires or linesmen. It doesn’t take too long and it serves players well by bringing them justice.

The laws of soccer were developed in a time when people couldn’t even imagine television. Referees had the final word on decisions because there was no alternative. You simply had to accept their errors as part of the game. In a modern technology-driven world however, it’s naïve of soccer’s governing bodies to sail along without instant replay and expect fans to be okay with it. It creates a weird alternate universe in which we know what actually happened in a match through replay, but have to live with our believed injustice. It’s a bizarre state of denial for leagues to condone wrong or missed refereeing decisions when the world knows the truth via replays (like Thierry Henry’s “Hand of Gaul” goal that sent France to the 2010 World Cup instead of Ireland).

Ironically, the English FA uses replay to retroactively punish players for on-field tussles, but they won’t use it to challenge refereeing decisions that have the power to alter final league standings (not to mention the millions of pounds at stake). So they’re willing to use replay, just not during matches. When you consider UEFA President Michel Platini apparently opposes goal-line technology because of the infrequency of questionable goals that, you have to question the thought process of those at the top of this game. It’s time for the Premier League to step up and prove the soccer world doesn’t need to fear technology, it needs to embrace it.

In the brief period since Andre Villas-Boas’s dismissal as Chelsea manager, there has already been an entertaining array of names floated in the press as potential replacements. First it was former Liverpool and Inter Milan boss Rafa Benitez. Then of course there are the two mega-managers du jour – Pep Guardiola and Jose Mourinho of Barcelona and Real Madrid respectively.

As a Chelsea fan, I hope the club doesn’t choose Guardiola. He strikes me as cocky, and I prefer managers to have a dose of humility. With rumors abound that Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich is ready to lure Guardiola to Chelsea with a huge contract, I feel it wouldn’t be worth it. In fact, I’d far rather see that money invested on players. Furthermore, I question whether Barcelona’s success over the past few seasons is a result of managerial wizardry or player recruitment/development genius.

Then there’s the sentimental idea of Mourinho returning to Stamford Bridge. Yes, there were good times when Mourinho was in charge of the Blues, but former coaches that are re-hired to revive past glories rarely pan out (see Kenny Dalglish at Liverpool, and Kevin Keegan at Newcastle). Mourinho obviously has coaching acumen and plenty of success managing big personalities.

The issue with Mourinho is his self-indulgent attitude. Take the Champions League tie between Barcelona and Inter Milan. Rather than letting his team absorb most of the limelight, he chose to race around the Nou Camp field much to the annoyance of Victor Valdes. He would also use the final to position himself for the Real Madrid job. He essentially had a foot out the door while his team was getting ready to play for the world’s biggest club prize. What kind of coach does that? (A smart one you may say.)

Now Mourinho’s doing the same thing in Madrid — advertising his availability to other clubs subtly in the press over the past couple months. His much-publicized house hunt in London was no accident. Fans value loyalty in their players and coaches. I look at David Moyes’ recent celebration of a decade at Everton and can’t help but wonder what that kind of managerial longevity could accomplish at Chelsea — which is the problem . . . If Mourinho returned to Chelsea, it would not be a long-term proposition.

The most interesting name to surface is French national team coach Laurent Blanc.. Blanc walked into a disastrous situation with France in the wake of the 2010 World Cup, and seems to have deftly calmed things down, demonstrating an ability to manage some very strong personalities while also winning. He has a lot of potential, plus, unlike Pep, it wouldn’t break the bank to get him.

I’d also advocate Brendan Rodgers name to be included in the running. He’d be far cheaper than Guardiola or Mourinho and has his Welsh side playing stylish football with great attacking flair. He also has previous with Chelsea. In 2004, he began coaching the youth team before being promoted to reserve team manager in 2006. Rodgers wouldn’t necessarily be a “safe” choice when compared to the others mentioned (plus Rodgers has said he wouldn’t be interested in the position), but it doesn’t seem to have the same ego baggage as the Iberian options and he might be less likely to jump ship when other options present themselves.

Ironically, while the managerial rumor mill cranks on, Chelsea’s interim coach Roberto Di Matteo has somehow revived the team in time to make the semifinal of the Champions League and the final of the FA Cup. What will Abramovich do if the team actually wins the Champions League under Di Matteo? The way things are going, Chelsea may already have their next manager. After all, sometimes it’s better not to mess with success, something Abramovich tends to disagree on.