Joe Thomas is a (fictional) 23 year old defender who is in his second year playing in MLS. He was drafted out of a local university in the second round. He is from a blue collar family and his father was laid off his longtime manufacturing job four years ago; Joe would not have been […]

This morning, U.S. soccer fans are again wearing their rose-colored glasses and celebrating the home team's necessary 1-0 win over Jamaica last night at Crew Stadium. With the win, the Yanks sit atop Group A and control their destiny in qualifying for the Hexagonal, the next step on the road to Brazil 2014. Unlike Friday's […]

We here at MLS Talk are guilty of one thing: we like to try new things. We've had some successes and failures over the years, but we are trying new ways to not only provide important information about the matches that occur (like strategy and analysis) but new ways to bring the U.S. soccer community […]

Name: Seattle Sounders Coach: Sigi Schmid Last Year: 18-7-9, 2nd Western Conference, 2nd Overall Hashtag: #Sounders Are Sounders fans too demanding? In its current iteration, the club is entering its fourth MLS season and has made three consecutive conference semifinals. They own the U.S. Open Cup. They have set attendance records that will be hard to […]

In my 2011 season preview, I predicted that Toronto would struggle for the first few months under its newest leadership structure (new general manager and head coach) but toward the end of the year start to look like a promising team for 2012. I had no clue that the amount of change they would undergo […]

CONCACAF general secretary, nemesis of Mohammed Bin Hammam, and tabloid story-filler Chuck Blazer announced today he would step down from his role in the soccer federation at the end of the year. Blazer had been involved in CONCACAF's leadership for two decades and his resignation is certainly the end of an era. He will, however, […]

The investigations into FIFA's corrupt practices continue, and the attention has again been focused on American Chuck Blazer. Andrew Jennings, one of soccer's most outspoken reformers, released a new detailed report yesterday with a laundry list of accusations against Blazer and his lavish lifestyle. Jennings claims the FBI has now begun investigating the FIFA official's […]

Happy New Year to all our readers and best wishes in 2011! The past year was a big one for American soccer. A good but not great World Cup run, a highlight goal from Landon Donovan, and the controversial rehiring of Bob Bradley after the World Cup. A first MLS Cup win by Colorado, the […]

The list of the 2011 Gold Cup sites was unveiled yesterday and there were two story lines coming out of the announcement: the number of venues that would be hosting their first Gold Cup matches and the number of cities that were inexplicably left off the list. As a reminder or, if you are new […]

A week after the US loss of the 2022 World Cup, much ink and internet type has been spilled on whether the U.S. deserved the bid or was robbed, whether we American soccer fans have a false sense of entitlement or a shady process overwhelmed everything, and even whether U.S. soccer is ok without the […]

In the wake of Thursday's loss to Qatar in maybe the only place U.S. soccer can lose to them (the FIFA boardroom), many American soccer fans tried to rally their spirits by immediately turning their focus to the 2026 World Cup process. An initial glance at the state of play right now for the World […]

Most of the headlines focus around Group G, the consensus "Group of Death" with Brazil, Portugal, Côte d'Ivoire, and North Korea, and the pairing of England and the United States in Group C. For Spain and manager Vicente del Bosque, privately they will be happy with their draw in Group H, the match schedule in […]

Once again, MLS executives prove they are not in tune with their product. The Gold Cup provided the perfect opportunity for MLS to expand their fan base. Collaboration with CONCACAF representatives could have brought doubleheaders featuring one MLS game and one Gold Cup game from the first game through to the final (This year's format does provide doubleheaders, […]

The inaugural CONCACAF Champions League is now over after a short delay, due to swine flu. Atlante are the first evcer CCL Champions, and will be the region's representative at this year's FIFA Club World Cup. This was the club's second continental title(first in Cancun), after winning the Champions Cup in 1983. Overall, I thoroughly […]

Goal.com and SI.com's South American guy Greg Sica will chat with the guys about the upcoming CONMEBOL qualifiers as we as the most recent developments in Copa Libertadores play. Juan also interviewed former ESPN International play-by-play man Randall Álvarez to talk about the upcoming CONCACAF quallies as well as his latest project back in his […]