While Tim Howard continues to play for Everton and spend more time with his family, there will be sizeable void in the United States Men National Team's defense in a very literal sense. Between the two back-up goalkeepers who traveled with the team to Brazil, and a few scattered amongst MLS and the English Premier […]

MLS 3.0 is in full force and the sports media have focused like a laser on the growth of the league. Soccer-specific stadiums have sprung up across the country, academies are churning out young talent, big names are coming across the Atlantic to play in North America, and suddenly U.S. men’s national team players are […]

Despite some of the more odd pairings for MLS Rivalry Weekend/Day (you can just taste the hatred between the Union and Revs!) the attempt by MLS and its TV partners to drive attention and viewers on a crowded sports weekend by putting so many hated teams on the pitch over two days led to some […]

For the past three years, the gulf between the two MLS conferences has seemingly been as deep as the Grand Canyon. In 2011 and 2012, the East's representative in MLS Cup was Houston, a convert from the West. The last time MLS Cup featured an original Eastern Conference team was 2008 when two teams from the […]

Tomorrow Jurgen Klinsmann will announce the roster invitations for the U.S. national team camp. These players will make up the eligible roster for selection for the January 29 friendly against Canada as well as possibly the February 6 World Cup qualifier in Honduras. Usually, the January camp (loving referred to as "Camp Cupcake") is a […]

One thing we are not afraid to do here at MLS Talk is to take a look back on our predictions and previews to highlight what we got both awesomely right and so terribly wrong. Now that the 2012 MLS season is well over and the 2013 preseason is in full swing, I thought it […]

In retrospect, it was obvious. Houston is so good playing with an aggregate lead in the playoffs and with DC missing Chris Pontius and a fully healthy Dwayne De Rosario, the task really was impossible. But it didn't feel that way at RFK Stadium Sunday afternoon, as a crowd of over 20,000 (including 350 standing […]

After only twelve goals total being scored in the conference semifinals, fans could be forgiven for expecting low-scoring first legs of the conference finals. Instead, tired legs and teams pressing advantages led to seven goals and seemingly anti-climatic second legs coming up on Sunday, as a repeat of the 2011 MLS Cup looks in the […]

As you may have noticed when you excitedly opened your podcast app this morning, we were unable to record a post-Thursday episode of the MLS Talk podcast due to a variety of conflicts. However, after a wild and crazy first round/conference semi-final round, I wanted to approach a wrap-up from a different perspective. After elections, […]

In MLS, 56% of teams made the playoffs this year, meaning your team had a pretty good chance to make at least the 4 v. 5 game of the playoffs (except you, Toronto fans, sorry). Of course, at the end of the season, 44% of teams didn't. Some just fell short, like Montreal and FC […]

Tonight the road to MLS Cup 2012 begins with Chicago hosting Houston in the Eastern Conference 4/5 game. Over the next month ten teams will battle to determine who is the best team in MLS this season (at least, the best playoff team) and based on the regular season all of these games are must-see […]

Injuries, an international break, and a bevy of good matches gave MLS fans a number of games to watch Friday and Saturday. With the number of games to be played dwindling, every match-up takes on that much more importance, and this weekend the results shook up the Eastern Conference standings. On Friday, a back and […]

An Atlantic Cup match is always a show. The dueling cheering sections always cheer a little louder, the players are a bit more physical, and the soccer world is reminded that league rivalries can be just as fierce on the East Coast as the West, albeit maybe slightly less well attended. The third and final […]

What do the Michigan Bucks and DC United have in common? They are the only two teams to score more than two goals against the Chicago Fire in 2012, but last night the Fire could only blame themselves (and not dodgy turf or a backup XI) for an embarrassing loss. With a loud but small home town […]

I had the fortune of attending the DC United and Paris Saint-Germain friendly this past weekend, one which this site has covered fairly extensively due to the debut of Zlatan Ibrahimovic for the French side. The game, as has been noted, was scheduled at the last second as Juventus withdrew from its North American tour to prevent […]