Santino Quaranta humbled, wants to play again for DC United

After a year and a half away, Santino Quaranta wants to return to DC United, but does he have the maturity and discipline to make such a move happen?

Quaranta reputation as a slacker and a bit of a troublemaker, combined with his injury issues have lead to him bouncing between three teams in the last two seasons. When the Red Bulls finally cut him in January, no one was really shocked. However, the 23 year old is hoping to have a second act revival by winning a spot on DC United's roster.

According to Steve Goff, Quaranta has been working hard to get back into shape as he wants to prove himself to DC. He is currently on trial with the team and they will decided whether to offer him a contract after a warm up tournament in San Antonio, Texas, next weekend.

Quaranta has some fantastic skills when he's on, but he fell into the same hole as so many other young players with talent and became a bit of a classless diva (look no further then the salute he gave DC United fans on his first trip back to the capital after his trade to LA). However, if he is serious about this and if he sticks with it, he still has the possibility of many good, if not great, years ahead of him.

As far as the reaction from United fans, I'm going to guess that if he truly apologizes and then backs it up by some great play on the pitch, they will forgive him for his past actions.

If he does win the DC spot, he can expect to make less then the $105,000 he earned last year. Quoting GM Dave Kasper, "He would have to start a lot lower, and we've talked about it."

In the end, Quaranta has a big opening her to prove himself as a player and a person. If he fails for any reason he will have only himself to blame. I just hope doesn't because it would be a shame for him to be another Clint Mathis.

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[Source: My Soccer Blog]

MLS Expansion - League to make 'major announcement' in Philly

As rumored, MLS will award the 16th franchise tomorrow afternoon to Philadelphia. MLS Commissioner Don Garber will join members of the local ownership group along with the governor and other political officials on Thursday at 2pm at Turbine Hall.

Fans are welcome to stop by and cheer on their new team.

Now the question becomes what to call the club. The main names floating around are the Philadelphia Athletics and Philadelphia Independence. Last week I placed a poll up asking what name folks preferred but both currently stand tied at 29% each (although 31% don't want either name), so there does not seem to be a fan favorite. It will be interesting to see if the owners try the Dynamo route and have a 'pick the name' contest or if they go with Seattle and just ask folks to submit names from which they will pick.

No matter what their name, they will start play in 2010, thus adding the final piece to the East coast rivalry (DC-Philly-NY-New England). Hopefully the close locations will allow fans to travel to more matches.

Congrats to Philadelphia and the Sons of Ben on getting this club.

Here are the full details:
Turbine Hall
The Wharf at Rivertown
2501 Seaport Drive
Chester, PA, 19013

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[Source: My Soccer Blog]

The Pan-Pacific Championship panned

The reviews of the first ever Pan-Pacific Championship are in and we've got a flop on our hands. Even with David Beckham and hometown hero Brian Ching on the pitch, the combined attendance for the two double-headers was a mere 38,215. On top of that, the field turf was horrible.

So what to make of this tournament? There was no feeling of pressure to win like in SuperLiga matches, so it looked and felt like the pre-season it is. Perhaps the biggest thing to come out of it was the realization by many in the US that the J-League in general and Gamba specifically is a quality outfit, but I doubt that is the direction MLS's marketing arm SUM wanted the attention to flow.

But all is not lost. Perhaps the PPC could live on just not in Hawaii. A rotational system between nations involved would probably increase attendance and make it easier to find a quality stadium.

Or maybe it should shift into a MLS vs. J-League competition. This would make sense to me as both are in pre-season and both have a league winner (Supporters' Shield/J-League Champs) and Cup Winner (MLS/Emperor's Cup) so it would be easy to select four sides?

A final idea would be to move it to the middle of the season like SuperLiga, although I don't know if the J-League schedule would easily allow for such a thing.

In the end, I enjoyed watching the games because they let me see what LA & Houston are experimenting with ahead of the season and they gave me a chance to see two foreign teams in action that I normally only read about. However, as much as I enjoyed it, if MLS really wants this to be taken seriously, major changes need to happen.

One last thing, I wonder if this lack of an audience for a Beckham event is the sign of a struggle ahead or just a momentary glitch?

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[Source: My Soccer Blog]

2008 Concacaf Chamipons Cup schedule - Can Houston or DC win the region?

In just two weeks both DC United and the Houston Dynamo will play their first meaningful matches of the year as the final installment of the Concacaf Champions' Cup (CCC) gets underway. The winner of this the CCC will represent the region at the FIFA Club World Cup in Japan this December.

The tournament is made up of three stages with each stage being a two leg (home-away) affair. Here is the full schedule (all times Eastern - FSC will air all matches in the US, though some are tape delayed):

Quarterfinals
Leg 1
QF 1 - CD Motagua (Hon) vs. Pachuca CF (Mex)
11 March Estadio Tiburcio Carias Andino - 8p - FSC 11p
QF 2 - Harbour View (Jam) vs. DC United (USA)
12 March Harbour View Stadium, Kinston - 8p - FSC 8p
QF 4 - CSD Municipal (Gua) vs. Houston Dynamo (USA)
12 March Estadio Mateo Flores - 10p - FSC 10p
QF 3 - Atlante FC (Mex) vs. Deportivo Saprissa (CR)
13 March Estadio Andres Quintana Roo, Cancun - 11p - FSC 11p

Leg 2
QF 2 - DC United (USA) vs. Harbour View (Jam)
18 March RFK Stadium - 7:30p - FSC 7:30p
QF 4 - Houston Dynamo (USA) vs. CSD Municipal (Gua)
19 March Robertson Stadium - 8:30p - FSC 8:30p
QF 1 - Pachuca CF (Mex) vs. CD Motagua (Hon)
19 March Estadio Hidalgo, Pachuca - 11p - FSC 11p
QF 3 - Deportivo Saprissa (CR) vs. Atlante FC (Mex)
20 March Estadio Ricardo Saprissa, San Jose - 10p - FSC 12a

Semifinals
Leg 1
SF 1Winner QF 1 vs. Winner QF 2
01 April
SF 2Winner QF 4 vs. Winner QF 3
02 April

Leg 2
SF 1Winner QF 2 vs. Winner QF 1
08 April
SF 2Winner QF 3 vs. Winner QF 4
09 April

Finals
Leg 1Winner SF 2 vs. Winner SF 1
23 April
Leg 2Winner SF 1 vs. Winner SF 2
30 April

The schedule means that if DC United advances to the end, they will host the second leg in all three rounds. Houston, meanwhile, will get to host the second leg only in the first round.

Both MLS sides will face the challenge of meeting teams in the middle of their season, but in the first round, Houston looks to have the tougher opposition. Municipal is a historic club in Guatemalan soccer and their current roster contains a large number of players from their national team, including Juan Carlos Plata. Also, chances are good that their 30,000 seat home stadium will be near capacity for this match.

DC should have an easier time with Harbour View as they are a good club but not a dominant one. However, the Caribbean winner has often given their first round opponent trouble, so United should not look past them.

Last year both DC and Houston had good runs in the CCC, only to fall in the second round to teams from Mexico. This year they have a little easier time of it as the matches start two and a half weeks later then they did in 2007, giving them more time in pre-season training to prepare.

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[Source: My Soccer Blog]

Osaka dominates Houston, wins Pan-Pacific title; Beckham shines in third place match

Houston 1-6 Gamba Osaka

Has Houston ever been tossed around the way they were last night against J-League Cup Champions Gamba Osaka? All over the pitch, the team looked the weaker side as Gamba's technical control combined with their lethal counter-attacks gave them the game. Brazilian striker Bare made the top defense in MLS look like amateur night with his unbelievable ability to sneak right past his mark and into one-on-one situations with Pat Onstad.

The good news for Houston, no team in MLS has a striker quite like Bare, plus this is pre-season so better to find out these issues now (Boswell still has a ways to go before he is fully integrated into their backline).

Really it was the defensive questions the linger the most for me as they were beat again and again on the break, which is a sign of poor marking and lack of communication. During 2007, Houston was one of the best at stopping breaks but they have some work ahead of them if they want to repeat such events.

Goals: HD: Ricardo Clark 11'
GO: Bare 14', 26', 60', Lucas 64', Bare 72', Masato Yamazaki 78'

Los Angeles Galaxy 2-1 Sydney FC

David Beckham was again the force for LA as Donovan and Ruiz both sat out. Really Beckham didn't do much different from Wednesday night, it is just that a) his team was finally able to control and finish has great service and b) the opposition didn't have the attacking talent to overly exploit LA's defensive weakness. Both LA's goals were the result of Beckham placing the ball right to the feet of the goal scorer.

Goals: LA: Ely Allen 3', Josh Tudela 45'
SFC: Brendan Renaud 42'


The attendance for Saturday night's doubleheader was 23,087, which is almost 10,000 more then were there Wednesday. This is much better but still looked a bit empty. Now that the first Pan-Pacific Championship is over the question becomes what to make of it? None of the four teams were fielding their best roster, which lead to a feeling of meaninglessness, but there was something of interest that came from these games. The way that Gamba played both MLS sides shows something as neither LA nor Houston could really contend with them. Perhaps the best thing that could come out of these few days in Hawaii would be more (as in any) meaningful matches between the two leagues. With the schedules running at similar times (March-Oct), it would seem like an opening is available.

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[Source: My Soccer Blog]

New York Red Bulls drop quality striker

Only two weeks after the New York Red Bulls signed him for the season, Francis Doe is no longer with the club.

"After evaluating our roster over the course of the pre-season, we feel that we have solid depth at forward and thought that it would be beneficial to part ways," Red Bulls sporting director Jeff Agoos said.

Doe came to New York late in the 2007 season and provided a great forward option for the team down the stretch. In his eight games (of which he started 4), he had 2 goals and an assist.

With New York stocked full of forwards and his poor pre-season, it isn't a huge surprise that Doe is gone, however I do wonder why the team couldn't find another team to trade him to. Is his new contract worth so much that others didn't want to use the cap space to land him?

It will be interesting to see if any other clubs come looking for him. Previous to his signing with New York last year, he tried with FC Dallas, but they didn't have a foreign player roster spot available for him.

He might not be a fantastic striker, but he does bring quality to any side that gets him.

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[Source: My Soccer Blog]

MLS Expansion - St. Louis not giving up on MLS dream

Jeff Cooper, the lead figure in St. Louis's bid to land a MLS side, has conceded defeat to Philadelphia for the 16th spot in the league and is now focused on winning the 17th.

"'2010 is what we're targeting,' Cooper said."

Since it looks like 2010 will be the year Philadelphia will enter the league, it appears Cooper sees little difference between spots 16 and 17.

His goal now is the same it has been for the last six months, find more investors. He says there has been lots of interest, but not enough have signed on.

For their part, it appears the city of Collinsville is stick with this project meaning that if Cooper brings a team home, the bulldozers will start digging right away on the 400-acre site.

Even without a team, Cooper will be involved with MLS via their marketing arm SUM as he is the owner of on of the new teams in the Women's Soccer League.

I've said it before, had Cooper come along with this bid three years ago, St. Louis would have a team by now. It is only due to the growth of the sport in the US that they do not. Kind of ironic that the city that can very easily argue itself as the cradle of soccer in America is hurt by the growth of the game, but that is the way it is.

My guess on this is Cooper will find some investors in the next few months and the league will go with them as number 17. However, the longer it takes, the more time places like Miami, Montreal, Las Vegas, Portland, etc. have to put together their bids, so Cooper better act fast.

If you are a fan in the St. Louis area, maybe you should follow the Sons of Ben model and get a supporters group together now. You could road trip to Chicago and KC games and make your presence know. I'm sure the folks at St. Louis Soccer United would love it.

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[Source: My Soccer Blog]

Andy Herron back to Chicago

Last year the Chicago Fire were lacking in anything up top. This year, their cup seems to be running over as they have added Andy Herron to their lineup. This is his second round with the team.

The move means Chicago now has Calen Carr, Tomasz Frankowski, Chris Rolfe, Patrick Nyarko, Chad Barrett and Herron ready to play in the forward position. This is an embarrassment of riches.

So what is the team missing? One could argue that the answer is everywhere else on the pitch. Their midfield was a little short last season while they have thinned out a bit in defense. Also, with Pickens heading overseas, they now need a backup keeper.

With a number of MLS sides needing help up top, don't be surprised if the Fire get a more then a few calls over the next month.

One last thing about this move, it should make the Fire's second game of the season that much more entertaining as Herron might again be on the pitch with Jay Heaps of New England. Here's what happened the last time the two got together. Herron was fined $3000 and suspended four games after this incident.

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[Source: My Soccer Blog]

MLS Expansion - "It's definitely Philly"

"'It's definitely Philly," said a Major League Soccer source, declining to be quoted by name in advance of an official announcement. 'It's the market size, the ownership group. These are wealthy people. They're going to be strong owners.'"

Failing some sort of 'impossible-to-foresee cataclysm', Philadelphia is set to become the 16th MLS team. League officials and the new team's ownership group have spent the last two days finalizing the draft version of the expansion agreement, while the ownership group has also been talking with Pennsylvania officials concerning how exactly they can use the $47 million in state funding.

This move is in no way unexpected, as the league has wanted to be in Philadelphia since it began in 1996, they just could not find a way to make it work.

St. Louis is the big loser in all this, but lead investor Jeff Cooper is not giving up on the dream as he is now focused on the 17th spot. It is not clear if the city of Collinsville will change their level of support, as most of it was based on landing a team.

No official date has been set for such an announcement, but my guess is right around the start of the MLS season at the end of March.

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[Source: My Soccer Blog]

2008 Beckham schedule (the other Galaxy players will be there too)

The Beckham tour schedule has been released and he is hitting all the MLS cities this time around. The question, however, is will this sequel be able to live up to the hype of the original? Find out at a city near you for the light cost of a grade A soccer ticket.

And with nothing more to add, here it is, the Los Angeles Galaxy's 2008 schedule:

03/29 - Saturday @ Colorado Rapids 7:30 pm

04/03 - Thursday San Jose Earthquakes 7:30 pm
04/13 - Sunday Toronto FC 3:00 pm
04/19 - Saturday Houston Dynamo 7:30 pm
04/26 - Saturday Chivas USA 7:30 pm

05/03 - Saturday @ Real Salt Lake 7:00 pm
05/10 - Saturday New York Red Bulls 7:30 pm
05/18 - Sunday @ FC Dallas 2:00 pm
05/24 - Saturday Kansas City Wizards 7:30 pm
05/31 - Saturday @ Toronto FC 3:30 pm

06/07 - Saturday Colorado Rapids 7:30 pm
06/14 - Saturday @ San Jose Earthquakes 7:00 pm
06/21 - Saturday Columbus Crew 7:30 pm
06/29 - Sunday @ D.C. United 12:00 pm

07/04 - Friday New England Revolution 7:30 pm
07/10 - Thursday Chivas USA 8:00 pm
07/19 - Saturday @ New York Red Bulls 6:30 pm
07/27 - Sunday @ FC Dallas 6:00 pm

08/03 - Sunday @ San Jose Earthquakes 12:00 pm
08/14 - Thursday @ Chivas USA 7:30 pm
08/21 - Thursday Chicago Fire 7:30 pm
08/30 - Saturday @ New England Revolution 7:30 pm

09/06 - Saturday Real Salt Lake 7:30 pm
09/13 - Saturday @ Kansas City Wizards 7:00 pm
09/20 - Saturday D.C. United 8:00 pm
09/25 - Thursday @ Chicago Fire 8:00 pm

10/04 - Saturday @ Columbus Crew 7:30 pm
10/12 - Sunday Colorado Rapids 5:00 pm
10/19 - Sunday @ Houston Dynamo 6:00 pm
10/26 - Sunday FC Dallas 12:00 pm

Overall, this is a much easier schedule for the team then last year since they don't have a majority of their schedule crammed into the final two months. Even more amazing, there is not a single week where they play two games and there is only one road trip that lasts more then one game but two of those games are in California, with one of them against Chivas and they have over a week break between the final two road games (7/27 @ Dallas, 8/03 @ San Jose, 8/14 @ Chivas).

If last year's LA schedule was all about crunching everything they could out of Beckham, then this year's schedule is all about giving the team a chance to show what they can do.

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[Source: My Soccer Blog]

US vs. Mexico - Who needs to perform?

US vs. Mexico
9:30pm ET/6:30pm PT
TV: ESPN2, Univision (Spanish)
Internet text call: US Soccer

The final super event of this very super week is here at last as the US men get ready to face off against their friends to the south. Everything points to this being another great installment of the cross-border rivalry, but all things are not equal in the US camp as players are jockeying for position on coach Bob Bradley's roster.

With that in mind, I give you the pressure list of who needs to perform tonight against Mexico. This list is based on where I think players currently stand in the race for the spots as well on other attributes such as leadership, skill and play with their club team. I have listed all 21 players on the roster, however only 17 at most will see playing time.

And away we go:

High Pressure
Ramiro Corrales (D) - The outside back positions are still a toss up and he needs to show in order to climb the list.
Benny Feilhaber (M) - With no playing time at his club, he needs to prove that he still deserves a spot with the national team and maybe show his club that they are be better off with him on the pitch.
Stuart Holden (M) - A first call into camp is great but he needs to show that he deserves a second.
Drew Moor (D) - Much like Corrales, Moor is fighting for an open position and he needs a good night to move up the list.
Pat Noonan (F) - His best moments against Sweden where with Twellman. Since Taylor is off due to injury, he needs to prove he can play well with others.
Michael Parkhurst (D) - Last year was a wonderful year for Parkhurst, now he needs to wow at the national level. To make an argument for his inclusion in the big games, he must make a statement tonight.
Heath Pearce (D) - Pearce is in the top two for his spot but his lack of playing time for his club combined with desperate need for a quality left back put the pressure on him to prove that he should be there instead of moving another player from the center.
Eddie Robinson (D) - Trying to earn a center back spot is difficult and although he did great against Sweden, if he wants to convince Bradley to push Gooch or Bocanegra to outside back, he needs to repeat this against the storm that is Mexico.

Medium Pressure
Freddy Adu (M) - Talent is in him, now he just needs to explode. Bradley will give Adu time to develop, so the made pressure on Adu is earning future starts.
Jozy Altidore (F) - He looked amazing against Sweden, now he needs to prove he can do it at the highest level.
Ricardo Clark (M) - Depending on how other players shake out, there might be a good opening for a controlling center mid player and Clark could fill that well.
Bobby Convey (M) - The past couple years have been hard on Convey due to injury, which has caused him to drop in the overwhelmingly strong midfield. He needs to turn in some good minutes to show that he is back in full.
Brad Davis (M) - Another player trying to earn a spot in the middle, but Davis's not-so-secret weapon is his skill on free kicks. Since the team has a need for a dead ball specialist, this could be his in.
Landon Donovan (F) - The top scorer in US history needs to prove that he can be consistent both with his play and leadership. Good news for Landi, he loves to beat Mexico.
Maurice Edu (M) - Yet another midfielder trying to push up. He is great at finding his position but his ball skills need some sharpening.
Oguchi Onyewu (D) - Gooch is still tall in the center but his form has been less then great of late.

Low Pressure
Carlos Bocanegra (D) - The defense is built around Bocanegra and that's not going to change anytime soon. The question now is does he stay in center or move out wide?
Michael Bradley (M) - Everywhere this kid goes, he electrifies. He can read a game and turn it on one strike. A wonderful season in Europe means he is a major part of the team for some time to come.
Clint Dempsey (F) - His scoring and technical abilities are only getting better at Fulham, plus he can play up top or in the middle. Unless coach Bradley hates America, Dempsey is here to stay.
Brad Guzan (GK) - For now, he is the number two, so the only pressure may be convincing Bradley not to call in Howard for some of the lesser qualifiers later this year.
Tim Howard (GK) - Nothing hints at him losing the top spot, especially with Guzan playing at least one more season in MLS.

Overall, the position that I will be watching most is forward simply because the team doesn't really have a killer striker. It is amazing how few goals over the last couple years have come from forwards during the run of play. Simply put, the US cannot compete with the best in the world if they do not have a big threat up top.

Altidore is often mentioned as that threat, and it looks like there might be something to that, but until he has a few more games such as this under his belt, we will not know for sure.

It will also be interesting to see how the backline works out. Will they be able to shut Mexico down or will the keepers need to come up with a number of quality saves and will there be some shifting of center backs to the outside?

My prediction for the final: US 2-1 Mexico

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[Source: My Soccer Blog]

MLS Expansion - NFL owner wants to bring MLS to Atlanta

Arthur Blank, owner of the NFL's Atlanta Falcons, wants his sports operation to expand outside of American football and Major League Soccer is high on his list. Blank said 'he is "actively looking at" bringing a Major League Soccer expansion team to Atlanta. He described it as "in the exploratory stage" and said the team would need a soccer-specific stadium. "We're out looking at stadium sites right now ... in a variety of places," he said.'

Blank brings a lot of what league officials want to the table. He is rich (worth about $1.3 billion), has strong sports connections to the local community (owns the Falcons and came close to owning baseball's Atlanta Braves) and has a good business history (he was co-founder of Home Depot). In addition, the Deep South is the one region of the country where MLS is completely absent. Since Atlanta is the largest market in the region and ninth-largest metro area in the nation, it has the size needed to make the team a success.

Obviously this is still in the early stages, but if Blank can find a solid stadium site and come up with a way to deal with the hot summer weather (perhaps ask Dallas about this), he might be in the running sooner rather then later.

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[Source: My Soccer Blog]