Well, there were 100 or so people wearing white up in the north-east corner where we normally stick visiting fans (that bit where you were last May). I assumed they were NYRB fans, and the RPB did too. If they weren't, it was a rather odd coincidence.

Weird. I'd be shocked if they took 100 on a Thursday night. They barely get 100 in their own stadium on a bad day. Worth looking into.

DC's sponsor is Volkswagen, in a $3.7M annual deal. That's pretty substantial. Damn DC.

That's really disappointing. After seeing a surge in Pollo Campero ads around the stadium this year, I was hoping they'd have this on their shirts:

Volkswagen is moving their NA headquarters to northern Virginia, apparently that mattered somehow in getting the deal.

Everything you need to know about why the Whitecaps owner is pissed and without a stadium can be found here: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/sports/story.html?id=a278cc78-2d8e-48df-93e3-1a3946518800. They're talking about playing at BC Place for a while if that's what it takes to get into MLS.

US Women play Australia again 5 EST tomorrow on FSC, having blown a 2-0 lead against them last weekend in a monsoon in Cary. Still came back to win 3-2.

That LA-RSL game sure had everything. Two fantastic goals from Beckham, brilliant save by Rimando, and a horrendous offside call on what should have been RSL's third goal. There's no doubt which team produces the most exciting games in MLS this year.

I think it's goldstone's turn in the whole head-explosion dept. 3-0 on the road? wtf?

I can't speak for goldstone, but I tried to watch some of that game and my head almost exploded--from boredom. It was a horrid match from what I saw, but credit to Chicago.

At what point do we have to start taking Columbus seriously?

The Fire are brutally effective. When we even have Blanco and Mapp tracking back and winning balls, you know opponents are going to have trouble scoring on us.

People are going to have to start taking Bakary Soumare seriously soon as an elite MLS defender. He's been outstanding all season. Really cool and friendly guy, too.

Can't believe we can't beat RSL. Still, as long as the rest of the West sucks, I'm okay.

I predicted 6 goals for Beckham all season. Looks like I might be proven wrong soon.

And on a different subject, how long as Sean Wheelock been on the BBC? I don't listen to the World Football podcast all that often, but I am now, and I can't believe it.

Plastic Palace 2
Richmond 0

Crystal Palace USA are to soccer what Amtrak is to food.

What would the current DCU squad be to soccer?

I don't know, but they seem to have regressed to Rongenism in their style of play for road games. Yesterday's match was classic DC retro 2000-2003, while the whole spectacle was the side of MLS that the league pretends is a thing of the past - half-empty stadium, no atmosphere and dreary play. I was out stone cold for the final 15 minutes.

Watching that game, I realized that I hate this designated player thing and I want it to go away. The league would be much better served by spreading the millions spent on designated players to boost the overall level of talent at the other 10 positions on any given team. If the overall level of talent went up, the quality of the play would improve and over time, I think more people would enjoy watching the games. We might see an MLS team win the CONCACAF competition.

Gullardo's talent seems utterly wasted on this current DC United team. He does something brilliant, then passes it to somebody who gives it away. Beckham, at least, brings the set piece ability and his merchandising power means he pays for himself, but other than him and Blanco, what are these DPs really doing for the league?

Apparently, the average salary in MLS (so I've read) is $129,395, which I'm told is about the same as the English fourth division (league two) I'd venture that a team in which everyone is making between $100k and $250k that averaged out around that same figure would be better, and play more attractive soccer, than a team with one guy making $2 million and others making $33k.

That won't attract as big of a crowd as Posh & Becks or Blanco, but I suspect that a greater percentage of people coming to a match for their first time would return if the soccer on the pitch were more exciting than for the one-time novelty of Beckham. Developing MLS is going to be a long arduous process. There's no quick fix. Better to attract 100 new fans every week and keep 20 than to attract 10,000 new fans to one game against LA and keep 10.


I noticed that Colorado's stadium seemed empty, and yet I think it was probably more full than the camera showed. I could hear the supporters group chanting, etc, but couldn't see them, which leads me to think that the stadium's camera position is stupidly placed on the same side as the hardcore supporters. At DC, the camera faces the Bara Brava and Screaming Eagles, giving the impression that it's a packed madhouse of excitement. If the camera was facing the other side, it wouldn't look nearly as good (although still better than Colorado looked yesterday).

Steve Goff dice:

Volkswagen pays $14 million over the life of the contract, so something like $2.7M a year. They also have the option to purchase naming rights on the new stadium when it's built, in 2011 or 12 at the outside currently. Volkswagen's also picking up the parking cost on Thuesday, so that's nice of them. Gallardo gets to shill for VW in Latin America too. Belogoed jerseys are already available for purchase on Thursday as well.

Kevin Payne and Dave Kasper just got back from Argentina and Boca-River, sniffing around players; idle speculation says some sort of youth development/tie in with Boca. Payne is also going to go and visit VfL Wolfsburg as well sometime soon.

Toronto is rumored to have lined up friendlies with Independiente and Pachuca; ticket sales for USA-Argentina are over 40,000, and someone got stabbed in the middle of a drunken miniriot after Chivas-Houston on Sunday. Great.

That would be extremely cool. A welcom break from TFC's relentless euro-centrism.

Also, it implies the club thinks it can make a go of this Champions League thing and they need to practice against Latin opposition. I like that. I'm looking forward to a road game in Mexico.