The council has come out in favor of a stadium and will cover the first $150 million of it, I believe.

We have a draw for the first round of the USOC, amateur vs pro teams all the way through. All regional matchups with the exception of 2 notable insanities involving sending Yakima Reds to play Harrisburg, and Plastic Palace to LA to play the PDL LA Legends. Hollywood United goes to Portland Timbers, btw. matches June 10th, as are the final MLS qualifiers, Columbus "at" Chicago, and Colorado at KC.

Some city councillors have proposed $150m of public money for a new stadium at Poplar Point - in DC, that means we're as close to getting a stadium as me saying "Blimey, that Kirsten Dunst is tasty" means that I will imminently have sexual relations with that woman.

Seven years and counting now since Poplar Point was first mooted, and it's still no more than a verbal bargaining tool in city politics.

But unlike Kirsten Dunst (your metaphor, not mine) nothing else has been built on that site yet (I was going to say errected, but thought that would lower the tone) so there's still hope a SSS will be among the things built there.

Meanwhile, the USA crushes Norway mercilessly.

http://www.cricketeurope4.net/DATABASE/ARTICLES2/articles/000034/003456.shtml

So Brian McBride and Bocanegra have been released by Fulham, has anyone in the MLS said that they are interested yet? Do their original clubs (Columbus? and Chicago) retain their rights?

Looking at the press releases coming out of Seattle, they look like they could have a pretty sizeable supporter base - with 16,200 confirmed season ticket holders.

McBride is likely to return to MLS, Bocanegra isn't. Nobody holds their rights as such, but Toronto are top of the allocation list right now. However, McBride likely has little interest in playing in Canada, as he is coming back to America for family reasons. His family's from Chicago and that would be his preferred destination; so if the Fire want him (which I'm told they do), they'll need to work out a deal with Toronto.

How does the allocation list work, exactly? How does one get to be top of the list?

Antonio Gramsci wrote:

QUOTE:
How does the allocation list work, exactly? How does one get to be top of the list?

It's because you finished bottom of the league last year (expansion teams jump ahead of that, but San Jose have already used their allocation).

But what do we get allocated, exactly? I always hear the word allocation used in conjunction with money, not the right to recruit players returning from England. (and wouldn't we have used up our allocation in getting Guevara?)

See here. And remember, this is MLS, so who really knows?

Hey, we're, like, looking pretty good in this match so far (knock on wood).

The only-ONLY-difference between this and the 3-0 assbeating we put on in Gillette last year is how crappy the defense is playing. The forward line is fixed. The finishing is fixed. The backline is shaky, the keeper is a disaster, we have one viable sub of the bench (who should be starting at left back).

One of the biggest reasons Houston went to the Cup final last year was because their coach and organization had made them 16 deep. DC was 13, tops. One year on, that hasn't changed, despite discovering Marc Burch from nowhere last year, signing 2 new central defenders, and reclaiming an ever more effective Santino Quaranta.

Soehn must go. Maybe Dave Kasper too.

AG: I don't think you used an allocation to get him; I think you had to trade for his MLS rights from Chivas so you paid for him. An allocation is generally one of 2 things: first dibs on a specific player, or a pot of money to get one.

The finishing could be a little better.

But the main problem is the consistent fuck-ups in the back, and of course that starts with Wells.

It's gonna get fixed, one way or another. But the Shield's probably out of reach now, and that's waht really pisses me off.

Maybe we could work something where we can rent Kasey Keller for the rest of the season and then promise to send him on to Seattle next year (where I'm almost sure he is destined) by which time we can find somebody else decent.