This Is American Soccer, US Soccer, MNT, WNT, and MLS - Tackling the subject of Soccer in the US, and worldwide.

Welcome to the Designated Players.

I know you have been holding your breath.

What’s that?

After those-half-ass-viral-campaign-teaser-banners? What, a few new prominent links?

Please. Lame.

That is one way to look at it. Click HERE for the full story…

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Sooner or later the party ends up in their room. Join the fun later this month.

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coming soon to the sport of the internet

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…coming soon to the sport of the internet…

and for those who haven’t seen it yet, I captained the good ship du Nord today. check it out.

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“You goin in,” a Fulham fan asked a Portsmouth rival from the line at Fratton Park’s visitors gate? “Of course,” the hefty Pompey supporter said smiling, his PFC jersey stretched to the brink over his belly. “Once in a lifetime isn’t it?”

Yes sir. My first two English Premier League games go down as not just historic for me, but for Fulham as well. My week in England comes to a close, but Fulham and its American quintuplets will be in the Premiere League next season, thanks to the greatest ugly win I have ever seen. (Reading and Derby County’s American players were not as lucky). Click HERE for the full story…

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The Seattle Sounders are not the only thing leaving the USL this year. Another Pacific Northwest soccer icon is hanging it up. The Portland Timbers’ Jim Serrill retired last Thursday, razing the fans as Timber Jim one final time.

I thought this would get more attention in the soccersphere but I guess a mascot–a word I don’t think quite fits Jim–doesn’t pull attention when they aren’t in front of the home crowd.

Maybe too it was time for a chainsaw-wielding icon to step aside as the city of Portland and indeed much of the Northwest continues its make-over from a region famous for resource extraction to one more interested in conservation.

Now I’ve never been a big fan of mascots. The only indelible memory I have of this sporting sideshow is the Atlanta Braves’ blatantly racist Chief Nokahoma accidently setting fire to his teepee in the left field bleachers of Fulton County Stadium.

But Timber Jim was different. As longtime Timbers fan Brian Costello said it in an e-mail that included the photographs you see here and after the jump, “It was an immense night.” Click HERE for the full story…

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At 40, Fox Soccer Report anchor and Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) broadcaster Mitch Peacock has seen a few things, held a few jobs. My father on the other hand has had one job, been with one company his entire professional life. At 30, I’ve already surpassed him. The reality of my dad’s career inadvertently raised me to think that was the norm, that if for some reason you bounced from job to job there was something wrong. Then I entered the journalism world and came to realize that he is the rare case.

With this newfound knowledge, I forced myself to speak to as many people as possible to rectify my worn-in belief, to prove without a shadow of a doubt that leaving one job and taking another is not only not a bad thing, but could in fact be better, maybe even required if you expect to progress in your career.

Early in the life of TIAS I decided to reach out to some soccer journalists in order to learn their stories and discover their paths. Soccer journalism is its own beast with its own issues and following those issues is imperative I believe to getting at my self imposed editorial directive: What is American soccer? As goes the sport in this country, so goes the media, or is it the other way around?

The fact that the #1 soccer highlight show—number one because it’s the only one—in the country is produced in Canada by a Canadian company and sold to other markets, the U.S. being just one, is a great example of the at times, umm, odd?, soccer marketplace. With dwindling budgets, un-(soccer)educated editors, publishers, and producers, not to mention the hyper-fracturing of the consumer base, soccer is forced even further out in order to find a place in this wide world of sports and entertainment. Apparently that means Winnipeg, Manitoba.

As with soccer, each of our own professional aspirations and career paths face a daunting future. We all must find a place in this continually more competitive world. Peacock’s story, which he shares with me after the jump, is a prime example.

Click HERE for the full story…

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HISTORY EDITION

Somewhere a copy editor is pissed. Everything this MLS season is historic. “A historic double header,” as it was continuously described on Fox Soccer Channel, culminated the pre-season hype and put a fitting cap on the media hyperbole heading into Saturday’s games. Thing about it was, though, the games didn’t want to be left out. Some quick hits from an exciting opening weekend after the jump.

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photo credit: Bouna Coundoul by ISI Photos Click HERE for the full story…

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SHIRT OFF MY BACK EDITION

USA 2, Mexico 2. Man those games are fun (even when the soccer aint so good, and it don’t count for nothin). Altidore scored what will be his first of many international goals (and mixed it up throughout his 90 minutes). Onyewu returned from his recent international doldrums with, yes, a perfect header, but he also hustled back and stood up the countering Mexicans seconds later (without a foul!). Bocanegra was the foul king last night, but he did manage to not make any of the major mishaps he has a tendency to oblige (and that have him out of the Fulham starting lineup?). Michael Bradley also committed some dumb fouls and continues to struggle with carrying his club prowess into the national team (it was painful to watch him for most of the night, but all of our European-based players looked tired, so we’ll give him the friendly pass). Considering we shoulda coulda won what was a game largely dominated by the speed and tenacity of the young Mexicans (we should all count our blessings that Giovanni Dos Santos played as few minutes as he did) in front of what seemed like 60,000 Mexican fans in Houston of all places, I guess a draw - a Mexican moral victory as it was called - is acceptable (as long as Bradley learned some things ((like bringing in a few more defensive backs?))).

My favorite part of the game and the rest of this week’s news are after the jump. For continuing updates on all the must-read stories, Follow TIAS at Twitter (see side panel at right).

banner photo courtesy of ISI Photos

Click HERE for the full story…

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EDITOR IN CHIEF OF FUTBOL MUNDIAL IS BREAKING DOWN BORDERS,

WAITING FOR AMERICAN SOCCER TO CATCH UP

Robert Abramowitz has a drool-inducing resume: Television Commentator/Anchor - ESPN International (Latin America) & ESPN Deportes (US) - May 1994 – Present. Radio Commentator - NFL/Westwood One/Univisión Radio - November 2003-Present. Radio/TV Play-by Play/Analyst - New York Knicks - May 1996 – Present. Television Voiceover/HBO Sports - August 2001 – Present. And of course, Editor in Chief - Fútbol Mundial - May 2002 – Present.

And that’s just the stuff he is presently working on, to say nothing of his past. So, um, Robert might have a thing or two to say about Hispanics and American sports. You can find Part 1 of our conversation here; we pick up with the state of Futbol Mundial and FM USA after the jump. Click HERE for the full story…

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