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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GET IN LINE EDITION

On Sunday I chose to watch the US MNT World Cup Qualifier live and follow it up with Spain-Italy from the European Championships on DVR-delay. Wild guess: I made the rare selection. The rest of the day’s decisions, unfortunately, were less unusual. Click HERE for the full story…

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THINKING ABOUT MONEY EDITION

I check my email and there is a link to an article by Jack Bell about rookie salaries being a pittance in MLS. More or less a time marker: nothing has changed substantially on this topic in years I think to myself. Then I start thinking about the reported fee for the next expansion franchise: $40 million. So I start thinking about money. Who makes what, where does it come from, who is making out, who is getting the short stack? Then Steve Morrow gets fired… Click HERE for the full story…

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GROWING PAINS EDITION

So this past weekend was supposed to be my first Red Bulls game of the season, what turned out to be their 2-0 defeat of San Jose. But I didn’t go. I saw my hometown Atlanta Braves lose to their arch rival Mets at Shea Stadium instead (accessible by the subway!!) for the second day in a row after a friend invited me.

The first Red Bulls home game fell two days after my birthday, and friends threw a party for me that game night. So I didn’t go. The second game fell on the same day as FC Harlem’s 1-1 tie against the Brooklyn Knights, the first big test for the infant Harlem club. I wanted to spend some time with the players for the feature I am (still, yes) working on about the biggest little soccer club in the world. So I didn’t go.

It’s now Monday. Back in the office for my ‘real’ job and thinking about the weekend past and the two that lay ahead… Click HERE for the full story…

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PERILOUS VOYAGE EDITION

Call me crazy, but I usually agree with Paul Gardner. Whether it’s preaching the power of Spanish culture in American soccer through his columns for years before the nation came around to it or his feisty off the field rants which I have cherished for their honesty and humor the few times I’ve been privy to them, most things Gardner writes or says are on point.

But (and this is a big but)… 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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The Sweet smell of my lady’s love / her body blending with my own / a time when the world is dark and quiet and we’re alone / the precipice that separates noise from peace / a hint of the ever evolving magic / a precious place that combines and still confirms the space of oneness and togetherness / there is a morning thought.

And still a softer morning in March / a gift for me from god with a darling face and papa’s eyes and grandma’s grace / how there the light of immortality shines / as wondrous fragile dream chase light and the slightest breeze for the first time / morning thoughts then evolve as smiles and love and sunshine and…

Soccer. There is a morning thought. My lady in all her imperfect glory wakes from her beauty sleep to welcome me back into her arms. MLS 2008. What? You were expecting a preview? I think you know where to find it. Or you can sign up to follow TIAS on Twitter for instant updates on everything you need to know and a few things you don’t all season long.

–quote with a slight addendum, from Gil Scott-Heron’s “Morning Thoughts” off Reflections, Arista 1981.

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IF I WERE HOLDING MY BREATH I’D BE DEAD BY NOW EDITION

Two of my biggest frustrations were alive and well this week. One because there is still yet to be an appearance, and the other because there was the rarest of sightings (we’re talking snow leopards here). Give me just one star player and one long form soccer story, and I’ll cry you a river. One out or two aint bad. Which one we got, along with my favorite discussion topic, after the jump. Click HERE for the full story…

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frankenfood edition

The more things change, the more they stay the same. A lame cliché I know, but quite fitting for the final week of the MLS off-season before teams must have their salary caps in order. Or tell the league office they won’t be able to do that by Monday. You know, either way. Whatever you need to do. It’s a rule, but don’t worry so much about following it. Whatever you need to do.

Such is life in corporate America. Don’t like a rule? Change it. Create a new rule. Create whatever you think you need to protect those profits. They are not Monsanto. Millions are not sick or dead from the products sold by MLS. But lately, it seems MLS might be manufacturing growth. Like a genetically modified seed, you have to wonder about the environmental cost.

After the jump, a week of focus on the altered DNA of MLS. Click HERE for the full story…

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QUARANTINE THE CALM BEFORE THE STORM EDITION

As the likes of Goff and Galarcep do the dirty work of uncovering and reporting on the increased outbreak of signings as we edge closer to the start of the 2008 MLS season, lets ask a few questions. It’s arguably been the biggest off-season ever. After the jump, some things to think about as we tread the pre-season waters before putting MLS back under the microscope. Click HERE for the full story…

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