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

STAYING AROUND EDITION

God save us all. Yanks Abroad, the finest on-line contribution to American soccer abroad was rumored most notably by MLS Underground to be closing its digital doors or as MLSU put it, YA had “suspended operations indefinitely.” MLSU was so far underground in this instance Plamegate came to mind, in terms of simply printing unsubstantiated material from secret sources. MLSU does a fine job with what they do and offers educated opinions on soccer topics, but I see no reason it needs to come at everything under a veil of secrecy. As far as i can tell, they haven’t had a single real scoop ever. I mean no offense with that, but why the gag?

A few simple e-mails and a phone call with YA president Chad Winger confirmed my suspicion that this information was not true. Finances are surely tight as with any soccer publication, and in the case of a site like Yanks Abroad where so many contributors in so many places have an interest in how the business is run (soccer business has the same growing pains as soccer in general) these problems have the chance to compound, but still no better product exists, and Winger assured me he is planning on a long future for the business, as noted this morning on their site. During our conversation Winger noted several interesting initiatives building steam while most of their content targets are in the off-season. Like any good team, YA is looking to use the offseason to make improvements.

In other news, MLS just can’t get out of the way of National Team schedules – it will be interesting to see the ratings of the two as the summer progresses in that more than a few games will be fighting head-to-head for television viewership. With all the focus on the upcoming NT matches, and what with little to say at this point until the games get rolling, this week’s barometer is letting loose on a few random, but interesting stories circulating around the soccersphere. A Grant Wahl teaser and the rest of the week’s intrigue are after the jump…

One man has the means to be a huge force in American soccer. Whereas this article implies the a reality TV project is backed by Fulham boss Al Fayed, an e-mail from the Fulham Communications Director noted the reality TV show was simply a project that had been proposed to the team boss, and not something he had created or was definitely funding. I do wish, however, if he follows through with working on American soccer projects, they will be something more substantial and newsworthy than a reality TV show.

College soccer isn’t the worst thing in the world. That’s about the best anybody will say for the game, but that still leaves the college education, which apparently still draws some interest from talented players. I’d never heard of him, but I’m suddenly a big fan of Geren Gittens, even if he is in the Canadian National Team system.

Grant Wahl gives his thoughts on Beckham resurgence this week, but given the Barcelona dateline, I have to think Wahl has something else up his sleave. It’s not like him to travel just to write a column. I’m hoping for one those in-depth features I love so much to spawn from his trip.

Tom Dunmore, at his This is Football blog, has a nice piece on the Portland Timbers and their supporter group (with some additional thoughts on the Fire’s version (Tom lives in Chicago)). It doesn’t surprise me the USL basically gets no love in general, but it does surprise me, that given the passion found in places like Portland, that MLS isn’t looking at some sort of relationship.

Usually focusing on more of the lighter side of soccer, Soccernista has some on-point comments about Alexi Lalas. If you’ve read TIAS for the past couple of years, you know I agree with the ‘nista 100 percent.

And lastly, does anyone really care about an official Youtube channel for MLS (this is nothing new, lots of sport leagues and teams have them)? This barely seems worth a press release to me. Though, if it means more videos like this, than I’ll check it often. But I’ve got a feeling it more regurgitated highlights that are mostly up in Youtube anyway.

Late Night Addition:

I forgot to add this in, and it definitely is worth noting if you haven’t seen it (please let it all come true):

“The proposal on the table is by far the best proposal that this league has ever seen,” Paul Caligiuri said. “The sports group is committed to building a franchise that will compete with teams in the rest of the world, not just MLS.”

Caliguri, besides a Hall of Fame defender, is also a spokesman for the Las Vegas Sports & Entertainment Group who has cash in hand, plenty for the MLS ante of $35 million.

Soccer In Vegas. With a retractable roof stadium adjacent a new hotel and casino. Holy Moses.