One thing I have been doing is closely following MLS expansion in my hometown of St. Louis. The city council of Collinsville, Illinois will vote on September 10 to approve a pre-annexation agreement that would set the wheels in motion for a stadium deal that would be the home of a St. Louis MLS team and the relaunched women’s professional team.

The primary prospective owner is local attorney Jeff Cooper. I have spoken with him on several occasions, and based on these conversations, St. Louis soccer fans should consider themselves so lucky that a true soccer fan has decided to invest so much time and energy into bringing professional soccer to St. Louis.

Yes, he has drawn criticism from the provincial folk in St. Louis that like think driving across the Mississippi is the equivalent of crossing an international border. However, the site is about ten minutes from downtown St. Louis, and if these same soccer fans in Missouri are willing to drive to a Cardinals game, they should be willing to drive to Collinsville. Luckily, Cooper is the kind of owner that would not stop until soccer fans are flocking to Collinsville to see a successful team that reflects the area’s rich soccer heritage.

Here’s hoping that Cooper can finalize the deal. He and a St. Louis area team would really be great for this league.

However, I have to comment on MLS, especially the undisputed game of the week: New York’s 5-4 victory over Los Angeles.

Over 66,000 fans packed into Giants Stadium.  Sure, most were drawn to see Becks, but Beckham received just as many boos as he did cheers.  And, I don’t think the Red Bulls or the league could have dreamed of a better game to put on for all of these fans.

Hopefully, you didn’t tune into the game a little late since it means you missed three goals.  I suppose when you see three goals in the opening eight minutes, you know you better watch all 90.  Even when Jozy Altidore scored in the 70th minute to give New York a 4-2 lead, I knew I needed to keep watching, and of course, Landon Donovan (you know, the other star that plays for the Galaxy), scored on the ensuing Galaxy kickoff.  Then David Beckham, who already provided assists on Carlos Pavon’s first two goals for LA, delivers a corner kick in the 82nd minute towards Kyle Veris.  Veris’ header hit the post, but Edson Buddle bundled home the rebound to equalize at 4-4.

Even then, I knew another goal was coming, and lo and behold Juan Pablo Angel pounced on a rebound from a Clint Mathis shot, and the former Aston Villa forward bounced the ball in off LA goalie Joe Cannon to round out the scoring, although at the time, I still thought we could be in for another goal.

As for why 9 goals were scored in this game, it is pretty simple.  New York has been porous defensively ever since early June when Eddie Johnson scorched them for a hat trick.  The Galaxy, while never possessing a truly stout defense, had several injuries along the back line, and things only got worse when Ante Jazic, a natural left back forced to play in the middle, had to leave the game in the first half.  At the same time, the Red Bulls had Angel, Altidore, and Mathis while LA had Beckham, Donovan, and Pavon.

Now for the other games:

Chivas 2, Toronto 0

Chivas, despite a singular playmaker, continues to put together good results while Toronto continues its scoreless streak.   At 552 consecutive scoreless minutes, they are perilously close to breaking the record for futility set of 557 by Real Salt Lake in 2005, which also happened to be Salt Lake’s inaugural season.

Chicago Fire 2, Real Salt Lake 0

Beckham may be getting the marquee signing this season in MLS, but Cuauhtemoc Blanco is a surprisingly close second.  Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake saw a large number of Club America jerseys (Blanco’s former team), and the fans of the Mexico City club were brought to their feet when Blanco unleashed a spectacular half-volley to score his first MLS goal.  He later provided the assist to Paulo Wanchope, who also scored his first MLS goal.

Houston Dynamo 1, FC Dallas 0

Houston had to shrug off consecutive losses to Salt Lake and Colorado in league play, followed by a heartbreaking loss to Pachuca on penalties (by the way, what was Joseph Ngwenya thinking on that penalty?).  However, they were able to gather themselves and beat their cross-state rivals to solidify their spot at the top of the Western Conference.  Dallas really needs Juan Toja, suffering from a high ankle sprain, back in the starting eleven if they want to be a serious title threat, but as I know from experience, high-ankle sprains are a very tricky injury.

DC United 2, Columbus Crew 0

DC continues to pick up points in the Eastern Conference, and Columbus, who looked like they were capable of making a charge after early season struggles, may be starting to fade again.

New England Revolution 1, Kansas City Wizards 0

Speaking of teams that are fading, the Wizards looked awful in this loss Sunday night.  Earlier this season, Kansas City was probably the most exciting team in the league with their relentless attacking spirit, their excellent passing, and their excellent movement off the ball.  However in consecutive losses to New England, they have looked completely impotent.  Johnson has played poorly, but he also isn’t getting support from midfield with the under-performing Carlos Marinelli one of the biggest disappointments.   Meanwhile, New England bounces back from a terrible 3-0 loss to Colorado on Thursday to stay on top in the East.

Then I made the mistake of watching national news outlets “cover” the game. I’m normally not one to complain about soccer coverage in the United States, and for the most part, I’m pleased with what we have. However, I have to comment on the coverage of this game. The pattern of nearly every sports highlight show was as follows: show the goal, marvel at the feat, note how “only” 17,000 were at the game, claim that Beckham was over-hyped and that the buzz has worn off, and finally say that Beckham can’t “save” soccer (and possibly bring up the NASL to make it look like you know what you are talking about). Finally, I even heard a Sportscenter anchor suggest that Beckham missed so many games because he was saving himself to play for England.

Okay, let’s rant:

• Spectacular goal, no question about it.

• How is 17,000 in attendance a major disappointment? This game was not included in the season ticket package, ticket prices were nearly double the cost of a league match, and the game wasn’t even on any schedule until a few weeks ago. Then there is always the midweek curse. And even if 17,000 is truly just a disastrous number, isn’t it a specious argument to make such a massive conclusion based on one game?

• I’ll admit that the Galaxy and the league hyped Beckham, but at no point did they claim he was the savior of soccer in this country. In fact, Don Garber explicitly stated that this league doesn’t need saving on several occasions.

• Sports journalists love to claim that Pele couldn’t make soccer huge in America. It makes them sound intelligent, but they are actually dead wrong. America was a soccer wasteland in the 1970s. Pele changed that forever. Millions of people who didn’t know the difference between a corner kick and an offside trap (let alone even know about those terms) suddenly paid attention to soccer because of Pele. And it isn’t as if attendances and interest in NASL plummeted the moment Pele retired; the league’s highest average attendances occurred after Pele retired. The reason NASL collapsed is because they had no idea how to capitalize on this surge in popularity, and they didn’t have a deep and talented pool of American players to turn to once they realized that they can’t just keep spending big money on aging foreign stars. Pele was a smashing success; it’s just a shame that the NASL was a house of cards.

• Okay, there is only one word to describe the theory that Beckham sat out matches because it would help him play for England: “idiocy”. Regardless of the problems with the England squad, Steve McClaren is not going to fly Beckham halfway around the world and back if Beckham hasn’t played a competitive match in two months.

• These media types complain about the Beckham hype, but they don’t seem to understand that in order to create hype, journalists must be complicit. And the most ironic thing of all is that by complaining about the hype, they actually create more hype.

• So why does coverage of soccer usually devolve into this sort of conversation? It’s simple; these people have next to zero knowledge about the game so in order to cover the event, they have to revert to thinly-veiled soccer bashing. Perhaps the ferocity of the hatred is toned-down, and some of the points have become more nuanced. Still, it is the same old, same old from some of these people.

I don’t mean to be one of the typical whiny babies when it comes to soccer coverage. I actually was a soccer fan in this country when fans of the game were begging for any kind of scraps, but today, there is absolutely no shortage of soccer coverage.

I know I’m asking for a lot, but I pray for the day that soccer coverage only covers the action on the field.

• In MLS, I have to wonder what has happened to Houston the past two weeks. This team was the hottest club in the league, but they have lost two straight games to two of the league’s worst teams: Real Salt Lake and Colorado. Perhaps they have been looking forward to their Superliga match against Pachuca, a rematch of the CONCACAF Champions Cup semi-final earlier this year.
• August is always a difficult time of year in MLS. Temperatures almost everywhere are oppressive and often affect the speed and quality of play. However, we saw some excitement in Dallas’ 3-2 win over Columbus. Initially, Dallas looked lost without their midfield engine Juan Toja, but they somehow came from behind in the last ten minutes to grab all three points after defender Clarence Goodson headed home a corner kick deep into stoppage time.

• Obviously, can Manchester United repeat?  Carlos Tevez gives them a real consistent attacking threat outside of Wayne Rooney and Christiano Ronaldo, but of course what happens should Rooney or Ronaldo succumb to injury?  Also, how much longer can Sir Alex rely on Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes?  Anderson and Nani are talened young players, but I don’t know if we’ll see too much from them in their first season in England.
• I really wonder what will happen at Chelsea this year.  There’s no question that the  Roman Abramovich/Jose Mourinho is strained to say the least, and it is difficult to imagine this relationship lasting too much longer without at least another Premiership title.  Unfortunately for Chelsea, they face injury problems, most notably captain John Terry.  I don’t think Chelsea can afford an early season slump and expect to reclaim the title, especially with Didier Drogba and Michael Essien likely to miss several weeks after the new year for the African Nations Cup.
• Can Liverpool jump into the top two?  Signing Fernando Torres could be a dynamite signing for the club, and it could be a sign that Rafa Benitez is looking to succeed in thePremiership this season as opposed to just the Champions League .  Ryan Babel and Andriy Voronin are also great additions to the club.
• Even without Henry, Arsenal should be fun to watch this season as they always are, but there are so many questions about the club.  After missing much of the second half of the 2006/2007 campaign, Robin Van Persie could be on the verge of becoming a star, and new signing Eduardo Da Silva could provide the cold blooded goal scoring that Arsenal so desperately needed last season.  Still, while the talent is there, Arsenal is still a young team and will likely be in transition mode once again.
• Arsenal’s north London rivals Tottenham, however, could be ready to jump into a Champion’s League slot.  Keeping Dimitar Berbatov was a major accomplishment for Spurs, and Darren Bent gives them more firepower up top.  However, we’ve heard this story from White Hart Lane for the past two years, and if Martin Jol doesn’t deliver Champions League soccer for next season, he may be looking for a new job.
• As for the bottom of the table, I have some serious questions about Reading.  They were a tremendous surprise last season, but now they won’t be sneaking up on anybody.  Plus, their midfield engine Steve Sidwell has moved on to Chelsea.
  Sunderland will be interesting to watch with Roy Keane at the helm, and if there is one newly promoted team that seems ready to make some noise in the Premiership, Sunderland seems like a good choice.  Brian McBride being named Fulham’s captain is a wonderful story for American soccer fans, but Fulham will have to find a way to turn things around after a late season slump put them in relegation peril.  Finally, can we all agree that Derby will be this season’s Watford?

Well, as I finish this entry, we’re about 7 hours from the start of the new season.  Enjoy!

It wasn’t the ideal situation for Beckham to make his debut. He had hardly had practiced with his teammates since he arrived about a month ago. Plus, the soggy pitch had to create more doubts about the condition of his left ankle. Finally, Kyle Martino didn’t make things easier when he was sent off for a horrid tackle on DC United midfielder Fred. It appeared Beckham was ready to check in just before the red card, and perhaps his introduction to the match was delayed so Galaxy boss Frank Yallop could alter his tactics.

Still, there were encouraging signs from Beckham. Despite his relative unfamiliarity with his teammates, he was comfortable showing for the ball and trying to pull the strings in midfield. He delivered a fantastic through ball for Landon Donovan late in the game that was foiled only by a smart and brave challenge from DC goalie Troy Perkins. He also had set up a chance on a free kick, but Carlos Pavon couldn’t direct a header on goal.

Finally, Beckham better hope that Pavon, Alan Gordon, and/or Edson Buddle learn to finish quality chances since all three, particularly Pavon and Buddle, missed glorious chances to equalize (although Tommy Smyth had a good point when he said Beckham got used to watching that poor finishing from watching Andy Cole at Manchester United).

It’s a shame Becks has to find himself in the middle of the mess created by Yallop and Alexi Lalas. I suppose Donovan, Joe Cannon, Abel Xavier (he has been a pleasant surprise for LA), and the injured Chris Albright would be a welcomed addition for every team in this league, but the rest of the squad is nothing but a bunch of has-beens, unfulfilled potential, and simply talentless hacks.

The worst part for the Galaxy is that their reckless wheeling and dealing may prevent them from keeping Donovan on the squad next year. Donovan’s high salary (about 900k a year plus bonuses) was exempt from requiring the use of a designated player slot this season, but he would count as a “DP” next season. Unfortunately, the Galaxy only have one DP slot this year, and it’s obvious who occupies that. It seemed obvious that LA would trade for another DP slot to keep Donovan with the Galaxy when Beckham signed with the club, but what do the Galaxy have to offer? Herculez Gomez was traded to get Cannon, they used an allocation (if you have questions about such terminology, please ask) to acquire Nate Jaqua, who turned out to be a flop in LA and was traded to Houston for Kelly Gray (so that’s essentially an allocation for Kelly Gray. Does anyone see a problem?) Then, they trade US U-20 defender/midfielder Nathan Sturgis and promising forward Robbie Findley for an over-the-hill Chris Klein. I’m sure some combination of those players and the allocation could fetch a DP slot.

Maybe the Galaxy can come up with another DP slot. Maybe the league will make up some silly rule to allow Donovan to stay with the club without a DP slot. Still, that doesn’t excuse the horrible player management by the Galaxy. I know the British tabloids have called Galaxy a “pub team”, but I have a feeling there are plenty of regulars at your local soccer bar that could have done a better job putting this team together.

As for the team this year, Beckham will obviously add leadership and class to this team.  Donovan will no longer have to carry the team offensively, and perhaps other players will benefit from Beckham’s vision and skill.  Of course, they will probably also learn how to draw fouls from about 25 yards from goal.

Still, I doubt Becks to perform a miracle and make this team a playoff contender.

Grant Wahl Interviews Freddy Adu About Making the Move to Benfica

The $2 million transfer may not sound like much, but there is a sell-on clause that would give the league a portion of a potential Adu transfer from Benfica.

Freddy never did dominate the league, but I’m not going to call his MLS career a personal failure. He was very impressive at times with DC United, especially in 2006, and I can’t find fault with him struggling in Salt Lake since that club has way too many issues for one player to overcome.

As he says in the article, he was often forced to play out of position in MLS. At DC, Christian Gomez was one of the best playmakers in the league, but coach Peter Nowak wanted to get Adu on the field anyway so Adu needed to learn how to play out wide in a 3-5-2, a position with immense defensive responsibility as well. Still, Freddy was able to produce some eye-popping moments of brilliance for DC. At Salt Lake, they played him on the wing with Mehdi Ballouchy playing as the number 10, which is the type of mind-boggling move that forced John Ellinger out of the coaching ranks early in the season.

Benfica often plays with a diamond midfield or a 4-2-2-2; both formations would allow Adu to play the type of central attacking role where he is most comfortable. Even if he does not become a starter immediately, he will get the chance to learn from veterans like Rui Costa as well play in a real reserve system. (MLS did not have a reserve system when Adu entered the league in 2004)

The Yankee Hooligan on the Beckham Backlash in Dallas

Okay, I understand that people really want to see Beckham, and that they put down good money to do so. Still, do people lack the common sense to know that there is a chance that any player can get injured and be unavailable to play? Beckham is going to be around for a while so it isn’t as if you’ve missed a once in a lifetime event, and besides, the fans in Dallas got to see a frickin’ 6-5 match. Now that’s a once in a lifetime type of event!

Anyway, Beckham is flying with the team to Toronto this weekend, and he might play. By the way, Tennis Coach provided a pretty good article explaining Beckham’s left ankle.

LA looked horrible against Chivas de Guadalajara this past weekend, but then, once again without Beckham, score 4 goals in the opening 18 minutes against Dallas tonight. Dallas pulls within one in the 82nd minute, but Landon Donovan scores goal number 5 for LA 2 minutes later, seemingly putting the game away. But then, Carlos Ruiz scores one minute into stoppage time for Dallas, Carlos Pavon scores 4 minutes later for LA, but Dallas once again scores only a minute later through Abe Thompson. However, referee Kevin Stott blew for full time shortly thereafter.

I know a lot of fans were there hoping to get a glimpse of Beckham, but I don’t think they have much room to complain after seeing eleven goals!

But just to make sure, can anybody confirm that this result actually took place?

Yesterday, the league’s disciplinary committee announced that they were suspending Ballouchy for 2 games and fined him $1,000.  (video of the play)   In addition, Kansas City head coach Curt Onalfo was fined $1,000 and defender Nick Garcia fined $250 for public criticism of the game’s officials.

Personally, this deserved more than two games.  This appeared to be premeditated, and Victorine was fortunate that he did not have to miss any more games because of the incident.  Daniele De Rossi received 4 games for his elbow against Brian McBride last year in the World Cup, and just because Ballouchy didn’t catch Victorine in the face doesn’t mean that the elbow was any less vicious or dangerous.

Also, for those who believe the committee should not add suspensions for incidents that were seen by the referee, first, I don’t think referee Tim Weyland saw the elbow.  Judging by the video, he was likely watching the ball after Victorine played it forward, and while he knew that Ballouchy barged into Victorine well after the ball was played, he was likely not focused enough to see the elbow.

Second, even if Weyland saw the elbow, players should not be able to get away with violent or excessively reckless conduct that results in injury just because of an incompetent referee.  Somebody needs to protect players, and if a referee won’t do it, then the league should.

Andy Herron received four games for his elbow on Jay Heaps in May (and that was probably lenient) so I’m not sure why Ballouchy is only getting two for this one.

Mehdi Ballouchy, Sasha Victorine, Curt Onalfo, Nick Garcia, Andy Herron, Jay Heaps,

One more Superliga note - it is now confirmed that Beckham will not be playing on Tuesday against FC Dallas, although to be fair, this isn’t a total shock. Becks is now hoping to start training with the club again later this week and shooting for the August 5th match at Toronto. Sorry, Dallas fans.

Freddy Adu has finalized a deal with Benfica in Portugal. I’ll probably talk more about this tomorrow.

In MLS, despite the light schedule this weekend, we saw some pretty good goals:

(Goals in order: Ivan Guerrero for Chicago against Toronto, Kerry Zavagnin for KC against Chivas, Yura Movsisyan for KC against Chivas, the bespectacled Jeff Larentowicz for New England over Real Salt Lake, Ante Razov for Chivas against New York)

New England Revolution 2, Real Salt Lake 1 (My prediction 3-1 Revs)

After Carey Talley converted a penalty in the 72nd minute, ten man Salt Lake looked like they might steal a point after New England looked like the dominant team all evening. Then the Revs won a dubious free kick in a dangerous position. At this point, I asked myself “why the hell is Jeff Larentowicz lining up this free kick? What does he think he can accomplish?” Well, I soon found out when he sent in a laser of a game-winner.

Chicago Fire 3, Toronto FC 0 (My prediction 1-1)

Chicago, who hasn’t won on the road since April, really did a number on Toronto. Cuauhtemoc Blanco seems like he has added some offensive spark to this team. Meanwhile, Toronto really has no depth whatsoever. They seemed lost without Jeff Cunningham and Ronnie O’Brien, and to make things worse, Danny Dichio will now miss a month with a hip flexor injury. Of course, TFC is stuck with some young, unproven goalkeeper with Greg Sutton out for the rest of the season with a concussion. Toronto is back at the cellar of the Eastern Conference, and unless they get several players healthy in short order, I think they will stay there.

Kansas City 3, Chivas USA 2

The week’s best match, and that includes the Superliga games. Things didn’t look good for the Wizards early on after Jonathan Bornstein opened the scoring for Chivas, and then Carlos Marinelli missed a penalty a few minutes later. Then Kerry Zavagnin beat Jeff Larentowicz in the category of “Wonder goals scored by defensive midfielders” when he unleashed an upper 90 left-footed beauty. I didn’t think Zavagnin was capable of pulling off such a shot. Chivas didn’t seem to think he was capable of it either as they gave him plenty of space to line it up, and judging by the goal celebration, I don’t think Zavagnin or any of his teammates believed could pull off that shot either.

Both teams looked like they wanted all three points, and Kansas City was the team to get the victory from Yura Movsisyan’s deflected shot in the dying minutes of the game. The win for Kansas City keeps them within one point of New England in the Eastern Conference before their game this Thursday, and the Wizards also showed that someone other than Eddie Johnson can score goals when Johnson is in the lineup. Chivas, on the other hand, no longer look like weak sisters on the road after beating New York last Thursday and losing a heartbreaker in Kansas City.