Soccer Buzz

The MLS All-Stars will play Celtic tonight at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park (pictured) in Denver (okay, actually Commerce City, Colorado). It should be an entertaining game if you believe the claims from the Celtic camp that they intend to take this game seriously, especially after Chelsea lost 1-0 last year in the All-Star Game. Unfortunately for Celtic, they will be playing in a heat they aren’t accustomed to as well as an altitude that perhaps none of the players have experienced.

The big news out of Denver yesterday, however, is the announcement that the San Jose Earthquakes will return to MLS next season as an expansion club. However, for you NFL fans, the expansion will be similar to the Cleveland Browns brief absence from the league; the Earthquakes name, uniforms, and history (including the team’s MLS Cups in 2001 and 2003) remain in San Jose.

For the most part, I’m happy about this. It shows the strength of the league to be able to return to an area that lost their club, and the fans in San Jose deserve this after the hell they went through in 2005. There is one aspect that I’m not totally comfortable with, however. While new owners Lew Wolff and John Fisher have plans to build a stadium near San Jose International Airport, nothing is set in stone, and next year, the team will end up playing at 2 different venues in the San Jose area for their home games next season although Wolff said that most games would be played at one of the sites.

I’m sure Wolff will eventually get a deal for an Earthquakes stadium, but I believe awarding expansion without a solid stadium deal shows both how much the league wanted to get back to San Jose and how much the league wants to have an even number of teams next season. I doubt the league will allow any other potential expansion team to enter the league without a concrete plan set for a stadium, especially because the league doesn’t want another Salt Lake debacle.

As for the next expansion cities, Don Garber has named so many that it is hard to keep track, and the favorites for expansion seem to change every week. Personally, I still have high hopes for St. Louis since it is my home, and the real Dent McSkimming would have wanted a team here as well.

MLS All-Star Game, Glasgow Celtic, San Jose Earthquakes, Lew Wolff, Don Garber