On Saturday morning, Landon Donovan will board a bus at Goodison Park, the stadium at the top of the photo amid all the working class houses, and travel about a mile to Anfield, the stadium at the bottom of the photo amid all the working class houses.    Escorted by a phalanx of security, Donovan and his teammates will walk into Anfield and then, eventually through he tunnel, onto the field, and into an experience wholly new to Donovan.  No matter what happens for the rest of Landon Donovan’s career, no matter what happens in South Africa, no matter whether he returns to the Galaxy or stays in Europe, the following two hours will be among the most memorable he will ever have.

Of all the great European derbies, there are few that can compare to the Merseyside clash.  The Old Firm game in Scotland may be rooted in religious rivalry and for a half century the Barca-Real battle in Spain stood in for the civil war after the bullets stopped flying.  However, it is the proximity of the Merseyside battle that drives the vitriol.  For these two teams, separated by only a park, a cemetery, and 100 years of hate, this game can often define the value of their whole season. 

Part of what makes this Derby so powerful is the sound.  Both Anfield and Goodison are relatively small, confined stadiums.  The crowd at Anfield is right on top of the action, and the noise reverberates around the stadium like shaken pennies in glass jar.  For a normal Liverpool game against some random opponent, Anfield is one of the loudest stadia in the land.  For the Merseyside game, noise is taken to an entirely new level.  The noise at Anfield has feeling.  You can sense it in your chest.  When Donovan takes a cornerkick, he will be taking it while leaning against a wall of sound.  To the extent he will be able to make out anything specific, the dialog would make a pornographer blush.

Ultimately, it is these types of experiences that will make his loan to Everton so valuable to Donovan.  Playing with great players, against great players in an electrified atmosphere is something that you cannot get in 2010’s MLS.  Maybe one day, but not today.  To the extent that Landon under-performed in the World Cup four years ago, one of the reasons why is that he did not have enough experiences like the Merseyside Derby. 

The games Donovan has played against Mexico are passionate, but really do not compare to a Liverpool/Everton match up.  Ultimately, both Mexico and the US have always known that no matter the result, they were both going to qualify for the World Cup.  Beating Mexico is fun mostly because it is so galling to the Mexicans.  Losing to Mexico is always disappointing, but rarely devastating.  What Donovan will experience on Saturday is of a completely different nature.  The fans on both sides are so emotionally committed to the game that they hold nothing in reserve to cushion the blow should they lose. 

For us west-coasters, we are looking at a 4:30 am kick-off on Saturday.  My advice – set your alarm.  With ESPN2 broadcasting the game in HD, it is time to wall –off the TV room, turn the volume up, and let the action wipe the sleep from your eyes.  You rarely get to see a game like this with an American playing a position other than ‘keeper.  It should not be missed.

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As Landon Donovan settles into the Everton, Michael Bradley becomes even more a fixture at the Bundesliga, and Stuart Holden and Ricardo Clark leave the US and take big career risks to fight for a position on European teams, many American fans are bemoaning the fate of the MLS. What if all our stars go to Europe? What if the MLS becomes just a developmental league for European teams?

It may be counter-intuitive, and perhaps a little heretical, but soccer in America, and MLS in particular, can thrive as an exporter of quality domestic talent.

As I have said before, there are plenty of great soccer nations that export all their quality players and yet command a fervent following from their fans. Nearly every great Dutch player plays outside of Holland, and that does not make the Ajax fans walk around bemoaning the state of their league. The majority of the Argentina national team plays in Europe, and the River vs. Boca Super Classico in Buenos Aires makes the Galaxy/Chivas Superclassico look like a garden party. And of course, there is not a single member of the Brazil starting XI who plays for a Brazilian club team (with the possible exception of the newly outcast Robinho), but there are still over 400 teams in the Brazilian Football Confederation.

For the casual US soccer fan, they need to know MLS is not some rinky-dink outfit full of future high-school soccer coaches and European geriatrics. Nothing affirms the quality of our domestic league like watching our players be able to compete in the best leagues of Europe. As Donovan, Bradley, Clint Dempsey, and Tim Howard move from MLS, lock down starting XI positions and square off on a weekly basis against the best talents in the world, casual fans begin to accept the product put out by MLS as worthy of their attention and support.

The more talent we export, or more precisely, the more MLS talent is craved in Europe, the more esteem MLS will garner among US fans. As US players head off to Europe, US soccer fans are affirmed in their decision to follow the teams that can create that type of quality. As the US fans learn, through the experiences of our US players, about the culture and atmosphere of European soccer teams, they will want to replicate that atmosphere here with our domestic league.

Most importantly, the success of soccer in America has far more to do with the success of the US National Team than it does Major League Soccer. Do you want to see full MLS stadiums this summer and fall? If the US team has a decent run in South Africa, it will make a MLS ticket one of the hottest tickets in town. For the US to do well in South Africa, its best player must spend a lot of time in Europe playing against the best the world has to offer. I don’t think anyone seriously argues with that (if you do, I have the US/Honduras game from last month featuring a mostly MLS team on my Tivo to show you). Will Donovan, Clark and Holden be better players this summer after their European experiences? There is little doubt they will be.

Sometime in the coming years, the US will hopefully produce a truly world class outfield player – a player who may start in MLS, but will go on to play an important role for one of the great teams of Europe. The moment when some US player takes off their Kansas City Wizards or Columbus Crew uniform and puts on their Real Madrid or Manchester United kit will be one of the great moments in MLS history – the moment when the MLS will have truly arrived as a great league worthy of the casual sports fans' attention.

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Well, "Atlanta". It's actually in Kennesaw, on the grounds of Kennesaw State University. Kennesaw is in Cobb County, northwest of Atlanta-proper.

Did you know that everyone in Kennesaw has to own a gun? They don't enforce that law, but it is on the books. Has been since '82, I believe. But that's just being random, on to the story...

Steven Goff broke the news today, although the secret wasn't exactly well kept by the Atlanta Beat or Kennesaw State.  The stadium will seat about 8,300 and looks a little like Rochester's stadium. It's somewhat remarkable in a way, since the stadium is so closely tied to the Atlanta Beat, it means Greater Atlanta now has two professional soccer stadiums, this one and Re/Max Greater Atlanta Stadium in Chamblee, where the Atlanta NASL team will play.

Of course, neither is actually in Atlanta, and Herndon Stadium is just sitting there these days thanks to Morris Brown being so badly managed financially. But beggers can't be choosers, and at this point we're still beggers. Soccer stadiums of any kind are better than playing in cramped high school stadiums with narrow athletics tracks around the fields. In truth, Atlanta is setting an example for other metro areas in the US in regards to soccer infrastructure, and being a Charlottean, it's not easy for me to compliment Atlanta. I'm looking at you, Houston.

Hopefully many more are on the way.

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Some random thoughts on the US win and the upcoming game against Costa Rica

The Greatest US Win I Have Never Seen.   A lot has already been said about how absurd it was that this game was not broadcast to the average US fan, so there is no reason to continue to beat this dead horse.  Beyond the television rights, Grant Wahl’s twitter on the game failed to tweet, the ussoccer.com twitter was intermittent at best and their Match Tracker did not work at all (at least for me), so switching between the New York Times Goal! update and Ives Galarcep’s running update was the best I could do.  It was easier to get information about North Korea’s political divisions than it was to figure out what was going on in the game.

Last night’s win was as impressive as the win against Spain in South Africa.  There are a lot of ways to hedge the win against Spain – it was in a neutral stadium, the Spanish took us for granted, it was as much a holiday as a tournament for Spain, etc.  There are no qualifications needed for what happened last night.  The stadium was absolutely rockin (check out Ives’ Youtube from three hours before the game began http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5C8mh-Vhrw).  Honduras had absolutely everything to play for.  We went a goal down at the same time that we knew Costa Rica was ahead and going to get three points.  Nevertheless, the US stepped up and won the game.  And yes, it was lucky that Pavon put the PK over the bar, but no less unlucky than that Holden had a completely fluky handball to set up the PK. 

Is Connor Casey the next Jozy Altidore or the next Eddie Johnson?  Many fans, including myself, were flummoxed to see Connor Casey in the starting lineup in place of Jozy Altidore or Brian Ching.  I guess that is one of several thousand reasons why Bob Bradley is the coach and I am not.  Nevertheless, one game does make a regular US National.  Remember Steve Ralston’s goal against Mexico last qualifying round?   Remember the great run that Johnson had in qualifications for 2006?  Neither do I.  I would suspect that Casey has gotten himself a ticket to South Africa, but I am not convinced he has a place in our starting XI.  I hope that Jozy plays Wednesday against Costa Rica because he should be playing like a man with something to prove.  In fact…

The entire team has something to prove against Costa Rica.  Our worst loss this year was not the Gold Cup final, which came with a boatload of “what ifs.”  It was the 3-1 loss against Costa Rica at Saprissa in June.  The 3-1 score line flattered the US as Costa Rica dominated the game from the beginning to the end.  The US was not just out-played but also out-competed.  Additionally, if we beat Costa Rica, we will have won the Concacaf hex, and….

Winning the Concacaf hex is far more impressive than any hex win in the European qualifying.  For all the talk about the minnows in Concacaf, the truth is winning the Concacaf hex is far more difficult than anything Spain, Italy, England or Germany or any other European team had to do to qualify for South Africa.  None of those teams had a road game that compares with going to Azteca, Saprissa or last night’s games at San Pedro Sula.  There are no Montenegros, Faroe Islands, Andorras or Liechtensteins in the Concacaf hex.  In fact, the worst team in our hex, Trinidad and Tobago, is probably better than the worst 10 teams in the European qualification.  Reigning champion Italy has qualified with six wins in its nine games (just like the US), but Italy has had to play Ireland, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Montenegro and Georgia.  Did you know that Cyprus had 1,100 people show up for one of their WCQ games?  All those Euro football snobs can go stick it.  If the US wins the Concacaf, it will be a fantastic achievement.

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Here's a link to the press release.

I know, this is MLS Talk, not USL Talk. But given recent events, this is newsworthy.

This has been rumored for awhile, not always the Fury, but that a party in Ottawa was interested in entering the USL First Division. But they picked a really strange time to do it, didn't they?

A little more about the club: It was founded in 2005 and currently fields teams in the PDL, W-League (Ottawa Fury Women), and the Super-20 League.

It appears that they plan to play matches at a new stadium to be built at Lansdowne Park, pending the approval of the Ottawa city council. Currently Lansdowne Park is the home of Frank Claire Stadium, which hosted matches at the U-20 World Cup. Frank Clair is in, let's say, less that pristine condition and there's been talk about redeveloping the place. We may well be looking at a ground-share with a potential new Ottawa CFL team.

The Ottawa council meets tomorrow (Sept. 2) to rule on the stadium plan, and that's probably what this whole thing hinges on.

So, what do you guys think of this news, and the timing of the announcement considering everything that's going on with the USL at the moment? I think it's great news for Canada, the more professional options for Canadians the better.

Update: Here's a link to the Lansdowne Live project including the potential stadium. The stadium would seat 25,000. That's massive by USL standards.

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Whether you love or hate DC United, there is no denying that the Capital City’s club is an important part of Major League Soccer’s short history. Despite being one of the original MLS clubs, and despite winning 4 MLS Cups, 4 Supporters’ Shields, the CONCACAF Champions’ Cup, and 2 U.S. Open Cups, the team has had little success in its efforts to obtain its own home, its own soccer specific stadium, in the D.C. area. While United’s current home, RFK Stadium, has played an important role in the American soccer landscape, anyone who has watched a match there can tell you that it is not the best stadium for enjoying a live match.

In recent weeks, the United stadium saga has taken a dark turn. Earlier this year, news of building a stadium in Prince George’s County, Maryland, just across the District line from where RFK is located, surfaced. While this potential move from the city to the suburbs was not completely greeted with open arms by United’s core fan base, it appeared that travel issues would not be a huge problem since the club was focusing on locations easily accessible by Metro lines. Any optimism that a stadium deal would go smoothly was dashed when county officials voted to oppose legislation in Maryland’s legislature that would have authorized a feasibility study for building the stadium.

MLS Commissioner Don Garber chose that time to weigh in on the United stadium issue, suggesting that if a deal for a new stadium cannot be reached, then the team will be moved out of the D.C. area. Whether this threat will have the desired impact on local officials is yet to be seen; however, it has rallied United fans in a grassroots effort to support keeping their team in D.C.

United’s supporter groups, especially the La Barra Brava, have taken the lead on organizing a march on Saturday May 9, 2009 to show fan support for United. The march, which will occur prior to United’s match against Toronto, will begin at Lincoln Park and end at RFK Stadium. Shuttle buses will be available, between 2:30 and 3:30 p.m., to transport fans from the RFK parking lot to Lincoln Park.

Meanwhile, blogs like MatchFitUSA have pushed to make May 9th “Keep United in D.C. Day,” not just in D.C. but across the league by asking fans at other MLS matches to show support for keeping United in D.C.

Garber recently acknowledged that soccer fans in the U.S. are increasingly sophisticated, the size and scope of Saturday’s march will evidence how well organized United’s fans can be in their love of the their team and the sport. While I suspect a strong showing in D.C., I am very interested to see what type of support for keeping United in D.C. appears at other MLS matches this weekend.

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With the release of the United Soccer Leagues 2009 D1 schedule and accompanying Fox Soccer Channel tv schedule, USL shows once again that MLS is not the only game in town.  USL proves again that it carries a lot of weight when it comes to professional soccer in the U.S.  The USL infrastructure is strong enough to continue to be a thorn in the side of MLS.  It has major partnerships with European clubs, its own youth and development leagues and a Women's league.  

Unfortunately, the USL at the professional soccer level, has a lack of innovation and leadership.  There's no backbone and no guts.  It has the same losing business model as MLS.  It suffers from an identity crisis, just as MLS does.

The key statistics to follow this year will be the same as it has been for every year that MLS and USL have been existence, attendance and television ratings.  The next significant key statistic to follow is how many goals are scored per game (Offense brings sports fans in the U.S.).

In order for one of the leagues to stand out and become mainstream, they must solve the puzzle.  It is the greatest sports conundrum in the history of modern American sports, why can't soccer make it in America? 

The pot of gold is out there, it is buried at the end of the rainbow, but the rainbow is multi-layered and multi-dimensional.  MLS and USL will never be able to count on what's happening with soccer leagues everywhere else around the world to be able to discover the treasure.  They must figure out how to market soccer, the beautiful game, to American sports fans and not just soccer purists and/or soccer enthusiasts.

The most interesting stories to follow from USL and MLS are its business dealings.  Both leagues are so lost in what direction they want to go.  There is intrigue involved at every corner of every new stadium being built, both the small ones and the bigger ones.  Sometimes, the strategies involved with play calling, coaching and watching games does not match the intrigue and strategies involved with which developing soccer areas of D2 and Premier of USL are next to breakout and become new soccer havens. 

Who will be this year's Cleveland City? and What will be the next small city to emerge as having the label of a pro soccer city, like Austin?

To its credit, the USL's D1 is hanging around.  Even as it struggles for its survival, it deserves to get attention when it makes news.  Today it made news and showed all of the U.S. soccer fans that it will maintain an appropriate schedule.  With its organizational strength, the USL is indicating a commitment to provide a high level of pro soccer for fans in North America and the Carribean to enjoy. 

USL and its teams have worked hard in recent years to gather business sponsorships and marketing parterships with major and minor companies.  It has also made tremendous leaps on the international stage and in the U.S. through its participation in sanctioned pro and open league tournaments. 

USL has earned a right to be mentioned in the same breath as MLS.  It's too bad that what USL is inhaling is the same kind of poison that MLS is swallowing.  The lifespan of these leagues is hanging in the balance. 

USL is trying to put a veil over the real issues, just as MLS is doing.  New ideas must replace the stale ones if soccer wants the big piece of the sports action in the U.S.

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