What? It’s not as if my absence from posting caused me to miss commenting on anything important in American soccer.

Actually, I have been taking care of a newborn (human) baby (mine) and have truthfully barely had time to watch the games, much less comment on them. So in the interest of summary, I give you the TEN BY TEN: 10 point of discussion in 10 words each.

USA v ITALY – oh, come on guys. you can do better than that.
USA v BRAZIL – oh, come ON guys. can you do better than that?
USA v EGYPT – luckiest circumstance in the history of US soccer. nice game.
USA v SPAIN – greatest day of my life. GREATEST DAY of my LIFE.
USA v BRAZIL: THE SEQUEL – expected result unfolded painfully. Donovan’s goal: USA at its best
BOB BRADLEY – please stop giving the wrong players chances game after game.
GOLD CUP – would have preferred a real team. we tied Haiti? WTF.
DONOVAN v BECKHAM – Beckham do your job. Donovan please find a better club.
ONYEWU TO AC MILAN – another euro pinerider? hopefully he becomes a powerhouse in Italy.
AGUIRRE BANNED FOR KICKING A PLAYER – ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.

In general, when I hear someone complain about referees, I dismiss it. The ref is too easy a scapegoat upon whose cereal coaches, players, and fans figuratively shit. But last night’s best-versus-best match-up, in my opinion, was legitimately marred by a flurry of poor judgment. Yellow cards tend to lose their “I mean business” effect when you give out 265 of them in a match… and 3 penalty kicks—all of which were questionable—made it tough to discern who deserved to win from who actually did.

AAAAAAANYWAY, Chicago won on a penalty in the 95th, and I continue to feel disgust for Blanco. He is increasingly lazy, sloppy, floppy and slow. He’ll fit right in with the rest of his Mexican squad next week. ZAP :O

MATCH HIGHLIGHT: Sacha Kljestan audibly telling Fire coach Denis Hamlett to “Shut the fuck up! Shut the fuck up! Fuck you, bitch!” Classy!

The newest Major League Soccer franchise from Philadelphia has created their identity. The Philadelphia Union will join MLS during the 2010 season. The team colors will be blue and gold (see logo to the right).

The team identity is taken from the 13 original American colonies that met in the 1770s in Philadelphia to break British rule and form a constitution, with the color scheme from the American Revolutionary Army.

Early speculation suggest that the Philadelphia Union will be rivals with nearby DC United and New York Red Bulls.

Is there any other sport in which the commentator is a better player than every player on the field? John Harkes’ critques, though accurate, are annoying when they make you realize how low the quality of play is you’re watching. The only remarkable thing about this game is the fastest red card ever issued in MLS. The rest was a string of mistakes from two sorry sides.

Major League Soccer has awarded Vancouver (Canada…duh) a franchise that will join the league in 2011. Vancouver will be the 17th team in Major League Soccer. Portland, St Louis and Ottawa are awaiting the MLS to add a second franchise in 2011.

In other news, Barcelona reversed their position on helping place a Major Soccer League franchise in Miami. Then Barcelona president, Joan LaPorta, was seen visiting the site where the Philadelphia franchise is building a new soccer stadium.

Just saying…

David Beckham just wants one of two things.

(A) Play at the top level of world football. Nothing feels better than knowing you’ve still got it. But in soccer terms, David is a bit of a geezer, and he knows it. So, in 2007, he opted for…

(B) Create a legacy. Put his stardom to work and establish a lasting culture of Beckham soccer. Effectively, retire on a plan that makes David a hero.

As he promised of his run in MLS, David would spend five years cultivating soccer in America, teaching children and building respect from coast to coast. A noble challenge, but possible for a guy with a profile as high as Dave’s… oh, and, with a little, um, hard work? See, apparently, this part of the plan was left out of the explanation to our hero. It seems David expected to just show up and that would be good enough. He would without a doubt excel in play and propel his team to a cup (after all this is America), in his mind. The rest—the kids, the respect, the future—would fall into place. Violá, legacy.

Reality set in for Dave probably by his fifth loss with LA: his team sucks, and the league (while not top-tier in a global sense) is much better than he thought. How could he champion a century of American soccer growth if he can’t even win a few games? Suddenly Dave was between a rock and a hard place; he could have neither A nor B. The right thing to do at this point would have been to lead his team a la Columbus savior Barros Schelotto, but you could see in his face after every goal against that instead he became frustrated, increasingly lazy, resented his teammates, and ultimately withdrew from his promises. Essentially, it was too hard. And he is a douchebag.

THEN! By the grace of God a respectable top-tier club in Italy showed interest in David’s ability to perform at a substandard level (read: move jerseys) and Dave couldn’t wait to sell out for the forgotten glory that is option A. Good luck with those caps, Dave.

I actually believed he was a good guy with great intentions and actual determination. In reality, he’s a spoiled elitist with an ego so self-centered it could compete with an Earth-devouring black hole. Hopefully he’ll go, and fade out, and never come back. We’ll call this option C.

Beckham has secured a new deal with AC Milan and the LA Galaxy. The dual contract will allow Beckham to stay with AC Milan till the end of the Serie A season and wont return to the United States till mid July. Beckham will miss 3+ months of the MLS season.

On the other hand, Landon Donovan is returning to LA this week. Scoring 4 goals in 5 friendly games for Bayern Munich was not enough to secure a more permanent move like LA teammate David Beckham.

Spanish La Liga leaders FC Barcelona have announced that they will not pursue an MLS expansion team in Miami insisting that current global market conditions make the deal hard.

The new MLS expansion team, the Seattle Sounders, have announced 20,000 season tickets have already been sold for their debut season.

Major League Soccer plans to announce the next two expansion teams in March. The next two clubs will kick off their season in 2011 and are currently between Vancouver, Ottawa, Miami, St. Louis and Portland.

There has been news that Spanish giant Barcelona FC is part of the Miami bid. It is interesting to see that two of the five cities are located in Canada.

The two new teams in 2011 will bring the league up to 18 teams.

Thursday nights are not working for ESPN or MLS. Traditional a night of recorded shows on ESPN, the Thursday night MLS games have seen a continual drop in viewers. The plan is to show MLS games after other live sporting events in hopes that viewers will stick around and watch.

The NFL has built Monday Night Football into a brand. Often highlighting an above average game between two teams with large fan bases has helped turn MNF into a successful marketing venture.

The MLS has to do more than just move the night. There is a larger excitement factor that needs to be incorporated into the season. Perhaps inserting more cash into bringing higher profile players into the league. Beckham was a good idea till he was put on a team that can’t even make the playoffs. Perhaps you spread out these players instead of putting them all in LA and New York.

Philadelphia is hoping to become a member of the MLS in 2010 and is even building a soccer specific stadium to go along with the new team. The ground was broken in December on the new stadium but the current credit issue might kill the expansion team before it even has a name.

“If the [financial] markets tank next month, then we won’t build this thing. We’ll be out USD 15 million and everyone goes home,” said Nick Sakiewicz, CEO and operating partner of Keystone Sports and Entertainment LLC. Keystone Sports are the company trying to bring a team to Philly.

Lets hope everything works out so we can expand the league and growth of the sport in the States.