- Jason Davis

The fourth installment of the Free on a Bosman program, enumerated with the classy Roman numeral desigination, is here for your enjoyment.

Jared and I start with the good news and the bad news around the USMNT. Just when Holden gets back, down goes Torres. Gooch is playing well (maybe?), and youngster Tim Ream is mostly not.

We hit MLS topics, including the hypocrisy of DeRo avoiding suspension for his dive, Marquez's comments and suspension, and the state of the playoff race.

Also, Bob Bradley, Michael Bradley, emails, and more.

Be sure you check us out on Twitter for updates. @mfusa @jrodius

The new show also has a Twitter feed @bestsoccershow and a Facebook page, so be sure to follow and like respectively. You're gonna want to. We have stuff to give away.

Please share this link as violently and liberally as you can. New show launches in two weeks following the USMNT game on Saturday, October 8th.


Available through the old MFUSA iTunes feed.

Download directly here.

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- Jason Davis

In 2011, after Seattle and Philly and Portland and Vancouver and Montreal and the wave that came before them (yes, San Jose counts) and all of the talk of candidates and fees and ownership groups and stadium plans and color schemes and whether names should be "historical" (since 1975!) or "euro" or plain old American city-and-nickname, I'm tired of expansion. Or, rather, I'm not tired of expansion, I'm over it as a major part of Major League Soccer's future, which means I'm over writing about it. Actually, I'm almost certain that my attention has shifted because there are now enough teams and enough stability that MLS has hardened around the edges and has the consistency of a "real" league.

But the expansion talk continues, whether I remain actively engaged or not (my interest, surprisingly, has no bearing on the rolling expansion train or the discussion surrounding it...who knew). The country is big, MLS will continue to be in the growth phase - in one area or fifty - forever, and there is STILL no team in the Southeast. Oh, and MLSHQ continues to publicly covet another franchise in New York, either because they themselves are sick of having to trek over to Jersey to see a game, or...no, that's probably it. I hear the PATH trains are a disaster.

The third installment of FoaB has Jason and Jared talking about the rumors surrounding Timmy Chandler, Klinsmann effort to find dual internationals, Jozy, Beasley, a round up of MLS and the playoff race, the MLS A-Team and much more.

Be sure you check us out on Twitter for updates. @mfusa @jrodius

It might be a good idea to check this and this out as well. 

There's date and a name, plus a few places to get connected with the new show before it starts. Go forth and spread the word.




Download the show directly or get it on the MFUSA iTunes feed.

Music:

-Ben McCormick

One of the most common questions any US Soccer fan asks is who is going to replace Landon Donovan and Clint Dempsey when they retire. They have held the attack together for the past few years and fast approaching is a time when the US will have to rely on someone other than “Deuce” or “’Cakes” for a goal when they need it.

The scary thought is this process might be happening a bit faster than we all thought. Dempsey is still performing at the highest levels and he shows no signs of slowing down, but Donovan on the other hand, is a different story.

Sure, his MLS scoring record this season has been stellar, but I would expect that from a player of his caliber playing on a MLS team that may go down as one of the best in MLS history. Where it has been noticeable his speed may be slowing a half step, though, is in his performances for the USMNT this year.

- Jason Davis

As one of those interminable people constantly worried about the popularity of soccer in the United States, I should be thrilled that Fox is giving the sport a run on their flagship over-the-air behemoth of a network starting this Sunday. Manchester United and Chelsea will be shown, on tape delay, right smack in the middle of the usual National Football League window. The footballs are colliding, gigantic robot-style. Most of us (meaning soccer fans who read blogs, soccer previews, and obsessively track every little detail) will have already seen the match or couldn't be bothered to watch either showing. Nevertheless, it's something of a landmark occurrence.

I suppose the thinking is that Fox will take this valuable property to which they hold the (not exactly cheap) rights and double-dip by sticking it next to the country's most popular sport. It certainly can't hurt soccer's popularity, and might even win over a good amount of new fans. If nothing else, it's a sign that soccer's value as television property is on the rise.

- Jason Davis

Jared and I are back, with Free on a Bosman, our interim show while we build up to our new show, for which details will be released slowly over the next couple of weeks. Still with me?

Good.

In this edition, we talk 9/11 (hafta), Bobby Rhine (again, hafta), the US loss to Belgium and the state of the team at the moment, the MLS playoff picture, and more. Apparently Gooch played this weekend for Sporting Lisbon. We talk about that, too.

Please remember that the show doesn't have a regular iTunes feed while we're in the interim phases. You can, however, get the show at a long forgotten iTunes feed under the Match Fit USA banner (hey! old logo guy!) at this link right here.

Other ways to listen can be found below. Here's a half spoiler: we drop the date of our upcoming new show's debut. Woohoo.

Help spread the word on the new show by sharing this episode of the interim show via the handy sharing buttons below. You can follow both Jared and me on Twitter for further updates as events warrant.

Jason (@mfusa) on Twitter

Jared (@jrodius) on Twitter


Download it directly

- Jason Davis

The theme most prevalent thus far in Jurgen Klinsmann's tenure as USMNT head coach - all month and change of it - is the movement towards integrating America's abundant Latin soccer influence into the team. In part because Klinsmann has made it his cause cause célèbre (in concert with imbuing in the team a more attacking, fluid style - more on that in a minute), we can't go more than a few hours without a new piece waxing on about it, without the Paul Gardners of the world bellowing "FINALLY!" at people on the street, or without the overarching generalizations that are part and parcel of sweeping soccer-style speak.

There are only so many ways to describe the possession-based, pass heavy, high pressure, attack-minded style of play that Klismann is intent on imposing on his new team. Barcelona and Spain play the celebrated "tiki-taka", and are the undisputed champions of the modern standard. On this side of the world, it's called the "Latin style" due to the regional influence of Mexico, where possession is valued from the youngest levels of the game all the way through to the national team. Forgiving a nuance here or there lost on 95% of the soccer-viewing public, they're essentially the same thing, an idealized way of playing that embodies more of the "beautiful" in "the beautiful game" than any other style. Hence the appeal, and why Klinsmann's experiment has bought him patience on the part of the USMNT fan base. It a seismic shift. Those only happen slowly, with plenty of upheaval.

-Ben McCormick

Admittedly, it’s been awhile since my last post, so I’ll take a brief moment to toot my own horn. Fabian Johnson was stealthily called into the US squad after my piece on him. Is Juergen Klinsmann reading my writing? Probably not, but still, instant gratification feels pretty good.

On to more pressing matters. For the first time since 1980-something, the USMNT is three matches into a new regime without a win.  Oh heavens no, what ever are we going to do? What use is an attacking style that doesn’t score goals?

Slow down. Let’s put this in perspective.

Juergen was hired with precious few days to prepare for a friendly against Mexico.  He spoke of the growing pains that would occur, almost promising fans there would be speed bumps on the road to qualifying, and Mexico looked to be as tough of a match as any US fan could ask for. In the words of a friend of mine, “no good can come of this,” and yet, somehow, it did.

Jared and I aren't doing the American Soccer Show anymore, but that doesn't mean we don't feel the need to give you something involving our voices between the old show and the new one.

Entitled "Free on a Bosman" because Jared thought that was clever, this show is partly an update about our future and partly about the USMNT.

We beg of you to please help spread the word on this pod; people who just waited for the American Soccer Show iTunes feed will have no idea this show exists without everyone pitching in to spread the news as wide as possible. Hit the "play" button below to listen.



Download it directly

Again, please use the handy social sharing buttons at the bottom of the post to post this on every social network you're on - the better to let everyone that listened to us on The American Soccer Show know about it. Make sure you follow both myself and Jared on Twitter to get updates on where and when we'll be landing in our new permanent home.

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- Jason Davis

Where have I been, you might be asking. What have I been up to, you've surely thought. How come the frequency of MFUSA post has so much in common with the frequency of Chad Barrett goals, you can't help but wonder.

Well, I'll tell you. There's just a lot going on that keeps me from writing here as often as I'd like. But since you don't want to hear excuses, I'll stop making them. Just look for my stuff at KCKRS and US Soccer Players and bear with me.

I have news.

As of today, Jared DuBois (my co-host) and I are no longer hosts of The American Soccer Show.

That does not mean we are ending our podcast careers, just that we won't be the hosts of that particular show moving forward. The American Soccer Show belongs to the Champions Soccer Radio Network, so the name and the hosts are necessarily separate. There was an incarnation before I took the reigns with Zach Woosley in 2009, and there will surely be another incarnation now that I'm moving on.

Because that's what this is - Jared and I moving on. Details will follow, so please keep your ears to the ground.

Let me go ahead and take this opportunity to say that being a part of the CSRN family was a great experience for me as a podcaster and soccer fan. Jared and I have nothing but good things to say about the shows on that network and the people working behind the scenes to make it go. The decision to stop doing The American Soccer Show wasn't easy.

I made some very good friends through my association with CSRN, and wouldn't trade my stint there for the world. In this case, we were just presented with an opportunity we couldn't pass up.

Keep in mind that this means there won't be an episode of The American Soccer Show next week, at least not one featuring me and Jared. We do, however, expect to record a special show that will be available here at MFUSA and perhaps one or two other places. Again, keep your ear to the ground and to our individual Twitter feeds (me here, Jared here). This is most crucial for those of you that got the show through the AmSoc iTunes feed.