Via Twitter.


Hull's first game of the season is on August 15 against Chelsea.

A press conference is scheduled for tomorrow at 2:30, presumably local time in Hull.

Details are unknown, though it's assumed that this is another loan.

The Puerto Rico Islanders and DC United will advance to the group stages of the CONCACAF Champions League after prevailing in their preliminary series last night.

Puerto Rico, semifinalists in last year's competition, took down MLS side and Canadian champion Toronto FC 1-0 on aggregate; last week's goal at BMO Field was enough to see them through when neither side could score in Bayamon. Puerto Rico absorbed pressure from Toronto, who though in possession much of the night, was unable to break down the Islanders defense. The Islanders had a few chances of their own that would have put away the Reds, but couldn't convert. With TFC pressing, Islanders keeper Bill Gaudette came up big on multiple occasions and pushed his club into the next round of the Champions League.

USL takes another scalp off of MLS.

The Islanders will now go into a group with Columbus Crew, Saprissa of Costa Rica, and, barring a massive miracle, Cruz Azul of Mexico. It will be tough for Puerto Rico to repeat their 2008-2009 success in that group, which is supremely difficult from top to bottom.

DC United managed to squeak out a penalty kicks victory of CD Luis Angel Firpo in El Salvador, becoming the first MLS side from the preliminary round to qualify for the group stage. New York Red Bulls have an opportunity to join them if they can beat W. Connection tonight in New Jersey. United's battle with Firpo was exactly that, a battle, with rough play and heavy challenges all over the field. After Firpo went up a goal, it appeared that another MLS team would fail down south, and that MLS would be o-2 on the night; but Christian Gomez put in a wonderful free kick to bring the game level, and the fight was on once again. After neither side could finish during the thirty minute extra time period, it was down to PKs. A miss on Firpo's fourth was the difference, as United put in every one they took.

United needed to get through this series for the good of MLS; another failing, and the inability of MLS clubs to compete in this tournament would have become the hot topic once again. While DC's victory doesn't sweep the league's trouble under the rug, it does give MLS another club with a reasonable chance to proceed deep in the tournament. United will now head to group play with Toluca of Mexico, Marathon of Honduras, and the winner of the preliminary series between San Francisco of Panama and San Juan Jabloteh of Trinidad & Tobago.

Credit the Islanders for getting through their MLS competition; while I doubt they are capable of another run equal to last year's, they clearly have a nose for international success. Puerto Rico is the best-equipped team to beat "better" competition, with a deep and relatively talented squad. With no other USL side in the competition, it's up to the Islanders to carry that banner into the CCL proper this time around. TFC's task was always going to be a tough one, and they did themselves no favors allowing a goal at home. When put to scoring in Puerto Rico, who did not "park the bus" quite as much as some thought they would, they simply weren't up to the task.

As for DC, they did what they needed to do, though it wasn't pretty. Tom Soehn put out a reserve-heavy side in the series home leg, a tactic that backfired when the best DC could do was a score draw. With the away goal rule in play, United had to score to give themselves a chance; after Firpo went up a goal, the pressure became even more intense. With most of this regular starters on the field and a full compliment of subs available, Soehn found himself staring down the barrel of an early tournament exit. Thanks to a Gomez free kick, a little luck (keeping Firpo out when they really shouldn't have been able to), and solid penalty taking, United got out of El Salvador the victor. Of the three MLS clubs in the prelims, United is generally regarded as the best all around team; it was important for them to make the grow stages for the reputation of MLS.

One more night of preliminary round matches go down tonight, after which the full field for the group stage will be set. Will MLS have a fourth club in the mix?

Since we last discussed Jozy Altidore's possible move to England, an few more hints pointing in that direction have come to light.

Hull and Fulham were the club most solidly connected to the young striker, with Hull quickly emerging as the most likely desination. Hull's chairman, Paul Duffen, confirmed the club's interest in Altidore to the BBC yesterday, though he characterized that interest as being "at very early stages".

Fast forward to today, and things seem to have quickly past the "early stages".

On his Twitter account, Jozy revealed last night that he would be flying to England, where he is presumably meeting with a club.



New reports this morning have Alitdore meeting with Hull about a loan move.

Let's play a game: It's called "Find the Interesting Name on the Website of a Storied Brazilian Club".

It means nothing, but it's interesting enough to pass along...

Play the game

Two MLS clubs take to the field in the away legs of their preliminary round series for the CONCACAF Champions League tonight, and both will have their work cut out for them. Coming off of last year's disappointing showing, the 2009-2010 edition of the Champions League hasn't gotten off to a good start for MLS. Last week's first round matches saw two clubs fail to take advantage of home legs. Now, Toronto FC and DC United need results tonight to progress to the group stage.

Toronto FC heads to Puerto Rico to take on last year's tournament semi-finalist Islanders (8pm ET, FSC), with the USL-1 club holding a significant advantage after stealing a 0-1 win at BMO Field last week. TFC needs to score, as well as hold down the Islanders, and do so on the road in a hostile environment. For the Islanders' part, this is been-there-done-that territory; last year's tournament success should only give them confidence that they can close out the Canadian champions and head to the tournament proper, where they'd be grouped with Columbus Crew, Saprissa, and Cruz Azul (almost a certainty). TFC worked hard to win the Voyageur's Cup, and to go out to a USL side (no matter their track record) in the preliminary round would be a massive disappointment.

In El Salvador (10pm ET, FSC), DC United must score to give themselves a chance; after drawing 1-1 at home with CD Luis Angel Firpo, United will face their own hostile environment at Estadio Cuscatlán in San Salvador. If United does go out, it will certainly be the largest MLS disappointment of preliminary round. Not only is United the best performing team in the American league of the three vying for the groups, they're also playing competition that entered the CCL as a replacement for a club that failed to meet CONCACAF's participation requirements (Chatalenango, who apparently did not return forms on time), and is also in their pre-season. United's head coach Tom Soehn chose to play a less-than-first-choice side in last week's first leg, and is now faced with putting out his strongest possible team on the road in order to salvage the series.

Neither result is predictable in any real sense, and any advantage that MLS may have over their "weaker" competition is debatable; if MLS is going to significantly improve over last year's terrible showing, both TFC and United need to put serious effort into tonight's matches.

Whether they will, and whether they can win, is anyone's guess.

I didn't get a chance to make predictions last week, but I'll go ahead and take a shot for the second legs.

PR 1, TFC 1, Islanders advance (2-1 aggregate)

Firpo 0, DCU 1, United advance (2-1 aggregate)

Jozy Altidore could playing his soccer in the English Premier League shortly, if a report from the Daily Mail is to be believed. Hull are said to be the most ardent pursuers of the young American striker, with Clint Dempsey's club Fulham also said to be suitors.

Hull are prepared to pay £6.5 million according to the report, which would represent a small profit for Jozy's current club, Villareal, over what they paid for him in 2008.

With Altidore remaining on the periphery of Villareal's plans and last year's loan sting at Xerez an unmitigated disaster, it may be in the Spanish club's best interest to sell Altidore while his stock is high. A good showing at the Confederations Cup in South Africa appears to have several top-tier sides looking at the American. Jozy is in need of playing time ahead of next year's World Cup, and Hull look prepared to offer him the possibility of regular time. If Altidore wants out of Spain, and there seems little that would cause him to want to stay, England's beckoning call might sway him.

Other clubs reportedly interested in Altidore include the aformentioned Fulham, as well as Everton, though their interest appears to have waned.

What do you make of a possible move to Hull for Jozy?

The countdown to Azteca officially begins today for me, as we're just over a week away from the biggest game on the USMNT's 2009 World Cup qualification schedule. While I'm supremely excited for the match, I'd be lying if I said I was certain of anything other than a full effort by Bob Bradley's boys.

It's going to take more than a full effort to get a good result from the game; not only is history against Bob Bradley and the Americans, there are plenty of reasons to worry that have nothing to do with history and everything to do with the team's current form.

2009 Road Results

"Not good" would be the best way to sum up the USMNT's Hexagonal results on the road halfway through the round; a comeback draw in El Salvador and an utter thrashing by Costa Rica in San Jose mean that the Yanks haven't proved that they can play well in a hostile environments this year. Although El Salvador and Costa Rica's home field advantages are significant and shouldn't be underrated, they're nothing compared to that of El Tri. Mental resolve will be supremely tested next week, and there's no evidence, yet, that the Americans have it when it truly counts.

Key Players Not In Top Form

The showdown at Azteca comes at a time when most European clubs are still in its pre-season; this means that several key American players won't exactly be on top of their games when match time comes around. While that's true for Euro-based Mexican players as well, they have the luxury of home-field advantage and comfortable surroundings. The Americans likely to see the field who will certainly come in rusty include Jozy Altidore, Clint Dempsey, Michael Bradley (although 'Gladbach has opened their German Cup campaign), and several others. It will be down to training and carry-over from June's play to keep the American as the proverbial "well-oiled machine" (and even with the Confederations Cup, it's debatable if they ever were that).

Inconsistency Reigns

For every good performance the US has put in this year, there has been an equally poor one; the victory over Mexico in February was followed up by disappointing results in Central America. The two good results and reasonably good finals performance at the Confederations Cup was preceded by two of the worst games they had played all year. Time after time, Bob Bradley has come up short when it comes to getting the Americans to string together strong performance after strong performance. With the exterior issues of environment, smog, altitude and history staring them in the face, it's difficult for me to believe that they'll be able to push all of those factors aside and play to the best of their ability. Stacking up well-played matches just doesn't seem to be in the American makeup, whether your put that on Bob Bradley or on some endemic problem with the USMNT program.

An optimistic outlook is a fan's refuge, and his absolute right; it's easy to fall into the dream of pulling out a victory at Azteca, and I'm certainly not going to let it go completely. But the issues surrounding the game and this American trip to Mexico City make it tough to be positive of success.

If they do manage to win, it will be all the sweeter because they really shouldn't.

The odds were always going to be against the American, no matter the results from the Confederations Cup or the Gold Cup. The fact that the US surprisingly made the final of the former and fell flat on their faces against a Mexico "B" squad in the latter means little for their chances at Azteca. "Throw the records out the window" goes the cliche, and it certainly applies in this circumstance. The two nations' relative places in the qualifying round table is a non-factor.

Just a little over a week to go now, and as I work on my get-out-of-work early excuse, I find myself disappointed that I'm even bothered by the things I mentioned here. It would be much better if I could just shut off my brain, watch the match when it happens, and live-and-die with the Yanks as I always do.

Stay tuned throughout the lead-up to the game; there's bound to be more coming out of my over-active brain, and I promise it won't all be as depressing as this.

Sports Business Journal reports that the CBA negotiations between the MLS Players Union and the league have taken an interesting turn: in addition to guaranteed contracts (currently contracts don't become guaranteed until a certain point in the season), the players are said to be asking for free agency.

This would constitute a fundamental change in the way that Major League Soccer conducts their business; with the single-entity structure, all contracts are negotiated by the league and players can be assigned to any team at the discretion of MLS. Free agency is something the league is afraid of, as it has the potential to result in skyrocketing salaries as clubs vie for a player's services.

The "single-entity" structure goes well beyond how the league contracts players, of course, including the collection of revenue and how that money might be dispersed among the franchises. Outside of the money above $400k that hits the salary cap for a Designated Player, all salaries are paid out of a central salary pool dictated by the league and the CBA. Free agency wouldn't seem to fit the model. In that system, each team must be allowed to negotiate contracts without worrying about league approval, something that seems unlikely to change.

MLS has rightly watched every penny since their launch in 1995, something which has given the league viability and longevity despite the second-class nature of the sport in the United States (and now Canada). For the league to reverse themselves at this juncture, just when they appear to have leverage in the marketplace with expansion clubs coming, would be counterproductive.

My sense is that the players union feels it necessary to bring up free agency whether it's actually a possibility or not. They are, after all, and advocacy organization whose ultimate goal is to get the players the best possible deal; free agency would certainly be that, as the current system artificially depresses salaries and keeps players from playing where they'd like to. The system is the sticking point, but we can hardly fault the Union of asking; it's their job.

That being said, MLS will not be going to free agency anytime soon. The owners can rightly argue that it's exactly single-entity and central contract ownership that has allowed the league to reach this point; to change it now would be folly, a step away from financial responsibility that would have more than a few of us wondering if MLS truly is headed down the NASL path.

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Freddy Adu and Michael Bradley are on distinctly different career paths, with Bradley star rising and Adu's stuck in place. They have something in common today, however; each is being mentioned in relation to the Eredivisie in Holland.

For Adu, it's a plea for a club in Holland to come and get him out of exile at Benfica; Freddy has issued a "come and get me" statement in the Dutch magazine Sportsweek, and continues to mention a possible move on his Twitter account.

Bradley, on the other hand, hasn't need to plead for anything; despite moving to the Bundesliga from Holland just a short time ago, he is reportedly the target of two of the Eredivisie's bigger powers. Feyenoord and PSV are the clubs in question, according to the Dutch site Sport1 (to be fair, it is mentioned in the "hearsay" section.

Adu desperately needs playing time, and the Eredivisie would seem a good place to get in in light of his skill set; Bradley is playing consistently for Borussia Monchengladbach, and so a move for him would simply be about European football.

Without any reports of actual interest, I wonder if Adu is even on the radar of Dutch clubs. I just want to see him play, and wouldn't be concerned if he ended up in a less glamorous league then he himself might want to play in (think second division).

As for Bradley, I'm not sure why he would want to go back to Holland, if the interest of Feyenoord and PSV is real. While Gladbach isn't a big club, it is in a stronger league; if he plays well there, he's bound to find himself with other opportunities besides a return to Holland.

Jason and Zach are back; time for another Match Fit USA Soccer Show. This week, it's more mun2 USA-Mexico talk, Gold Cup fan fallout, MLS All-Star game discussion, American transfers abroad, and we finish up with a lighting round of Jimmy Conrad's Twitter travails, the Mexican roster for the World Cup qualifier, and DC United's continued efforts to find a site for a new stadium.

The Match Fit USA Soccer Show, part of the Champions Soccer Radio Network.

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*UPDATE I've had someone tell me that they've had issues getting the new show from iTunes; if you are having similar problems, please let me know.

The same FIFA rule revision that will make it possible for Jermaine Jones and Edgar Castillo to change allegiances to the USMNT also allows midfielder Arturo Alvarez make his own switch in the opposite direction.

That switch will become official tomorrow, as Alvarez is certain he will be called up for El Salvador's next World Cup qualifier.

Alvarez has drifted out of the US National Team picture in recent years, having never quite lived up the potential he showed as an American youth international. With little chance of a call up by Bob Bradley on the horizon and his prime years upon him, Alvarez has chosen to switch. International soccer is still the pinnacle of most players' career, and it's hard to blame Alvarez for choosing to take advantage of the new FIFA ruling, just as Jones and Castillo have.

While I'm not aware of any other American players who can or would contemplate a switch away from the US, there are other names being mentioned as possible additions to the list of potential-Yanks. Chief among them, and likely to be the most talked about name in that realm is Simon Poulsen, another son of an American serviceman who has played as a youth international for Denmark. Currently with AZ Alkmaar in Holland, Poulsen is a twenty-four year old wing player who has appeared eleven time for the Dutch side.

As we're only in the early stages of the rule change, it's likely we'll continue to hear names brought up as potential switch candidates, either to the US or away from it.

What do you make of the Alvarez switch? Should he have been more patient and tried to play himself into the US setup, or is switching to El Salvador the right move?

DC United is exploring privately held sites in its quest to find a location to build its own soccer specific stadium, according to the Washington Business Journal. With previous attempts to work with the city failing due to the red tape and resistance involved (in no doubt made worse by the recent construction of an expensive baseball stadium), it seems that purchasing land not controlled by public interests is the way to go.

The particular site in question, which WBJ reports United contacted real estate development firm Akridge about, is Buzzard's Point, a location in Southwest less a mile from two subway stops. Labelled 100 V Street by Akridge, the site is close to the Nationals new ballpark on the Anacostia waterfront.

Here's map of the area courtesy of Akridge's 100 V Street website. Nationals Park is number 6 on the map, with Buzzards Point represented by the "V".



DC United belongs in the city, so this news comes as a welcome development. With Will Chang as the majority owner now that Victor MacFarlane has pulled out of the team, the sense is that a stadium deal will be much simpler. Chang does not have a mixed-use development in mind for United's stadium as MacFarlane did, making the possibility of finding a site and securing support from local authorities much more likely.

Also mentioned in the Washington Business Journal piece is other sites Akridge controls that United may have some interest in (or could). Most intriguing is the writer's notion that could DCU acquire air rights and build a stadium adjacent to Union Station. While that strikes me as prohibitively expensive option, it is fun to think about. Even better that Union Station is easily accessible by Metro and has a vibrant urban setting.