- Jason Davis

This landed in my inbox this morning. I'm not going to bother with full comment, but I will say that there's not much here considering that Orlando City hasn't yet played a league match. I guess it's nice of Garber and Mark Abbott to take a meeting with anyone interested in expansion. Orlando, particularly because of its geographical location, is a semi-legitimate expansion candidate.

- Jason Davis

Back again, just barely. Between Jared nearly recreating the Donner Party in the California mountains before blowing in just in time for the show and our podcast host giving me trouble getting the episode posted, it's actually a bit of a miracle everything is as it should be.

Randomly came across this video for a 2001 game called Backyard Soccer MLS Edition. This PC game included kid version of Cobi Jones, Carlos Valderrama, Brandi Chastain, Brian McBride and more.


Classic stuff.

- Jason Davis

The United States qualified for the U-17 World Cup on Wednesday by defeating El Salvador 3-2 in extra time at the CONCACAF championships in Jamaica. The win puts the US in the semifinals, where they'll face the hosts later today. By most accounts, and as evidenced by the need for extra time, the US didn't show as well as expected against El Salvador and hasn't had a particularly good tournament overall (despite the final four berth and qualifying for the World Cup).

-Keith Hickey

So Major League Soccer, the crazy druid/vegan cousin of the world soccer family, released the format of the 2011 Playoffs. Being bloggers, we found the new format underwhelming. Being arrogant, we decided we could make a way better system. Being alcoholics, we decided it would involve several five dollar bottles of vodka. Remembering nothing the morning after, we pieced together various notes found around the Match Fit USA offices as well as we could. This is what we came up with.

- Keith Hickey

Hey there, soccer fans! You know how the Sons of Ben are better fans than the people in your supporters group? Well it turns out they're also better people. (Editor's Note: The opinions of Keith Hickey do not necessarily reflect those of the management.)

-Jason Kuenle

In economics, the concept of comparative advantage states that the most effective use of limited resources is achieved by maximizing relative advantage over absolute advantage. In soccer, the same concept can be applied to constructing a formation or lineup. The “limited resources” are the ten field players, “advantage” is measured in objective terms by goals or subjective terms by skills such as positioning, passing, dribbling, vision, covering, tackling, etc. Relative advantage is more important than absolute advantage. The goal is to field a side that maximizes the teams’ advantage. For teams fielding Michael Bradley, this presents a tactical problem in some formations; while he has two areas of absolute advantage, their juxtaposition can present issues in creating relative advantage.

- Jason Davis

Costa Rica's new national athletics and soccer stadium, generously financed by the Chinese government (?!?), is set to open next month. The Costa Rica National Team will face Argentina on March 29th, then a concert by Shakira will close the grand opening festivities. The 35,000 seat venue, built at a cost of $105 million, will replace Estadio Saprissa as the largest in the country.


Thanks to Matt at US Soccer Daily for posting a link to photos of the building, which looks spectacular.


Check out the brilliant photos here.

(MLSSoccer.com)

- Jason Davis

Many of my blogger brethren, as well as paid professionals whose day job is covering this game and our league took to their keyboard to spew fire yesterday. Great gobs of it exploded in the direction of Major League Soccer and its representative figureheads.


All because the playoff format came out. There aren't too many on board with the changes.

- Jason Davis

It's a good thing the Qatar World Cup isn't for another 11 years or so. That gives us, and them, plenty of time to debate the possibility of turning the world's soccer calendar on its head by moving the first-ever World Cup in the Middle East to the winter. It's hot in Qatar, and people seemed to be concerned despite promises of air conditioned stadiums and free FIFA-branded hats made out of ice for every visiting fan*.

- Jason Davis

Within the American soccer bubble, the CONCACAF Champions League is a pretty big deal. Or rather, the idea that an MLS team needs to win the title in said league is a pretty big deal. Don Garber talks about it constantly. American soccer fans, no matter which MLS team they support, bemoan the league's lack of success. Columnists, writers, blogger, et. al. regularly put down the league using its failure in the Champions League as a means to that end. Soccer people care.

- Jason Davis

Thank god for small miracles, like the MLS season starting before the MLS season actually starts. Training matches are nice, even if we only know those games are happening through official Twitter accounts and the geekiest live chats of all time, but a real game tonight, a full three weeks before the league schedule kicks off, is an uplifting thing for this soccer soul.