LFR Sports

Labels: MLS

Red Bull New York color man, Shep Messing is anything but shy. During the days Pele and the New York Cosmos, Messing--then a goalkeeper--once posed nude for Playgirl, so it's no surprise that he would rip the MLS All-Star Game featuring English Premier League side West Ham United in Toronto this summer.

Labels: All-Star Game, MLS, Shep Messing, West Ham

Labels: MLS

Labels: MLS

Long-time Rapids midfielder Pablo Mastroeni may lose his temper during a likely lackluster season

Labels: Colorado Rapids, MLS

D.C. United forward and reigning MLS MVP Luciano Emilio aims to lead the Red-and-Black to the top

Labels: D.C. United, MLS

Mexican midfielder Cuauhtemoc Blanco should again entertain Chicago Fire fans this season

Labels: Chicago Fire, MLS

NEW ENGLAND SEASON PREVIEW

2006 Record: 14-8-8, 50 points (1st place in Eastern Conference, lost MLS Cup; U.S. Open Cup champions).
Head coach: Steve Nicol
In: Mauricio Castro, Argenis Fernandez, Chris Albright,
Out: Andy Dorman, Pat Noonan, Avery John, James Riley (SJ).

Starting Lineup: Matt Reis; Jay Heaps, Chris Albright, Michael Parkhurst, Shalrie Joseph; Steve Ralston, Wells Thompson, Joe Franchino, Jeff Larentowicz, Khano Smith, Adam Cristman, Taylor Twellman.

Strengths: Just like Houston, their nemesis', the Revs are steeped in continuity which still makes this a playoff side, despite major offensive defections to Europe. The backline is, by far, the elite of MLS and should pick the team up when opponents focus defensively on Twellman.

Weaknesses: Can Twellman carry the offensive load? Ralston will also be out of position by playing a more central midfield role.

Outlook: It's a shame that the Revolution have not been rewarded with an MLS title. They have continually produced some of the country's best prospects and have only heartache to show for it. The loss of Noonan and Dorman is going to have a huge impact on this team's effectiveness in the short term. We might be looking at a down year for the club before it returns to the level of play most assume from New England. Despite Twellman's insistence that he'll still produce despite being disheartened by not playing in the English Premier League, chances are he'll sulk.

Prediction: 4th in Eastern Conference.

Labels: MLS, New England Revolution

Columbus will depend on Argentine midfielder Guillermo Barros Schelotto to take them to the playoffs

COLUMBUS SEASON PREVIEW

2006 Record: 9-11-10, 37 points (6th in Eastern Conference).
Head Coach: Sigi Schmid.
In: Nicolas Hernandez, Gino Padula, Brian Carroll (SJ), Andy Iro.
Out: Marcos Gonzalez, Kei Kamara (SJ), Jacob Thomas, Andy Herron, Tim Ward, Ned Grabavoy (SJ).

Starting Lineup: Will Hesmer; Frankie Hejduk, Danny O'Rourke, Chad Marshall, Gino Padula; Duncan Oughton, Eddie Gaven, Guillermo Barros Schelotto, Robbie Rogers; Alejandro Moreno, Nicolas Hernandez.

Strengths: The Crew midfield could become the league's best really soon. Gaven has been around awhile, but is still only 21, and Robbie Rogers shows glimpse of talent unheard of in this league.

Weaknesses: There really isn't a glaring weakness on this side, but nearly every position other than the midfield is barely average. If something happens to a very serviceable Alejandro Moreno, the Crew's brilliant midfield is going to have problems moving play towards the net.

Outlook: Unlike other situations, the Crew have a plan and Schmid is lucky management has been patient. With Rogers, Gaven and Nicolas Hernandez, things may pay off soon, but not likely this season. Too much is predicated on a few players like Schelotto and Moreno staying healthy and playing well, along with a high amount of flux due to U-23 defections, for Columbus to return to the playoffs.

Prediction: 6th in the Eastern Conference.

Labels: Columbus Crew, MLS

Labels: Houston Dynamo, MLS

L.A. Galaxy midfielder David Beckham starts his first full season in MLS.

Labels: David Beckham, L.A. Galaxy, MLS

Toronto FC's Carl Robinson and Danny Dichio hope to excite Ontario's rabid fans

Labels: MLS, Toronto FC

Real's Robbie Findley will have to juggle MLS duty with the Beijing Olympics this season

Labels: MLS, Real Salt Lake

TORONTO FC TOPS WITH 16,641 SEASON TICKET HOLDERS

You could argue Major League Soccer's long-term health is derived from the growing number of soccer-specific stadiums that are sprouting seemingly every year. The short-term health, however, can be viewed through season ticket sales.

It's clear fans in Toronto are as rabid with their team as they are spending loonies on tickets. Los Angeles with David Beckham and D.C. United is strong by MLS standards, while Real Salt Lake is surprisingly adept at hawking season ticket packages.

Armed with new blood in ownership, Kansas City's numbers increased a whopping 232 percent....to 1,539. Big deal. Most alarmingly, Chivas USA, possibly the best team in the west, can count only 837 willing participants.

Los Terramotos placed a strong seventh at nearly 4,000. Just about the same spot when they picked up and left for Houston.

1. Toronto FC - 16,641 (+34%)
2. Los Angeles Galaxy - 7,915 (-15%)
3. D.C. United - 5,976 (+27%)
4. Real Salt Lake - 4,632 (+5%)
5. Houston Dynamo - 4,116 (+87%)
6. New England Revolution - 4,001 (+14%)
7. San Jose Earthquakes - 3,822
8. Columbus Crew - 3,227 (+1%)
9. New York Red Bulls - 3,170 (+33)
10. FC Dallas - 3,002 (-4%)
11. Colorado Rapids - 2,968 (+59%)
12. Chicago Fire - 2,759 (+8%)
13. Kansas City Wizards - 1,539 (+232%)
14. Chivas USA - 837 (-2%)

Source: SportsBusiness Journal.

Labels: David Beckham, Earthquakes, MLS, season tickets

BECKS UPS THE ANTE FOR MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER IN THE U.S.

The biggest news day in Major League Soccer history was today. Real Madrid midfielder David Beckham along with his wife, Posh Spice, are heading to Hollywood.

The signing of Becks is huge for so many levels other than someone of his stature venturing to play in the 11-year-old league. The league and its founder have finally let go of the stigma of the North American Soccer League's demise in 1983.

If you remember the NASL at all, you'll know that the great Pele once played for the New York Cosmos. An infinitely small number of Americans would be able to name another player and a handful of those could name another team in that league. Pele's signing and the subsequently three seasons detailed in last year's insigthful documentary, "Once in a Lifetime" (watch the trailer here), were the pinnacle of American soccer in this country. When Pele retired the league went kaput overnight.

The lessons of Pele's signing and the mad rush to match the publicity effectively swamped the NASL and this phenomenon has clouded the men who run and finance MLS from day one. The lessons were learned and safeguards like the single-entity model were implemented effectively making the league office in New York City the focal point for every franchise, namely the rigid and stingy salary cap that was subsequently challenged in court by the players union.

These safeguards may have coddled MLS in its vulnerable and nascent years when the biggest thing going was the golden afroed Carlos Valderrama and cool uniforms, but as time went on their terrified reluctance to open up their product to meaningful growth became almost clinical.

With the implementation of the so-called "Beckham Rule" and the signing of the Beckham, MLS commissioner Don Garber is taking the role of a proud father walking his lovely daughter down the aisle. From this day, MLS no longer needs to be coddled. It's grown up and the founding fathers must believe in the slow and consistently care its given the entity. There's no going back now. Chelsea midfielder Edgar Davids is rumored to be talking to FC Dallas and, of course, one of the New York Red Bulls two Beckham Rule roster spots is rumored to be the great Ronaldo.

MLS in 2007 is much different than any season in the history of NASL. One of the problems of the former league was the extreme dearth of American talent or any perceptible breeding ground for domestic talent. MLS, of course, has a deep well of yankee talent universally believed to have kick started the U.S. National Team's meteoric rise in the eyes of the soccer-playing world.

The owners of MLS are littered with millionaires and billionaires in Los Angeles, New York, D.C. and Denver as opposed to sole deep-pocketed owner in the old NASL, Warner Communications executive Steve Ross of the Cosmos, who not only signed Pele to amulti-million dollar contract, but Franz Beckenbauer, Giorgio Caniglia, Johan Cruyff and Carlos Alberto which furthered the financial gap between teams but also the competitive gap. It's the primary reason that the New York Cosmos seems like the only team in the NASL to our collective memory.

Aside from this day, the second most important announcement in this league's short history was the opening of Crew Stadium in Columbus, OH.

By far, the impetus to open up the purse strings lies in the realizations among soccer media, fans and advertisers is that the league is not going away, not with soccer-specific venues opening, planned or under construction all over MLS. The NASL never had the luxury of building their own soccer parks like every team in MLS except for New England and Houston.

In the short term, every soccer-playing 12-year-old will be donning the bright gold jersey of the L.A. Galaxy and the media attention for his first game will be a spectacle and Beckham and Landon Donovan might lead the Galaxy to the MLS Cup championship, but unlike Pele's arrival in the 1970s, this rise of MLS will continue on much the steady curve it has for the first 11 seasons, except now, more Americans will know about it and most of the world's dynamic players will eventually desire a move to America.

Labels: David Beckham, L.A. Galaxy, MLS, NASL, Pele, Real Madrid, Ronaldo