The Fire Hire Carlos de los Cobos

The Chicage Fire have announced the hiring of Carlos de los Cobos as their new head coach. Carlos (click here to see him in his playing days) was most recently the head coach for the El Salvador national team and led them to the final round of CONCACAF's World Cup qualifying tournament. I find it interesting that another club has gone outside the ranks of MLS coaches to find their man. We'll see how these new coaches deal with all the quirky MLS rules (unless the teams are banking on a new CBA without all the weird MLS rules. Oh sorry, I'll stop dreaming now.). At least de los Cobos is committed to playing attacking futbol.

MLS Combine

The MLS Combine in Fort Lauderdale, FL has kicked off it's second day of matches. You can follow the action through Soccer By Ives or the MLS Insider. It's been uncharacteristically cold in Florida so here's something to warm you up.

Here is video from game 1 on Saturday.

Goals from Andrew Hoxie (#50), Steven Kinney (#40), Eric Alexander (#48), Othaniel Yanez (#45) and Drew Yates (#31).

UPDATE - Here is video from today's first game .

MLS Combine 2010: Monday Game One Goals from mlsinsider on Vimeo.

Goals by: Michael Thomas (#43, Notre Dame), Villanova’s Mike Seamon (#64) and Andrew Hoxie (#50, William & Mary)

We Are Not Spectators

FC Dallas have started their push to get 2010 season tickets deposits with their We Are Not Spectators campaign. I appreciate the effort, but it feels kind of like a bad version of the Nike commercial with the Brasilian National Team in the airport. It could be worse, much worse, like New York's Running with the Red Bulls campaign, which might be the worse marketing campaign ever. Even the Revolution did a better job with their parody of NYRB's flop. Come on already, just bite Scarf Seattle, look how it worked for the Sounders.

Red Bulls Hire Hans Backe

The other day I asked, "What's going on with the Red Bulls?" I guess someone was listening because the organization announced Hans Backe as their new Head Coach. Backe recently quit Notts County seven weeks after signing a 3 year deal.The Sven-Goran Ericksson protege has a lot of experience, but nothing can prepare foreign coaches for the intricacies of MLS. Footballing great, Ruud Gullit is a prime example of the frustration that MLS rules can cause a foreign coach. At least Backe can't do any worse than Juan Carlos Osorio...or can he?

The Full Generation Adidas Class

MLS officially announced their full class of Generation Adidas players and one name that I immediately noticed was missing is the 2009 Young Male Athlete of the Year, Luis Gil. The U.S. U-17 World Cup midfielder was a hot prospect for MLS and Ives even had him as a first round pick. Well now it looks like the kid might be skipping the domestic league and trying to land in Europe. Rumors have been around for a while now that he would cross the Atlantic, but now I see two options:
1) Stay at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, FL for another year, or
2) Sign with a European squad...after all, they have youth AND reserve teams.

Stuart Holden on Good Morning America

I really slept on this. Really, I was sleeping while Stu was holding it down. I saw on his twitter that he was going to be on, but I never set my DVR.

Onalfo to United

DC United have officially hired Curt Onalfo as their head coach. There will be a press conference on Tuseday, January 5th to unveil the former KC Wizards coach to the press.

“Our first priority was to find someone who shares the club's long-standing philosophy of attacking soccer – and Curt absolutely does. Having played and coached here, Curt understands the culture of D.C. United. As a former member of our 1998 and 1999 championship-winning teams he understands what is necessary today to fulfill the D.C. United legacy and meet the lofty expectations that follow our club. His fluency in Spanish, familiarity with our community, and understanding of our league are additional factors that make him the ideal choice to lead our team and I am excited to welcome him home. We look forward to getting to work in bringing the MLS Cup back to D.C." said United President, Kevin Payne.

I always find it interesting to hear what the President says about a coaching hire when they've been turned down by their first choice. I hope that Onalfo does a good job and brings United back to being a playoff team. The league's first dynasty could use some good years during this new era of MLS 2.0. Plus, I'm excited to see Cristian Castillo in action.

Cristian Castillo to DC United

I don't think this signing has gotten enough hype. DC United have signed midfielder Cristian Castillo from Leon FC of Mexico. Please watch all the videos below and see why I'm excited to have the Cristiano Ronaldo of El Salvador playing in MLS. In fact, I was questioning signing a player while United didn't even have a head coach...but it seems stupid to pass up this opportunity.



Oh Yeah! Watch out Columbus, Frankie obviously has some issues defending this guy. I can't wait to see the first match between United and the Crew.

Tis The Season, Holden Style

MLS pretty boy Stuart Holden is caught on video in an elf suit while delivering toys to the Children's hospital in Houston. He is joined by teammate, Craig Waibel (hey Ty, I used to play with that guy). The second video has Stu promoting his Bowling With Stu event on Sunday.

Landycakes To Everton

Landon Donovan has signed a loan deal with Everton just days after signing a 4 year contract extension with MLS and the LA Galaxy.

Not Quite Arab Money

MLS has offered Stuart Holden a new contract in an effort to keep him from jumping the pond. The guy was only making $34,728.75 a year, so being offered 10 times what you were isn't too shabby, plus he'll be able to dress even better. Man, I wish I could afford a Bumpy Pitch shirt.

Conan Talks MLS Cup

Chivas USA Unveils Vasquez As New Head Coach

Chivas USA officially unveiled Martin Vasquez as their new Head Coach.

Jones Returns To Training And Other News

U.S. Men's National Team fans will be happy to hear that Jermaine Jones has returned to training for Schalke. Jones could be a big boost to the central midfield for the Americans if he can get fit and gel with the team before this summer's World Cup.

While taking a break from snowboarding, Freddie Ljungberg gives his thoughts on the 32 teams playing in next years World Cup.

Keep in mind that the MLS Players Union is in constant talks with MLS regarding the Collective Bargaining Agreement that expires on January 31st, 2010. Here's a good article on some of the issues that need to be addressed. We'll keep you posted as this story plays out.

FC Dallas Season In Review

The pace is a bit slow, but this is actually a good season in review video from FCD-TV. My basic storyline is: Cooper leaves, Cunningham scores goals...and man, that Cooper half field shot seems like forever ago.


Here are all the goals from FC Dallas during 2009.

Philly Union Expansion Draft Picks

I'm left scratching my head on a few of these. Definitely not the guys that I would have taken, but I'm not Polish like Nowak. I'll post later my 10 selections but for now I give you the first official players for the Philadelphia Union.

MF Andrew Jacobson (D.C. United) age 24
F Alejandro Moreno (Columbus) 30
D Shavar Thomas (Chivas USA) 28
GK Brad Knighton (New England) 24
F Nick Zimmerman (New York) 22
F Sebastien Le Toux (Seattle) 25
MF Shea Salinas (San Jose) 23
MF Stefani Miglioranzi (Los Angeles) 32
D Dave Myrie (Chicago) 21
D Jordan Harvey (Colorado) 25

Scenes From MLS Cup Weekend In Seattle

Our boy, Shawn Francis of The Offside Rules and the newly formed MLS Insider took a couple of videos this weekend that I wanted to pass along. They are from the welcome party on Friday night at the Seattle Aquarium.


In the last video, you can see Adam Spangler of This Is American Soccer take a photo of the scuba diver. He's a cool guy; you should definitely read his stuff.

MLS Final Kick - The Final Kick

I'm guessing this will be the last Final Kick we see until March 2010.
*They make a mistake in the video calling Andy Williams, Robbie Findley. What do you expect from the same guys that got his wife wrong too?

News From This Weekend

I admit it. I'm a slacker. I was too busy living it up during MLS Cup weekend that I didn't get around to giving you all the juicy footy news you crave. So instead of reinventing the wheel, I'm giving you links to the news that you need to know.

You probably already know this, but Real Salt Lake are the 2009 MLS Champions.



Wednesday is the expansion draft for the Philadelphia Union. Each team's protected players list came out today and here are the players left unprotected.

MLS announced the Generation Adidas graduates.

The USL Breakaway teams are forming the NASL...minus the Sounders and Earthquakes. But what about the Cosmos?

Long time DC United midfielder, Ben Olsen is retiring.

Jermaine Defoe and Tottenham went off on Wigan to the tune of 9-1, causing the Wigan players to refund the ticket prices to the fans. You can see the highlights here.

Did you know that David Beckham has asthma? I didn't.

Apparently, Freddie Ljungberg is a fan of Hawaii, but not MLS pitches.

I attended the MLS Supporters Summit on Saturday where Commissioner Garber discussed expansion, naming Montreal and David Beckham's option to own a future team as teams number 19 and 20 to round out the league.

I ran into Preki on Sunday, who happens to be the new coach for Toronto FC.

Oh Danny Boy and I definitely had some adventures and made some good connections to make this blog even better in the future. Stay tuned for more tales from MLS Cup 2009.

Press Pass MLS Cup Preview

The events around Seattle are starting to heat up. We will be chillin with the Designated Players crew on Friday night and at the Supporters Summit on Saturday. FYI - The last time I saw Andy Williams live in person at a final was the 2003 US Open Cup on another plastic pitch...and he won. Just saying.