Foreign Invasion Continues

It seems a bit of a lop sided war going on between the Non-Americans and America in the soccer world. The Yanks invade England with the Glazers buying Manchester United. So the non-Americans retaliate by adding a team in the MLS, Chivas USA. Cleveland Browns owner, hungry to buy another mediocre team in a stagnant city buys Aston Villa. The non-Americans think they fight back by having Ajax add a PDL team in Florida. (BTW, Platini was heard mumbling in French We'll show them by fielding a team of players that don't get paid!). Then George Gillet and Tom Hicks decide to risk their wallets, quite literally, and buy the fabled English club Liverpool. So the non-Americans countered by putting a USL-2 team in Baltimore. Why Baltimore? Well, it was Crystal Palace making the location decision. Just be happy they didn't go with either of their other top choices, Toledo and Chattanooga.

It seems the Non-Americans are waking up to that they're getting their asses handed to the in this tit for tat stand-off. They need to step things up a notch and get ahead in the game. So they've turned to West Ham to establish a USL-1 team in Tampa, Florida. They say they're in it to improve their football (better players). Or are they just looking for a nice place for Curbishley to retire to next year?

MLS 2007 Team Moves : Colorado Rapids

With the season half over and Blanco and Beckham about to join their respective teams (Chicago and Los Angeles), I thought it would be good to go through each team in the league and summarize the moves they've made coming into and during the 2007 season. The first team I'll look at is currently the 2nd worst team in the league, the Colorado Rapids.

In
* José Cancela - Traded from Toronto FC (traded for Youth International slot to be held by Toronto until 2009)
* Conor Casey - Traded from Toronto FC (traded for an allocation and rights to Riley O'Neil)
* Nico Colaluca - S igned as 1st round Superdraft pick
* Omar Cummings - Signed as draft pick
* John DiRaimondo - Signed as draft pick
* Herculez Gomez - Traded from Los Angeles along with Ugo Ihemelu for Joe Cannon.
* Justin Hughes - Signed as draft pick
* Ugo Ihemelu - Traded from Los Angeles along with Herculez Gomez for Joe Cannon.
* Kosuke Kimura - Signed as draft pick
* Nick LaBrocca - Signed as draft pick
* Brandon Prideaux - Traded from DC United(for 2 3rd round draft picks; one in 2007 Superdraft one in 2008 Superdraft.
* Zach Thornton - Traded from Chicago Fire for a conditional pick in 2008 Supplemental Draft.
* Facundo Erpen - Traded from D.C. United for Greg Vanney.

Out
* Roberto Brown - Released by team
* Greg Vanney - Traded to DC United for Facundo Erpen
* Joe Cannon - Traded to Los Angeles for Herculez Gomez and Ugo Ihemelu.
* Matt Crawford - Released by team
* Eric Denton - Released by team. NYRB picked him up in the waiver draft in November of 2006 only to release him the next March when they acquired Hunter Freeman.
* Hunter Freeman - Traded to New York Red Bulls for a 2008 3rd round SuperDraft pick and a 2007 4th round Supplemental draft pick.
* Luchi Gonzalez - Released by team and has since joined Miami FC (USL-1).
* Sasha Gotsmanov - Released by team and has since joined his hometown Minnesota Thunder (USL-1).
* Matt Jordan - Released by team. Joined Montreal Impact of USL-1.
* Aitor Karanka - Released by team
* Aaron King Released by team. Joined Charleston Battery of USL-1
* Thiago Martins - Transferred to Bodø/Glimt of the Norwegian Adeccoligaen
* Clint Mathis - Traded to New York Red Bulls for a fourth-round draft pick in 2008 and a conditional pick in 2009.
* Fabrice Noël - Released by team
* Alain Nkong - Released by team
* Riley O'Neill - Traded to Toronto FC (technically he hadn't signed with the league and the Rapids traded his rights; part of the deal for Conor Casey)
* Melvin Tarley - Released by team. Joined Puerto Rico Islanders (USL-1).

Manchester United : Any Cash To Spend?

That's the question many people have had about Manchester United since Malcom Glazer's leveraged buyout of the team. Depending on your perspective, the beauty or ugliness of an LBO is that the person or group buying the company uses the company they're buying as to secure they debt they need to buy out the company at this hand. In the case of ManUtd, Glazer used it as collateral to buy them out and left the club saddled with a heavy debt load. Think of it as buying a house. Most all residential mortgages involve you buying a house with the debt secured by the house that you're buying. And even if you haven't bought a house yourself, most of us have heard how tight money can be the first year or three. And that's why there is so much speculation over Manchester United's transfer budget and if they have much of one at all. Asian Football Business Review is reporting that Manchester United will have a transfer budget this summer. Technically AFBR is reporting that ManUtd has a new sponsor, Grupo 2002 and ASC. Manchester United's Chief Executive David Gill is stating that the money will be used to help finance transfer this summer. Now that they've gone on record as having money to spend, the next question is how much. And who will they buy? A replacement for Scholes? A left winger? A new striker?