New US Men's Coach

Still In The Works ESPN's columnist Ives Galacrep takes a look at the coaching situation for the US Men's National Team. As you probably know, the US Mens' Team does not have head coach right now. After 8 years in charge, Bruce Arena has moved on to being the head coach and sporting director of the New York Red Bulls. USSF's Sunil Gulati is looking at new candidates. He's brought in a few bigs names such as Argentina's Pickerman and the (in)famous Sven Goran Erickson. Ives says the best 3 canidates for the job are already in the United State. Jurgen Klinnsman lives in southern California. He didn't have any head coaching experience before taking the job to coach his native Germany. He lead them to the semi-finals in the World Cup this summer. Bob Bradley The other 2 Ives mentions, and they've been mentioned as canidates by others, are both coaches in the MLS. Bob Bradley coaches Chivas USA. He had a lot of success in his early years with the Chicago Fire. His tenure at the NY/NJ Metrostars (now known as New York Red Bulls) was so-so. But he's turned last years league doormat Chivas USA into a team that very well could finish in 2nd place. His star has some shine again thanks to that. Peter Nowak Peter Nowak has taken a DC United team that was destroyed by Thomas Rongen back into a the dynasty that DC fans seem to feel is their clubs rigthful place in the universe. The team is on the verge of winning the Supporters Shield (best team in the league's regular season) and the pundit's favorite to win the MLS Cup this year. Ives brings up an intersting question about Nowak. How well would he do without Tom Soehn? We'll probably know the answer to that soon. As I've mentioned before, there are a few MLS coaches that are likely be let go this summer. Soehn will surely land one of those if he wants to make the move. He's been a canidate before and is the most well regarded assistant coach in the MLS.

MLS and The Cam Weaver Saga

Major League Soccer Roster Deadline Has Passed And... As College to Pros reports, the Cam Weaver situation at the Colorado Rapids doesn't look good for the Rapids. Major League Soccer's roster deadline has passed and there hasn't been an announcement regarding his signing yet. There's some speculation that the league may have signed him, he just hasn't been matched up with a team yet. I'm not sure if that's possible since the roster deadline has passed. MLS fans have good reason to be cycnical over the league's rules. Throughout it's history the MLS has done a lot of things that seem to favor it's large market team like the LA Galaxy, New York Red Bulls (ex- Metrostars), and even DC United. The league owned franchise Tampa Bay made several moves that involved shipping it's best players off to other clubs. But those moves seem to be more of a thing of the past. I don't think any teams will find their way around the roster deadline this time around.

Carnival Of Soccer

Pop some popcorn, grab a coke and kick back and relax while you read the carnival of soccer over at It's A Simple Game. They got a bunch of soccer bloggers to do some great write-ups on Major League Soccer teams. My favorite is the one on the Colorado Rapids at College to Pros. College to Pros normally looks young players moving from college to the pros. For the soccer carnival they took an interesting look at the MLS' proverbial red-headed step-child, the Colorado Rapids.

Beer For MLS Teams

Major League Beer Steins? We Call It Soccer has some fun today and does a little word.... errr, beer association. They list a beer that they associate with each team in the MLS. Can you guess what beer they associated with the LA Galaxy and who they had in mind?

Carling Cup : Giants Fall

England's Carling Cup Premiership clubs Middlesbrough, Mnnchester City, and Fulham all lost to small clubs in their Carling Cup games today. And Watford only got past Accrington on penalties. It's the kind of thing that many fans point to as the beauty of the the cup competitions. That is, that part of the excitment is when someone like Wycombe, down League Two (4th division in England, really) beats a premeirship club. It's a huge feat for a little club like that. Not only is it a moral boost for the squad but the money from an extra round or two of cup play can be the difference between the club turning a profit or a loss for the year. It's not quite as big of a deal as some make it out to be. Often times, espeically with the Carling Cup, the premeirship teams are putting out a lot of their reserves for the game. So what does it mean to beat them in that situation? Those reserves may have more talent but when half the players on the field aren't getting regular game time, they're bound to be a little rusty. If anything these upsets say more about the state of the Carling Cup than are stories about David beating Goliath. The big clubs don't want to risk their best players unless they progress a few rounds because they have other priorities like the FA Cup, league play and even playing in Europe (or at least trying to make sure to qualify). How many more years can the Carling Cup limp along like this?