Thierry Henry to Seattle FC?

It's the most wonderful time of the year. The MLS' 13th season is about to begin this weekend. The EPL season is coming down to a few more heated matches between serious contenders (Man U at 73 points, Chelsea! at 68, Arsenal at 67 & Liverpool at 59 trying to keep its 4th place spot away from crosstown rivals Everton). And the rumor mills are churning at a feverish pace.

If you didn't catch the Chelsea/Arsenal match on the Fox Sports Channel this past weekend, you missed a heckuva game. As busy as things have been of late, I settled for watching it over the course of Monday & Tuesday night (1st half Monday, 2nd half Tuesday). I maintained a soccer media block out. (Admittedly still not that hard to do here stateside). Arsenal have been playing below average - drawing in their previous 4 games. And Chelsea have been surging with their less than popular new manager Avram Grant. The Stamford Bridge faithful booed him loudly in the 2nd half when he made his substitutions. (Quite possibly game-winning substitutions!)

Our beloved FC Dallas will open their season up in Frisco's Pizza Hut Park this Sunday against Preki's Chivas USA at 2pm (Channel 52 - KFWD). Ante Razov & Mikel Galindo will start for the Goats.

Also Sunday: Fox Soccer Channel is showing the Rangers/Celtic match at 6pm CST (delayed) - one of the great sports rivalries - right up there with Yankees/Red Sox, Packers/Vikings, Lakers/Celtics.

The MLS rumor mill has been very active of late what with David Beckham's contract clause for MLS team ownership. I wonder where "The David Beckhams" will play? That's the other source of preseason rumors: Montréal, Quebec might be getting an expansion slot in the next couple of years. Might "The David Beckhams" play in Canada? The MLS has always stated that the league will eventually have a 2nd NYC team. Maybe Beckham will pay Pepe Pinton his $1 million for the NY Cosmos name. It's more likely that Beckham will purchase an existing club.

Then on the most recent World Soccer Daily podcast, Steven Cohen made mention of high level sources indicating that Seattle is in late-stage negotiations with France's all-time leading scorer Barcelona striker Thierry Henry to play for Seattle in their inaugural season next year 2009. This would explain those Gilette ads with Roger Federer, Tiger Woods & Thierry Henry.

My Galaxy Jersey Just Came in the Mail

Wow, Becks out for all of September and probably most of October. I can't remember how long the MLS season is, but I get the feeling that LA won't be making the playoffs. Does that mean Beckham won't be playing any more in 2007?

David's arrival to play in the US has increased the interest in Major League Soccer in Europe. I'll agree to that, if only from a soap opera angle. It's unfortunate that he's now injured, but for some reason I figured something like this would happen.

(Beckham Photo courtesy AFP: Robyn Beck)

On the other side of things, guys like Keller and McBride continue to impress at Fulham (though McBride is out for the next couple of months himself), DaMarcus Beasley now plays for Rangers and recently scored a goal, and more than a handful of English teams have American players that have earned starting positions. Brad Friedel is by far one of the best keepers in the league; all of the US keepers play starting positions for English teams. It's those players that tend to earn more European respect. At least that's my perception as I have conversations with ex-Pats from around the world.

Elsewhere in Europe, it will be interesting to see what happens to Freddy Adu. He seems destined for the subs bench for the next little while, but assuming he gets an opportunity, he might just impress a few people, too.

Week after week, these players tend to keep a low profile, and quietly go about the task of gaining more experience. I'm just surprised that more players aren't following their lead. True, Fulham FC probably has more American players than any other Premiership club, but I'm certainly not saying that's the reason that they're currently in 2nd to last place. In fact, I'm saying quite the opposite. I think they're getting some excellent experience playing against some really really good players from around the world.

I seem to recall former US National Team Coach Steve Sampson saying something back in '94 or '98 like, "The US will win the world cup in about 12 years," and I'm not seeing that materialize. I'll excuse the loss to Sweden and consider that a bad day out at a friendly, but more US players need to get out and get some experience playing outside of the US. The MLS cannot afford to bring in another Becks to try to raise the level of play. They'll go bankrupt. Besides, one Becks cannot completely change the make up of a team. LA still look like they're going to hold up the Western Conference.

At least I got my jersey before it becomes a collectors' item.

“Sometimes I think you love Arsenal more than your family.” Nonsense, I told her, I love you both the same.

Very clever musings about a life spent as an Arsenal fan. I had no idea that the Queen of England has a favorite football team - seems positively unconstitutional for a figurehead to take sides like that. And Fidel Castro follows soccer? I thought he was exclusively a baseball & boxing guy. Who knew?

Opening Weekend for the Premiership!

Yep, domestic league play begins on Saturday, and I'm celebrating by wearing my Arsenal jersey in the office. I've been able to smile all day, even with all the work related crap going on. I love this time of year, with the anticipation of bagging a home win right from the start. It's a long season, and half the Arsenal squad still live at home with their parents. It could be really interesting.

Go Gunners!