General Soccer Thread

[Tambourine Man]

Zelalem is a go

Five months since becoming a U.S. citizen, the 18-year-old Arsenal midfielder who honed his game in the D.C. area was cleared by FIFA on Wednesday to play for the United States. His first assignment is the Under-20 World Cup in New Zealand, which will begin May 30.

And speaking of Suarez, I scored a $1.99 Liverpool jersey of his at a thrift store last week.

[Fat Strat]

Zelalem is a go

Five months since becoming a U.S. citizen, the 18-year-old Arsenal midfielder who honed his game in the D.C. area was cleared by FIFA on Wednesday to play for the United States. His first assignment is the Under-20 World Cup in New Zealand, which will begin May 30.

And speaking of Suarez, I scored a $1.99 Liverpool jersey of his at a thrift store last week.

Good news!

[thrill]

I think our U-20 crop might be the best we've ever had. Better than the Bradley/Altidore/Adu team. Better than the Beckerman/Donovan/Beasley team. Some serious, serious players. More pros than ever. Carter-Vickers, Palmer-Brown, Hyndman, Zelalem, Rubin, Maki Tall and Tommy Thompson look like they could be stars. I think they could win it on the strength of the CV-PB center back pairing alone. CV is going to start for Tottenham before he's 20 (I believe he's 17 now) and PB has had Juventus circling since he was 16. That kind of pedigree'd dominant pairing at CB is unprecedented in our system.

[slide_into_first]

Magic Johnson wants to build a soccer stadium in Exposition Park, which is not good for trees and other living things. Besides, the traffic will be terrible. The Home Depot aka StubHub Center is easy to get to and is 12 years old. #whatajoke

[thrill]

The Home Depot aka StubHub Center is easy to get to and is 12 years old. #whatajoke

New team wants a new stadium. Don't want to Clippers with the Galaxy.

[slide_into_first]

Then they should just renovate the LA Coliseum and leave them trees alone.

[thrill]

I don't care enough about LA urban planning to have an opinion. I was just pointing out why they're building new rather than just playing in the SHC, which is totally adequate for MLS purposes.

[slide_into_first]

Right. I know. I suspect there was resistance from the city and county until the right people were paid.

[Hoot45]

I was at BPV this afternoon to see Don Garber talk about MLS expansion in St. Louis. Learned a lot and was impressed by Garber. He was surprisingly candid, genuine, and intelligent. Main points were (1) stadium is more important than ownership, (2) a downtown stadium is mandatory, (3) if everything goes right 2020 would be projected expansion year for STL, and (4) best thing fans can do is fill up the seats for St. Louis FC.

[33anda3rd]

http://www.espnfc.us/fifa-world-cup/sto ... on-charges

Great news. The biggest surprise is that this didn't happen sooner.