November 14, 2007
Just because the Seattle is moving to MLS in 2009 , that doesn't mean that the Sounders will bail on the USL for the 2008 season.
The USL has announced that they expect the Sounders back in 2008.
With that news, the free agent market just got less flooded as many teams were looking at the roster of the 2007 USL 1st Division Champs and envisioning certain players wearing their colors in 2008.
US Soccer makes the Sundhage hiring official
During the announcement that Pia Sundhage would be named the new US Women's National Team head coach, US Soccer President Sunil Gulati let it be known that Sundhage was only given a one year contract.
With the Bejing Olympics being held next year, it would appear that Sundhage will get one major international competition to either sink or swim as the National Team head coach.
It will be very interesting to see how Sundhage approaches this situation as Bob Bradley was in a similiar situation when he was originally named the interim US Men's National Team head coach when he replaced Brice Arena.
News and Notes
- Apparently Bobby Boswell.com is in the breaking news business, now!
- Ives Galarcep has a longer article on the latest outlook for Red Bull Park being up and running. It's somewhat heartening to see that Rochester isn't alone in dealing with issues in getting a big project done.
- It appears that the suburban Philadelphia MLS stadium plan in Chester, PA is still on track.
- Phoenix appears to have a desire to remain in the mix for an MLS expansion team. One plus for Phoenx would be the climate should MLS move to the international schedule.
- The plan for the San Jose Earthquakes to play their games at Santa Clara University's Buck Shaw Stadium seems to have some hurdles. The team says that parking won't be an issue, but the logistics in the article suggest otherwise.
- DuNord is hearing that MLS will NOT announce an expansion team in St. Louis. That would get MLS to their 16 teams by 2010. Also, Don Garber is also talking about getting 18 teams by 2012. That would appear to give the Rhinos some time to get their new investors in place if they want a seat at the MLS table.
The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author, and not necessarily those of the Rochester Rhinos or SoccerSam.com. Feel free to send any comments or complaints to news@soccersam.com. James promises to read (but not to respond) to all of them.
