USSoccer

That tweet boosted my opinion of Brad Evans immeasurably.

That's exactly what this is. John Brooks, Yedlin, Green and to a lesser extent Chandler and Mix are all about 2018. Wow. This is crazy. Then again, blowing up the status quo is why Jurgen was hired. How many of these guys could be playing in Rio in 2016. A great Olympic showing would go a long ways towards marketing 2018. I don't buy that this is a move geared toward 2018, and if it is, its a mistake. This isn't baseball where you can build a youth movement. A World Cup cycle is a loooong time. You don't know where guys like Brooks, Green and Yedlin are going to be on the developmental curve. I think Yedlin has a bright future, but Green, for example, has a total of like 7 1st team minutes with his club. We have no idea what he is going to be.

Kid didn't just delete the tweet, he deleted his account. Somebody's grounded. Seriously though, try to tell me Jurgen didn't harbor a grudge for Landon's no-show at Bayern. All that does is fuel my theory that LD was one of Brian Strauss's sources.

That's exactly what this is. John Brooks, Yedlin, Green and to a lesser extent Chandler and Mix are all about 2018. Wow. This is crazy. Then again, blowing up the status quo is why Jurgen was hired. All of it except Donovan makes sense if you take a pretty strict view of "talent wins out". I mean, out of all the cuts the only one we weren't cringing at the thought of them seeing the field was Evans, and even that is with a pretty narrow role. I'd be interested to see the reasoning that Donovan stays and Chandler goes though, at face value it seems like some incompatible logic, unless Donovan was truly awful in training. Davis isn't more talented than current-version Donovan. And Wondo isn't more talented than Boyd, for that matter. I excluded Donovan, I was more talking about Yedlin/Brooks/Chandler beating out Parkhurst/Goodson/Evans. Ah, gotcha. I have no arguments there with those three, although my feelings on Chandler are not exactly glowing

I am very, very happy about him being on the 23. I have high hopes for him.

That's exactly what this is. John Brooks, Yedlin, Green and to a lesser extent Chandler and Mix are all about 2018. Wow. This is crazy. Then again, blowing up the status quo is why Jurgen was hired. All of it except Donovan makes sense if you take a pretty strict view of "talent wins out". I mean, out of all the cuts the only one we weren't cringing at the thought of them seeing the field was Evans, and even that is with a pretty narrow role. I'd be interested to see the reasoning that Donovan stays and Chandler goes though, at face value it seems like some incompatible logic, unless Donovan was truly awful in training. Davis isn't more talented than current-version Donovan. And Wondo isn't more talented than Boyd, for that matter.

In a way, this has been coming since 2011's Gold Cup. LD started looking off then, took his hiatus and hasn't looked like himself in a while. I can only imagine it's something to do with his current form or knee injury, since if he's taking a stand on principle, Timothy Chandler shouldn't be on the roster either.

If we flame out, the anti-Germerican crowd is going to have a field day.

I'm [expletive] stunned. In a way...I'm almost impressed JK was willing to make a tough call like that.

I rate Fagundez higher than Gil, and I love Gil. Fagundez has the potential to be a very, very special player. His creativity, pace with the ball and ability to finish is right up there with anyone in the league. He reminds me of a pacier, shorter Clint Dempsey. And he's still just 19. The problem with Fagundez is that he just got his Green Card. That means a 5 year wait because this country's immigration policy is horseshit, unless he gets married to a citizen, which cuts it to 2. He's been here since he was like 3. Gil might need to ask for a trade; he's never going to be handed the keys to the RSL offense as long as Javi Morales is there, and he needs to be in that role right now. His development is being stunted by being stuck out wide and not playing every game (RSL's coach has been starting some England reject in his spot; he had a hamstring injury but has been available the last 2-3 weeks).

He was pretty bad. Composed on the ball, but read the game like you'd expect a 17 year old to do.

Yeah, Evans was a good soldier, but got through the Hex on luck and grit. Every time someone with pace attacked that side it was panic time. I want Yedlin to play his way on to the plane somehow.

Been thinking about this since the roster was released. If he brings it in camp, you have to take him. He's the best right back in the pool on the club level and his size and speed matches up vs Ghana, Ronaldo and Germany better than anyone on the roster. He has experience and understands the germans and what they'll try to do. I think he's on the plane as long as Jurgen thinks team chemistry can handle it. I think he's a lock at this point; if JK included him in the 30, he's going to be on the 23 barring injury. I'm not happy about it; I think Chandler's a mercenary flake who is indifferent at best about playing for the US, but he has a whole camp to change his teammates' minds. Hope he brings it.

And yet completely worth whatever

Full credit to Minnesota; they played balls out. But even exhausted, the Hawks are better. St. Louis and Minnesota have both played balls out. If the Hawks go back to the finals, they'll have earned it.

See?

Hopefully Minnesota just shot their wad there those first 5 minutes.

Yeesh. Minnesota is just kicking their ass. The team looks a step slow.

Sharp and breakaways: Not going well.

Wow, Wondo and Boyd over EJ. I'm not thrilled about Chandler being on the 30, to be honest. EJ's bad start and worse attitude probably doomed him. Also surprised to see Corona on there, but I'd guess he's just camp fodder.

MLS Live allows you access to previous season's games via archive, condensed versions of games, game highlights as well as live streaming and play-from-beginning. WatchESPN doesn't have the condensed stuff, and their archive goes back like a month. MLS Live stream quality and interface is a lot stronger than WatchESPN is. We'll have to see what happens with the actual product, but $60 to get every game past and present in multiple formats was an amazing deal. There was some stuff in the presser about MLS retaining some digital rights, so hopefully that means they can keep the archive stuff and ESPN just got live broadcast streaming rights. Yeah, I can't imagine ESPN would care too much about digital rights to past seasons, although stuff like condensed games and such would probably suffer. As for the quality, I admit I've never paid for Live so I'm not an expert, but judging by the other video resources on the MLS website I would be shocked if it's a better experience than WatchESPN. It's literally a 50/50 chance I can ever get a highlight to actually play from mlssoccer.com. Live is glorious. It's one of the best things I've even purchased; for $60 I get to watch all the games? I can blow through condensed versions in an hour or so for an entire weekend? It's awesome. And the stream quality is top notch. The league website itself is...not great.

There are particularly memorable games that its fun to go back and watch the highlights of. If they move everything over to WatchESPN, it broadens the viewer base and gives the league more overall exposure, but for the hardcore fans that take advantage of MLS Live (or don't get WatchESPN access), it will suck.

MLS Live allows you access to previous season's games via archive, condensed versions of games, game highlights as well as live streaming and play-from-beginning. WatchESPN doesn't have the condensed stuff, and their archive goes back like a month. MLS Live stream quality and interface is a lot stronger than WatchESPN is. We'll have to see what happens with the actual product, but $60 to get every game past and present in multiple formats was an amazing deal. There was some stuff in the presser about MLS retaining some digital rights, so hopefully that means they can keep the archive stuff and ESPN just got live broadcast streaming rights. ETA: I'm not really articulating my point here as well as I could, but the gist of it is that MLS Live is a great value and offers a lot of extras that WatchESPN doesn't currently offer.

Good move; sucks he couldn't get a work permit but the EPL isn't where he should be anyway