MLS

America’s favorite soccer couple is splitting up — at least geographically. 

Major League Soccer will begin using VAR (video assistant referee) on the arbitrary date of August 5 in the middle of the season. Little good that does FC Dallas.

In the 21st minute of Dallas’ match with Montreal on Saturday, Cristian Colman hit a shot well over the goal line before it was headed out by Impact defender Daniel Lovitz. Replays show the ball clearly went over the line but referee Robert Sibiga waved play on.

The printer is a mysterious creature with a mind of its own. Often magnanimous in its ability to create documents and dole out copies, a printer can quickly turn against its owner and decide to pretend there’s a paper jam when there is no jam because damnit I looked all through the thing and there’s no jam and there’s not even any paper anywhere nearby and just work please oh please just work.

In an effort to protect the interests of official league provider adidas, MLS issued a $1,250 fine to New England Revolution striker Kei Kamara yesterday for visibly wearing TRUsox, an unapproved piece of kit. This would’ve passed unnoticed but Kamara took to Twitter to denounce the sanction, citing, among other things, the fact that faces of the league like Michael Bradley and Jozy Altidore also wear the socks without receiving a similar fine. 

Welcome back, MLS. We didn’t really miss you, but we’re glad you’re back.

After taking a two-week break for the start of the Gold Cup (but resuming before the end of the Gold Cup, because, you know, CONCACAF), MLS returned with a bang on Wednesday. 

But, since most MLS fans were probably watching Team USA on Wednesday instead, here’s a rundown of the night’s action, which included six pretty good matches and then a drab 0-0 draw between Minnesota and Houston. 

The process for selecting the 24-man MLS All-Star roster means that there’s always going to be some massive snubs. That just comes with the territory of allowing fans to vote for nearly 50% of the squad. It’s not worth getting too upset over. After all, it’s the fans that’ll actually pay to watch the glorified friendly between the All-Stars and Real Madrid on August 2 in Chicago.

On Monday, Romelu Lukaku showed the world that he can still do goals by doing one against Real Salt Lake, but the real story of the night was the raring, caged animal that is Jose Mourinho. The Mind Games Master was exquisite during and after the match, foretelling of a season that will either end with him winning the treble or getting sacked by December. There are no other logical outcomes.

Before the friendly between the LA Galaxy and Manchester United Sunday, Galaxy mascot Cozmo pulled a little joke on United during warm-ups, displaying a sign that said "IT'S CALLED SOCCER" to the Red Devils.

I cannot tell you - it is literally impossible to convey - how much this photo means to me. pic.twitter.com/5t1uKCPbbx

— Will Parchman (@WillParchman) July 16, 2017

The U.S. Open Cup didn’t disappoint on Tuesday, with Sporting KC and FC Dallas combining for three red cards and three extra-time goals in a wild game at Children’s Mercy Park in Kansas City, Kansas. 

The home side prevailed 3-0 despite going down a man in the 15th minute. The full highlights are worth the watch:

Andre Blake captained Jamaica to a winning start at the 2017 Gold Cup on Sunday, keeping a clean sheet and recording six saves in the Reggae Boyz victory over Caribbean rivals Curacao. 

The international heroics from the 26-year-old goalkeeper were no different from what he’s been accomplishing with the Philadelphia Union throughout the first half of the 2017 season.