FC Dallas played an ineligible player in a 0-0 draw with Orlando City on Saturday. MLS said on Friday the FC Dallas punishment would be a mere slap on the wrist, allowing the team to keep the point it earned. The league fined FC Dallas $75,000 in General Allocation Money and an additional $25,000 for the roster violation.
A thrill in sports not typically associated with soccer, the MLS playoff race is a unique feature when compared to European leagues like the English Premier League or Spain’s La Liga. But it sure does make the final weeks of the season exciting.
This year in the Western Conference, eight teams are competing for five remaining playoff spots with less than three weeks left in the regular season. With two three-way ties among the top eight teams, the race for the six playoff berths will go down to the wire, so let’s take a look.
The18.com knows you don't have time for waste when it comes to your soccer news. That's why we've created the fastest rundown in soccer. Greg Ellis takes you through 18 different soccer topics, and spends 18 seconds on each. This time he goes over the USMNT World Cup qualifying debacle, VAR, Carlos Tevez making millions for not doing anything and does his best Donald Trump impersonation regard Atlanta United's new stadium.
FC Dallas has been in a free fall in recent months. The club has won just once since a 2-1 win over Montreal on July 22 saw FC Dallas briefly move to the top of the Western Conference, a span of 12 matches that included more than bad losses. It could get even worse after an apparent illegal substitution late in Saturday’s 0-0 draw with Orlando City.
Is this the dumbest thing you’ve read today? IS IT?! Go ahead, say it. I don’t care.
Figuring out who has the best MLS team is fairly simple. There’s a long season followed by playoffs to determine the answer. But who has the best MLS fans? We’re here to tell you, definitively. And we know you’re unquestionably going to agree with every choice.
With only three matches remaining in the regular season, the Seattle Sounders are looking to gain a bit of momentum heading into the 2017 MLS Cup Playoffs — the same formula that saw them lift the 2016 MLS Cup. Seattle has dropped only one of their past 13 games, but they’ve also drawn five over that period.
Major League Soccer released a statement Tuesday on players’ right to free speech in light of the recent trend for NFL players to take a knee during the playing of the national anthem before games. MLS made it clear they would prefer players to stand during the Star-Spangled Banner, but would respect and support a player’s right to express his personal beliefs.
The statement in full:
For as long as I can remember, people with absolutely zero expertise in the world of player development and zero knowledge about the overwhelming complexities of our incredibly fragmented youth system have been banging on about simply unearthing the next Lionel Messi in the face of what Top Drawer Soccer's Will Parchman elegantly described as issues of money, space and time.