Are you gripped with International Champions Cup fever yet? Because Miami sure as hell is — or at least ticket sellers on the secondary market are. Miami’s newly refurbished Hard Rock Stadium will play host to the second-ever meeting outside of Spain between Real Madrid and Barcelona on July 29 in the ICC.
The Chicago Fire have signed 32-year-old German midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger from Manchester United, handing him one of the top 10 biggest contracts in the league. Schweinsteiger could make his Chicago debut as early as April 1 against Montreal.
According to FOX Soccer, the transfer fee is around $4.5 million. Schweinsteiger joined Manchester United from Bayern Munich back in July of 2015 for almost $10 million, but he struggled to make an impact at the club under Louis van Gaal.
We’ve never understood power rankings, especially when you can just look at the standings for an official, unarguable list of who’s the best (The Timber Joeys!) and who’s the worst (New England Revs!). So, with a desire to not do something so unnecessary and redundant, but rather create a new list that makes very little sense, we present: The MLS Rankings of Power.
Every week, we’ll update this monstrosity in the hope of finding the most powerful person, place or thing in the most major of major soccer leagues. Let us continue.
The Portland Timbers made it three wins from three matches to begin their 2017 MLS season, and Darlington Nagbe capped a superb week with an assist so good that your first instinct is to doubt its intention.
Nagbe was recalled to the USMNT last week for their upcoming World Cup qualifiers, and the midfielder’s creativity was on full display in Portland’s 4-2 victory over Houston on Saturday.
Nagbe was frequently overlooked by Jurgen Klinsmann, but his ridiculous assist for David Guzman’s goal should tell you everything you need to know about his quality.
Whatever happens in the return leg, this CONCACAF Champions League first leg between FC Dallas and Pachuca is now the benchmark for all MLS clubs. This competition doesn’t favor MLS sides (Dallas are only just beginning their work for the 2017 season), and there’s still obviously a large gap between almost all MLS and Liga MX clubs, but this was the best team in MLS, backed by the best academy, unfortunate to only win 2-1 on the night.
USMNT manager Bruce Arena has announced his 24-man squad for vital World Cup qualifiers against Honduras and Panama at the end of March. This represented the first opportunity for Arena to include European-based talent, but it’s clear that he’s also given a fair shake to the MLS players that impressed during January camp.
Tigres moved one step closer to their first-ever CONCACAF Champions League title by defeating Vancouver Whitecaps 2-0 in the first leg of the semifinals. An own goal from ‘Caps defender Kendall Waston and a half-volley from Chilean international Eduardo Vargas will have Tigres confident of seeing things through ahead of the return leg in Vancouver.
Vancouver surprised everyone by making it this far in the competition, and their only hope was to give themselves a chance at BC Place by defending resolutely in the first leg.
The LA Galaxy challenged the Portland Timbers, and our MLS Rankings of Power, by posting a disparaging meme aimed at Diego Chara and David Guzman after the two combined to get Jelle Van Damme sent off on Sunday.
Van Damme was booked for both tackles although he made contact with neither player. Guzman actually spectacularly injured himself with his dive, which is another joke in and of itself.