In a World Cup year, it’s only natural that national team regulars are put under the microscope every week. With only 23 spots available on the final World Cup roster, each and every week during the club season is a personal battle and test of merit. In that sense, no USMNT player has been failing as spectacularly as Los Angeles Galaxy forward Gyasi Zardes.
Carlos Vela will soon move to Los Angeles to play for LAFC, where he will play derbies against Mexico teammates Giovani and Jonathan dos Santos, who play for the LA Galaxy. Vela appears to have a healthy competitive attitude regarding the whole thing, which is to say he will stop at nothing to destroy his friends in the name of three points.
Carlos Vela and the Dos Santos Bros = Mexico teammates, LA foes.
FC Dallas' social media team has apparently forgotten the number one rule of Twitter: never tweet.
If they had followed this rule, the world would not have been exposed to this monstrosity:
Photo: @JeffVeillette | Twitter
It’s a fun little quiz that takes less than a minute. Find out if you would be allowed to immigrate to the United States under the Republican-proposed, president-backed, merit-based point system created to slash legal immigration.
Carlos Vela, he of 28 years of age and over a half-century of caps for Mexico, has revealed his ambition to jettison from La Liga’s Real Sociedad in favor of 2018’s Los Angeles Football Club, i.e. a branding person’s wet dream.
Carlos Vela is rumored to become LAFC's first designated player when the team begins MLS play next season, and the Mexican attacker took the first step toward that goal Tuesday. Real Sociedad announced Vela would be leaving the club for MLS in January.
@RealSociedad pic.twitter.com/tdKu24MiRk
— carlos vela (@11carlosV) August 8, 2017
The L.A. Galaxy are in a major rut and everyone is piling on, from opponents to technology. In a 3-1 loss to the Portland Timbers on Sunday, the Galaxy were one of the first MLS clubs to have a goal disallowed by video review. Then the Timbers slammed home two of the best goals of the weekend to rub it in and spoil the debut of Jonathan Dos Santos.
L.A. thought it had scored in the 12th minute when Gyasi Zardes poked home from short range. But the officials checked the tape and discovered Zardes had handled the ball prior to the goal.
David Villa’s first two seasons in MLS with New York City FC were remarkable, but his third season with the club is poised to be his finest yet. Fresh off being selected for his third consecutive All-Star Game and having just received the 2017 ESPY Award for Best MLS Player, Villa took his league-leading tally to 17 goals from 22 games with his first-ever hat trick in America.
The Champions League and Europa League have used end-line assistants for a few years now. The Confederations Cup used VAR this summer, and Major League Soccer will start using video review on Saturday. The English Premier League has popularized goal-line technology and this year will have a panel to suspend those who dive or feign injury.
It’s taken a while, but soccer is finally getting its shit together when it comes to officiating the game.
Back in 2010, MLS signed an eight-year deal with Adidas worth $200 million. It was seen as a watershed moment for the league, signed just years after an eight-year contract with ESPN.
In 2014, the broadcast deal for MLS changed dramatically when ESPN, Fox Sports and Univision signed new agreements totaling around $90 million per-season, five times more than the previous deal.