USA

The Vancouver Whitecaps pulled off what might be one of the biggest moves of the MLS offseason on Thursday, signing Venezuela international Anthony Blondell. The striker led the Primera Division in Venezuela with 23 goals in 2017, leading Monagas SC to the Torneo Apertura title. 

Anthony Blondell (pronounced blun-dell) could be a coup for the Whitecaps. At 23 years old, he’s an emerging star, having made his international debut earlier this month. His 2017 haul of 23 goals came in 33 starts and 37 appearances and many of them were impressive strikes.

Sepp Blatter, the disgraced former FIFA president who once suggested female players wear tighter shorts to promote “a more female aesthetic” in the women’s game, has dismissed Hope Solo’s claims of sexual assault at the 2013 Ballon d’Or award ceremony in Zurich, Switzerland.

There are a lot of people in and around the United States who do not care for Toronto FC striker Jozy Altidore. Sacha Kljestan is one. Several of them even work here at the18 dot com. However, anyone who watched the Toronto FC-Columbus Crew MLS Cup semifinal has to appreciate Altidore's work during the series, namely keeping us from having to watch any more of it.

On December 6 in New York City, four Major League Soccer expansion hopefuls will stand in front of the league’s expansion committee and commissioner Don Garber and make their case to be one of two new sides slated to begin play in 2020. They’ll talk about things like business metrics (“F*ck that,” says Columbus), stadium plans and making bank.

The feel-good aura surrounding Newcastle United was evaporating faster than a fart into a Panasonic exhaust fan as they stared a fifth-straight defeat in the face on Tuesday. West Bromwich Albion took a 2-0 lead in the 56th minute of their Premier League match at The Hawthorns, but a spirited fightback earned Newcastle an invaluable point and somewhat arrested the slide on Tyneside.  

Maybe you haven’t heard, but the U.S. will not be participating in the 2018 World Cup in Russia. But that hasn’t stopped Americans from purchasing more tickets for next summer’s tournament than any other country outside the host nation. And the U.S. isn’t the only country that won’t be competing in Russia to rank in the Top 10 in World Cup ticket sales.

Monday marked Contract Deadline Day in Major League Soccer, meaning that all clubs (apart from the four still participating in the MLS Cup playoffs) had to announce which player contract options they’d picked up and which players they’d effectively cut. 

The 2017 NCAA Men’s College Cup field has been whittled to eight with many of the usual suspects advancing to the quarterfinals. The marquee matchup of the quarters will be a rematch of last year’s College Cup final — Wake Forest, the top-seed, will take on back-to-back national champion Stanford. Seeds 2 through 5 remain alive as well: Indiana, North Carolina, Louisville and Akron. 

You could forgive Stefan Frei for suffering from a professional hangover following his heroics in the 2016 MLS Cup final. The 31-year-old native of Switzerland's legend is forever woven inside the fabric of the league following that save on Jozy Altidore in the second half of extra-time, one of seven saves for Frei in a performance that saw him named MLS Cup MVP. 

Could Robert Lewandowski be the latest European star to make a move to MLS? According to his wife, Anna Lewandowski, the couple dreams of a move to Los Angeles and a chance to build their personal brands ahead of Robert's retirement.

"I think we will spend some time in the United States, too," Anna Lewandowski said in a recent interview with Business Insider Poland. "We dream of Los Angeles. There we want to develop our brands."