Will Nelson

https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2020/02/23/mls-2020-tipping-point-foreign-coaches-major-league-soccer-has-arrived

• Arsene Wenger wants to change the offside rule and here is a discussion of his proposal.
• A look at USL League One expansion team Union Omaha. One of the co-owners is the CEO of the company that owns the minor league baseball Richmond Flying Squirrels. Apparently the local paper did a name the team poll that Omaha Forest Corgis won, but was decided against.

Are we going to have a B&RU league again this year?

https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2020/02/19/mls-fantasy-back-2020-season-some-major-changes

• Fixed budget of $125 mil your budget no longer goes up and down as player values rise and fall
• DGWs now only take the higher of a player’s 2 scores instead of combining them

So BRU leagues as normal?

Amateur soccer player in France banned for 5 years for biting an opponent in a sensitive area.

https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2020/02/18/call-dont-call-bill-hamid-mr-dc

The Call Up podcast has an interview with Bill Hamid starting at the 7:30 mark.

was interviewed by the league site on his reaction to being traded: https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2020/02/17/nashville-scs-walker-zimmerman-reveals-reaction-shock-trade-lafc

Miki Turner writing for The Athletic ($wall) does a great job of explaining the pertinent portions of the 67 page decision here. A significant portion of the 67 page ruling is taken up with whether The Miami FC had standing to sue at all. The case centers on FIFA Article 9. The late notorious Chuck Blazer had a major hand in the decision being favorable to US Soccer and MLS.

update to this article https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2020/02/11/jurgen-klinsmann-leaves-hertha-berlin-after-less-10-weeks-charge

https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2020/02/13/new-nashville-soccer-stadium-go-mls-club-mayor-agree-revised-deal

Emphasis added

Under terms of the amended agreement, the MLS club agrees to privately fund 100 percent of stadium construction through cash investment, stadium lease payments, and revenues generated at the stadium by attendees of events held at the facility. The revised deal eliminates taxpayer and budget burden for stadium construction while keeping in place the first community benefits agreement in Tennessee.

Nashville SC will fund the infrastructure in the immediate vicinity of the stadium estimated to be $19 million, while also assuming Nashville Metro’s obligation to pay up to $35 million toward lease payments.

This is interesting. Especially since as is pointed out in Soccernomics by Simon Kuper and Stefan Szymanksi that stadiums aren’t the econcomic boosts that everyone says they are.

Get there 45 mins to an hour prior to kick off and the lines aren’t bad. Especially at the pupusa stands.

https://www.espn.com/soccer/united-states-usaw/story/4051750/ussf-accused-of-false-narrative-by-mens-union-in-uswnt-cba-dispute

Behind The Athletic $wall
USL has hired former USWNT player Angela Hucles to lead their efforts in Women’s soccer.

There is a gap that the USL could fill in the system — with both UWS and WPSL allowing NCAA-eligible players to play, and the NWSL at the top of the pyramid, the USL could differentiate itself by stepping into the middle to increase the number of fully professional players in the U.S. In doing so, a USL league could have a much larger impact on the future of UWS and the WPSL, more than the NWSL.

UWS is United Women’s Soccer provisional 2nd Division Pro-am league

• 25 teams in 5 conferences that are not equal in size
  WPSL is Women’s Premier Soccer League 2nd Division Pro league
• 119 Teams in 20 Divisions

Goff’s tweet is in here: https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2020/02/11/report-dc-united-chasing-ligue-1-center-back-bakaye-dibassy

The French center back/left back that D.C. United has been chasing is … Amiens’ Bakaye Dibassy. Club in relegation battle and apparently hesitant to move him at moment. Regular starter for 4 seasons. Age: 30. Intl team: Mali

Quote is Goff’s tweet as I can never get those to embed properly.

https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2020/02/12/your-teams-top-rivalry-matchup-2020-mls-season-greg-seltzer
And the MLS writier’s bureau says its Philly…..Heck no its the NY Red Bulls…go home

From The Athletic ($ wall)

https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2020/02/10/report-andy-najar-linked-lafc-after-leaving-dc-united-anderlecht

Najar for the moment is just training with LAFC in a bid to get fit. He’s not being signed at the moment. Interesting that he chose LAFC instead of DCU.

https://www.socceramerica.com/publications/article/84935/us-soccer-members-gather-in-nashville-with-vice.html

Vice Presidential election, bylaw and policy amendments also on the plate. In there is this amendment to bylaw/policy:

The Metropolitan DC-Virginia Soccer Association wants to slash registration fees across the board, except for pro leagues. Organizations would pay $5,000 rather than $10,000. Youth players’ fees would be 10 cents, down from $1. Adult fees would get a similar cut, from $2 to 20 cents. A decade ago, registration fees used to account for more than 10 percent of U.S. Soccer’s revenue. Now, they’re barely 5 percent. And they’re flat, reflecting a lack of growth. The MDCVSA argues that many unaffiliated leagues are remaining unaffiliated because of those fees.

MDCVSA has offered a second policy amendment that would allow amateur players to play for more than one team, which might be controversial, and to register electronically, which shouldn’t be.

https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2020/02/11/jurgen-klinsmann-leaves-hertha-berlin-after-less-10-weeks-charge

missed that bit, I skimmed it as my IDE came up at work.

https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2020/02/11/report-walker-zimmerman-traded-lafc-nashville-sc-blockbuster-move

https://www.angelsonparade.com/2020/2/11/21132389/transfer-rumor-lafc-to-sign-andy-najar-anderlecht-dc-united