The fact that this promo appears to feature the Timbers Army signing the National Anthem aside, the latest promo from NBC Sports Network should be enough to get us all pumped. And for those of you who like counting these things, there are at least two appearances of Sounders.

So has it sunk in yet? You've had a weekend to ponder "The Trade," have you gone through the stages? I'm still not sure what to think, though in my internet wanderings there seems to be a small set of fans that think that the good or bad of this trade hinges on our CCL affair -- which I find highly irrational. I still maintain that we can't grade this trade now, or tomorrow or at the end of the season. Too many variables.

Happy Presidents' Day everyone, time for some Major Link Soccer.

So tell me if you've heard this story before: That according to most overseas -- I'm looking at you England -- the MLS is nothing more than a Mickey Mouse affair or, at the most, a retirement home? Yeah me too, lots. Former LA Galaxy midfielder Chris Birchall who left the MLS champs at the end of the season, fears that his time in America could hinder his chances when it comes to the English game.

He's currently training with League 1 side Port Vale.

"Some managers still think there's that stigma of playing in the MLS and only certain players can play at a higher level. But when I've trained with Oldham and Vale some of the players said they envied me for playing in LA. From a manager's point of view, though, they don't see the standard as being so high."

He left the Galaxy due to having to take a pay cut if he were to stay on. Having only started 19 games, his contract renewal didn't kick in -- falling one game short of the 20 needed to turn over his contract.

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With a new season, brings new kits. It's just the way it is -- but what sets you apart is how you unveil those kits. Take Chivas USA for example, they did theirs at 30,000 feet in the air, somewhere between Guadalajara and Los Angles, during a Volaris commercial flight.

Modeling these new kits in flight were forward Juan Pablo Angel, goalkeeper Dan Kennedy and midfielder Jorge Villafana. It was a ten minute presentation -- the 'models' did there thing on the aisle as the flight bounded towards LA.

"There are a lot of symbols on this flight; the first was that it was a flight from Guadalajara, where our sibling club was founded, to LA, which is our home," said Morales. "Also, keeping Chivas at this altitude at this height is important because if we launch a jersey like this, then we need to have a fantastic season in 2012, and I’m sure that will happen."

-VP Of Marketing Rodrigo Morales

Speaking of new kits, the Columbus Crew have unveiled their kit sponsors for this season -- Barbasol. Their new kits -- home, away and practice -- will have the Barbasol logo.

"On behalf of the entire Crew organization, I am extremely pleased to welcome Barbasol to our family of corporate and community partners," Crew president and general manager Mark McCullers said in a statement. "Barbasol is a well-known, well-respected brand, and we are proud that it will adorn the front of our jerseys for years to come.

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In this edition of Major Link Soccer, I, Timm Higgins, will try my best not to poke bears, cause twitter outrage or other such nonsense. Lets all cross our fingers, shall we?

The Philadelphia Union have been under fire from their fan base most of this off season. Recently, on their official website, CEO and Operating Partner Nick Sakiewicz pens a open letter of sorts to the Union's fans.

Here's a bit of a excerpt.

While it is very difficult for us to move on from players like Sébastien LeToux and Faryd Mondragón, it is vital to provide the opportunity for young players who are more than ready to step up, such as Martínez, Zac MacMath, Danny Mwanga, Jack McInerney, Michael Farfan and Gabriel Farfan, among others. Additionally, adding international veterans like López, Gómez and Pajoy means room has to be made on a crowded roster.

While their President is off on safari looking for the team's first designated player, the Montreal Impact have put a call out to the fans. The call is for someone to design the team's Captain's armband. According to the Impact, it must represent the team, city of Montreal and the province of Quebec. Personally, I find this to be pretty cool, though I'm sure they'd like to have a DP more than a skipper's arm band design.

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Jurgen Klinsmann has been a polarizing figure since being named head coach of the USMNT, for me the jury is still out. Soon the US U23's will begin the qualifying rounds to earn their ticket London and the 2012 summer games. The problem I have at the moment (and this just might be my brain) is that Klinsmann isn't being too positive about the whole thing. Now, let me say I don't expect him to spew rainbows and unicorns - but for some reason this quote bugs me.

"Am I saying I want to see them to bring a medal home?" asked Klinsmann, the senior team coach. "I think that would be asking too much if you look at all the teams."

And while that actually might be true, do you want to go on record saying that - Hey, we really don't have a snowballs chance but we're going to give it out best shot?

Eric Wynalda is in the news again, first it was for his twitter 'scrap' with Portland Timbers owner Merrit Paulson and now he's telling The Sporting News that Major League Soccer is a joke.

His actual words, check it out.

"Our league is a joke," he told Sporting News. "I want soccer to continue to flourish in this country, but there’s a whole other level we’re just excluding ourselves from. We’ve cheated the American public out of a better product."

One wonders if Wynalda ever tapped the ball into the net casually, as he doesn't pull punches when he talks.

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As our own malcontentjake and countless others have demonstrated repeatedly, the numerical shorthand for soccer formations which we're all accustomed to (e.g. 4-4-2) is almost completely useless. Whether you have a 'band of 4' defenders or a 'band of 5' is much less important than what those defenders are doing at any given time. And the inherent assumption of symmetry doesn't map well to a world in which one fullback might be more attacking than another, one winger might cut to the middle more than the other, or one forward might play in front of — rather than next to — another.

Fundamentally, a formation is just a shorthand description of where the players tend to be on the field. So what better way to determine the formation than to simply keep track of where the players are? Thanks to the detailed statistics that Opta is collecting for MLS matches, we can do just that. Though the data doesn't include every player's location at every moment, it's granular enough to include the location of every pass, tackle, shot, interception, and other on-ball event. While there is a lot to playing a position that doesn't include any of these events, I think it's fair to say that if a player spends any significant time in an area of the field, he will tend to engage in those activities there as well.

So if we take every tracked event that a player was involved in and map it onto the field, we can see where that player played. This is exactly how the heat maps on the league site are generated. And if we plot the mean location of those events and call that location the player's 'formational position' we can see where the entire team is playing, on average. Here is an example from the final Seattle Sounders regular season game last season — versus Chivas USA:

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I hate to start these things on a down note, but today I feel I have too. As most know, Wednesday in Port Said Egypt a riot broke out at a Egyptian Premier League match. At the least 74 people lost their lives midweek and hundreds were injured after a match between Al-Masry and Al-Ahly.

Former USMNT boss and current Egyptian National Team coach Bob Bradley watched the events unfold on TV as he was getting ready to attend another match that day.

Yesterday Bradley and his wife marched in Cairo, protesting the violence and in support of the victims.

"When a tragedy like this occurs," he said, "it’s important to show respect."

"First and foremost, we think about the families," he added. "And now all sorts of questions come up because there’s more to the situation. For the most part, everyone sees this as more than just fan violence at a football match."

Bradley is also unsure how this will effect the Egyptian National team, and the league itself.

In the moment, there are questions about what will happen with the league and decisions will be made: Will it continue? Will it be cancelled? Will they play with no fans in the stadium? All of these things would clearly impact the situation for the national team."

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Lets start off Monday's edition of Major Link Soccer with a local flavor.

The North Sound SeaWolves FC have moved from their Everett home to new digs in Edmonds. The club plans to make it official this week. As you may know, the SeaWolves play in the PDL North Division. This is the same division that is home to PDL champs Kitsap Pumas and formerly the Tacoma Tide -- now Seattle Sounders FC U23 -- just to name a few. The Pumas are the reigning PDL champs.

"The PDL is the best place for young players to showcase for Major League Soccer and other leagues"

-SeaWolves owner/coach Alex Silva

The newly minted Montreal Impact are still hunting for their first designated player. According to the Winnipeg Free Press, their search has been mostly aimed at aging European stars. So far the Impact haven't had any luck; even the 'younger' aging stars are shunning the newest entry into Major League Soccer. They've lost out on Nicolas Anelka, Alessandro Del Peiro (of Juventus fame) -- who said he'd only come to the MLS if it was LA or New York who came calling.

Never mind the fact he's way on the wrong side of 30.

"It has to be the right player," Saputo said this week. "He has to be a leader on and off the field, not one who comes here to end his career, to play for a year or two and then leave. "He has to do more than play on the field and sell jerseys."

Joey Saputo, the Impact's President, also noted that Major League Soccer doesn't want a bunch of 38-39 year-olds coming in to play one or two seasons and retire. They're looking for the 'younger' set of European players.

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