Major Link Soccer: Is TFC the Rob Ford of MLS?

Seattle

Yesterday, Levy Films announced that Blu-Ray copies of American Football are being produced and will have an additional hour of content, including player and coach interviews that were ultimately cut from the theatrical release.

MLS Offseason

New York Red Bulls and Australia striker Tim Cahill may go on a short-term loan to the A-League during the MLS offseason. He is expected to make a decision by mid-December.

If you haven't watched the news or late night comedy TV shows lately, you may have missed on the antics of Toronto mayor Rob Ford. The Yorkies, who are a Toronto FC supporter group, see some similarities between the mayor and TFC.

Although he won't be the head coach of the Montreal Impact in 2014, Alessandro Nesta is already working on getting his coaching license. Montreal still hasn't made a decision concerning whether Marco Schallibaum will continue as the team's head coach in 2014.

After talking with new Columbus Crew head coach Gregg Berhalter, homegrown midfielder Will Trapp came away impressed with Berhalter's plans for him and the team in 2014 and beyond.

Chicago Fire forward Chris Rolfe believes that his team will have a good season next year if Frank Yallop has his way.

The LA Galaxy hasn't yet decided whether defender Sean Franklin and midfielder Marcelo Sarvas will be brought back in 2014. Franklin would be a candidate for the re-entry draft, but Sarvas would be placed in the waiver draft, as he only has 2 years of MLS experience.

Real Salt Lake and Costa Rica forward Alvaro Saborio won the 2013 MLS Latino del Año with 36.4% of the fan vote, beating out Oscar Boniek Garcia, Raul Fernandez and Jaime Penedo.

DC United missed the first deadline for a land swap deal that is a necessary first step to build a new stadium at Buzzard Point. A deal can still be reached, but it looks increasingly unlikely with an absolute deadline at the end of the calendar year.

As Eric mentioned yesterday, the LA Galaxy and FC Dallas will reportedly field USL Pro teams in 2014. Big D Soccer explains why this makes sense for a team that likes to invest pretty heavily in its youth academy.

Bruce Arena recently echoed Jürgen Klinsmann's sentiments from two years ago that the MLS offseason is too long. Extending the length of the season on the calendar is one way in which the league could honor international dates without having to play too many midweek matches.

MLS Expansion

If you were wondering how closely Manchester City's partial ownership of New York City FC will figure, the answer is pretty clear in a new promotional video for the MLS expansion franchise featuring several Manchester City stars. The autographed ball that is featured in the video can be won in the team's sweepstakes by sharing the video.

David Beckham's MLS expansion franchise in Miami doesn't yet have a stadium or even official acknowledgement by the league, but Fox Sports and Time Warner are already competing with each other to secure a sponsorship deal with the franchise that does not yet exist.

Exhibition soccer matches in Miami have been very well attended this year, but can that translate to strong attendance for a MLS team in Miami?

Yesterday, Orlando City announced that it will be continuing its partnership with Orlando Health as the team begins its transitions into its launch as a MLS expansion franchise. The deal includes an agreement for Orlando Health to continue as the team's shirt sponsor in MLS. The official announcement of Orlando as a MLS expansion team is expected today.

US Soccer

With his MLS season over, LA Galaxy and USMNT defender Omar Gonzalez is now focused on securing a starting spotin the 2014 World Cup.

College Soccer

The bracket for the NCAA Division 1 men's soccer tournament is out. UW is the #2 seed despite taking over the top spot in the Top Drawer Soccer rankings and the MLSsoccer.com power rankings. One of the most interesting first round match ups pits defending champions Indiana against Akron, who was controversially passed over for a top 16 seed despite finishing the season in the top 10. UMBC was the last team to be seeded and wasn't too happy to receive the 16 seed, but not everybody thought UMBC deserved to be seeded at all.

Seattle University will face Creighton in the first round for the right to play against Washington. Creighton was the team that eliminated UW from last year's tournament, so Seattle's schools will have two chances of getting a bit of revenge.

(For more on the NCAA tournament, check out the latest installment of Sounders on Campus)

England

In a Skrill Conference Premier match over the weekend, visiting supporters of Wrexham FC were sure their side had pulled a goal back after falling behind 2-0, only to have it disallowed after it passed through a hole in the net (potentially NSFW due to language). The goal was eventually allowed to count after 6 minutes of deliberation.

What if Premier League team names were literal descriptions of their respective crests? KCKRS shows you what it would look like.

Spain

After entering into preliminary discussions over the naming rights for Estadio Santiago Bernabeu in Madrid, Microsoft has declined to enter into more advanced negotiations with Real Madrid.

Some of the top clubs in La Liga have watched foreign clubs lure away some of their most talented youth players for some time now. Because Spanish law prevents La Liga clubs from signing players to contracts prior to their 16th birthday, clubs from other leagues (England in particular) are able to swoop in and sign these talented young players without having to pay a transfer fee. The LFB is now planning on pursuing action that could prevent this from happening in the future.

World Cup

Ahead of today's second leg of the World Cup qualifying playoff against Ghana, Bob Bradley says that Egypt has a lot to be proud of, despite facing a 5 goal deficit. After meeting with FIFA, the Ghana Football Association is pleased with the security plan in place for the match in Cairo today.