Major Link Soccer: Academy success, Bradley rumors

Michael Bradley may soon be Clint Dempsey's teammate at the club level, as well as the international level. Unfortunately for Sounders fans, this doesn't mean Bradley is going to wear rave green in the near future. Fulham and Cardiff City are both attempting to sign Bradley from AS Roma.

2013 may have been the best year yet for the Sounders Academy, when you consider how well the U18 and U16 teams played, in addition to how many of its alumni were involved in the NCAA tournament. Probably the greatest achievement for the academy this year was the incredible season DeAndre Yedlin had, winning the starting right back spot from Adam Johansson, starting for the United States at the U20 World Cup, appearing in the All-Star Game as a rookie and leading the Sounders in minutes played. It sure was a good argument for giving some other alumni of the academy a chance to see what they can do with the first team.

AC Seattle head coach Antonio Cincotta has been hired by Milan Ladies of Serie C in an attempt to avoid relegation. The club is currently at the bottom of the table. Cincotta still plans on returning to AC Seattle in time for the WPSL season.

There appears to be plenty of attacking talent available in the 2014 NWSL College Draft, in which the Seattle Reign holds the 7th, 17th and 29th picks.

Drew Carey was recently interviewed by the Cleveland Scene, which is an alternative weekly newspaper based in Cleveland. The interview mainly focused on Cleveland sports, but there were some interesting quotes related to the Sounders and MLS:

In the MLS, we have a salary cap of just over $2.5 million. That’s for the entire team. We can get a DP or two or three, but that counts against your salary cap, but then you still gotta pay everyone else out of that pie.

In the MLS, there’s no TV money. The revenue is like a statistical error.

The Sounders, it’s a great tone, a great team. I’ve heard stories of other teams. I see how other places are run, including hockey, NBA, soccer, football. Seattle is a great organization. The Sounders have a great front office. It’s amazing.

A deal between the owners of DC United and the District of Columbia may be near, as reports of a deal involving tax breaks for DC United and revenue sharing over the next three decades emerged yesterday.

Ahead of his upcoming appearance with the Catalonia national team, Sporting Kansas City midfielder as La Masia product Oriol Rosell stated his belief that Sporting KC would be successful in the Premier League. He may get a chance to put his money where his mouth is, as Sporting KC may host Manchester City in a friendly next year.

Former USWNT and current Sweden women's national team manager Pia Sundage responded to Zlatan Ibrahimovic's comments about women's soccer, calling his remarks "boring and sad".

Aron Johannsson sent out a set of tweets yesterday that added fuel to rumors that he could be sold to Celtic next month. While the move would take him to a bigger club, he would also be moving to a less competitive league.

In Boxing Day action, Tim Howard was sent off early in Everton's match against Sunderland. Stoke was forced to play the second half of its game with 9 men after receiving 2 red cards in 2 minutes. Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers had plenty to say about the referee after his side's 1-2 loss at Manchester City. Tottenham received a healthy dose of criticism for not replacing Andre Villas-Boas with a reputable manager. His replacement, Tim Sherwood actually agrees that it was a gamble to give him the job. Milwall fired its manager after suffering a 0-4 defeat at Watford that sent the Lions down to the 20th position in the Championship table.

The New England Revolution has re-signed 3 players for the 2014 season.

Chivas de Guadalajara has named a new sporting president, but it's not yet clear whether he will have the same role with Chivas USA, which was the case with his predecessor.