Major Link Soccer: Preseason vacation, MLS in the future, and goals of the week.

Seattle

Seattle starts preseason in January. You can book a mid-winter break and catch them playing in the Desert Diamond Cup.

Many kids grow up with dreams of being a professional athlete of some sort. How many kids grow up aspiring to be a professional referee?

Marco Pappa is at home in Guatamala enjoying some R&R. Proficiency in Spanish (or a translating app) required.

Player of the Week in the WISL is former Sounders U23 player Derek Johnson.

The Sounders' youngest academy team played in the US Soccer Western Regional event recently. If you want to see the future stars up close they will be playing at Starfire against Seattle United December 20 at 9 AM.

Major League Soccer

The roller coaster ride called "Toronto FC" is making a stop to let one rider off.

A lot is changing in MLS. A new CBA, new USL teams, and new MLS teams are all coming into the league next year. What will the league look like 5 years from now?

Wasting no time, RSL filled the void left by the departing Lagerwey with a UW grad.

"A New England season ticket holder since 2007 had something up his sleeve when he booked his trip to Los Angeles for MLS Cup 2014. Two extra plane and game tickets' worth of something up his sleeve, in fact."

They will call it a year of "transition," but in reality Chivas USA was a failure all the way around. Will LAFC be able to exist as a second team in Los Angeles and be successful?

US Soccer

He is 21 years old; last year was his first full year as a pro. In his first World Cup game he scored the winning goal. He is definitely improving at every turn, will he be "World Class".

He started in Florida as a youth player and then went to NC State for college. He left for a European sojourn that hasn’t ended, even though his playing career has.

"The U.S. Under-20 Men’s National Team lost a player who was likely a sure bet to make their squad for the 2015 CONCACAF U-20 Championships to another national team."

The 2015 Gold Cup will once again be hosted in the USA. Running from July 7-26, with the final being held in Dallas.

U15 National Team camp started last Saturday in Florida. It is John Hackworth’s first camp as U15 National Team Coach. What has me excited is the kid from Rosedale, NY. His dad knew a thing or two about the game.

These 15 wishes are not necessarily going to come true. Number 6 & 8 would be a good start.

World

Wednesday brings us "Goals of the Week:" Free kicks, lobs, and a mazy run from midfield to the back of the net.

Europe’s leagues and clubs are looking for a way to keep the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. They believe moving the World Cup to "late May and early June" will solve the heat issue.

Umm grandma I saw you on TV. What was that thing you were waving around after Valencia scored?

Are European clubs helping to promote and grow soccer in America? Or are they positioning themselves to pluck talent from the heartland for their own benefit?

If you have played soccer for any amount of time, it has happened to you. We shake our heads in disbelief, laugh, and applaud all at once. The Nutmeg can conjure vast amounts of emotion.

The FIFA Club World Cup final is Sunday. For Auckland City leaving your day job to play soccer on the biggest stage was always the goal. Winning their first two games and getting to the semi-finals is a dream.

I have to admit it, I watch "American Idol". I do it mostly for the funny outtakes in the first few episodes. I doubt I would ever see Kevin Walker in any of those episodes.

In their usual nonchalant fashion. FIFA has dismissed Michael Garcia’s appeal to release his report on the 2018/22 World Cup bidding process. FIFA stated "the appeal from report assembler Michael Garcia was inadmissible, as it was ruled that the report was not legally binding nor appealable."

Making no big fuss, Thierry Henry officially retired Tuesday. He will now share his linguistic skills as a pundit on Sky Sports. Before he follows Lalas down the punditry path of excellence, let’s remember what made him famous in the first place: