Major Link Soccer: Galaxy pursued Fernando Torres

Seattle

Top Drawer Soccer has been the go-to site for evaluating soccer talent for years, and their first iteration of their mock MLS Superdraft contains some interesting ideas. Their crew has two Washington Huskies going in the first round, including Cristian Roldan second overall to New York.

Clint Dempsey doesn't have anything to prove at January National Team camps, but he may get called in anyway as a tribute in the Hunger Games pawn in a battle over the value of MLS. Jurgen Klinsmann doesn't like the idea of actual breaks.

The good people at the terrific Burke Museum have done a video showing how the Pioneer Square district transformed over 150 years (including the construction of a few massive stadiums,) using what can only be described as archepaleographical voodoo.

I'd love to see more videos like this, maybe featuring the South Lake Union area. Unfortunately, it stands little chance of happening while the famed Burke-MOHAI blood feud continues to wage.

If you missed it on Friday, check out Jacob's excellent collection of Sounders Christmas Instagrams.

MLS

Our sister blog Once a Metro made some pretty graphs sketching out the contributions of Homegrown Players to MLS clubs, and the results are fascinating.

One of the LA Galaxy's rumored DP targets is off the board, and another one appears ready to jump elsewhere as well. But given the names involved (the former is Ronaldinho, the latter is Fernando Torres,) the Galaxy aren't being shy in their pursuit of top talent. Torres wound up with Atletico Madrid.

More than a year ago, MLS made a statement when they acknowledged David Beckham's pursuit of an MLS franchise in Miami. It seemed like a done deal, with scarves and a location picked out and the fame of one of soccer's most notable names behind it. In the past year though, the public face of MLS Miami has been nothing but setback after setback. At least three potential sites have been yanked out from under the group Lucy-style. With no apparent progress, doubts are settling in.

To which Orlando City says "that's fine, take your time." All the better for a new MLS club to expand their brand across Florida, and indeed the entire Deep South.

Minnesota is getting strong consideration for an MLS expansion franchise themselves, and MLS will need to decide between the Vikings/NFL ownership and that of the USL Minnesota United Group. One would come with a 50,000 seat stadium with turf and top-class amenities, while the other would be smaller and more intimate but presumably with real grass. Both would be near downtown and each seems to be accompanied by big pockets. Watching to see which MLS chooses will be a great litmus test for Commissioner Don Garber's vision of the future of the league.

Real Salt Lake is reportedly signing Pecka of the NASL's Strikers.

Have strong thoughts on promotion and relegation in North America? Wrong Side of the Pond is performing a survey with the goal of finding people's thoughts on the controversial soccer topic. They ask participants to only vote once in order to glean the best data possible.

The College Football Bowl system continues to beautifully depict why contracts for live sports continue to go up and up. ESPN can draw over a million viewers for a game between Mars University and the Toledo Institute of Technology and Science.

World

Tim Howard is urging Everton fans to be patient while the team goes through a rough patch, trying to recapture the form that led to a club record in points. In the article from the Daily Mail, he also spent some time chastising the "US" model of changing "when the going gets tough."

When Roque Santa Cruz joined Cruz Azul, one site was inspired to make an all-Cruz team. Including a Tom and a Julio.

Germany keeps recreational footballing cheap, around 6 euros a month. Maybe that's why they're so good at it.

Famous people typically don't dirty themselves with comments sections that deal with personal matters. Does that prove that John Harkes and Eric Wynalda aren't famous, or that Wynalda is a little too concerned with perception? And Eric, if you're reading this right now, please feel free to leave a comment or three expressing how you feel on this subject!