Major Link Soccer: Toronto v Montreal in Canadian Championship, LV Enters Expansion Frey

Seattle

Episode number five of Mike Gastineau's Seattle Soccer Talk is up, the first episode since the massive 5-0 loss in Foxborough. The team had won five straight since the show had started. GasMan, you know what you need to do: End the show, and start a new one to spawn another five game winning streak. Preferably on Wednesdays, this time. Gonzalo Pineda was on the show this week.

As grateful as his club likely is right now not to lose half of their defensive layer, Chad Marshall's current status with the USMNT would have been an utter shock four years ago. It is especially surprising given how well Marshall has played in the 2014 season.

MLS

After 120 minutes, the Vancouver-Toronto game went to penalties. Toronto came into the game with a 2-1 series lead thanks to their win back in Ontario, and made it 3-1 with a fourth minute goal. Vancouver fought back with a goal just before the half, and tied things up four minutes before the end of regulation. Extra time was scoreless, leaving PKs as the only option. 17 year-old Marco Carducci was able to protect his goal for 120 minutes but in the shootout failed to stop a single shot, as Toronto moved on. This will be the first time since 2008 that Vancouver has not been in the Canadian Championship Final, having lost each of their last five appearances.

Montreal was forced to come back against FC Edmonton after losing 2-1 in the first leg of their semifinal match. The Impact took a 3-0 lead, then gave up two quick goals in the second half. They were a goal away from being eliminated by an NASL side until Patrice Bernier converted a dubious penalty kick seven minutes into stoppage time to seal the deal. Jack McInerney scored the first two, making that trade look better and better all the time. Final score: 4-2, 5-3 aggregate.

In the lone MLS league match this Wednesday, the Philadelphia Union went into Sporting Park and took three points in a 2-1 victory.

If you haven't performed an eye roll in the recent past, I want you to take a moment and give it a try. Nice and slowly. We don't want to hurt any eye muscles. Did you do it? Excellent. Now read the following headline:
Las Vegas launches MLS expansion bid - SBNation.com
Let's get this out of the way. Las Vegas is not going to be MLS #24. They almost certainly won't be MLS #25-30. There's a reason why none of the other top-level professional North American sports have kept a team in Las Vegas. It is a disaster waiting to happen, and Don Garber knows it. Why they are even entertaining the idea of encouraging Vegas to build a 24,000 seat stadium is beyond me.

Watching the disaster match over the weekend, you may have seen Kelyn Rowe come on late to help finish off the Sounders. He had missed six games with a hamstring injury.

Jeremiah took a hard look at the future of streaming MLS online over at the parent site, taking a "wait and see" approach on the merits of the switch away from MLS Live to ESPN 3.

Philadelphia and DC sports fans are rarely friends, but the two came together last weekend to honor a fallen Union supporter, Eric Shertz. Shertz passed away last month.

Some transfer rumors: Erick Torres may have had enough of LA and Chivas USA, saying that he would like to return to Guadalajara. Torres is currently tied for second in the Golden Boot standings. Additionally, Sporting KC's Oriol Rosell may be on the way to Sporting Portugal.

World

Canada is unlikely to host a solo World Cup this century. For any country except Qatar, the host is expected to have ten or more stadiums of a big-time capacity, of which Canada only has a handful. However, what if they were to do a joint bid with the United States? This is the concept being bandied about by CONCACAF president Jeffery Webb.

I learned some things from this article about the history of the relegation system in the English Premier League, and am intrigued by the idea of adding one more relegation spot... with a twist!

There are good ways to honor disasters and there are bad ways.

The entire Torino football club died in a 1949 plane crash. This new monument isn't ideal... http://t.co/TekZQFrKzV pic.twitter.com/sz7Ivtd4q0

— Teju Cole (@tejucole) May 14, 2014

Not unlike installing flamethrowers at the top of One World Trade.