Major Link Soccer: MLS in the cold

Sounders

Steve Zakuani will be speaking tomorrow at a private event, to "share his insights into the coming Sounders’ season, discuss the challenges he faced after a life-changing injury, and share how he took a positive approach to the next chapter in his life."

In case you missed it, the Seattle Sounders FC just signed a new 10 year lease at CenturyLink Field.

MLS

MLS confirmed yesterday that it was in "advanced discussions" with Minnesota United to bring an MLS team to the Twin Cities. Minnesota United apparently joined forces with Twins owner Jim Pohlad and Timberwolves owner Glen Talyor to squash a competing bid from the Vikings.

That leaves only one slot in the current round of expansion up for grabs. Sacramento Republic FC are using their current USL success- both on and off the field- to try to claim that spot as their own.

Republic FC may not even have anything to worry about though. There is still a definite possibility that MLS expands beyond 24 teams.

Brek Shea is back in America after a rocky few years in England. The Orlando City SC defender has made some small strides at improvement since his return.

The Colorado Rapids are apparently set to sell their leading forward, Deshorn Brown. Brown is allegedly moving on a "six-figure" transfer to Norwegian club Valerenga.

New York City FC played their first game in Yankee Stadium last weekend, and the pitch looked a little bit like a baseball field. Hopefully the mocking will shift from Sounders FC to NYCFC in regards to the whole "playing second fiddle to a stadium cotenant" thing.

In fact, it seems like NYCFC is a lot of what MLS has supposedly moved on from: incorrect stadiums, foreign ownership, and aging superstars. That didn't bother the club's fans though. Take a look at how they got down after their team's first home victory.

Our sister blog, Dynamo Theory, is reliving the history of the Houston Dynamo through quotes from many of those involved. You can read part one of their story here.

MLS Goal of the Week voting opened yesterday. No Sounders were nominated so it doesn't really matter, but in case you were curious, the nominees are below. If you do want to vote, you can click here.

World

While soccer and politics often tend to stay separate, Ukraine's president is trying to use the beautiful game as a bargaining chip in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict. He has called for a boycott of the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

Unfortunately, racism reared its ugly head again after Manchester United fell 2-1 to Arsenal on Monday the 9th. A British teen tweeted some very, very, ugly words about Arsenal's Danny Welbeck, and has since been arrested for his actions.

Carlos Slim, who usually tops Forbes's rankings of the richest person in the world, recently bought stakes in two Liga MX sides: Pachua and Leon. Unfortunately for fans, Slim hasn't been quite the sugar daddy they were hoping for.

Walter Benitez, the coach of Cuba's men's national team, announced with members of the New York Cosmos that the two teams will be playing a friendly on June 2. The press conference revealed some other news from Cuba's national team as well:

Interesting to hear Cuban National Team coach Walter Benitez say discussions under way to eventually let Cuban players play pro abroad

— Ives Galarcep (@SoccerByIves) March 16, 2015