Major Link Soccer - Impacting CONCACAF

Seattle

Seattle has the highest average after-market ticket prices in MLS according to Forbes, and it isn't even close. Of course, it does seem a little bit early in the season to be calculating average ticket prices.

Matt Pentz dropped this interesting tidbit on Twitter yesterday:

Glossed over this earlier. Lagerwey on Kenny Cooper's continued "excused" absence: "We’re working on some things that are CBA related"

— Matt Pentz (@mattpentz) March 18, 2015

No further explanation was provided, but Kenny Cooper has completed eight seasons in MLS and is 30 years old. Perhaps he's looking to take advantage of some new-found contractual freedom?

Garth Lagerway sat down at the start of the season for an interview on Q13 which is now available on SoundersFC.com. See if it can hold your attention better than it did that of the video editor.

CONCACAF Champions League

CCL action kicked off again last night with Herediano facing Club América. The match ended up with Herediano winning 3-0.

The match was not without is excitement, as a brawl broke out on the pitch after an América player mistook the head of a Herediano player for the soccer ball. It is yet to be seen if there will be any post-game punishment for players involved in the brawl.

There was no such drama in Montreal, where the Impact scored two goals in the first 15 minutes of the match and conceded none. Giving them a 2-0 lead to head into the second leg.

If Montreal can hold onto their lead after the second leg, they will become just the fifth MLS team to reach the CCL finals.

The next CCL match will take place on April 7.

MLS

LAFC is moving forward with their plans to build their own stadium. They have apparently selected an architect and seem to have all but finalized the stadium location.

The Colorado Rapids have announced a new kit sponsor. Hopefully this sponsor will actually pay them, unlike the last one.

This leaves the San Jose Earthquakes as the last MLS team without a kit sponsor, but they aren't just sitting on their hands. Gordon Biersch has been announced as the official craft beer provider of the largest outdoor bar in North America San Jose Earthquakes.

As MLS continues to expand, it was only a matter of time before another journalist took their turn beating the dead horse. Do we have enough teams for promotion and relegation yet?

US Soccer

The big news yesterday for US Soccer was Abby Wambach's announcement that she would be taking the year off from NWSL to "prepare for the World Cup". This caused quite a bit of confusion for those of us who were under the impression that point of the NWSL was to do just that.

This announcement also raises questions about the selection process for Canada 2015 and if any player's position should be so certain that they can confidently just take the year off.

World

There was also some game yesterday between what appears to have been Barcelona and New York City FC.

Pep Guardiola seems to have appreciated this Messi nutmeg during the match.