Major Link Soccer: Minnesota and Pablo

Seattle

Scoring the first goal in your team's history is a big deal. Andy Craven found that out on Saturday night when he scored the first goal for S2, it's been nothing but love since then.

Pablo "Pablito" Rossi (he of much bending) was voted USL Player of the Week with 65% of the vote. Joining Rossi on "Team of the Week" from S2 were Craven and Giuliano Frano.

FC Tacoma 253 won big over the weekend and in doing so claimed the 91^st and last spot in the 2015 US Open Cup. This year's cup will have 4 teams from the Washington State all hoping to hoist the cup.

Major League Soccer

Today at 9 a.m., Major League Soccer and Dr. Bill McGuire had/will have an "Important Announcement on the future of Soccer in Minnesota". The news conference will be streamed live on Mlssoccer.com.

When talking "Kaka," people don't always listen, but when it's Kaka the former Ballon d'Or winner they do. Loving life in Orlando and the MLS, the man no longer known as Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite shares what it was like to break his back at 18 and later win the Champions League with AC Milan.

He was called a "Phenom" at Akron, a "Failure" for the U23 national team, and as the head coach of the Portland Timbers an "Enigma". Caleb Porter is learning the hard way that winning in MLS is better than having a good philosophy.

US Soccer

It's a big week for US Soccer; The US plays Denmark today at noon on ESPN2. The U23 team plays Bosnia & Herzegovina on Friday, and the U20 team plays England on Sunday. Here is a look at all three teams and their rosters.

Experimentation will be the name of the game for the US against Denmark and Switzerland. Will the players being experimented with show enough to warrant another chance come summer?

The US Paralympic team knocked off 4^th ranked Netherlands in the opening round of the Povoa tournament. The US plays Ukraine on the 25^th, Argentina on the 26^th, and Portugal on the 27^th in Povoa de Varzim, Portugal.

US Soccer has hired a Belgian consulting company to "accelerate developing world class players." Double Pass will start by analyzing MLS teams and their academies.

World Soccer

Barcelona won the Super Clasico over the weekend 2-1, and the Real Madrid fans were not happy about it. Gareth Bale has been singled out lately, and now so has his car.

If you're a hardcore soccer fan you might know the name Mino Raiola, the agent to the stars, (world football stars that is.) Raiola can claim Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Mario Balotelli, and Paul Pogba as his clients, and he is all about making money.

Some have described FIFA as a "Conniving coterie of charlatans", or in layman's terms a "band of thieves". Either way you want to describe them, Michel Platini is now one of them.

In other FIFA news a "Promise of Transparency" has been made by FIFA. Hang on. Don't laugh! This is good news because FIFA has been asked to "ensure the USA receives the 2026 World Cup".  FIFA can't get any more transparent than that.

Top 10 all-time Nutmegs. Ricardo Kishna is my number one.

Goal of the week Nominees