Major Link Soccer: Welcoming Minnesota

Seattle

If you are looking for a place to watch the match this weekend, the Sounders are going to be hosting a viewing party at The NINETY.

Still making your plans for #FCDvSEA this weekend? RSVP now to watch the match at #TheNINETY: http://t.co/lCMbRpNtlK pic.twitter.com/hZajjQ41Tv

— Seattle Sounders FC (@SoundersFC) March 25, 2015

The Sounders will be playing this weekend without Marco Pappa and (probably?) Clint Dempsey, but Dallas will miss four players to international duty. Big D Soccer has taken a shot at guessing their lineup for Saturday.

Minnesota

The big MLS news of the moment is of course that MLS is coming to Minnesota. The Minnesota United ownership group has been granted the franchise and is planned to enter play in 2018.

Minnesota United's president doesn't foresee any changes to the team name, logo, or coach. Which would be a first for a team moving into MLS.

It's good hear that the team won't be forced to change their crest, since the current one is pretty nice.

Since MLS has (apparently quite recently) decided it would be a bad move to start a new team in in an MLB stadium, the timeline of their entrance into MLS will largely be dictated by how quickly they can build a stadium. If they move ahead of schedule, they could possibly take LAFC's place and enter the league in 2017.

The ownership group already has a location for the stadium, but they have just started the difficult process of planning stadium funding. This process may be made more difficult by the fact that the Viking's ownership (who wanted an MLS franchise of their own) have been actively lobbying against it.

MLS

A new team has been announced, that means it's time again to talk about promotion and relegation. Surely team number 25 will put us over the limit that one league can hold.

Speaking of stadiums, plans for a New England Revolution stadium are in the news. Apparently the Krafts are active enough in their plans for an MLS stadium that it is disrupting Boston Olympics planning.

Vancouver Whitecaps FC have officially signed Welsh National Team striker Robert Earnshaw to their roster.

When Montreal Impact rookie Cameron Porter went down with a non-contact injury in the 18th minute of his first MLS start, fans probably hoped for the best. Unfortunately, Porter will miss the entire MLS season with an ACL tear that will sideline him for 9-12 months.

In case you forgot, Frank Lampard is still planning to come to NYCFC. He has no regrets about how this season has played out.

USA

In what has become a thoroughly depressing trend, the US National Team once again blew a lead in the waning minutes of a match and lost to Denmark 3-2.

If you prefer to focus only on the positive, Jozy Altidore had quite a good game taking part in both goals. Jozy scored the first goal directly and provided a very unselfish assist on the Goal from Aaron Jóhannsson.

I wasn't able to watch the match broadcast myself, but perhaps one of you can address Gasman's question.

I missed pregame. Did Klinsmann point out Dempsey's injury happened because he plays in MLS where hamstrings don't get good competition?

— Mike Gastineau (@gasman206) March 25, 2015

Other

Elsewhere in CONCACAF, Honduras lost to French Guiana 3-1 in the first half of a home and away series. They have left themselves with a big hill to climb in order to make it into the Gold Cup this summer.

Mozambique team Ferrovario Maputo learned a lesson about excessive celebration the hard way against the Zambian K-Stars.

The match ended 1-1.