Major Link Soccer: Impact felt in CONCACAF

Seattle

Obafemi Martins scored Saturday night and the Seattle Sounders won. Watching the goal in slow motion thanks to LEVY films gives you a look at how Martins pirouetted around the defender hit the shot and actually fell from the momentum. Martins' goal has been nominated for MLS Goal of the Week.

DeAndre Yedlin started and went the distance for the Tottenham U21 side against Chelsea. By all accounts he played well, and with the injury to Kyle Walker last weekend we may see Yedlin make the 18 Saturday against Brad Guzan and Aston Villa.

Two local youth clubs pulled out major victories over the weekend; Seattle United's U16 team won the prestigious Dallas Cup.  Also over the weekend Crossfire sent their U14 academy team to Milan, Italy where they won the Milano Football Festival tournament.

Major League Soccer

The Montreal Impact are the first Canadian team to make the CONCACAF Champions League Final. Montreal allowed two late goals to make it interesting but in the end the Impact's two away goals mattered most. The Final will be two legs April 22nd and 29th.

Orlando City SC is struggling with scoring goals and injuries, but the cure all may be in the form of "The Little Pea".  Mexican International Javier Hernandez has been linked to Orlando City in the press, and with his playing time at a career all time low the MLS could be a good fit for the struggling pea.

The potential move of Rafael Van der Vaart form Hamburg to Sporting Kansas City has fallen through. The club and player were too far apart on money, does that leave the door open for another team in search of a world class attacking center mid. (HINT HINT SEATTLE)

Soccer is Florida didn't work in the past for MLS (think Miami and Tampa Bay), but with some Brazilian flair and a strong fan base Orlando City SC is out to show they can keep their purple patch going.

With MLS now being shown all over the world thanks to the new TV agreements, people are chiming in on the league.  Here is a look at "5 Things the English Learned" over the weekend about MLS.

US Soccer

Does having a home stadium give a team an identity? We know it gives the fans a place to party and cheer.  Does US Soccer need a home, or is the rotating venue scenario working?

With the U.S. gearing up to participate in the CONCACAF Gold Cup this summer USMNT Coach Jurgen Klinsmann has been "reshuffling the deck" so to speak.

When his grandpa coached FC Dallas he was allowed to occasionally practice with the first team, now Emerson Hyndman is playing in England and just helped the U.S. qualify for the U20 World Cup.

The MLS is starting to produce talented American players like it was envisioned to do, and now in 2015 the national team player pool is deep thanks to MLS. The 2015 Gold Cup this June could strain a few teams in the MLS and maybe allow a few other players to jump into the pool.

World Soccer

Like a fine wine, Kazuyoshi Miura gets better with age. Miura started playing professional soccer in 1986 and last Sunday at the age of 48 broke his own record as the oldest goal scorer in Japanese soccer.

Last week I showed how one Spanish defender used the goal post to play defense during set plays. This week a Spanish defender tried to stop Gareth Bale and in doing so found a new way to use the goal post instead.

The buses were bugged and they had missiles behind the hotel, but that didn't stop Americans from using soccer as a way to break the ice 37 years ago in the midst of the cold war.

Bas Van Velzn isn't your typical soccer player. "Well, I play amateur football with my friends - I play No10. It's like your Sunday League football - we have a lot of beers after. If I lost a lot of weight, I could maybe be a professional one day. I guess I might have to stop drinking beer first..."

Goal of the week Nominees

We will call this one "Old School Goal of the Week"