Major Link Soccer: Crab Fishing at Heart

Seattle

The Seattle Sounders are in a "Perfect Storm" of adverse circumstances, but Garth Lagerway would remind you that it is a long season.

Get some insight into the Reign FC's welcome back party for Hope Solo and Megan Rapinoe.

There's an opinion piece in The Seattle Times about how to "FIX" soccer to appeal to Americans more, but we're not going to link to it because it's clickbait and garbage. Hey "Doug Esser," your suggestions are pretty much the way 1996 MLS had things set up. No one liked that much.

I've personally never watched The Deadliest Catch and so I have no idea how strange it is that Brad Evans made an appearance to explain just how similar soccer is to crab fishing. I'm just going to put it down to Brad being the kind of guy that lives every week like it's shark week.

MLS

Steven Gerard and Frank Lampard are both world-renowned players, but both signings are likely to buttress the impression of MLS as a retirement league. AmericanSoccerNow argues that this isn't a bad thing.

Many MLS players and fans were upset that these incoming players each received an All-Star spot despite their combined total of zero league minutes. Gerard and Lampard will still be getting these bonuses, but maybe no one will be losing out.

BREAKING: @MLS will award 2 more All Star Players/Bonuses in 2015 thus making it 34 not 32 as stated in the CBA.

— Taylor Twellman (@TaylorTwellman) July 15, 2015

Alternatively, they could be making room for Andrea Pirlo and Giovani Dos Santos. Interpret it as appropriate to your personal level of cynicism.

LA's signing of Dos Santos may not be as simple as signing a talented soccer player, perhaps also taking a shot at a specter on the horizon. They're creeping towards vaunted, undefined "Super Club" status.

The pointless mid-season friendlies continued last night with Orlando City beating Norwich City by a score of 3-1. Of note, the attendance of 15,172 for Orlando City's friendly was their lowest home attendance and less than half of their average league attendance.

Somewhat more surprising was the match between Sacramento Republic and Sunderland. The USL side bested the EPL squad by a score of 1-0.

Orlando City will have a new cap of 18,000 season-ticket holders next year, up from 2015's 14,000 limit.

In a pretty decent representation of world relations policy, the San Jose Earthquakes mascot took out a pitch invader in their recent ICC match with Club America, only for American players to come over and start something WITH THE MASCOT.

USA

We've talked about Crossfire Premier's challenge to U.S. Soccer's policy of denying solidarity payments due from DeAndre Yedlin's transfer. Other development teams (reportedly including Dempsey's youth club) are starting to back Crossfire in their fight.

The U.S. Congress started an inquiry this week into U.S. Soccer to find out what they knew about FIFA corruption. Sunil Gulati did not do anything to improve the image of U.S. Soccer among members of Congress when he declined to show up to the hearing.

The Women' roster picked up an ESPY last night, with Abby Wambach accepting the hardware alongside all her teammates. Their next game together will be August 16 in Pittsburgh, where over 35,000 tickets have already sold.

There has been some controversy over MLS making an appearance at the U.S. Women's ticker tape parade last week. The question really boils down to if MLS was trying to celebrate the success or just benefit from it.

Gold Cup

Cuba overcame two defections and two "missing" players to upset Marco Pappa's Guatemala yesterday and will advance to the Gold Cup quarterfinals. They will face the USMNT on Saturday.

The winner of Gold Cup Group C ended up being Trinidad and Tobago, after a high-scoring 4-4 result against Mexico that included three goals in the final five minutes.

Mexico will advance to the quarter-finals regardless of the draw, but the failure to secure the top of their group may put Miguel Herrera's job in doubt. Maybe?

World

Toronto has the worst National Team attendance of any Canadian city over the last two years.

The civil war in Syria has had a dramatic toll on the people in the country. The New York Times profiled a young soccer prodigy who barely escaped with his life.

Taking inspiration from Griffeys Jr. and Sr., Rivaldo and his son both scored in a second division Brazil match Tuesday.

As always, Major Link Soccer is today's open thread.