Major Link Soccer: The Semifinals have been good to U.S.

U.S. Soccer

The USMNT meet Jamaica tonight in the Gold Cup Semifinal, both teams are undefeated and very familiar with each other.  The meeting will mark the 12th time in 13 Gold Cups that the U.S. has played in the tournament semifinals. The penultimate match has been kind to the Americans as they've advanced to the final in nine of the previous semis they've played in.

In 1930 the first World Cup was played in Uruguay and the U.S. took part, but did you know that 85 years ago during that World Cup an American named Bert Patenaude was the first player to score a hat-trick at a World Cup.

The U.S. Open Cup resumed Tuesday night with the Philadelphia Union out lasting the New York Red Bulls, and Sporting Kansas City downing the Houston Dynamo. New York and Kansas City move on to the semifinals August 11 & 12, you can see how the bracket breaks down here.

The U.S. Soccer Development Academy season concluded over the weekend with a pair of MLS teams taking home the hardware at the U16 & U18 age group.

FIFA has told the Redmond, Washington youth club Crossfire Premier to take its case against Major League Soccer and the United States Soccer Federation for solidarity payments to the governing body's Dispute Resolution Chamber.

Seattle

The Seattle Reign will take on the Portland Thorns tonight in the first of two games this week against their mortal Cascadian enemies. Catch up on the rivalry to date here (ignoring that first year where we went 0-4.)

The Seattle Sounders player Brad Evans has had many roles with the Sounders, but for the USMNT he is known as "Big Game Brad" and he is hoping to show that tonight against Jamaica.

It is the "Silly Season" or in other words the "Transfer Window," and when a team pops in for a visit and a friendly in your city rumors tend to happen. Esteban Cambiasso is available after leaving Leicester City yesterday.

Oalex Anderson can score and has done that with flair for the St. Vincent and the Grenadines National Team. Now he is doing it for Seattle Sounders 2 and the spectacular goal seems to be his forte. You can catch Anderson and S2 Friday night at Starfire against Portland Timbers 2.

Major League Soccer

In 1995 Major League Soccer went from an idea to reality and Greg Lalas (yes, Alexi's brother) has been along for the whole ride.  Lalas has a unique insight on Major League Soccer's two-decade growth as a former player, writer, and current editor in chief for MLS. As long as we are talking about the 20 years of MLS let's talk about the goal scorer that had us all salivating in the early years. Roy Lassiter and his record-breaking year.

Major League Soccer teams all have youth academies in the cities they represent. Last week that changed with the Vancouver Whitecaps launching a "Whitecaps FC Academy "in London.

World Soccer

Mario Balotelli lost his strike partner Raheem Sterling to Manchester City this summer, but fear not because Christian Benteke will complete his move to Liverpool and pair up front with the Italian or will he?

$100 Million can buy a lot and for Manchester United: it even could buy Thomas Muller.  According to Bayern Munich captain Philipp Lahm it isn't certain whether Muller will follow Bastian Schweinsteiger to ManU. Louis Van Gaal just says "wait and see".

Fans hoping to see Brazil play Argentina in September 5 in San Francisco will have to make other plans. The friendly has been cancelled due to FIFA probe fallout. The two Argentine businessmen who own Full Play, a sports marketing company which had rights for the friendly, remain under house arrest in Argentina after being indicted in May by the U.S. Justice Department.

Goal of the week Nominees: Two long distance strikes and a "Moment of Brilliance"