Major Link Soccer: Drogba's beautiful challenge

Seattle

Glimmers of hope on the Obafemi Martins front suggest the striker may even appear this weekend, if Sigi Schmid is just being cagey in his comments. At the very least, Oba has been almost fully training.

With Dempsey, Evans, maybe even Frei returning as options for Sigi, significantly less dread precedes Saturday's match for Sounders fans. Evans is a field and locker room leader who seems to always keep a level head for his team: "The attitude is great at practice. Everybody's working. Nobody's throwing in the towel by any means. It's just coming in the locker room, putting some smiles on the faces and getting back to work."

Major League Soccer

"I am a man of challenges, and this is a beautiful one for me," says one Didier Drogba on his move to Montreal. He says Joey Saputo's appeals won him over.

MLS has entered an agreement with Southern New Hampshire University to provide full scholarships for former MLS players and staff who chose to forgo college for their soccer careers. In return, SNHU gets publicity and an internship program in MLS for sports management students. Very cool.

MLS is losing money, and still in "investment mode," according to Don Garber.

Despite the silliness surrounding the potential new Beckham FC stadium site (linked yesterday), Don Garber and MLS are supportive of the new plan. At this point they may just be tired of hearing from David Beckham every couple of days with a new plan.

Local developmental academy Georgia United is unsurprisingly excited about Atlanta United FC, seeing the MLS team as a driver to grow youth participation in soccer across the region.

Speaking of AUFC, the DeKalb County tax breaks for building the club's new practice facility may be equal to the entire cost of the project.

Is Major League Soccer investing and partnering with an illegal sports gambling company? It depends what you think of sites like DraftKings and the "daily fantasy sports" industry (or more importantly, maybe, how the courts with eventually decide whether those sites are illegal).

Feel like looking at some basic statistics for the first half of the MLS season? Well, maybe right now you don't feel like it. But Seattle's numbers, despite the last disastrous month, are much better than you would expect.

Major League Soccer is really good at social media.

FIFA Presidential Candidates

Michel Platini has not secured the backing of CONCACAF or the Caribbean Football Union, despite some claims to the contrary. He also "fails to excite" the Confederation of African football.

Here's your quick cheat sheet on potential candidates to head up FIFA in the near future.