Major Link Soccer: Still not out of USWNT stories

America

Jeremiah linked it yesterday, but take extra note: Sunday's USWNT World Cup final against Japan was the most watched soccer game in United States history, averaging 26.7 million viewers. That's more than any U.S. men's game, ever.

Sure watching the USWNT's goals against Japan on repeat is fun, but do you know what is even more fun? Watching Telemundo's calls on all the USWNT's goals against Japan. GOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAALLLLLL.

FiveThirtyEight took a look at the World Cup final, and they said that there was only about a 0.02% chance that the USWNT would lead 4-0 after 16 minutes.

The Union's Nick Sakiewicz is not a popular guy around Philidelphia. But he may have just become popular about 500 miles west in Indianapolis, as he accidentally revealed on a morning talk radio show that MLS is likely to expand to the Circle City. Or, maybe he just meant to say Minneapolis?

After founding LA Galaxy II in 2014, Bruce Arena and Company are supposedly about to make another big step in the player development department: opening a high school academy. Could this mean a Sounders academy sometime in the near future?

In other Galaxy news, the team has parted ways with midfielder Stefan Ishizaki, who is heading back to Sweden for personal reasons.

We've known for a while that Steve Nash was a big soccer fan, but did you know he's a serious soccer player as well? The former LA Laker, Phoenix Sun, and Dallas Maverick is supposedly now a New York Cosmo, as he is now officially registered with the NPSL side New York Cosmos B. He'll be playing alongside one Adam Moffat.

Well it's finally official, Andrea Pirlo is moving to New York. He will also be playing occasional soccer with New York City FC.

Not to be outdone, the LA Galaxy appear to have completed the signing of Giovani Dos Santos, or at least that's what one Mexican outlet is reporting. One player still isn't happy though:

8 milli for pirlo , 9 milli for Gio ... No money for senior contracts / homegrowns/ bonuses/ charter flights/ etc pic.twitter.com/Vnh1xw8sQF

— Amobi Okugo (@amobisays) July 7, 2015

World

While we talk frequently about transfers in the soccer world, there's a lot going on behind the scenes that we don't know about. SB Nation's Arsenal FC blog sat down with an agent, Ted Philipakos, to get the skinny on what actually happens when a player switches clubs.

After the everlasting recent FIFA scandals, CONCACAF decided to take a look in the mirror. They've come out with some new policies to help foster "systematic organizational change."

Harold Mayne-Nichols, former World Cup bid inspector, will be banned from any soccer related activities for the next 7 years. FIFA said it plans on issuing a statement on Mayne-Nichols's offense after the final decision has been put in place.

Being a soccer player can be dangerous, even for those who don't typically play soccer. Northern Irish golfer Rory McIlroy tore a ligament in his left ankle playing the beautiful game and will likely have to sit out of the upcoming British Open.

A Reminder: Major Link Soccer is a daily post Monday through Friday, a place for this community to come together and discuss soccer and the Northwest. It's your Open Thread headquarters as well. Thanks for being a part of the Sounder at Heart community.