Major Link Soccer: Semifinal sellout in Houston

Seattle

This past weekend was the last chance to play on Cal Anderson Park's Bobby Morris field till August - the city will be installing a new experimental cork-filled artificial surface under increasing scrutiny over traditional crumb-rubber turf fields.

The Sounders U23s played twice over the weekend, earning a pair of 2-0 victories over Kitsap Pumas on Friday and Victoria Highlanders on Sunday.

This detailed tactical discussion of the Sounders' loss to the Red Bulls this weekend concludes that the match was relatively even; that doesn't make it feel any better.

MLS

Reports out of Italy claim Serie A interest in Toronto FC and USMNT midfielder Michael Bradley. Sampdoria reportedly approached TFC but the MLS club appears to have little interest in selling.

Perhaps learning a lesson from their rivals to the North, the Timbers are not interested in selling their dynamic Nigerian goalscorer, Fanendo Adi. Just 25, Adi could be looking to move up with confirmed interested from Tigres, but a three year contract extension signed just three months ago gives the Timbers a strong negotiating position.

David Beckham is continuing in talks to build a stadium in Miami's Overtown neighborhood, as Beckham searches for a deep-pocketed investor to partner with.

The Atlanta Falcons' and Atlanta United's new stadium originally had an estimated cost around $1 billion - it's going to end up closer to $2 billion. Good thing the Falcons organization is on the hook for any overruns, not the Atlanta taxpayers.

A trade between the Montreal Impact and Columbus Crew will have Dilly Duka return for his second stint with Columbus in exchange for a draft pick and TAM.

SB Nation's New York Cosmos blog, Twice a Cosmo, is looking for a new manager.

Here's this week's edition of Instant Replay, though I can't remember the last time it had an opinion worth caring about.

USA

The stage is set for the Copa America quarterfinal between the USMNT and Argentina: a 70,000+ sellout in Houston tonight.

Lionel Messi figures to play spoiler and break a lot of hearts. Alexi Lalas previews the game with cautious optimism.

While it's not the traditional road to promotion, FC Tucson have proven themselves so successful at the PDL level that their ownership feels that a move up to the USL (and an MLS affiliate) is imminent.

Between FC Tucson and Arizona United, the Phoenix area's interest in soccer has been building for a while - with the momentum of hosting Copa America matches, could MLS end up coming to Phoenix?

World

Croatia is the latest nation to receive sanctions from UEFA following their fans' behavior after the nation's match against the Czech Republic on Saturday.