Major Link Soccer: Father Time is saying goodbye to Vicente Calderón

MLS

Phoenix Rising FC tried to grow their MLS chances bringing in Didier Drogba, and it appears to be working as the Deputy Commissioner is checking out the club.

FC Dallas didn’t make any moves to close out the transfer window, but they did bring in two native Texans for trials. Both are out of contract, having most recently playing in the Mexican third division.

The Power Rankings have not been kind to the Sounders, though arguably they are kinder than they need to be after falling one-nil at home to Toronto side that was missing a handful of starters.

MLS is full of parity, seen by the number of teams that make the playoffs one year and miss in the next, but it is quickly becoming those that have and those that don’t.

Sounders aren’t scoring - is it because they aren’t shooting? Nope, that’s not it, so what is it then?

Ideas to fix the Sounders are prevalent because, well, something is not working; on that note here’s some.

Bastian Schweinsteiger says he needs to adjust, and knows what he “let [him]self in for” by moving to MLS. As he says and I agree with, MLS isn’t as good as the Premier League or Bundesliga - but that isn’t really news to anyone, right?

We may finally get a David Beckham Miami FC side as the former midfielder is ready to buy land for a stadium in Miami-Dade County. It’ll cost about $9 million for land in the Overtown neighborhood.

Apparently if you wear a soccer scarf you aren’t manly. Well at least some Minneapolis sports columnist thinks that...so...yea.

USA

FIFA is giving the green light to the CONCACAF tri-bid for the 2026 World Cup. Any potential competitor has about three months to mount a challenge, otherwise in 2026 the World Cup will be coming to North America.

There are plenty of reasons to not care for the Portland soccer scene, but there are plenty of reasons to respect the Portland Thorns and the NWSL.

Americans love Brits calling their sporting events, and it is Rebecca Lowe who is becoming the face of the Premier League in the US. Her commute is definitely longer than yours.

World

This season marks the end of an era as Vicente Calderón will host its final matches. As Atletico Madrid moves into a new stadium just outside of Madrid, they’ll close with a couple final matches in the historic arena. Starting with a UCL semifinal against rivals Real Madrid where they likely have no chance to erase leg one, an all too familiar tale for them.

Valencia CF aren’t opening a new stadium like their La Liga counterparts, but they are playing the first-ever international friendly at Mosaic Stadium in Saskatchewan against NY’s favorite side, Cosmos. This isn’t the only friendly that the Cosmos are playing in outside of the US, as they’ll go to Saudi Arabia to play Al Hilal.

Juventus pretty much locked up their finals appearance in leg one against AS Monaco, and they finished it off in style in the second leg (including a massive Dani Alves strike).

Big transfers tend to lead to questions, and Paul Pogba’s record transfer to Manchester United is now under investigation from FIFA. Though they won’t say for what, it likely has to do with how much went to his agent.

Liverpool is giving up their quest for German wunderkind Julian Brandt, and switching to AS Roma star Mohamed Salah, as well as Arsenal’s Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain potentially.