Major Link Soccer: Reclaiming the throne

Seattle

Washington State high school spring soccer is done for the season with the state champions being crowned.

After a goal and another near-perfect game Cristian Roldan deserves praise, here’s a reminder that he should be called up for the USMNT (even though he wasn’t).

On Saturday Seattle took what was theirs, three points over Portland. ECS reminded everyone that last year Brian Schmetzer took was rightfully his, namely the MLS Cup and the Cascadia throne.

Alaskan Sounder shared their story of why they are a fan, two things: 1. Read it. 2. Write why you are a fan.

John Legend is cool. He became even cooler after apparently donating about $5k to Seattle schools for lunch debt and he doesn’t even go here.

Some bad news for the Sounders, Clint Dempsey and Jordan Morris will miss some matches after they landed on the USMNT call-ups for the June World Cup Qualifiers.

MLS

Some players get moved once and then return to a club, sometimes those players are moved again though and that’s what Sebastian Le Toux reflects on.

Seattle has gotten off to another slow start but if the 538 is to be believed, they still have a great playoff chance in their updated projections.

Two of the biggest cities with MLS are in Texas and they faced off in their rivalry match Sunday night, but why isn’t it more popular? I mean Dempsey is from Texas and he’s awesome so they should probably care more about the sport.

USA

USMNT U20s are heading to the Round of 16 in the World Cup after drawing Saudi Arabia 1-1, though they were already through the group stages before kicking off.

The next potential US legend, Josh Sargent, may not sign with Werder Bremen after all as the club thinks he’ll be pursued by bigger sides instead.

Playing soccer in the heat is no joke and in the Houston Dash’s match against the Seattle Reign it was on display. As the game drew close to the end, Dash forward Rachel Daly collapsed and had to be stretchered off.

Third round US Open Cup action comes this week and the minnows will fight for the right to take out the sharks. Well the minnows start with USL sides, so baby sharks?

World

Arsenal had a disappointing season and there were questions about Arsene Wegner that will not go away but at least they got some silverware beating Chelsea in the FA Cup Final. Gunners fans are excited and should be.

In Spain, it was Barcelona who came away with a trophy over the weekend beating Alavés in the Copa Del Ray Final. Messi wasn’t responsible for the winner but he was responsible for the goalazo that got the scoring started.

Up in Germany it was Borussia Dortmund lifting a cup beating Eintracht Frankfurt (yes the team the Sounders will play a friendly against) in the DFB Pokal. In a season that saw tragedy off the field and limited success on it, it was a great result.

What do you do when you have money to burn? Have someone deliver the match ball to your cup final, Portugal, on a drone. Yep that’s a thing.

Paul Pogba started his off-season after winning the Europa League title by traveling to Saudi Arabia for the beginning of Ramadan.