Major Link Soccer: The great American hope

Seattle

Historical preservation rules are going to play a big role in any potential Key Arena renovation. If you want the ultimate rundown on what that process will be like, check out Sonics Rising.

Young Sounder Azriel Gonzalez will join the US US U16 BNT for an upcoming tournament in Japan.

Sounders Academy alums who are back in town from college have been getting their practice in with their old coaches and teammates by joining S2 training this summer.

Major League Soccer

Did you know that NYCFC’s Maxime Chanot is better at soccer than Lodeiro, Almiron, and Alessandrini? Made up stats don’t lie.

Overall, the partnerships between MLS and USL, allowing MLS owned reserve teams to play in the lower division, has gone pretty well, but it has its issues. RSL Soapbox takes a detailed look at how that relationship has evolved over the past four years.

Yes, the Chicharito to MLS rumors are going to continue to go strong. But what about a few others Mexico National Team players? Here’s a few that would work out well at MLS teams.

US Soccer

That’s right, if you don’t know by now, the USMNT managed a 1-1 draw at Estadio Azteca.

Michael Bradley did this pretty amazing thing.

Carlos Vela took things into his own hands and evened things up in the first half.

Although he wasn’t involved in the US goal this time, Christian Pulisic started again against Mexico and had a good performance. Although the label has been thrown around plenty of times before, there’s no question that he is The Great American Soccer Hope of the future.

No matter how heated the political rhetoric between the US and Mexico gets, the players say as soon as they step onto the pitch it’s far from their minds.

Juan Carlos Osorio has been the subject of plenty of criticism in Mexico for his performance as the head coach of the national team (failure to beat the USA at Azteca certainly won’t help), but Chicharito had strong words of support for his coach.

The USWNT took on Norway in a friendly and came away with a 1-0 result that was far from convincing, although Christen Press had a very nice first-time finish.

World

FIFA 18’s story mode will again follow Alex Hunter, an English superstar who is in demand all over the world. Will he sign with the LA Galaxy?

In Indonesia, three Bali United players, a Muslim, a Christian and a Hindu, celebrated a goal by lining up and taking up their positions of prayer. It was a powerful silent statement of religious unity.

The United Arab Emirates requested that FIFA remove a Qatari match official from officiating an upcoming World Cup qualifier, and FIFA reassigned an official from Singapore to the match.