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I'm over 900 words here, so I'll keep things brief. Links!
A note on the past and future of The Goat Parade | The Goat Parade
Normally we start with D.C. United, but The Goat Parade, for those that don't know, is SB Nation's Chivas USA blog. There's no Chivas USA any more, but LA2 is coming one day and thankfully the blog will remain open for business over the next two years. I'm really excited that they're going to keep the lights on because they're awesome.
D.C. United’s Luis Silva ahead of schedule with injury recovery | Soccer Insider
Speaking of awesome, you probably saw this unexpectedly good news from Steve Goff on Luis Silva's recovery from his hamstring strain. Fabian Espindola and Eddie Johnson are still a really good pairing, but there's no team in MLS history that would just shrug off losing their joint-leading scorer at this stage. In fact, almost every regular is either progressing towards full fitness or getting the "he'll be good to go" treatment. The one exception - Sean Franklin - is merely day-to-day rather than seriously injured.
Oh, and Ben Olsen talks about parasites that attack the brains of rats, because Ben Olsen gets to talk about any damn thing he wants.
Report to D.C. Council on soccer stadium deal is delayed | Washington Post
Aaron C. Davis is reporting on DC City Council chair Phil Mendelson's mostly unexplained decision to delay a hearing which would have presented the study commissioned to determine whether the Buzzard Point stadium deal is actually a good one for the city to make. There's a lot here, but what isn't in place is an answer on a study that has apparently been done for weeks can't be presented before election day.
Training Notes: October 28, 2014 | DCUnited.com
Practice featured a 6v6 game that saw Espindola and Johnson connecting on a goal, and Chris Rolfe playing without any limitation.
Behind Enemy Lines: Scouting Vancouver Whitecaps | Big D Soccer
We have playoff soccer tonight! Down in Dallas, they're concerned with Pedro Morales and Mauro Rosales.
Playoff Match Preview: FC Dallas vs. Whitecaps FC | Eighty Six Forever
Further west in British Columbia, the focus is on finding a way to keep FCD from scoring on a set piece. Given that they've scored 20 times using that mode of attack, it'll be tough.
MLS Awards: Birnbaum heads rookie class | Soccer America
Ridge Mahoney goes with Steve Birnbaum as his ROTY, but there's a mild surprise further down the list.
Presenting ProSoccerTalk’s Major League Soccer Coach of the Year | NBC ProSoccerTalk
PST makes some mistakes here - including calling the Black-and-Red the "Red and Black" - but regardless of their process, they get the answer right in the end.
LA Galaxy, Landon Donovan pegged as 4/1 favorites to win MLS Cup 2014 | Sports Illustrated
Betting on soccer is really kind of a nightmare, but sportsbooks are apparently giving United 5/1 odds - that's better than everyone bar LA - to add a fifth star. If I were in a place where sports betting were allowed, those are odds I'd be willing to bet a few bucks on.
TFC Presser Part I: Doneil Henry Situation, Mark Bloom Contract & Gilberto's Thoughts | Waking The Red
Oh TFC. The weird times continue north of the border. A departing player has to defend a yet-to-depart player, and Gilberto has to beat back questions about people that are not Gilberto. It never ends.
Many in M.L.S. Playing Largely for Love of the Game | New York Times
Somewhere at MLS HQ, Don Garber saw this headline and then meaningfully rubbed his chin. CBA talks start soon, and we still have a situation where Colorado has one goalkeeper qualifying for an affordable housing program and another working on the side to support his young family. It's not quite at Troy Perkins working at a sporting goods store or Real World Fort Washington, but it's not yet good enough for every MLS player to avoid living paycheck to paycheck.
Youth soccer development: Are we really headed in the right direction? | USSoccerPlayers.com
Speaking of things MLS may have not executed particularly well, Chivas USA's academy was actually doing good things believe it or not, but they'll apparently be shutting down just like the senior team rather than being kept open under the LA2 ownership. It's a tough situation: Rolling them over into the Galaxy's academy would be problematic - for many reasons, including a) the fact that LA doesn't need even more advantages than they already have and b) a lot of these kids chose the Chivas academy over LA's - and you can be sure that Liga MX clubs have people on the ground trying to lure dual nationals south of the border, which hurts both LA2's future and possibly even hurts the USMNT down the road.
Laughter, Tears, Pudding: The State Reunite at Festival Supreme | Rolling Stone
Big surprise: Jason saw a piece about The State and linked to it on Freedom Kicks. This will keep happening until I am physically restrained. Anyway, they played a festival staged by Tenacious D, and this piece has a nearly 20 minute video of the show. Most likely, you should not play the video at work, but when you go home I encourage you to relive the early-to-mid 90s, a time when MLS was just a thing coming down the road that might or might not work.
And with that, I'm outta...I'm outta heeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrre.