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All the offseason things happened yesterday. Or at least that's what it felt like, and we still have an expansion draft to get through tomorrow.
So I'm starting us off with things unrelated to MLS. Take that, offseason!
The Bundesliga's Biggest Scorelines | Bundesliga
Have yourself some old school Bundesliga goals, why dontcha.
Steaua Bucharest stripped of name, colours and emblem after court ruling | Football | The Guardian
Say whaaaaat?
The French Basque Country: a rugby heartland with world-class footballers | Football | The Guardian
As long as I'm linking to The Guardian. Pretty interesting article here if you want to get into French soccer. And, you know, why not get into it? This Freedom Kicks is gonna get downright silly soon with MLS offseason goodness.
U.S. Soccer Makes Unprecedented Commitment to Development of World-Class Players and Coaches - U.S. Soccer
"U.S. Soccer is collaborating with the NCAA to make changes to the college soccer model that will benefit the health and wellness of the athletes by extending the season over a longer period of time." Along with that, they're adding an under-12 group to the Development Academy starting in 2016.
USMNT's 2015 schedule beginning to become clearer - Stars and Stripes FC
Honestly just glad they didn't schedule U.S. vs. Germany on June 9, which is Miroslav Klose's birthday and probably would have made me cry or something.
New York Red Bulls coach goes off on soccer troll Dan Shaughnessy - Awful Announcing
Mike Petke, Twitter hero. Honestly, though, I just don't understand these kinds of slights at soccer/MLS. If the Revs had won, what would his reaction have been? "Thanks, but no thanks, we don't want your trophy"? Okay. And yes, I know, not worth wasting energy on these people, but apparently I have energy to waste.
MLS, adidas unveil 2015 official match ball | MLSsoccer.com
I'm not going to pretend like a new soccer ball is really exciting to me. Does it work for soccer playing? Okay, cool.
Experiencing a LegenD: Personal reflections on covering Landon Donovan's career - Planet Futbol - SI.com
You're not sick of reading about Landon Donovan, right?
MLS Transactions 2015 | MLSsoccer.com
LET'S TALK PLAYER MOVES but not before we discuss the heinous Word Art at the top of this page because what is that.
Anyway, D.C. United traded Joe Willis and Samuel Inkoom to the Houston Dynamo for Andrew Driver and a 2016 fourth round draft pick, and I'm distraught over Willis leaving. You may have seen me sad-facing around the internet about it, because I have loved Joe for a while and have a very special #clubbearhug hashtag for him. That said, guy's got #1 potential, and if he must leave, it's understandable and I hope he gets playing time. But I'll miss ya, Joe.
There's plenty more to discuss here, including options on existing players. Adam already covered this nicely, so I'll just send you to his post like the lazy person I am.
MLS clubs release 2014 Expansion Draft protected lists: Here's who's available for selection Dec. 10 | MLSsoccer.com
And finally, this. DCU's protected list is here, with plenty of your comments already but feel free to keep on keeping on. Of note? EJ and Arnaud are left unprotected.
Have at it in the comments. I know you're dying to discuss the "Nativo."