2011 MLS Power Rankings: Week 16

In the aftermath of all the fireworks and Fourth of July barbecues going on in all corners of the United States of America and elsewhere, the 2011 Major League Soccer season marches on, with a full slate of contests over the weekend.Back at the top are Schellas Hyndman's FC Dallas, but creeping up on them are the red-hot light blues of Sporting Kansas City. Let's take a look at this week's Power Rankings, which set the stage for another exciting weekend of football.Begin Slideshow

MLS: Where Does It Go from Here?

It only took 15 years for the brain-trust at MLS to figure out that the Pacific Northwest is the pulse of soccer in North America. As I stated in a previous article, Portland, Vancouver and Seattle are putting an excitement into the MLS that it's never really experienced before.It wasn't Freddie Adu, Landon Donovan, David Beckham or Thierry Henry that infused a surge of electricity throughout Major League Soccer—it's been done by rabid fans in the rainiest and grayest part of the country.The question is, what does the MLS do from here?Try as they might, Los Angeles and New York are not the answer to increasing revenue and fan attendance. Those are big-market cities, but the interest in both cities pales in comparison to interest in other sports.So, for those interested, here is a primer for how MLS can continue to increase interest throughout North America and the world.First, move the moribund franchises.Sorry Chicago, Chivas and New England, but you've got to move. You've had your chance, and failed miserably. It's embarrassing for all involved to continually watch empty stadiums with the lonely echo of one guy blowing a vezuvela in the background.Get into cities that will appreciate a professional ...

Real Salt Lake vs. New England Revolution: Teams Play to a Draw in Wild Match

The New England Revolution cannot win at Rio Tinto Stadium in Utah.Entering the Independence Day match against Real Salt Lake, they had been outscored 11-0 in that stadium.At the start of Monday night's match, it looked as if they would be able to finally come away with a victory. However, after the Revolution went up two goals in the first 16 minutes and led 3-2 late in the match, Real Salt Lake battled back to end the night with a 3-3 draw, leaving the winless streak in Utah intact. In fairness, the game was full of controversy, including calls by referees that awarded penalty kicks to each team on horrible calls. Despite giving penalty cards out like invitations to a black tie affair, the worst call of the night came in the third minute when referee Yader Reyes pulled a straight red card and sent off Real Salt Lake defender and team captain Nat Borchers for the night after a challenge in the box.Replays showed that Borchers played the ball that went over the end line off of the Revolution player. The play should have resulted in a simple goal kick. To say that Reyes missed the call would be ...

Brian Perk Does the Work as LA Galaxy Hold Seattle Sounders Scoreless

Seattle, meet Brian Perk.Sure, he isn't the Big Cat from Montego Bay known as Donovan Ricketts or the trusty backup known as Josh Saunders, but he's a goalkeeper nonetheless.The Fourth of July was Perk's coming-out party, and he made the most of his debut appearance by making a number of stops and even saving a Fredy Montero penalty as the Los Angeles Galaxy and the Seattle Sounders played to a scoreless draw at the Home Depot Center on Monday night.It seems as if he learned his lessons from the U.S. Open Cup match with the Los Angeles Blues and stepped his game up when the team needed him most. You talk about continuity and consistency, and you talk about this humble third-stringer who probably might be a legit first-string keeper one of these days.“I think the final score is a fair result," said manager Bruce Arena to reporters. "That was a game that was pretty even. I would have liked the chance to make a couple of other substitutions in the second half, but obviously we had to make changes to the center backs that’s difficult. The first change to A.J. [DeLaGarza] was going to have us hampered in the ...

MLS: Alexi Lalas Is Bad for the League and the Sport

When the MLS got picked up by ESPN in 2006, I was very excited. There is hardly an argument that any US media outlet does sports broadcasting better than the Bristol based studios. If someone was to get soccer right in this country it would be the brilliant producers there.I do not recall who was playing in the first game. I don't really recall anything about the game. However, I do remember the awful bickering between commentators Tommy Smyth and Eric  Wynalda. The two fought over everything and agreed on nothing. It distracted from play and was downright annoying.ESPN solved the problem by moving Smyth to only international and European league games. They decided to stick with the American commentating American games. This solved the problem in the box during the game, but in the studio before, after and at halftime, an issue still existed...Alexi Lalas.Lalas is the man who is expected to introduce us to the games, let us know changes that need to be made at half and break it down in hindsight analysis after the final whistle is blown. He does all of this, but with a sense of arrogant jealousy that makes him seem villainous and ...

Los Angeles Galaxy vs. Seattle Sounders: Live Blog, Play-by-Play Analysis

Bruce Arena's Los Angeles Galaxy, with Landon Donovan returning to the fold, returns to action tonight as they take on Sigi Schmid's Seattle Sounders on Independence Day at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif.Keep it here on Bleacher Report for continuing coverage of world football and the 2011 Major League Soccer season.Read more MLS news on BleacherReport.com

MLS: The Best American Players in the League

Independence Day is the USA’s birthday and a great opportunity to celebrate being an American. Not all the best American soccer players play in MLS, and not all the best players in MLS are American. So in honor of this great nation, here is a starting XI of the best American players in MLS so far in the 2011 season.The list features one goalie, three defenders, five midfielders and two forwards. To be eligible for this list, the player has to be eligible to play for the United States Men’s National Team.Begin Slideshow

Real Salt Lake to Honor Major League Soccer Legend Jason Kreis

Real Salt Lake will continue its tradition of doing things its own way when it retires the jersey number of head coach Jason Kreis following an Independence Day match against the New England Revolution.Unlike other sports in the United States, in soccer it is not common to retire jersey numbers for specific players.While many soccer purists do not agree with the move based largely on worldwide traditions, Real Salt Lake General Manager Garth Lagerwey argues soccer in the United States is different from other places in the world. Following the announcement several months ago, Lagerwey responded to critics in an article found on the league website:"We live in America. We play in an American soccer league... We have playoffs. We don’t have relegation. We retire numbers. I can’t imagine anything less controversial. America is a great place. I like living in the United States. I don’t need to live in Europe. I’m not envious of the Europeans.”Much of the controversy comes because many believe that soccer numbers are more of a symbol rather than belonging to specific players. This stems from tradition that numbers were given out based on position ...

MLS: Woes Continue for Portland Timbers

Losers of five of their last six games, with a tie to New York as the lone bright spot, the Portland Timbers are nursing a losing streak that is in danger of turning into a hemorrhaging gusher.For the second week in a row, they just played badly, against Sporting Kansas City. Giving up two easy goals in the first twenty minutes before losing 2-1. The lone bright spot was a goal by Darlington Nagbe in the 44th minute that might go down as the goal of the year. Absolutely brilliant strike in the top-left shelf after he juggled it twice on his right foot. That goal alone had Portland stadium rocking, after many of the crowd had actually started to boo the Timbers.Portland is unimaginative right now. They're playing scared on defense. They're not making creative or hard runs. They're not running at the defense.John Spencer, trying to infuse some life into the club, benched both Kenny Cooper and Jeremy Hall in favor of Eddie Johnson and Steve Purdy, respectively.With Seattle coming to down next weekend, this was a game the Timbers had to win to gain some kind of momentum going into their biggest match of the year. Instead, ...