Why Fans Should Be Rooting for Charlie Davies to Make a Full Comeback

It has been 17 months since Charlie Davies played a competitive soccer match, and although the road to Saturday night's game against the Columbus Crew was a long one with a lot of speed bumps, Davies has persevered and is beginning his comeback to professional soccer with D.C. United. The hype surrounding Davies began when he came on to the big stage at the 2009 Confederations Cup in South Africa. Not many people expected the speedy Davies to be a main part of the American side that surprised everyone by advancing to the final before losing to Brazil. Davies only scored 26 total goals in three years playing for Hammarby in Sweden and then transferred to Sochaux in France and then the accident happened. Just days before the United States' match with Costa Rica in October, Davies was involved in a fatal car accident that he was lucky to survive. After many months of rehab, missing out on the 2010 World Cup and failing to impress back at Sochaux, the 24-year-old joined D.C. United on loan and began to impress coach Ben Olsen and his teammates. Saturday night was the beginning of the comeback for Davies, who is looked like ...

Does the Designated Player Rule Help or Hurt MLS?

The transfer window for soccer opened earlier this month and, within that couple of weeks, MLS has doubled the amount of designated players in the league from the start of the season. Six players have already confirmed the move to the States and a possible seventh coming in the person of Ronaldinho. The real question from critics and MLS fans is will this further increase the quality of play and could these designated players make an impact on the league as a whole (or just the franchise they play for). The highest profile signing so far has been Thierry Henry's move to the New York Red Bulls. But, the question on the Henry signing would be if there were already two or three designated players on the Red Bulls roster, would Henry even consider going to a smaller market team in the league. The answer to that question is easy. NO. Henry wants to shine on one of the biggest stages of MLS, and the Red Bulls can provide that. There would absolutely no way that Henry would play for a smaller market team like Columbus, Colorado or San Jose. The good thing for MLS is that they are getting other international players to sign ...

Frank Lampard Says He Would Consider Playing in MLS at End of Career

In a recent interview with ESPN Soccernet, 31-year-old Chelsea and England midfielder Frank Lampard said that he would not rule out playing in MLS just like David Beckham did around the age of 36. Lampard was quoted as saying, "I'd like to go and play in America when I'm 36 or 35 but you can't take away someone's right to go and play where they want." With the introduction of Thierry Henry to MLS soon happening, it proves that Beckham's move was a success to get players over to MLS, but now it needs to happen with teams in smaller markets like Columbus and Salt Lake. Hopefully, these aging stars coming over will not just look at New York and Los Angeles to play but actually look to go to some of the quality teams in cities they probably have never even been to. Now this is a statement way in advance of the time frame in which this would actually happen, but it is a good conversation starter for MLS fans trying to figure out what international star will make his way across the pond next.Read more MLS news on BleacherReport.com

Thierry Henry Signs Contract With Red Bulls—The Inevitable is Upon Us

The news MLS fans knew was coming has finally become official. France international Thierry Henry will be coming to a MLS stadium near you. And if you reside in the New York Metro Area, that stadium will be frequently visited by the former Arsenal and current Barcelona forward, playing with his new team, the New York Red Bulls. Henry has struggled at the Nou Camp this season, seeing his playing time cut by a combination of injuries and Pep Guardiola's preference to Bojan Krkic. Having Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Lionel Messi up front hurts also. Henry will join the Red Bulls after the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa and is by far the biggest name to be named a designated player (also referred to as the "Beckham Rule") since the man whom the rule is nicknamed for came over in 2007 from another one of the two Spanish giants, Real Madrid. Henry will become the eighth designated player active in MLS. In fact, one of the other seven will play alongside him up front in Juan Pablo Angel. So, the question now is: How will this affect the Red Bulls and MLS? The obvious effect will be seen once the World Cup is over with Henry ...

2010 FIFA World Cup: How the World Cup Affects Each MLS Team

With the preliminary roster for the U.S. Men's National Team being released earlier this week, nine Major League Soccer players were included. With training camp at Princeton beginning on Monday, six teams will lose USMNT players and two other teams will lose players (Andrew Boyens of New Zealand and New York Red Bulls, and Roger Espinoza of Honduras and Kansas City Wizards). The biggest loss for any MLS team is obvious. The Los Angeles Galaxy are losing Landon Donovan and Edson Buddle. To show what a big part these two play, the Galaxy are promoting the game versus Toronto FC on Saturday as a send-off game. The good news for the Galaxy is that they do have Alan Gordon. The 28-year old is experienced and is going to have to get the job done up front for the Galaxy in the goal scoring department. Mike Magee will also be looked to to but some balls in the back of the net. The midfield loss of Donovan will not be too severe, as the Galaxy has MLS veterans in Clint Mathis, Eddie Lewis, and Chris Klein. As for the other eight teams that will lose a player to World Cup rosters, only two teams will ...

Union-Galaxy: MLS Game Of The Week Preview

The Union and Galaxy have had two completely different seasons so far in the 2010 MLS campaign, and while the Galaxy will look to continue their hot streak, the Union will look to start one. Going into tonight's game at the Home Depot Center, Peter Nowak's Union have had defensive problems. Goalkeeper Chris Seitz has been a model of inconsistency, and the defense has had red card problems with Toni Stahl in Seattle and Danny Califf at Toronto. The Union have also given up at least two goals in each game this season. The Union have also caught another bad break with top scorer Sebastien Le Toux out for tonight's game after suffering a knee sprain mid-week in the Open Cup match with the Red Bulls. That means that Alejandro Moreno will need to attack the goal more instead of trying to set up Le Toux like he normally does. The options up front are all young, but Nowak has decided to go with a 4-5-1 tonight with Moreno being the sole forward. This means the midfielders will have to find a way to get Moreno the ball. The Galaxy have been the hottest team in the galaxy of MLS this year. One reason ...

Defensive Woes Continue For Union In Loss To Red Bulls

At least the Union kept all eleven players on the pitch Saturday at Red Bull Arena. That was a positive from the 2-1 loss, but not many other defensive positives could be taken from the game. Chris Seitz proved yet again to be a concern in goal after giving up the game's first goal to Salou Ibrahim. Off of a corner, Seitz came out to punch the ball, but was way too late and instead making impact with the ball, he made impact with Jordan Harvey's head. After tying the game at 1-1 on a Sebastien Le Toux goal, the Union looked to be dominating the rest of the game until Michael Orozco handled a ball in the box. Orozco misread his jump to head away a ball in the box. The handball led to a penalty kick for Juan Pablo Angel, who scored. The Union played a very solid game in every other part of the game. For most of the second half, they were putting balls on net. Le Toux scored a goal and Jack McInerney missed an attempt at goal after coming on in the 78th minute. The Union now fall to 1-3 on the season and travel out to the Home ...

MLS Game Of The Week Preview: Real Salt Lake @ Columbus Crew

The defending champions of MLS, Real Salt Lake, continue their difficult start to the season visiting the Columbus Crew at 7:30 tonight. After an easy win over San Jose in their first match, Jason Kreis' club has only taken one point from three games against top Western Conference teams (losses to Houston and Los Angeles, draw with Seattle). After tonight, RSL comes home for four of their next five matches and will try to start up the momentum going into that strecth tonight. The Crew are playing in their third game of the season, the fewest of all MLS clubs. After beating Toronto in the first weekend, Robert Warzycha's club drew with FC Dallas 2-2 two weeks ago at Pizza Hut Park. The squad should be at full strength and healthy with the exception of defenders Shaun Francis and Chad Marshall. RSL players have picked up some injuries in the early season. Both Ned Grabavoy and Chris Wingert are out for tonight's game and Robbie Findlay, Jamison Olave and Javier Morales are all on the injury report but should play. There is plenty of top-class players on the pitch tonight at Columbus Crew Stadium, posing some interesting battles at a variety of positions.   Matchup To ...

MLS: Defensive Woes Costly, as the Philadelphia Union Lose to Toronto FC

The Philadelphia Union went into tonight's game against Toronto FC at BMO Field with positive momentum after a win over D.C. United, but that momentum came to a halt in the 33rd minute when captain Danny Califf was issued a red card. Califf was sent off when he stuck his arm out and hit TFC midfielder Julian De Guzman in the head and referee Bardomelo Toledo thought it was enough to earn a red. For the second time in three games, the Union would have to play with ten men for more than a half. With their defensive leader now gone, the Union faltered throughout the game to make defensive stops when it mattered the most. The result of Califf's sending off was a free kick outside the box for TFC and Dwayne De Rosario took it and it looked like a easy save for Union keeper Chris Seitz, until Seitz lost control of the ball and it rolled to the back of the net. Another Seitz error gave TFC a penalty kick in the 80th minute. Seitz came out to try and stop O'Brian White from scoring, but Seitz ended up clipping White's feet on his dive and gave up the penalty. De Rosario then netted ...

Philadelphia Union-D.C. United: Le Toux’s Hat Trick Leads Union To First Victory

Sebastien Le Toux tripled his goal amount from last season in one game in front of 34,870 fans at Lincoln Financial Field Saturday night. The French forward began the scoring early with a fourth-minute header into the back of the net off of a Roger Torres free kick. Thrity six minutes later, Le Toux became the recipient of a Alejandro Moreno pass that left him wide open, and he slotted the ball past D.C. United goalie Troy Perkins. After a disappointing start to the second half by the Union, which was fueled by the insertion of Jaime Moreno in to the United lineup, and giving up two goals to United—scored by Santino Quaranta and Moreno—Le Toux electrified the crowd once more by scoring his third goal on a free kick right outside the box. Le Toux was pulled down by D.C. defender Dejan Jakovic, who was sent off. Le Toux was not the only bright spot on the pitch for the Union tonight. Peter Novak saw solid performances from Alejandro Moreno, Roger Torres, Danny Califf, and sub Shea Salinas. Moreno provided Le Toux with his second goal with a cross-field pass that found the Frenchman wide open. Torres set up the first goal from his ...