MLS

Arsenal and soccer? Good.

Arsenic and soccer? Bad.

The site Inter Miami will soon call home has toxic soil, a recent environmental analysis has concluded, first reported by the Miami Herald. Along with unsafe levels of lead and barium, the soil contains levels of arsenic contamination more than twice the legal limit. 

It’s that time of year again: FIFA has announced the 10 finalists for the annual Puskás Award, the trophy given to the player, male or female, “judged to have scored the most aesthetically significant, or ‘most beautiful,’ goal of the calendar year.”

This most certainly wasn’t the case last year when Mohamed Salah scooped the award after Liverpool and Egypt supporters spammed the fan vote. The goal Salah scored against Everton back in December of 2018 hadn’t even won the Premier League’s Goal of the Month, so it was an awful joke to see it given the prestigious Puskás Award.

Another Zlatan Ibrahimović brace — giving him four goals in four days after scoring two against FC Dallas last Wednesday — wasn't enough to power the LA Galaxy beyond Western Conference rival Seattle on Saturday night. The Sounders earned a dramatic point after a comical own goal from Jørgen Skjelvik in the 82nd minute.  

Multiple reports have emerged confirming that the city of St. Louis, Missouri, will be the proud home of the 28th club in Major League Soccer. The official announcement from MLS is set to come early next week.

The team will likely join the competition for the 2022 season, following Miami and Nashville in 2020 and Austin in 2021.

In a recent talk with SBI, American icon DaMarcus Beasley said he wholeheartedly supports promotion and relegation in MLS — although he admits that he has no idea how it would work financially and pragmatically — but he also gives the most depressing assessment of the league’s academy system that I’ve ever heard.

Major League Soccer has seen its expansion teams work out very well in recent years, especially with clubs like LAFC and Atlanta United coming to the forefront of American soccer. With one eye on the future, the next big exciting team in MLS looks to be Inter Miami, owned by soccer legend David Beckham.

The Seattle Sounders announced on Tuesday that Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson and Seattle-based rapper Macklemore have joined the Sounders ownership group along with nine other families.

Americans love their playoffs, as much as apple pie, the Star-Spangled Banner and LaCroix. It’s why we put up with 162-game baseball seasons and the New England Patriots winning year after year.

Zlatan does not love the playoffs.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic channeled his inner Jim Mora on Thursday to trash the Major League Soccer playoff format, saying the “system is shit.”

If you’ve enjoyed the entertaining Wayne Rooney MLS stint so far, savor these last few months of the season.

Rooney, the iconic Manchester United and Everton striker who joined D.C. United in 2018, will leave the club following the 2019 season. 

Wayne Rooney announced Tuesday morning he’ll become a player-coach of Derby County in January.