We have hit another milestone in 2016 as 32-year-old New England Revolution striker Kei Kamara has become the first man, we assume, to receive a yellow card for twerking in the history of association football. This almost goes without saying, but he’s also the first former winner of the MLS Works Humanitarian of the Year award to receive a yellow card for twerking, a distinction that is unlikely to ever be replicated.
After a long (according to US standards) and historic run, the Columbus Crew Stadium, now known as MAPFRE Stadium, may be set to enter phase 2.0. The MLS reported this week that the club are beginning initial research into either expanding or rebuilding the Crew’s home.
Montreal Impact manager Mauro Biello has revealed that Didier Drogba refused to take part in Montreal’s playoff-deciding match against rivals Toronto FC on Sunday after being left out of the starting eleven.
After an impressive career with the German national team and Bayern Munich, Bastian Schweinsteiger has hit a roadblock in Manchester. Following the 2014 World Cup victory in Brazil, he made the move to United and had a limited, but not altogether horrible season.
Even playing under former boss Louis Van Gaal didn’t see Bastian get a lot of playing time or confidence after finally arriving in England. While he definitely came several years too late to make the kind of impact he was capable of, 2016/17 appears to have brought the final blow to his European career.
Selected with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2014 MLS SuperDraft, the first goalkeeper to ever earn that distinction, 25-year-old Jamaican international Andre Blake is reportedly set to leave MLS at the conclusion of the 2016 season.
Heading into the 2016 MLS season, all signs pointed towards another successful year for the Seattle Sounders. Legendary coach Sigi Schmid was at the helm. Seattle secured the best player in the draft, home-grown talent Jordan Morris. Clint Dempsey was still in top form and there were promising attacking additions in Andreas Ivanschitz and Nelson Valdez.
Instead, the first half of 2016 was a disaster for the Sounders. The Rave Green lost 12 of their first 20 matches and sat well outside of the playoff positions at the MLS All-Star Break.
The accolades for 15-year-old Vancouver Whitecaps forward/winger Alphonso Davies continue to stack up. The Liberian-born Davies, who has represented Canada at the under-20 level, became the youngest player to score a goal in USL history on May 15, 2016. In July, he became the third youngest player of all-time to sign an MLS contract. He’s appeared in eight matches for Vancouver this season, including two starts.
In an interview with Marca week, Barcelona defender Gerard Piqué spoke with reporters about the growing soccer culture in the United States, and the interest its growth has begun to draw from players across the globe.
“I read that the MLS is the seventh biggest league in terms of stadium attendances, fans are increasingly hooked on soccer in the United States and it would be an attractive option in a few years," Pique said.
We are not a particular fan of the Twitter beef, but we simply couldn't resist this one. It involves promotion/relegation stan and angry Twitter person Ted Westervelt, sports media personality Scott Van Pelt and the official Twitter account of national sit-down chain restaurant Applebee's.
It started when Westervelt was mad online about promotion/relegation and threw an unprovoked shot at Applebee's, who responded in kind.
A few weeks back Landon Donovan returned to the LA Galaxy to close out the 2016 season. The media were stunned. While the reaction should have been primarily excitement and respect, many in the fan community appear as cynical as ever.
After two season out of the game, Donovan decided to rejoin the Galaxy after they suffered a number of injuries and needed depth to close the year out. Once people realized it was not an off-calendar April Fools Day joke, the skepticism began.