MLS

Drogba lands in Montreal

Everyone's likely already heard that Didier Drogba has signed with the Montreal Impact, a team that recently put up a second place result in the CONCACAF Champion's League. While the rumors were originally for Chicago, Montreal was able to steal him away with a combination of targeted allocation money — they backed the Brink's truck up to Drogba's front door — and location — Montreal being a French speaking town. 

Nick Rimando looks like someone you'd want on your side in a bar fight. He's short for a goalie, but sturdy. He's friendly, gregarious even, but he gives off a subtle intensity, which loses its subtlety when he steps in front of a soccer goal. That's his territory, where he's made his living in MLS since 2000 with (now defunct) Miami Fusion, D.C. United and Real Salt Lake. At 36, he's an MLS lifer at this point. 

Harry begins signing autographs at the south end of Dick’s Sporting Goods Park. He does what looks like a TV interview first, then starts at the beginning of the throng of people lined up to take a picture of him or have him sign something. The crowd stretches from the southwest end of the stadium, where Harry is, to the middle of the north end, where Harry will be. Eventually.

The Club America U-20s defeated the MLS Homegrown All-Stars last night in penalties after the game ended 1-1 in regulation. This casts a poor light on MLS's player development efforts, however friendly the match ended up being. With that in mind, we did what we always do in trying times: we made a list of pros and cons. 

Pro:

The MLS Homegrown All-Stars almost didn't lose!

Con:

The MLS Homegrown All-Stars lost.

Pro:

The MLS team was really young, with just eight players age 21 or older.

Denver, Colorado is 5,280 feet above sea level, and Tottenham Hotspur, along with most of the MLS All-Stars, won't be used to playing in those conditions.

"It's going to be a tough training session for us this afternoon and a tough game for us on Wednesday at this altitude, on top of the hotness" said Spurs midfielder Nabil Bentaleb.

"We had a gym session earlier, and it was quite tough," said forward Harry Kane. "We train this afternoon so we'll probably get a bit more used to it, being outside."

MLS All-Stars and Colorado Rapids coach Pablo Mastroeni said at the MLS All-Star Game press conference Monday that he thinks it might be time to bring back the old East vs. West format for the game, one used by other major sports leagues in the U.S. 

"I think moving forward, as this league continues to develop, I think there's a shout to kind of reconsider that East vs. West, as you continue to get great talent coming in, to showcase all of it in a way that's ultra-competitive," Mastroeni said.

Hold on to your hats, America. In the coming years, it looks like MLS is set to get a lot more Swedish. And awesome.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic told reporters Thursday that he would like to go to MLS at some point. The 33-year-old striker has one more year on his contract at Paris Saint-Germain.

He told Yahoo Sports:

David, Goliath, etc.

English side Chelsea, in America on a preseason tour, got off to a hot start Wednesday against American powerhouse New York Red Bulls. It's safe to say New York's manager will give his team a talking-to after Chelsea were allowed to not only take the lead in the first half but to score two (!!!) goals in the game. 

News of Manchester United coming to California for their pre-season match against San Jose Earthquakes would usually create enough buzz to have soccer fans lined-up out the door for tickets. Yet it was the exact opposite in San Jose. 

The roster for the MLS homegrown squad has been set, MLS announced.

The squad, coached by Landon Donovan, will take on Club America's U-20 team July 28 at Dick's Sporting Goods Park in Colorado. 

The roster:

Keepers:

Jesse Gonzalez, FC Dallas

Matt Lampson, Columbus Crew

Defenders:

Justen Glad, Real Salt Lake

Shane O'Neill, Colorado Rapids

Eric Palmer-Brown, Sporting Kansas City

Jalen Robinson, D.C. United

Oscar Sorto, LA Galaxy

Tyler Turner, Orlando City

Midfielders: