Released this morning by the Denver Post, Real Salt Lake is still paying a majority of Clint Mathis’s salary, somewhere in the $300k range. This comes as no shocker why Red Bull New York would pull for a deal like this. They will be getting Mathis at a major bargain compared to his annual salary.

RBNY will only be paying around $80k to $100k for Mathis this season. Colorado will be getting either a good bit of allocation or just partial allocation plus a few draft picks. The allocation money will be determined by Mathis’s play on the field. Colorado will be saving “somewhere in the six-figure range” towards their salary cap this season. However, they still will be footing some of the bill for this deal.

To me, I sort of believe a reason why the Rapids were so quick to pull the trigger for this deal was because possibly starting this season Mathis’s salary was going to start counting a lot more against their cap. They didn’t want a hefty load on their cap for a player who hasn’t hit much but rock bottom since his return to the MLS a couple years ago. It only makes sense to save money by dumping a player who hasn’t been worth the pay to someone else who is willing to take a chance on him. Plus, you have to believe Colorado may be wanting to use that extra savings on another player down the road.

I still love this deal for both teams. Sure it is a total gamble for New York to take Mathis, but when you are desperate for offense then you have to do something about it. Mathis knows Bruce Arena and what he is expected to do in Arena’s system. Most teams in the league didn’t want Mathis on their squad but New York. As for Colorado, as mentioned they save some cash and get relief over a headache that never amounted into much while in their uniform. Not to mention if Mathis is a bust in New York, they still get some allocation money for it.

Win-win if you ask me.

Red Bull New York as traded for Clint Mathis today according to Ives.

Clint is back in the Big Apple now. Oh nelly. That adds some spice to the off season that was lagging a bit for the Red Bulls. I like this deal and I like what it does for both parties.

Colorado had no problem dumping a large salary and getting a lot of nothing for it. Sources say that Salt Lake is still paying some of Mathis’s ridiculous salary, which was somewhere in the $400,000 range last season. A lot is still unclear though. The amount that New York is paying Mathis is a big question. The more they are paying the more risk this trade is for them.

All in all, its a smart deal for New York. They needed a lot of help up top and if Mathis comes to play it will work out for them. As for Colorado, they unloaded a headache. I love that for them, Mathis did nothing in his time at Colorado and it should work now that he is gone.

In other news…

DC finally was able to officially sign Brazilian Fred.

A move that most of us expected and were just waiting on. This just adds to what I keep saying most MLS teams need to do with their DP spots. Go south and sign. DC knows just how to do it with stars like Christian Gomez and Facundo Erpen. Fred is a proven midfielder and will help DC in the midfield.

Fred has already joined his D.C. United teammates in Guadalajara, Mexico as they prepare to face Mexican side Chivas on April 3 in the second leg of their Champions’ Cup semifinal. Don’t be surprised at all if you see Fred in action as he has been with the team in training for a couple weeks now.

Its a big deal for DC I believe. Still shows me that DC is the class of the league.

Saw this earlier today, it gave links about the possibility of Eddie Johnson being bought and transfered (in english thanks to  someone on bigsoccer)to Boca Juniors in Argentina.

Down the Line doesn’t like the idea of EJ going to Boca and riding the pine. Though I could agree with that, I wouldn’t mind seeing EJ go south and play somewhere else for a change. Boca wants to sign more foreign based players and EJ impressed while the Wizards were training in Argentina earlier this spring.

EJ hasn’t impressed at all with the Wizards and most have felt he has been a total headache. Sure riding the pine wouldn’t be any good but sometimes that sort of thing could spark a good thing in a player like EJ. It may even translate into positive play with the national team. Something that I think needs to be done since his play with the national team hasn’t been anything special in recent games.
Overall it would be a huge loss for the Wizards, who aren’t at all deep at offensive power. However, you have to imagine if this deal goes through, the transfer fee has potential to be still fairly good for the Wizards and the Wizards would pocket that cash unlike before. Not to mention the allocation money the Wizards would receive, it could be a gamble worth looking into.

All I am saying is the Wizards should listen if an offer is placed on the table.

Yeah, I will be totally frank with everyone. I did not see the US game last night. However, thanks to the trusty VHS, I did see it this morning. Well some of it. Okay, the bloody highlights I saw but that was all I needed to see to make any sort of assessment from the match.

The game was a total bore. The crowd (which I love my Dallas crowd) wasn’t into the match as much as they could have been and for good reason, the action on the pitch was dreadful at times.

Guatemala enjoyed playing my favorite style of defense, the every popular “let’s put the entire damn squad in front of the net and let one dude roam free else where” bunker style. And to their credit their defense worked. They gave up no goals and practically created none of their own.

I, like many this morning, feel this match could hurt Bob Bradley in the long run as far as it goes for him to get the interim tag removed from his title as US coach. It wasn’t the most exciting brand of soccer last night and there was a lot of creativity that lacked from the Ecuador game. Were legs tired? No, and that is a poor excuse since there were plenty of fresh legs on the pitch for the US.

I think up top, we have seen the last of Eddie Johnson, or at least I am holding out hope for that. He lacks any confidence to make inspiring runs up the flank and take on defenders. He did have a better game from what I read and some of the brief things that I gathered but it wasn’t nearly enough for me to want to see him in the starting lineup anymore. His time is up as far as I am concerned. Give the shots to players like Kenny Cooper or even Taylor Twellman.

I do feel this was a very important test for the US. As ugly as it was, the US will see many more matches like this type this summer in the Gold Cup and even in Copa America. Learning from this game will go long way for the US.

I still love that Bradley is taking a risk giving unproven players a chance with the national squad. We saw more new comers in the defense last night. I liked it, I thought it was a good spark for the US and it worked out for the most part. At times you would see how green DeMerit and Simek were as far as international experience goes, but they played with a lot of energy that the US needs in defense.

Again, not the best of games and for Bradley it could hurt him down the road but facts remain…you just can’t win them all. It was a necessary bump in the road for the US that they will learn from and improve upon for the summer.

The first of my power rankings. Sometimes it will be weekly and sometimes not. All depends on time as the season goes on. But starting out it should be a weekly thing. I am always open for your comments on the rankings. They are totally my opinion on the state of affairs in the league. Sometimes they are biased and sometimes they are just totally truthful.

All the pre-season previews are up and ready to read as well.

WVHooligan’s Power Rankings – Pre-Season Edition 2007:

1. Houston Dynamo: The leagues MLS Cup winner from 2006 starts off up top for me. Until I am proven wrong about this team they are still the class in the west and possibly in the league for me. Their off season was a little boring for me with the lack of moves and even the talk of them turning down DP money from AEG. I still think they have a solid roster from top to bottom. If they stay healthy they could repeat.
2. DC United: The other class of the league, the class of the east. The Black and Red have made some serious moves this off season and I like them all really. Shipping Freddy out was a big move and it should pay off for them and for RSL. The offense got better I feel in the off season and the midfield is still one of the best if not the best in the league. I feel this is the best team in the league but they have collapsed in the post season in recent years, more importantly they did last year after winning the Supporters Shield.
3. Colorado Rapids: This could be a big stretch, but I think the Rapids are a dark horse to win the MLS Cup this season. They have the talent and the right moves from the off season in place to do some damage. I love the rebranded look and the new colors and stadium. That will help out in the long run more than people really would like to believe.
4. CD Chivas USA: Yes, Chivas. Why? They are the underdog as usual in their own city and stadium. There is not any hype at all around this team and that is a dangerous thing because they have more talent than last season. Sure they lost some of the better Mexican players that the league has seen in some time but getting Guevara from New York was a major deal. Preki will get to show what he learned from Bob Bradley as an assistant and he will prove to the league that his team in LA is better than the other LA side.
5. LA Galaxy: But only slightly better will the Goats be than the Galaxy. Up until the last couple US national team games I did not even want to place this team as high as 8th in my rankings. But with the recent play of Donovan I can’t deny the Galaxy will be ten times better in 2007. Throw in the Beckham effect and this team will be tough to predict. I want to see more defense out of the Galaxy but again, with Donovan on a mission, the Galaxy could make it back to the big dance in DC.
6. Real Salt Lake: I really liked the moves to pick up Adu and Rimando from DC. This is a young team with plenty of firepower that will do damage in the west. The exfacter again is the defense. Lots of offense though from this team that should carry them most of the season.
7. New England Revolution: I struggled placing this team anywhere high in the rankings. Seven seemed right for the time because of the moves that happened to this team during this off season. Not to mention the distraction that will be Sharlie Joesph this season.
8. FC Dallas: As a Hoops fan I wanted to rate them higher but I just couldn’t. I don’t like the defense that this team has nor do I trust this midfield yet. Though the foreign signings from South American should help and will help once they are all finalized. Toja and Richetti will be huge in the midfield for the Hoops and once Serioux returns from his injury, the Hoops should be a team to watch. Too bad it may be too little too late once that time comes.
9. Columbus Crew: Yes, the Crew will be much, much better this season. Playoffs are a possibility but they are still a long way from reaching that. The offense has improved a whole lot from last season. Eddie Gaven will have the breakout season that we have been waiting for.
10. Red Bull New York: This team could be anywhere between number 6 and number 12 for me. At times I feel they have made the right moves like getting Claudio Reyna but at the same time I just feel they have no offense that can compete in the east.
11. Toronto FC: Gosh, an expansion side that is unproven and is not at the bottom of the list? I think this teams has a lot of upside and will compete. Expect it right off the bat. The stadium in Toronto will be give them a huge home field advantage each time out with them sellout their season tickets. I still believe they will compete and compete well in the east and will make things very interesting.
12. Kansas City Wizards: I am still wondering where this squad is going. If Eddie Johnson shows up this team will be a contender in the east, if he doesn’t again, they will be in the bottom of the league each week.
13. Chicago Fire: I don’t know about this team. I want to think they will be much better than I am thinking they will be but right now I see them dead last in the league. And that isn’t even the Hoops fan biased in me. Even though I know they don’t play games on paper, this team on paper does nothing for me. Top to bottom there are too many wholes that need to be filled or addressed. If they address their issues they can possibly squeak into the playoffs.

According to a couple websites like this one, FIFA president Sepp Blatter is considering eliminating the current World Cup rotation after the 2014 World Cup that would presumable be in Brazil as a part of the South American part of the rotation.

This sort of tells me that FIFA may be looking to link CONCACAF in with South America in the current rotation. There had been some speculation that FIFA would consider doing just that so England or some European country in general. FIFA’s top dudes will meet in South Africa in November and discuss this before the let the world know who will be getting the 2014 Cup.

This definitely could hurt the US’s bid at another World Cup in 2018. I still feel that FIFA knows the US is a big money maker for the Cup and would be stupid to not go there for the Cup. England will make a good penny themselves but I still believe there is no country in the world that will make the revenue like the US will for the World Cup.

It will be interesting to see which way FIFA goes to. Some have reported that Blatter has gone on record saying the US have a very good shot at getting the 2018 Cup. Though I still feel if FIFA eliminates the current rotation and combines the western side of the globe in the last part of the rotation, the US still have a great chance at getting the Cup in 2014.

November will tell us a lot. Until then there is just a lot of speculation going on and rumors to talk about.

A conference call with Don Garber on April 2nd will include several announcements which at least one is in regards to a new competitive initiative.

Here’s the press release from Major League Soccer:

Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber and Deputy Commissioner Ivan Gazidis will discuss the 2007 season and make several announcements, including some new competition initiatives, on a media teleconference call on Monday, April 2 at 1:30 p.m. ET. MLS opens its 12th season the weekend of April 7-8 with a slate of six games, starting with the Colorado Rapids hosting D.C. United in the first game in Dick’s Sporting Goods Park at 3:30 p.m. ET on ABC.

Plenty of speculation about this announcement. I’ve said before there are plenty of mistakes that the MLS is making these days with their “major” announcements or even just their announcements in general. Thankfully this time around there are just several announcements and not just a major label on this.

What the announcement will be is your guess and mine. Some are hoping one thing while others are pushing for others.

I am open to your comments and guesses. But as for now it is the waiting game to see just how much of a deal the league makes this out to be.