Probably what was a more surprising news to hear, but US National Team and Chivas USA keeper Brad Guzan was denied a UK work permit to join Aston Villa on a $4 million transfer today.

Sources say Guzan was denied a work permit after a panel in England ruled on Thursday that he did not meet the requirements to receive one. Tough break for the kid really as even though he has not seen enough National team action to easily qualify for a permit, many thought he’d be able to obtain one.

It now seems that Guzan will play out the 2008 season with Chivas, which happens to be the final year of his current contract with the Goats and the league.

Honestly, the league needs to do everything it can to get him to transfer in the summer instead of losing out on a transfer fee all together next winter in my mind. I know Chivas fans won’t want to hear that but its the best for both sides really. The Goats and the league cannot afford to lose out on such a quality keeper in that situation that he doesn’t re-sign with the league and goes abroad on a free transfer. That would be a lose-lose situation for the league.

Chivas fans can rest for now though on their keeper situation. They do need some work though on the rest of their side, not to mention they still need a quality backup for Guzan.

Lots of work for Preki to do and quite frankly he needs to get to work on getting this team back in the 2007 summer form for the new season ahead.

Yesterday got me thinking. I figured after reading a lot of your comments and emails that it would be a good idea to take a step back and look at all the kits (that I could google and find) that the US has worn in recent years and compair them all.

Its a good topic for debate. Which is the best. Which is the worst.

Most of you have said the new one sucks or isn’t too bad. A lot of you, like me, wish the team would wear only the “Don’t Tread On Me” red kit from last year.

Anyways, let’s get to this history lesson so you can all debate it out.

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Last day of the winter transfer window. Many clubs are hoping this day passes as quickly as possible while others are wanting more time to sign more players.

I will start with something I meant to touch on yesterday but got too caught up at work to ever get to it.

Reports all around the web say that New England boss Steve Nicol is on a scouting trip. Seems as though he knows he needs to find some scoring and defensive help for his club, which will have a long season with a couple more club competitions than normal.

He is in Honduras, but he is not looking at Amado Guevera. Thankfully.

But he is finding some talent that could be in New England in the next couple weeks. From Steve Goff, Nicol is actively scouting two Honduran players:

Emilio Izaguirre (left), 21-year-old midfielder for Motagua and the national team

and

Victor Bernardez, 25-year-old defender for Motagua and the national team

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Something tells me I may not be the only one out there that feels this way but with the way the MLS is growing and the new international player rules, I think it is time for the MLS to take serious looks at players in Africa.

I thought of this a few weeks back before the transfer window opened up and meant to write about it but didn’t get to it until today. Someone else actually beat me to the punch on it and it made me remember to do this again.

But as much of the African Nations Cup as I’ve seen, the more I get into it the more I want MLS teams to look at African players.

We’ve seen a great amount of South American talent join the league in recent years that has helped allow the league to put it’s name out there for most to see. The MLS likes to be the talent grower for American players but sometimes falters on that front when they lost them to European clubs. Plus, we know when most Europeans come over to the MLS they are a waste. But like the South Americans, the few African players have made a good impact on the league. Continue Reading…

Sons of Ben rejoice! You will finally be getting a MLS club of your very own. A huge step in the right direction today in Philly, as the state is poised to announce an agreement to kick in $45 million to help fund a new stadium in the Chester, PA area.

It seems to me that the original MLS deadline of this week may have had something to do with this news in the first place. I think it helped get the state to push the deal into gear and get the stadium the proper funding that it needed in order to become a reality for the city and for the MLS.

Getting this money will all but clinch the expansion spot for the city, beating out St. Louis who was hoping a deal would fall through as they desperately searched for more money of their own in the form of an ownership group to assist lead man Jeff Cooper. Philly always had the right owners but didn’t have the money from the state for the stadium like St. Louis had.

Announcements for Philly on the state funding should come tomorrow if not by the end of the week. Once that happens expect the league to announce Philly as the expansion site.

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Some things are just said to be left to the pictures for people to decide on which is better/worse. Today is that kind of day. Nike released the new US National team kit and I must say it may be the ugliest I’ve seen in many years. It makes me wish it was 1994 all over again and our country sport the denim flag jersey (and yes I actually still own one that was given to me as a gift).

Take a look for yourself:

Its like the San Jose Clash meets the US National team. I liked the blue stripes that we wore last year but these new kits are terrible.

It really does make me miss the old kits like the ones from 1994.

I think it is time that the USSF got away from Nike, if the badge on the jersey wasn’t big enough, I think the new kits speak loud and clear that it is time for the US National team to sign a new deal with adidas or someone that is able to make a quality kit.

It was reported last night that Chivas USA and National team keeper Brad Guzan was given permission to leave camp to go over to England. He is scheduled to return in time for the US-Mexico match next week in Houston.

I think it is fair to say that the $4 million offer from Aston Villa is going to meet the league’s price of Guzan and he is going over there to hammer out the logistics, much like Eddie Johnson before the Sweden game a couple weeks ago when he left to go meet with Fulham.

Looks as though Chivas is now in an even tighter spot as they have no option at keeper if Guzan does indeed leave for Villa. Fair to say that they will not be winning the west this season if they don’t get their keeper situation ironed out in the next few weeks. They don’t even have a solid backup to Guzan at the moment anyways.

They do have money right now to spend but they haven’t really hit the transfer market like I expected them to this month. It could very well come back to haunt them if they don’t get some deals worked out in the next 24-to-36 hours. All I can say is that they better be hoping that something falls threw in this deal for Guzan and he returns to the club at least until the summer transfer window.

Lots of things to be worked out so we will see in a day or so what happens here with Villa and Guzan.