WVHooligan - Soccer Blog

Good morning to all, or early afternoon to some out there. Lots to discuss this morning after a night that saw a couple US Open Cup games and a Canadian clash.

Some quick results from last night again:

Columbus 2 – 0 Real Salt Lake – US Open Cup qualifier
Colorado 1 – 0 LA Galaxy – US Open Cup qualifier
Toronto FC 1 – 0 Montreal Impact – CONCACAF Champions League Canadian qualifier

The US plays the first of three challenging friendlies today at Wembley against England (3 p.m. ESPN Classic). Hence why I am trying to get a lot of this stuff out of the way this morning, so I can tune in for that one!

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It seems the long awaited announcement for the Barcelona friendly here in the US this summer is finally going to happen. According to a couple sources, Barcelona will play the Red Bulls at Giants Stadium on Wednesday, Aug. 6 at 7pm.

Plenty of changes have been made to accommodate this friendly. But it appears the two sides have finally come together to get it done. It also didn’t hurt that MLS and Barcelona are in the beginning of a five-year deal together.

No word on when tickets will go on sale for it, probably within the next month or so.

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Speaking of the Red Bulls. According to Ives this morning, it appears the club is headed towards a bit of a shake up. No, not the kind of shake up that sees a coach or GM get the boot. A shake up in terms of getting everyone in the origination on the same page.

The meetings could help address the club’s lack of a head executive. The Red Bulls have been operating without a front office leader for almost two months since former managing director Marc deGrandpre left the club to join a soft drink company. That departure, coupled with Red Bull’s failure to assign someone as the club’s lead executive, even on an interim basis, has left the team and front office in limbo for most of the current MLS season.

The meetings, which were planned in advance of last Sunday’s shocking 5-1 loss to the Chicago Fire, will likely also be used to address the club’s potential summer transfer plans, including the potential sale of forward Jozy Altidore.

Getting the sense from what Ives had to say about this matter, its about time. Its been a bit obvious to some who have seen this club to know that they aren’t really heading in any sort of direction at the moment. They brought in Osorio in the offseason and that was about it. No other real big moves to prepare for the season left fans and members of the media to question the club.

For the club’s sake I hope things get worked out here and they can move forward here in this season. They’ve floated by well enough so far but after last Sunday’s home loss to Chicago, people finally realized that this club was indeed floating by here this season. They have the talent to do well but with no front office direction, it doesn’t bode well for Red Bull fans.

Sure the players make it happen on the field but as we should know by now a solid front office helps win in this league as much as the players do. Its pretty apparent that this front office is near the bottom of the league right now in terms of productivity and things of that nature.

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The prospects of a 27,000-seat D.C. United stadium at Poplar Point are improving.

The city would finance construction bonds with excess tax revenue being collected by the District to pay for the baseball stadium. D.C. United would be responsible for paying for any costs above $150 million, according to the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the plan is still being finalized.

The legislation could be introduced at the council’s next legislative meeting Tuesday, if all goes smoothly, the sources said. Gray, Evans and Barry are working to win majority support on the 13-member council, but the project could prove contentious. Debate over the baseball stadium’s $611 million financing package dragged on nearly two years, dividing the council and residents.

Further down in the article after you get some back and forth info between council members:

MacFarlane, meanwhile, opened negotiations with officials in Prince George’s but has continued to talk with D.C. officials about Poplar Point. A request to MacFarlane’s spokeswoman for comment did not yield a response yesterday.

D.C. United officials have been eager to complete a deal before the council goes on summer recess in mid-July, but the timetable is tight. After being introduced, the stadium legislation would require a public hearing, a committee markup and two council votes. Furthermore, the proposed financing plan represents a potential sticking point.

Again, it seems like this is moving forward but as we all know with this stadium its going to take some big time money to get it done here. Its very similar to the Harrison stadium for the Red Bulls, it took a few years but it finally got done. Hopefully for DC and MLS fans, this stadium can get done sometime soon. Lord knows we’ve seen enough renderings of the stadium to get excited over it.

Its going to take some more time but before long they will get their stadium. Its still a bit sad that some expansion cities have better deals in place than DC right now. And that other towns in MLS have stadiums in place or on the way before United.

Sometimes things aren’t always as easy as we’d like them and in a town like DC, nothing is easy to come by.

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