Red Bull Arena should make lots of things better for the Red Bulls and MLS.

Editor’s Note: Geoff Reid appears on WVHooligan every week. He’s back for the second time this week to give his take on the New York Red Bulls’ ownership and why it’s a good thing. Feel free to leave Geoff a note below with your thoughts on his take here.

There has been a lot of press in the last few months about the New York Red Bulls and a lot of it being good news.

Red Bull Arena is 10 years overdue, but finally going to be a reality by first kick 2010. The club had it’s most successful season to date last year by making the MLS Cup final for the first time and it looks as if the club is headed in the right direction. This franchise has been through it’s ups and downs to put it nicely since 1996. With the new stadium coming together it’s even got me very excited about the future of the club and the league in general. So I decided to start some digging on the history of the team on and off the pitch to get a better idea of things. Continue Reading…

Maybe this is why Chivas is at the top of the standings. Also I really have been meaning to post these weekly videos for sometime. This time we are entertained with Chivas defender Mariano Trujillo. (Thanks to those guys at the club for sending me these links btw)

Yup, its finally that time. MLS Philadelphia 2010 has revealed the date for an announcement ceremony to unveil the club’s name, colors, logo and ticket pricing. The celebration will be hosted at City Hall by Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter on Monday, May 11 at 11:30 a.m.

“This is truly a defining moment for our franchise, and we couldn’t be more excited to proclaim our identity to the soccer world and our loyal fans,” said MLS Philadelphia CEO & Operating Partner Nick Sakiewicz. “We’ve created an authentic brand that reflects Philadelphia’s deep-rooted history and the wealth of feedback gathered from our supporters. The arrival of top-flight soccer in Philadelphia is about to feel decidedly more tangible.”

“Our team name, logo and colors will shape the foundation of our identity,” added MLS Philadelphia President Tom Veit. “The process of developing our character will continue when we hire a coaching staff, sign players and expand our front office. We’re dedicated to doing things the right way and building an organization that represents the hard work and passion of Philadelphians throughout the Delaware Valley.”

A couple months back the club held a vote for the club name between four choices. Also it appears the club has sold over 6,000 season tickets for their 18,500-seat stadium that is under the works in Chester,PA.

So which name are you hoping for? I personally liked “AC” and “City.”

We finally have an All-Star opponent for this year. Just as speculated before it turns out to be Everton FC of the EPL. This year’s game will be held at Rio Tinto Stadium in Salt Lake City, UT.

What do you think of this announcement? I honestly love the idea of playing Everton.

Talk about a headline that could go badly for the league. The Columbus Dispatch is reporting that a top referee and MLS star are being investigated by the United States Soccer Federation and the league for their conduct during the Crew’s 2-2 tie with the Chicago Fire on Saturday.

According to the Dispatch’s sources, various witnesses saw Fire star Cuauhtmoc Blanco broach the entrance to the referees’ locker room following the game with a Fire jersey in his hand. He reportedly tossed the jersey into the room occupied by Jair Marrufo and his assistant referees.

I’ve been around lockerrooms in this league, you just don’t see stuff like that very often if ever.

Blanco was seen chatting with Marrufo before the game and witnesses said he later yelled at the referee and his crew outside the locker rooms at halftime.

Marrufo issued a controversial red card to Crew defender Gino Padula for a foul on Blanco in the second half. It was Padula’s first foul of the game.

The Crew led 2-0 before Padula’s ejection but allowed two goals late in the game while it played at a man disadvantage.

The Crew is appealing the automatic fine and one-game suspension of Padula, citing inconsistencies in Marrufo’s calls and his alleged acceptance of Blanco’s gift. It filed a report with MLS that cited the pregame, halftime and postgame incidents involving Marrufo and Blanco.

Players often give away their jerseys after games to fans and opposing players. but Ohio state referee administrator Ken Baldoesingh said “all referees know they are not supposed to accept gifts from anyone.”

Wow. I don’t want to throw the phrase match fixing out but you just never know. More than likely it was Blanco just being friendly with an official who’s father was a Mexican referee. Still doing something like that after a game is still a bit sketchy.

I guess John Carver didn’t like getting fined by the league. Word has it the fine from a couple weeks ago was the final straw for the manager who resigned this past week.

The Toronto Star is reporting that the meddling by the league was all that Carver could take.

“You can only put up with so much,” Carver told the Toronto Star in an interview yesterday, two days after news broke of his resignation as head coach six games into his second season.

“I’ve had restraints on me ever since I got here,” the native of Newcastle, England, said of the league and its officials. “If ever you do anything or say anything out of order, they’re straight on the phone complaining to the owners and that’s how they work because, in my opinion, it’s all about image.

“Obviously I wasn’t the right image for the league.”

In New York, MLS officials refused to get into a tit-for-tat.

“The league prefers not to respond to Carver’s criticism,” said MLS spokesman Will Kuhns.

Whatever the case was it sort of seems like Carver was just packing his bags before this took place. He wanted out of the league probably before the start of the season and had his club not played well this year he may have gotten canned anyways.

Toronto FC is already looking to announce the next head coach. Either Chris Cummins or Nick Dasovic will be named the club’s interim coach on Wednesday.

I’m very curious to see how Toronto handles this coaching change here as they are in the middle of a very important stretch of their season with upcoming Canadian Cup games.

Wow, talk about a move that could actually be a good one.

FC Dallas today traded for U.S. Under-20 MNT defender and captain Kyle Davies from Real Salt Lake in exchange for the lowest of FCD’s three second round picks in next year’s MLS SuperDraft (according to the club it means the pick closest to the third round).

Davies had landed in Salt Lake via a weighted lottery a couple weeks ago.

I love this deal for FCD for one, it gets them a defender that actually has the skills to do something good for the club. Let’s just hope it works out here.