It is expected that Paulo Wanchope will officially join the Chicago Fire. He reportedly passed his medical exam and has agreed to terms for a one year deal with the Fire.
Wanchope is a 31 year old Costa Rican striker that will bring a lot of experience and goal scoring power to the team. He is the 2nd all time scorer for the Costa Rican national team.
Eddie Johnson turned down the possiblity of going to play in the English Premiere League. Derby County made an offer to buy the young striker from the Kansas City Wizards. Johnson himself decided he’d rather stay with the Wizards.
Earlier in his career Johnson was courted by a european team. Benfica tried to sign Johnson when he was still at FC Dallas.
It is rumored that Paolo Wanchope is training with the Chicago Fire and that the Fire will have the option of signing him if they want. Learn more about Wanchope at the ever-so-helpful wikipedia (Paulo Cesar Wanchope Watson).
How would Wanchope fit in with the Fire? Fire Fans; Excited or just don’t care about another aging star coming in?
SuperLiga starts up tonite, don’t miss FC Dallas and LA Galaxy in action tonite if you are lucky enough to have TeleFutura. All games will be shown on TeleFutura.
All times Central
Tuesday, July 24
FC Dallas vs. Chivas – 8:00 PM
LA Galaxy vs. Pachuca – 10:00 PM
Wednesday, July 25
DC United vs. Monarcas – 7:00 PM
Houston Dynamo vs. América – 9:00 PM
Saturday, July 28
FC Dallas vs. Pachuca – 7:00 PM
LA Galaxy vs. Chivas – 9:00 PM
Sunday, July 29
DC United vs. América – 7:00 PM
Houston Dynamo vs. Monarcas – 9:00 PM
Tuesday, July 31
FC Dallas vs. LA Galaxy – 7:00 PM
Chivas vs. Pachuca – 9:00 PM
Wednesday, August 1
DC United vs. Houston Dynamo – 7:00 PM CT
América vs. Monarcas – 9:00 PM
Tuesday – Wednesday, August 14 – 15
Semifinals
Wednesday, August 29
Final
Juan Pablo Angel hasn’t even had time to stop and think about why he chose to come play in Major League Soccer. He hasn’t looked back and is very happy with his decision to come to play in the United States.
Angel scored the first, and game winning, goal versus Celtic in the MLS All Star Game last nite which the MLS All Stars went on to win 2-0. Another Colombian (Juan Toja) scored the 2nd goal of the nite which made it 2 for the first year Colombians, 0 for one of the most famous teams in the world.
I used to not like this type of format for the MLS All Star game, but when they beat Fulham I started to come around. Last year when the MLS All Stars beat EPL champions Chelsea I became a really big fan of this All Star format. I can’t wait to find out more details about next years game. Next year I’ll be looking forward the MLS all stars to make it 5 – 0 vs the world!
Two more lower league teams dropped two more MLS teams out of the US Open Cup. The Seattle Sounders beat Chivas USA 3-1 to advance to the quarterfinals and will eventually face the Colorado Rapids. The Carolina RailHawks beat Chicago Fire 1-0 and will go on to face the Richmond Kickers in the quarterfinals.
Major League Soccer teams have not fared too well in this years US Open Cup. Only 3 MLS teams have advanced to the quarterfinals while 3 USL-1 and 2 USL-2 teams are in the quarterfinals. The Next round of games takes place on August 10th.
Here are the quarterfinal matchups:
Harrisburg City Islanders
New England Revolution
Richmond Kickers
Carolina RailHawks
FC Dallas
Charleston Battery
Colorado Rapids
Seattle Sounders
Toronto will host the 2008 MLS All Star game at the brand new BMO Field. For a fifth year the format on the MLS All Star game will be the MLS All Stars versus a high power international team. Coming up soon the MLS All Stars will take on Celtic. In the past years the MLS All Stars played against Chelsea, Fulham and CD Guadelajara. The MLS All Stars have won each of these games so far. Opponents for the 2008 game will be determined later.
The San Jose Earthquakes may likely be back for the next season of Major League Soccer. An announcement is expected tomorrow to officially declare San Jose as the newest location for MLS Expansion.
It wasn’t that long ago that the San Jose Earthquakes moved to Houston and became the Dynamo. The Earthquakes had a couple of championships and the Dynamo did get a championship in their first year after leaving San Jose. How long would the new Earthquakes have to wait to get another one?
Well kinda. He was in LA yesterday and was officially introduced to the media and fans at a press conference yesterday morning. Everyone is over-reacting, including ESPN.
I do hope this does work out well for the Galaxy and more importantly the whole league and even more just soccer in the US in general. But we have to wait and see if that is the case. I can’t wait to see how it all works out.
PS – When is this Blanco dude coming to Chicago? I wonder if we’ll hear anything about that, or is the rest of the MLS done for the season and LA is going to replace all the regularly scheduled games?
