This weekend a Canadian newspaper reported that Nike had put the United Soccer Leagues up for sale and that Major League Soccer was one of the parties interested in buying the USL. The paper also noted that this was "unlikely" but that didn't stop the news spreading like wildfire, and the discussion from descending to elementary depths.

Kartik Krishnaiyer of MLS Talk wrote a piece on topic today which addressed how a small, but extremely vocal minority of MLS fans are injecting misguided garbage into what should be an intelligent discussion of the future of the American game. Many of these fans are the same people who brand critics of Major League Soccer "eurosnobs" and help to chase away potential converts claiming that one day they'll replace them with American sports fans, something that won't happen. If you can convert an NFL fan to soccer he won't watch MLS exclusively, they're used to seeing the best and will therefore be attracted to the likes of Arsenal, Barcelona, Juventus, and Manchester United. I myself have been branded a eurosnob for not supporting my "local team", DC United, despite the fact that my true local team, the USL-2 Charlotte Eagles, play three miles, as the crow flies, from my house. This really shows the type of people we're dealing with here, and I feel sorry for the MLS fans that have to deal with this minority of idiots on a daily basis.

Now I must digress to the topic at hand, the potential USL buyout. I personally hope that MLS doesn't buy the USL, I think that would be bad for the game in this country. Soccer isn't baseball, I've said that before, a full-blown farm system like the one used by baseball in this country wouldn't work for soccer because of the impact the independent USL has made. It would be difficult for supporters in cities like Charlotte, Charleston, Des Moines, Rochester, Pittsburgh and Wilmington to pay money to support a team with less intentions of winning the division than developing players for a Major League side in DC, or San Jose, they just wouldn't do it. Baseball doesn't have this problem, it's Major League teams have fans all over the country with a real interest in seeing the prospects play, you just don't see a lot of DC United apperal in the Cape Fear region like you do Atlanta Braves gear.

People speak of how soccer needs an "American" twist to appeal to Americans, competition is very American -- In fact, the aspect of promotion and relegation is American in that it potentially allows for a team from a small town, say Bentonville, Arkansas, to be the biggest dog in the country, but that's another discussion for another day. -- A competitive USL would force the MLS to continue to, wisely, improve it's product. They can't continue to market themselves as America's premier soccer league if a USL team outlasts them in the Champions League, can they? No, because results speak higher than slick graphics.

I enjoy seeing MLS be successful, like I said, it's good for the game, but I also enjoy seeing the USL have success because that's also good for the game. We need both of them, and we can throw in the NPSL too. It's stupid to limit competitive soccer to, say, twenty-six cities just so you can pretend to be like the NFL, you aren't the NFL and you never will be. It's a multi-billion dollar monster. The more cities with competitive soccer teams the more of a chance the game has to grow.

I know that the acquision of the USL would probably be good for MLS in a business sense, but bare in mind that what's good for the tom isn't always good for the clowder.

I like Atlanta, for the most part it's a nice city. It's certainly the center of Southern culture and business. Atlanta is the first thing most people think of when they think of the South. Overall, I have no problem with Atlanta.

But Atlanta may have ruined it's chance to have a soccer team by feeling that it's entitled to an MLS team simply because of the things I mentioned in the previous paragraph. While those things still apply today, Atlanta's gravitational pull has been lessened by the rise of fellow Southern cities like Birmingham, Nashville, Raleigh, Memphis, and Atlanta's second-city and biggest rival, Charlotte.

Even on into the 80's Atlanta could rightfully have a sense of entitlement when it came to professional sports in the South, because if it wasn't in Atlanta, it likely wasn't going to work. But the population influx into other Southern population centers has made that a thing of the past. Charlotte, Memphis, Nashville and Raleigh all host successful professional teams now, which is why Atlanta was wrong to expect a possible Southern MLS entry to fall into it's lap.

Atlanta hosted a modestly successful USL First Division team, the Silverbacks, for over a decade but support for the team was lackluster at best. There are plenty of reasons for this, the team did play at a soulless cement hell in DeKalb for a number of years - thus making it somewhat difficult for Fulton and Cobb based fans to attend matches - before moving to an incomplete stadium in Chamblee for it's final years. But the main reason was that the Silverbacks were a USL team, and when Atlanta says they want a soccer team, Atlanta means they want an MLS team.

Up the road from Atlanta is a foothills city of 170,000 called Chattanooga. Chattanooga is the fourth largest city in Tennessee. Like Atlanta, Chattanooga too wanted a soccer team, but unlike Atlanta, Chattanooga doesn't have much pull nationally. This didn't stop Chattanooga from getting a team though, because in early 2009 Chattanooga FC was born. CFC plays in the National Premier Soccer League, the fourth tier of American soccer, and has become America's rising star in the sport averaging a division high 1,500 fans per match.

Meanwhile, the Silverbacks suspended operations in 2008. This doesn't mean Atlanta doesn't have a soccer team, it has two, Atlanta Blackwatch, and Atlanta FC, both play in the fourth tier, like Chattanooga. But unlike Chattanooga, the community has not embraced the teams, they're still holding out for MLS.

Atlanta may well have a future in MLS, but it's just that, a future. Atlanta has a strong soccer community, you can see this when you watch friendly matches held at the Georgia Dome, but the Atlanta soccer community needs to learn from Chattanooga. There are supposedly two spots left in the twenty team grand plan for Major League Soccer, and yes, Atlanta needs to chase one of those spots, but it also needs to learn to support what it has.

In the USL Atlanta had a good thing, a very good thing. An intense rivalry with the Charleston Battery, and a lesser rivalry with Charlotte and Raleigh (Cary). With Tampa about to enter the league, there was potential there too, but now it may be gone for good.

To make matters worse for Atlanta-based fans, Birmingham now wants an MLS team. While many would laugh at the idea, Birmingham isn't, they're serious. Not to mention the fact that Charlotte and Nashville are hotly chasing after the right to host World Cup matches. Atlanta may have counted it's chickens before they hatched, and lost out big time.

Austin Aztex 0 : 2 Houston Dynamo. Not many got to see this match because of internet issues at Nelson Field in Austin. I thought Austinites were supposed to be handy with technology? The result isn't much of a surprise, the Dynamo are one of the top clubs in the United States and the Aztex are in their first professional season. Houston will face Charleston in their quarterfinal, Charleston and Houston have a history in the Open Cup and Charleston have gotten the better of the Texas side both times they've met.

The second match of the evening was a renewal of one of the most historic rivalries in American soccer as Portland and Seattle met at PGE Park. Before the match Portland displayed a brilliant tifo featuring a lumberjack and the space needle as well as a sign reading "a league below, a class above", we need to see more stuff like that here.

However, any energy Portland had from that display was pulled right out of them as Seattle scored after just 40 seconds of play. A Roger Levesque diving header found it's way passed Cronin who had a miserable night in goal. Seattle would go two goals up later on with a blast from Stephen King in the 26th minute. Despite this Portland tried to fight back and even clawed back a goal through Keita Mandjou just before half-time.

The second half featured close chances for both teams but neither could find the net again as the match ended 2-1 to Seattle. The Sounders will now face Kansas City at Starfire Stadium in the quarterfinals.

It was a bloody day for MLS in the third round of the US Open Cup as only two of the six teams in action came away with victories, and one needed penalties to do so.

Perhaps the biggest upset of the night came in Wilmington where the Hammerheads saw off the Chicago Fire 1-0 despite facing frantic pressure from the MLS side. Someone I know called it :).

Wilmington will travel to Rochester after the Rhinos pulled another upset after they took the defending MLS Champions Columbus to penalties and beat them. This isn't really a shock, the Rhinos tend to take the Open Cup very seriously having won it in 1999, the club's proudest moment.

Harrisburg joined their fellow USL Second Division team Wilmington in the fourth round after they beat New England 2-1 after extra time in a match played at New England's secondary home in New Britain, CT. It's an excellent result for Harrisburg as they will now face local rivals and holders DC United at United's secondary home in Maryland.

DC defeated Ocean City 2-0 to dash the hopes of the final PDL side in the cup at the SoccerPlex in Boyds, Maryland. The match was played in awful weather and the stadium had issues that messed with the broadcast of the match.

Somehow Kansas City needed penalties to beat the Minnesota Thunder at the National Sports Center in Blaine. The Thunder came back from 2-0 down to equalize in the 87th minute which forced extra time, where despite dominating play and scoring a third goal Kansas City couldn't prevent Melvin Tarley from making it 3-3 and forcing penalties. Kansas City saved two of them and advanced 4-2.

The biggest win of the match came in South Carolina where Charleston beat Chivas USA 3-1. Chivas have really turned into the whipping boys of the cup after they lost to Dallas Roma (a local league side) in 2006. Full credit has to go to the Battery though who are having an excellent season.

This is the part where some people would say "USL is better than MLS", but I won't. The USL teams do tend to take the cup much more seriously though and that tends to annoy me. MLS teams suffer from fixture congestion issues caused by executives grabbing money. The main excuse thrown up when an MLS team is felled by a USL team is that the MLS team fielded a reserve side, the problem is, so do Mexican teams in the SuperLiga.

Chicago Fire fans are upset tonight, and rightly so. While the Hammerheads are a decent team in their own rite, they're part-time. Chicago should beat them. Three years ago, Chicago would've taken this cup seriously, it was a mark of pride for the Fire fans to play and play well in the Open Cup, it was also a mark of pride for the likes of Peter Wilt. But for the new executives at Toyota Park the cup is a burden getting in the way of the contrived SuperLiga. It's shameful, and it insults the hardcore fans.

This is a night of celebration for some USL teams, especially Wilmington and Harrisburg, and they've earned it. The 2009 almanac won't care who played, only who won.

Tomorrow night sees the tie of the round, Portland vs. Seattle. It's an old rivalry as far as American soccer goes, and as heated as it gets in the US. But don't discount Austin v Houston, the Austin fans should turn out in force for that Texas derby.

The third round of the US Open Cup starts today and it features some interesting ties. The draw of the round has to be the renewal of the Cascadia derby between the Portland Timber and Seattle Sounders at PGE Park. Portland and Seattle are rivals in just about everything and soccer is certainly no exception, the Timbers and Sounders have been doing battle in one form or another since the 1970's. Stadium officials are expecting a sell out crowd in Portland, it should be an interesting match to say the least. As if the fire needed anymore fuel, Portland cast aside the Kitsap Pumas - who some Sounders fans hold a soft-spot for - to get to the third round. This match takes place on Wednesday.

While the northwest has grabbed the headlines it shouldn't shift any attention away from the mid-Atlantic region where tiny Ocean City will look to continue their storybook run against holders DC United at the Maryland SoccerPlex, DC United's secondary home. The Barons have beaten two professional Maryland clubs, Crystal Palace Baltimore and Real Maryland - the latter of whom call the SoccerPlex home - to get this far. I hate the phrase "David v Goliath" (Because I'm 205 cm and I'm a puppy dog, apperently) but I guess this could be described as one. Ocean City sit third out of nine in their PDL Northeastern Division table, while DC United currently top the Eastern table in MLS (but sit fourth overall).

Another match of note includes a Texas derby on Wednesday between Austin and Houston at Nelson Field. With FC Dallas' recent crowd issues, this may be a match between the best supported sides in Texas. The Dynamo have been powerful as usual this season as they've stormed to the top of the MLS table, fate has not been as kind to Austin who rank near the bottom of the USL First Division in their maiden season. Texas, like California and if you want, North (and South) Carolina is a bit of an interesting case. A state cup competition could be viable there (ten sides in the top four divisions call Texas home), but at the moment that's just a pipe dream.

The biggest potential for an upset could be on the Carolina coast when Chicago travels down east to take on Wilmington at Legion Field. The Hammerheads are having an impressive season while the Fire have looked flat at times.

The other matches in round three are: Tuesday - New England (MLS) v Harrisburg (USL2) [at New Britain, CT],  Rochester (USL1) v Columbus (MLS), Charleston (USL1) v Chivas USA (MLS), Minnesota (USL1) v Kansas City (MLS)

With the recent announcement of the newest members of Major League Soccer, Philadelphia Union - aptly named for so many reasons - there have been people asking why the motto, "jungite aut perite", is in Latin as oppose to it's original English of "join, or die". The answer is simply that Latin mottos are common in football.

The most famous club with a Latin motto is probably Arsenal who proudly proclaim "Victoria Concordia Crescit", which translates roughly as "victory through harmony", something which Gunners fans are currently longing for. Arsenal's North London rivals Tottenham drew fire from fans after dropping "Audere est Facere", "to dare is to do", from the club's badge in 2006. Blackburn's crest proudly bares "Arte et labore", "[Through] art and labor", enscribed under the red rose of Lancashire. Manchester City's crest reads "Superbia in proelia", "pride in battle". Everton taunt that "nothing but the best is good enough" with "Nil satis nisi optimum" while one more Premier League club, Sunderland with "Connectatio Excellentiae", "the search for excellence", have gone Latin.

The Premier League is not the only league with Latin mottos however. North of the border no less than three Scottish clubs have adopted phrases from the noble tongue. Kilmarnock's simple "Confidemus", "We trust", is the only Latin motto in the top division but tiny Elgin have adopted "Sic itur astra", "and we reach for the stars" which has been the cause of a few laughs, and proudly amateur Queen's Park have the admirable and modest "Ludere causa ludendi", "to play for the sake of playing".

In days of yore Sheffield Wednesday's crest read "Consilio et Animis", or "by courage and wisdom". While not appearing on the badge, Bristol City borrow "Vim promovet insitam", "promotes your inner power", from the city's university. Stockport County's fans will need plenty of "Animo et Fide", "courage and faith", to get through the heartwrenching process of administration and will hope that local rivals Bury's "Vincit Omnia Industria" (hardwork overcomes all) rings true for them. On the south coast Plymouth Argyle have a phrase that will be familiar to many Americans, "Semper fidelis", or "always faithful".

Fittingly Benfica, the club with the largest membership base in the world, hold proud to the motto "E Pluribus Unum", which it shares with the United States, meaning "out of many, one".

For more information see:

• The Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2004/aug/31/theknowledge.sport The Knowledge, Aug 31 2004.
• The Independent/Olivia Blair: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/football-unravelling-the-history-and-mystery-of-the-motto-1240202.html Unravelling the history and mystery of the motto, Sept 20 1997

Veteran goalkeeper Kasey Keller kept his third consecutive clean sheet on Saturday as he captained his Seattle Sounders to a 2-0 victory over Toronto at a windy BMO Field.

Since 2007, Keller has found himself in the National team wasteland despite having never officially retired from international football. Much of this has to do with his age, he'll be 40 in November, and sporadic appearances for Fulham last season. But even with these factors it's easy to see that Kasey Keller is still deserving of Bob Bradley's attention. Indeed the questionable performance of current number two Brad Guzan in El Salvador may have Bradley and his staff making passing glances at Qwest Field.

Keller brings a depth of experience to a young Seattle side in need of leaders, and together with Freddie Ljungberg has done a tremendous job of leading a team which surprisingly sits atop Major League Soccer with three wins from three matches, and has yet to concede a goal.

It's would be easy to say the success is based in large part on the opposition but New York made the MLS Cup final last season, Salt Lake just ripped apart MLS champions Columbus, and Toronto was unbeaten going into Saturday's match. Seattle's early success is no fluke, and it's due in large part to the play and leadership of their captain.

If Bob Bradley wants to put together his best squad it must include Keller. While he is older than his competitors for the position he has done a tremendous job of keeping himself in top shape both mentally and physically. If he continues to play into next season, and the indications are that he will, and manages to get selected to the World Cup squad Keller would have been involved in World Cup football as a player for 20 years, having played at Italia 90.

He is surely still worth a look.

There is a small section of people referring to Puerto Rico Islanders players as "MLS rejects" and inferring that they simply aren't good enough to go toe-to-toe with "the stars of Major League Soccer" and were therefore cast-off, sent the scrapheap if you will, where they were picked up by lowly USL side Puerto Rico.

Here's someone you may know, his name is Arsene Wenger, and he's the manager at Arsenal, one of the world's biggest clubs. Wenger has a reputation for picking up "rejects" and using them to win trophies. Here's another name you may know: Thierry Henry. Henry was named French Young Footballer of the Year in 1996, but after moving from Monaco, Juventus simply didn't think he was good enough...they "rejected" him. Sold him off to Arsenal, and the rest is history. Henry is not alone in his story. In 1992 a young player named Kevin Phillips was deemed not good enough for Southampton and was released, after a spell at tiny Baldock Town the striker moved to Watford and subsequently Sunderland. In the 1999-2000 season "Super Kev" found the net a gobsmacking 30 times.

These stories of rejection are more an indictment of coaches and scouts than of those players. Indeed, their ability far exceeded what their previous coaches thought about them.

MLS is not immune to this.

Many of these players were never given a fair shake in MLS because of politics, namely because they're from outside of the US, or in the case of Bill Gaudette fell victim to salary cap rules. Sandi Gbandi, who notched a goal and an assist last night, never even got a shot.

The "rejects" in question are Jamaican international Nicholas Addlery, Trinidad and Tobago international Osei Telesford, and the aforementioned Gbandi. These players have a combined thirteen MLS appearances, most of them (eleven) made by Addlery. They were never given a fair chance. I know the purpose of Major League Soccer is to develop Americans, but too many times we see poor, poor Americans (see: the Los Angeles Galaxy) given chance after chance when young foreign talents are quickly cast aside.

In fact, these "rejects" did something the "stars of Major League Soccer" have never done. They went to Costa Rica and won. I don't care about that Mexico stat. You can argue yourself breathless about altitude. Alajuela is lower than Denver and Salt Lake. Yell about pollution. Costa Rica is the cleanest country in the western hemisphere, in fact, it aims to be carbon neutral by 2021. The country, not a city, the country. There is no excuse for Costa Rica, which is why Puerto Rico won there, which is why Puerto Rico didn't beat Carmelita, San Carlos, or Puntarenas...they beat Alajuelense, they knocked out the heavyweight champion. These rejects knocked out Costa Rica's George Foreman.

I'm not going to say the USL is better than MLS, it isn't. But the league isn't a joke, and to arrogantly dismiss it's players as rejects when your own players are getting stomped (Joe Public 6-1 New England) is insulting.

Puerto Rico haven't defeated Cruz Azul yet, they still have a ton of work to do and indeed it could all fall apart. But they have shown heart, desire, and passion. They may be winning ugly, but they're winning. If Puerto Rico marches on, and they very well may, these "rejects" could line up against Barcelona, Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, or another giant come December in a meaningful match, not a pre-season friendly.

Who needs Beckham when you've got Noah Delgado?

A little over a month ago an article was published in Street & Smith's Sport Business Journal detailing how most MLS teams are bucking the recession in terms of season ticket sales. Toronto and debutantes Seattle both posting particularly impressive numbers.

However, two MLS teams - FC Dallas and Chivas USA - failed the partake in the article. Evidence as to why Dallas chose not to participate may have recently been reported. According to 3rd Degree it appears that FC Dallas has sold less than 5,000 tickets to it's opener against heated rivals Chicago, a team featuring Mexican superstar Blanco and American soccer hero Brian McBride.

Low ticket sales are not new to FC Dallas, the former Burn has averaged less than 10,000 fans on three seperate occasions (1997 and 2004 at the cavernous Cotton Bowl in Dallas, and in 2003 at a high school stadium in Southlake). Since the move to Frisco reported attendances have generally been decent, though not near the top of the league by some stretch. But it must be said that this was during a period of economic expansion in the United States, when people could still afford to travel long distances to watch matches. A common thread shared by Toronto and Seattle is stadium location with BMO Field and Qwest Field being located well within the boundaries of their respective cities. Frisco is a clear 30 miles (48.2 kilometers) from the heart of Dallas, and an alarming 50 miles (80.4 km) from the heart of Ft. Worth, the second pillar of the DFW Metroplex.

While we would all like to see MLS and it's teams succeed this news can simply not be ignored. While it is rumored that FC Dallas is one of three MLS franchises to run a profit one has to ask how much longer it will be able to do so with scores of empty red seats being shown on national television. With that said, DFW may be the one "market" the USL could take MLS head-to-head. Hello Ft. Worth?