Jon had a chance to catch up with Director of Soccer Ops Nigel Boulton and Head Coach Carl Reynolds of new NPSL club Southern States SC for a 1v1, check it out below: Southern States Soccer has been active for five years in the youth arena in and around Hattiesburg as well as having strong player links to the border areas of Louisiana and Alabama. The club has proven successful in developing youth talent using its unique curriculum and player pathway. The club’s motto is “Creating the Future” and it will now aim to add another level of play apart from its youth players through the NPSL team. Imaginative, discreet, and private ownership of The Oakes Training Center and NPSL stadium field is c

by Jason Longshore The NWSL returned to the field yesterday in their Challenge Cup event, held in Utah. They overcame the loss of the Orlando Pride for the tournament, added new sponsors, and gained a spotlight that the league has struggled to attain. That spotlight gained in intensity ahead of the second match of the day as the Chicago Red Stars prepared to play the Washington Spirit. Initially, it was the powerful images of Casey Short that gained most of the attention. The heart-breaking reaction of Short while kneeling during the national anthem, and her teammate Julie Ertz kneeling with her, spread quickly through the online conversation as the match started. However, as the match went

by Jarrett Smith Major League Soccer is amazing. It’s not the best league in the world and no one is going to rationally argue that it is but it has its own brand of absurdity and hilarious nonsense that just makes it so wonderful. Every league has something like this; something so weird and possibly dumb and beautiful that you just want to admire it from a third party-approved safe distance. We all just want to have fun. Scotland is fun. A league dominated by two teams across town from each other who, at this point, are running out of digits to cut off to spite whatever part of their body is still intact after long ago cutting off their noses to spite their faces. Scotland gave everyone th

by Joe Maye (better known as TAFKA) INTRODUCTION This is Part 4 of the extensive writings that the Soccer Down Here podcasters affectionately refer to as “The Opus”. It’s a well-earned joke, given the absurd length of the writing. Also, in retrospect, it’s a FAR better title than “MLS – From Now Until Perfection” which just sounds so nauseatingly pretentious now. (My apologies!) I found that discussing pro/rel in America meant expanding the discussion into topics I had not intended to delve into initially. As a result, Part 4 is a very long, but I could not bear to leave out content that I felt puts this discussion in the proper context and with the proper complexity it deserves. Don’t worry

Starts at 3:30, watch on the MLS YouTube page: Mike Conti & I will have a special Stoppage Time episode to break everything down tonight at 7pm. Watch that on the 92.9 The Game FB page.

The timeline is now known, Major League Soccer will be back with a tournament in Orlando that has a 2021 Concacaf Champions League spot on the line. Every team will play a minimum of three matches in a group stage, which will double as regular season games. Sixteen teams (six group winners and runners-up plus the four best third-place teams) will advance to a knockout tournament that will conclude on August 11. More on the tournament page at MLSsoccer.com. The tournament draw will take place on Thursday, June 11 and can be viewed on all of MLS' digital platforms. Mike Conti and I will recap the draw from an Atlanta United perspective at 7pm on the 92.9 The Game Facebook page in a special ed

Day 2 of full training for MLS clubs came and went without too much fanfare. The wait is still on for updates about the return to the 2020 season for the league, which will take place "soon" in Orlando. The biggest news of the day was in Kansas City. Chilean central midfielder Felipe Gutierrez will miss the remainder of the 2020 season. Surgery to repair a cartilage defect in his knee will rule him out for seven to nine months. In 63 appearances since joining the team ahead of the 2018 season, Gutierrez has 19 goals and 9 assists. He led the team with 12 goals in 2019 and was expected to form a strong attacking duo with Alan Pulido this season. The announcement was the second such bit of bad

Atlanta United, the New England Revolution, and Sporting Kansas City returned to full team training on Monday. (Photos courtesy of MLS) Players for these clubs passed two COVID-19 tests, and took an anti-body test, in order to participate in the training. This was part of the return to training protocols that MLS implemented when they lifted the training moratorium last week. There is more on the requirements of the clubs to be able to train here. The expectation is that an announcement will be made later this week about the format and schedule for the matches to be played in Orlando that will restart the 2020 MLS season. We'll have plenty to talk about on SDH this week as MLS is on its wa