Soccer birthday: Anybody remember Luis Ángel Landín? Ask a Houston Dynamo fan; they’ll give you an earful about that dude. Either way, Landin turns 27 on Monday.
About the photo: Our man Shawn Francis, friend to soccer in the United States, shows everyone the swell view from his temporary office. Bragger.
Big Important Story of the Day: Journalists are arriving in waves at the Olympics. Check out Arlo White’s shot of the stunning St. Pancras Station. So, Olympic soccer will soon be under the five-ringed glow; the U.S. team starts Wednesday against France.
RASNoD (Random American Soccer Name of the Day): Zak Ibsen
Ahead on the blog today*: It’s MLS All-Star week, so we’ll be checking in from Philadelphia with All-Star game “this” and All-Star game “that.” We’ll have the MLS Team of the Week and Player of the Week, plus the popular Monday “Meh” list.
Twitter daps:
PST background noise while blogging today: iTunes MLS All-Star mix while traveling through airports. Now, excuse me while I create an “MLS All-Star mix,” whatever that is. Probably a lot of Philly bands, I suppose.
We’ll leave you with this: I was super excited yesterday to see some soccer from Wrigley Field in Chicago. I mean … soccer! At Wrigley Field in Chicago!
But that field was stinkin’ ridiculous. It was 62 yards wide and chopped up like a $2 beefsteak by the baseball configurations. I suppose I’m not sure what I expected, but here’s the bottom line: if we can’t find a reasonable places for these guys (the high-dollar men of Roma, Liverpool, etc.) to show what they can do, what’s the point?
*Always subject to change; you know how it is