A late goal by Marta gave the Los Angeles Sol a 1-0 victory over Sky Blue FC at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif. (ASN, May 16, 2009).

“FC Sochaux notified us that at this point Charlie has not been given medical clearance, and that they would not grant his full release to join the camp. Given that status and our own evaluation of his progress, we feel it is Charlie’s best interest to continue his rehabilitation and focus on getting fully prepared to resume his professional and international career.”–Bob Bradley on why Charlie Davies was not included in the U.S. Men’s National Team’s 30-man squad for its World Cup training camp.

San Jose Earthquakes goalkeeper Joe Cannon spoke out on his team’s slow start to the season, with just one win in its first eight games. “Our confidence just seems real low,” he said (ASN, May 6, 2009).

“Probably the best thing to do right now is to go to church.”–Peter Nowak, after the Philadelphia Union’s first 2-1 loss to the New York Red Bulls on April 24.

ASN raged against MLS power rankings, Jon Conway got quote of the week in his first game back after a 10-game suspension and FC Dallas got their first win of the season, 3-2 over Toronto FC on a brace by Kenny Cooper.

“He can be very good or very average. Today he was very good.”–FC Dallas head coach Schellas Hyndman on New York Red Bulls goalkeeper Bouna Condoul.

ASN is headed to the World Cup in South Africa as a fully-credentialed member of the written press. Our primary purpose is to cover the U.S. Men’s National Team for this site in as much depth and breadth as humanly possible.

Thanks to Donald Trump, who is bankrolling the new team, the long-sought dream of a “proper” New York franchise in one of the five boroughs will become a reality starting in the 2011 season. The team will be known as the New York Trumps and play its games at the new Meadowlands stadium while a soccer-specific stadium is built on Staten Island.

“A lot of things went wrong in one evening.”–DC United head coach Curt Onalfo‘s reaction to his team’s 4-0 opening night loss at the Kansas City Wizards.

The expansion Seattle Sounders made their regular season MLS debut in style, comprehensively defeating the defending Western Conference champion New York Red Bulls by 3-0. Fredy Montero, the young Colombian star striker, notched two goals and assisting on the third, scoring a 9.5 (out of 10) in ASN’s player ratings (ASN, March 20, 2009.