The short answer: No. But short answers won’t suffice in light of a recent Goal.com column that claims 10 reasons why New York needs another team. So a long answer it is.

These exhibitions are at best short-term solutions to generate a bundle of cash that can then be reinvested in the all-important “grass roots.” But like many short-term solutions, you can’t help but wonder about negative fall-out. Do the Red Bulls really want to cultivate an audience of this type for a one-off event that is unlikely to generate any kind of sustained interest in the team itself?

After 14 years, MLS has made scant inroads with the general U.S. public. Sure, it’s successful in select markets (Toronto and Seattle, basically) and deserves credit for that. However to sustain this success, and grow it to where it genuinely captures the imagination of the greater North American public, the media is going to have to play its part. MLS has either failed to realize this or bungled the execution–badly. And it just hit a new low.

Houston Dynamo fans are not used to seeing their team lose at Robertson Stadium, as they did Saturday night against the Galaxy and they certainly are not used to seeing them play so poorly. To illustrate, ‘no one’ is currently in the lead in the man of the match vote from that game. With Brian Ching and Cam Weaver out with injuries the team clearly lacks firepower up front. One man can change that. His name is Joseph Ngwenya and he has been on trial for a week.

DC United coaching staff have been testing Santino Quaranta as the team’s creative midfielder this preseason. It is part of a larger plan to broaden DC United’s attack this season and its success (or failure) will directly influence the team’s acquisition targets at midseason. ASN’s Steve Long reports from the nation’s capital.

Consistency is the theme for defending MLS champions Real Salt Lake as the team heads into the 2010 season. Jason Kreis‘ team returns nearly all of the players who were on the pitch in last year’s MLS Cup final. Still, there are questions, primarily about the team’s attack, central midfield and depth. There’s also the matter of the schedule to deal with; RSL, a team that won just twice on the road in 2009, hosts but one game before May.

Fans of New York’s Major League Soccer franchise, toughened by a decade and a half of hardship, are no strangers to misery. If their team’s 15 years of dreary existence at the East Rutherford, N.J., Meadowlands accomplished anything, it certainly made them (at least somewhat) immune to such negative emotions. But now is not a time for negativity. Or is it? There are reasons to believe the curse that has hung over the team since its inception is not dead or even dormant, but healthier than ever–and indeed plotting its cruelest joke yet.

So Landon Donovan wants to stay at Everton FC. The 27-year old LA Galaxy forward has been on loan at Goodison Park since January. He’s done very well, better than just about anybody had anticipated. He now wants to extend the loan, perhaps permanently. This makes Donovan a hypocrite in the eyes of many, because [...]

Make no mistake: That sparkling new stadium on the banks of the Passaic River in Harrison, N.J., would not have come into existence without a certain Austrian energy drink company. Hate on the “brand” and its goofy Eurotrash logo all you want. ASN’s local reporter gives Red Bull its due–for the stadium, at least.

Don’t get me wrong, in principle I agree with Major League Soccer players. They deserve either guaranteed contracts or some semblance of free agency. They deserve higher minimum salaries. They deserve a higher salary cap. They deserve better accommodation on road trips. They deserve these things and probably several others as well. But guess what? [...]