International Loons adjust to life in the USA
Megan Ryan of the Star Tribune explores how the international players on the Loon’s roster have adjusted to life overseas. The Loons added seven international players this past offseason, six of whom had never spent time in MLS. For John Alvbåge, Jérôme Thiesson, Vadim Demidov, Bashkim Kadrii, Rasmus Schüller, and Fransisco Calvo this is their first season in the United States and it’s taking some time to adjust.
Canadian Premier League received unanimous support
The Canadian Premier League has moved closer to becoming reality as it was unanimously approved by the Canadian Soccer Association. The cities of Hamilton, Ontario and Winnipeg, Manitoba also received unanimous approval as new members of the Association. It is unlikely that Toronto FC, Vancouver Whitecaps, or Montreal Impact will join the CPL, but the same can’t be said for FC Edmonton and Ottawa Fury. It will be interesting to see how this league unfolds.
Plaudits for Batman and the Shuttleworth’s iron face
After their exceptional performances against Sporting Kansas City, Miguel Ibarra and Bobby Shuttleworth have earned spots on the MLS Team of The Week. Shuttleworth makes the bench and Ibarra makes the starting XI. Ibarra also made the third best assist of the weekend with his inch-perfect cross to Christian Ramirez. Shuttleworth has earned a record that no one will want to break. He now leads MLS in times kicked in the face, with two.
Happy for the man of the match @ShuttleworBobby . Clean sheet and 8 saves. Broken nose ???????? but kept on doing his job. ????????#character @MNUFC pic.twitter.com/WysmW3Exoz
— Marius Roevde (@MariusRovde) May 7, 2017
News bits
- Congratulations to Lance Laing who welcomed his daughter to the world late last week.
- Jeff Rueter profiled Brent Kallman and his journey to hometown hero for MLSsoccer.com.
- Gopher Soccer welcomed Brad Swenby as a new assistant coach.
- Fun fact: a certain sideline reporter holds a record in the U.S. Open Cup.
Today in too cool for school
This guy just nutmegs people walking by on the street. No respect. ???? https://t.co/LUZlw2Gfk1
— EPL Bible (@EPLBible) May 3, 2017
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