Luis Suarez: Ban Upheld

Back in June 2014, Luis Suarez competed in the FIFA World Cup with the Uruguay National Team. During its match against Italy on June 24, 2014, Luis Suarez committed an unpunished foul against Giorgio Chiellini. He ran behind Chiellini and then lunged at his back to bite the Italian. Chiellini then elbowed Suarez in the face, which made it appear slightly as if Chiellini fouled Suarez because the Uruguayian player fell down holding his teeth. When Chiellini pulled his shirt down, teethmarks could easily be seen in his back. Uruguay won the match 1-0 and knocked Italy out of the World Cup. Uruguay then lost to Colombia four days later.

On June 25, 2014, FIFA began investigating the incident. The next day, FIFA announced its decision to suspend Luis Suarez from nine FIFA international games and gave him a four-month ban from anything football-related.

Just a few weeks later, Barcelona acquired Luis Suarez from Liverpool. In order to have one of their stars for the full La Liga season, Barcelona appealed Suarez's four-month ban.

This morning, the Court of Arbitration of Sport rejected Barcelona's appeal and upheld FIFA's decision, but Suarez has been cleared to train with Barcelona in preparation for when he can play again.

La Liga games Luis Suarez will miss: Elche (H), Villarreal (A), Bilbao (H), Levante (A), Malaga (A), Granada (H), Rayo V'ano (A), Eibar (H).

— Squawka Football (@Squawka) August 14, 2014

From the day of the incident until now, I still believe Suarez deserved a more severe punishment than he received. There's no excuse for biting another player. It is absolutely despicable!

After today's decision, Luis Suarez has now been suspended for a total of 25 club games for biting opponents. pic.twitter.com/XF5RSdyi7M

— Squawka Football (@Squawka) August 14, 2014

The World Cup bite was not even his first offense. He has bitten two others players!

Luis Suarez has never been sent off for biting a player, despite it happening three times (PSV, Chelsea, Italy). pic.twitter.com/I7xOZ7MlBm

— Squawka Football (@Squawka) August 14, 2014

The first and second punishments have not persuaded Suarez to stop biting his opponents, but maybe this third ban will make him think three times as hard about using his teeth. Who knows; we shall see.

2014 Lamar Hunt US Open Cup Semi-Finals

August 12, 2014 -- FC Dallas versus Philadelphia Union

On August 12, 2014, FC Dallas played the Philadelphia Union in the Semi-Finals of the 2014 Lamar Hunt US Open Cup. Quite an intense and stressful game. Philadelphia's Amobi Okugo scored the first goal of the game in the 47th minute, and the Union kept their lead until a slip up by Zac MacMath (GK), which led to a goal from FC Dallas's Fabian Castillo. Besides that mistake, MacMath played excellently the entire game!

It eventually went into penalty kicks after 120 minutes where MacMath saved shots from Perez and Ulloa. Because of those two saves, the Philadelphia Union won the match 4-3 in penalty kicks and advanced to the US Open Cup Finals.

August 13, 2014 -- Seattle Sounders versus Chicago Fire

The Seattle Sounders greatly passed my expectations for their US Open Cup Semi-Final against the Chicago Fire on August 13, 2014. Five minutes into the match, Chad Barrett of the Seattle Sounders scored the first goal! Andry Rose (SEA) then scored two goals, followed by one from Obafemi Martins and two from Kenny Cooper.

Chicago's defense held up better during the first half and the team as a whole started the second half aggressively, but the defense completely broke down during the last twenty minutes by allowing three goals in quick succession. The match ended with Seattle beating the Chicago Fire 6-0. Seattle Sounder's Insider Matt Gaschk provided some interesting statistics about the game in his Match Profile.

Looking Forward: US Open Cup Final
The US Open Cup Final will be held on September 16, 2014 between the Philadelphia Union and the Seattle Sounders. Personally, I'd like to see the Sounders win it. It's hard to compare the two Semi-Final matches because of the differences in the teams, but I think Philadelphia will give Seattle a run for their money.

I'm looking forward to the match! Hopefully, it will again be broadcast on the US Soccer website and/or the Philadelphia Union and Seattle Sounders websites.

DeAndre Yedlin: On His Way to Tottenham!

Yesterday, I wrote an article about a potential transfer between the Seattle Sounders and Tottenham Hotspur for DeAndre Yedlin. Well, the transfer has been completed!

We are delighted to announce that we have reached agreement with Seattle Sounders for the transfer of DeAndre Yedlin. pic.twitter.com/nfBTmI96Kv

— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) August 13, 2014

Taylor Twellman, MLS Analyst and former New England Revolution player, first broke the news this afternoon before the aforementioned announcement by Tottenham. According to World Soccer Talk, it cost Tottenham $4 million for the transfer.

How will this move help Yedlin? Obviously, he'll be a part of a major European team, but how much playing time will he receive with Tottenham? Will he play for the reserves? Will he be loaned out?

Good news for Seattle though, the agreement made sure Yedlin would finish out the 2014 MLS Season with the Sounders. He will join the Spurs for the 2015/2016 Season on a four-year contract. Will they help him to his first (and probably only unless he returns) MLS Cup?

Read this article for more information: Yedlin Move Agreed

Along with that, watch the exclusive interview! DeAndre Speaks on Spurs Switch

USMNT Announcement: USA vs Ireland 11/18/2014!

Today, the United States Soccer Federation announced the USMNT will be playing the Republic of Ireland National Team on November 18, 2014!

The #USMNT will close out 2014 v. Republic of Ireland in Dublin on 11/18! Broadcast info TBD. #USAvIRL

— U.S. Soccer (@ussoccer) August 12, 2014

For LA Galaxy fans, this match should be entertaining! Two Galaxy players--Defender Omar Gonzalez and Foward Robbie Keane--will more than likely match up against each other! How will their relationship play out on opposing sides of the field? Who knows.

Last time Gonzalez played against a teammate in the LA vs Seattle game, he and Clint Dempsey ended up in a bit of a shoving fight. Hopefully, since Keane and Gonzalez play against each other regularly, unfriendly tension will not appear between them--at least during the game. I wonder what the locker room will be like in the first days after the match.

Where the game will be broadcast is still up in the air, but I'm hoping maybe the Galaxy or US Soccer will stream the match on their websites. Maybe NBC will even show the game.

Anyways, I'm excited for the chance to see some Omar Gonzalez vs Robbie Keane action!
I bet Gonzalez will shut Keane down completely.

DeAndre Yedlin--Will he move to Tottenham?

Lately, there have been rumors circling about a transfer for DeAndre Yedlin from the Seattle Sounders to a European club. It comes without much surprise for me since Yedlin's performed quite well for the Sounders and received exposure during the 2014 World Cup, even though He spent last week over in Europe visiting a club, reportedly Tottenham; however, an official announcement about which club has not been given.

If (but probably when) Yedlin transfers to Tottenham, will he receive much playing time, either as a substitute or a starting player? Will Tottenham loan him out to another team for playing time? Concerning the Semi-Finals of the US Open Cup, Yedlin might play or he might not. It'll be interesting to see how much  more playing time will Yedlin see during the 2014 MLS Season. Will he play less, but keep in shape to prevent injuries? A lot of questions have yet to be answered with more assuredly to come.

Although, one announcement has been confirmed: DeAndre Yedlin will be finishing out the 2014 MLS Season with the Seattle Sounders. Good news for the Sounders! But I'm sure Yedlin will be itching to start his European career.
 
For more information, read this article: MLS Article: Open Cup: Seattle Sounders unsure if DeAndre Yedlin will be available for semis amid transfer saga

Return of Alan Gordon

This afternoon, the LA Galaxy posted an announcement on their website that the team signed Alan Gordon, a forward from the San Jose Earthquakes. In exchange, they gave the Earthquakes allocation money.

This trade has brought one question up. What role will Alan Gordon play during the rest of the 2014 Major League Soccer Season, and then during the 2015 season?

Alan Gordon previously played with the Galaxy from 2004 to 2010. During this time, he scored 16 goals with 12 assists. While not a prolific goal-scoring player or speedy, he has size -- 6'3". At this height, he is the second tallest forward for the LA Galaxy, under Rob Friend.

With Robbie Keane and Gyasi Zardes performing excellently as always, I can't imagine Alan Gordon starting much. More than likely, the Galaxy will see how well he plays with the LA Galaxy II and then move him to the substitutes.

Why did the LA Galaxy make this trade? How will it work out? I guess we will wait and see!

LA Acquire Forward Alan Gordon -- Article on lagalaxy.com

LA Galaxy .vs. San Jose Earthquakes 8-9-2014

On August 8, 2014, while unable to watch the game, I listened to the audio stream of the LA-San Jose game instead. I could hardly believe the score at the end of the game! A 2-2 tie!

The Galaxy bombarded Jon Busch of the Earthquakes with shots, but could only score two goals! If you look at the game stats on the MLS matchcenter for the game, the Galaxy had 24 shots and the Earthquakes 3. Surprisingly, Chris Wondolowski redeemed himself (at least for Earthquake fans) by scoring a goal similar to the one he missed in the 2014 World Cup against Belgium. Debuting in his first MLS game, Matias Perez Garcia scored his first MLS goal. San Jose made their shots count, while LA continually lacked in finishing.  They effectively shut down the prowess of the Galaxy offense.

Overall, the both teams played excellently, but the game showed some necessary changes for LA. They need to work on their finishing touches when shooting and set pieces. Stefan Ishizaki messed up on numerous corners and free kicks. Landon Donovan needs to be more selfish when taking shots if he wants a chance at the golden boot. He's currently at 4 goals while Bradley-Wright Phillips leads the league with 18 goals. 

Hopefully, the Galaxy will continue riding this stream of success to stay in the running for the playoffs and eventually a final MLS Cup for Landon Donovan.

Goals (provided by MLS):

 18' Goal by Chris Wondolowski (SJ)

 29' Goal by Gyasi Zardes (LA)

31' Goal by Matias Perez Garcia (SJ)

49' Goal by Omar Gonzalez (LA) 

Well, that's all I have to say about the LA Galaxy - San Jose Earthquakes match on August 8, 2014! Stand by for more entries on MLS, LA Galaxy, and football around the world from the GalaxyImp!

For highlights of the game, visit MLS Matchcenter -- LAvSJ August 8, 2014.

If you're like me and do not have cable or MLS Live, you can often listen to an audio stream of LA Galaxy games on LAGalaxy.com. For more information on the broadcasts of games, visit LA Galaxy Games Broadcast Schedule.