David Beckham receives MLS franchise boost

  

David Beckham has been handed a boost in his pursuit of a Major League Soccer franchise in Miami having identified a site for the team.

The former England skipper has struggled to find a suitable base for his prospective franchise, which he hopes to have up and running in time for the 2018 MLS season.

However, he has now settled on the former site of the Orange Bowl, which was demolished in 2008.

"We are as confident as we have ever been that we can move this forward," MLS chief Don Garber toldBBC Sport.

"He has been trying very hard to get a stadium built. There has been a lot more progress lately than in the last 12 to 15 months. We have to finalise a whole bunch of deals with the city and the landowners but the site has been selected.

"David has been out of MLS for many years now but we still talk about him. He is a big part of our history. MLS wouldn't be what it is today if he hadn't decided to come in 2007."

Beckham played in the MLS with Los Angeles Galaxy for five years, being given the right to own a franchise in the league as part of his contract.

EPL vs. MLS? Commissioner Don Garber reveals talks over "Anglo-American cup" tournament concept

Could the MLS Cup champions and US Open Cup winners someday square off against their English counterparts in an annual or quadrennial trans-Atlantic showdown?

That was one possibility discussed by MLS Commissioner Don Garber, among several other topics, in an appearance at the Soccerex convention in Manchester, England this week. 

“We have been talking to the Premier League about doing some sort of official competition as opposed to just having clubs come over to the country on a random basis playing in a tournament that takes place every summer,” Garber told reporters at the influential soccer business summit.

“I would love to find a way that we could play our cup champion and our league champion against an FA Cup and league champion in a tournament and play it in New York City every year. If not every year, then every four years, because I know they have other places that they want to go to grow their brands.”

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Quickly dubbed the "Anglo-American cup" by the British media, the concept could spark widespread interest on both sides of the pond and beyond. But Garber stressed that the process is in its early stages, with many details – particularly in terms of scheduling amid an already-packed international calendar – still to be addressed.

“Overall there is no doubt that there are opportunities for the MLS and Premier League to work more closely together on either a tournament or some other type of activity, but that is about as far as it has gone,” he said.

Garber also addressed a bevy of other topics, including an update on the David Beckham-led MLS expansion project in Miami and the rumors of an offseason loan stint in England for LA Galaxy Designated Player and Liverpool FC legend Steven Gerrard.

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“I don't think so. And I had not heard that was something that was being contemplated,” said Garber. “I don't believe we are going to see many more offseason loans happening in our league, particularly [among] what I would call the high-level Designated Players.

“It's been a couple of years,” he added, harking back to brief 2012 EPL loan stints for Robbie Keane with Aston Villa and Thierry Henry at Arsenal and noting the complications that arose from Beckham's loan stints early in his MLS career.

Vancouver Whitecaps vs. Colorado Rapids | MLS Match Preview

VANCOUVER WHITECAPS FC vs COLORADO RAPIDS
BC PLACE, Vancouver, B.C.
September 9, 2015 (WEEK 28, MLS Game #273)
7 p.m. PT (TSN1 / RDS2; Altitude)

A pair of clubs chasing different goals in the Western Conference playoff race meet when Vancouver Whitecaps FC play host to the Colorado Rapids at BC Place on Wednesday evening. Whitecaps FC are just a point out of the top spot in the division and in the Supporters’ Shield race, despite coming off a 2-0 loss at the Houston Dynamo in their last match. The Rapids sit six points outside the top six in the conference and the postseason positions, after their third win in a row in a 2-1 home victory against Sporting Kansas City in their last game.

• The teams are meeting for the third time this season, and the Rapids have won both previous. Lucas Pittinari scored the game’s only goal early in the second half to lead the Rapids to victory, May 23 at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park; a Kevin Doyle goal in the second half propelled the Rapids to a 2-1 win July 4 in Commerce City.
• The Rapids have won the last five meetings between the teams at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park; Whitecaps FC won there in 2012 for their lone triumph on the Rapids’ home ground.
• The Rapids win last April 5 in Vancouver was only their second victory ever at BC Place. The Whitecaps won the last meeting in Vancouver, a 1-0 win last Oct. 25.
• Last time out, Whitecaps FC suffered their second defeat in a three-game span, falling 2-0 to the Houston Dynamo last Saturday evening at BBVA Compass Stadium. Whitecaps FC are now in second place in the Western Conference with 45 points from 27 matches.
• The Colorado Rapids won their third consecutive game last week, getting a late winner for a 2-1 win against Sporting Kansas City on Saturday evening at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park. The Rapids are in ninth place in the Western Conference with 33 points from 26 matches.

REFEREE: Allen Chapman. AR1 (bench): George Gansner; AR2 (opposite): Jeremy Hanson; 4th: Baboucarr Jallow
MLS Career: 67 games; FC/gm: 23.4; Y/gm: 3.7; R: 16; pens: 29

SUSPENDED: VAN: Matias Laba (through Sept. 19); Kendall Waston (through Sept. 9) … COL: Drew Moor (caution accumulation; through Sept. 9); COL: Axel Sjoberg (caution accumulation; through Sept. 9)
WARNINGS:
SUSPENDED NEXT YELLOW CARD: VAN: Sam Adekugbe, Pa-Modou Kah … COL: Lucas Pittinari, Jared Watts
SUSPENDED AFTER TWO YELLOW CARDS: VAN: Jordan Harvey, Steven Beitashour, Gershon Koffie, Nicolas Mezquida, Cristian Techera, Kendall Waston … COL: James Riley, Kevin Doyle, Sam Cronin
DISABLED LIST: VAN: Andre Lewis
INTERNATIONAL ABSENCES: None

HEAD-TO-HEAD
ALL-TIME (13 meetings): Whitecaps FC 4 wins, 14 goals … Rapids 8 wins, 18 goals … Ties 1
AT VANCOUVER (6 meetings): Whitecaps FC 3 wins, 9 goals … Rapids 2 wins, 6 goals … Ties 1

2015 (MLS):
5/23: COL 1, VAN 0 (Pittinari 51)
7/4: COL 2, VAN 1 (Sanchez 2; Doyle 56 – Manneh 20)
• Coaches record: Carl Robinson vs. COL: P5 W1 L4 D0 … Pablo Mastroeni vs. VAN: P5 W4 L1 D0

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Portland Timbers vs. Sporting Kansas City | 

MLS Match Preview

PORTLAND TIMBERS vs SPORTING KANSAS CITY
PROVIDENCE PARK, Portland, Ore.
September 9, 2015 (WEEK 28, MLS Game #274)
7:30 p.m. PT (KPTV; KMCI-38)

A critical contest in the MLS Cup Playoffs race is ahead when the Portland Timbers entertain Sporting Kansas City at Providence Park on Wednesday evening. The teams come into the game tied on 40 points, deadlocked for fifth place and the final two postseason positions ñ but hold just a two-point margin over seventh-place San Jose. The Timbers saw their four-game undefeated streak come to an end last time out in a 2-1 loss at arch-rivals Seattle Sounders FC, while Sporting lost their third game in a row, falling 2-1 at the Colorado Rapids in their last contest.

REFEREE: Fotis Bazakos. AR1 (bench): Corey Rockwell; AR2 (opposite): Mike Rottersman; 4th: Alejandro Mariscal
MLS Career: 45 games; FC/gm: 26.6; Y/gm: 3.6; R: 9; pens: 16

SUSPENDED: POR: Liam Ridgewell (caution accumulation; through Sept. 9)
WARNINGS:
SUSPENDED NEXT YELLOW CARD: POR: Alvas Powell
SUSPENDED AFTER TWO YELLOW CARDS: POR: Diego Chara, Rodney Wallace, Diego Valeri Ö KC: Roger Espinoza, Benny Feilhaber, Soni Mustivar, Matt Besler, Paulo Nagamura, Kevin Ellis, Dom Dwyer
DISABLED LIST: KC: Ike Opara
INTERNATIONAL ABSENCES: none

HEAD-TO-HEAD
ALL-TIME (6 meetings): Timbers 2 wins, 6 goals Ö Sporting KC 3 wins, 8 goals Ö Ties 1
AT PORTLAND (3 meetings): Timbers 1 win, 2 goals Ö Sporting KC 2 wins, 3 goals Ö Ties 0
FUTURE MATCH: 10/3: Portland Timbers vs. Sporting Kansas City, 7:30 p.m. PT

• The teams are meeting for the second time this season. They reached a scoreless draw March 21 at Sporting Park.
• The road team has won three of the six meetings all-time in the series, including a 1-0 Sporting victory last year at Providence Park, the last meeting in Portland.
• The Timbers have come away with points on each of their last two visits to Sporting Park. The Timbers also won a fifth-round match in the U.S. Open Cup last year in Kansas City.
• Coaches record: Peter Vermes vs. POR: P6 W3 L2 D1 Ö Caleb Porter vs. KC: P3 W1 L1 D1

LAST MEETING (MLS):
3/21: KC 0, POR 0

• Sporting had the better chances on the night, but failed to put them on target -- center back Ike Opara twice sending headers off the mark, and fullback Jalil Anibaba also flashing a header over the goal.
• Timbers goalkeeper Adam Kwarasey was credited with two saves for his second clean sheet of the young season, while SKC goalkeeper Luis Marin made three saves, the best in the 62nd minute when he stopped an effort from Fanendo Adi.
• SPORTING KANSAS CITY (4-1-2-3): Luis Marin - Jalil Anibaba, Ike Opara, Matt Besler, Marcel de Jong - Benny Feilhaber (Servando Carrasco 84) - Paulo Nagamura, Roger Espinoza (Soni Mustivar 90) - Jimmy Medranda (Bernardo Anor 56), Dom Dwyer, Graham Zusi.
• PORTLAND TIMBERS (4-2-3-1): Adam Kwarasey - Alvas Powell, Nat Borchers, Liam Ridgewell, Jorge Villafana - Diego Chara, Jack Jewsbury - Dairon Asprilla (Gaston Fernandez 76), Darlington Nagbe, Rodney Wallace (Jeanderson 90), Fanendo Adi (Maximiliano Urruti 76).