The Freddy Adu conundrum

Philadelphia Union shops cheap
Two possible readings of the Philadelphia Union's expansion draft picks:1. Several trades, allocations and discoveries are in the works.2. The Union doesn't expect the salary cap to soar in the next collective bargaining agreement.Peter Nowak grabbed a few solid MLS starters and intriguing prospects, though. And there's no guarantee that these players will end up playing at the 2009 salary numbers (PDF) quoted here.A quick look:- Alejandro Moreno ($132.3K): Columbus forward and the U

Expansion draft: Who's available, who's not
While players met on collective bargaining, many of them were left available for Philadelphia to consider for Wednesday's expansion draft.One sidelight: MLS declared 25 players "graduated" from Generation adidas, which means they're no longer roster-protected. That doesn't leave many current players in the program.Philadelphia will pick 10 players, no more from one team.Here's a team-by-team look ...Chivas USA: The final roster wound up a few players over the official limit because so many players were on the disabled list. That means more players are available, but many of them have age and health issues.Notable n

One Hall of Fame ballot
We have three new contenders on the National Soccer Hall of Fame players ballot: Chris Henderson, Eduardo Hurtado and John O'Brien.Welcome to the ballot, gentlemen. Now take a number.On the ballot for the last few years, we've had ...- Thomas Dooley. U.S. captain in the 1998 World Cup and perhaps the best overall player on the U.S. team in the mid-'90s.- Marco Etcheverry. MLS MVP in 1998 and the cornerstone of the early D.C. United dynasty.- Robin Fraser. Two-time MLS defender of the year.- Roy Lassiter. His record of 27 MLS goals in 1996 might not be touched for a while.- Preki. MLS MVP in 1996 and 2003. An

Things you may not know about the MLS semifinals
Salt Lake vs. Chicago: Saturday's MLS playoff teams have one thing in common -- their goalkeepers are the shortest starting netminders in the league. Chicago's Jon Busch is listed at 5-10; Salt Lake's Nick Rimando at 5-9."People that tell me I wasn't going to achieve anything because I was too short, I just remember that, and I like to shove it in their face whenever I can," Rimando says. "And that's playing good soccer and advancing to the semifinals and winning championships."Rimando won MLS Cup 2004 with D.C. United.Clint Mathis says he wonders why Salt Lake teammate Rimando doesn't get more time with the national team. He's also famil

Fox Soccer Channel leaps in first year of TV ratings
After a year as a Nielsen-rated channel, Fox Soccer Channel isn't quite challenging Monday Night Football in the cable ratings but can point to impressive growth across the board -- doubling or tripling its ratings from fall 2008 for most programming.Here's the most impressive part: The ratings gain can NOT be explained by an upsurge in cable and satellite companies adding the channel, says FSC executive VP and GM David Sternberg."Our total audience increased a little over 1%," Sternberg says. The channel is available in just under 35 million households. Quick comparison: ESPN was at 98 million households