American sports can be tacky at times (see cheerleaders, singing the national anthem and extensive commercial breaks), but one positive that has arisen from the heartland of this fine country is the extensive use of trophies.
The winter transfer window in Major League Soccer continues with all 27 teams in the league looking to strengthen their respective squads before the season begins on April 17.
Some teams have had a very low-key winter, while others have spent a lot of money to try and improve their squads. Here we highlight the teams that are "winning" the winter market in MLS.
The USMNT and El Tri are considering Efraín Álvarez for the Concacaf Olympic qualifiers. The player who was runner-up in the World Cup with the U-17 Tricolor is on the preliminary rosters of both teams, which will be looking for a ticket to Tokyo 2021 in March.
18-year-old LA Galaxy midfielder Efrain Alvarez played for USMNT at U15 level, and Mexico at U15 and U17 level.
He's been named in both nation's preliminary rosters for Olympic qualifying.
Mesut Özil hasn’t featured in an Arsenal game since March 7. The German midfielder has been shunned from the first team and was even left out of the Gunners’ Premier League and Europa League squads. With no playing time in sight, perhaps an Özil MLS move could happen in the near future.
According to an ESPN source, the 32-year-old said he is open to the idea of playing in the U.S. with an MLS club. His ludicrous £350,000-per-week contract with Arsenal ends in the summer, meaning a free transfer to MLS would be a real possibility.
Gregg Berhalter, you sly dog.
18-year-old phenom Efraín Álvarez hasn’t filed a one-time switch from Mexico to the USMNT yet, but that hasn’t stopped Berhalter from luring Zlatan Ibrahimovic's cub into camp, showering him with praise and raising the pulse of Tri supporters everywhere.
There’s enough to Zlatan Ibrahimović that — despite your opinion on his ego and how he handles himself — he’s essentially a stand-alone force when it comes to pure entertainment.
No athlete on the planet transcends myth, legend and reality quite like Zlatan, just as no other athlete would proclaim themselves god before backing it up in the most incredulous way: The 39-year-old is at the top of the Serie A goalscoring charts and AC Milan is top of the table.
Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez has had a season to forget with the Los Angeles Galaxy. The man who was expected to fill the massive boots that Zlatan Ibrahimovic left behind has tossed said boots to the side and put on some flip-flops with socks still on instead.
Describing Chicharito’s performances this season as underwhelming is a massive understatement. Mexico’s all-time leading goal scorer had a major flop of a season. He only made 11 appearances and scored his second goal on Wednesday night in the Galaxy’s second-to-last game of the season against the Seattle Sounders.
Major League Soccer is currently celebrating its 25th season in existence, so now is a great time to celebrate the league's storied history. And the best of its history? The original MLS logos.
Soccer in the 1990s was full of crazy uniforms, audacious logos and wild hair, and no league embodied this more than MLS.
El Tráfico took center stage on Sunday afternoon as Los Angeles FC hosted the LA Galaxy at an empty Banc of California Stadium but with thousands watching the action unfold on national television.
The standings — LAFC entered fifth in the Western Conference, the Galaxy dead last — and ESPN.com’s promo photo juxtaposing Bradley Wright-Phillips and Sebastian Lletget told you everything you needed to know about how much has changed for these two clubs over the past year.