During yesterday's Major League Soccer State of the League Address in New York, Commissioner Don Garber touched on many topics including expansion, the League calendar, TV ratings and player development. Get caught up by reading overviews of the speech by Brian Straus from Sports Illustratedand TheCrew.com's Cody Sharrett. Adam Jardy from the Columbus Dispatch also provides some analysis in his "Five things we learned" column. You can also find the address in its entirety on TheCrew.com.
On the global front, FIFA made its announcement of the four pots for the 2014 World Cup draw which will take place on Friday in Costa do Sauipe, Brazil. The United States is in Pot 3 with Mexico, Honduras, Costa Rica, South Korea, Japan, Australia and Iran. TheCrew.com's Cody Sharrett breaks down each of the pots, and Jack Bell from the New York Timesdiscusses the process and what it could mean for the USMNT's World Cup draw.
The other aspect of the World Cup draw that is less often thought about is the travel. Along with the selecting of groups, matches will be scheduled in cities around Brazil. According to Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated, "the U.S. will have to cover anywhere from 1,946 miles to 8,866 round-trip in the opening round alone."
