Tempting as it was to break this into two posts - one for Ives Galarcep's Q & A and the other for Steve Goff's - it's likely that many, many of you have already read these.
As such, I thought I'd combine them and cite the highlights from each.
From the Washington Post's Steve Goff (LINK), who has got to be the most non-homer sports writer I've ever read, here's what stood out: the stuff on Emilio Luciano; the great explanation for why Major League Soccer (MLS) builds in the 'burbs; and the part that best captures Goff's "Sgt. Joe Friday" approach to reporting, comes with his thoughts on MLS's officiating situation. I'm not picking on the man, by the way; didn't Joe Friday always get his man (even his blue boys?).
Now the highlights from Ives Galarcep's more wide-ranging session on his blog: his thoughts on Kenny Cooper as a "replacement" for Brian McBride; what he thinks separates a player like Clint Dempsey from a player like Justin Mapp - and I hope Mapp reads it; players on the U-20 team Galarcep sees as potential for the 2010 World Cup roster (at least one name from his list repeats in Andrea Canales' close look at our U-20s for ESPN); do note the mitigating factors he saw in Donovan's game against Denmark; throughout the piece there's his clear-eyed assessment of the kinds of international players MLS can sign under the Beckham rule - though I don't buy the attendance numbers he thinks Zidane, et al would bring; finally, there's the bit that should prompt the most interest - the list of big-name players Galarcep can see joining the league within the next five years. No less noteworthy are his (brief) thoughts on what lesser known internationals will do for the league.
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