Soccer By Ives

Steve Nash interested in buying Tottenham?

NBA star Steve Nash has been linked to a potential ownership bid for struggling EPL squad Tottenham. Nash downplayed the rumors on Wednesday but did admit he liked the idea of owning Spurs.

Here's a question. What do you think of the idea of Nash owning an MLS club? Could he lead an ownership group for a second Canadian city, or maybe a Phoenix franchise? Yes, I know, a real longshot, but whenever you have a multi-millionaire with ties to the United States, who happens to love soccer, isn't it natural to ask the MLS ownership question?

What do you think of the idea of someone like Nash buying into MLS? Share your thoughts below.

Some mid-week European Soccer on TV

If you can't wait until the weekend to watch some great European soccer, don't worry. You don't have to.

Here is the slate of mid-week European games you can catch on TV today and tomorrow. Enjoy:

TODAY

3:30pm- FSC- Lazio at Roma- The Rome derby is always a heated and intense clash.

4pm- GolTV- Real Madrid at Valencia- Valencia waits for their new coach while Real looks to stay ahead of Barca in the standings.

5:30pm- FSC- Genoa at Inter- Apologies for originally listing Genoa at Juve. Inter rolls.

6pm- GoltV- Sevilla at Atletico Madrid- Sevilla is starting to turn things around, now we'll see just how far along they are.

THURSDAY

5pm- GolTV- Barcelona at Valladolid- You never miss a chance to see Barcelona play. Period.

So which match(es) will you watch? Share your thoughts on these matches below.

MLS Goalkeeper of the Year: Brad Guzan

Chivas USA goalkeeper Brad Guzan was named MLS goalkeeper of the year. MLS announced the award this morning. The league also named New England defender Michael Parkhurst as the winner of the Fair Play Award (Columbus won the team award).

These were two of the easier awards to give. There were some good goalkeepers in the league this year. Pat Onstad, Joe Cannon and Troy Perkins had outstanding seasons, while Matt Reis maintained his high standard, but Guzan was outstanding this year. Outstanding enough to have English power Arsenal scouting him.

I don't think the Fair Play team award is something to write home about but cheer up Crew fans, you have something to put in the trophy case.

What do you think of these selections? Share your thoughts below.

MLS PLAYOFFS: Who will win, DC or Chicago?

Good morning afternoon folks. Apologies for the absence of posts this morning. I had to crank out an Eastern Conference playoff preview for ESPN.com and also catch the Halloween costume parade at my son's school (He was Diego for those of you wondering.)

I wanted to start the day talking about the DC-Chicago series, which continues Thursday night at RFK Stadium. You know the particulars. Chicago has never lost to DC in the playoffs, DC had the best record in the league, DC played without Luciano Emilio and Jaime Moreno in the starting lineup in game one, Chicago is unbeaten in its past nine matches, etc, etc.

My question to you is simple. Who will win this series?

MLS Awards finalists announced

Major League Soccer announced the finalist for its regular season awards on Monday and while most of the nominees were easy enough to call, some were pretty surprising.

Here is the list of finalists for some of the awards:

MVP- Juan Pablo Angel, Luciano Emilo, Cuauhtemoc Blanco

Newcomer of the Year- Juan Pablo Angel, Luciano Emilo, Cuauhtemoc Blanco

Defender of the Year- Michael Parkhurst, Claudio Suarez, Eddie Robinson

Rookie of the Year- Dane Richards, Maurice Edu and Adam Cristman

Goalkeeper of the Year- Brad Guzan, Pat Onstad, Matt Reis

So which were the surprises? Here are some:

Add Australia to the 2018 World Cup mix

Just when you thought England was going to offer the toughest competition to a USA bid for World Cup 2018 comes word from down under that Austrialia is poised to bid on the event.

Having already covered a World Cup on the opposite side of the world in 2002 let me say that Australia would be a less than ideal alternative than England for American soccer fans, with the time difference being the biggest obstacle. It might be cheaper for American fans trying to attend (who knows how the dollar will compare to the pound (not Euro, sorry, had Germany on my mind) in 10 years) but it would mean that fans in the US would once again have to resort to waking up in the middle of the night or very early morning to watch the tournament.

Personally, I'd love to go to Australia, though more for a one-week vacation than five-week work assignment. I won't be turning down the chance to go if the Aussies do win the bid.

What do you think about Australia as a potential host? Share your thoughts below.

SBI European Club Top 25

Talk about a week of quality clashes. Arsenal tied Liverpool late, Chelsea thrashed Manchester City, Roma beat reeling AC Milan and big clubs from Juventus to Rangers suffered upset losses.

It was all enough to shake up the SBI European club rankings, though not at the very top, where Arsenal remains despite it's draw.

You will notice the change from a Top 10 to a Top 25. I have decided to put more time into these rankings and while no such rankings are every fully accurate, I'll try my best do to them justice.

Here are this week's SBI European Club rankings:

Wynalda talks about California comment

(Apologies for the re-post but the blog does that sometimes when changes are made.)

Eric Wynalda may make jokes about a lot of things, be it poor officiating or poor finishing, but the ESPN soccer analyst insists that the last thing he was trying to do was make a joke about the wildfires in California during the ESPN2 broadcast of the Chicago-DC United playoff game on Thursday.

As some of you know, Wynalda stated "Looks like California" when cameras panned to Chicago Fire fans lighting flares in the stands. The comment was followed by silence and Wynalda didn't say another word related to the comment. It wasn't because he didn't want to. It was because, according to Wynalda, a producer cut him off.

The odds of another USA World Cup just got longer

If you were already planning for the possibility of the 2018 World Cup being held in the United States, don't hold your breath.

FIFA has decided to scrap the rotation policy for hosting World Cups after Brazil hosts the 2014 World Cup. That means that rather than CONCACAF being assured of hosting 2018, the bidding for the 2018 World Cup will now be open to the highest bidder and provider of bribes perks).

England looks like the early favorite to host the event, but don't expect the US Soccer Federation to give up without a fight. Another World Cup in the USA would be a financial boom to several corporations so don't expect money to be the reason the USA doesn't win the bid.

What do you think of this news? Do you agree with FIFA's decision to scrap the rotation system? Where would you like to see the 2018 World Cup held? Share your thoughts below.

Monday Morning Center Back: The MLS Playoff Format

Good morning folks. It is a CHILLY day on the East Coast and it should be a busy day on SBI. I wanted to start the day off talking about the MLS playoffs, specifically the format, which needs to change.