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-First Bill Clinton was accused of abusing his powers with a 21 year old intern, and finally just as soon as we don't have to hear about that story anymore, breaks out another story about abuse of power. Well ok let's not over exaggerate the situation, this is only the MLS. But,even so entering its fourth year now, MLS has removed one of the original cogs from the machine. Deputy Commisioner Sunil Gulati was removed from office by the MLS because he apparently abused his power of office.

According to published reports the whole situation started when Gulati decided to renew the contract of an often injured Tab Ramos to the MLS maximum salary without consulting anyone, including the Metrostars first. In a single entity league, like the MLS, the league signs all the players and assigns them to teams, yet they still have to be in contact with the team that they are negotiating for.

Due to New York/New Jersey allready having huge salary cap problems, this did not blow over well with MetroStars investor-operator Stuart Subotnick. He was upset that the league signed a player who has not lived up to his billing for the maximum. Because, of this signing the Metrostars were forced to ship fan favorites Tony Meola and Alexi Lalas out of town.

Many MLS fans were not happy with Gulati's way of doing things and are happy to see him go. But, a move so drastic for a league so young could be rough. There were reports late last week stemming mainly from ESPN, that the Gulati situation was being looked into. For the most part fans and journalists did not think the league would actually get rid of Gulati, especially considering that most of the owners backed Gulati. But on Monday a meeting of 12 members of the MLS' comittee was held and the the surprising announcement was made. "Discussions are taking place with respect to former deputy commissioner Sunil Gulati's continued relationship with Major League Soccer," said MLS Commisioner Doug Logan. "These discussions are of a private nature. All responsibilities relating to player personnel have been reassigned by the Commissioner to Mr.Ivan Gazidis, Executive Vice President, Player Relations and Operations."

Where will the league go from here and will they be able to bring in foreign players as readily as in the past? Regardless of how much fans hated Gulati losing a prominent member of the league at such an infant stage could be a tough task to overcome.

Yet maybe a breath of fresh air will help make this league more consistent. Gulati had a history of going back on his word, future compensation being the only example needed. There was a feeling as if he was almost making up the rules as he was going. Regardless of the Gulati's methods the MLS is in for an interesting test run which might evidentally not be a bad thing. The only question is did Doug Logan ultimately terminate Sunil Gulati for legit reasons, or is the often weak minded Commisioner trying to show that he can flex his muscle if needed?

February 25-Wilson of Wilson's Weekly Commentary ranked how the teams did in the draft, he ranked the Clash as number seven. I think he ranked them, but anyways he gave analysis on every team's draft and said that the Clash took a big gamble on Richard Mulrooney and number three because supposdly he lacks speed. Wilson goes on to say that they took an ever bigger gamble on Wojtek Krakowiak because he is destained to play in Europe and is there right now. In a similar story eyewitnesses to the Clash workouts are saying that Mulrooney looks great and that after a great combine workout he is having a great start with the Clash and they are highly impressed with him thus far. But remember its only the preseason and last year Clash fans got all excited cause we won the Preseason tournament.

February 25-It is being reported that after working out with the Clash for awhile Raul Diaz Arce has returned back to his native El Salvador becasue he could no hammer out a deal with the league. Returning with him was fellow Salvadorian Mauricio Cienfuegos. It would be nice if the league got their heads out of their ass and could get those two guys with their respective teams.

February 25-There is an interesting article at Soccernet about current Clash back Richard Gough. I did not particularly understand the article because I do not follow Scottish Soccer much, but the article talks about Gough wanted to be considered as a coach for a prominent club in Europe. He also said that he has asked Brian Quinn to allow him to leave training in Mexico, with the Clash, to attend Alan McLaren's match next week in Glasgow.

February 25-Soccerspot's Jay Hipps is reporting that Eric Wynalda hurt his knee and will miss the next two weeks of the Mexican League Season. There were papers in Mexico that were reporting Wynalda would be out for the rest of the year. Kind of makes you wonder, even if Wynalda does come back to the Clash, is this man cursed by injuries?

February 25-The San Jose Clash officially announced that 18 of their games will be televised on FOX Sports Bay Area. The brings the total to 26 live telecasts on tv for the Clash, and now they are trying to negotiate with another local channel to broadcast the other 6 matches that are not scheduled to be televised as of now. Good move on the Clash's part.

February 23-It is semi official Sunil Gulati is being reported as out. ESPN is reporting the Gulati is out and the only question now is weather they will call it a resignation or if they will say he is fired. ESPN Article

February 23-The AP is proud to introduce Fantasy MLS Soccer. You can now sign up for this free league but space is limited and we are running out. It is first come first serve. If you would like to play, simply use our feedback form and provide us with a team name and your name. The draft will start next week and will span over 2 weeks.

February 20-It looks as if the man that everyone loves to hate is in hot water. ESPN is reporting that Deputy Commisioner Sunil Gulati could be fired on Monday after some controversial contract negotiations. Mainly this past offseason Sunil signed Tab Ramos without consulting anyone, which he is not suppose to do. New York became irate, that a player who has not played much in the past two years got the maximum salary from a team that allready had cap problems. For the full story check out (ESPN.com)

February 18-The Clash lost their second game of the preseason for the second time to the Colorodo Rapids, 1-0. Former Clash forward Paul Bravo scored a goal in the first half for the Rapids.

February 18-The Clash announced today that eight of their games will be Nationally televised. This is after reports have come out that the Clash will no longer be seen on KICU 36 but instead on Fox Sports Bay Area and Bay TV.

Saturday, April 10 Clash at Kansas City(espn2) 12:30 p.m.

Sunday, May 9 Columbus at Clash (ESPN)2:00 p.m.

Thursday, May 27 Clash at Colorado(espn2) 6:30 p.m.

Thursday, June 3 Colorado at Clash(espn2) 7:30 p.m.

Thursday, July 8 Clash at Tampa Bay(ESPN) 4:30 p.m.

Thursday, Aug. 12 Clash at New England(ESPN) 4:30 p.m.

Wednesday, Sept. 1 Clash at Los Angeles(espn2) 7:30 p.m.

Sunday, Sept. 19 Miami at Clash (espn2)2:00 p.m.

February 17-Just to give all our tens of loyal readers=) advanced warning we will be converting our server on to a new site that our friends at wspsoccer.com will be buying for us. We are not sure of the new url but the url http://welcome.to/theap will always work.

February 17-There was an interesting article written by Ann Killion of San Jose Mercury News about Eric Wynalda and his future in the MLS. (San Jose Mercury:Clash Article)

February 17-SF Gate wrote an article about new Clash draft pick and two sport star Todd Duncan and his future in the MLS or lack there of. (SF Gate Article)

-In a less than impressive performance the U.S. Men's National Team came away with a very sloppy 2-1 victory over Chile today. In all honesty it was quite apparent that this was the B squad for the U.S.

The match was played before 14,896 fans at Lockhart Stadium, the home of the Miami Fusion. Chile came out in the opening moments and attacked the U.S. full on. Chile came out like the Americans came out two weeks ago aganist Germany.

After two early test for Chicago Fire goalkeeper Zack Thornton the American started to settle down and play balls up. Yet the Americans with a midfield consisting of Richie Williams and Chad Deering instead of Claudio Reyna and Jovan Kirovski, could not hold the ball affectivly. Arena dropped his forwards, Brian McBride and Roy Lassiter back a bit to try and help contain the ball.

After a decent ending to the first half the U.S. came out sluggish in the second half, still tied 0-0. But, Ben Olsen scored the game's opening goal in the 58th minute.

Yet Chile refused to bow down, even if this was Thomas Dooley's farwell match. Cartez of Chile scored on an absolutely beautiful bending ball over keeper Tom Presthus head. It was an abosultely sensational goal from outside of the box.

But, this day belonged to the Americans, Brian McBride especially. McBride assisted on Ben Olsen's opening score, and he also assisted on the game winner to Clash Star Eddie Lewis. Lewis scored his first goal ever with the U.S. National Team off a beautiful cross just outside the box from McBride. Lewis who is a patented left footed player scored inside the box with his right foot.

Overall it was an incredibly sloppy game by both sides that was filled with fouls and yellow cards, but the Americans stay undeafted under Buce Arena. Next up for the Americans is Guatemala but so far under Bruce Arena the Americans have shown poise and a style of play that was not apparent under Steve Sampson. The next test will be Arena's biggest to try and get this team ready for the U.S. Cup with the possibility of having to play with an MLS All-Star Team.