Football legend David Beckham and his ownership group would be elated that they can proceed with plans for a new MLS team after the land required to build a stadium was acquired.

The Miami-Dade Commission voted on the proposal by the group to buy three acres of county land needed to build a football stadium.

The commissioners voted nine to four in favour of the plan, meaning the last major hurdle for Beckham and his group was over. The land, situated at the corner of Northwest Sixth Street and Sixth Avenue, is the last piece required for the former Manchester United and Real Madrid star to move on with plans for a 25,000 seat capacity stadium.

Miami Beckham United (MBU) said they reached another major milestone by acquiring the land to build the privately funded stadium. They asked that the MLS help them move forward with the dream of a soccer club that Miami has been waiting for. (more…)

Landon Donovan’s name will now be part of the MLS history forever after the league decided to rename the MVP award in honour of the former LA Galaxy forward. The American International decided to bring an end to his career after the end of the 2014 season.

He won the MLS cup in his final campaign. He has been a great ambassador for the league by playing in this top division for 14 years. He has scored 144 goals and created 136 during the span. He is the all-time leader in the league when it comes to these statistics.

Recognising the importance that Donovan has given to the MLS over the last decade, the league decided to name the MVP award as the Landon Donovan MVP award. The player himself has won this award back in 2009. (more…)

Everton defender Leighton Baines has expressed his delight at the club being able to progress to the next stage of the Europa League with relative ease.

Everton returned to this Premier competition in Roberto Martinez’ first season in charge. They almost qualified for the Champions League after a spectacular run of form towards the end of the season. This season, they may be struggling much more than expected, but Everton’s performances in the Europa League have been impressive nonetheless. From this season onwards, winners of the Europa League will get a place in the next season’s Champions League.

This is a huge bonus and incentive for Everton to try and win the competition, which will feature the likes of Liverpool going into the knockout stages. Everton’s league form may not be consistent, but Baines says that the club are already looking forward to playing in the knockout stages of the European competition. The Merseyside outfit will be coming up against Young Boys of Switzerland. Their opposition have not been doing well in the Swiss league and currently trail leaders FC Basel by a whopping eight points. A big advantage for the Swiss team will be the winter break, which will provide them some much needed time to get the squad together.

“We’ve qualified for Europe and done well thus far.We’re excited to go into next year and do as well as we can in the Europa League. It’s a competition that we have embraced. I’ve got three children and we still have a great time. When you’re sitting around the dinner table and your parents and partner are having drink, you sort of have to draw the line there. But it doesn’t mean you can’t have a good time. We come in, train for a few hours on Christmas morning and go back to our families,” said Baines about the Europa league and Christmas schedule in England.

LA Galaxy coach Bruce Arena says that he intends to replace Landon Donovan with a quality player in the team.

The former US international was one of the designated players in the LA Galaxy team, but he chose to retire at the end of last season. He went out with the MLS cup after LA Galaxy defeated New England Revolution in the final. Donovan has undoubtedly been a major part of LA Galaxy since moving to the club in 2005. The 32-year-old shocked many by announcing his retirement at this young age, but it has also provided LA Galaxy with a lot of time to find a replacement.

The 2015 MLS campaign will start with a number of new teams like New York City FC and Orlando City providing competition for the title. Arena has accepted that Donovan has been a great part of Galaxy and it will be difficult to replace him like-for-like. However, he intends to find a quality replacement in the upcoming January transfer window. Even though Arena confirmed that LA Galaxy plan to bring in another star as a designated player, he refused to do reveal the details about the type of player they are targeting right now. Donovan was a striker who can also play in the midfield and was extremely versatile.

“We won’t replace Landon. But we’re going to get another good player, no question about that. We’re far enough to have some options. We’ll see what happens in the next month or so,” said Bruce Arena.“We’re going to have to figure it out. Obviously losing Landon is a big loss for us. He has giant shoes to fill. It’s up for Bruce to get the team together and make us focused off the bat in 2015 and go from there,” said defender Omar Gonzalez.

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