Beyond POV-FS – WTR Mailbag & How You Doin' Sporting KC at Waking the Red

The usual pair of weekly articles went up over at Waking the Red earlier this week.

In the WTR Mailbag, readers are invited to submit their questions to the comments below, where myself and the rest of the staff do their darnedest to respond to the best of our abilities. This week's threads include whether Montreal is for real, an attempt to clarify the opaque MLS roster rules and regulations regarding salary cap hits and whatnot, as well as a discussion about Jozy Altidore's value and the potential of trading a designated player within MLS.

Check it out

And for the How You Doin'? Segment, WTR linked up with SB Nation's Sporting KC site, The Blue Testament, exchanging questions and answers ahead of Sunday's match in Kansas City.

Cody Bradley was kind enough to respond to WTR's enquiries here, while our replies to his can be found at TBT here.

Beyond POV-FS – Know Your Enemy: Sporting KC at Waking the Red

The preview of this afternoon's match at BMO Field between Toronto FC and Sporting KC is up over at Waking the Red.

Part One delves into their lineup and form, while Part Two hits up the game film for some strengths and weaknesses.

Check them out

Beyond POV-FS – Know Your Enemy: Sporting KC – Meeting the Third at Waking the Red

Preview of Saturday’s encounter between Toronto FC and Sporting KC at Sporting Park is up over at Waking the Red – Check it out

Beyond POV-FS – Know Your Enemy:Sporting KC – Meeting the Second at Waking the Red

Preview of Saturday’s match between Toronto FC and Sporting KC at BMO Field is up over at Waking the Red – check it out

Beyond POV-FS - MLS Week in Review: Playoff Edition – 2013 MLS Cup Final at Canadian Soccer News

    The first post-MLS 2013 weekend has come to pass – miss it yet?

    Relive the glory of a hard-fought final decided via penalty shootout at Canadian Soccer News

    Check it out.

Beyond POV-FS – Know Your Enemy: MLS Cup Final Flashback Compilation – Sporting KC vs. Real Salt Lake

    With the MLS Cup Final set for Saturday evening, it seemed a good time to provide some links for the extra studious.

    In that vein, here are all of the Know Your Enemy previews for the two teams from the 2013 season. Granted these are a touch dated – especially for Salt Lake (with their only meeting with Toronto coming back in June), but they should still provide a nice overview of the changes to the team, as well as their strengths and weaknesses.

Sporting KC - Meeting the First; Meeting the Second; Meeting the Third

Real Salt Lake – Part One; Part Two

Beyond POV-FS – MLS Week in Review: Playoff Edition – Conference Championships, Second Legs at Canadian Soccer News

    With the MLS Cup Final set to kick off on Saturday, why not refresh the mind on how the last round ended by checking out the Week in Review summary at Canadian Soccer News.

    Kansas City overpowered Houston to earn the right to host the final, while Salt Lake dispatched Portland easily after a devastating first-leg performance.

    Check it out

Beyond POV-FS – MLS Week in Review: Playoff Edition – Conference Championships, First Leg at Canadian Soccer News

    With the second legs set to kick off this evening, seems a perfect time to go back and look over what happened in the first legs some two weeks ago.

    Post is up over at Canadian Soccer News – Check it out

Beyond POV-FS – MLS Week in Review: Playoff Edition – Conference Semifinals, First and Seconds Legs at Canadian Soccer News

    Full recaps of the four conference semifinals are up over at Canadian Soccer News.

    Thus far the playoff have been a rollercoaster with the first two rounds packed into a compressed time span while the upcoming international dates are set to distance the two legs of the conference finals by a full two weeks.

    Hardly an ideal situation; the lack of breathing space has been a combination of exhilarating and overwhelming.

    Like a fine wine, sometimes it is better to let a series simmer and there is some fear that the large gaps between rounds will cause the attention to dwindle.

    Anyways, the reviews – First Legs & Second Legs

Beyond POV-FS – Know Your Enemy: Sporting KC – Meeting the Third at Waking the Red

    Preview of this afternoon’s match between Toronto FC and Sporting KC at BMO Field is up over at Waking the Red.

    Check it out

First Person View - MLS All-Star Game: The Future Looks Bright (All Youth Teams for Each Conference)

    With everyone suitably aflutter for this evening’s All-Star Game between MLS and AS Roma, I figured I’d kill an hour or so in the process of updating my club roster database – yes, that is something I do (for posterity) – by looking at what the teams may look like if restricted to young players.

    Some have wasted time fretting over the highly-publicized, commercial exercise that is the MLS All-Star Game – did they pick the right players? Who will win? What does a win or loss mean for the league? – But relax; it’s just a bit of fun.

    So - with the caveat that this is a very unscientific process based solely on my own observations and that I will not be investing the time to produce actual stats - what would the game look like if East played West and players had to be 24 year of age or younger.

Beyond POV-FS – MLS Week in Review and Extended Canadian Content for Round 20 at Canadian Soccer News

    The usual weekly posts are up at Canadian Soccer News.

    The MLS Week in Review recaps a scintillating weekend of MLS results – goals of the round, some humourous sights, the odd quote or two, and highlights, precious, precious highlights.

    With so many of the league’s Canadians away at the Gold Cup only Patrice Bernier saw the pitch this round; he may have wished he did not.

    Check them out – MLS Week in Review and Canadian Content

Beyond POV-FS – Know Your Enemy: Sporting KC – Meeting the Second at Waking the Red

    A previewing of Toronto FC’s Saturday match against Sporting KC in Kansas City is up over at Waking the Red.

    The second of three meetings between the two sides, Sporting enters with revenge on their mind, hoping to avenge their 2-1 loss at the SkyDome back in March.

    Lots to discuss, check it out.

First Person View - Toronto FC Pays Tribute to Torsten Frings

    Toronto FC paid a unique tribute to their retired captain, Torsten Frings, on the occasion of their first home match of the season against Sporting KC a week or so ago.

Beyond POV-FS - Repeated Slow Starts to the Second Half Will Prove Costly for Toronto FC at Waking the Red

     A post from earlier today, looking at Toronto FC’s inability to return from half-time with the same energy that they begin the match is up over at Waking the Red.

    Do check it out.

The Lack of Red Cards Thus Far in MLS

    Over the course of the first two weeks of the 2013 MLS season an interesting trend has begun to develop: 17 matches have been played and yet, no – 0 – red cards have been issued.

Beyond POV-FS – Know Your Enemy: Sporting KC at Waking the Red

    Preview of tomorrow’s TFC match against Sporting KC at the Rogers Centre (SkyDome) is up over at Waking the Red.

    Check it out.

MLS 2013 Preview – The Big Questions: Eastern Conference

    While most folks are busy foretelling and projecting just how this season will play out, we – the royal we – here at POV-FS prefer to offer you questions.

    Each offseason MLS clubs undergo radical player overhauls, in part necessitated by the restrictions of the salary cap and roster spots.

    As such, sometimes it can take weeks - or months - before a club’s true nature presents itself. Some clubs will not have their rosters sorted until the midway point and with the nature of playoffs being what they are, it may not matter how things began, only how they end.

    Remember, prediction makes fools of us all; so, on with the questions.

    In this installment: the Eastern Conference.

Beyond POV-FS – Know Your Enemy: Sporting KC – Meeting the Third at Waking the Red

    Preview of tonight’s match between Toronto FC and Sporting KC at Livestrong Sporting Park is up over at Waking the Red.

    Check it out.

Foresight – MLS Round Twenty-Four Weekend Preview

    Four questions to be answered in this the twenty-fourth round proper of MLS weekend action.