Off-Season Action & On-Loan Players

There is really so much going on this off-season that you owe it to yourself to check out the MLS page (www.mlsnet.com) because there is way too much for me to include in one article. But I'm going to give it my best shot.

First off, if anyone has questioned the quality of American soccer, teams and individual players are working hard to dispel any lingering myths. Maybe one of the most exciting stories to watch is that of Ben Olsen from DC United. Ben is on a three month loan to Nottingham Forest in the English First Division. Ben had his introduction in a loss to Watford in the starting line up. He was substituted at half-time but showed well in his debut. He then played in the final five minutes of their following match against Burnley. He was then introduced into the next match against Stockport County when Forest was down by one. Olsen helped to jump-start the offense in a match that saw Forest game back to take a victory with a 2-1 score. It is going to be very exciting to see how Ben does with his time in the UK.

In other travel news, the Metrostars had gone 2 and 0 with a 2-0 victory over FC Salzburg and a 3-0 win over Munich 1860's reserve team, but FC Cologne finally handed the Metros a loss with a 2-1 loss in Cologne. The Metros looked very strong for the US throughout this tour.

Minus Ben Olsen, DC United headed to San Salvador to participate in a 4-team charity tournament. United played their first match yesterday against C.D. Aquila and it was appropriate that Raul Diaz Arce, an El Salvador native, scored both goals in the 2-1 victory. This was the first of their three games.

Also today, the Dallas Burn traveled to Guadalajara, Mexico for three matches against top Mexican teams. The Burn will play against Atlas of the Mexican 1st division, Bachilleres of the 2nd division, then finally Chivas of the 1st division. It should be very interesting to see how the Burn matchup against their South-of-the-border neighbors.

Be sure to check here and at the MLS site to stay on top of the news of MLS happenings in the off-season.

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