The American soccer world goes on Philadelphia, right? Probably not…you’re right, but why don’t we at least give it a chance? This past week in. We’ll get into more substance as the season rolls on, news presents itself, and our squad comes together, but for now enjoy a little reading material.

He’s not local but former Chivas USA forward Matt Taylor has found his niche in the 2.Bundesliga with TuS Koblenz after a trying period in Los Angeles and several failed trials. Pretty amazing considering he was playing competitive amateur soccer (but amateur nevertheless) only a little under a year ago. Now he’s near the top of the scoring charts with 7 goals on the season and Beau Dure of USA Today got to talk to him about it.

Head on up the coast to San Jose and you’ll find a nice story on emergency pool goalkeeper Mike Graczyk and his sister, Kristen. Both have ended up in the South Bay area after an assortment of stops along the way. Older brother Mike has seen himself as part of three organizations in less than 6 months, while Kristen has been plagued with injuries throughout her still young career. Both have now landed with San Jose and the WPS’ FC Gold Pride respectively. Pretty cool story.

We’ll stay in California as that seems to be the place where all the news is. If you haven’t heard of Anton Peterlin, you should start reading up on him. Peterlin, a midfielder for the Ventura City Fusion, was scouted in Cali and impressed David Moyes’ after travelling to England for a trial in March.  In pure Santiago Munez fashion, Peterlin earned himself a contract with the Toffees (that EU passport helped a bit too). He will join Everton in the summer. Until then, he’ll stay with Ventura County. But how about Ventura County – who are they? The Ventura County Fusion is a PDL squad composed of some of the best youngsters in the area on the roster, led by former MLS players Brendan Tennelle (RSL), Anthony Hamilton (CHV), and midfielder Johnny Alcaraz (HOU). These guys are all fueled by the desire to prove their former employers wrong…but there’s a lot more that goes into the Fusion. Read on.

With three clubs on the way by 2011, Don Garber has hinted that expansion might not pause there. With that came a flurry of new expansion tidbits. The most recent? A third Canadian city in the hunt for an MLS franchise…Montreal, Ottawa, and now Edmonton. The Oilers owner Darryl Katz is looking to fill out his franchise holdings especially after seeing such success in Toronto and initial success after the announcement of Vancouver. No timeline, just interest. I wonder what Bill Archer thinks of this.

There’s no really arguement in the statement, “Canada loves their soccer”. So much so that the government seems to aid instead of impede the professional soccer boom across the country  (which isn’t quite the case in Portland). The Vancouver Whitecaps just found out yesterday that they’ll get funding – to the tune of $17.5 million – from the British Columbian Liberal government for a proposed $31.5 million training center that would also be used by Canada’s national teams. One small caveat – they’ll only get the money if they’re re-elected in the provincial election, taking place later this month. Hmm…read on.

Unrelated to anything soccer – if you’re a Philadelphian and you’ve never been out to the Broad Street Run…get in line for next year! Even on a rainy, somewhat cold morning, over 27,000 people started the 10-mile race down Broad. As a former collegiate runner, there’s nothing better than a “downhill” trapse through the heart of Philadelphia with over 25-30,000 spectators along the way including church choirs, bands, and lots of volunteers braving the nasty weather. I was a bit sad not to see one Sons of Ben scarf making the 10-mile trek to Philadelphia Naval Yard. Was anyone out there? What’d you think of the race?

I should have some interviews coming your away in the next week or so. Until then, if you have any suggestions about material to cover or want other things to read, please let me know. You can also additional good stuff over at Center Holds It (shameless plug I know…).