Ben Couch
Major League Soccer
New York, NY, United States
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Past articles by Ben:
LAFC acquire Christian Ramirez from Minnesota United FC
TRANSFER TRACKER: Trade Superman's flying to the City of Angels. In an evening surprise, Minnesota United FC sent forward Christian Ramirez -- one of the young MLS club's most closely identifiable players -- to LAFC for up to $1 million in allocation money: $250,000 in General Allocation Money (GAM) → Read More
NYCFC-nominated Adrian Conoboy voted 2018 MLS Community MVP
At halftime of the 2018 MLS All-Star Game presented by Target, Adrian Conoboy – nominated by NYCFC – was announced as winner of the Wells Fargo MLS Community MVP Award on the field at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The Grand Prize includes a $25,000 charitable donation to his nonprofit charity, We Can → Read More
Zlatan Ibrahimovic to miss 2018 MLS All-Star Game, next LA Galaxy match
Major League Soccer announced Sunday that the LA Galaxy had informed the league Zlatan Ibrahimovic will not participate in 2018 MLS All-Star Game presented by Target. In a statement, the Galaxy cited the club's three matches in a week and the travel involved. “I am disappointed to miss the 2018 → Read More
2019 MLS debut in sight, expansion FC Cincinnati "don’t want to be average"
CINCINNATI—FC Cincinnati are in. For 2019. Yes, the upcoming MLS season will see FCC's expansion debut. As MLS Commissioner Don Garber will readily acknowledge, history indicates that's a "short runway" to accomplish a multi-item checklist that looms large for managing owner Carl H. Lindner III → Read More
LAFC acquire Lee Nguyen from New England Revolution in blockbuster trade
TRANSFER TRACKER STATUS: Trade The Primary Transfer Window came to a blockbuster close, with New England Revolution playmaker Lee Nguyen heading to LAFC for at least $350,000 in General Allocation Money and $350,000 in Targeted Allocation Money. The Revolution could ultimately receive $950,000 in → Read More
Miami celebrates MLS expansion after a decade of determination
MIAMI – For everything extra about him – the stardom, the smile, that winning lilt and the twinkle in the eye – it's easy to forget that David Beckham made his soccer bones on work. The rest made for movies, but innumerable reps put the perfect bend on every free kick, each corner. Monday → Read More
2018 MLS SuperDraft: LAFC select Joao Moutinho No. 1 overall
PHILADELPHIA—Leading off a trade-heavy opening round, expansion franchise Los Angeles Football Club (LAFC) selected Generation adidas (GA) defender Joao Moutinho from Akron as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2018 MLS SuperDraft before trading into the No. 3 slot to add Pacific fullback Tristan → Read More
Fans, politicians, ownership rally to make Nashville's longshot bid reality
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The chanting started more than 30 minutes before the big moment. As a crowd co-mingled – Nashville's MLS expansion group, Major League Soccer executives, various Nashville dignitaries and a slew of soccer fans pushing the total to 1,100 guests at the Country Music Hall of Fame → Read More
Best Of MLS: Top 10 Moments of 2017
Moments. You feel 'em. Can't always describe the why, but you know when they've arrived. And the 2017 MLS regular season was chock full. Let's dip into the treasure chest: Clint Comes Back MARCH 4, 2017 After missing the Seattle Sounders' run to the 2016 MLS Cup due to a heart condition, Clint → Read More
Vancouver Whitecaps 5, San Jose Earthquakes 0
From a Seattle Sounders (playoff) zero to Vancouver Whitecaps hero: Fredy Montero scored the first postseason goal of his bifurcated MLS career, and it put the 'Caps back on track at a crucial moment. Crucially, he opened the scoring in an eventual 5-0 Knockout Round victory over the San Jose → Read More
View from Couch: Knockout Round makes for Must-Watch MLS
Get hype! The Audi 2017 MLS Cup Playoffs open tonight, and four Knockout Round matches that are must-watch MLS. From World Cup winners to teenage prodigies, stars to stalwarts and originals to expansion sides, we've got every base covered. Here's a rundown: Chicago Fire vs. New York Red Bulls It's → Read More
View from Couch: Colorado Rapids the spoiler to watch as 2017 winds down
With all The Countdown to Decision Day officially underway, the team you should focus some of your simultaneous match-watching energy on is … The Colorado Rapids. Colorado? Battling LA for worst in the West? Eliminated last month? Yup. There do exist Colorado reasons to watch [Lists Marlon → Read More
View from Couch: Why Toronto FC should chase the MLS points record
Nick Rosano is still salty. I have successfully riled him up here in the office, simply by reminding him the Golden State Warriors blew it in 2016. Even now, a Kevin Durant signing and a(nother) championship later, Rosy still says they should've eased off the gas instead of gunning for that → Read More
Nashville expansion bid joins Mayor in announcing MLS stadium plan
Monday afternoon, Nashville Mayor Megan Barry joined John R. Ingram to announce a $250-million, 27,500-seat stadium on the Nashville Fairgrounds, contingent on Metro Council authorization and the city's MLS expansion bid. “We are making this investment in Nashville because we believe in this → Read More
View from Couch: MLS Rookie of the Year race not as wide open as you think
As we enter the home stretch of this 2017 MLS campaign, the award races have begun to take shape, with the final push readying to imprint its recency bias all over the votes. There's a perception that Rookie of the Year is a wide-open race. It's not. Let's take a look: Showing Flashes Lalas → Read More
Preview: New York City FC vs. Portland Timbers 09/09/2017
New York City FC vs. Portland Timbers 2017 MLS Match Preview Yankee Stadium – Bronx, N.Y. Saturday, September 9 – 5:30 p.m. ET WATCH: MLS LIVE A pair of contenders attempting to separate themselves from their respective conference packs meet Saturday in the Bronx, where New → Read More
View from Couch: It's all happening as Atlanta United move into MB Stadium
For Atlanta United, it's all happening: The club is rolling through the most successful Major League Soccer expansion campaign since the Seattle Sounders reached the playoffs to cap their 2009 debut. Darren Eales and Carlos Bocanegra nailed their Designated Player signings, along with many other → Read More
View from Couch: Toronto's Greg Vanney should cruise to Coach of the Year
We're in the stretch run. Every final whistle precedes a glance at the standings to see who's rising above or falling below the playoff line, who's tracking toward that Knockout Round bye and whether anyone has a shot at stealing the Supporters' Shield away from Toronto FC. The answer to the latter → Read More
Couch: Eye on Audi Field, DC United start setting the table for 2018
Sure, the MLS Transfer Deadline is enough to give anyone whiplash. But if you're a D.C. United supporter … Hope y'all invested in a good neck brace, because this Steven Goff tweet had me slamming the brakes: Breaking: D.C. United on brink of signing Paul Arriola #dcu #mls → Read More
Preview: Atlanta United FC vs. Orlando City SC 07/29/2017
Atlanta United vs. Orlando City SC 2017 MLS Match Preview Bobby Dodd Stadium – Atlanta Saturday, July 29 – 4:30 p.m. ET WATCH: FOX, MLS LIVE in Canada A quick turnaround from a spicy opener between MLS's two Southeast representatives could play a large → Read More