Friday's Upside: Empire

Their Words

But it was in the perfect location on sunny days with the mountains in the background, and on game day, it had the best atmosphere. Vancouver Whitecaps ambassador Carl Valentine, who played at Empire Stadium in the North American Soccer League era.

Other Sources

Red Bulls' investment in Rafael Marquez proves to be huge mistake - from SI.com's Grant Wahl: Instead he blamed his teammates.

Tim Ream, Rafa Marquez and the blessedness of self-awareness - from : Daily Soccer Fix's Steve Davis: Think I’m kidding?

Fatigue, motivated foes lead to MLS' Champions League swoon - from The Sporting News's Brian Straus: Still, the trend is troubling.

Sporting KC’s Vermes sees progress in Freddy Adu - from The Kansas City Star's Terez A. Paylor: “He has the desire and work ethic to be good..."

Union's Califf is focused and comfortable - from The Philadelphia Daily News's Kerith Gabriel: "I seemed to bear the brunt of that because I was the captain, I was the organizer."

Winning at RFK has been season-long struggle for D.C. United - from The Washington Times' John Haydon: “It’s absolutely going to stop..."

Crew's Mendoza in thick of scoring race - from The Columbus Dispatch's Shawn Mitchell: “That’s why we brought him here,” Crew coach Robert Warzycha said.

Empire Field to get 'proper sendoff' from Whitecaps - from The Province's Marc Weber: "We will miss it, but we need to look forward."

Cascadia soccer rivalries reborn - from The Seattle Times' Joshua Mayers: "They are special games in the league..."

Bradley to Egypt would be a historic feat - from MLSsoccer.com's Jonah Freedman: This new challenge would be the grandest possible endorsement of Bradley’s accomplishments.

Fans Reunited rally around to show support for ailing Plymouth - from The Guardian's David Conn: Plymouth awoke from the end of the World Cup dream to find that the club was around £13m in debt and the directors had been finding or making loans to limp on day to day.