All smoke and no Fire We went along to the Chicago Fire v Columbus Crew game last night and frankly you will find better quality at Hackney Marshes on a Sunday morning. I have seen a number of MLS games live and even more on the box and how anyone can compare it to the Championship is beyond me, at it's very best it maybe League One, sorry Division 3 but that is about it. As Becks sits at home nursing his ankle he must wonder if he came to Soccer in the States too early. The MLS is most definitely not going to help him sustain his England place.

Fire's new stadium at Bridgeview is by comparison a quality venue, and last night with Mexican 'superstar' Cuauhtémoc Blanco making his home league debut in Fire colours the 20,358 who turned up deserved better, particularly from Blanco himself, who at the risk of offending my Mexican readers was bloody awful and the performance of the overweight and hunchbacked 34-year old, who spent the entire game 'drawing fouls' and rolling on the floor, stunk of someone who is only here for the $$$$.

The game ended scoreless, despite the most recent Chicago signing Paulo Wanchope (yes, one and the same) almost winning it near the end. My son still enjoyed it "even if it wasn't Charlton," but the pre-game fireworks, the announcements in Spanish and being served food and drink in your seat all added to the 'American soccer feel.'

Meanwhile this morning my own Sunday morning team swept to our league's title by winning 5-0. I even managed to score twice, which put me up there with my son's favourite player just behind Yassin Moutaouakil.  ¶ 22:01