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It's Friday and Saturday is game day, so here's some news and notes to get your soccer juices flowing.

Schellas Hyndman has a new weekly column... er... Q&A really... sorta.... well, you'll see what I mean.

My buddy Paul Gardner is once again on point.

No malice, says Evans -- and I’m sure he’s right. No malice. Just passion. Getting stuck in, as they say. Whatever, 26 stitches is a hell of a lot of stitches.

I got to know him coving Dallas Cup for years and you can believe that talking to him watching some brilliant youth soccer is just as fun, and insane, as you would imagine.

I missed it earlier this week, but Zach Loyd made the first MLS (official) team of the week. Loyd was fantastic against Chicago and I think should be keeping the left back spot.

Nice Brek Shea interview. He doesn't 100% say it, but I think he wants to stay at left mid.

If I play left mid this season, then I’ll probably play left mid for the rest of my career. If he (coach) switches me to center back, then I will probably be playing center back.

Bobby Rhine has his latest podcast up.

Jason Kreis, who has proven to be a better coach than I imagined, and I expected him to be good, just signed a contract extension.

Former FCD playmker Ramon Nunez has a new loan destination at Scunthorpe. I will always follow Nunez's career as he was, IMO, the first home grown FCD player having started training with Dallas at 15.

Soccer America on the German/American pipeline that has been helping US Soccer progress over the last 20 years.

Bob Bradley has signed a new four year contract extension as US men's head coach. I will talk about this more in another post.

MLS has a new eight year deal with adidas to sponsor the league starting next year. The new deal replaces the current deal and run through 2018. The key addition to the deal is money for player development, a.k.a. a reserve league. It's terrific to see both the adidas faith in the league and the league's move to bring back the reserves, both factors make this a really positive step for MLS.

Former FC Dallas midfielder and current Honduran international Ramon Nunez has signed with Leeds United after a successful trial. Good for Nunez, I will always consider him the first FC Dallas developed player having watched him in FCD training since he was 15. He predates any FCD youth set up and academy system so watching him in the World Up was quite a thrill for me.

Steve Hunt on FoxSportsSouthwest has a bit on the Atiba Harris and Daniel Hernandez suspensions. It's a really nice break down of who might play where in their absence.

FCDallas.com, mostly because of Hunt, is quite prolific today.
-Hunt has a bit on Break Shea and his first touch. The coaching staff and Shea both know he has room to improve in this area and are working on it.
- Here's a training report with a McCarty quote on his injury.
- A poll: "Hottest team in MLS." FCD and RSL, the two hottest teams, are getting crushed by New York and Seattle. Typical.
- Hunt again, this time on Hartman's bobble, Jackson's stint, some more tests for Ugo Ihemelu, and a joke from Hyndman about Harris playing d-mid.
- Hunt also has a piece on the midfield delima. Hyndman says it's mostly about team structure.
- FCD is #2 in the official MLSsoccer.com Power Rankings.

Kyle McCarthy of Goal.com has FC Dallas #1 in the MLS rankings.

1. FC Dallas – It isn't all dash and flash for FCD. The most recent evidence to buttress that claim: Saturday's gritty 0-0 draw at Columbus. (1)

Ridge Mahoney says MLS playoff regulars are in trouble, Bruce Arena is getting snippy, and the Freddy's have much love.

The Offside Rules, one of the most entertaining blogs in soccer, pics up our Brek Shea photo of the Day story and turns into a Shea to Monchengladbach rumor. They also really like the FCD "Rockn the Park" ticket promo for New York Red Bull and Kiss concert double ticket pack. Here's the actual ticket promo pack page if you're into Kiss and NY Red Bull.

The Columbus Crew unveiled their Lamar Hunt statue before the FCD game. It looks just like the one at Pizza Hut Park. And perhaps not shockingly, just like the one at Arrowhead.

KC Wizards coach Peter Vermes was arrested for a DUI.

FCD vs Crew postmortem

Steven Goff of the Washington Post uses a Primetime Emmy's theme to recap the MLS action and says coach Hyndman is the man.

MLS Coach of the Year favorite Schellas Hyndman is the undisputed "Top Chef."

Shawn Mitchell of the Columbus Dispatch says the Crew were not happy with the result. Schellas Hyndman was quite pleased.

"I talked to the boys after the game and there were a few players who weren't real happy with the tie," Hyndman said. "I'm walking in happy with a tie because I saw the goal that was saved off the line and I saw the pressure that was on us."

Mitchell also had more on Lamar Hunt's soccer legacy from game day.

Big Apple Soccer says Dallas was the moral victor.

Craig Merz in the Dallas Morning News has Brek Shea unhappy with the result. Nice, like to see the kid annoyed they didn't win.

"We know we are good enough to win every game we play," he said. "We are one of the best in the league now, and we are actually kind of disappointed we didn't get three points."

Same kind of story from Merz on the Columbus Crew official site, Crew weren't happy with the result.

Peace FM has a kind of unusual game story with half by half break downs of action.

The Miami Herald with a game story. Always good to see out of the way places, in MLS terms, with full game stories on their site.

MLS Daily says FCD controlled the game against the Crew. It's toward the end, just before their outdated stuff on Bradley.

According to a report on SkySports, ex-FCD middle man Ramon Núñez is on trial at Leeds United in England. He apparently scored a goal during a scrimmage.

Núñez also has apparently "changed" his international allegiance from Honduras to Hungary. I'm not exactly sure where Núñez got a Hungarian passport nor why he would want to change. (In all seriousness that's obviously an error on Sky Sports' part.)

I got a real kick out of watching Núñez play in the World Cup. He's the first FC Dallas developed player to make it to the biggest stage. I first started seeing Núñez at Dallas Burn training when he was 15. He never lived up to his potential while in MLS, but I for one will always enjoy his success.