Official Major League Soccer/US Men's National Team Thread

#28
#28
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHdyXOPp-2w[/youtube]

Portland boys, we are here – Whoa, Whoa
Portland boys, we are here – Whoa, Whoa
Portland boys, we are here
Steal your women, drink your beer!
Whoa, Whoa, Whoa

Burn, destroy, wreck and kill – Whoa, Whoa
Burn, destroy, wreck and kill – Whoa, Whoa
Burn, destroy, wreck and kill
Portland Timbers ****ing will!
Whoa, Whoa, Whoa

Use your head, use your feet – Whoa, Whoa
Use your head, use your feet – Whoa, Whoa
Use your head, use your feet
10 red ****ers at my feet!
Whoa, Whoa, Whoa

We are green, we are white – Whoa, Whoa
We are green, we are white – Whoa, Whoa
We are green, we are white
We are ****ing dynamite!
Whoa, Whoa, Whoa

Can you hear Salt Lake sing? Noo, Noo
Can you hear Sale Lake sing? Noo, Noo
Can you hear Salt Lake sing?
I can’t hear a ****ing thing!
Whoa, Whoa, Whoa
 
#29
#29
Are you in SLC? Should be a good one. I'm gonna miss the MLS living down in Tempe. Already went to a D-Backs game, and that was fun. Can't complain.
 
#33
#33
It's a normal thing with MLS, between revenue sharing and salary caps.

Kimura was a nice pickup from Colorado, little dude absolutely flies up and down the pitch for the full 90'. It was nuts, I thought he would be gassed 25 minutes in. Dude's not box to box, he's corner to corner.

This team NEEDS an attacking mid.
 
#34
#34
watching the galaxy vs fire game on espn. kind of a strange low camera angle. wonder if this is what i heard referred to as a similar angle you see in the epl that you now and then in mls.
 
#36
#36
you gents dont throw rocks at me for asking this, but why is the MLS thread sepatated from the soccer thread? its like segregation(sp). cant we all chill in the same spot and talk soccer?
 
#37
#37
John spencer sacked mid season.

Apparently bob Bradley is on the top of the list of potential replacements.
 
#39
#39
its a situation for MLS where you want great players but then you just lose em to europe.

This is actually a fairly new development, and would be very good for the league overall.

First, if I remember the article right, if Pappa can sign with Wigan (and there are some legal hoops to jump through) then he would be the first Guatemalan to star in the English top flight.

But second rate leagues becoming a launching pad to the Premier League or the other major European clubs has actually worked out fairly well; sure, they actually do go on to the highest levels a'la Porto or Ajax, but for now achieving that level would be great. I currently view MLS as on the level with the leagues in Portugal, Netherlands, Turkey, etc. but without that handful of occasionally elite sides.

Flow of older talent coming the other way (Beckham, Henry, Keane, back to Valderrama, etc.) is all well and good for drumming up interest here, but real interest can be had of sending out players of our own and proving that MLS can be a launching pad for some elite guys.

...

“M.L.S. has become a destination league for top young players in the region,” said Patrick McCabe, a Boston-based player agent.

In 2006, M.L.S. counted 36 players from the Caribbean, Central America and South America. By last April, the number was 107, a 197 percent increase over six years and a 37 percent rise from March 2011. In those six years, the league has grown to 19 teams from a dozen, but the number of American- and Canadian-born players is up only 35 percent.

...

More players appear to be choosing M.L.S. first, hoping to boost their stock for Europe. The league’s increased attractiveness to these soccer migrants is underscored by the number of Brazilians, Argentines and Colombians it has attracted.

Players from those countries are often valued on the transfer market, with the Brazilians and Argentines the most popular, making up 20 percent of all international transfers registered by FIFA in 2011, equivalent to more than 1,500 players. Colombians were the fifth-most-transferred players in the world.

In the first decade of M.L.S., 8 to 22 players from those three countries made at least one appearance each season. By last March 21, 57 players from Brazil, Argentina and Colombia were on M.L.S. payrolls. And they are typically younger and more promising than in years past.

Fredy Montero was a two-time top scorer in the Colombian leagues and had already made three senior national team appearances as a 21-year-old in 2009. He picked the expansion Seattle Sounders over a Spanish club, Real Betis, and several Mexican teams. Montero said of M.L.S., “I felt it was a good place to prepare me for my future, which may be in Europe.”

At 18, Fabián Castillo was one of the top prospects in Colombia when he decided in March 2011 that Dallas would be the best place to develop. He rejected advances from the Portuguese powerhouse Benfica and the Italian Serie A club Brescia.

Darren Mattocks, 21, a forward from Jamaica, opted for M.L.S. over the Danish club Brondby, joining the 10 Jamaicans regularly called to their national team who are already in the league.

“I always wanted to go to Europe right away, but I thought M.L.S. would be a good starting point for my career,” Mattocks said. “It was a better offer and it was closer to home. Denmark is so far away from Jamaica.”

As M.L.S. has solidified and grown, money for better talent has become available.

“Players like Montero are in an economic space that we just weren’t in four or five years ago,” said Todd Durbin, the league’s executive vice president. “We’re in that space today, and it’s connected us with the global community.”

M.L.S. stimulated its clubs’ entry into the highly speculative market for young international prospects with favorable terms. While veteran designated players — the league’s dispensation program for pricey stars — count against the salary cap at $350,000 each, no matter how much they make, designated players who are 23 or younger count for only $200,000 and those under 20 count for $150,000.

Previously, teams could keep only a capped third of their transfer revenue, having to surrender the rest to the league, but they now get to keep two-thirds with no limitations, further inflating the teams’ purchasing power and incentive to invest.

The increased visibility in M.L.S. is attractive to the players, who also benefit from the league’s financial stability compared with some leagues in their home countries.

The improved level of play has increased the attention paid to M.L.S. players worldwide.

“Every year, the interest level from European teams increases,” said McCabe, who recently brokered the sale of the American defender Tim Ream from the Red Bulls to Bolton Wanderers, then in England’s Premier League, for $3 million. “Top clubs now have full-time scouts based in the U.S. and are regularly monitoring players’ development” in M.L.S.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/05/s...ne-to-europe-for-promising-young-players.html

So far, Landon Donovan has really been the only guy to flow the other way and have some real measure of success, and even then it's on loan spells. The dude is tied to Galaxy, and I don't blame him. He will keep making around $5million a year and get to play a mile from his longtime home as long as he likes.

But if Pappa can make it to Wigan and succeed, it could finally start the trend of MLS being a real launching pad for talent into Europe. And the number of South Americans and Central Americans seeing this trend is evident from the article.
 
#40
#40
This is actually a fairly new development, and would be very good for the league overall.

First, if I remember the article right, if Pappa can sign with Wigan (and there are some legal hoops to jump through) then he would be the first Guatemalan to star in the English top flight.

But second rate leagues becoming a launching pad to the Premier League or the other major European clubs has actually worked out fairly well; sure, they actually do go on to the highest levels a'la Porto or Ajax, but for now achieving that level would be great. I currently view MLS as on the level with the leagues in Portugal, Netherlands, Turkey, etc. but without that handful of occasionally elite sides.

Flow of older talent coming the other way (Beckham, Henry, Keane, back to Valderrama, etc.) is all well and good for drumming up interest here, but real interest can be had of sending out players of our own and proving that MLS can be a launching pad for some elite guys.



http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/05/s...ne-to-europe-for-promising-young-players.html

So far, Landon Donovan has really been the only guy to flow the other way and have some real measure of success, and even then it's on loan spells. The dude is tied to Galaxy, and I don't blame him. He will keep making around $5million a year and get to play a mile from his longtime home as long as he likes.

But if Pappa can make it to Wigan and succeed, it could finally start the trend of MLS being a real launching pad for talent into Europe. And the number of South Americans and Central Americans seeing this trend is evident from the article.
good points and good read. do you think it would be a step of growth for mls or become the mls identity? will traveling south americans move the american needle on tv and pack stadiums?
 
#41
#41
i believe the first and foremost test for MLS is to compete with the mexican La Primera for talent, which may be obtainable in the next 10 yrs outside of Chivas and America.
 
#42
#42
good points and good read. do you think it would be a step of growth for mls or become the mls identity? will traveling south americans move the american needle on tv and pack stadiums?

Identity. I don't foresee us matching wages and fees seen in Europe's big 5. As mentioned, each MLS club gets two designated players whom they can pay whatever they want, most of these guys make $1.5mil-$2mil. That would put them at about the average in England.

But as a closer location with higher wages and a more stable economy for Central and South Americans to come and launch their careers into Europe, the possibility is definitely there for that.

The quality needs to keep improving though. The leagues in both Mexico and Brazil are still ahead of MLS.
 
#43
#43
i believe the first and foremost test for MLS is to compete with the mexican La Primera for talent, which may be obtainable in the next 10 yrs outside of Chivas and America.

Couple of things...

Chivas USA is basically a farm club for Guadalajara, and I wouldn't look to Mexico. Rafa Marquez is basically the only Mexican of significant quality on a lengthy stint the US.

Much of Mexico isn't really third world, and have been able to pay their guys and that will continue. Their international squad is consistently very good, and almost all of them still play in Mexico. Not just for Chivas and America, but UANL, Monterrey, Azul, and a few others. Where I would look is central and most of south America, particularly Brazil and Argentina, and of course Colombia.
 
#44
#44
if MLS became a talent funnel to Europethen maybe MLS could hope for some quality loans from Europe in the summer, someday. prob not likely but would be really good for MLS interest in the US, having some stars play while in their prime.
 
#45
#45
if MLS became a talent funnel to Europethen maybe MLS could hope for some quality loans from Europe in the summer, someday. prob not likely but would be really good for MLS interest in the US, having some stars play while in their prime.

That's highly unlikely for a couple reasons.

- It's during the summer, most quality guys just want some time off.
- There is a significant injury risk in MLS, some of the refs make PL officials look stricter than La Liga, and half the pitches in the league are awful.
- The biggest is probably wage issues, no European clubs are going to take twenty cents on the dollar and risk having a star come over here and get injured.
- Likewise, MLS sides likely won't be keen to keep designated player spots open so they can get one quality guy only in the middle of the season, when there are increasingly more up and coming Latino stars looking for a more modest seven figure wage for a couple years in hopes to make the move to Europe.

As far as talent coming in from Europe, it's probably going to continue to be aging stars looking for a $4-5mil payday for a couple years.
 
#47
#47
Speaking of MLS, I'm going to be in Colorado July 20th through the 29th, and was thinking of a taking in a Colorado Rapids game. My questions - are they followed well and would it be worth going? There appears to be two home games, one against Swansea City in a friendly, and the other against Seattle. Which should I go to?
 
#48
#48
If youre cool with seeing a half b squad of a middling premier league team, go with swansea. Seattle has been on a slump but still has lots of talent by mls standards.

Colorado doesn't have a serious support culture like the portlands, seattles and chicagos of the league. There is some.

I'd say go for the league game. Should be a decent match.
 
#49
#49
If youre cool with seeing a half b squad of a middling premier league team, go with swansea. Seattle has been on a slump but still has lots of talent by mls standards.

Colorado doesn't have a serious support culture like the portlands, seattles and chicagos of the league. There is some.

I'd say go for the league game. Should be a decent match.

Think I'll go with your advice. It will be the 28th, which is a Saturday night and my last night there. A good excuse to go out with a bang.
 
#50
#50
Now that the MLS is at least progressing from a no-name league to one that's at least considered decent by international standards, interest in friendlies with major opponents is dwindling. Man City came and played the Timbers at the UofP campus a couple years ago, and the fanfare was crazy. They did bring Adebayor, Joe Hart, Bellamy and a few other starters.

Valencia came and played a couple months ago here, and most people didn't care all that much, except for some Valencia fans from around the western US. Same seems to be the case for our upcoming friendly with the Villans, and most of the other friendlies around the league.

Apparently the exception to this rule is the World Football Challenge, which as I understand it has clubs and players contractually obligated to bring a decent sized chunk of their starting XI, and provides a significant payout. Some notable games from that...

Seattle vs. Chelsea
Chelsea vs. PSG at Yankee Stadium
Chelsea vs. AC Milan at the OB
LA Galaxy vs. Real Madrid
Real Madrid vs. AC Milan at Yankee Stadium
 

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