Yes I believe that the Mexican League is better......Salcido plays their bcuz of money and only PSV and Ajax matter in that league, I mean how much damage does dutch teams do in the CL? Also in Mexico you see every other championship with a different team becoming champion unlike the Eredvisie. I think Mexican league is better becuz it more watchable then the dutch league. Am sure other big teams look in to the dutch league to buy players but what teams are those? Ajax and PSV and no one else..... not that other dutch clubs dont sell players but its those two the main talented power houses (Ajax & PSV).. As for Ruiz not making it in the Greek league whatever look at how he plays for Puebla!
FC Twente are also on the rise finishing 4th in 2006-2007 and 2007-2008....finishing 2nd in 2008-2009....and currently in 1st place. They also had very impressive wins in this years Europa League beating quality sides like Fenerbache in Turkey and beating Werder Bremen at home. They also drew against Sporting Lisbon in the Champions League qualifier in Portugal 0-0 and 1-1 at home. Ruiz scores a nice goal! I wish McClaren would be a little more offensive but i understand that the main goal at this point is to win the 3 points no matter how it's done. Twente need to win 3 out of the 4 matches left to guarantee the title unless Ajax or PSV lose . It's going to be tough since Twente need to visit a hot AZ Alkmaar team and receive Feyenoord at home.
Twente historically are the fourth club of the Netherlands in terms of league performance. No club outside the traditional top three (Ajax, Feyenoord, PSV) finished in the top three more often than Twente has. Twente are not a small club to Dutch standards. I just wanted to clarify that.
AZ are not increasing their stadium capacity - this cracks me up actually. AZ had two successful eras in its history - both times that was thanks to a sugardaddy. Now that their latest sugardaddy has gone bankrupt, they are faced with enormous financial problems and they have to let go of their best players this summer because of it. Expanding their stadium? Hehehe. They can't even fill their current stadium. They have never had anywhere near the fanbase Twente has historically had (and indeed a bunch of other Dutch clubs have had) not even at the height of their success. AZ is a small club and always will be owing to its small fanbase and small caption area. The only way they will ever get back to winning the league is when the next billionaire stands up and takes a fancy to them. Twente meanwhile has always relied solely on local and regional support and a myriad of sponsors rather than one sugardaddy. And Twente by contrast IS expanding its stadium again this summer, and simultaneously its budget to jump over Feyenoord's notably (who by the way are another club up financial shite creek, again in contrast to Twente who are profitable). The reason I'm telling you all of this is because I find the lack of knowledge about the Dutch league quite shocking. By the way, it is not like the Mexicans are lighting up the Dutch league. They are more often the subject of ridicule in fact. And I say that while I've no problem either with PSV or with Mexican footballers in general.
The Mexicans are defenders, you can't possible lighted up playing defense. Maza Rodriguez was one of the worst players for Chivas and now he starts for PSV. Salcido has dropped his form since he got there, I'd rather have Salcido 2005, 2006 than the present one. Moreno was a pretty good young CB, but again was just establishing himself with Pumas before moving to AZ. I'm surprised by Ruiz, because everytime Costa Rica plays Mexico he disappears. I remember when Mexico went down to Costa Rica for the qualifier and the media was talking about Costa Rica's important players, they were all mentioning Centeno, Borges, and Saborio no one ever brought up Ruiz. Part of it is ignorance and part of it is because Ruiz never gave them any reason to talk about him. Torrado kept him in check all game. I swear Costa Rica didn't even get a shot off until injury time. Against the Americans though the guy has blinders, he owns them. As far as the league goes, I've said it before the Mexican league has declined. Yet I don't think the Dutch league is better. To be fair, I don't think they are worse either, its pretty even. The thing that makes me question the Dutch league is guys like Luis Suarez scoring goals after goals. No one can deny that he is a very good player, but to score the amount of goals he has just make me question the competitiveness of the league as a whole. Suarez scored what 5 goals during the WC qualifiers? Chupete, Botero, Abreu, Cabanas, Maldonado guys who play or played in the Mexican league scored more goals than him in qualifiers, so I can imagine the numbers they could put up in the Netherlands.
Ruiz has been criticized by everyone on his performances with the NT....it wasn't just against Mexico he played bad (i think anyone would've beaten us that night even USA who we own in Saprissa )...he only stepped up in the end against USA in Washington and against Uruguay in the 1st leg and some moments in el Centenario. I even got mad at his performances but i think all of us wanted him to be the leader when he proved he wasn't ready. He has been improving every year and all of us ticos can only hope it will start showing on the NT very soon. Wanchope had some rough moments at the same age even receiving death threats...then we all now how much better he got with the NT. Bryan Ruiz will be our next Wanchope Here's a nice video from the Dutch on Ruiz ... [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZbbdFzlBrM"]YouTube- My name is Ruiz, Bryan Ruiz[/ame]
That's more or less when he started getting really good for Twente. I think this is the first season where he's gone to the next level. For the national team he match up fine with some of Costa Rica's younger midfielders from the past U-20, who all seem to be a class above their predecessors in my opinion.
I posted this on the first page but it got deleted. What other CONCACAF player has scored 20+ goals in a top european league this season? -He's 4 matches away from leading the 5th best team of the eredivisie to a never-before title. -Has scored 23 league goals at this point, plus a handful of goals in other competitions. -Dutch statistics say he scores 1 out of every 2 shots he gets. -The eredivisie is a TOP league in europe whether you guys like it or not, Ronaldo himself played for PSV before signing for Barcelona back in the 90s, come on, I can't believe I'm reading people say the eredivisie isn't a top league, and that the mexican league is better, for god's sake how bitter can you be? -Ruiz is considered by pretty much all dutch media to be the best or second best player of the eredivise this season(contested with Luis Suarez whos a few scored more goals). -There is a pretty monumental chance he WILL leave Twente for a top-tier team after this season, if anything he'll stay at Twente for one more season, but he's definitely destined for the european spotlight and european media are already starting to take notice. I ask, what other concacaf player is doing stuff like that at the moment?
There are sourced reports in English that the AZ board of directors has voted to expand the capacity to 30,000 (from 17k) by 2012. Perhaps this won't come to pass and maybe there have been local developments, but there were concrete plans to add seats quite recently. But I agree that the Dutch league is better than the Mexican league, although not miles better.
On that night, no one but Mexico (Gio y 10 mas) could have beaten you guys there. Give Mexico some credit. The ticos played bad football because Mexico played great football and Mexico simply came to play. The dutch league is better because they're in Europe, that's what makes them 'better'. Honestly though, in regards with top clubs, if Chivas and PSV played a home and away, I don't know who would take it. It's close, but what turns me off from the dutch league are the small, non competitive teams that fill the league. PSV, Feyenoord, Ajax, Twente are very legit teams though. I respect those clubs and their history.
we'd have to dismiss every single league that isn't the spanish, british, or italian then.. If the dutch league is filled with filler then what is the mexican league filled with? or you guys really think all 20 mexican teams are top? Yeah you got Chivas, America, and who else? I'm talking about teams that would compete against Ajax, PSV, Feyenoord, Twente, AZ, etc..
Along with the two big teams Cruz Azul Pumas Pachuca Toluca I like how you stopped after AZ because really you can't name any team after that. The leagues are even, you can make a case for both to be honest Did you watch the Willem II v PSV game today? my god that was a horrible match I think both leagues to be honest have dropped their level from 4 or 5 years ago.
It's because both leagues sell their star players...Mexico might not sell as much as the dutch...but a couple years ago Mexico wasn't selling players to Europe since the Mexican league pays really well...but now Mexican players are leaving even for less money to Europe...Mexican league has even been selling foreign players like Chelito, Benitez, Franco, and Silva to Europe. Both leagues aren't as competitive as they were a few years back...but i would still say Eredivisie is a better league just because of its European history...and i'm pretty sure if you ask most players...they would pick to play in Eredivisie because of the Ajax, PSV, Twente, Feyenoord, and AZ Alkmaar. But the Mexican league is good too.
If the dutch could keep their star players from going to the top clubs from Europe...they would have great runs in the CL like PSV a few years ago with Guss Hiddink...but top clubs and leagues always look at the Eredivisie for talent. Look at FC Twente...they sold Elijero Elia to Hamburg SV and loaned out Marko Arnautovic to Inter Milan. And now Bryan Ruiz might be leaving to Sevilla. Blaise N'Kufo is also leaving to the MLS because of family issues. Miroslav Stoch might also be headed back to Chelsea from his loan....it's hard for the Dutch clubs to keep their star players especially when they are strong clubs.
Trust me, I have been saying the same thing in the Mexican forum. Getting neg reps and all. There you go going by Rep Come on now be honest outside of the Netherlands people aren't familiar with Dutch teams not named Ajax and PSV okay maybe Feyenoord also. But Twente and AZ are not names. I saw the PSV v Willem II game today. They were slower than a Toluca game at midday. Atleast Toluca has an excuse, playing at altitude in the heat. Whats PSV's and Willem II's excuse? this is getting silly and off topic I just think that club play can not be the only factor when talking about a player, if that was the case than Kenwynne Jones would have to be discussed. For me its both club and country in that case it would be between, Wilson Palacios, Andres Guardado, and Tim Howard
The thing is, if the dutch league isn't famous, then there's no way in hell the mexican league is. Bottomline is, the eredivisie is revelant globally, it's recognized as a top european league and as such it receives that type of coverage and recognition, it always has. After the top 3-4 global leagues, ie premier league, la liga, calcio, and bundesliga, eredivisie is always recognized to be the next after those. Do you think the mexican league creates as much interest globally as the dutch league? absolutely not. The mexican league is for mexicans and mexicans living in the US and that's about it, literally. It might be a huge league because Mexico is a huge country, but you can't just put it above the netherlands' league just like that. Do you honestly think teams like Pumas and Pachuca are as big globally as teams like PSV and Feyenoord? I grew up in latin america and even as a child I knew about Ajax, PSV and the likes, never in my mind did I dream about one day playing for "Chivas Guadalajara" or any mexican team for that matter, the mexican league is relevant only to mexicans, it's a strange phenomenon given its huge budget and commercialism but it's true.
how can you say that when many central and south american country player aspire to play over here... and in a lot of those countries they follow mexican soccer more than their own.. Also of course they have better history but we are talking about current form
As long as even young Mexican players jump at the chance to play for a Dutch side while I can't think of a single Dutch player who's ever made a move to Mexico, I don't really understand what this discussion is about. It's a BIG myth that players earn a lot of money in the Dutch league. Our richest club is Ajax and they're on a budget of a premiership relegation side, and Twente has exactly half of Ajax's budget at just over thirty million Euros. According to research this season, the average wages of a Dutch eredivisie player are three hundred thousand Euros. You can't convince me that that's a lot more than Mexico's top clubs pay. I'm not even saying the Dutch league is a top league in Europe and I don't know enough about the Mexican league to even begin to compare the two. I am saying that the Dutch league a) has extremely high coaching, tactical, youth development and management standards b) has produced more individual talent than the Mexican league has over the past three decades and that b) Europe's elite clubs love to do their shopping in the Netherlands. Dismissing the Dutch league as such is rather silly. The Dutch league has extreme financial limitations even compared to Germany and France let alone England and Spain owing to limited television revenues (which is a direct result of population size). It has a proven track record of developing talent and improving players in general though. Why do you think the Dutch national team continues to perform consistently on a high level?
I doubt anybody would ever 'aspire' to end up in the Mexican league.. a lot(probably most) of players end up goin there for monetary reasons, a few semi-notable players from european/south american teams end up going over there later on in their careers to try it out.. but the mexican league being some kind of dream destination for young players anywhere is a straight up paradox, not even central americans, I think MLS is probably much more enticing for them.. nobody dreams of playing in Mexico, it only attracts people because there's lots of money involved.
Unless your from Suriname or the Netherlands Antilles I don't know anyone on this side of the world that aspires to go to the Dutch league. come on now, the top teams (PSV and Ajax) pay more than in Mexico thats why Salcido and Maza went. Moreno went because he was getting payed more by AZ, since Pumas notoriously underpays their young players. speaking of the Netherlands Antilles, you'd think a team plagued with players from the Dutch league would be able to atleast get by Haiti in qualification. If you were to tell me that a team made up mostly from players from a league better than Mexico's were to compete in Concacaf, I would have thought they would have stood a good chance in qualifying. Instead of going out in the 1st round. As far as Central Americans preferring to go to MLS over the Mexican league well I think those Central Americans are being more realistic with their chances.
The FMF is all about parity, Santos can beat America, which can beat Pumas, which can beat Pachuca which can beat whoever in the league. The only teams that are usually are at a disadvantage are the recently promoted teams. So yes, most teams can compete pretty well. Lot's of Americans watch the FMF as well. Just look on this very board alone and check how much knowledge people have about the league in general. You really don't know shit and you come across as condescending. What are you anyway? A jealous Central American or something? I've seen Argies and Central Americans in interviews saying landing in Europe or in Mexico some day would be an excellent move for their careers. Fans from some South American countries would much rather have their players land in Mexico over staying in their own country. I've actually seen threads where players were ridiculed for choosing the MLS (a retirement home) over a better option. I would much rather play for America, Pumas, Toluca or Cruz Azul instead of the Rapids, Wizards, Earthquakes or some other glorified AYSO team.