Long term D2 feasibility probably requires there be two conferences. 6-10 teams in the East, 6-10 teams in the west. Canada probably needs to become involved - Edmonton now, Ottawa confirmed. Victoria has stated they will move up to pro someday, Hamilton wants a team. And what Edmonton gets, Calgary wants, so I expect Calgary to join. Winnipeg also wants a team. Yes, this is a selfish perspective from Canada's point of view, but the money and support the Canuck teams can potentially bring would add feasibility to the league. I expect you'll see Quebec City and/or Maritimes and/or Okanagan in British Columbia try to develop NASL or at least USL Pro teams within 10 years. So NASL can grow, and should be happy with that. NASL will never be MLS and shouldn't try. But who is to say they can't become a serious partner with MLS as a feeder/developer (loans) system for MLS while also standing on its own feet. Whitecaps have touched-on supporting NASL further by entering a team, Montreal has said the same. Cosmos could do well to move a team into NASL next year before a jump to MLS (100 million!!!! no way). I am a big fan of NASL and understand why it needs to exist. The question should rather be though - what of the USL Pro.
I've thought for some time that the way MLS regulates player loans is a huge impediment to player development. IIRC, MLS players who go out on loan are still counted against the salary cap. So unless a team is significantly under the cap, or unless they just want to open up a roster slot to bring in another low salary player, there's not much incentive for an MLS team to loan out its players ... even if it would be beneficial in the long run by effectively increasing the value of those players as they gain more experience. I would love to see some arrangement where MLS teams were allowed to keep a certain amount of players (e.g. a max of four) out on loan to other D2/D3 clubs. You could even limit this pool to its own salary cap. For example, each team could have a maximum of 4 players or $200k in total player salaries on loan at any given time that would not be applied to the general salary cap. The benefits I could see would be twofold: 1.) It gives NASL teams a potential source of players that they could use to fill out their rosters and lessen the financial burden of fielding a squad. For example, NASL might only have to pick up 25% of the player's wage (with MLS covering the remainder) instead of going onto the open market and paying full price 2.) It would allow MLS teams to take a longer term approach to player development instead of cycling through players ever couple of years when they don't develop quickly enough (usually due to not getting enough real match experience)
Nice points. But this crap is one of the reasons why I dislike MLS so much. (I know all about the tragic history of all the previous attempts at pro soccer in the US, yadda yadda...) MLS is not about developing good US soccer players, IMO. They're more about growing the brand of soccer. There's a distinct difference.
I don't know about every case, but when Beckham was in Milan twice, his salary wasn't counted against our cap.
72% to 28% I wonder how much different this is from Copa de el Rey, FA Cup and what ever the French call their cup (tour de France I think ).
Either Manchester United is much better this year, or MLS is a lot worse. ...What? I can't apply mathematical logic?
So by my count ... from the 2010-11 FA Cup, the EPL v. Non-EPL record was as follows .... Code: Round 3 Round 4 ================= ================== W D L W D L ================= ================== 14 4 4 5 1 0 ================= ================== Round 5 Round 6 ================= ================== W D L W D L ================= ================== 4 1 1 1 0 0 ================== ================== Overall =================== W D L =================== 24 6 5 =================== 69% 17% 14% Since the FA Cup allows draws and then replays to determines who advances, it's not a straight comparison the the USOC. If you just want to look at who advances, then ... Code: Round 3 Round 4 ================= ================== W D L W D L ================= ================= 14 0 4 5 0 0 ================= ================= Round 5 Round 6 ================= ================== W D L W D L ================= ================== 4 0 1 1 0 0 ================= ================== Overall =================== W D L =================== 24 0 5 =================== 83% 0% 17% Whether this result is typical over time remains to be seen. More to come ...
Sorry, that always makes me chuckle, Why didn't you put Toronto there also? Yes, MLS opened an expansion bid process and made those teams apply, pay and go. They had all said for years, quite openly, there goal was MLS, yet, MLS swooped in to snatch them away. Cherry picked them.
Toronto FC was never in NASL. The Toronto Lynx is a completely different franchise playing PDL now. TFC is a ground-up 5 year old team.
True, but that's a technicality. The cries of MLS stealing and cherry picking teams has gone on forever and yes, it still makes me chuckle. Why didn't they cherry pick the Rhinos in their heyday? The D2 Toronto owner was furious and guaranteed MLS would fail in TFC. He was very vocal and rather rude and loud about it. The best chance D2 ever had at even attempting to compete with MLS was about 7 to 10 years ago. Even then it was an extreme long shot. The only owner who ever really wanted to was Saputo, and it is impossible to believe pretty much anything that comes out of his mouth. No one forced or cherry picked anyone. It's a myth. I've followed the game here for 40 years and quite honestly the only way I see D2 truly working is by regionalizing it. Our country is to big, expenses to great, committed owners and fans to that cause way to few. Any other scenario is decades down the road.
How is TFC being a different franchise than Toronto Lynx a technicality when it comes to discussing clubs being cherry picked from NASL. Lynx nor TFC were ever in NASL. TFC didn't exist. Lynx owner has nothing to complain about - they could have sought partnerships with owners (ie, MLSE) and created his own MLS team and called it the Lynx. But they didn't - or MLS-level ownership groups wanted nothing to do with the Lynx. Regardless there is no technicality. Lynx nor TFC were ever in NASL.
OK, if you want to go at it that way then ... ... big D2 fans who constantly complain about MLS stealing their teams have zero to complain about either. Correct? Those established teams made the jump on their own, willingly, away from D2. They didn't want to be in D2 because it was D2. That's all. If you want to go back and forth over semantics that's fine. My point was simply that MLS has never stolen, cherry picked or forced any D2 teams out of D2. That's what always makes me chuckle. The consistent inferences that evil MLS made them do it. They all ponied up on their own and went on their own because they wanted to. Can't be clearer than that.
Erm, I never said MLS cherry-picked any teams. That was another poster named Bklyn Royals Fan. You said "Why didn't you put Toronto there also?" re: MLS cherry-picking teams. To which I responded that TFC (nor the Lynx) were ever in NASL and thus not part of the discussion. Can I be clearer? Also to be clear - I don't believe MLS cherry-picked anyone. Vancouver, Seattle, Portland. Montreal all moved-up to MLS of their own volition. MLS could have given the franchises to other cities.
This is pretty funny. I hope you understand my demeanor here. It's casual, simple and not all that big of a deal. Yes, you didn't say cherry picked, I can read. I was responding to that quote and it is what amuses me about many D2 guys over the years. It never goes away even though it has zero merit. Chucklesome. Yes, your technicality about the Lynx is right. I was just generalizing about D2 overall over all these years. I just lump them all into one category as I have seen so many permutations of D2 I don't even think about whatever name is out there at the time. Odds are it will be a different name in 5 years. In short this is about a whole to of nothing. No biggie either way.
So it seems that Non-MLS teams beat out their MLS counterparts about 10% more of the time than lower division English clubs knock off their EPL cousins. Make of that what you will. Code: ===================================================================== EPL v. Non-EPL Head-to-Head Results FA Cup ===================================================================== W D L Advanced Eliminated ===================================================================== 2008-09 24 9 5 --- 24 5 63% 24% 13% --- 83% 17% 2009-10 26 8 6 --- 26 6 65% 20% 15% --- 81% 19% 2010-11 24 6 5 --- 24 5 69% 17% 14% --- 83% 17% ===================================================================== Total 74 23 16 --- 74 16 65% 20% 14% --- 82% 18% =====================================================================
So can somebody explain to me even though it's a friendly, how MLS fans think their teams have a far greater quality in play than D2. FCTB 1-0 Bolton Bolton 2-0 Houston Orlando 1-0 Newcastle and then this..... http://sports.yahoo.com/soccer/news?slug=ap-newcastle-crew
no just some teams I can see carolina.FCTB and even orlando which shouldn't be in D3 compete in MLS. have you watched any of the friendlies look at the quality....
It's the nature of friendlies. An example from this week... http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/sport/p...es/charleston_battery_xi_2_pompey_2_1_2890068 A quote from the article... "The Blues slumped to a 2-0 deficit against a Charleston Battery XI side made up of college kids and fringe players." They seemed grateful to pull off the tie. Friendlies? They mean nothing.
For your own sanity, it's not good to put stock in friendlies. It's why KC can beat Man Utd , it's why the Galaxy reserves can tie Manchester City, it's why one of the worst teams in MLS history, the 2010 version of DC United can crush Portsmouth, beat Milan and the Salvadorean national team. They plain just don't matter, results wise. Teams in preseason wanting to get to fitness without getting injured + teams in season wanting to not get worn out and not getting injured + heavy squad rotations = non-uniform results. I have nothing against the NASL and I'd love to see the league either develop into a strong and profitable D-2 or even challenge MLS, but pretending it's something it's not isn't going to get you anywhere.
Another example of how most teams regard pre-season friendlies... "Portsmouth of the English League Championship closes out its trip to America on Wednesday night with an exhibition game against the Charleston Battery of the United Soccer Leagues. “It will be all about the performance for me,” [Portsmouth coach Steve] Cotterill said. “We don’t have to win the game. As long as it’s entertaining and there are no serious injuries, it will be good.” http://sports.yahoo.com/soccer/news?slug=ap-portsmouth-charleston