Also, Rubin spent a year with a Timbers-affiliated youth club (though not the Timbers academy proper) just before going to Europe.
When he left there was almost no proper MLS-Timbers academy, only affiliates. Even Brent Richards, signed in 2012 never played for a true Timbers academy, but was on Gavin Wilkinson's (Timbers GM) youth club. MLS "grandfathered" him in.
Zack Steffen 23 (Philadelphia Union) Bill Hamid 27 (DC United) DeAndre Yedlin 24 (Seattle Sounders) Matt Miazga 22 (New York Red Bulls) Erik Palmer-Brown 20 (Sporting KC) Jorge Villafaña 28 (Chivas USA) Wil Trapp 25 (Columbus Crew) Shaq Moore 21 (FC Dallas) Cristian Roldan 22 (Seattle Sounders) Marky Delgado 22 (Chivas USA) Tim Weah 18 (New York Red Bulls) Tyler Adams 19 (New York Red Bulls) Rubio Rubin 22 (Portland Timbers) Eric Lichaj 29 (Chicago Fire) Others Bobby Wood 24 Andrija Novakovich 21 Darlington Nagbe 27 Cameron Carter-Vickers 20 (England nat.) Kenny Saief 24 (Israel nat.) Antonee Robinson (England nat.)
I watched an English league Two playoff game tonight. Based on that I think USL is a higher standard.
I've watched MLS since 1996, though I only started following a specific team in 2000 when I moved from Houston to LA for college. I've gone to most of Sacramento Republic's USL home games and a few Open Cup games. And when MLS streamed its inaugural match on the 20th anniversary, I watched it and it confirmed the opinion I already had. MLS had a few big stars in 1996, but the rank-and-file USL player today is better than the rank-and-file MLS player in 1996. The average starting fullback in the USL today has better first touch under pressure than many MLS strikers and wingers in the 90s had under no pressure. Even with their stars, I think only three or four MLS teams from 1996 would be expected to make the USL playoffs in 2018.
10 years of stats to prove that MLS has improved. Semi finalists in the CCL since 2008: 2008/09 = ZERO MLS 2009/10 = ZERO MLS ---—--------- before here zero MLS teams made it to the semis 2010/11 = 1 MLS 2011/12 = 1 MLS ---------------- before here only 1 MLS team made it 2012/13 = 2 MLS 2013/14 = ZERO MLS 2014/15 = 1 MLS 2015/16 = ZERO MLS ------------------- before here only 1 year had 2 MLS 2016/17 = 2 MLS 2017/18 = 2 MLS There were couple setbacks in 2014 and 2016, but the last 2 CCLs have been decent with 2 MLS semifinalists.
People (especially Brits) used to say that MLS was the equivalent of League One (D3). Today I think USL is as good (or bad) as League One.
Maybe expanding on my point above: I think one of the most telling things in the development of a soccer country is the technical ability of its fullbacks. One of the reasons MLS was so poor in the early years was the relative lack of attacking threat from overlapping fullbacks, which made teams predictable going forward. That's where the US player pool has seen the most improvement. Looking at the 1996 MLS rosters... James Kiffe, who has spent his entire pro career in the USL so far (Reno this season and Sacramento previously), would be the best attacking left back in MLS in 1996, and a top-3 all-around left back.
Was it before they introduced Targeted Allocation Money ($1.2m per year) and Discretionary Targeted Allocation Money ($2.8m) which could have doubled the number of players earning >$500k. Anyway Average comp MLS - $373,525 (top heavy) Average salary EFL Championship - $648,938.04 Average salary League One - $90,423.29 If you happened to take out the 8 lowest earners at each MLS club representing reserve and supplemental players, the average total comp becomes $527,715 (median $202,000) Also, I'd suggest Championship players tend to be overpaid while MLS players tend to be underpaid. But that's just my gut feel.
You're kidding yourself if you think there are only two players in MLS earning more than $500,000. In the chart of salaries on the Players Association website, I just counted 125 of them.
I don't know if what I said was before TAM. Given what you said, it's easy to be in between League Championship and League One considering League Championship averages over 7 times as much.
My bad. Sorry. I'm not good at detecting sarcasm, and I'm sure that there are people out there who really do believe that there are only two.
Yes it's interesting because if you actually compare the standard of Championship and MLS games I don't think it's that different. Tactically, MLS teams tend to try and pass the ball from end to end whereas Championship teams are much more direct. But it seems ridiculous that a mid-table team like Norwich can afford 15 players earning > $1 million yet are not carrying any significant debt.
They get good attendance by League Championship standards. They were 21st in England in average attendance including all levels. In 2014-2015 they won the promotion playoff, and they were 16th in England in average attendance.
Gotta love those EPL Parachute Payments..........if they don't make it back to the EPL next season, their roster will likely see an overhaul. Aston Villa's roster will have a fairly serious makeover this off season as there parachute payments are ending. Those parachute payments are worth MORE than the US TV deal that MLS has. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...Premier-League-parachute-payments-review.html
The idea that a league (any league) is not improving is dead wrong to me. I think over the years the quality of the game we love improved around the world. Maybe the rate of improvement of MLS isn't as fast as before (law of diminishing returns?) or the "gap" isn't narrowing as some fans expected. But I don't see how MLS stoped improving... Zlatan made a comparison between MLS and EPF which is spot on IMHO notice that he think MLS is improving.
Not in Eastern Europe, where some of the best players in the world used to play, mainly because they weren't allowed to leave their country without a swarm of Stasi (or equivalent) agents around them.