https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2018...tails-vancouver-whitecaps-frustrations-emerge Goalkeeper Stefan Marinovic noted that the cultural divide between players of different backgrounds that, to some extent, is inevitable in all dressing rooms in MLS, was more pronounced in Vancouver. "In the teams that I've been with before, I've never seen a team that had such a lot of cliques," Marinovic said. "From what I understand from talking to players here and around the league, that is synonymous with MLS that you're going to have certain cliques. "You're going to have the North American clique or you're going to have a Latino clique. That definitely was apparent here and I think there's a lot of clubs in MLS that are like that. Here it became difficult because we weren't doing too well. It became more apparent when certain people got away with things that they shouldn't, in the eyes of the rest of the team. It doesn't really build a strong team culture." --------------------------- Looking at MLS from the outside, I've long wondered about the way things really are behind the scenes on some of these teams. Especially after looking at the salary report: https://mlsplayers.org/resources/salary-guide It has got to be weird when certain players are making 50-70k but playing very well and others who are not doing much getting millions on the same team. Like what is the dynamic between Movsisyan getting 2 million and brandon vincent getting 144k? or raheem edwards on 55k? Or a kei kamara getting 1 million and alphonso davies getting 70k? ------------------- On top of that, the players are expected to keep everything "in house" and never be honest in the press. Soccer culture among players in the US is so conservative and buttoned up, imo. Side-topic but I really think MLS and USMNT could benefit from some "personality" and outspokeness...but that is heavily frowned upon it seems. --------------------------- back to cliques - Seems certain MLS teams are dominated by the foreign contingent - and some are more amenable to domestic players - but that type of thing is never aired out in public - it is "dirty laundry".... I can't imagine being a domestic player on one of these teams like NYCFC or Montreal that is dominated by foreigners - must be a weird experience to be an outcast in your own country....and know that that is probably holding you back from professional success.
Its all about leadership and culture. MLS really needs coaches and captains who excel in inculcating cultural humility.
Ah, good... whatever the hell that means... I think a "buttoned up" culture is supposed to be a culture where players are humble and don't air dirty laundry publicly. Players are paid to be professional and take grievances in-house. I don't think there's much wrong with it in theory. You wouldn't want someone who's dissatisfied with something to whine to the press about it, that tends to hurt egos and feelings. On the other hand, you could just give players free rein to express themselves, perhaps creating a more fun and productive environment. I think it boils down to the fact that it's hard to strike a balance between the two modes of sporting/clubhouse culture, so teams tend to default to the conservative approach because it's perhaps a little easier to implement. "Don't say anything" is a far easier rule to enforce evenly than "Please don't say anything too crazy".
Cultural humility is the disposition by which you appreciate other peoples' right to their cultures as much as you appreciate your own, and encourage people to cross over boundaries and bond with people who are different than they are. Most North American futbolistas have this built into their experience, or used to when I played at least. I'm sure that its difficult if you come from an insular country like Honduras or El Salvador or some of the more isolated African or Asian countries.
And in the past others have described MLS as more tight-knit compared to the colder brand of competitive atmosphere often seen in Europe. As always it's probably a matter of individual circumstance. A non-playoff team having some specific issues probably isn't a stand-in for the entire league.
In the mid 70's I played on a PDL level team in Florida that had whites, blacks, Cubans, & Brazilians and a white South African coach. At the beginning, there were definitely cultural divides and the coach didn't care about any of that off the field or in the locker room. But if he saw any of it on the field, that player(s) sat on the bench no matter how good he/they were. It took a month before we really gelled as a team on the field which then translated to better relationships off the field. I'd imagine most coaches handle multi-cultural teams that way....
IDK it's not hard to guess which MLS teams this might be a problem on....most of the MLS teams that don't play many domestic players are coached by non-USA people. If the coach or organization doesnt seem to want to play domestics players much its gotta be tough for those domestics players to get on the field and deal with the locker room dynamics. I think the United States is so inclusive and multi-cultural and a lot of other places in the world aren't, that many MLS observers (coming from an inclusive mindset) might be overlooking how divided some of these teams might be behind closed doors....
yeah I think about other sports in the USA and its all about the cult of personality....its the big egos and personalities that drive interest a lot of the time. I've long wondered why soccer has to be the "buttoned up" sport - that and golf maybe - I would think MLS would want these players' personalities and controversies etc cuz that drives fan interest....but the soccer culture in the US is so conservative and "everything in-house"......its weird to me - even if just from a marketing perspective.
It's possible the "buttoned up" sport image might have to do with the traditional image of soccer in America as the sport of "Communists", "Foreigners", and other "undesirables" in American society, so soccer fans and players in America felt the need to not be controversial. The generations of suspicion and even outright hostility towards soccer by American society might have caused soccer players and fans here to act lower profile than other "red-blooded American" sports in order to keep the sport alive in this country.
We've had unbuttoned players. Mathis, Dempsey, EJ. Bedoya has been known to say what he wants (and Altidore fired back). Wynalda has always had his too-cool-for-school niche. I think the bigger issue is soccer's overall place in our sporting culture. No soccer player gets the constant spotlight here, and without the spotlight there's less reason to keep a colorful persona going. Plus the on-field stuff will always take center stage. CP pretty much only speaks in vanilla sports cliches, and I doubt many will care as long as he keeps a high level.
Ever heard of baseball? Heck, they're literally and figuratively "buttoning up" every time they take the field. Don't flip your bat, don't showboat, don't talk back to the ump or to the opposing pitcher. There are dozens of "unwritten rules" that keep the game even more conservative than it could be within the laws of the game. Football is somewhat the same, though that's the result of corporate governance and the lack of player visibility. Really, the only sport that is driven by the cult of personality in the US is basketball. It's LeBron vs. Durant, not so much LA Lakers vs. the Warriors. This is because of a conscious effort by the NBA, and it simply does not work well for baseball or football. For baseball, there are too many games, players aren't involved enough in the game, and rosters are too big to build around the players. Every once in a while, you get a transcendent talent like Bonds, Trout, or Harper, but it's tough to push individuals against schlepps from AAA over the course of 160-ish games. For football, you don't see player's faces, the only one you might know is the QB and maybe a skill player or one defender if they're especially good, and then there are 50-ish other nobodies you rarely hear about.
traditionally, yeah that's plausible. But in this modern era of social media and social influencers and building brands and fortunes off of mere attention - I'm surprised there hasnt been more "crossover" soccer atheletes that have used their - although off the beaten spotlight of being an MLS player or USMNT player - to kind of capture attention and in turn, help grow the sport. MLS has been around for 20+ years now.... MLS needs "lightning rods" imo...but I think the culture of the sport and MLS frowns on that type of behavior big-time - and I don't really quite understand why - especially given that everything in MLS is basically bottom line dollar sign.
I think baseball wants the personalities but players like trout arent interested in putting themselves out there. The NFL is like big brother to its players but you still see some outlandish and wild personalities come out - i mean - not to mention the whole kneeling phenomenon - I'm not saying MLS needs that. But it is refreshing to see people take stands and actually be themselves in a way. I feel like soccer players are super PC and just say what they are told to say - especially on the national team level and its annoying - I think it comes down to they (soccer players) have much less relative power and wealth than the other sports - and can be much more easily ostracized if they step out of line. If Donovan can be kicked off the team then no one is safe. But it does make some sense for MLS to follow the NFL lead in management of player engagement with public and media - there are a bunch of NFL guys running the league now (Garber, Kraft, Hunts, Blank, etc) so it makes sense that they want MLS to be similar. I just feel like there is a lot of unsaid things bubbling beneath the surface in players' minds that never gets out b/c they know it would mean they are pretty much "done"
MLB is built around people not making waves. If you do a HR trot too slowly, you're getting beaned next AB. Bautista got literally knocked out for bat flips and looking. If that's not "buttoned up", IDK what to tell you. Trout and Harper are fairly quiet, yes, but they're also from a long line of quiet star baseball players. Did you ever hear much from Hank Aaron? Bonds was only talkative because of the steroid scandals. I never hear a peep out of guys like Judge, Betts, etc. That's by design. And as for the bolded, what did the NFL do? Crack down. You can't even wear non-regulation socks, or celebrate too wildly. It's called the No Fun League for a reason, and it is not changing. You might be on to something with MLS having NFL guy roots. Single-entity helps this as well. Keep the boat from rocking, hopefully everyone benefits.
I think the bolded is a big mistake. MLS is - or should want to be but isn't - a disrupter on the American sports landscape. "Don't rock the boat" might be what the NFL and other leagues want from MLS - but to disrupt things and shake up the order - rocking the boat is exactly what needs to be done.
...If your contention is that MLS is conservative because of NFL executives in it (Kraft, Hunt, and other owners have NFL roots), I think you're onto something. From what I can see, MLS is making money hand over first, giant expansion fees, and an almost entirely modern league (CBus, Chicago, and NER are the few remaining MLS 1.0 holdovers, NYCFC too since they have that crap field, but they are new) seems to indicate that their strategy is working. At least for the owners.
Yeah. If he had come from the NBA things may have been different. Of all of our sports the NBA has been the best at "marketing" thanks largely to what Stern did in the Magic/Bird era. The game was on the ropes when those 2 hit the league and they were smart enough to see how to build it back up on the basis of individuals. Now as far as BASKETBALL goes, the game is a joke today, but it is now more entertainment than sport. But as a MARKETING phenomenon the NBA is close to the gold standard of American sports. Course it is easier in hoops with only 5 players on the floor at a time so you don't need 25-30 players. If you look at Euro teams, the top ones use similar marketing. The name players draw the crowds and rack up numbers for TV. In the US it has been the same way. When some big name foreigner arrives, all of a sudden that teams games are sold out all over the country. You'd think the powers that be in the league office would cotton on to this and make more of an effort to get their stars and potential stars out there. Baffling really.