We were playing Villafana and Beasley in 2017 quals so I feel like we were firmly in the playing solid pro territory. What do you think of his defense? I felt like he was a plus as they made the CCL run.
Morrow was called in by Arena and discarded. He was called in by Sarachan and discarded. He is old now.
Very true. Morrow got his first cap and start under JK at Cupcake 2013, he was OK against a bunkering Canada. IIRC, 2 months later with Johnson and Chandler injury-unavailable he was called into the camp for the 2nd and 3rd HEX matches. After 3 days in camp Klinsmann had the now famous conversation which DMB recounted as taking 10 seconds: "Beas are you OK with playing LB"? Answer: "sure". That was that. We need to just accept that some of our players are just not international quality!
somewhat surprisng news out of Charlotte today. Not only are they in, but theyre in in 2021. So Nashville, Miami 2020 Austin, Charlotte 2021 St Louis, Sacramento 2022 thatll round it at 30. I think we will be standing pat for awhile.
Another example of need to call in before a certain age, probably 25, but I havent made a deep study of it. Old dog new tricks thing kicks in at some point. I try to bring it up once in a while because I think too many of our managers have had a "this is no time for experiments" attitude (as they prepare for a friendly vs. Nepal) or they think they will wait for the player to develop further. Over the years the counter-argument was always that the national team doesn't develop players - it had to happen at club. This lead to overlooking the Matt Hedges', Finlays', Morrows' and finding out too late that it's too late for them when it comes to the international game. What to do? Call Sciaretta, get the CYA thesis ready for publication, decry "talent gap" in 28 yr olds. Having said all that, Morrow did develop very late and found the right team in Toronto where he could do that up and down wing-back thing. I believe he is the only wingback to score a hat trick in MLS.
Funny but true. Croatia gave a 30 year old MLS striker guys first cap this year. I guess their coach is a bit more flexible.
I wonder how many incremental Americans will be added to the total MLS rosters when all these teams join. I’m hoping it’s a large percentage but I’m thinking it won’t be.
Who the hell knows. For all the potential improvement in domestic talent via academies, the league sure seems happy to water it all down with quick expansion. It really muddies the water for those of us interested in judging whether and to what degree the academy focus that started however many years ago (5?) is successful.
hopefully we can see a large number of DA teenagers sold to the majors. That would be a huge indicator of DA success IMO and hopefully a profitable one for good academies.
We don't have a thread for how many teams we should aim for and how they should be separated/ scheduled. At the moment I feel like we should have west, centra, southl and east with 10 teams each and north playing in the south the first 4 games (minimum). Vancouver-Seattle-Portland-San Jose-Sacramento-Galaxy-LAFC-(San Diego, Phoenix + 1) Houston-Dallas-SaltLake-Denver-KC-StLouis-Chicago-Minny-Austin-(SanAntonio,) Montreal-Toronto-NE-Nycf-Rbulls-Philly-DC-Columbus-Cincy-Pittsburgh Nashville-Atlanta-Charlotte-Miami-Orlando-?Tampa-Richmond-Birmingham-Louisville-Jacksonville?)
with 40 teams maybe we really could have promotion and regulation and two 20 teams leagues. FWIW, I’m not a pro/rel supporter.
With 52 weeks in a year, it is fascinating figuring out the various trophy possibilities altho it's not easy. I'd like to aim at year round soccer with the exception of time off between the week before thanksgiving and the new year. I would also like to see competition with Mexico and, perhaps, conmenbol teams. I would ditch the US Open Cup for starters.
I think it would work with the season starting in the south around Feb 1. You would create a culture of travelling fans, the idea being inspired by seeing Jets fans at Dolphins games in Miami in December, e.g. Chicago Fire fans would probably love to take a vacation on the redneck Riviera in Texas in February. There's plenty Canadians in Florida in February. Vancouver denizens wouldn't mind a trip to California in February, I'm sure. At the same time, the league would move the action north in the summer when somebody in Phoenix would be more than happy to leave the 120F heat for a nice day in Vancouver.
Had my former Yugoslav counties mixed mixed up. https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2019...res-dramatic-game-winner-czech-republic-debut
The money train of growing expansion fees provides a strong incentive for the league to continue to grow. At some point they'll need to find a new revenue stream, however.
I'm not sure they'll stop until no more big money wants in. I do think they will have to split into divisions with promotion / relegation inside the MLS divisions but not including other non-MLS leagues. They'd be smart to go the Mexican route and have Spring and Fall champions and a game between both champions. US Open Cup would become more important instead of less as it gives MLS second division (or third down to infinity) chances to knock off and play teams in the top division. Rapid rises and falls based on two seasons a year and Open Cup play should leave plenty of trophies to win and lots of movement and interplay.
If Vegas and/or Phoenix comes in with a 500 million plus expansion bid that checks all boxes, MLS aint saying no. Key of course being, checks off all boxes. I do suspect the expansion fee for 31 and 32 will skyrocket
It sucks for the fans, but I also wonder if we'll start seeing more battles to poach existing franchises like we kinda saw with the Crew and have seen quite frequently in other sports leagues in the US. I could imagine, say, Vegas, Phoenix, or San Antonio trying to poach a team like the Dynamo if those cities get shut out of the expansion slots and the Dynamo continues to struggle.
I would definitely be in favor of a more regional game. That would surely help attendance and excitement. When SJ plays Orlando, nobody gives a crap except the hardcore fans. When SJ plays either LA team, all of a sudden sports radio acknowledges soccer, and the non-soccer fan can instinctively feel a desire to "Beat LA". It'd be nice to have that, plus more intense rivalries with Seattle, Portland, etc, more often.