Respectfully, again as someone who has seen a ton of each of these leagues, I have to disagree. I'll give you maybe one win out of ten if Liga MX was in AFC. I think K-League or J-League teams could pull off home wins as MLS teams have done, but playing in Mexico is brutal. Often at altitude, with anywhere from 40,000-70,000 hostile fans screaming at you, throwing bags of piss on you, shining laser lights in your eyes the entire match. MLS teams have frequently taken 2-3 goal leads into the leg in Mexico only to absolutely crumble on Mexican soil. On Vissel Kobe, all I can comment on is the player in common with MLS - David Villa. He'd aged out in MLS, still a decent player but nowhere close to what he was in his first year or two. Of the current "big names" in MLS, Rooney had a good first season in large part because he came to the league with no ego and played his ass off. He was a true team player and made everyone around him better, consequently DC had a good run in the second half of their season and made the playoffs but were eliminated first round. Zlatan was hit or miss, scored a lot of goals but had no impact really on his team which was terrible and finished outside of the playoffs. Schweinsteiger was good in his first year, last year had little impact and his team was absolutely dire. Villa was decent, his team made the playoffs but was trounced second round by Atlanta. NYCFC was the only team in the final 8 that had a true "euro star" (Villa). None of the final 4 teams did. Other guys that have been in MLS in recent years were generally failures - Gerrard was awful, Lampard was awful, Pirlo was mediocre at best, etc. As to depth, again I'd agree with you 3 years ago. Like I said, though, the introduction of TAM was aimed at strengthening roster spots 4-9. As a result, most teams now have a high level of quality that runs much deeper than even 3 years ago.
This will be never ending debate, each making a case for their own league of preference. Home advantage & etc, I think I can easily make the same case for Asia too (perhaps not the crazy altitude, granted.. there are few places in Asia). As for TAM, good deal for MLS. League has too many obscure rules to keep up on top of salary cap but that is still close to 4 to perhaps 9 player deep compared to much more balanced squads in Asia where you get a decent 14-18 player rotation squads. Anyways, Liga MX... unlike in CONCACAF, will have far more competition in AFC where clubs can match their resource (while Chinese & ME might even purchase top players from Liga MX away). I'm sticking with AFC at least winning half compared to none out of 10.
The first part we can definitely agree on. Hopefully someday the salary cap and all the nonsense rules go away. Second part, to be clear I'm not saying 9 deep. Teams run 9 high quality players deep and another 5-8 pretty decent.
Difference in opinion. From the games I watched & etc, including rosters of each MLS clubs... I see about 4 to 5 quality players and perhaps about 4 decent afterwards. Steep drop in quality after them.
I never argued that 3-4 players make a team good. What are you talking about? I'm saying that Korean players, coaches and even the NT is too good for its own domestic league.
So your claim is that profitably has no correlation with the strength of the league? If this is so, then the big Europeans leagues must be completely shite. But on the notion that K-League has players that actually qualified for the World Cup - Ok, don't disagree. But the MLS has more.
If you really think that any AFC team can win Liga MX, you've simply got to be out of your mind. I'd argue that an AFC team could win the MLS Cup but Liga MX? Nah. LOL.
Chinese, sure. But Japan? Nope. Recent string of losses to Japanese youth sides on 8-a-side football. And these losses were complete domination. I've played Korean ball. It's extremely tactical compared to the West and I imagine Japan. This is why you get results at the youth stage. Each player is a machine, all do what they're instructed. Take out 3 players, however, these kids get lost and have no idea on how to adapt. Yep. And it's not really a bet. I'm not talking about the big ticket players. I'm just talking about regular CONCACAF players. The MLS could probably field 3 full teams of players that have played in the World Cup. K-League cannot field a single team. Perhaps. But that's only today. Again, as said previously, I don't think I would've considered the MLS to be stronger than the K-League five years ago. But today? Who knows? In five years, at this pace? No chance that a K-League team would win the MLS. Said nobody ever.
Not to get too buried, I don't think AFC clubs would win 50% of the time. But point taken. I think we're in agreement that Liga MX is a great (and better) league. I don't think anyone in here argues that MLS is quality. I do think that they're much better, on average, than a K-League side. It's been a decade since I've watched the J-League so no comment (although, I don't think Jeonbuk can win the J-League). Also, rapid expansion equally applies to K and J.
Obviously varies by team as with any league. Last season Atlanta had players on the bench that would walk into most other teams as starters (no surprise they won MLS Cup). Other teams are as you describe. But with each season, the league as a whole is moving in the Atlanta direction rather than the other way. Was looking at DC United's starting lineup for a preseason friendly yesterday, a team that has been pretty mediocre in recent years, and there wasn't a weak spot in the starting XI. My team, Houston, has cheap owners and the lowest payroll in the league. We look a lot more like what you describe (and that's being generous).
Prediction & not current state of MLS. Yes, not even a debate as far as the quality of Liga MX is concerned imo. Mexico definitely has football history & culture that can't be ignored too. At the same time, I maintain AFC will win 50% (Liga MX winning the other half still means they are dominant). Unlike in CONCACAF, they can't simply waltz through the group stage & to latter rounds of continental championship by using backups imo in AFC. Far more competition & "richer" clubs in AFC. As for Jeonbuk & etc, yes.. I do believe they can win the J League. I personally believe they will be contenders every year in J League. Overall, the corporate clubs are about J1 lvl.... the few citizen clubs (such as Gyeongnam) are J1 lvl clubs too. That is at least 3/4th of K1 clubs that are J1 lvl imo. I don't think the league as a whole is as strong (definitely not as healthy) as J League as J2 & J3 are strong unlike K2 imo but I wouldn't knock on K1 too much (btw, this is coming from a guy who pays nearly 100 bucks a year to watch J League & w/ a rep where I do nothing but trash K League in this forum). edit - btw, i don't know the history of K League as well as you (majority of others in this forum I believe). however, how did K League expand too rapidly? Of the past few yrs I have followed, I have only witnessed clubs disappearing in K2. Same with J League? How did it expand too quickly unless you meant lower division.
Nobody ever mention Liga MX aside from you and Tagline. Learn to read for the love of God. Of course, Liga MX is superior to MLS. MLS ain't even second best in the region when your clubs are losing to Costa Rican clubs in CONCACAF CL.
Yep, nobody mentioned Liga MX. I mean, except for you in your first post that started this absurd discussion about the relevance of continental championships in comparing leagues..
Lol imagine thinking either KLeague or MLS is relevant at ALL in football. Both sides are shit, sit down you chimps you aren't Ajax
I don't think anyone thinks MLS is good. But GookLeague is shit too. HIB is a shit player, he isn't better than the MLS. If he were he would've been offered more than 1 mil by midtable teams. It's as if Koreans actually think Korea produces more than one authentic talent a generation...get a grip.
Young people don't think so intently on which soccer league is a little bit better or not... where did you get this idea? I just looked up foreign goal scorers in bundesliga there seems to be lots of Chinese players who scored goals in bundesliga .. i feel as if there could be tons of Chinese soccer professionals in mls or k league