I really don't think you understand how soccer works. Carleton probably would have got minutes yesterday if Atlanta had been a couple of goals up. He's made 7 appearances this season for AU2 with 1 goal and hasn't exactly set the place on fire. Players develop at different speeds. There have been plenty of teenage phenoms over the years who've failed to make the grade. John Bostock was playing in the Crystal Palace first team at 15. After 5 years and no appearances for Spurs he's now playing in the Belgian second division aged 23. That's a cautionary tale. If Carleton went to a top league he probably wouldn't even make the reserve team and in 5 years time could be the new Freddy Adu.
It's ironic that you question my soccer IQ, then pretend like stats are the be all end-all. On ATL II, Carleton easily stands out. Anyone with two eyeballs can see how good he is on that team, along with his play for the YNT. In his substitute appearances, the pittances Tata gives him, he doesn't look out of place (see his Open Cup minutes, for example). This is a prospect who is highly rated, at least as highly rated as prospects in his age group that are already overseas (e.g Sargent, Weah). We'll see how he turns out, but I'd be willing to bet this is more akin to EPB (frozen out of MLS, goes on to have success elsewhere) than Adu (given loads of playing time, never improved because of no work ethic).
Lol! You've not watched much League One soccer have you? MLS works. Without MLS we'd be back to 1990 when indoor soccer was more popular than outdoor soccer and college graduates couldn't afford to stay in the game. NASL was formed by crooks and run by charlatans. Now it's bogged down by lawsuits. The only recourse US Soccer would have is to work with the State Department to reduce the number of visas for overseas soccer players. But the USMNT played excellently against France with a mix of 5 or 6 young MLS academy graduates, US players based overseas and dual nationals. So we know the core midfield and defensive players going forward, we just need some strikers.
That's your choice. But people around the world turn out to watch lesser leagues while others prefer to watch the top global teams from the comfort of their armchairs. I choose to watch a League Two team when I travel to the UK, you're welcome to scoff in my direction. I don't think that anyone disagrees that the best players should play in the best leagues just like French, Dutch and Portuguese players do. MLS' role should be to develop world-class players who'll most likely end up in Europe.
Nobody says it doesn't. How about I put this another way. If we hadn't crashed out of World Cup Qualifying with a team of MLS All-Stars, we probably either don't have this conversation at all, or it's postponed until an ancient Bruce Arena MLS-heavy team is bounced from the GS of the WC. The league provides stable professional soccer at a nebulously-high level (it depends who you ask). It provides uneven opportunities for youth player development (See FCD vs. LAG). It occasionally is the platform on which American players showcase themselves for the loftier heights of European clubs. It is improving in many areas. There are some areas for improvement. But since we crashed out of WCQ on a waterlogged Trinidadian field, I'm not in the mood for appreciating the fact that Garber gets a cool 15 million of every expansion fee, a fee that has grown 10X what it was a decade ago. I'm not in the mood to ogle ATL's new stadium, or DCU's stadium plans. I want to talk about how a handful of teams continue to produce all of the best prospects, and why the others aren't following suit. I want to talk about where the league is going to go as its expansion requests continue to pile up. I want to talk about why I still have to watch games in the outfield of Yankee Stadium, and in Foxboro Massachusetts. It's easy to say "bask in what we've done" if everything's fine. I don't care that the Earthquakes have a really nice stadium anymore. Why? Because it's been a couple of years, and the team still blows. If the team was doing well, I'd be appreciating the infrastructure more.
the impression was that I was holding MLS back by paying attention to EPL or English Champ soccer and not MLS which is a dumb argument. In regards to the national team, MLS has a purpose, its to provide a base of reserves and up and coming players that can support the European based players when playing together. There are exceptions of course, Landon Donovan being the main one, but when the natty team is at its best, its top players are Euro based. The day of the T&T game, there were only 4 or 5 euro based players on the squad...
The rising number is due to the fact that kids with talents (=not developed) are visible now for Euro scouts. Selection from the not so talented has been done and when those kids appear in matches they are now seen. Before this there was no way foreign scouts had the time to look at all the kids to do the sifting proces. So the rising number isnot necesarily because of the development success but comes from the visibility of talents.
Three of the four teams that placed ahead of us in qualifying draw most of their key players from MLS, and have starters who sit on MLS benches. We could literally pick any eleven American MLS starters at random, and we'd have a lineup with better individual talent than Panama and Honduras. That's why we were able to crush Honduras 6-0 and Panama 4-0 at home. This failure was a combination of tactical errors, arrogance, and mental lapses.
The USSF hired Arena to replace the hapless headcase. The fact that he picked inferior MLS players over European based ones is down to him, not MLS. Interestingly, this is Klinsmann's team that drew 0-0 in Trinidad. And this is Arena's that lost 2-1 in Trinidad. I blame Bradley as much as Klinsmann and Arena. He's clearly not the player that he thinks he is.
MLS has no duty to the USMNT other than to do it's best to uncover and develop talent. The USSF, MLS, NASL, USL and other parties are working together under the umbrella of the USSDA. There's obviously an allegiance, patriotism some may call it, and commercially both the league and the national team benefits from each others' successes It didn't stop European clubs signing top American players in the 1990s.
I love MLS, because I just want something LOCAL, that I can attend in person, and drink beer at the tailgate party and not have to watch games that start at 7 am, I don't care about the "quality" of play, LOL.
What about salaries? You don't think $53k (E45) is enough for a teenager? It's more than the US average household income. Andrew Carleton is turned 18 last week makes $75k basic. Alphonso Davies who is 17 makes $72.5k (significantly underpaid) while Jeremy Ebobisse who still hasn't pinned down a regular slot in Portland's first team makes $140k basic.
One should be payed by one's contribution to the result of the club in relation to the other players salaries, not by your age.
Of course they are. I'm asking if you 45,000 Euros is a good salary for a teenage player just starting his career. The minimum salary for a senior squad player is $73,000. The minimum salary for a reserve player is $53,000. How does that compare to Holland in light of your earlier comment about MLS underpaying youngsters (which I've just realized may be in another thread). I know in England back in the 1980s "apprentice" received a training allowance which was about the same as unemployment pay.
Depends on the market. You're not living very well in Boston on those salaries. Depends on the teenager and his opportunities as well FCD reportedly offered Weston McKennie the largest homegrown contract in MLS history. WHich I think is still held by Jordan Morris of Seattle at $225k/year. That salary offer was almost identical to what Bremen offered per year. Kids like Weston McKennie and Jordan (who was a little older) had leverage due to other teams/leagues being interested. FCD's most recent homegrown signing, defender Chris Richards, is on a salary of $125k guaranteed compensation. He can't actually play in MLS games this season. Brandon Servania is on $186k guaranteed compensation. Paxton Pomykal is on $90k. Why is Brandon's twice of Paxton Pomykals? Good question, but we heard he had options in Mexico. Leverage. So the salaries for homegrown players keep going up........................particularly if kids have options. A kid who wants to go pro at 16 without a Euro/Mexican passport has no options. Play in the academy for free for a few years or sign a homegrown deal for a minimal salary. If you're Andrew Carleton..................you might as well get paid. He JUST turned 18 this past week. By the way, many of these teens are signing USL deals first. Tyler Adams of NYRB did that. Then after a year or two of good play, they're signed to the MLS deals you've listed above. And as the academy system and USLPro reserve teams grow, that's going to be an increasingly common avenue. There's also such a thing as academy contracts at USL teams. Auston Trusty had one of those with Bethlehem Steel until he signed a homegrown deal with Philadelphia. Those contracts allow kids to maintain NCAA eligibility..........................