Not true. They are great players. I haven't seen enough of Miguel Almiron but from what I read and the little I saw of him, he was impressive and a great age for the league.He can even be sold for a profit in 5 years time. You can't do that with an Over 35/36 year old though. Ignacio Piatti was 29 when he came but he was also a great signing. I'd rather sign him than a 36 year old Marco DiVaio or a 38 year old Drogba. To me those signings are detrimental to the league but the players you listed are if anything , great signings and what clubs should sign more of or rather, under 28's.
I never posted anything about a goalkeeper. Who cares about an old GK who never runs? I'm talking about spending millions upon millions on an older 38 year old offensive midfielder or forward who can't score , run and who is riding the bench.
Or you know, check your avatar Falvo. George Best joined the Quakes when he was almost a decade into his vacation years.
Your statement was "38 year old washed up players". Tijm Howard is 38 years old and last time I checked, a goalkeeper was a player.
His posting history suggests he has a hard time with the concept that other fans might be different than him.
No I never thought about or cared about a Gk. Dino Zoff won a WC at 40. That is a different story. Only older offensive player I know who scored a goal in a WC was Roger Milla and Martin Palermo.
Sure, and then you have guys like Mike Burns, who would be out of his depth pushing a shopping cart full of empties, claiming that no MLS team even has scouts, and that's why he and Heaps have such an abysmal record of signing players. Sure, the blind squirrell sometimes finds a nut every now and again, but even a competent team isn't going to be able to compete with Udinese or a similar club for players.
Vacation? He most surely was not. Best at least came at 30 and retired at 35. He was drunk half the time but George was a God and the greatest player I have ever saw in person. He had incredible talent and next to Pele was the best player in the world.
I think one of those defenders he smoked like a cheap cigar was none other than former Mutiny, Revs and DC United coach Thomas (w)Rongen, a.k.a. de Grote Kaas.
Rongen got burned twice I believe. Same with Ken Fogarty and Colin Fowles (RIP) who was lighting fast and Best beat them as well on that goal and towards the end of that game and in the OT. I've yet seen a player like him and never in San Jose. No one even close to the player he was.
Lothar Mattheus was Bundesliga Player of the Year at 39. Preki was MLS Player of the Year at 40. Shit happens.
At least Preki was American or at least played for the USMNT. Too bad he didn't make what Lothar did. He had maybe 2/3 shots on goal a few assists , went to Dubai mid season and made a $1 million. His signing was a waste but then he was probably better than Innocent Emeghara.
Loathesome Matthaus was a useless piece of crap when he played here. He was the very definition of the term "mailing it in."
A 38 year old Youri Djorkaeff also ended up in Germany during the 2006 WC during that years current MLS season. He was spotted on TV cheering on France and I think was even arrested for a speeding ticket he had received a few years earlier while playing for Kaiserslautern that he never paid.
Its clear that you either didn't read what I wrote or you just don't get it. There aren't enough Falvo's in the world to sustain MLS and to get MLS to where it wants to go. There just aren't. Now you just said you haven't seen Almiron very much, even though Atlanta is on national television nearly every week. Which tells me that you don't even watch MLS. You just complain about it. For every Drogba, this league is signing 6 Almirons. That is just a fact. Now you don't want MLS to sign any Drogbas. But like I said, there aren't enough Flavos in the world to sustain MLS growth doing things the way that Falvo wants to do things. Just look at which teams have the best away attendance in the league. It is ALWAYS the teams with the big name stars. Always. Why do you think that is? It is because there are more people who care about seeing stars than there are Falvos. And the league needs to appeal to both groups.
I've seen that goal once or twice. Doesn't aid your case about avoiding older big name European stars looking for a cushy victory lap (which I generally, reflexively agree with, btw.) According to wikipedia anyway, George Best was born in May 1946. Announced his first retirement from football in 1972. Joined the SJ Earthquakes in 1980. Played a few seasons. (And nobody played like George Best.) Won your heart and loyalty forever.
No he was hanging in for another few years or so playing in lesser divisions but his last team was San Jose. He was going to play for Northern Ireland in 1982 but they preferred a player who played for the Tulsa Roughnecks. Maybe you weren't there or were too young to remember but I can assure you next to Chinaglia , Granitza, Alberto , Cubillas ,Marsh and maybe Franz, Best was the man. I think he was even better than Johan Cruyff. I haven't seen player like him or any of those guys in 20+ years of MLS.
First of all Atlanta just started and I saw them maybe twice. Secondly, I said nothing about the player you posted. If anything if you go back and read, I said this is the age and type of player more clubs across the league should sign more of. Also, I don't believe those so called over 38 year old superstars always increase attendance. If they do , I think they hinder those numbers the next year. How many fans bought a ticket to boo Frank Lampard in July or watch Pirlo sitting on a bench? Drogba was on the bench during g a crucial playoff game and fans knew he was not playing but they still went to see the game. Aside from any of this , why are you arguing? Only because I posted I want to see the league sign more under 25's instead of over 35's? Which fan who knows and understands the game wouldn't want that? I'm not complaining , I simply stated this is what the league should sign more of. I don't see why it's such a crime to post that or why I can't believe this. Nothing has changed for me to sway against that line of thinking and I stand by this belief. To each his own though,
They mentioned him in the first film as well. Interesting story when he was with Man U, he drove his car into a men's clothing store, walked out with a new suite and no one said a word about it as he was a God in Manchester. It may not be documented but that is a true story.
MLS will gain more credibility as it becomes a selling league. Once European start to see MLS players signing for European clubs for $10, $15, $20 million on a regular basis they'll sit up and take notice. On the subject of developing players, according to my less than reliable arithmetic, there are 94 HGPs in the league of which 47 signed in the last 2 seasons. Drove into a clothing store and walked out with two chairs and a sofa. Now that's class!