I'll probably forget someone because there have been a lot of guys retiring this year. I know MLS has seen the retirement of players with some good pedigrees in the past, but there is a ton of MLS/US experience in this year's group: Jaime Moreno Brian McBride Steve Ralston Seth Stammler Mike Petke Eddie Lewis Chris Klein Clint Mathis Alecko Eskandarian (?) - seriously, how many American players in recent years have had their careers derailed because of head injuries? Zac Herold's retirement was also a sad event for different reasons. If MLS were like the other big American sports leagues, we'd already be counting down the days until a Hall of Fame class was inducted headed by Clint Mathis, Brian McBride, Steve Ralston, and Jaime Moreno. Damn. I'm going to wrap this up like Ives: How does this year's group compare to other years'? What if Berhalter and/or some others join them? Will some of these players stay involved with the sport after their retirement & how may that affect future players. I think Ralston has already joined the coaching ranks.
there's been word that Twellman will finally quit stealing from NER and retire at the end of the season too.
Damn, that's too bad. If he could have stayed healthy he would be right up there with Moreno and Jeff Cunningham for the goals lead.
I was thinking the same thing until I remembered Twellman signed for what $30K scored all those goals early and NER wouldn't renegotiate. I think it's payback time.
Hopefully Pete Vagenas and Tyrone Marshall aren't far behind. Isn't CJ Brown going to retire (again)?
Stealing? Really? Like said before he started scoring lots of goals for almost nothing. The Revs did renegotiate before that deal was through, but that's not the point. The man wasn't hurt surfing or doing some other non-soccer-related activity. He was injured in service to the Revs (scoring a goal even). His contract couldn't be broken because he was injured as per CBA and good common sense. He's been trying to come back, but so far he hasn't regained health. He did himself more damage by playing for 8 games after the injury and then by coming back too soon the next year. It's not a case of him taking the money with no intent to return to health. Yes, it's unfortunate for the Revs that his salary counts against the cap despite his unavailability to play, but that doesn't in any way make him a thief. He signed a contract with the League. He's holding up his end and the League is holding up its end. As per the topic, it'll be interesting to see the number of games, goals, assists, etc... retiring from the league this year. There's a lot of league history leaving already with a bit more likely before we're through.
There's been word that you'll start posting intelligently too, but I'm not holding my breath on either.
How do you retire from a retirement league? You just go back to playing in MLS I guess. Once you join MLS, YOU CAN NEVER LEAVE!
Yep. Looks like C.J. is adding his 13 years to the list. Okay . . . Ralston still retired during 2010. With Eskandarian, has he ever officially announced it? I know he was trying to come back, but now he has gone back to Virginia, correct?
Just remembered another one: John Wolyniec. New York and Los Angeles are definitely taking the biggest hits with retirements this season. Chicago is losing a couple of leaders on an already bad team also.
Now Taylor Twellman is added to the list. Its crazy how much experience and accomplishments MLS is losing in this class.
There will be a silver lining if they turn that experience into coaching and help train up future talent.
Keep an eye for Guillermo Barros Schelotto Word in South America is that he might be done. Just a rumor right now.
MLS may not see a retiring class like this for many more years. When all is said and done and we find out just how big this class is, I'd love to see how many goals scored, awards, championships, and other stats (World Cup appearances) this class has racked up. Just going by memory, its pretty impressive. There was a time within the past decade that this contingent would've made possibly the deadliest core of a team MLS has ever seen.
We can only hope. Those guys have a lot to give to the future of American soccer for so many reasons.
I plan on doing a piece after the season to at least try to compare it to other years in MLS. I don't know if I'll be able to find all of the information possible though. Hopefully scaryice can help me out a bit.
I'd def read that. Do you have a blog or a website? And Joe Cleats post is fantastics. This class, upon reading it, is impressive. I'd say we won't see a class like this in maybe 7 to 10 years. Maybe more.
I've been writing for The Shin Guardian lately. I'll be covering the Columbus match this weekend. I'm not going to hope Columbus loses, but it will be quite something if I end up covering Guillermo Barros Schelotto's final soccer match.
Nick Garcia may be going too....wait, sorry, that's just wishful thinking on the part of 98% of TFC fans....