Rob Stone: US Manager shortlist is Ramos, Tata Martino, Marsch, Berhalter, Friedel, Osorio & Vermes.

Oh no, we need revenue! How do we solve this problem? MLS geniuses, let us change it to single playoff games, but allow 20 teams to enter the playoffs!!!! Boom!!! We are so smart!!

 

It's not just a case of MLS not being able to develop young attacking talent but being able to keep them.

Sargent trained with SKC and Weah with the Red Bulls but given the option they both chose Europe.

Gooch was at Sunderland by the time he was 10, Wood in Berlin at 15, Morris would have been in Germany in his teens if it had been up to JK and Pulisic with his golden passport never considered MLS.

Alvarez will probably end up in Liga MX and playing for Mexico.

Now what's up with Carleton?

 

I would be surprised to ever see him play meaningful minutes on the USMNT.
He's got good vision, and given time and space he appears to be able to execute on his vision. But there's not much time and space at the international level, even in CONCACAF.

 

And it's not like MLS is developing all these foreign attacking talents either. The best players are guys that were bought in their primes. That may change as teams like Atlanta bring in younger attacking talent.

It's something the whole league struggles with. And probably why they just buy their attacking creativity all the time. They can't develop players very well, let alone with any consistency.

 

Same issue. The best young players go to Europe. MLS collects the rejects like Martinez and Adi.

 

Hi @bungadiri ,

Perhaps asking people to engage thoughts as opposed merely to accusing others of being paranoid and insane would also be helpful. The poster to whom I replied says one thing over and over, and it is always a combination of insult and fortune-telling.

 

Tabla and Davies. Sold to Barcelona and Bayern respectively.

 

2 players who didn't take part in global junior tournaments by virtue of being Canadian. If they'd been American they may have been picked off earlier.

 

As smart as the NFL geniuses.

 

Yep. But I'll also bet you that the context in Canada favors the professional clubs a lot more and is closer to what is seen in Europe. Second, regardless of that aspect, MLS clubs have recently shown that they can develop attacking players. We need to see more consistency and volume but the value of those two transfers may be the start of a new paradigm for MLS.

 

You know I love you. It's ok.

 

Ironically, that decision is being made under the pretense that the regular season shouldn’t matter more, ergo let’s expand the playoffs to let more teams in.

 

Vancouver paid out a solidarity payment to Davies' junior club. I think TFC have done the same.

Apparently MLSPU is willing to bend as part of the CBA agreement but the legality of solidarity payments in the US remains unclear.

 

It may be expanded to 14. This year 14 teams went into the last weekend of the regular season with a chance of winning the MLS Cup.

Meanwhile Ligue 1 and Serie A have been pretty much wrapped up and without Champions League and Europa Cup qualification a dozen major clubs would have nothing to play for.

Playoffs are popular with American fans.

I'm from a European background so I'm used to deciding titles over a full season but I've really enjoyed Portland's post season run.

And my team were promoted in successive seasons via playoffs in England, so they're not all bad

 

disclaimer: I am not a lawyer so anything I say can and probably is incorrect....

The one BIG issue I have with solidarity payments here in the US is the fact that the clubs generally are not free.
If the player is already paying the club for their services (training), then I don't see how the solidarity payments should go to the club. That would be like double dipping. If anything, the solidarity payments would go to the player/players parents because they are the ones footing the expenses of training and development...of course that doesn't really make much sense either as they are reaping the rewards with the contract. In short, I don't believe that any club should have the legal right to solidarity payments from MLS or any other entity to reimburse them for their expenses.

IF the clubs want to reap the rewards of developing a player, they should be able to show that their development incurred a net expense to the club.

For people looking for a way to reduce/eliminate pay to play, I see this as an opportunity at the higher levels. Of course it is also possible that the costs would be reduced at the higher levels but passed along to the lower levels.

 

Interesting...I've never thought of it like this but Champions league and Europa Cup are also really just a type of playoffs for the European Clubs.

The only difference is that the playoffs are regional rather than confined to league and they last longer than MLS playoffs (more revenue). First place in each league (supporters shield in MLS) wins the league title. The first place team and varying numbers of top teams in the league (based on strength of league) qualify for the cup (champions league). then another group of teams further down the table qualify for a consolation cup (Europa).

I said there was only one difference, (regional vs league) but I was wrong...the main difference is in how they are perceived by the fans. Regardless of the league in Europe, first place in league is seen as the league title. In MLS it is more ambiguous but the league title is seen as MLS cup and as a result, is more important. The importance of the league title vs Champions league in Europe (I'm guessing here) probably has something to do with the quality of the league. My guess is that Ajax, if they won league and the Champions league next year would probably value the Champions league win more than the league win. A team from the Premier league? Not really sure but my guess is that many would prefer a league title.

Bottom line is that the playoff system is not unique to the US. What is unique to the US is that we are used to having leagues (baseball, football, basketball etc) where our league is the only one in the world and/or we are isolated enough so that competitions with the rest of the world are more difficult...ie European countries proximity enables intra league competiton. As a result, we use and perceive playoffs quite differently.

 

I agree about P2P academies double dipping.

But would solidarity payments result in more low cost or free academies?

Half a dozen independent academies may develop players good enough to move on to Europe or Mexico but it's a bit of a lottery.

The organizations with the most to gain would be the professional clubs who offer free to play academies (some offer both).

Maybe the possibly of solidarity payments would encourage the remaining pro clubs to invest in academies. That would double the F2P landscape.

Another thing American academies could do to receive solidarity payments is move their HQs to Mexico.

 

Could we have a separate "Containment" thread for Bradley vs Klinnsmann vs Arena posts, like we do for MLS vs Euro? It seems like almost every thread devolves into a Bradley vs Klinnsmann vs Arena argument...

 

If MLS were not paranoid with comparing Mexican and American salaries, they would set things up to have a competitive run in the Concacaf Champion's League.

There's lotsa marketing possibilities with MLS and the expansion of teams and the big distances and weather differences really oughta prod the oligopoly to higher heights with a season over before Thanksgiving and the new one beginning in the New Year in places like Socal, Arizona, Texas, Florida. The "New Year" games could be scheduled to include the CCL teams and CCL could start in Feb with fit players. The southern teams playing in winter would take a break in July/August period. In Arizona they say they have only two kinds of weather, nice and summer.

b.t.w., CCL should help MLS with finding quality managers. Take Almeyda as an example.

 

What paranoia? This is the first time I've ever heard that said.

Last seasons CCL LS vs. Liga MX:

Quarter finals.

Toronto 4
UANL 4
Toronto advance on away goals.

Chivas 3
Seattle 1

New York Red Bulls 5
Tijuana 1

Semi-Finals

Toronto 4
América 1

Chivas 1
New York Red Bulls 0

Final

Toronto 3
Chivas 3
Chivas wins on penalties

That's pretty competitive. The Red Bulls lost to a Tyler Adams giveaway and Toronto have been terrible this season.

I don't think some people who say the season should start by playing games in the south understand how cold it can get in places like Nashville and Atlanta during the winter. Nashville had 7 inches of snow last weekend.

The places you could stage winter games with a reasonable degree of confidence in the weather are on the west coast, or in Florida and Texas.

 

Everybody knows the MLS is uncompetitive by reason of not being in season form for CCL.

There are 2 teams in LA, 1 in Bay Area, possibility in Arizona and Las Vegas, 3 in Texas (inc Austin), 1 in Atlanta, 2 poss 3 in Florida.

There are places it is cold at night in winter but warm in the daytime. Nashville is mountain.
Take Atlanta average peak daytime temps
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
°C 10.1 12.8 17.9 22.6 26.3 29.7 31 30.5 27.6 22.5 17.3 12.2
°F 50.3 55 64.2 72.7 79.3 85.5 87.8 86.9 81.7 72.4 63.1 53.9
Please note: these are the average peak daytime temperatures (usually around mid-afternoon)

 

Average low in Atlanta
Dec: 37
Jan: 35
Feb: 37

 

So you are going to play football at 1am in the morning in January? Methinks the Englishman doth protest too much.