I'm curious as to how many clubs are filling up their international roster spots. Please list how your club currently stands in this respect. RSL (7 spots available, 6 filled) D: Mantilla, Matias, 26 (Int’l, Argentina) D: Olave, Jamison, 26 (Int’l, Colombia) M: Morales, Javier 28 (Int’l, Argentina) M: Cordoba, Matias 23 (Int’l, Argentina) F: Espindola, Fabian 22 (Int’l, Argentina) F: Deuchar, Kenny, 27 (Int'l, Scotland)
DC United 1. Luciano Emilio (29) - F - Brazil 2. Franco Niell (24) - F - Argentina 3. Fred (28) - M - Brazil 4. Marcelo Gallardo (32) - M - Argentina 5. Dan Stratford (22) - M - England (Not signed yet but DCU typically signs its developmental players closer to the start of the season - he is almost a lock to make the team at this point given DCU's lack of depth at d-mid plus Stratford's impressive camp to date) 6. Gonzalo Martinez (32)- D - Colombia 7. Gonzalo Peralta (27) - D - Argentina 8. Open DCU probably leads the league in players with green cards (Moreno - Bolivia, Kpene - Ivory Coast, Monteiro - Angola, Dyachenko - Russia, Carvallo - Peru).
We actually only have 6, and we got one temporarily for this season in a trade. Our brilliant former GM/Coach traded two of our old Youth International slots away permanently (to Colorado and Chivas, I think), leaving us with a total of 6 international slots when the rule changed this year. Like I said, we picked up an additional international slot from KC (I think) for a season or two.
Houston Dynamo 1. Dwayne De Rosario (29) - M - Canada 2. Tony Caig (33) - GK - England 3. Franco Caraccio (21) - F - Argentina Caraccio is not officially on the roster but he is being introduced this week. I think that's it. Onstad and Holden were born outside the U.S. but both are U.S. citizens now.
Internationals (5 out of 8- right now) 1. M-F Guillermo Barros Schelotto (I) -Argentina 2. M-F Ricardo Virtuoso (I) -Brazil 3. F Nicolas Hernandez (I) -Argentina 4. M Adam Moffat (I) -Scotland 5. Andy Iro (I)- England About to be signed 6. M Emmanuel Ekpo (Nigeria): Discovery, returned to Columbus; Mitchell says we'll sign him. I think Ekpo is going to start the season taking that 6th spot 7. F Guilherme So (Brazil): Discovery, returned to Columbus; Mitchell says we'll sign him. 8. Ricardo Pierre-Louis, F, Lee, (Haiti), 23 (Draft pick, given ok to finish degree by Sigi but may possibly be in trouble as we keep bringing in trialists?) 9. Lukasz Tumicz, F, Rhode Island, Poland, 23 10. D/M Sandro Jose/da Silva (Brazil): Discovery, returned to Columbus, but Sigi said it might not matter for us to get to know his name 11. M Osvaldo Alonso (Cuba): trialist 12. F Mamadu Bah (Sierra Leone): trialist Interesting that if we sign both Ekpo and So. That will leave only one spot open between our draft pick Louis, Alonso, Bah, Silva, and Tumicz. I'm guessing that unless Tumicz has a GC he will not have a chance to make the roster.
Which needs to be banned. It defeats the purpose of keeping the squad balanced. But anyway, was there a limit for how many you can field? I mean can a team practically have 8 international players + 3 Americans playing a game?
How so? Who said there had to be a balance anyway? If a team wants to better itself by adding international players, I don't see why that's a bad thing. MLS isn't here to cater to the USMNT or the USSF. It's a business where success on the field translates to more financial opportunities via advertising, tournament invites, and sponsorships. Some teams can do that with a predominantly American players, while others prefer a different route. Neither team is wrong as long as it works for them. Nope. Yes, they can. Hell, they could field 8 internationals and 3 green card holders. Wouldn't that make your head explode?
Chivas have 9 slots, KC and RSL have 7, and the rest except Toronto have 8. I'm unsure of how many Toronto have. Let's try to figure this out. It says: So that means that they get 3 new slots. Now last year, they had 13 slots. Those consisted of the normal 7 (4 SI, 3 YI) plus 3 US-only SI slots, plus the 2 extra YI slots for expansion teams (first two seasons only), plus 1 they got in a trade with Colorado for Jose Cancela. So I can only assume that they have a total of 16 international slots, 5 of which must be Americans only. However, there is the possibility that they are replacing the 3 US only slots from last year with the 2 from this year.
Man, if you don't know, I'm not going to try to figure it out. Who has RSL's other slot? One is at Chivas, where is the others.
US/Green card holders: 1. Todd Dunivant 2. Tyrone Marshall (green card) 3. Ronnie O'Brien (green card) 4. Maurice Edu 5. Jeff Cunningham 6. Marvell Wynne 7. Pat Phelan 8. Brian Edwards INT'L: 9. Julius James (T&T) 10. Collin Samuel (T&T) 11. Carl Robinson (Wales) 12. Danny Dichio (England) 13. Andrew Boyens (New Zealand) 14. Joey Lapira (Ireland) (???)
Is there some sort of rule or objective to keep clubs "balanced"? The limit on international players seems to be in place to ensure that there is a significant number of Americans playing in MLS. Trading spots doesn't reduce the total number of Americans in the league, so I don't see how that's a problem. With expansion, even more American spots are created.
Then, tell me why do we have salary caps in first place. Isn't that there to balance the roster and prevent clubs from competing for players? Either way, I think 8 is way too many and international spots should be 3-5, non-tradable.
The Galaxy: 1. David Beckham - England 2. Kevin Harmse - Canada 2. Ante Jazic - Canada 3. Carlos Ruiz - Guatemala 4. Abel Xavier - Portugal 5. Celestine Babayaro - Nigeria 6. Alvaro - Brazil Under the old rules all would be SI's
What do you think are the chances DC does that this year? I really would like to see that happen if only to see BigSoccer MLS General forum meltdown. We'd need at least one other foreign wing player otherwise its Ben Olsen or Quavis Kirk. A a couple of foreign defenders.
Sure, to balance the talent level between teams. That is an absolute key for parity in the league. But that's completely different from "balance" between foreigners and US citizens. I don't see why MLS should be obligated to feature a specified number of Americans. Besides which, with the current setup, the bvast majority of players are still American and with expansion, that total number is going up, not down.
New England Revolution (4/8): Mauricio Castro, MF, Honduras Abdoulie Mansally, FW, Gambia Sainey Nyassi, FW/MF Gambia Argenis Fernandez, FW, Costa Rica Unsigned Draftees: Matt Britner, DF, Canada Kheli Dube, FW, Zimbabwe Saidi Isaac, FW, Kenya Green Card Holders Shalrie Joseph, MF, Grenada Khano Smith, MF, Bermuda Jose Angulo, FW, Columbia (assumed)
DC could come close to it in a 3-4-3: --------Carvallo------- Martinez--Peralta--Burch -------Stratford--------- Monteiro----------Fred --------Gallardo-------- Neill------Moreno------Emilio If deRoux was still around, he could have played leftback instead of Burch. Dyachenko or one of the trialists would be an option ahead of Monteiro. Kpene or Monteiro could also be inserted for Neill. However, I doubt that line-up would ever actually happen.
COLORADO RAPIDS Internationals 1. Facundo Erpen- DF- Argentina 2. Mehdi Ballouchy- MF- Morocco 3. Christian Gomez- MF- Argentina 4. Terry Cooke- MF- England 5. Omar Cummings- FW- Jamaica 6. Kosuke Kimura- DF- Japan 7. Open 8. Open Green Card 1. Bouna Coundoul- GK- Senegal Unsigned Trialist: 1. Chris Sharpe- GK- Australia We've also heard that Ballouchy is applying for a Green Card. In addition, Sharpe's wife is American so he could probably get one if we were to sign him.