I've been thinking about this a lot lately, so I figured I'd ask you guys about it. Where should MLS get its players from? What players from smaller, lesser known soccer countries should we be chasing? Personally I would love to see more players coming from Australia, New Zealand, the Middle East, Japan and Korea. From lesser known S American countries like Bolivia, French Guniea, and Paraguay. I also think we should heavily recruit players from smaller European countries i.e Iceland, Wales, N.Ireland, Estonia, Luxembourg and the like with the promise of playing time. And don't tell me that with 2 billion people between them, we can't find any good players from China or India. I just really think we have a golden chance as one of the world's up and coming leagues to get players that would normally sign for Europe and rot on the bench to come play consistently for us. Plus it would be really sweet to see ethnic supporters groups, like Japanese in Seattle, or Arabs in Los Angeles. We're the most diverse country in the world. Can't are league be the same way? (at least Kansas City is trying)
our own back yard. Make our own players. MLS is to make team USA better not become the next EPL where they develop more foreign talent than their own.
MLS is a business and has pretty much made developing the national team a secondary consideration to developing the league as an entertainment product, as it should be at this point. If no one watches your league it won't exist for long. My answer is MLS clubs should scout everywhere but one should look at what's going on in S. America with clubs unable to meet their payrolls and in the case of Colombia, most of the league is going bankrupt. Ultimately clubs will figure out where they get the best value for money for players. As it should be. Clubs need their own identities.
I agree with the posters who say that the MLS should develop homegrown talent. I'm in Canada so that would mean Canadian talent for our three teams (2012). But definitely in the US, guys should be recruited from the college level, even younger. Academies are a much better option because players are developed from a young age. Every MLS club has an academy by now (I believe so anyway). Give it 5 - 8 years and we'll start seeing fine crops of quality players coming out. Japan and South Korea are great examples of nations that have domestic leagues composed mostly of their own nationals. Even New Zealand and Australia. Italy is another example (although there are are many foreign imports) All those teams perform well at the international level. As one poster said, the MLS should not become the EPL. I want to see American/Canadian players on MLS teams. Fine, less Canadians as it is your guys' league But honestly. If you're American and you see guys like Freddie Ljungberg and Montero and Schelotto etc on the field - you don't really feel any attachment for them. You want them to perform because they play for your club - but if it was an American star like Donovan or Buddle, you cheer for them that much more because they represent both club AND country.
Really ? Because fans in Dallas are pretty attached to Dirk ... fans in Boston are pretty attached to Ortiz ... My efforts would be two fold. One, and foremost, the youth/academy/whatever you want to call it development needs to be done properly. For the overall future and sustainment of the league we need to have young athletes developed. There's no way around it. Outside of this however, there's this thing called CONCACAF. There is absolutely no reason for the league here NOT to be the centerpiece for the region. Zero reason for it not to happen. Yes, South America is a wonderous place for talent. Everyone knows that and we're anywhere from 50-75yrs late to the party on that one. That doesn't mean quit scouting there, but realistically we'll be sinking way too much effort in for the little return we get. Just look at the league's track record in the first 15yrs. But I'm talking about guys like: Borges/Ruiz/Hernandez/Bolanos/Azofeifa/Myrie/Diaz/Oviedo of Costa Rica Daniel/Edwards/Jorsling of Trinidad Oscar Garcia/Welcome/Walter Martinez/Nunez/Costly of Honduras Wassey/Hutchinson/Ademolu/Simeon Jackson of Canada Arreola/Gallardo of Guatemala Luton Shelton of Jamaica That was just going through the first few teams in CONCACAF and looking at their National Team rosters. Moves like these would help to create a reciprocal market for soccer. The surge behind the USMNT shows that it isn't that the sport isn't popular. The league image (as we all know) is what needs help. Bringing in guys that these fans see the USMNT play against, and come from the same countries can help give a connection to the MLS that is currently missing. Perfect case in point: Alvaro Saborio. I advocated him for the league for two years before he got here. In the thread about him (in the RSL forum) somebody asked ... is that they guy on the Costa Rican team that nailed the screamer against us ? THAT is what I'm talking about. Connection.
I think teams that play in cities with large immigrant population should look to get a player that can help boost attendance. For example New York red bulls should be looking to get a players from Poland, Portugal, Brazil, Albania cause they make up a huge % of the population. If you can sign a well known player from that country you can potentially make a huge fan base.. Fire should be looking to sign a well know serb or a pole..
This, I completely agree with this and I meant to add this to my previous post. Definitely a good idea to cater to the fan base in each city. However I don't think that foreign imports should make up the majority. I'd say, out of 23 guys, 8 at most should be foreign. The rest should be homegrown. Some people will argue that the talent pool in the United States/Canada is not deep enough to provide MLS squads with enough homegrown talent but I would disagree. There are a lot of quality players playing in USSF D2 and at the college level that would rise to the challenge if given the opportunity to perform at the highest level.
The league needs Domestic especially if we are bidding for 2018/2022 WC. We have to keep our young ones interested in the sport, push them to practice and aim for the big one. Unless you still want Donovan/Dempsey to play. The problem with the current salary cap is that only players from other countries like Cuba/Columbia would be interested in playing for low pay.
A lot of posters seem to take issue with the salary cap in MLS. I believe it's something like 2.5 million? Whatever it is, I'll agree that it isn't much. But if you could raise it, what would you raise it too? It can't be too high or the league would be at risk of folding (certain clubs would anyway). I think that there will come a time for the salary cap to be raised (say in 5 - 7 years), but until the league is levelled out with 20 teams and financially sound, it's too risky.
African born players are very entertaining and that's something the American soccer fans are yearning for. Go Ghana. In comparison, South American players look weak and flops too much to the distaste of the American soccer fan.
I was hoping for MLS scouts to put their 100% in scouting straight out of the world cup. There were a ton of players who would make fantastic contributions to any team in the MLS. For instance , Tshabala of South Africa. A very good player, scored an amazing goal in the world cup. He is currently UNATTACHED! why isn't MLS on his ass right now? There were many other players who had fantastic outings yet are still playing for little clubs in their home countries.
By the way, I am a firm advocate of developing American and Canadian players for our teams. Africa does yeild good players, but it seems like the Euro teams already have a pretty good foothold there.
MLS CLubs should be scouting on the streets, in the parks, at high schools, at youth clubs of the city/area they are located for their academies. If they have the budget and the right pitch, then they can even scout other areas outside their zones. This would be the equivalent of a college football team recruiting the high schools in their backyard and redshirting them and bringing them into the fold slowly. Then they should compliment their rosters with players from other countries. This would be equivalent to a college football team adding JC transfers that are ready to play to fill the holes on their teams. I agree that a good mix of african, s. american & central american countries is a good place to start.
i think mls should be looking for better coaches. like in spain, brazil, holland and argentina. But NOT England or Britain. coach technical attacking soccer not just physical soccer. And look in their own backyards and develop our own talent.
mls already has two countries: colombia and the gambia. cameroon, ghana, and the ivory coast are already ripped to shreads by euro teams. the central american expirement didnt pan out overall (saborio is good). but so far carribean players have done well. ricketts and palmer come to mind, along with the others that played college ball in america.
A good number of the guys I play soccer with every other night should be/should have been picked up by academies. Near my apt about 30 guys of all ages (8 - 25) get together and play. There are Colombians, Argentinians, Thai, Filipinos, Koreans, Arabs - a huge mix. Most of them are 1st gen Canadians. They weren't brought up in the hockey culture that seems to dominate in many Euro-Canadian households; their dads brought them up on a heavy diet of soccer. There are some younger guys (8-12) that definitely have some ball skills. Unfortunately the market for soccer just isn't big enough in Canada for academies to have the type of money needed to develop all these players. So they'll fall through the cracks. A Brazilian guy I worked with at my old job was picked up by a pro club in Rio back when he was still living in Brazil. He was about 9 years old and they scouted him from a school yard or some boys league or something. He played with them until he was about 14 and then he got some kind of injury (ACL maybe, I forget) and he couldn't play anymore. My point is that in countries where soccer (football) is king, clubs have the money to go out and scout, to develop, lots and lots of youth. They have that money because of jersey sales, ticket sales, and enormous corporate sponsorship. MLS clubs don't have the same profit margins because soccer just hasn't reached that height yet in NA. Imagine if MLS clubs were making the same kind of money as NFL or NHL clubs. When that day comes, IF that day ever comes (hopefully in my lifetime), no kids will fall through the cracks. Rich or poor, clubs' academies can scout them from schoolyards, local leagues, etc. and develop them on the same level that they do in Europe.
I don't think we need to go to Africa. We need to go to our own urban areas and build the game among urban African Americans. Even after you still need to go find coaches that can teach tactics, technique and passing. Much of which was lacking in last night DC United v. Seattle game. Lots of running. Not as much calm thinking, possession, and precise passing.
You don't need to target specific ethnic groups, just overcome this "pay-for-play" roadblock that has limited our talent pool, and then the rest will take care of itself.
i'll agree to disagree. i do think you need to target that specific group. I'm not saying exclude any ethnic group by any means. Nor am i saying there aren't other groups that need to be targeted. But that is a group, inner city african americans, that has historically shined in american team sports and american athletics in general and they are all but excluded from soccer in the United States. out of a 23 man u.s. national team roster 8 where african american. that's abou 35%. I think pretty amazing considering it's not like MLS is 34% african American. Not black mind you i'm specifically talking aboutAfrican american. nor is the country half african american. So clearly they don't have the highers participation numbers but they seem to be having a a good percentage of sports on the national team. And if you look at both the african americans in mls and those on the u.s. national team almost none of them come from what i'd call inner city. So clearly they are an area not hit by the soccer establishment. i mean go to inglewood or Hunters Point or East Oakland and you won't exactly see soccer fields. i just don't see how you can ignore a demographic, black inner cities, that has historically contributed so much to american team sports, especially when especially when without going to those inner cities, black americans are still finding their way onto the national side in numbers larger then their participation percentages.
How about looking in Texas,New Mexico,Arizona,and California. The Mexican League teams do. There are about fourty first genertion Mexican-Americans playing in Mexico. MLS has been falling down on the job when it comes to scouting even in our own country. Look at Pachucca they have THREE Mexican-Americans playing for them alone on the first team(Herculez Gomez,Jose Torres,and Marco Vidal)