I would love to know which NASL team (s) will do pretty good or decent in MLS? They get to play during the US Open Cup, but we all know that Most MLS teams send their B,C teams to play against them. I would like to hear your very honest opinions.
It is pretty hard to predict something like that. Last year the Cosmos and Indy were pretty clearly the best teams in the NASL. Miami made a run in the second half of the season but they didn't finish very well. NY and Indy were both pretty competitive in the Open Cup and wound up in the NASL final which went to penalty kicks. But they aren't the same teams this year. The Cosmos cut everyone in December and closed up shop. They were sold and the new owner is putting a team together so we don't know how good they will be. Indy might do well again on the strength of their coach but they have lost some of their top players. They also built their record on being unbeatable at home. They were pretty terrible on the road with only 2 wins out of 16 games. If you look over the last few years the Cosmos were the only consistently good team. Ottawa, Minnesota, and San Antonio had good years and then fell back. Or left the league. Depth is also a big problem in the NASL. Those teams would probably quickly get worn down if they were playing MLS teams game after game.
In the Open Cup in a single-elimination scenario the NASL clubs could do well against MLS even if MLS were playing their A teams. However, more commonly they would lose (as has usually been the case in the Open Cup). That's the nature of those tournaments. As for which NASL clubs would do well playing in MLS as a league? I don't think any of them would do well. The quality is not there, the depth is not there, the infrastructure is not there. In looking over the rosters of the clubs in NASL there's not one club that I think has a roster good enough to make the playoffs in MLS. And most of them would be at the very bottom of the table. I think all of that goes the same for USL clubs as well. The difference in competition level between MLS and the next division down might have been much closer back in the 1990's and early-to-mid 2000's, but there is definitely a more significant gap now.
So sad to hear that on the NY Cosmos. I was under the impression that they were doing very good as an organizations and at the gate. Most games were sold out or with a very good attendance. In fact, their plan was to build a SSS and make it to MLS in a very near future.
That is old news. Their attendance really dropped. They haven't had sellouts in a while. And it was never most games. Attendance average by year: 2013 - 6,859 2014- 4,704 2015 - 6,719 2016 - 3,775 That's in a stadium with a capacity of over 11,000. The Cosmos stadium plan never worked out and they were never going to join MLS. They could have probably worked a deal back in 2010 but they rejected the business model of MLS and thought they could be bigger on their own.
That was a big mistake by the Cosmos and MLS eventually gave the second NY team franchise to the NYCFC which proved a success so far. David Beckham is planning to secure a MLS franchise in Miami Dade, but I'm not sure if they are ready for it. Orlando FC is a success story. Their plan worked since day one.