2020 CONCACAF League and 2021 Champions League

MLS has gained ground but so has Liga MX. It's all about the money. Liga MX top teams (which are usually the ones MLS faces in CCL) are just above MLS. MLS has caught up with the rest of Liga MX, though, just not its top teams. While MLS is spending more, most of that goes to attacking players and very little attention is put on depth, defense and goalkeepers. If you look at Monterrey, Tigres, Cruz Azul and America, they all have what the entire MLS teams are lacking. Those teams are more complete and balanced teams compared to MLS and also to the majority of Liga MX teams. Not saying MLS can't beat them because they have.

Same thing happens in UCL and Copa Libertadores. The teams that invest the most usually win or at least have a better shot at winning.

 

After the quarters:

Advancement record by opponent country
Mexico: 10-31
Costa Rica: 8-1
Honduras: 3-2
Panama: 2-2
CFU/Dominican Republic: 1-0
El Salvador: 1-0
Guatemala: 1-0
Nicaragua: 1-0

Overall: 27-36

Advancement record in two-legged ties by home result
Loss: 0-9
Draw: 2-14
Win by 1: 6-9
Win by 2+: 17-0

Advancement record in two-legged ties by away result
Loss by 3+: 0-12
Loss by 2: 3-8
Loss by 1: 6-7
Draw: 8-4
Win: 8-1

Failing to win at home remains a borderline death sentence: 2-23 now.

 

Depth is the key thing.

 

yeah you have to kill those home games otherwise go home. You can not concede goals at home.

 

Ref added 3 minutes for 6 sub breaks, 2 VAR reviews and a couple of extended injuries. CONCACAF eh?

 

It's had 5 unique Supporter's Shield winners in that time frame (NYRBx2, FCD, TFC, LAFC, PHI) ... and the list from there to the finalists just shows that the purpose of having playoffs works. TFC is the only SS winner in the last six years that has also appeared in the final.

DING DING
We've got a few clubs that go over 20m in salary budget. They're largely tied up in 2-3 players. Just spreading that out more would make TFC (who already is competitive and beats MEX clubs) a very, very hard out. That's at roughly 1/4 of what Monterrey spends ... We've got about 5 clubs or so that have the TYPE of make up to run the CCL, and they don't need to spend MUCH more to do it. They just need to be able to USE that money across the roster.

I continue to say that a 15-25M$ CAP with 3DPs OFF THE BOOKS would see this league explode. We're already spending 15-25 (9 clubs in 2020 were 12m or higher) as it is. Just take the restrictions off the DP charge. Completely off the books. You spend whatever on whomever for 3 slots and you've still got your cap to flesh out the squad. We'd destroy LigaMX clubs in CCL if this happened. Imagine TFC having the 24.5M they spent available to bolster Poz/Brad/Jozy ....

 

Some of us here are old enough to know what RSS is, and to know that its not exactly a badge of honor either...

 

Then you should know that it is folks like me who are the ones that were the fans to get MLS started in the first instance. Quite likely I have been following and paying since before this fool could walk. So you should know it is enough of a badge of honor not to take crap from this ignorant newbie fool.

 

Don't disagree with you, and I'd like to see those changes too...just don't see it happening from the league perspective anytime soon if they plan on keeping any semblance of parity (the richest/involved owners would just go and buy the three most expensive/high profile players that are willing to come). I also see the cheaper owners not wanting to go along with something where they'd have to pay more out of pocket than they have to.

 

Eh, get over it.

 

Not to worry. It all changes next year.

 

It is a top soccer league. Maybe not top 10 but definitely top 10%.

To his credit all those things have or are happening and is reflected in the number of young Americans getting minutes in the top 5 leagues.

 

Even business owners know they've got to continue to stretch just to stay "even" with the times. The absolute lowest spend last year was 8.5M (VAN) yet they still splashed for Cavallini (5M from what I could find), Godoy (1.5M from what i could find) and were paying Adnan over 1M in salary.

Have a floor and a ceiling. Make it a big enough gap the folks that want to will feel like they're able to spend significantly more but keep it close enough that they can't just run away with things by spending. 15-25M with 3 DPs off the books. Clubs HAVE to spend 15 and use at least 1 DP slot. SEVERAL clubs could do the minimum here and be highly competitive given their academy/scouting/signing acumen. A couple clubs would use the max and still be kinda shit given their historical showing.

==============
Here's an exercise using my stand point that 15-25M$ cap (floor to ceiling) with 3DPs OFF THE BOOKS would instantly make the league explode.

TFC spend 24.5M last year with POZ/JOZY/PIATTI as DPs with Bradley as a TAM (and 19 of the 24.5m)

2020 with what I'm talking about. Now they're off the books. Does TFC still spend up to the ceiling of the cap? If so we can EASILY build a rather fantastic roster just with players in MLS (for realistic approach as they're in MLS, clearly they'd come play in the league). But what if they still only spent the 24.5 total despite the three DPs/TAM Bradley being of the salary books? Well, we've got 5.5M to work with so:

I'LL KEEP:
Omar Gonzales DF 450,000
Ayo Akinola FW 124,256
Jonathan Osorio MID 750,00
Richie Laryea DF 56,250
Auro DF 276,666
TOTAL: 1,657,172

I'LL SIGN:
Cristian Espinoza FW 500,000
Sebastian Lletget MID 312,666
Brooks Lennon DF 150,000
Eloy Room GK 354,694
Pedro Gallese GK 150,000
Milton Valenzuela DF 321,300
Lucas Zelarayan MID 54,000 *(reported number)
Diego Chara MID 550,000
Kacper Przybylko ST 277,000
Joao Paulo MID 370,000
Walker Zimmerman 600,000
Jacob Glesnes DF 180,000
TOTAL: 3,819,660

TOTAL SPEND: 5,476,832

-----------------------Room-----------------------
--Lennon--Gonzo--Zimmer--Valenzuela--
-----------------------Paulo-----------------------
Espinoza----Pozuelo---Zelarayan----Piatti
----------------------Altidore----------------------

BENCH:
Bradley
Glesnes
Lletget
Chara
Auro
Przybylko
Gallese

RES:
Lareya
Akinola
Osorio

That's 21 players (HG and other salary exempted players would round out the roster) and several lineup options, with depth, that I'd trot out against any LigaMX side. The spending is there as are the players. The league just won't let the clubs put them together.

 

This is the way. It's the best thing the NHL has done in recent years. They've got a salary cap ceiling at $81.5 million, but they've also got a floor at $60.2 million. That difference in the NHL is literally the difference between making or missing the playoffs for a lot of teams. 8 of the top 10 spenders this year have secured a playoff spot and a 9th just needs either 1 point out of their final 2 games, or a loss or tie by the team behind them, to make it.

The only team in the top 10 in spending in the NHL that won't make the playoffs is Anaheim, and they're simply paying right now for pushing their rebuild down the road several times as they've been bad for 3 seasons now after a 14 year run where they won a Stanley Cup, played for another, and only missed the playoffs 3 times in that stretch. They're also going to have money to spend next year as they finally shed a couple of their anchor contracts and can truly rebuild.

Meanwhile, only 1 of the bottom 10 spenders in the NHL is going to make the playoffs, and they've got 2-3 big UFAs after this year that they'll have to keep and will likely push them from 22nd in spending up to the top 10 or just outside of it.

There are other details, such as limits to contract lengths, the maximum amount of cap space a single player can take up, etc., but the biggest factor in the NHL stabilizing after the 04-05 lockout was the smart structure to their cap.

Make it simple for the owners. They can go along for the ride but still have to spend a minimum amount in salary, or they can go for championships and spend up to the top.

 

It's always the same tone too, not "[LigaMX team] is gonna crush it," but "errrbody knows LigaMX is the best forever-ever and this is soooo boring and why do they even bother" ... what the hell are they trying to prove anyway?

 

*checks the date* WTH. Take a few deep breaths and chill out, man. It's great that you've been a soccer fan since dinosaurs ruled the earth, but we don't really tolerate the screed your used to in the US Men's forums.

 

Yeah, some stuff in that article has definitely happened, like improving youth development programs and infrastructure. Not the best “gotcha” attempt I’ve seen.

 

At this rate, Mexican clubs will win 100 consecutive CCLs.

MLS, still "improving", I guess....

Got any more excuses about "catching up with Mexico?"

 

Look at the results over the past ten years. We're gradually catching up.

 

MLS win %

 

Are you frustrated with the rate of progress or do you not think MLS is actually catching up?

Because I'm pretty sure a lot of people would take you up on a bet about LMX winning the next 100 CCLs. Even the next ten.

 

Oh, I agree there have been many MLS success stories since this goal was set (I attended a MLS match in 1997 and saw the league in its infancy). However, I am quite certain that "top soccer league" at the time of the statement meant at least winning the occasional CCL.

It's good to be ambitious but assigning specific dates usually backfires.

Just ask the USSF promoters of Project 2010.