Pointing out what a filthy den of corruption the Columbus Vice Squad was more than makes up for any minor geographical mistake. It was so bad that they didnt even bother trying to reform vice, they just shut it down completely.
OK, update time. Three major things. 1) Signing of Nariman Ahkundzada, from Qarabag in Azerbaijan, is official. The 21 year old attacker (forward) will occupy an INT spot and a U22 spot. Has CL experience with Qarabag in Nat team calls with Azerbaijan. Signed thru June of 2029. https://www.columbuscrew.com/news/columbus-crew-acquire-forward-nariman-akhundzada-from-qarabag-fk No more open U22 slots or INT slots. And, this would put at 31 players on the roster. But, with some help from Paul171121 and some timely info, we know neither of things are true anymore, because.... 2) Cheberko (and Amundsen) have Green Cards. So we do have 1 open INT slot. 3) The "Off Roster Homegrown" roster category. Thanks......According to this, HGs who are 21 & under during the league year can be off-roster as long as they are called up to 6 MLS matches or fewer, even though they signed a standard contract. USOC, Leagues Cup, friendlies, CCC, etc. do not count. Once you go to Supplemental or Senior, you cannot go back. This rule was in place for 2025. So, I rearranged the roster accordingly. On age, Habroune, Brown, Mrowka, Lapkes, Adams, and Presthus are all certainly eligible. Elliot was born 1/03/04, soli if the league year starts Jan 1, he would be, too. Habroune appeared in way too many games and is certainly NOT Off- Roster eligible. IDK how many call-ups Brown, Mrowka, & Lapkes got last year, or IF they were ever on the Supp. Roster. Brown played in 6 matches, so I am most doubtful there. Anyway, I moved Adams, Presthus, and Lapkes to Off-Budget, but not Brown, Mrowka, and Elliot. Presthus and Adams are surely Off-Budget eligible, the other 4 I am not sure. Age issue for Elliot and callups potentially an issue for the others. Amyway, that gave me enough room to move Bush, Sejdic, & Hagan to Supplemental & open up 2 Senior Roster spots. Even if I am wring on Lapkes being Off-Budget eligible, we'd still have one spot open. Minnman was, and is, right. NOT FULL. Sometimes it takes me a while but I get there eventually. MLS links and salary info still 2025. ---------- I. Roster Links A. MLS Fall 2025 Roster Profiles https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/majo...-roster-profiles-following-2025-roster-freeze B. 2025 MLS Roster Rules & Regs https://www.mlssoccer.com/about/roster-rules-and-regulations C. Fall 2025 Salary Info Will update when the Spring list comes out. https://mlsplayers.org/resources/salary-guide -------------------- II. Signed Roster A. Senior Roster (1-20). 18 of 20. Counts vs the salary budget of $6,425,000. Max salary budget charge is $803,125. Teams not required to fill spots 19 & 20. A minimum salary budget charge is imputed vs the club for unfilled spots below 18. In addition to the $6.425 mil budget, teams can spend outside this figure via GAM, TAM, DP & U22 costs outside the Salary Budget, and the Supplemental Roster costs. Rank, Player, Pos, Age, DOB, HT, WT, Nat, Desig(s), Base $$, Guar $$ 1. Diego Rossi, WF, 27, 3/5/98, 5'7", 143, Uruguay, DP, GC. $2,725,000, $3,426,827. Thru '26, '27 O. 2. Daniel Gazdag, AM, 29, 3/2/96, 5'10", 168, Hungary, DP#2, GC. $2,000,004, $2,597,643. Thru '27, O '28. 3. Wessam Abou Ali, F, 26, 1/4/99, 6'1", 172, Denmark/Palestine, DP, INT#1. $1.8 mil/$2,157,375. Thru '27, O '28. 4. Patrick Schulte, GK, 24, 3/13/01, 6'5", 200, USA, TAM. $825k, $957,083. Thru '27, TO in '28. 5. Steven Moreira, D, 31 8/13/94, 5'10", 159, France/Cape Verde Islands, GC/V, TAM. $820k, $902k. Thru '26. 6. Andres Herrera, FB/WB, 27, 11/03/98, 5'10", 165, Argentina, INT#2, TAM. $650k, $737,158. Loan thru summer '26. O to buy. 7. Hugo Picard, F/M, 22, 5/09/03, 5'6",160, France, U22#1, INT#3. $675k/$731,244. Thru '28, O '29. 8. Jamal Thiare, F, 32, 3/31/93, 6'0", 154, Senegal, GC, TAM. $700k/$730k. Thru '26. 9. Malte Amundsen, WB, 27, 2/11/98, 5'10", 179, Denmark, GC. $624,996/$697,496. Thru '27. 10. Yevhen Cheberko, CB, 27, 1/23/98, 6'0", 166, Ukraine, GC. $610k, $658,250. Thru '26 (June). O for rest of '26. 11. Dylan Chambost, MF, 28, 8/19/97, 5'10", 154, France, GC/V. $450k, $557,219. Thru '26, '27 O. 12. Ibrahim Aliyu, F, 23, 1/16/02, 6'0", 169, Nigeria, U22#2, GC/V. $474,996/$526,375. Thru '26, O in '27. 13. Mohamed Farsi, D/M, 25, 12/16/99, 5'10", Algeria/Canada, INT#4. $425k, $455k. Thru '27, O '28. 14. Sean Zawadzki, M, 25, 4/21/00, 6'0", 160, USA, HG. $400k, $446,870. Thru '30. 15. Max Arfsten, F/W, 24, 4/19/01, 6'1", 172, USA. $350k, $389,375. Thru '27. O '28. 16. Rudy Camacho, CB, 34, 3/5/91, 6'1", 174, France, INT#5. $???. Thru '26. 17. Sekou Bangoura, CM, 23, 4/5/02, 5'8", Guinea, INT#6, $??, Thru '29, O '30. 18. Nariman Akhundzada, F, 21, 4/23/04, 6'1", 172, Azerbaijan, U22#3, INT#7, U22. $$??. Thru 6/29. --------------- 19. Open 20. Open ---------------------- Vet Min could be Senior or Supplemental. With Bush, Sejdic, and Hagan all probably in that category. B. Supplemental Roster (21-30) Does NOT count versus the salary budget of any team. All Generation Adidas players are Supplemental Players during the initial guaranteed term of their contract. 1) Spots 21-24. (Supplemental). 4 of 4. All players in Slots 21-24 must make a base salary at least equal to the Senior Minimum Salary ($104,000 in 2025). These slots may be filled with: Senior Min players ($104k) which may include: i) HGs, ii) Gen Adidas, iii) designated Superdraft eligible players, or iv) Homegrown players who may or may not earn more than Sen Min due to the HG Subsidy. Players in slots 21-24 must make at least $104,000. Rank, Player, Pos, Age, DOB, HT, WT, Nat, Desig(s), Base $$/Guar $$ 21. Taha Habroune, M, 19, 2/5/06, 5'8", 168, USA, HG. $104k/$116k. Thru '27, O '28. 22. Evan Bush, GK, 39, 3/6/86, 6'1", 187, USA. Likely vet min. Thru '26. 23. Amar Sejdic, CM, 28, 11/29/96, 5'10", 159, Germany/USA. $104k, $118,550. Thru '26. Vet Min/Supp. 24. Nicholas Hagan, GK, 29, 8/2/96, 6'4", 176, Guatemala/USA. $104k, $122,600. Thru '26, O in '27 & '28. --------------------- 2) Slots 25-30. (Reserve). 6 of 6. Must be paid a base salary of at least the Reserve Min salary ($80,622). Must be 24 years of age or younger during the league year (by year of birth). May be filled with Reserve Min players ($80,622) which may include GA's earning Reserve Min, HGs, or HG's earning more than Reserve Min via the HG subsidy. Cannot be filled with Sen Min Players (unless a HG earning more via HG subsidy). HG subsidy is $125,000 per year in aggregate. Plus $200k of GAM/TAM can be used to sign HGs to their 1st contract. Rank, Player, Pos, Age,DOB, HT, WT, Nat, Desig(s), Base $$/Guar 25. Ceasar Ruvalcaba, D, 24, 7/13/01, 6'2", 170, USA, $80,622. Thru '26, O in '27. 26. Zach Zengue, MF, 22, 1/30/04, 5'9", 160, USA, $$??. Thru '26, O thru '29. 27. Luke Pruter, GK, 24, 9/3/01, 6'5", 207, USA. Thru '26, O thru '28. 28. Tristan Brown, M, 18, 10/17/07, 5'11", 159, USA, HG. $80,622/$84,986. Thru '28, O in '29 & '30. 29. Cole Mrowka, MF, 19, 4/6/06, 5'11", 165, USA, HG. $80,622, $100,630. Thru '26. TO '27 & '28. 30. Quinton Elliot, D/M, 21, 1/03/04, 5'10", 159, USA, HG. $$??. Thru '26, O '27-'29. ----------------- Brown, Mrowka, & Elliot could also be Off-Budget Eligible, but I am unsure. Adams & Presthus surely is. Lapkes might not be. ----------------- C. Loan/Stash Roster: (Slot 31). 0 of 1. Slot 31 can be filled by a player 24 or younger who is on a season long loan to a lower division club in in the USA or Canada, provided his Budget Charge is </= the Sen Min Charge ($104k) and the MLS club does not exercise any recall options during the MLS season (save for short term call-ups). 31. Open ----------- D. Off Roster Homegrowns (3+?) 1. Chase Adams, CF, 17, 4/17/08, 6'0", 160, USA, HG, $$??. Thru '29, O '30. 2. Stanislav Lapkes, GK, 19, 3/3/06, 6'4", 176, Belarus/USA, HG. $80,622, $99,712. Thru '27. O '28/'29. 3. Owen Presthus, D, 19, 2/21/06, 5'10", 154, USA, HG, $??. Thru '27, O '28. ---------------- III. Draft Picks (2) 1. Tarun Karumanchi, M, UCLA 2. Isaac Heffess, D, NC State --------- IV. International Players (7 of 8) Abou Ali, Farsi, Herrera, Cheberko, Camacho, Picard, Bangoura. New verbiage for 2024, do NOT need a Green Card. "For a player to be considered a Domestic Player in the applicable season, residency must be established, or the player has to have appeared for an immigrant visa interview by the opening of the Secondary Transfer Window." https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/mls-...new-sporting-initiatives-ahead-of-2024-season ------------ V. Green Card Holders/Counts as Domestic (9). Rossi (Green Card), Gazdag (not an INT slot), Moreira (no longer listed), Chambost (no longer listed), Thiare (not listed as INT, presume GC), Hagan (USA parent/ passport), Aliyu (not listed as INT), Amundsen (GC), Cheberko (GC). Moreira started counting as domestic on the Fall 25 roster profile update, along with Chambost. ------------ VI. DP + U22 Initiative Slots (6 of 6) Team can choose 2 paths. One, 3 DPs + 3 U22s. Two, 2 DPs plus 4 U22s + $2 mil in GAM. Teams must decide by the close of the transfer window this year and start of the year going forward. DPs = 3 of 3 1. Rossi 2. Ali 3. Gazdag U22s = 3 of 3 1. Picard 2. Aliyu 3. Ahkundzada U22 players count $200k vs the budget if the are aged 22-25. $150k is 21 or younger. U22 players must be on their initial MLS contract unless they are HGs (2nd), and must sign it before turning 22. Can continue to occupy the slot until the year they turn 25. Salary cannot exceed Max Budget unless it is a HG/Superdraft on 2nd contract, who can earn Max Budget +$200k. Clubs may pay acquisition costs without limit (out of pocket, no GAM/TAM). Crew choose 3+3 path for 2025, but can change midseason. https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/mls-announces-significant-roster-rule VII. Homegrown Players (7) Habroune, Brown, Mrowka, Lapkes, Adams, Presthus, Elliot. The following players all carried HG designations last year: Habroune, Brown, Mrowka, Lapkes, and Zawadzki. This year, when we signed Adams, Presthus, & Elliot, they were referred to as HGs. Pruter & Zengue were not, as they were draft picks. IDK if Zawadzki's new deal has removed him from HG status, as the 2nd deal usually does, IIRC. Regardless, he is certainly ineligible for OFF Roster HG status. Habroune is age eligible but certainly DQ'd by being on roster and playing in too many games last year. On roster for sure. Brown played in 6 last year and I thought was called up for more. IDK on Mrowka & Lapkes. ------ As always, correct my mistakes.
One not insubstantial change is that the league has increased the salary budget $500K over what was called for in the CBA. That document said it would be $6,425,000, but the roster rules say it's $6,925,000. GAM and TAM amounts still align with the CBA numbers, so it's a straight $500K increase over what was assumed the number would be this year, or close to $1M more than it was in 2025. Oddly enough, that skews the percentage that a DP takes up on the salary budget. It was always 12.5% (the max budget charge/DP threshold is $803,125, the salary budget for 2026 listed in the CBA was $6,425,000; $803,125 = 12.5% of $6,425,000). Raising the salary budget by $500,000 drops that percentage to 11.6%. Okay, maybe that's only of interest to me. Still, in practice it means that there's a bit more budget cash to throw as guys making below the max budget charge. If my math is right (and it's probably not) it amounts to about $200K for a club with three DPs.
It actually says it is "$6,9425,000" which is an error. Weve been joking about it in discord They fixed it in the last minute
A effing typo? Seriously, for a detail so important? The world has really gone to hell since everyone began firing copy-editors.
Oh, I never had any doubt about that. They murdered that dancer out on Trabue Road a while back. Cop had her in the front seat, tried to proposition/extort her for services she took a pen(cil) & stabbed his hand, and he shot her. I do some Uber/Lyft on the side, I live NW side. If you go at a certain time, you get a lot a rides of dancers going to & from work. If you ask them why, they say the afraid to drive home because the cops harass them. Follow them to the car, pull them over, try to blackmail/extort them for sex. Not one story. Many. It happened so often for a while I'd get the same people over & over.
Year's ago I managed a bar on the far west side. Amongst the regulars were some dancers from a couple area club's who'd stop in for a drink occasionally. There were places they weren't welcome but I was happy for the business, and I made sure that nobody got inappropriate with them, just as I would with any other ladies. Never had a problem. I occasionally chatted with one or two of them although they mostly just wanted to be left alone which was fine by me and I quickly discovered that while your basic stalker and/or creep didnt really bother them the undercover vice guys scared hell out of them. Theyd demand sex, lie about things happening that didnt , plant drugs on them, on and on. It was appalling. You always figure that sort of thing goes on in big major cities but I was shocked that it was true in Columbus Ohio.
youd think dancers would be a good source of intel, if nothing else. im sure they see/hear a lot of potentially useful information. instead vice treated them like property cause they couldnt get any without paying for/extorting it.
I asked elsewhere but Ill repeat: anyone hear anything about Abdullah Iqbal, Pakistan captain, center back, playing in Swedon? 23 year's old, 6'4", sounds good to me. There were rumors going around a couple weeks ago but not a peep lately.
Haven’t there been similar rumors about about a half-dozen players over that 12 months? Nearly all of them just fade away. There’s a clear logic to this player and the appearance of the rumor, just after we signed the new coach. Still, the entire thing seemed to generated by a couple of random social media accounts. I don’t recall seeing anyone I’d ever heard of before saying there was substance to it. Still, we could certainly use a 6’4” CB. And there’s still time. It’s Sweden’s off season and the current window is open into March.
I think we may need to get rid of Aliyu we did get a CM but we didn’t get enough quality at CM or depth. CB we have done nothing , merely needing less CB doesn’t matter we need a young athletic aerial threat at CB. Instead we brought back Camacho and signed crew2 CB. That covers depth but not quality.
I liked Aliyu at RWB, receiving long balls against unsuspecting defenders. I didnt like him at striker. However, he seems to fit Rydstrom's ladder principle. Build up in the backfield, and then get the ball up the field quickly. Saw someone on twitter who knows things (he leaked the kid release date and time and knew about some things from the crew friendly yesterday) say they lined up in a back 4 with Malte, cheba, Moreira, and Herrara. Dont know where that leaves Aliyu, Max, or any of our other more attacking WBs.
Oh, I thought F5 Fridays were from the Save The Crew era, when IM would tend to post updates on Friday afternoon.
Maybe but if we play 4 at the back he would be more of a outside mid then a right or left back one would assume. I guess this summer we will find out who doesn’t fit this system
But many steaks etc are named what they are named because that is the cut of meat they are. So, as usual, Cleaze was being pedantic AF. Love him to death,but the lack of Sheep League really puts a crimp around here. Someone has to have the gumption to revive it. Call it Lemmings League if he objects to the reuse of the name
Hearing that Farsi is a month out (at this point). Hoping that doesn’t move. Abou Ali will be good to go for Portland and is in full training.