There were many players like or even better than Messi back in the day. Maybe you were not born or don't recall but Messi wasn't as good as Maradona, Zico or Platini. I don't think he was better than Romario either. Heck, in the 80's, 90's and 2000's there were tons of players and playmakers that come to mind. Francis, Keegan , Mueller, Sanchez, Rush, Klinsmann , Stoichkov, Djorkaeff, Baggio, (Brazilian) Ronaldo,Rivaldo, Zidane, Baggio , Delpiero , Totti and Trezeguet were just a few in the crowd of many. He also did not have to deal with brutal defenses of that time. Then the defenders like Schuster, Raul, Scirea , Maldini , Baresi , Thuram, and Nesta were incredible. I don't think there are many today who come close to those guys. If he played in those days, his legs will have easily been broken.
Does Zungul have over 50 goals and 50 assists for his national team? Because Landon Donovan was the first player EVER in the history of the sport to have over 50 goals 50 assists for ANY national team... he has since been joined by Neymar Messi and maybe one or two others.
He was on the national team when he left Yugoslavia and probably could have landed a lot more contracts across Europe but at the time it was impossible. So he fled the communist regime at age 24 to play indoor soccer for the NY Arrows as he was living below the poverty line in Yugoslavia. Both Terlecki and Zungul were set to play for Poland and Yugoslavia at the 1982 World Cup. From 1978-1983, FIFA blocked or banned Zungul from playing outdoor soccer. That was when Quakes coach Don Popovic took matters into his own hands and went to the Supreme Court to plead his case. He argued FIFA had no legal right to prevent Zungul from making a living playing outdoor soccer and when FiFA failed to show up, he was allowed to play. Even if FIFA showed up, they will have lost their case. He probably will have been an even bigger star but sadly, the NASL folded in 1984.
LAG GM Will Kuntz gave an interesting episode on the Cooligans pod. He and other GMs want owners to be allowed to spend whatever they want, as MLS would be better with 3-4 super teams. Fans want super teams, and MLS is one of the few leagues not to have that, where the same few teams dominate every year. he also pointed out the having playoffs helps equalize things in that the small teams have a chance to win MLS Cup. He is not a fan of parity.
To be frank, the main beneficiaries of league salary caps are the team owners who are colluding to keep costs down. They sell you a story about small markets having a shot to compete but this is not really their motivation. Still, moving to an MLB-style free-for-all is not in the cards for MLS. Super teams tend not to work that well in practice IMO - the big dogs are usually making way more than their actual contribution to winning. They should make it easier to construct and retain squads filled with quality starters (e.g. create salary cap exceptions for retaining your own free agents, increase the minimum salary for supplemental roster slots). Or maybe increase the TAM/GP salary threshold. It's not like we have a dearth of megarich potential sports owners in North America.
Interestingly, very rarely in MLS to star studded teams win it all. I’m thinking the Galaxy and LAFC may have won with superstars in their teams but as a rule, teams aligned with team players usually are the ones winning trophies. The Columbus Crew for example won 3 MLS Cups since 2008. They have even had two brand new stadiums since 1999. That is an incredible accomplishment for what is a smaller market. The only reason I mentioned having a star in the team was mostly to help with attendance , team exposure and maybe even help win some games. I also realize though that having a superstar on a team in MLS anyway, does not always guarantee a winning combination.
I'm not "anti-superstar", as in global superstar, from a league perspective but I don't think the Quakes necessarily need one. There was a lot of noise about Vela possibly joining last year. He may be a rung below the biggest global superstars but I think he qualifies. He would have been a disaster. He eventually signed with LAFC late last year and wasn't good enough to get any MLS minutes. I think he played a couple of minutes in a Leagues Cup game or something. But in terms of the league, sure, if people want to go that route, go ahead. It's more flavor for the league, and it's kind of fun to watch when it (typically) fails.
But also remember that players didn't have as long of careers as they do today. 35 is the new 40 (or something like that.)
Not so sure. Although I agree that the game has changed , conditions are different and players are more protected today than they were then. Players today have the VAR and more yellow and red cards are shown but very few players , with the exception of the true champions , can play into their late 30’s. That was true in any league then and now. You may have one 38 year old Luca Modric or Francesco Totti coming off the bench scoring a pk here and there but it is very rare. Zlatan Ibrahimović , after leaving the Galaxy went back to Italy, scored some goals, then was always injured. IN MLS, you have Olivier Giroud at 38 making a guaranteed salary of $3,675,000 in 2025 and only scored 1 goal. That is more than ridiculous.
Without nitpicking about actual age, it's a fact that players in all sports last longer than they did back then. Retirement age for those who still have the skills is higher. Given that, you can't straight up compare the number of players greater than x age back then to x age today. The line has moved.
And average playing time, especially in the NBA, has gone down for top players since the 80s as teams have deeper benches and try to manage their stars more. All these factors make comparing players who are over-xx age from the two time periods not straight forward or useful on the surface.
All of this dialogue has nothing to do with my initial post. Yes, like all sports, the game is faster, and players are more protected today than they were 30-40-50 years ago. There is no libero or sweeper and left and right backs overlap more today which is something they didn’t used to do. There are no more playmaking mids and #9's & 10's don't play the same roles they used to. Defenders used to be brutal, would foul and wouldn’t let you get by that easily. Yellow and Red cards are given a lot more freely than before but that doesn’t mean those old timers wouldn’t have the same success today. I've played with and against old time NASL players as well as contemporary former MLS players and I've seen many of the old timers still be far more superior. Regardless of all this though, you give those old timers the same training regimens , fields, salaries and playing conditions that players have today, I’m more than positive they will have had equal success. As far as LAndy being a superstar, I'm not so sure if he is , was or not. For what he, the Galaxy and AEG did to us, it was inexcusable and unforgivable. I'm surprised to see Quakes fans so forgiving. It is hardly a mark of a superstar. Pete Rose was just reinstated for betting on baseball but what do you call what AEG and/or LAndy did? He is still revered by Quakes fans on this board? Are you kidding me? Anywhere else on earth he will have been an outcast, banned from the game, heavily fined and his team relegated but here he is praised. This is not fixing one match, he and AEG fixed the league in their favor! This is worse that drugs , steroids or anything else and he is still considered a superstar? I’ve never heard or seen anything like it. Regardless of any of this though and bringing it back to my initial post, it is still sad that we have to go back 40+ years to find a superstar who played for the Quakes. That was true when I initially posted yesterday and now.
You're surprised when a topic brings in side information and is discussed on here? We could just delete 90% of the content if that were the case. And I think it is relevant. You even circled back to "it is still sad that we have to go back 40+ years to find a superstar who played for the Quakes" which is what others were arguing against and you don't agree with. So it was relevant. And the training regiment of today I think many of the stars would struggle with especially if they couldn't smoke and drink to the extent many of them did. I don't have confidence that they could separate the life styles, but that for sure is a different content path.
Players still smoke , drink and do drugs today. It is a complete myth that they all magically stopped and turned into a bunch of innocent angels in 2025. When I lived in Italy, I knew many Serie A and B players who were doing all kinds of stuff and many got away with it. Regardless of any of that though and still bringing it back to my initial point, which other superstar have the Quakes had in both the NASL or MLS eras? Even putting LAndy (who was given to us at 19 as an unknown youth player in 2001 and taken away from fraudulently and scandalously before he turned 23 in early 2005 or 20 years ago) into the equation.. Please name the Quakes last superstar......
Hey guys, on David Gass’ Soccerwise podcast they were ranking MLS derbies (our El Clasico did not make the top 5). But Gass said there is a Vancouver-San Jose derby. Is that true? I don’t recall any such. Let me know and I will correct on his Discord..:
That's the "Last Two Without A Partner Derby". We have to admit - for LAG, their main "derby" is now with LAFC. But for us it's still LAG. I don't feel it as much for LAFC. With the Gals, it's just the history of it.