CONCACAF reacts to MLS/MFL

Discussion in 'MLS: News & Analysis' started by 3rd Degree, Nov 25, 2006.

  1. Foousic

    Foousic New Member

    Dec 23, 2002
    Washington/Richmond
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I really don't think you can have this without a substanstially higher salary cap, given that most MLS reserves make under minimum wage. No one good enough to start for an MLS squad would in their right mind sit on a bench for the kind of money that is being made by these guys now. Take Jose Cancela, a very talented player that in my opinion was, and should've been a bigger part of the Revs depth. He didn't play, and made bad money, he leaves and now the Revs are weaker off the bench. On top of all of this, MLS coaches in general need to be more trusting of their reserves, and give them more time on the pitch. I just don't see how a couple teams playing in a couple competitions next year will raise the level as you seem to think of our teams depth. Personally I am afraid DC, and Houston will both come crashing down next year due to all of this.
     
  2. Heist

    Heist Member+

    Jun 15, 2001
    Virginia
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Agreed.
    Exhibit 1 The last few months of the season in DC
     
  3. FlashMan

    FlashMan Member

    Jan 6, 2000
    'diego
    Club:
    --other--
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    you raise some essential points. just "building up the reserve team" ain't going to cut it, at least not in the short term. remember, for one thing, the so-called reserve team, only plays 12 games a year. total. hard to turn a potential into the real deal in such a quick time. and it's just unrealistic with the salary constraints to build real quality into that depth so DC and Houston have some at least decently skilled players ready to insert into action in some of these tough environments they're going to end up playing in.

    i've always wondered if a team was in one or two of these extra tournaments they should be able to grandfather in one or two extra players at a modicum sum, just to help round out the roster. probably a bad idea which skews the battlefield too much, but a thought anyway.
     
  4. E17Avenue

    E17Avenue Member

    Dec 1, 2003
    Grand Rapids, MI
    Club:
    Queens Park Rangers FC
    Nat'l Team:
    England
    There are a number of leagues in Europe which are played through the summer rather than winter. The Republic of Ireland league for one. Some out east too, due to the cold and long winters. So the problem of asynchronous scheduling is not a new one.
     
  5. masterklh

    masterklh New Member

    Oct 21, 2003
    Massachusetts
    The benefit to it all is that hopefully it can help develop ALL of CONCACAF. say a team from where ever wins the tournament, if they put that money back into the team it helps out our entire region, which increases the level of play throught the entire region. We have the worst region in the world seriously... Mexico is really the only team in the entire region that has any respect around the world.. one team in an entire region.

    The only real trouble is that you have the US and Mexico and the rest of CONCACAF is really garbage, and deffinitly not big market.. i see some of the teams that make the tournament and i say to myself who the hell is this ?
     
  6. Qdog

    Qdog Member

    May 8, 2002
    Andalusia
    Club:
    Sevilla FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Just out of curiosity, what team in Asia has more respect then the US? In Oceania?
     
  7. Sempuukyaku

    Sempuukyaku Member+

    Apr 30, 2002
    Seattle, WA
    Club:
    Seattle Sounders
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I'm just going to go the controversial route and say that Japan, Korea, and Australia are respected more....because they're not the U.S. Not because their soccer is any better than ours (I'd say we're equals).


    There, I said it.
     
  8. Heist

    Heist Member+

    Jun 15, 2001
    Virginia
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I'm gonna say the only reason this *might* be true for Korea was their performance as host in '02. As for Australia (who has been hampered in the past by qualifying out of Oceania), they aren't more highly respected. Ditto for Japan.
    What's your reasoning?
     
  9. timpcrk

    timpcrk New Member

    Mar 10, 2005
    Bloomington
    If players on DC or Houston get fatigued from extra games next season, then they shouldn't be professional soccer players in my opinion. Playing two games per week in stead of just one (not even every week) should not make anyone so fatigued as to affect their performance. If it does they should just get out of the league, because they don't have the fitness to be in pro soccer. Too many people scrape by working long hours in hard jobs like mining and construction for any hollywood sports star to whine about fatigue after "working" only four hours a week.
     
  10. Stan Collins

    Stan Collins Member+

    Feb 26, 1999
    Silver Spring, MD
    I suspect this career they call "pro athlete" just might be a little harder than you imagine. :)
     
  11. Eastern Bear

    Eastern Bear Member+

    Feb 27, 1999
    Great Falls, VA
    Club:
    DC United
    Not really any different than my sales job. I mean, my wrist is really sore after typing all day and picking up the phone. However, just like a pro athelete, I need several days to recover to "full strength" before I'm ready to give it 100% on the job. :p
     
  12. Heist

    Heist Member+

    Jun 15, 2001
    Virginia
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Until you've trained and played a professional sport, don't tell us what fatigue is. Would you say the same to a NFL player who "plays" only a few minutes a week?
    Its just your opinion, which is unfounded and worthless on this topic.
    Players in leagues all over the world play 1-2 games a week. Sometimes they get rested for a game or two and sometimes they don't. Its common practice and Nowak didn't do it.
     
  13. nyrmetros

    nyrmetros Member

    Feb 7, 2004
    eventually the Concacaf Champions Cup will morph into the Concacaf Champions League and the MLS/MFL competition will merge with that...... IMO.....
     
  14. Der Stich

    Der Stich Member+

    May 3, 2005
    Chicago
    Club:
    Chicago Fire
    The Russian Premier League (Mar 17 to Nov 26) is a good example with a schedule comparable to MLS (Apr 1 to Nov 12).

    Sweden = Apr 1 to Nov 12 (maybe a better example than Russia?)

    Norway = Apr 9 to Nov 11

    Finland = Apr 19 to Oct 16
     
  15. dcsundevil2002

    Apr 20, 2006
    Ashburn, VA
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    With Russia as the example, they still have clubs playing in the UEFA Cup and the Champions League, even with their domestic league seasons finished. Based on this precident, CONCACAF could move CCC to fall in line with more of the regions leagues, or just use this precident as a way of telling MLS "Tough, deal with it!"
     
  16. fscat

    fscat Member

    May 2, 2005
    Chicago, IL
    I agree with Semp. Please note, he's saying that they are more respected based more on that we are the US and Soccer combined, which alot of the soccer world still looks down upon, unfair or not. I agree with Semp that we are probably equals with Australia, Japan, and South Korea, but the soccer world as a whole doesn't look down their nose at their soccer talent as do they with our talent.
     
  17. Heist

    Heist Member+

    Jun 15, 2001
    Virginia
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I don't know what that means..."the US and soccer combined"

    But, are we talking about the same Soccer world that includes 10+ playing in the EPL and many more in other leagues in Europe?
    I know Italy and Spain don't seem to regard US players too highly. That i'll agree with. In terms of the EPL (a league where you'd think Aussie players were overvalued) there are less than 10. Korea has fewer players in major leagues in Europe. Same for Japan. I know that's not the ONLY measure of the world's respect, but its a pretty good one. What evidence do you have to refute what i've wrote?
     
  18. AndyMead

    AndyMead Homo Sapien

    Nov 2, 1999
    Seat 12A
    Club:
    Sporting Kansas City
    Correct. If I recall, they even drew four groups of four in 2001. After various howls of protest over the costs involved from most of the teams in the competition, the groups were split into pairs and a straight home/home knockout was played - until the final, which after an appeal from the two Mexican finalists - was converted into a single game.

    All of these grand plans are awesome - but the reality is that someone has to actually pay for these things to happen.

    TV is willing to foot the bill for InterLiga. It's even now willing to pay for MLS/MFL. Once - in 2001 - it was willing to pay for MLS teams to play in the Copa Merconorte, until the money ran out.

    TV is not willing, as of yet, to pay for a CONCACAF "Champions League". And without TV revenues, the confederation itself surely isn't going to pay to send club teams all over the hemisphere just for appearances.

    Have most of you ever wondered why CONCACAF has the most convoluted WCQ system? It's because of the costs involved. The 94/98 system actually makes a lot of sense once you look at the costs. The key is to involve everyone, and give them their "shot", but a third of the teams end up only having to pay for one home and one away game.

    The Womens World Cup Qualifying, this time around, was even cheaper. The U.S. and Canada only played one game to get to China 2007.

    CONCACAF can make all the pronouncements they want about a "European Champions League style tournament" all they want. But when folks start booking air travel and hotels, and players start asking for more money to cover the fact that they will be missing work for another week - things get reshuffled. I'm still waiting to see who wins the 1999 Cup Winners Cup. I hear they'll be playing the final any year now.
     
  19. Onionsack

    Onionsack BigSoccer Yellow Card

    Jul 21, 2003
    New York City
    Club:
    FC Girondins de Bordeaux
    Nat'l Team:
    United States

    Well its partially because you havent been exposed to them before as to why you havent heard of them.

    But central america has some prety historic clubs and sucssesful clubs like:

    Deportivo Saprissa
    Olimpia
    Municipal
    LD Alajuelense
    CS Herediano
    CD Motagua
    Comunicaciones

    But all these clubs are far from lightweights. These clubs would likely be the ones getting stronger under a new CONCACAF champions cup system with real prize and TV rights money as they are the top teams, unlike MLS and to an extent MFL which have many clubs at competitive levels for the league title.
     
  20. Autogolazo

    Autogolazo BigSoccer Supporter

    Feb 19, 2000
    Bombay Beach, CA
    The solution to both of these tournaments is to have them entirely in the U.S., with the Mexican/Central American/Caribbean team's "home" venue of choice.

    Olimpia, for example, could play its CCC home game vs. DC in Miami or Houston (with overwhelming home support) and keep the gate.

    Morelia could play its LMF/MLS tourney "home" match against DC in Chicago, where there are many Michoacanos, and keep the gate. And then play its "home" match against Chicago in Houston or Denver or something.

    SUM or whoever owns the TV rights could reach a deal where they would pay something for the teams to do this.

    There's no reason this shouldn't work out. There will be almost no visiting MLS fans flying across the U.S. in the midweek, so there's no disadvantage for the other CONCACAF teams there, either.

    This tournament should be a license to print money and you have to think that one day someone will figure out how to make it work.
     
  21. AndyMead

    AndyMead Homo Sapien

    Nov 2, 1999
    Seat 12A
    Club:
    Sporting Kansas City
    I doubt it.
     
  22. E17Avenue

    E17Avenue Member

    Dec 1, 2003
    Grand Rapids, MI
    Club:
    Queens Park Rangers FC
    Nat'l Team:
    England
    Very true. No-one in the W12 postcode knew much about Partizan Belgrade until they dumped QPR out of the UEFA Cup back in the 80s.

    A comparison would be good clubs from the former Soviet states who are now in independent nations and no longer under the pro-Moscow regime. Only Dinamo Kiev and Dinamo Tbilisi broke through from non-Russian states. There are plenty teams in some of these nations that can compete with more "established" names in the western end of the continent. An example of this would be Shakhtar Donetsk, who had limited success within the Soviet league but then emerged as perennial rivals to Dinamo Kiev within the Ukraine.
     
  23. masterklh

    masterklh New Member

    Oct 21, 2003
    Massachusetts
    Its a damn good thing in my post I didnt try to compare one region to another. I didnt compare oceania to the US, I simply said the only league in CONCACAF that is respected around the world is MFL. Did I say any league in Asia is more respected than MLS... I dont think so...

    now if your going to make a general assumption and try to debate it, please go off what was written and not dig deep into left field to try to fuel a fire.
     
  24. masterklh

    masterklh New Member

    Oct 21, 2003
    Massachusetts
    Yeah all it takes is a russian Oil billionair and you can compete with any team on the planet... course they probolly couldnt win a game in any type of meaningful tournament but they can put up 93 points in a year!
     
  25. Qdog

    Qdog Member

    May 8, 2002
    Andalusia
    Club:
    Sevilla FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Yeah, you said that, but you also said...

    Thus the debate...
     

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