I hope you mean that we do that by coming up with the cash that others are. For the money we pay we get 37 year old Desailly. We get Andeton and Guppy, etc. i can't beleive this comes up every year. How do you pass on this guy when you look at some of the SI's people keep on their benches. It is beyond me what some of you use for reason. But hey, wtf do I know?
I've not seen Desailly in a couple of years but he was top three at his position in the world at one point. Perhaps even the best player that consistently played both Centre Half (for France) and Centre Mid for Milan. Many considered him a wash out and past his best when he went to Chelsea....and they were very wrong. I think given his stature and reputation, and the extended careers of many players in MLS - both foreign and domenstic - that this could work. Could, of course, being the opperative word. Let's not forget the age Goose and Fraser played until as d-men and Desailly was a couple of classes above them. Shame he didn't want to come here before he went to the middle east. I would have thought that Youri would have shown many dissenters that ageing players can work out, especially if they come from a background of pure talent, experience and world class. Of course, that would also cover Mattheus, but recent trends have been somewhat better (Steve Guppy aside....who even still, almost worked out had he not gotten injured). I would give Marcel the benefit of the doubt. He's not Steve Guppy - a borderline player 10 years ago, who had bumped arounf the lower leagues for a while before coming to MLS. Desailly is a standout of his generation. It's like saying you wouldn't welcome Maldini or something crazy like that.....
Cheers to that!!! It'd be great to see him on any team. I am not afraid of MLS to be considered a retirement league......some of those older players are still much better than most players in MLS.
He would be a good fit for the Metros. Him and Youri can catch up on old times, talk about how great the 70's were.
Don't forget about Steve Howey Good points, and I would add that desire is yet another requirement, perhaps even more important than skill and age. Look at Azzizi, who was 28 and starting for the Iranian national team at the time, but sucked for San Jose.
Yeah, Azzizi was a pretty big name on the back of the World Cup. He and Ali Daei who if I recall moved to FC Bayern around the same time looked great on the biggest stage of all. Yet Azzizi fails to light up MLS? Where's the sense in that. Another Iranian, whose names escapes me moved to either Ipswich or Charlton and did nothing. He was the midfielder who scored about 40 goals for Iran, and I think 4-8 in one game or something. Sometimes moves just dont work out. (And I forgot Steve Howey....but yeah, he's a prefect example of borderline AND past it)
From a marketing perspective this would be great because we all know nothing puts butts in seats like an aging centerback!
Yeah, I think this nails it. Desailly was one of my favorite players in the world a few years ago, but going by his age and recent performance, he'd be a Lothar, not a Nowak. Maybe not even a Guppy, who actually seemed to be working pretty hard but was probably a bad fit for a D.C. United squad that didn't have a good target for his crosses.
What crosses? You mean the ones people told us he used to hit somewhere in England? Because I watched every DC game the man played in and the "crosses" never materialized. IMO, only a Youri type aged player will be successful in MLS as an actual productive player. Youri could still play in any first division in the world if he wished and have been as productive as he was in MLS last year. This means one of the best on the planet in his prime, yet still very motivated to play. Desailly would fit from a talent perspective, but maybe not from a motivation one. In which case, he would get eaten alive.
off the top of my head, I think he had one against the team from Jamaica (Ava gardens?) (and a few others very early in the season or pre-season). But he was either hurt or couldn't get into the line-up. Generally a bust.
Anytime any European player of any consequence (past or present) even drops the "maybe I'll go play in America" aside, we gotta have a thread about it.
IIRC, Nowak made some comment early in the season about Guppy needing to adjust his game because there was no one to cross to. I do wonder, though, if he might have done better on a team with a different style. A traditional English winger simply wouldn't do any good with D.C. United. They're at their best with the ball on the ground. Guppy seemed to be working hard, and he still had a few tricks (you should see the guy juggling a tennis ball). Whether he would've been better off whipping crosses off Brian Ching's forehead is anyone's guess.
This is something the league has failed to do after the last two World Cups. When MLS started in '96 they had a host of guys from USA '94 in the league. Genuinely good players like Etcheverry and Valderrama etc. They never really tapped into the France '98 market other than Hristo and now Youri. Luis Hernandez was a bust. And all I can think of from WC 2002 is Hong Myung Bo. If they really are going to increase player spending they would be well served to get some recognizeable experienced talent from the upcoming World Cup.
Disagree. After watching the Sudamericana, Libertadores, and WCC, I have come to the conclusion that our teams just need to stay together until they can reach a level of maturity. That is what has never happened before. Spend money on larger rosters. And better preparation for the international tourneys. Schedule more int'l friendlies. I think that is money well spent. I believe the league is finding the talent, it just needs them to get the experience and then stay together. Only KC, RSL, and Chivas need overhaul. All the rest of us need is to keep our cores intact and to add tweaks. In 3 years, I would put my Fire up against anybody you got anywhere on the planet in midseason form (theirs and ours). But if we have to totally rebuild again next year, like we did last year, and the year before that, and the year before that... get my drift? Every year in MLS it's a whole new team. That can't produce top teams. THAT is what needs to change.
MLS has a Drogba. His name is Joe Ngwenya. Like Drogba, he's tall, fast, good in the air, has a poor first touch, and finishes 3% of his scoring opportunities. Dip him in a vat of Soul Glo and we're pretty much there.
That's a bit of a stretch - Drogba is extremely strong on the ball. Ngweyna is like a stick and easily brushed aside. Aside from being African, I don't see a lot of similarities. Ngweyna can't even get int he LA side, Drogba is a 24m player playing for arguably the best team in the world - and starting up front. Keeping out the likes of former 36m (a world record at the time) player Hernan Crespo. Drogba may misfire, but even still, and even with a rotation policy, he's only behind Lampard (who plays every game - and takes set pieces) on Chelseas high scorers list. It's like saying we don'[t need Rooney - we've got Kyle Martino!!!