Apparently translation from Spanish (mine is poor) means that Donovan will be playing for Club America in Copa Liberadores (loan). Connection due to possible purchase/purchase of SJ by Ca....quite an interesting twist, I must say... http://www.ovaciones.com.mx/futnac/donovanatodacosta.html Now even more unlikely Portsmouth comes off, I reckon..
While we're waiting for an even more confident translator to save other non-Spanish speakers the trouble, here's a computer translation...
So basically they steal Donovan for when they need him on a "loan" and give him back. And they can do this because they own the team...right? Kinda shady if you ask me. This is why Im worried about all this ownership by foreign clubs and such in MLS.
not only don't Club America have the right to do it, they will not even own Landon.MLS owns all player contracts, so they are no different in this regard than any other group of owners. As for foreign ownership, anything that puts more money and interest in US soccer is OK.Let's give them a chance and see how it works out-B
wow! even in this the craziest offseason ever, no one could have dreamt this up! you guys are kidding, right?
From La Opinion, Jan 16: Donovan says (in Spanish) that he doesn't care what country the owners are from, he just wants to win championships. When asked if he might go play in the Mexico, he said, "That's not going to happen because I'm not interested in playing there. I'm happy with life in the US, and I'm not planning to go to another country. First, we'll have to wait and see what happens with the team here. But in any case, I wouldn't play in Mexico." So there might be some cross-marketing appearances in Libertadores, but a permanent move seems very unlikely. http://www.laopinion.com/deportes/?rkey=00040115190612323489
what is wrong with new investors? owning foreign clubs prevent them from being possible investor of MLS? even though the most they can own is 49% of a MLS team (the league own at least 51%) and that it is certain that they will follow leagues rules and procedures. If say Man U want to diverse its investment and buy an expansion team in Detroit and help finance a stadium there, why would this be a bad thing? Would this Detroit United be a farm team of Man U? No, because MLS control all the contracts, if Man U want to have player X, they will have to bid. I hope Club America advances and best of luck to Donovan.
true, but if Club America pay MLS/Bayer say $8 mil for a transfer fee and Portsmouth only $6 mil and Donovan contract with Club America is about equivalent with Portsmouth, Donovan will be gone. He speaks fluent Spanish, so adjustment to Club America wouldn't be too hard.
except, with all due respect, he'll still be in a mediocre league. he's been called many things, but i doubt sellout is one he welcomes.
Oh nothings wrong with owning multiple teams. But you eventually run into a problem. Say you own 3 teams, team A in England, Team B in Spain, and team C in Norway. Well since Norways season runs in the summer, are you gonna cherrypick the best players off youre Spanish and English teams and "loan" them to the Norwegian team so they can win....every year? Likewise. will you say one year that you wanna win the EPL. Will you "transfer" all your best team B players onto team A just to win that league that year (assuming you do). and then maybe sell team B? Now I know I just gave a few extreme examples. But to "loan" Donovan to a team he never signed for or wanted to be on for the lone reason that he will help them with the Liberators. This seems way too fishy. Personally, I dont know where youre from...but to me that is messed up. Now imagine if most teams in the world started to do that. This is what I fear MLS will turn into if we let too many foreign teams run teams here. Foreign investment is OK, in fact encouraged. But they should be forced to keep their teams seperate and not to do these funny "loan" deals back and forth. It ruins the spirit of the game and is a dirty practice in my eyes, and Im sure in the eyes of many others too. Besides...the MFL is still a second rate league that pays their players more than they are worth. Not really any better than MLS. More diving and playacting. Thats all. It'd be foolish for Landon to make a career move there anyway when he could play in a good league like the EPL. If Landon has any say in it, I have a feeling he'll refuse it...especially if Portsmouth put together an acceptable offer.
Who knows? MLS hasnt come out and said no on the Portsmouth deal, so its hard to say what they are thinking. And Club America has a tendency to jump the gun on things from what I can tell, saying things are done that arent done. Im sure they are pursuing a loan, but its probably not a done deal yet. Rather large mess if you ask me.
Would be a great acquisition for Club America IMO, but i guess its his decision. Keep in mind though that the Copa Libertadores is watched by Scouts in the top Leagues of Europe. Many great players have been discovered in the Libertadores.
Ajax does this with a farm team Ajax Cape Town in South Africa, where are all the people up in arms about that?
debatable, but the nature of the game there is so different that it is hard to compare.It is very slow with low defensive pressure.But the players are, on average, more skilled than MLS. But let's be frank: none of the top US players has an special desire to play in Mexcio.They prefer Europe.
....but they don't.... There's a difference between this Landon loan situation and how Ajax, Man Utd., etc. have feeder clubs around the world. Feeder clubs usually don't loan their best players for the off-season to their clubs or any other clubs - they are bought or just stay. Most of the time, transactions between such clubs are in one, the buying of star players or hot prospects, or two, the loaning of extremely young prospects for some time purely for training purposes.
And how many "top US players" have you discussed this with? I suspect it is more likely that the MFL has not pursued "top US players" since the inception of MLS. Remember, it wasn't so long ago that Sorber and Balboa played in Mexico. And just a couple of years ago Wynalda tried to make a comeback in the MFL. Professional soccer players are generally driven by opportunity. Who is willing to pay them and play them. The primary reason we don't see "top US players" in Mexico is more a function of lack of interest on the MFL side than it is a lack of desire to play on the US players' side.
OK by a first rate league I would say England, Spain, Portugal, France, Italy, Germany, Brazil and Argentina. Mexico would be a second rate league along with MLS, Belgium, Scotland. etc. Ajax Cape Town is in the South African league...loaning players to Ajax in the Dutch league. I dont think theres any doubt that the SA league is anywhere near the Dutch. Now take MLS and MFL. Theyre fairly even. I just dont like the idea that you can just shuffle players for specific tournaments or even games between clubs owned by the same organization.
Uh, after seeing Mexican teams destroy MLS teams in a tournament they do not even care about, and watching the exhibition Interliga, I would say that the MFL is much better than MLS right now. National team is obviously a little different, but their club teams are on par with Brazil and Argentina. Now, so long as Donovan only goes for the Copa Toyota, than I am okay with that. But America would probably have to work that out with Bayer. I think putting the top four seperate from the second tier is okay though (ie. Italy, Spain, England, Germany... then France, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico... then Holland, Scotland, Portugal, MLS etc.).
And the MLS teams care about the tournament??? Give me a break. MLS teams care nothing about it, and didn't even put their best teams out there every game. If the tournament were in the MFL off season, and in the middle of the MLS season, MLS teams would have the same advantage the MFL has, and win those games. Hell, MLS teams, even WITH that disadvantage, have won it 2 times in the 8 year history of the league. It's laughable that people continue to compare the MFL and MLS based upon a few games between them, that are played at a time when MLS is in training camp or 1 game into their season.
Except this can't happen more than once every 12 months. Since these "loans" would be to teams in a different FA it is handled as a transfer as per FIFA regs. A player is only allowed 1 transfer every 12 months. So the scenario could happen once before it really starts to fall apart and you have cannabalized 1 team for the sake of another and you wouldn't be able to get those "loaned" players back in time for their regular teams season. This is what stops teams from doing this.
Now, you don't know whatbyou are talking about... Whe the MLS won that tournament, the entire tournament was held on Las Vegas, during one week on August, single elimination. Leaving that tournament aside, Did you know that Cruz Azul have 3 Active Argentinean Internationals?