.@IronPonyChef usually does good work on Republic By the Numbers, but this week's is especially good. Read it. https://t.co/Uvzu8Af4sH— Wren (@Wren_Lottman) August 23, 2016 Starts with this tweet. Couldn't cleanly upload the convo. sorry
Interesting that Lopez is pushing NASL. NASL itself may not be a viable organization in a year or two. It already lost the Scorpions to USL, will be losing Minnesota United to MLS, lost the Silverbacks to MLS proximity, and both Miami FC and Fort Lauderdale are on the verge of folding, and will probably do so when (if???) Inter Beckham comes into MLS. Rayo OKC is probably toast after this season as well. Bold prediction, I know, but I think that the SF Deltas won't even make it through their first season at Kezar, what with the two closest teams to them being in Indianapolis and Edmonton (assuming Rayo folds). I remember a thread where the NASL commish was bragging on how NASL would be a 20-team league. Right now, it has max eight solid franchises plus SF as a newbie. Given the choice, even despite the quality of play, I'd prefer that SRFC remain in USL, thankyouverymuch.
So basically RoRo is saying USL is getting watered down.. I'd disagree with saying overall it's worse.. You had some pretty bad teams in 2014. The problem is the addition of all of the "MLS 2" teams that exist as pseudo-reserve/U-23 squads that are more focused on players developing and breaking into the first team than playing for the city or team. He'd be right in that regard, and I think that can lead to disjointed, crappy 2 teams like Portland 2 we just saw. Better players moved to NASL, sure, but there is a lot of overlap. The solution is D2 and D3 being reorganized and merged, but we all know that's not likely soon.
Agreed. I think the overall talent level is similar -- especially because USL has been bringing back a lot of Americans from overseas lower divisions -- but the level of play may have gone down a little because some of the teams are not very cohesive. On a player-for-player basis, this year's bottom teams are probably stronger than the 2014 Dayton Dutch Lions or Charlotte Eagles. Sure, we've lost some talent in Sacramento and are still in first place, but this season hasn't been anywhere near as dominant as 2014. We've dropped more points in 24 games this season than we did in 28 games in 2014.