Kudos To Grant Wahl

This is what I really liked reading:

Please bring us somebody good - find us an Emilio. Please, please, please.

 

A great article by Wahl.

A nice bit on Bravo as well. Halleluja if we are finally getting into the South American market for talent.

It's crazy watching the Decade of Stars DVD's and seeing how Latino we were in the beginning and then all of a sudden under Sigi and Sampson we became an all white team.

I think in general, a good mix of styles would only help us...

 

you mean sigi -- the guy who brought in ruiz, meyers, moreno, gonzales, gomez, saragosa -- and sampson who gave us: nagamura, chinchilla, gomez, naldo, thiago, pando and umaña.

your assertions just aren't true.

again i give less than a fart where the players from my team come from as long as they're winning. if the galaxy were comprised of eighteen 6' 2", 190lb, blonde-haired, blue-eyed bavarians and won the cup fine. if they were comprised of eighteen 5' 9", 130lb, dark-haired, brown-eyed, aztec descendants and won the cup great.

this absurd desire to acquire talent of a certain ethnicity or region is completely illogical.

 

Yeah, great article. Wahl rules!!!

 

Good info within his replies as always. And the small jabs at ESPN, Beckham-rumor-mongers and the WNT coach were deserved.

 

You're right that any sort of race policy is absurd and I apologize for suggesting otherwise.

But, there is something to be said for Latin talent and it's an area that we have not tapped into over the past several seasons. And when we have, we have not done so effectively. Compared to our beginning, it is rather striking.

But you are of course correct that race matters not at all as long as you are winning.

 

Is it also illogical for NCAA Basketball & NBA teams to focus recruiting on areas more heavily populated by African Americans?

I don't think the point was that the Galaxy should acquire Latin American players simply because they are Latin American. It might have more to do with an assumption that players from countries that that have historically produced more quality soccer players (i.e. Brazil and Latin America) would seem to present better prospects for future player recruitment and development.

 

i think so. we have this weird belief that because someone is brazilian they must be good. look at naldo, thiago and to a lesser extent saragosa and nagamura. we just assumed brazillian = great soccer player when clearly naldo and thiago were shite.

even pavon who is unquestionable a good player has been a flop in LA. ditto hernandez, hermosillo and to a lesser extent campos.

latin and south america have absolutely produced some fantastic and comparatively cheap talent – i have zero problem going on scouting trips to SA; i have immense problems with the theory that adding latin/south american players is automatically a good idea.

and as for basketball, it has nowhere the global appeal as football and so the talent pool outside of the united states is considerably lower. though the nba has been importing argentineans, easter europeans, chinese, africans, aussies, etc... for years now. as basketball increases in popularity the diversity of the nba will continue to increase.

 

I don't care what nationality they are. This team definitely needs more speed. Cobi (God bless him) is still one of our fastest players. Gotta get faster.

 

We don't need South Americans because they're South American, it's just that SA produces a lot of soccer players and they are willing to work for MLS wages. Any team that is not looking in SA is going to fall behind. I'm very happy with this change.

 

The reason to go to South America is that comparable talent is CHEAPER than here. Look at baseball; the number one pick in the American draft gets a few million dollars signing bonus, while you can pay a comparable Latin athlete pennies on the dollar. Soccer is similar, although not as stark a contrast as baseball. In a league with such a small salary cap, it is imperative to get some quality players at a bargain price.

 

I don't know...In the first 4 years they won the supporters shield once and were runners up twice and were runners up in MLS cup twice.

That's success in my mind.

 

Ruiz did score the goal that won us our first championship. Welton was the bomb. Campos, an immortal. I agree though, a good mix from across the galaxy

 

Yes. Guatemalan +10. Not really though... I was kind of bummed they didn't get Philip Younghusband (Too bad about the name though) I was talking to a Filipino buddy I worked with and he was getting excited when I told him they might sign him from the Chelsea reserves. However, it was not to be. I say KEEP any young talent they can get for cheap, and eventually sell to Europe for a profit, no matter where they are from. Mix those kids with some aging, but still got something to offer the States, 'world stars', and a talented mix of US national team old-timers and up-and-comers, and you'll have a team that any one in LA could be proud of.. A good mix of all the styles from across the soccer Galaxy. Latin, Euro, African, Asian... Islander... Antartic... Sounds impossible? Well so is driving in LA.

 

IDK that this was necessarily true, both coaches (SS1 and SS2) had their share of hispanics on the team. Yallop seems to "find more value" in other "emerging" markets like Canada.

 

Your right. Coaches are obviously going to go where they're comfortable. Yallop has Canadian links. Sampson brought in some Costa Ricans from his experience down there. I probably shouldn't have included Sigi.

It's not a big deal, coaches will always lean heavily on players they've been exposed to previously. It takes some of the risk out of acquiring someone new when you've worked with them up close.

 

No big deal, plus I was being sarcastic.
I'm hispanic, I love the Galaxy and I don't a problem supporting them regardless of what the demographic makeup is. I do have a problem with coaches intentionally not tapping into specific areas or groups because of preconceived notions or biases; but how does one ever know that as a fact?
I also have a problem with the reverse (ie.e. Hermosillo, Hernandez, just because....)

I hope I make sense

Go MLS!!!

 

I think it makes sense to "go south" to recruit. First, from a marketing standpoint it makes all the sense in the world for obvious reasons (LA). Second, the player contracts in the "south" are probably more in the range of the Galaxy and there is probably a large supply of talent. Third, it is clear that the Galaxy under Lalas have lost a lot of Latin talent and has focused on non-Latin recruitment almost to a point of concluding that it is his policy. It makes sense. However, the Galaxy should not exclude other talent simply because he is "going south." In the end, as Pato Banton once said "you could be any color, any creed or any nation..."