Good shout but Hummels has 70 caps. Ike has 1. I don't agree on Zimmerman. He was sold for major Garber bucks, the most ever spent on a defender. As for Lewis, It looks like MLS is going big on Olympic qualifying. If he’s still not playing in April, you may have a point.
Wow! This seems to miss the point and actually spells out the issues with the structure. First, it was never suggested that one person would buy 100 teams. A more logical interpretation is that there are thousands of people out there who are worth 1% of Tepper who might be interested in owning a smaller, local team if there were the right incentives in place. The current top down approach you suggest only benefits the owners. This trickle down approach slows the development of the game in this country significantly. This plan suggests we wait 25 to 50 years for everything to trickle down and then wait another 10+ years for the new structure to start producing the players it is capable. This bit says it all... "it's an exclusive club that rich people pay to get into". I have no idea why regular people would defend and exclusive system that they cant be a part. They have basically followed the model of the NFL and then realized 20+ years into it that they actually needed reserve teams. Instead of realizing the sport and the challenges are much different and choosing a model much closer to MLB or pro/rel like the majority of the world. This country could easily support over 100 clubs like SAFC and Louisville. The largest cities could support at least 5 to 10 teams and no reasons cities larger than salt lake city could support at least one.
I think you are getting your cause and effect wrong. MLS is like Starbucks in that it has brought soccer culture to greater prominence, creating demand for more The same way that one rarely found a fancy coffee shop before Starbucks but now they are on every other corner.
Right, because Hummels wasn't hurt for long stretches in the previous two WC cycles. Opara, in my mind, was a good player who was hurt very often. He was drafted but then had so many injuries he was just about given to SKC. Even then, he was injured quite a bit. It is in 2017 that he stays healthy, for once, and becomes one of the best MLS defenders. I don't know why he was not integrated by Arena that summer. Except it was Arena and he had "guys he trusted" already. Miazga similarly was not integrated but did get some camp time. Opara instead of Omar and we play in the 2018 WC. I don't know why Sarachan didn't call him in after two good NT games. I don't think he can pass, but neither can anyone else that is getting called except Brooks. Arena and now Berhalter, have called a lot of MLS guys to every camp but not necessarily the best MLS players by league form.
This is the part that makes me not believe the SUM conspiracy theories. If it's rigged to promote MLS, why not take the best MLS performers?
Opara has big plays both ways, good and bad. That works out better in league play than tournament play.
Schelotto said it was tactical. I'm inclined to think our starting midfield is still Lletget, Jonathan and Corona, but with dos Santos out the coach has to tinker (in the last game, Lletget and Sacha started together). It's probably too early to say. Keep in mind, we may be taking Schelotto's assessments with a grain of salt in a few weeks.
Just realized Miami are in the market for a cf after Robinson nicked. Jozy would be perfect for them. No state tax in Florida, either.
Weekly Best XI bites Zardes--showed nice movement on a difficult finish for the goal. Bornstein--he's 35, now. But it's amazing he got so little run, following the '10 World Cup. I saw some of his LigaMx games. He looked good, a better defender than Castillo had showed. Opara--is probably the best CB in the pool, right now. Besler--can't carry a defense, but is ace when surrounded by the right mix of talent. Herrera--any other cycle, the hype train would be behind this player. But RB is deep. Some of these RBs should be tried at LB. Mihailovic-- had an impressive 16 net defensive incidents from left mid. 2 key passes and an assist. The passing % is still a bit ropey. Maybe wide midfield is his best position for now. Delgado--had an astounding 20 net-positive defensive incidents. Looks less bulky than in previous seasons Hyndman--fits in brilliantly with the way Atlanta play. 95% pass completion. He runs to daylight. He plays combinations, well. He has nice instincts in front of goal. Doesn't look to be a grinder in CM, though. Looks to have a higher ceiling at a-mid/fwd. Shelton--perhaps he can be that Saint-Maximin figure for SKC--be that wide attacker who doesn't score a lot of goals, but does drive winning performances. 12 net + defensive incidents. 2 key passes. 1 assist. 1 goal. 3/3 dribbles. 3/3 aerials. 90% pass completion. Johnson--with Omar Bravo rumored on the way, this is the time to put up big numbers.
Mason Toye Jeremy Ebobisse Jozy Altidore Bobby Wood Christian Ramirez Andrew Wooten Sebastian Soto ...should all be Americans that MLS teams are looking for regarding a starting quality CF.
Soto is really a frustrating case. A kid that broke into a Bundesliga team last season, and then starred for the US at the U20 World Cup. Hannover were relegated to Bund2, and clubs around Europe were reportedly interested. I remember Benfica as one of them. It appeared that Soto wanted to move and didn't get it. Hannover reportedly upped their asking price to a figure that clubs wouldn't meet. (I don't think we know the whole truth with this case all around). Hannover reportedly offered him a 3-year deal, and Soto turned it down. They've just sorta black-balled him now. Not only hasn't he appeared for Hannover in Bund2, they barely play him for their reserve team. His contract is expiring at the end of this year, so I believe he can sign a "pre-contract" with another club at any time. I haven't heard anything about it. Frustrating. When an MLS club treats a player like that we scream bloody murder. When a Euro club like Hannover does it.............we just sorta all accept it. I don't think he's one for MLS yet. Bobby Wood is a really bizarre case. He has streaks and flashes for club and country. His resume is really bizarre. Basically he had a fantastic 2015/2016 in Bundesliga 2 with Hamburg. But that was the only year since he moved to 1860 in 2009 that he's scored more than 10 goals in a season. At any level. youth/reserve/bund2/bund. He hasn't scored a goal this year in Bund2. Last year he scored 3 in the Bundesliga. The year before he scored 3. At this point I think we can say that the magical 2015/2016 season was the exception. Hard to explain.
I like your post. Where are you getting your metrics from? Based on the eye-ball test I would add Aaronson and Lennon to this list. The former flashed often against a tough LAFC side and Lennon has a non-stop motor... serving good balls on O, winning aerials and rather consistently getting back to defend. Love Hyndman BTW and I am excited about Shelton being back on the pitch in a place that will appreciate his talents.
Yeah, I have to say that Hannover 96 lost me as a fan by how they treated Soto. If I were them, I just would have cut him and said, bye, if I had no intention of using him the whole season. Maybe, it’s partially Soto’s fault, but another part of me feels disgusted to see players get stuck in these bad situations. And almost wish that a player could file a complaint (with the league or FIFA) declaring that the club intentionally tried to hurt their career. Now, I know that would open up a Pandora’s Box, but as much as we expect players to act right; clubs should act right too.
I don’t know what happened to him since he came to MLS, but he fell of a damn cliff when he got to Philadelphia. Maybe it’s injuries. Who knows? But Wooten was as early as a year ago was knocking on the door for a US call up.
It will all be over soon... He essentially lost an entire year of game development but at least he will be free to move from that sinking ship... and he is certainly still young enough to make up for it next season if he picks the right spot. Based on what I have seen so far in the early going I would suggest he venture home to the MLS.
Like all of us, I don't have perfect information. But I don't think Soto is likely blameless. A number of the more recent moves to Europe have seemed to subscribe to the "go anywhere to get over there, and then engineer a move to a better position / pay almost immediately once you are scouted more." It's a ruthless, market driven idea, and I don't think many Americans have a huge issue with it. But German footballing culture is a bit different -- they are last bastion of top leagues against commercialism. Aside from 50+1, they've pushed back against having matches outside the normal window for more TV revenue and even the rich monster amongst them, Bayern Munich, refused to make a ton of easy money off the James Rodriguez situation with Bayern (where they could have bought him for cheap and immediately sold him for a profit). I'm not shocked a German club might have reacted this way to being so clearly used. It's easier to sell them for a pittance, let them go ... but if Hannover were making a point with this for that reason ... it wouldn't surprise me.
When Soto's contract runs down, he's free to move to another club within Germany. MLS doesn't quite work that way.
Its weird, right? Hannover reportedly rejected transfer interest for Soto. So instead of taking the money, they just let him rot for a year before leaving on a free. There has to be more to that story behind the scenes................... I would add another couple of players to your list of forwards that need to return to the US. Haji Wright seems to have hit a wall. Zero goals in the eredevisie this season. I think he's going to be looking for a new home again. Mukwelle Akale at Villarreal. He's a winger/forward, and should have come back years ago. He's taking "Lletgeting" to the extreme as he's been at Villarreal since 2014! McKinze Gaines at Sonnenhof Großaspach. He's been sliding down the ranks in Germany since originally signing for Wolfsburg. He'd be a good signing for Austin, as he's from the area. I also kinda wonder what's going to happen with winger/forward Tyler Boyd at Besiktas.
The list was just the players I had on the Team of the Week. I forgot to include Aaronson. The metrics are on WS and MLSSoccer. Lennon is high quality, versatile MLSer--the kind teams need to compete for MLS Cup or in CCL. Ditto with Shelton. Needs to stay healthy, though.
He’s actually in a run of games. https://www.transfermarkt.us/tyler-...ils/spieler/203330/wettbewerb/TR1/saison/2019 Idk how long it will last and if he can find the form from last year but he’s at least playing again.