I keep thinking to myself about MLS's talent level now and I must say each team seems awfully tough now. Tough you say? Yes tough, the talent level has reached a new peak I think that league has not seen in some time. From every position front to back each player is worthy and is a true pro. So how do they stack up to years past? Lets start with the very first year of the existence of MLS. Sure, one can argue that MLS's first season had some big names playing on individual teams, but overall, it was the weakest crop of talent of every year since. Any team from MLS today would destroy the teams of the first year. It would be no contest in speed, size, and shear physical toughness. The talent at each position is there to see how incredible MLS has come so far to date. Some of the African players of this season are amazing and are really helping to fill out the talent that was lacking in years past. The speed at which our game is being played is on par with Mexico and most European leagues. Have we arrived? Not yet, but we are getting better every season it feels like. South Americans, quite the crop we have, not every player can be Valerrama, Etcheverry, etc. Some may argue that Blanco is no younger than most of the older guys we have signed in years past, but look at what he has done in this league, amazing goals and has shown true grit when playing. If MLS can continue to sign young promising talent like Freddy Montero we will be on the right track for the future. Every league aquires an loses top talent to other league ALL THE TIME. MLS should be no different as loyalty is only as good as the next paycheck and big crowd. Montero is probably counting the days to leave MLS after the sexual harrassment scandal but he was riding quite a wave before that. So long as we keep cherry picking good Argentines and Colombians we are golden as their players and leagues are well rounded. I can't remember when exactly MLS took a step back in terms of talent but I remember there was one year in which it felt we lost more than we gained. I believe it was 2004 in which I felt the league was not heading forward, if not, just sideways... stagnant. This season feels FAR from stagnant. There are some exciting players to watch and some new players that are making names for themselves and are getting noticed. MLS is doing a fine job of balancing its talent with old and new (cept for old man squad LA Galaxy, jeebus have they thrown out their future or what?!?!).
In the early days MLS actually had quite a lot of very talented players skill wise that didn't have the physical attributes to play in other leagues where most players have both. Now MLS has a lot of players with good physical attributes that can't pass their way out of a wet paper bag. They try to bandaid this with a selection of the talented slow guys. The successful teams are the ones that get the balance right between the low talent track stars and the high skill traffic cones. The 98-2000 Fire teams would still dominate this league.
I've been following MLS since 02. There is no question that talent and skill increases every year. The only exception was the year both Chivas and RSL joined, which proved too much for the talent pool.
New England, Chivas, and especially Seattle helped raise the bar yet again this year. New England and Chivas didn't sign some star players, but they picked up some solid international players. Their scouting has been impressive once again. And of course we know how Seattle has done. They basically picked up players from every major category that MLS needs to look at: young South American stars, USL standouts, MLS veterans, international veterans, young African talent, and an international DP. I think the biggest thing this year was the loss of a lot of dead weight. There were a ton of players like Davino, Cronin, Xavier, Robert, etc who were subpar in MLS that aren't in the league this year. So while Seattle and other teams helped bring in better players to make the rosters stronger, it was the loss of players at the other end of the spectrum that has also helped improve the league.
It also helps that the starting lineup in the case of United in 1998 was 9-10 deep with at that time current players in their respective NT pools. United from 98 Garlick, Scott Agoos, Jeff - USNT Pope, Eddie - USNT Llamosa, Carlos - USNT Sanneh, Tony - USNT Williams, Richie - USNT Olsen, Ben - future USNT Harkes, John - USNT (Captain) Etcheverry, Marco -Boliva NT Moreno, Jaime - Boliva NT Lassiter, Roy - USNT I'd still be willing to put them, the 1997 & 1999 versions of United and the 2000 Fire (see starters below), a team who had Wolff and Beasley off the bench, against anyone today. Thornton, Zach Bocanegra, Carlos Kubik, Lubos Brown, C.J. Armas, Chris Marsch, Jesse Gutierrez, Diego Kovalenko, Dema Nowak, Peter Razov, Ante Stoitchkov, Hristo
I would say that the level of play has improved around the pitch, with the exception of defenders, particularly central defenders, and goalkeeping. Still very poor defending in MLS. The better goalkeepers are older and there are no viable replacements. I blame the low cap; Something has to give. The majority of cap space is spent on forwards. The solution, as always, is more money, and imo more international roster spots. The quality of defending in Mexico is better. The defenders have the basic skills required for handling the ball, and the fullbacks know how to move into open spaces.
We're still primarily getting our domestic talent from the college ranks, and that's not going to cut it because the NCAA is not now, nor was it then, a very good developmental league, the way it is set up. Talent will get markedly better when the academies-not the NCAA-is where we get most of our players. We also have to wait until the way we develop young players is properly done system-wide. And that means the clubs developing their academies fully to set the example, with the proper coaching and worthy competition for their pupils, and we must provide alternative routes to pay-for-play because there's probably much talent to be tapped in poorer neighborhoods, and coaches and parents around the country need to change their attitudes, like acknowledging that developing skills and encouraging creativity is more important than winning stupid games at that age.
I would say that the team play has gone up quite a bit this last year. There are some individuals that have come into the league and made a difference, but I don't feel like they're the main drivers of what I percieve as an increase in the quality of soccer. So far in MLS I see a slower, more deliberate game where teams are using more tight, 1 touch passing in the midfields. I've been impressed a few times this year by the ability of teams to get out of pressure by passing the ball well in urgent situations. One area we can all agree on is that because MLS has been attracting attacking players with the DPs that defense is far behind. Understandably, though. The quality of goalkeeping is surprising to me, although mainly because I've been trained to think that the US has good keepers. There are a few good ones in MLS but by and large we've seen stuff that's just bad this year. Jon Busch should have stopped kenny cooper's goal. Kevin hartman should have got freddy montero's shot. Wil Hesmer made some embarrassing moves against salt lake. Zach thornton gave omar cummings his goal against chivas. the back half of the field will definitely require some attention from the teams, but i'm not sure at what time frame we can expect that to be remedied.
Nice list but I don't consider some of your MLS Open Cup winners as "classic". This USOC has been slowly losing its prestige in the last couple of years and the 2008 DC United Cup winners are hardly a "classic" lineup, the same goes with the 2008 Red Bulls.
I'd put up last years Chicago and Columbus teams against some of the older squads and like my chances. They both had very balanced squads with very talented playmakers. Guys like Marshall and Robbie Rogers would have been USMNT players in 96. Another point is that the league is bigger than it was in those years, and there's more parity. There might not be the dominant teams like DC and Chicago, but we see talent across the board.
More teams More competitions More players going abroad Those and other factors make it far less likely to see a true first-team squad than 10 years ago. However, there is still far more talent in the league than there was at that time. The players that the league has now are more likely to show flashes of brilliance than the players of MLS back then.