Come on MLS, are you even ATTEMPTING to contact Rivaldo, a star without a contract? He was just playing for Cruzeiro of Brazil and if they can afford him, so can we. AT least try!! I'm sorry to say, but MLS is boring the hell out of me...we need excitement! We are losing our best American players to Europe and this league is becoming a glorified step above College and or Veterans Soccer. You can build 10000 stadiums, but if all you have to put in them are college players its just not gonna work.
You mean a white dwarf without a contract? http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/science/know_l1/dwarfs.html
Bobby Convey, all tournament team FIFA youth championships, midfielder DC United, glorified college player. Landon Donovan, world cup goalscorer at 20, FIFA U-17 gold ball winner, glorified college player. Rivaldo, past his prime, overpaid, underachiever, just what MLS needs more of. I can't see why you are bored by MLS, well except you're in New York. So from now on don't watch, as long as you are not a neilsen person, don't go to games, but pay for the tickets and give them to someone who deserves them. Make like a shiite muslim and give your money to MLS and beat yourself with a chain.
Re: Re: MLS, Rivaldo ... Rivaldo, MLS. Donovan is great to watch and Rivaldo is definately past his prime with a bad attitude to boot!
I have to agree with SoccerScout on this one. Rivaldo would be good for MLS. I don't think he's past his prime since he played in the past 2 WC qualifing games. Even if he is past his prime he would still shine in MLS and attract attention to the league from abroad, more media coverage and more butts to the stadiums. I hope they atleast try to get him before he ends up in Qatar.
does he really have no contract? from what i heard he just walked out and refused to play after luxembergo was fired. in which case he would just be not honoring his contract. did cruzeiro let him out of it?
How do you know that they haven't and they're not in contact with him? And exactly which team should gut their team and destroy their salary structure to fit him in on their team?
SoccerScout i don't find MLS boring in the very least. i think it's great MLS is filled with college players. these players and other young Americans need a place to grow professionally. rivaldos? we don't need no stinkin' rivaldos.
Rivaldo had a clause in his contract with Cruzeiro in which he could walk away if he wanted to. He did when coach Luxemburgo was fired. Rivaldo may be a year or 2 past his PRIME, BUT he still is a STARTER on the Brazilian National team and still a much better player than anything MLS has right now. Under the current circumstances my point is simply that I hope MLS would at least contact the Rivaldo people to see if its even a possibility. As for those that are happy with the level of MLS today, thats great for you. Congrats. In one year we have lost Tim Howard, Clint Mathis and sooner or later Beasley and Donovan will take off. The level will simply continue to decrease as we lose even the best American players.
MLS does need to bring in more top notch foreign players. I don't want us to lose a McBride and a Howard without bringing in some of equal or better talent. How can they expect the level of play to get better if they dont replace a good player with another good player? Seriously with losing McBride, Bocanegra, Howard, Reyes, I think they can cancel that out with at least bringing in Rivaldo if you add up the salaries of the players we lost it would still out weight what it would cost to pay Rivaldo.
I hope Rivaldo doesn't start our next qualifier! But that's beside the point - I don't think Rivaldo would take MLS seriously, he'd be more like a Branco than an Etcheverry or Nowak. Granted he's better than those two, but again, I doubt he'd see this league as something he should put some effort into. As for the level of the league, man some people have no patience, let the league develop slowly - buying huge stars is not going to help, let the college players get playing time - eventually larger rosters and participation in continental tournaments will help them get all the experience they need. It's an eight year old league! Quit whinging! Oh, and I dubt all those salaries put together match what Rivaldo would want.
why do we need Rivaldo? we just got Andreas Herzog at the top of his game. I think MLS tossed it's extra money around on Cory Gibbs and Jovan coming back, plus Freddy Adu, Valakair going to Dallas also. That's a bit of cash they gotta pay out with all those players earning at least $200K or more. It's one of the reasons a 6 year starter in Ezra Hendrickson who made about $100K a year got waived and never got picked up. If the Rivaldo thing had happened earlier on before rosters had to be set and such, it might have been more of an option, but not right now. We might could if we sold Beasley off for a nice sum. Then we might be able to bring Rivaldo in, but on the flip side he's such an ass that his attitude might be a problem. Rivaldo to his coach: "I wish not to play in a 4-4-2. That is too defensive. I want to be aggresive. You are simply American. You know as much about football as a small, lost child. I am Brazillian! I know all about the beautiful game because it is us Brazillians and especially I that make it beautiful! If you do not let me play the way I want, I'll bring down team morale and sulk on the sidelines and talk about how poor MLS play really is! For I am Rivaldo. I played in the best leagues in Europe. MLS is beneath me!"
On another thread is a bit about Luis Henriquez, a defender from the Panama U-23's. This is the kind international player we should be acquiring. Not more worn-out "big name" egos. If a player can't find a job with any club in Europe, there's usually a reason. For one Rivaldo, we could probably acquire half a dozen of the best young players from Central America and give them a chance to develop against better competition. Sure, not all are going to be great, but I bet there's some will pick up their game and make a name for themselves. I was in Panama during the last World Series, and every TV was turned and on they were cheering their guy on the Yankees. The day might come when the same thing happens with MLS.
Oh OK , Rivaldo is such a bad teammate and player that he "only" has played in the last 2 World Cup finals and won the last one. Yeah he sure is a cancer!! No thanks, Ill take Rivaldo over 12 or 24 unknown Central American players anyday!
Not that I'm agreeing with a stuborn attitude, but how can a veteran of 2 WCs not be allowed to complain to an MLS coach who's only coaching experience has been in MLS? MLS is growing, but it's not as good as the European leagues yet. MLS had its issues with some SIs, but why can't Rivaldo be different? Wasn't el Pibe and el Diablo guys who played for the team one way or another?
I don't know, I suppose I'll have to come down in the pro-Rivaldo with reservations camp. The league apparently looks ready to throw some serious coin at Steve McManaman and for my money if the same coin got you Rivaldo, you'd be silly to take McManaman at this stage instead. Rivaldo is more likely to be a draw that could make a portion of your money back. Rivaldo's skill set is probably a bit more in need by the league. He's a little younger, and not as many years removed from his "peak." One thing people need to remember about the Cosmos was that although it ultimately proved to be a failure, it certainly wasn't a catostrophic "New Coke" level failure. There was good and bad in a lot of what the NASL did. There are potential benefits to making shrewd investments in the quality of the product, you just have to think them through. At the moment, MLS seems mostly concerned with cost control above all else, which is fine and a large amount of emphasis needs to be placed there. But I don't think controlling costs gets it done all by itself. Ultimately MLS would have to evaluate what the short and long term financial benefits would be of making such a move and figuring out if there's a pay off. But if this money is going to spent, and McManaman and Rivaldo could be had at the same price, I'd think I'd have to go with Rivaldo.
As MLS grows I think it should aim to be the league where the best from Central America and the Caribbean go to prove themselves. We get a whole lot more bang for our buck that way than by signing big-name South Americans, and have the added benefit of raising the quality of play in CONCACAF as a whole. (Sure, it'll be a bit harder to qualify for World Cups, but we should qualify anyway - and it'll help us and other CONCACAF countries do better when we get there.) We wouldn't even be competing much with Mexico for players - they're paying top dollar (top peso?) for high-priced South Americans and only have 4 CONCACAF foreigners in their entire first division. SoccerScout, I get the impression that all you want to see is big names. That's a wholly inappropriate approach, I think. The reason we like to watch big-name players is that we know they can play good soccer, and we want to see good soccer. But this breaks down when the famous player fails to deliver the goods - I'd much rather see Carlos Ruiz playing to the best of his ability than Rivaldo showing up and playing a mediocre game because he doesn't care enough. We need more players like Carlos Ruiz, Amado Guevara, Damani Ralph, and Stern John, not Rivaldos.
The silliest and most boring soccer fans on earth are MLS fans. You guys have no clue what you're talking about loool... That dude said he can't wait 'til the league starts.for what? to see a bunch of college kids running around and have no clue what they're doing? Your league is sorry 'til now. Don't you get it? You can go to soccer forums all day long and act like MLS is a big crap but the real football fans know what the MLS is all about. The watchable players are gone and you guys have to stick with those "hey dude" players. I'll see you in 2070
if he come to MLS on a free...why not? He is getting old, but he can still play at the MLS level. If Bob Bradley would be willing to take him, give him to Metrostars. They need a name that fans will recognize and come to see, since they no longer have Howard or Mathis, so this should help them all around.
An MFL team would get more mileage from Rivaldo than MLS, both at the gate/tv as well as respect from a world class player. They can also afford it. Club America could use another body.