Sure, as you and Falvo point out there were some great clubs, but also lots that sucked. There were some "great" or at least famous players, but that's part of what brought the league down. They over spent, and fans of some teams felt that their club would always suck because they could not possibly compete with the Cosmos. So they stopped showing up. Sounds like the Crew eh? No matter what other leagues in other countries look like, MLS lives in the land of NFL, where there is a salary cap, a draft weighted for the worst teams to do better, and a fairly even playing field for all teams. MLS must emulate most of that model or die. We can't have every team suddenly go out and sign guys at three or four million each (assuming one such player for each club). That would put the league hopelessly far away from profitability, and they need to make a profit. We need to be careful, or we need owners that don't care how much money they lose. And we need to not sign famous name over the hill players (ZZ) or we will become the geriatric league that Ann Killion thinks we are. Don't let nostalgia for the old days blind you to where we are today. The quality of soccer played in MLS today is hugely better than NASL, and yes, I went to NASL games. GOOOOO QUAKES!!!!!! - Mark
I tend to agree, in principle. ZZ isn't that over the hill, though They need to sign players who might not be able to get a contract with a big club anymore (Juve, Liverpool, Real, etc), but could theortically sign with a smaller side (Parma, Udinese, etc). ZZ would be of that mold, I think. Don't believe the "poor teams losing money" line. MLB has been spouting that for years, and yet when a club is (rarely) sold, it's for a 10x profit (at least). We need midfielders. The ones we have run around seemingly aimlessly; can't trap a ball worth a dang, can't pass a ball worth a dang, can't steal a ball worth a dang. We will not have a world class league until we have good midfielders, IMHO. If I were the league, I would amend the Beckham Rule to have the following line: "Teams using the Beckham Rule, are free to draft any player that they like, but said player must play the midfield." Put another way, we need to buy strength in the midfield until we can afford to produce our own players.
Actually, San Jose sucked during the late 70's and early 80's but they continued to survive becuase they had a great attendance at the gate. The time frame (1975-1983) in the NASL was just too short lived! The idea of the MLS was to not emulate the NASL and to have all of their competition be on the field and not in the front office. We have seen with their biased favoritism that has not happened. The MLS does infact make many of the same mistakes the NASL has and probably just as bad. They have contracted and moved (our) franchises and made hideous mistakes. Luis Hernandez comes to mind..... If you look at NY's roster since 1996, you will see many more failures than great players. Branco, Donadoni, Lothar & Youri did nothing to really make their teams win on the field or at the gate. The Cosmos love them or hate them did much more for the game of soccer not only in NY but across the country than the Metros/Red Bull or the rest of the MLS have in over a decade. Bruce Arena has said constantly that everyone wants another Cosmos but it won't happen. When most people think of soccer in NY, who do you think of Meola & Vermes or Chinaglia & Pele? I reiterate that if it weren't for the NASL we wouldn't be here discussing this now nor would there ever have been an MLS. As far as the NASL & MLS college drafts are concerned, I never thought they ever meant much at all. I can't name too many college all star players who really made impacts in either league with their clubs as they do in the NFL, but in many cases the not so great college players did better than most of the all Americcans. I mean you had the college all star team of 1990 making the WC in Italy but by the time the MLS started they were already full fledged veterans. Maybe Dempsey and McBride did well in the MLS but they didn't win much right away and infact went to England to better themselves. The bottom line is in order to build a club in the MLS you have to start building the nucleus around a select group of players. You had DC United with Marco , Moreno & Harkes the Chicago Fire with the Eastern Euros as well as a few others and then San Jose building around LAndon and Agoos. LA was given carte blanche since the start as was NY (even though they never won anything) and were allowed to succeed.
Falvo, NASL had a lot going for it. You are quite right that MLS is making a lot of mistakes, many of them the sames ones that NASL made. But MLS is not about to go under. The league is stable. The league is growing. Not as fast as some would like perhaps, but at a reasonable pace. We don't want to out grow the talent pool. That would cause quality to go way down. And you're right that without the NASL we would not have the league we have today. (We'd be stuck with the USL or worse.) Still, MLS is doing a lot of things right. Look on the bright side bud, it's working. See you at some games Next Season!!! GOOOOO QUAAAAAAAAKESS!!! - Mark
Maybe not, that's why I put the wink in. This was after he started dating Posh and we all know how Sir Alex felt about that now. He could have been aiming a bit
Actually, I love the fact that the MLS and soccer in America starting American born players. I only wish that they had done this sooner and come in 1985 (instead of 96) when the NASL folded. I'm all for the building of their own SSS and committed owners. They are doing many things right but they have also done many other ruthless things (I.E. LAndy=LA) which were not only wrong but in many countries would be considered scandalous. As far as the NASL vs. the MLS argument is concerned, I would tend to think with all the foreigners and all the great players who had big names and the ones who didn't I'm sure would have done beautifully in the MLS. Are the MLS Americans better than the bench warming NASLer's? Of course the Americans today would make those guys look pitiful but then again those guys were never really given a chance to shine as they do now. When you have Paul Gizzi, Bob Stetler & Gary St, Claire as a longtime backup GK's and the only Americans starting in Jimmy McAlister, Mike Hunter and Joe Silveira, its pretty difficult to establish anything even close to a starting 11. Are today's MLS foreign players better than Godfrey Ingram, Steve Zungul, Stan Terlecki, Jan Goosens and Leo Cuellar? No way. Were George Best, Giorgio Chinaglia or for that matter a Rodney Marsh worse players than Ante Razov, Brian McBride and Clint Dempsey? I seriously doubt it, When all the foreigners got old, of course the quality went down but I'm sure you have to agree their skill level on the ball was far superior than anything the American MLS players have ever produced. This is not a knock on the MLS this is just analyzing the sport of soccer. The bottom line is nostalgia is something that shouldn't be messed with as history tends to repeat. Sometimes for the better sometimes for the worst. My only beef here with Sir Alex is he talks about the NASL and the great players as being a failure in the USA and I agree it was in many ways but in other ways however, it wasn't. The league created a legacy which we are witnessing today and that is what that league brought. The David Beckham move in some ways can be considered a failure (especially in Euro circles) in others its a great success especially off the field. As a Quakes fan I hope he does flop in LA and hope mostly that the game of soccer (aside from Beckham) will continue to endure in the country.