MLS 2009

[HailtotheYo]

Forbes Article

That's a nice short article from Forbes that shows just how well things are going for the MLS right now. Obviously there's exceptions, and there's a way to go, but overall the picture looks really good.

Last year's average att = 16,459 (street&smith) was hurt by KC playing in a 10k stadium

Last year's League Championship average att = 17,172

(Y) That's pretty good I'd say especially with some of the followings that the LC has (sheffield W, Norwich, Leicester all over 23.5k)

As far as moves/players and such here's the things that I'll be most interested in:

Seattle - obviously the buzz of the league and for good reason. On paper, the squad looks to contend right away. Keller and Lujndberg bring international experience that is unique in of itself. That, and the tickest they've already sold will make for a great opening match to the season.

LA - obviously the LD/DB issue will be a key for the Galaxy. If they're both gone, this could be another bad year. I like Arena as a manager and Buddle proved he can be a threat, but even Arena can't pull the rabbit needed to replace those two. They've at least made the attempt though and have signed several players to strengthen the squad.

Chicago - McBride returns to the states and could literally set Fire to the MLS (shitty pun)

Chivas - will anything ever happen here ? Galindo has potential and if they can keep Sacha that'd be great. Other than that you're looking at claudio f'n lopez as your star ? ouch

Colorado - still searching for identity really ... they're flushing out some of the issues but they really need to move on from Christian Gomez and get some good senior internationals.

Crew - strongest midfield in MLS should get stronger by bringing Robbie Rogers up to the senior squad. Sigi is no longer managing but they should still be the best overall team. If they manage to find a striker to help out GBS ... damn.

DC - the team looks fantastic on paper but just never performs that way ... like colorado, needs an identity but they did draft one of the best forwards available in the SuperDraft so maybe it's time for some turnover

Dallas - Cooper's situation is easily the biggest deal here.

Houston - again, on paper pretty solid, especially up front with Holden/Kamara/Ching ... they need better D though

KC - getting a stadium is good, so hopefully no 10k seater anymore .... now, go get players

NE - Twellman and Reis will star again but seriously how the shit do you not have a stadium ? The Revs could be a "face" franchise for the MLS if they got their shit together .... oh wait, Kraft ... that's right

NY - The Red Bull have things going upward. Outside of the Crew, probably the strongest overall team and Angel gives them the superstar. Agoos might screw them up, but hey you're getting BY FAR the best stadium in the league pretty shortly.

RSL - Kovalenko moving out to LA is about the only newsworthy issue here. yeah, this stinks

TFC - DRo comes to a club on a huge upswing. they could really make some noise this year

[Toe]

I'll try to follow it, but the games aren't shown often enough - or at least they aren't advertised.

Toronto FC has a pretty awesome group of fans. The good thing is that means the team is well supported and probably makes money. The negative of that is that it is hard to get tickets.

[Guest Lt Gen Potato Head]

'Not advertised' it would be then. CBC has a lot of games, and what they don't have usually ends up on Sportsnet or the Score.

Also DERO DERO DERO

[Toe]

They don't broadcast them in high definition, either.

[HailtotheYo]

s'ok, I don't ever get any European soccer in HD ... FoxSoccer/GolTV isn't carred in HD by anyone that I've seen (or is available to me)

I just wish that MLS would schedule better. The Opening Kick match ups aren't very good. NY/Seattle is a no brainer with expansion, one of the best stars of the league, etc. Houston/Columbus should be a good match as well, and Chi/Dall does feature the returning McBride w/Blanco against Cooper, but after that they're all kind of meh.

DeRo's Toronto debut is wasted in KC (and not on TV)

NE/SJ - ? so what .... it's too late for anyone to care (1030)

Col/Chiv - I might go numb if I were there, and yeah Sacha might be gone

DC/LA - great on paper, but wasted on Sunday and telivised only on Telefutura ... wtf ?

congrats RSL, you suck so bad you get booted from opening weekend for the expansion team.

Yeah, someone get on that shit and quick. You should showcase the league/markets in the first weekend.

LA should play every opening match at home, period. Hell, it would be a great idea to start the season with LA/Chiv.

Chicago should open at home as well. They've got one of the best stadiums in the league and the added bonus of "hero" McBride ? No brainer.

Dall/Hous should open at Dallas (until Houston gets their stadium then alternate). Texas rivalries, seriously.

DC/NE - too easy.

Toronto should open at home all the time as well. Outside of Columbus I don't know that there's a better fan showing. Hell, pit them together each year.

Col/RSL - territorial battles are always good

Sea/SJ - territory again

KC - you're left out of my opening weekend, sorry. when Philly joins next year, we can shuffle around a bit

[Clawson]

The rivalry between Toronto and Columbus fans is getting epic so the league is foolish to not put it as a showcase game on opening weekend.

[HailtotheYo]

article

wow, a foreign article that doesn't shit on the MLS .... who knew they existed ?

[Toe]

article

wow, a foreign article that doesn't shit on the MLS .... who knew they existed ?

You do realize that many have praised the business model of Major League Soccer and acknowledge that they are in a great position in terms of financial health?

[HailtotheYo]

article

wow, a foreign article that doesn't shit on the MLS .... who knew they existed ?

You do realize that many have praised the business model of Major League Soccer and acknowledge that they are in a great position in terms of financial health?

you do realize that many (most) have simply written of the league as second rate LOL Americanz soccer game despite that, right ?

Most of the time when these articles pop up they overshadow their "priase" of the business model with their "trashing" of the league's quality on the pitch. My entire point was that the article I linked painted an OVERALL good picture of the MLS. That doesn't happen very often, especially from media based overseas.

[Toe]

article

wow, a foreign article that doesn't shit on the MLS .... who knew they existed ?

You do realize that many have praised the business model of Major League Soccer and acknowledge that they are in a great position in terms of financial health?

you do realize that many (most) have simply written of the league as second rate LOL Americanz soccer game despite that, right ?

Most of the time when these articles pop up they overshadow their "priase" of the business model with their "trashing" of the league's quality on the pitch. My entire point was that the article I linked painted an OVERALL good picture of the MLS. That doesn't happen very often, especially from media based overseas.

Who says that? British people?

[Toe]

Toronto FC resigns 3 players.

[METALMAN]

From a British person's point of view, I'd say nobody really thinks badly of the MLS. I mean, it is acknowledged that the quality of player is comparitively poor but that is to be expected for such a young league.

In fact, I, and most other fans would really love for the MLS to be successful, and it certainly does appear to have a bright future.

[ZJ Penn]

Agreed. The only time it's quality has been questioned really was the Beckham saga prior to him joining LA Galaxy. That's only because he supposedly had the option of teams in Spain, Italy & England to choose from too which if we're honest is a step-up.

[gunnar hendershow]

It's good to see MLS doing as well as it is. Higher-level talent will likely only continue to come over to the States to play as more money is made by the league. Plus, it has already done wonders for US Soccer.

[Green Demon]

It also does seem like some of the younger talent that went to Europe specifically some of the Scandinavian leagues is choosing to come back and play in the MLS rather then just get paid more overseas. There is also rumors of Convey and Beasley coming back because they just arent playing at all at there respective teams which I would be happy to see.

I think a step in the right direction will be in a couple of years when the new Collective Bargaining Agreement is signed which will likely raise the salary cap a couple million dollars. We still wont have the money to compete with the European leagues obviously but I think it will help the league be able to sign more up and coming South American players like they have started to do and also give them the ability to sign some of the US younger talent that is going to Europe to play straight away. Along with that many if not all of the teams will have their own stadiums in the near future which allows the teams to not have to rent out place like Giants Stadium and allow them to actually turn a profit like some of the teams have begun doing.

[HailtotheYo]

^ yes.

there's also an influx of late, with African players. They tend to be overlooked in the category of "team building" and the like. European teams kind of nit pick the superstars and then don't even bother with a second look (most of the time).

I think it'd be great if Convey/Beasley came back home. You can say whatever you'd like about 'em but they're still a step above many of the players in the MLS right now.

[Szumi]

Beckham Wants To Stay at AC Milan

I think we all knew this was coming, and I know I hold no grudgs against Beckham for wanting to leave. He wants once last chance at glory, both on the club level and international. He cannot get that in the MLS, especially playing for the Galaxy (Then again, he plays for England so what real international success can he get with them? ).

He helped increase the popularity of the league, and merchandise & ticket sales, which is all he ever was going to do. As a player, Beckham isn't even close to being the most talented player in the league. He did what he could to help the league, and hopefully the MLS can continue to build itself up, both in the eyes of the international world, but in America as well.

As for the upcoming season, I'm not sure who I want to go with as a favorite. I struggle to see the Crew winning the Title again; just can't see Columbus starting a dynasty. With the rest of the East, all the teams are on the decline, it seems. New England's core unit is getting older, New York is inconsistent, and DC United has no defense or chemistry to match their offense. Kansas City and Toronto I see ending up at the bottom, although I would like to see Toronto get into the playoffs, especially with how loyal and intense their fans are. If Brian McBride stays healthy in England and plays well with Blanco on his return, I see some great things for Chicago.

In the West, again, tough to call. Houston's also on the decline, Chivas isn't the same withou Guzan in goal, and Real, despite finishing 2nd in the West last semester, just doesn't seem to be a contender.

Meh, we'll see how it goes

[HailtotheYo]

Soccernet

Good read. It's an article on the guys like Beasely/Convey that would be better off coming back to the states/MLS to play.

[Shutts]

DaMarcus Beasley scored last night against Milan. We(Rangers) didn't let him leave for free in the window so i can see him staying for awhile.

I've always liked him, but he is a bit lightweight ... soo easy to push off the ball. But his goal last night was good ... i can see a few more starts coming his way.

So ... sorry ... he aint going back to MLS anytime soon.

[HailtotheYo]

Chicago turn down Fulham

That's fantastic ! Way to go Fire. I 100% agree with this and am glad they did it.

As for Beasley. it's more of MLS just not being in the habit of paying for transfers. They've done it before but the last one of any significance (read: money) was for Galvan Rey. That was with the MetroStars .... yeah. What helps the MLS in this situation is that he can have an allocation used on him (set up for National/former National team players. Seeing as how Schalke tried to get him and Rangers didn't sell, I don't see that happening. If Beasley WANTED to come back there might be something. Walter Smith's brand of ball doesn't fit the skills he has anyway and Beasley has stated that he wants to play. If he doesn't even start cracking the bench more frequently I can see him moving back (or from Rangers).