2013 Major League Soccer Thread (aka The Ancient Mystical Society of No Timbers)

[Sweet Holy Moses]

Rumors swirling about Frings being waived by TFC ...

Nooooooo! Not Torsten!

Actually, on second thought. Yes. Yes Torsten.

[GoGo Yubari]

If Sigi doesn't give him the opportunity this year, I expect that you sir, will deal with him personally. That kid is fantastic.

He'll be starting. Decent chance of him and Rosales playing at right midfield and withdrawn forward and constantly switching places.

[HailtotheYo]

If Sigi doesn't give him the opportunity this year, I expect that you sir, will deal with him personally. That kid is fantastic.

He'll be starting. Decent chance of him and Rosales playing at right midfield and withdrawn forward and constantly switching places.

I hope he's starting .... though, that 2nd striker spot is going to be really interesting. Johnson isn't a target/stand alone guy like in a 4-5-1 ... and he could possibly miss some time this summer getting called into USMNT duty. I mean, Estrada/Ochoa are fine in spurts but they're not solid/starting options especially if you want to contend for the SS/MLS Cup. I don't know that they can wait for the summer to nab someone.

That said, the midfield looks pretty damned good.

[GoGo Yubari]

Sounders have signed Dylan Remick and Djimi Traore in the last day.

[Khain]

I have found a reason to support the Sounders with Djimi there

Apart from their wonderful kit

Edited February 23, 2013 by Khain

[DavidMarrio]

Don't blame it on the Biscan, Don't blame it on the Hamann, Don't blame it on the Finnan, Blame it on Traore, He just can't, he just can't
He just can't control his feet.

[GoGo Yubari]

He's looked good for us in preseason. We'll see how that translates to actual season. He also gives us an actual tall CB, something I'm not sure we've ever had, and could offer better leadership in the backline (which I think was also a problem whenever Gspurning was out).

[GoGo Yubari]

Alex Caskey

[HailtotheYo]

new site design for the MLS ... and at the moment I hate it.

[HailtotheYo]

This is huge news for the league, and absolutely where player development in this country needs to go: http://sports.yahoo.com/news/mls-france-launch-youth-coach-155705304--mls.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter .... MLS and FFF have launched a youth coach partnership that will see youth coaches going to an "immersion" course at top academies in Europe while French officials will come here and visit the MLS academies and review everything.

Bad ass.

[GoGo Yubari]

new site design for the MLS ... and at the moment I hate it.

I wish web design would get over its "a bunch of shit on a white background" phase.

[OctoberRaven]

Well it's only a matter of time before web design goes "retro" which unfortunately will mean websites will start looking like an Angelfire page.

[Sweet Holy Moses]

Combined with the reserve side integration into USL Pro, the FFF coaches training agreement caps a really positive off-season for North American soccer. Better coaching + more development opportunities = win. I know a lot of people laugh at MLS, but they're definitely taking the right steps to becoming a much better footie league.

[HailtotheYo]

Combined with the reserve side integration into USL Pro, the FFF coaches training agreement caps a really positive off-season for North American soccer. Better coaching + more development opportunities = win. I know a lot of people laugh at MLS, but they're definitely taking the right steps to becoming a much better footie league.

Honestly, I think the biggest miscommunication about the league has been that people don't realize that their entire approach was to build the league first and everything else second. No first division league has ever made it 20 years in this country as one continuous operation. Think about that for a second. Everyone involved from day one were smart business men/investors with sporting experience. They had a very clear goal. People look at the salary cap, drafts, single entity, etc etc without taking 5 seconds to understand the reasoning behind it and the history of the sport in this country and why all of that makes sense. Growth has been very calculated with this league and things are looking fantastic going forward. Developments like this are beyond huge for the league and US Soccer.

I can't imagine what things will be like when I'm catching a match with my grand-kids ...

[Sweet Holy Moses]

I couldn't agree more. From the beginning, things have been done the right way. They have an end goal, and are making the right decisions to reach that goal. Do I wish that league quality was higher right now? Yes. Will I sacrifice the healthy future of this sport in North America to do that? Not a chance.

The only major league misstep they've made so far was the Florida franchises (although Tampa was an original club, they weren't drawing their share of income). There was just a little bit too much expansion too fast. They contracted, and -- most importantly -- learned their lesson. They waited four years before expanding again, once the finances were on a more solid footing. Now they're looking for established soccer markets, supporters and management groups before they're adding expansion teams.

[HailtotheYo]

I couldn't agree more. From the beginning, things have been done the right way. They have an end goal, and are making the right decisions to reach that goal. Do I wish that league quality was higher right now? Yes. Will I sacrifice the healthy future of this sport in North America to do that? Not a chance.

All freaking day long, THIS ^

The only major league misstep they've made so far was the Florida franchises (although Tampa was an original club, they weren't drawing their share of income). There was just a little bit too much expansion too fast. They contracted, and -- most importantly -- learned their lesson. They waited four years before expanding again, once the finances were on a more solid footing. Now they're looking for established soccer markets, supporters and management groups before they're adding expansion teams.

Yeah, the Florida franchises were a misstep but only in part due to the league. Miami was the asstastic adventure from the get go and the owner never really was into it but he sold himself really well. Both had absolute shit stadium arrangements (Miami in Lockhart, and Tampa with a death knell lease with Raymond James). As you said though, lessons learned.

Orlando looks to have the ball rolling in the right direction and have recently had a pretty significant individual pledge funds for an MLS push.

AAAAAAANNNNNDDD Jersey Week is officially underway as Houston reveals the new kits:

[GoGo Yubari]

Apparently someone from Seattle is in Spain right now trying to work out a transfer deal for Obafemi Martins. With Levante still in the Europa League I can't see it being a move made before the summer window, but we'll probably try anyway.

[HailtotheYo]

Apparently the talks are pretty well on at this point.

[HailtotheYo]

[HailtotheYo]