Ljungberg: Seattle = Eredivisie quality
Is he bullshitting? Or MLS gotten that good?
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/...have-gone-west
Ljungberg, 32, makes no extravagant claims but insists that his new side are comfortably the equivalent in ability of “say, Ajax, or any other club in the Dutch First Division”.
“Years have gone by and I’ve finally learned to accept myself for who I am: a beggar for good football.
I go about the world, hand outstretched, and in the stadiums I plead: ‘A pretty move, for the love of God.’
And when good football happens, I give thanks for the miracle and I don’t give a damn which team or country performs it.”
-Eduardo Galeano
he's bullshitting
i have never watched a game from that league, so I wouldn't know.
If we got rid of the salary cap, then yes, the MLS would be close in strength and similar in make-up to the Dutch league. But now, no.
he said equivalent in ability. not compositionOriginally Posted by Super
“Years have gone by and I’ve finally learned to accept myself for who I am: a beggar for good football.
I go about the world, hand outstretched, and in the stadiums I plead: ‘A pretty move, for the love of God.’
And when good football happens, I give thanks for the miracle and I don’t give a damn which team or country performs it.”
-Eduardo Galeano
To Ajax? No way ... probably low to mid level Eredivisie quality.
Maybe the bottom of the Eredivisie.
The top Dutch teams can beat all the MLS teams.
However, the MLS has the POTENTIAL to surpass a lot of the smaller European leagues.
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QFT.
Actually, making a comparison to Eredivisie isn't that much of a stretch in my opinion. I think Houston and Seattle with their current squads could compete quite well in the Netherlands. Maybe a few tweaks here or there if any.
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The exact same comparison that Rudd Gullit made after his time with the Galaxy. It might be a little heavy handed but not by miles. The MLS is on its way up in terms of quality of play whereas the Dutch league has kind of plateaued.
Eerste Divisie Division 1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eerste_Divisie
but not Eredivisie
Last edited by nascarguy; 07-21-2009 at 12:35 AM.
If you're playing in the MLS you're not gonna talk it down and say "oh we're like division 2 England"... you're obviously gonna pump it up. So what he says is really irrelevant.
Alot of players come over here and make favourable comparisons. Personally, I think it speak's to a player's ego rather than it being an accurate representation of the league.
Have you guys ever watched the Eredivisie? Outside of Ajax and PSV those teams are pretty mediocre. This mainly has to due with the fact they don't bring in much attendance league wide so the other teams suffer. On the odd years other teams like AZ (like last year) , Heerenveen, Groningen and Utrecht are good but not always. People really like to shit on the MLS but the reality is, the league ain't half that bad when you leave out the top 10 leagues in the world.
The Dutch league has dropped off a bit in recent years, but its still significantly better than the MLS.
Hes fucking dreaming.
Maybe the Belgian Jupiler League (or whatever the hell it's called), but not the Eredivisie.
Almost all players under go PR training on what to and what not to say to journalists now. I think it would be fair to say that the bigger names like Freddie and Beckam will most definitely be instructed to big up the MLS to people outside North America. If Freddie believes what he is saying is true then great but personally I reckon he is talking out of his arse.
It's not a debate. Ljungberg is being a salesman.
We already know where MLS players fit in over in Europe. It's in Scandinavia: first divisions if you're good (Perkins, Tracy), second divisions if you're average (Freeman, Stama, Lapira).
“What the world needs is more geniuses with humility; there are so few of us left.”
talking to my dutch friends who actually played in the dutch 1st division and now coach in the states, they say MLS is the same level as theirs, except for the traditional 'big 3' there. Granted that's only 3 people, but still they seem to think so.
The league is actually decent, I don't know why anytime it's compared to a euro league everyone is out to say it sucks. For the amount of $$$ the players get paid, we have the best league in the world haha. I don't think that all of these north americans would be going to scandanavia if we paid better here.
Evil will always triumph over good because good is dumb.
The Dynasty Continues - RWN - Champions SoctoberFest! '11, GoTFC Supporters Cup '10. Indoor Cup '10, '09, Niagara Cup '08 & '09. Be Champions. 6 for 8 :)
all you have to look at is the players we can sign.. injured, old 3rd division players.. with the obvious exceptions of course
This is equal parts rise in quality of the mls and the decline of the Dutch league. Even psv and Ajax are in decline, although those two clubs are still above us.
Just cause a league was crap at one point or strong at one point it doesn't mean it will stay that way forever.
I have never watched the Dutch league so I can't comment on that, but Saturday I was sitting at Scallywags watching the TFC vs Houston game on one TV and a game from the Russian Premier League on another (CSKA Moscow and I don't remember the other team). The calibre of the MLS game was slightly better.
Admittedly this was the first Russian game I had ever watched, so it may not be a representative sample, but I think MLS teams could compete against some of these lower Euro leagues. I know we like to shit on our own league sometimes, but we're really not that bad on the world stage if you exclude the top four or five leagues.
While the Dutch league has fallen off, its not because something isn't right in Holland - its because their best players are being bought up by world-class clubs. Next month we'll see Sneijder, Robben, Van Der Vaart, Huntelaar and Drenthe playing for Real Madrid - all recent(ish) products of the Dutch league. The MLS - obviously - isn't producing that level of player.
Holland definitely has a better youth system and domestic talent. But that's
beside the point that the actual league play is quite similar in quality. Otherwise brazil would be in the top 4 as well.
Last edited by mmmikey; 07-21-2009 at 09:12 AM.
That's all we can afford. In Holland, the minimum is 400k for foreign players. That is our highest salary we can pay.
Evil will always triumph over good because good is dumb.
The Dynasty Continues - RWN - Champions SoctoberFest! '11, GoTFC Supporters Cup '10. Indoor Cup '10, '09, Niagara Cup '08 & '09. Be Champions. 6 for 8 :)
Don't tell Kingpin this! LOL! He thinks MLS is the equivalent to European 3rd divisions!
exactly. Footballers from Europe also tend to be more honest in their assessments of football clubs. I don't think his comparison is at all that far fetched - it's actually a good league to compare to, instead of our constant comparisons of where we stand in in the UK leagues.
Another good comparison, outside the top 3 or 4 clubs, is Greece IMO.
That's a different story all together though. That's history, and time and refinement - things we wont be able to replicate for decades. Ajax was a top club in the world consistantly only a few years back because of their developement and before the sport was so globalized that major clubs could snap these players up much easier.
But today, if MLS & Dutch clubs played in the same table, I beleive the standings would be mixed...although I would probably think a Dutch club would be at the top.
I thought the dutch league was better than that, but like many others I don't think I've ever sat down and watched a match from there;
But I will say that I found watching the league one playoffs on setanta this spring a much better standard than MLS, and the league 2 playoffs slightly better - or perhaps equivalent to MLS.
It's not a different issue at all. The Dutch league has taken a hit in its quality because its top players - players that they used to be able to hang on to - are in increasing numbers going to some of the top teams in Europe. The talent drain faced by the Dutch is guys like Van Der Vaart & Huntelaar going to Real Madrid. That's not an issue that the MLS has to face, because the quality isn't here in the first place. The MLS talent drain guys like Hunter Freeman going to Denmark, or the top NCAA players going to FL1 teams in England.
If there was a mixed table, if there was anything less than 5 or 6 Dutch teams at the top it would be a massive shock. I'd bet against there being more than 1 MLS team in the top 10.
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