I will say this tho, Young-Pyo Lee is probably the best defender in the entire MLS. That might sound crazy but watching him is clearly a treat, he is worldclass in every single fashion, even at his age, its remarkable talent.
Absolutely no clue how the caps managed to get this guy.
Moderator
I'm gonna be repeating much of what people here have already said, but here goes nothing...
More than anything, Vancouver has a corporate structure with a mandate to build and maintain a team that can win. From what I have seen, your owners and management have gone out of their way into cultivating a culture of winning. Heck, one of your four owners is himself a professional athlete! That in itself gives you a distinct advantage when it comes to establishing your team's framework.
Here in Toronto, we have a soccer team that plays fourth fiddle to the hockey club, basketball club, and real estate/development branch of the parent company. The corporate structure here is also older and more bureaucratic, and it seems less flexible to change or adapt to new trends. Throw in the fact that our de facto Club President Tom Anselmi had no prior experience running a soccer club and oversees multiple departments at MLSE and it's a recipe for disaster.
No one can really deny that the club is willing to spend money now, but for the first few seasons - ie: the most important time for any club - they were awfully stingy at times. Many have forgotten this, but it took a lot of kicking and screaming from the fans before the ownership brought in a Designated Player.
There's no other way to say it, but TFC stumbled coming out of the block and hasn't been able to get back into stride. We needed early successes to help create our club's culture and identity. The fans did all they could to help foster this while the executives did nothing. They got away with it then by throwing players and coaches under the bus, and I'm afraid they're going to do it again.
Last edited by Cashcleaner; 05-06-2012 at 02:15 AM.
Did the USA , of all countries, just fix soccer? - C. Ronaldo, May 27th commenting on the FBI-led investigations into fraud and corruption throughout FIFA.
Sorry dude, you are corect. I have to look closer at the stats late at night. His minutes were from 2011. Which means on Rochat has logged minutes this year (Clarke's data unavailable). 327 in total.Originally Posted by Macksam
Yeah, he has been superb, his quality is obvious to even a casual fan. I'm pretty sure there's a side arrangement going on with Kia that has facilitated this.
He has stated that Whitecaps offer was the lowest from several bids he received, but for his family (esp kids) he wanted to come to Canada. Not a far fetched thing to do for Koreans
“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
This really shouldn't be a surprise.
Lee Young Pyo at one time was touted as the "best left back in Europe" by Martin Jol.
He's played in 3 World Cups, a Champions League Semi-final with PSV Eindhoven, one of the Korean National Team's best LB's in history, etc.
One of the main reasons he's playing in Vancouver and not Europe or the Middle East (huge financial possibilities) is he wants his two daughters to be given the chance for good education here in North America (Koreans are big on learning English in "English-native" countries).
He could have EASILY come to Toronto. Toronto has a larger Korean-Canadian community than Vancouver and honestly, a better portfolio of international schools.
I'm definitely booking a ticket for the VWC match and bringing my Korean flag to salute a great player.
Envious of Vancouver and Montreal getting it right (although to be fair who ever is responsible for the SGs in Vancouver is proving to be even more arrogant and clueless about the culture than Beirne is).
It's more a question of what do the Whitecaps NOT have, and that's our wonderful FO that went out and got us Mo Gretsky and Shekshy Total Winter.
But Philadelphia was also a new team without having previously played in a lower division.
Even the current incarnation of San Jose was built from scratch.
TFC offered Frank Yallop the job back in 2006. Maybe once he learned about our shit FO he lost interest?
Another shocking thing is how well he adapted to the MLS style of Soccer. I guess when you are a world class talent, it does not matter.
^ how did he end up in Vancouver? ie. where/how was he identified?
Or maybe they offered him the same one-year contract and a "handshake" deal for an extention if things went well...
How about 26yrs of USSF/NASL experience?
A front office and ownership that have experience in football as apposed to MLSE who have been in the game for 6yrs.
Same can be said for Montreal (19yrs) and Portland (36yrs).
BINGO! Until that changes, we'll continue to see subpar football while the competition gets stronger each year. Simple as that.
What about San Jose, Philly, and RSL? They don't have the decades of experience, but they went out and got people with decades of experience in the USSF and NCAA. We got Mo Gretsky and a guy who knows a lot about youth voetbal in the Netherlands.
Incompetence starts at the very top. Fire Anslemi, get us a president that knows the USSF pyramid and the NCAA. Fire Beirne, get us a guy who actually know what it means to run a football club not a Tim Horton's franchise. I suggest Dino Rossi.
You need to drop RSL from that list. They picked a player with no coaching experience, much like TFC picked Winter, and their GM is an ex-player-turned-lawyer. It just happened to work out in their case.
No coaching experience, but happens to be American, played in the American High School system, and worked his way up the American minor leagues until he reached Dallas Burn. The man knows the American system. Their GM, you said it yourself, ex-player who's a lawyer. So he knows the USSF system somewhat and knows how to deal with paperwork.
I'll also add RSL's excellent South American scouts. I haven't seen an MLS squad have so much success with South American players since DCU a few years ago.
Anselmi is an engineer who worked in construction. I don't think he knows much about the USSF pyramid. Paul Beirne was a product of a lucky storm. This thing fell into his lap. The club flourished despite him.
Then the question is, how did it work out for RSL, and not for TFC?
The only advantage former usl and nasl teams have over Toronto ended after 2008 or 2009 when TFC was no longer considered an expansion side. There are so many variables you guys are ignoring. How does one explain the Red Bulls rise from mediocrity in one season? Or Colorado winning the cup after having a horrible club for years, or New England sinking to TFC depths after close to a decade of prominance? Lets face it, while the quality of mls is not very high, building a competetive team given the monetary constraints is very difficult. And, it takes a lot of commitment and smarts by the head office to achieve continuous success. So, back to the argument, forget TFC, how does the usl or nasl experience of philly, montreal et al compare with teams such as colorado, new york, new england?
In case TFC fans aren't feeling gloomy enough:
"Furlong applying Midas touch to Whitecaps"
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sport...rticle2424460/
Damn. Cash has been on freaking fire. Spot on with everything.
BINGO..!
We need Football people running the team...not BUISNESS people!....MLSE has and will never know f all about the game of football!
this is the biggest problem we have..
Kreis apparently has a way with the players as well. When signing Morales, he flew down to Argentina and personally convinced him that moving to a losing MLS team would be a good move, and sold him on his plan.
Winter could/should have that sort of pull with players based on his experience as a player, but he does not.
http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/V...045/story.html
“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
The question isn't what does Vancouver have, it is what they don't have. MLSE.
What both Vancouver and Montreal have world class defenders? That is impossible, we tried to get a solid defender over the winter and we could not get one. Which most mean, that none were available.
"Over the winter"?!
I think you mean "over the last half decade."
One other point: last year, when they were struggling early on, they fired their coach. He was the guy that they had hired the year before to implement their initial plan. When that plan didn't work, they were not afraid to blow it up and go a different direction. I think the Whitecaps are exceeding even their own expectations. But, when they realized that what they set out to do wasn't happening, they were not afraid to make changes, even if, in the short-term, they were going to be laughed at for firing their coach weeks into the season.
TFC, on the other hand, has never had a plan until last season. We can (and have-at length) debate whether this was a good plan or not. But, management has, for the first four years of the team's existence, never really had a plan for what this club is supposed to be. There has never been an identity. Short-term measures to being immediate success trump moves made for long-term success. Ham-handed as it has been, there at least is a plan for long-term success.
Just to clarify, WFC hired Teitur Thordarson in 2007, and he was their coach for a couple of years before they switched to MLS.
so ... canadian content is a problem???
i have no idea what an "MLS mindset' is, but whatever it is, i'm not buying it ... sounds like an excuse
the game has the same laws across the globe, it is played the same in europe. as it is in africa, as it is in north america ... if you were to suggest that player development is at different levels from one country or region to the next, i could understand that ... but an "MLS mindset" speaks to something completely different
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