Gaston Fernandez reflects on time in MLS; notes lack of pro/rel as factor

[Red I]

http://www.vavel.com/en-us/soccer/52...-pressure.html

yawn; same old rhetoric... "Life is great, but i want to go back to a very cash poor league and feel the pressure of promotion/relegation, with a paycut". Ya, balls. Could not adapt, family was probably homesick, whatever, but the whole pro-rel thing is tired. Maybe all the organic food stores and hipsters pushed him away, but man, i'm tired of this same old story.

Althought this line is funny... "He also noted the rhythm of the game was very quick and involved a lot of running, even though there was no real strategy behind any of it" lol Maybe just the way Portland plays it; don't put that on an entire league.

[OgtheDim]

Oh, I would very much put that on the entire league. Its pretty much how most people view MLS who come here from somewhere else.

Maintaining positioning is paramount in a lot of places. Here, positioning is relative.

[denime]

Oh, I would very much put that on the entire league. Its pretty much how most people view MLS who come here from somewhere else.

Maintaining positioning is paramount in a lot of places. Here, positioning is relative.

Me too, even Giovinco said in his interview MLS lack of tactics,and that's the fact,lack of game understanding and skill is being replaced buy a lots of running,many are running like headless chickens ,but they are running and people like it,that's MLS.

[Oldtimer]

Me too, even Giovinco said in his interview MLS lack of tactics,and that's the fact,lack of game understanding and skill is being replaced buy a lots of running,many are running like headless chickens ,but they are running and people like it,that's MLS.

That could describe English football in the 1950's. Everybody's gotta start somewhere.

[mr k]

Running around aimlessly is one of the symptoms that bedevils MLS & Canadian soccer. So we end up with a lot of a athletic types in the MLS who have football IQs below 100 and technical skills on par with teenagers in Europe or South America.

It really starts at the youth club levels. There is a lack of youth coaches who know the technical & tactical side of the game means compensating by running to fill the gaps. And with some youth club coaches, running around like a chicken is actually rewarded while being positionally aware is punished since you're viewed as lazy.

[Shway]

I think Pro/Rel will happen in less than 10 years, and it will revolutionize the sport in North America.
But before it happens, we'll see an additional official on the field, video replay, a female head coach, and a new daring commissioner.

Soccer in NA now needs bigger stories then the Gerrard coming to MLS at 35. Alsoooo as the league grows the super clubs will grow to greater advantages, (LAG, LAFC, Seattle, NYCFC, ect) where the parity shit on the field will disappear and just come down to revenue sharing. Matter fact that's already started see the LAG.

[ensco]

The fact that he said it doesn't make it so. I think that it is ludicrous to believe that a foreign player went home because of Pro/Rel. What a crock to report that without comment. Most foreign players don't like living here, and think our soccer is crap. It's OK.

Pro/Rel will never happen here. Most teams are already madder than hornets about the DP system undoing the single entity, I don't see them voting for their own euthanasia by endorsing relegation.

I think the opposite will occur, our model will migrate to Europe.

[Derko]

That could describe English football in the 1950's. Everybody's gotta start somewhere.

Thank goodness someone has stated the obvious, You can say the same for any football league, look at African football no more than 20 years ago, alot of running around but absolutely no tactics. Just a thought

[brad]

Think about how far the quality of play has come since we entered the league. It's night and day. A long way to go? Sure. But there is hope.

[denime]

That could describe English football in the 1950's. Everybody's gotta start somewhere.

'50 ? more like English football in the '90

[Oldtimer]

'50 ? more like English football in the '90

The introduction of the EPL certainly raised English football to a higher level, but looking to the continent for tactics started here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1953_E...football_match

[ensco]

The introduction of the EPL certainly raised English football to a higher level, but looking to the continent for tactics started here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1953_E...football_match

There is a reason that Fifa's "most beautiful goal" is the Puskas award

[Derko]

The introduction of the EPL certainly raised English football to a higher level, but looking to the continent for tactics started here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1953_E...football_match

I recall watching the History of Football dvd set and it states that the early Italian football was played of the Hugarian Style, so Italy did actually adopted a style that they have improved on, where as English football has not. On another note I personally feel that the EPL has been the downfall of English International Football, put together a team of Championship Players and I feel they would beat their EPL counterparts, just my opinion. Another thread for that discussion

[Cashcleaner]

The fact that he said it doesn't make it so. I think that it is ludicrous to believe that a foreign player went home because of Pro/Rel. What a crock to report that without comment. Most foreign players don't like living here, and think our soccer is crap. It's OK.

Pro/Rel will never happen here. Most teams are already madder than hornets about the DP system undoing the single entity, I don't see them voting for their own euthanasia by endorsing relegation.

I think the opposite will occur, our model will migrate to Europe.

THIS. It's a six page article that says everything BUT the real reason why he left Portland: He simply got a better deal from Estudiantes. Maybe he misses the fame, as well? Some MLS players like the increased privacy here, while others prefer being in the spotlight. The point is, our lack of a pro/rel system in not why he's returning to Argentina.

And because I know people are going to want to expand the discussion to talk about about the idea of pro/rel coming to MLS, I really got to preempt them by saying:

MLS will never have promotion or relegation. Get used to it. It's not how we do sports or business here. In fact, if the sport of soccer was codified and national leagues were formed in Europe and elsewhere twenty years ago, nobody would have introduced the system back then either.