MLS needs LA to win the CCL in order to grow the game because RSL making the final wasn't enough.
MLS needs LA to win the CCL in order to grow the game because RSL making the final wasn't enough.
Also - having Landycakes and Becks in another playoff run and MLS cup certainly wouldn't hurt the leagues growth.
id say that within the next decade you'll see MLS teams start forming derby rivalries based on the number of times they clash in the later rounds of the CCL alone. it'd be interesting to see an MLS team make the final two years running..
im going to be optimistic as fuck and hint that it'd be us.
Jose Moreno not joining the Revs?
http://www.soccerbyives.net/soccer_b...rd-moreno.html
It's was tongue in cheek to the "Club vs. Country" thread.
Though I think ultimately MLS would love LA, and to a lesser extent a team like Seattle or New York, to win the CCL.
Philadelphia Union sign Colombian forward Lionard Pajoy.
http://www.philadelphiaunion.com/new...-forward-pajoy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lionard_Pajoy
LA is going about being the "best team in North America" one way, by buying expensive well-known players. TFC is going another route by investing in the academy and hopefully developing the talent at home (with some lesser known and slightly cheaper DPs thrown in). Will be interesting to see which pays off in the long run.
LA are also more marketable than we are for a number of reasons. When trying to build the fan base in the league that is important.
its a tale of two cities.
in my belief toronto's going to come out on top, despite LAs attractiveness to stars, investors and media outlets. here's my reasoning:
LA is going to have to go the expensive route for talent that may or may not work. no matter how expensive someone *cough*andycarrol *cough* is, or how much talent they may have, talent alone won't drive their success on a team. TFC on the other hand have taken the route you mentioned, choosing to invest roughly four *beckhams into an academy. from there, at a reasonable rate of return, we'd be producing 2-4 potential starters every year of it being run. these are players that're being bread for our team, and groomed for whatever formation and weakness we may be having. should they not pan out, we can trade them to teams to fill in the gap, allocation to whittle away at our salary cap, or higher draft picks to develop and continue the cycle.
simply put, toronto is going to be getting the most bang for it's buck. it'll be a slower build for sure, but we can't think that we'll ever have the opportunities LA has. it's the attraction of the city itself, not the team. it's safe to say that the YA we're investing in will be one of the best moves made by a club in the MLS.
*beckham is now a mode of currency (ъ), equivalent to 5.5 million american dollars. for example, the TFC roster for last season outside of the salary cap is equivalent to: .77ъ
now if you'll excuse me, im going to go create a thread where i convert the rosters of every team in the MLS to beckhams.
Last edited by __wowza; 02-08-2012 at 12:34 PM.
To put it in a Spanish context:
LA = Real Madrid (buy big stars and form a Galacticos team)
TFC = Barcelona (build through the academy and add a few key pieces, largely from South America)
...obviously at a much lower level, but just to highlight the different approaches.
As a supporter, I hope that TFC's strategy pays off, but in the Spanish example, both methods have worked on the pitch.
Last edited by Oldtimer; 02-08-2012 at 12:29 PM.
MLS is a tough, physical league, that emphasizes speed, and features plastic fields, grueling travel, extreme weather, and incompetent refs. - NK Toronto
It'll be hard in a salary capped league to keep going the DP route. You really can't be Real Madrid with MLS's rules, as much as LA likes to push the boundary on that. Really you have to be able to do both. One thing about LA that they don't get a lot of credit for is that they have a lot of spare parts on that team who still seem to contribute. Credit to Arena for that.
not really news, but this just looks weird:
Yeah, very weird... this would be what the TFC kits would be if the Raptors hadn't broken with the post 1927 Toronto blue and white tradition: Leafs, Argos, Huskies, Marlies, Blue Jays... (Ya can't can't sell Jurassic park figurines to kids unless you use purple!).
It's weird too being the reds... sorry, but i always think I'm watching liverpool (ok, except in the quality of the play).
I think Montreal is going to absolutely suck this year. No depth, no great players, and not particularly young outside of Valentin and Wenger either.
LA's success is not just about buying DPs, in my opinion though. Remember they had Beckham and Donovan and the team sucked under Yallop and Gullit. What changed things is not just buying players but getting the right coach. If you handed LA to someone else, that team wouldn't have come together the way it did. Arena is one of the few maestros of the coaching ranks... one of the few to coach at multiple teams even. Yallop and Gullit (under shitty Lalas) failed.
And let's not forget that the cap/roster compliance date is a ways off. Counting salary now is futile because many don't have guaranteed contracts -- they could just dump them near the end of preseason. Count the salaries of the players who exist on opening day.
Last edited by rocker; 02-08-2012 at 10:25 PM.
Houston acquires F Macoumba Kandji for a 2014 conditional draft pick from Colorado.
Potential bargain buy for Houston, if Kandji gets his groove back from his injuries. Guy has the tools to be MLS version of Drogba, but will his knees hold up?
“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
Last edited by Yohan; 02-09-2012 at 12:55 AM.
“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
http://msn.foxsports.com/foxsoccer/u...-soccer-020812
Ives take on LA salary cap situation. Some interesting numbers being thrown around there
Dealing Ricketts to the Montreal Impact for what sources tell FOX Soccer was $200,000 effectively created an almost $400,000 salary cap windfall for the Galaxy (Ricketts was due to make around $200,000 in salary). That amount more than covers the return of Buddle as well as Saunders’ new contract.
The Galaxy were also rewarded for their success, receiving $300,000 in allocation from MLS for winning the Supporters Shield and their participation in the CONCACAF Champions League. Those funds, coupled with $150,000 in allocation the team already had banked, will help the team cover the costs of player raises as well as offset the impact of Keane counting as a full-season designated player (he counts $335,000 towards the team’s salary cap, as opposed to $167,500 as a mid-season acquisition in 2011).
Los Angeles also shed significant salary in the off-season with the retirements/departures of Chris Birchall, Frankie Hejduk, Gregg Berhalter, Jovan Kirovski and Dasan Robinson - five players who made a combined $535,000 in guaranteed salary in 2011. These moves helped pave the way for additions like Sarvas, Pat Noonan, Andrew Boyens and Nick Noble.
Last edited by Yohan; 02-09-2012 at 12:29 PM.
“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
“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
Interesting article by Ives... and as I said before, roster compliance date for the cap hasn't arrived. Barrett would be the easy one to dump, as Ives suggests, and it would save them a lot of cap money.
I know Arena loves Mike Magee, but the jack-of-all-trades is making a lot of money for a guy in his position, and could be moved I think. But Arena probably wouldn't do that.. he's useful (even in goal