Major League Soccer Talk

IMAGE FROM MLSNET.com

Sorry for my delinquency in covering this subject but it has been a busy few days. Tonight I board a plane for London and onwards to India from where I will be reporting from the next few weeks, culminating in the US-England match from Wembley Stadium on May 28th.

DC United’s new deal with Volkswagen is a massive break through for Major League Soccer. For the first time, a club has been able to break out on its own and sell it brand independentiy of the league to a major international sponsor. Commissioner Don Garber has called DC United the MLS “most authentic brand.” I have news for the Commissioner: Thus far in the league’s history, it has been the only worthwhile truly authentic brand associated with MLS.

As we have discussed numerous times in the past United has been MLS trend setter and it can be strongly argued without the United brand, MLS would no longer exist. No club has had the on the field success of signed the caliber of foreign player consistently that United has. No MLS club has maintain such a clear identity in its existence as United. Scouting has always been a trademark of the Red and Black and almost everything the club has done has not only been first class, but ahead of the rest of MLS. For those commentators who claim MLS is a “mickey mouse” league, DC United has always been the easiest retort.

Now United’s groundbreaking deal with Volkswagen opens the door for MLS clubs to get big time international sponsors. No offense to Herbalife, Amigo Energy or XANGO but those localized sponsors of MLS clubs made the league look decidedly small time. Now VW not only has given DC United a massive sponsorship deal but has also plucked one of its players, because of his international stardom as a spokesperson. Marcello Gallardo helped DC United land this sponsorship deal by all accounts as he will now serve as the company’s spokesperson in South America. United also now will have established links with Wolfsburg, a Bundesliga club owned by VW where Claudio Reyna became a household name in the mid 1990s.

United’s success is MLS’ success. This sponsorship deal should open the door for United to continue to be one of the elite clubs in North America. It could also open the door for prominent European corporations to invest in Major League Soccer. Once again, DC United leads the way to a brighter future for Major League Soccer.

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• A disappointing performance for DC United yesterday was made much worse yesterday by the outstanding performance of Christian Gomez and the goal scored by Facundo Erpen. Neither player would be in MLS if not for DC United’s superior scouting network, yet both players burned DC United on Sunday.

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Marco Etcheverry’s DC United teams gave MLS international respect /photo from MLSNET

Thirteen years into the life of Major League Soccer and for all the signs of progress on the field, the league continues to operate more or less in vacuum as far as the general American sports landscape is concerned. For those people who love European football and do not feel MLS is worth their time, no MLS or even a weaker MLS which is distinctly “minor” in its marketing and visibility threatens the amount of European football available on TV here without paying exorbitant pay per event fees. Soccer’s upsurge in popularity in this country owed itself more to MLS than any other factor but right now the league faces challenges and unacknowledged problems that threaten its continued upswing. Moreover, the amount of European football available to those who do not purchase premium channels is currently at its lowest point since the dark pre MLS days. [Read more →]

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A show featuring Luis Bueno of SI.com is ready to be released. We’re having some server issues but when resolved look for an interesting episode of the show featuring a look back at the Superclassico, the current situation in Mexican Football after the firing of Hugo Sanchez, why Landon Donovan is so good and a look ahead to the CONCACAF Champions Cup.

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Olsen w/ the US Team in a 2006 World Cup tuneup/US Soccer Federatrion

Steve Goff of the Washington Post is reporting that Ben Olsen’s distinguished career in Major League Soccer could be over. [Read more →]

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For years Major League Soccer didn’t attract internationals who had been part of their national team set up at any point. In the early days of MLS, not only did the league attract many active national team players, but the league also sent a number of players from outside CONCACAF to the 1998 World Cup and sent two players to the Euro 2000 tournament. Since then however not a single active MLS player has played for a non CONCACAF nation in either the World Cup or Euro Finals.

Here is the list of current MLS players who have featured internationally for their home countries. [Read more →]

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• Amado Guevara’s signing has turned Toronto FC from a laughing stockinto one of the top teams in the league right now. That’s what a Latin flavored #10 can do when surrounded by legitimate European talent that has survived in tougher leagues than MLS. Moreover, the success of TFC shows that despite boasts of MLS’ improvement, players who are marginal squad members in the English Championship can come to MLS and have early success. While MLS from a quality and skill standpoint is better than the English Championship, players who come from the British Isles are tougher and more understanding of a football culture than most Americans who come from the college ranks, from USL or even from within MLS. No wonder MLS has so much trouble in Continental competitions and proving itself to the more snobbish fans in its own nation.

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Last month’s friendly in Krakow against Poland, was exactly that: a friendly which should not be considered some sort of great conquering victory of the US National Team. Sure you’d rather win than lose these sorts of matches, but realistically I still saw some of the same issues that have worried me about the United States since the end World Cup 2006 in this performance. [Read more →]

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I am now contributing to the Orlando Sentinel’s Other Football website run by our friend Brant Parsons. Check that site for daily new updates by Brant about the Premier League and MLS, and from me about MLS, Mexican Football and the Bundesliga. That site is for news only and my commentary will continue to appear here at Major League Soccer Talk and at CSRN’s American Soccer Spot.

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• Columbus performance Thursday night at RFK Stadium was outstanding all around, and showed a fighting spirit the Crew often times lacked on the road (accept strangely at Foxboro against the Revs) the past few seasons.
• The most impressive performance of the night from the Crew was once again from Robbie Rogers. The winger showed his quality in the U-20 world cup last year and has built upon that performance to become at this early stage of the MLS season, arguably the most dangerous wide player in the league.

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