Note: As part of the MLS Talk preview, we will be examining some of the major trends in MLS that will have an impact on the league this year.  Feel free to suggest other big picture topics in the comments.

Four years ago, MLS swung a deal to bring David Beckham, the world’s most recognizable soccer player, to MLS for a very lucrative compensation package.  Seeing the increased crowds and buzz surrounding the acquisition, as well as needing a budget rule to account for his huge salary, MLS created the “designated player”, or the “Beckham rule” as it is commonly called.  Over the past four years, teams could go out and seek big names and add them to payroll without having them bust the very tight MLS caps.

The Beckham rule hasn’t quite turned out the way it was expected, though.  Instead of seeing major stars flock to the U.S. and boost the league’s image internationally, teams have used the cap relief to either lock-up their big name stars or attract non-star international players and matching their inflated European salaries.  Currently, there are twelve designated players under contract in MLS.  Only three can conceivably be called international stars: Beckham, Thierry Henry, and Rafa Marquez.  A fourth, Landon Donovan, is the most famous American soccer player in the world.  The others are mostly pretty good international players from small leagues who have come to the U.S. to raise their profile.

So, is the Beckham rule helping the league or holding it back?  I’d argue the former, even though it is not helping as was intended.

No matter how much money MLS throws at them, major European stars in their prime will not play in MLS.  In the near future you will not see Wayne Rooney or Lionel Messi in a Sporting Kansas City shirt, but realistically that should not be expected.  Europe is where the game was born and players naturally want to play where competition is the best.  I find it amusing that some American soccer fans bemoan American players going overseas to hone their craft, but when it comes to U.S. dominated sports we never have the same concerns about a French point guard coming to the NBA or Dominican catcher playing in the American League instead of improving the game back home.  Talent will always flock to where the game is at its best, and MLS isn’t that.

But that doesn’t mean the designated player rule has failed.  When European countries throw so much money into their soccer leagues MLS has to recognize (and has) that every thing else being equal, money will sometimes win out.  This is especially true of players from smaller European leagues or countries, who would want to play soccer in the U.S. for a while to raise their profile and make a little more money.  Take Branko Boskovic, who early in his career was a big name for Red Star Belgrade, a good club with a good European history.  After failing to get playing time at Paris Saint-Germain, he played in second-tier European leagues.  He is the kind of good international player MLS should attract, not a huge name but someone with skill and a solid reputation (setting aside his poor play last year).

Teams are increasingly using the DP rule in a new way: keeping their players who are growing in star-power and otherwise would go overseas to make more money.  Landon Donovan is the obvious example of this but Fredy Montero may be a better example.  Montero is indelibly linked to the Sounders, having scored the first goal in the current franchise’s history, and at 23 is young enough for a decent European club to swoop in and offer a tryout and contract.  Seattle and MLS are using the designated player rule to keep him in Seattle and buy out his original contract with Deportivo Cali (remember, he was originally on loan to Seattle).  Increasingly, I think we will see clubs in “less glamorous” markets using the Beckham rule to keep players instead of attracting big-name older players.

So currently we have three tiers of designated players: DPs who are older big names, DPs who are good European players from smaller leagues, and young MLS players who are receiving interest overseas.  All three categories of players improve the competitive quality of the league and give their teams an added dimension that would not be financially available otherwise.  But the league would be smart to expand the designated player rule in one way: MLS should create an American designated player rule.

As I have stated prior, some American players will go play in Europe and should play there to see if they can compete with the world’s best.  But some Americans are overseas playing in leagues or teams of lesser quality than MLS, but are being well compensated for doing so.  When Edson Buddle leaves MLS a year after being an MVP finalist for a second-division German team about to be relegated, it showed that MLS needs a way to keep its continental names in the league.  How can the U.S. national team build its profile in this country if its player toil away from the public eye in second division leagues?  What I would like to see is MLS grant every team an American DP (or American/Canadian) slot which would allow any team to handsomely pay American nationals what they deserve and try to at least be financially competitive with European leagues for our own talent.

The designated player rule will not go away, and although its usage has changed from its original intent, it has improved the quality of play within the league.  But the league needs to take the next step and realize that sometimes its own countrymen need a little special treatment as well.

Note: As part of the MLS Talk preview, we will be examining some of the major trends in MLS that will have an impact on the league this year.  Feel free to suggest other big picture topics in the comments.

Four years ago, MLS swung a deal to bring David Beckham, the world’s most recognizable soccer player, to MLS for a very lucrative compensation package.  Seeing the increased crowds and buzz surrounding the acquisition, as well as needing a budget rule to account for his huge salary, MLS created the “designated player”, or the “Beckham rule” as it is commonly called.  Over the past four years, teams could go out and seek big names and add them to payroll without having them bust the very tight MLS caps.

The Beckham rule hasn’t quite turned out the way it was expected, though.  Instead of seeing major stars flock to the U.S. and boost the league’s image internationally, teams have used the cap relief to either lock-up their big name stars or attract non-star international players and matching their inflated European salaries.  Currently, there are twelve designated players under contract in MLS.  Only three can conceivably be called international stars: Beckham, Thierry Henry, and Rafa Marquez.  A fourth, Landon Donovan, is the most famous American soccer player in the world.  The others are mostly pretty good international players from small leagues who have come to the U.S. to raise their profile.

So, is the Beckham rule helping the league or holding it back?  I’d argue the former, even though it is not helping as was intended.

No matter how much money MLS throws at them, major European stars in their prime will not play in MLS.  In the near future you will not see Wayne Rooney or Lionel Messi in a Sporting Kansas City shirt, but realistically that should not be expected.  Europe is where the game was born and players naturally want to play where competition is the best.  I find it amusing that some American soccer fans bemoan American players going overseas to hone their craft, but when it comes to U.S. dominated sports we never have the same concerns about a French point guard coming to the NBA or Dominican catcher playing in the American League instead of improving the game back home.  Talent will always flock to where the game is at its best, and MLS isn’t that.

But that doesn’t mean the designated player rule has failed.  When European countries throw so much money into their soccer leagues MLS has to recognize (and has) that every thing else being equal, money will sometimes win out.  This is especially true of players from smaller European leagues or countries, who would want to play soccer in the U.S. for a while to raise their profile and make a little more money.  Take Branko Boskovic, who early in his career was a big name for Red Star Belgrade, a good club with a good European history.  After failing to get playing time at Paris Saint-Germain, he played in second-tier European leagues.  He is the kind of good international player MLS should attract, not a huge name but someone with skill and a solid reputation (setting aside his poor play last year).

Teams are increasingly using the DP rule in a new way: keeping their players who are growing in star-power and otherwise would go overseas to make more money.  Landon Donovan is the obvious example of this but Fredy Montero may be a better example.  Montero is indelibly linked to the Sounders, having scored the first goal in the current franchise’s history, and at 23 is young enough for a decent European club to swoop in and offer a tryout and contract.  Seattle and MLS are using the designated player rule to keep him in Seattle and buy out his original contract with Deportivo Cali (remember, he was originally on loan to Seattle).  Increasingly, I think we will see clubs in “less glamorous” markets using the Beckham rule to keep players instead of attracting big-name older players.

So currently we have three tiers of designated players: DPs who are older big names, DPs who are good European players from smaller leagues, and young MLS players who are receiving interest overseas.  All three categories of players improve the competitive quality of the league and give their teams an added dimension that would not be financially available otherwise.  But the league would be smart to expand the designated player rule in one way: MLS should create an American designated player rule.

As I have stated prior, some American players will go play in Europe and should play there to see if they can compete with the world’s best.  But some Americans are overseas playing in leagues or teams of lesser quality than MLS, but are being well compensated for doing so.  When Edson Buddle leaves MLS a year after being an MVP finalist for a second-division German team about to be relegated, it showed that MLS needs a way to keep its continental names in the league.  How can the U.S. national team build its profile in this country if its player toil away from the public eye in second division leagues?  What I would like to see is MLS grant every team an American DP (or American/Canadian) slot which would allow any team to handsomely pay American nationals what they deserve and try to at least be financially competitive with European leagues for our own talent.

The designated player rule will not go away, and although its usage has changed from its original intent, it has improved the quality of play within the league.  But the league needs to take the next step and realize that sometimes its own countrymen need a little special treatment as well.

Overlooked in the American World Cup hype was the move by Seattle to sign their young striker Freddy Montero to an extension which also makes him a designated player.  Montero, 23, becomes Seattle’s third DP, joining Blaise Nkufo and Alvaro Fernandez.  More importantly, the signing prevents the young talent and 2009 Rookie of the Year from moving to Europe for more money and allows Seattle to keep their nucleus of talent in tact.

The designated player rule was originally known as the “Beckham Rule” because it was supposed to allow clubs the financial flexibility to sign international stars like Beckham (and later Thierry Henry) outside of the normal salary cap.  Later, the Galaxy used the rule to compensate Landon Donovan and keep him in Los Angeles, compensating him for his talent and PR value.  But a club like Seattle is now using the DP rule to build the club from within and avoid losing high-priced players, as well as finding international talent.  Consider:

• Nkufo is a former Switzerland international who was a leading scorer for FC Twente in the early 2000s.  Seattle used the DP rule to lure him to the U.S.
• Fernandez is a Uruguay international who began his career in a variety of South American clubs, but is reaching his peak in the U.S. after signing with Seattle in the summer.
• Montero was originally loaned to Seattle from Deportivo Cali before MLS negotiated his transfer to Seattle.  He is now firmly on Seattle’s payroll as a DP.

Also joining the growing designated player list is Alvaro Saborio, Real Salt Lake’s first DP.  Saborio’s rights were transferred from Swiss club FC Sion after scoring 12 times in MLS play for RSL and being named Newcomer of the Year.

Looking at the current designated players (current defined as players who are playing in MLS and have a DP contract) you see a definite trend emerging of teams using the DP rule to lock-up their own players or players-on-loan to them rather than going out and grabbing big international names.  A good reason for this is the lack of huge stars that would find MLS clubs with DP spots available as attractive places to play.  But another is a smart use of the rule – clubs can lock up their own talent, control the player’s contract, and pay them somewhat their worth.

So who’s next for the designated player tag?

The obvious choice would be Colorado’s Omar Cummings, who despite scoring 28 goals since 2008 only made about $80,000 this past year.  Colorado recently said they would strive to keep the forward after Estudientes and possibly some European clubs have targeted him.  But to increase his pay to a level to tempt him to stay in the U.S., they would almost have to slap a DP tag on him.

Who do you think will be the next current MLS player to become a designated player?

In my EPL Talk piece yesterday, I discussed all of the reasons that Ireland’s potential qualification was better for World Football than France’s would be.  Much of this thought process centered on the importance of American market to the success of the World Cup.

But alas, Giovanni Trapattoni’s side was defeated at the hands of Thierry Henry’s France. (pun intended) This is despite the fact that Trapattoni had been able to get a group of Championship and low end Premier League players (with a few exceptions) to play at a level higher than that of an allegedly world class French squad.  One of these (allegedly) world class players, Henry is consistently linked with Major League Soccer.

Henry is however, an acknowledged cheat. The player whose international career has never replicated his club form admitted that his handling of the ball was deliberate. Desperately unable to break down a well organized Irish side employing Trapattoni’s legendary tactics, the player who preaches fair play did exactly the opposite to qualify his nation illegitimately for its fourth successive World Cup. (Ireland has only been to three World Cups in its footballing history)

Henry is a footballer whose recent and blatant actions have brought the sport into disrepute, across the globe. In the United States a perception exists about diving and cheating in football. This perception which ails many a casual sports fan from truly embracing football would only be furthered by the signing of Henry. I would urge any and all MLS teams that have considered using a DP slot on Henry to cease the thought immediately.

Henry owns a home in Miami and loves New York. This makes him more willing and able to move to the US than most recognizable footballers.  But that is not reason enough to bring to America, a player whose actions and blatant disregard for the rules of this beautiful game have been made perfectly clear.  American impressions of this sport are created by snapshot moments: Pele’s dribble, Maradona’s hand of god, and Zidane’s head butt. Those impressions sadly last longer than they should, because by and large the average American sports fan really doesn’t get Football.

Few will know about Henry’s good work in the Stamp Out Racism campaign, nor his genteel demeanor. Nor do they care. Henry is perceived as cheat from here forward and this means that Don Garber and MLS team execs need to cross Henry off any potential list of DP signings in the near future.

David Beckham’s time in Major League Soccer has been a failure. Plain and simple the circus that has surrounded the world’s most famous athlete has done little to enhance the sport in the United States. One cannot fully understand Beckham’s psychology or motivation without realizing that even the great footballers need a certain level of support around them. In the case of Beckham, he’s always been a supplementary piece to winning programs, not the key figure.

Almost two years ago when Major League Soccer Talk opened for business I predicted on an early show that Beckham would find life rough in MLS. The Galaxy in early 2007 were a side with quite possibly less talent than any other MLS team. Those truly objective about the club realized that Beckham would for the first time as a professional enter most matches with the inferior team. Having played previously with super-clubs Manchester United and Real Madrid, Beckham never knew what life as an underdog was.

At the time I received some nasty emails telling me I was crazy to think that Los Angeles would even with Beckham be a prohibitive underdog to the likes of DC United, New England and Houston. But in hindsight I wasn’t critical enough. To me the Beckham deal was always about marketing and not about the product on the field. The Los Angeles Galaxy had become after Doug Hamilton’s untimely passing the greatest demonstration of Hubris in global football. That’s quite an honor when you consider the big clubs in Europe and Argentina are full of nothing but Hubris.

MLS had developed nicely between 2002 and 2006. Early in the history of the league, over spending on players was necessary to establish a market and help develop formerly semi professional American footballers. MLS between 1996 and 2000 featured a surprisingly high standard of play and a great number of top foreign players like Carlos Valderamma, Roberto Donadoni and Marco Ethceverry. The league however was struggling financially.

Enter Don Garber and a new business plan. MLS contracted after the 2001 season and stopped spending money on high priced foreign talent. By 2006, attendance was up, the standard of play had rebounded to the levels found pre 2000 and this had been done with strong budgetary restraints and largely American or CONCACAF based players.

But in 2007, the Hubris of the LA Galaxy detoured MLS’ growth onto a wild roller coaster ride which could have a crash landing.  The Galaxy’s signing of David Beckham engaged the European Football press, always dubious of anything American. What followed was a litany of speculation as to who would be signed next in Major League Soccer, as well as a irrational amount of scrutiny on MLS’ quality of play and playoff system.

While the league seemed to relish its new found prominence, the product itself has suffered. The quality of play has not improved the last two seasons, TV viewership has dropped substantially from where they were in the late 90s, and David Beckham himself has been shown up by the likes of Terry Cooke, John Thorrington, Jovan Kirovski and Darren Huckerby, all either former low profile Man United team-mates or Englishmen.

MLS should accept whatever offer Milan is willing to give for Beckham. His presence has been a distraction to the Galaxy and MLS as a whole. His performances have not merited any of the accolades he’s received, and his current form with Milan indicates that he took MLS so lightly that he couldn’t be bothered to give a full effort.

The Beckham Rule itself is unnecessary. The league found a way previously to sign big name Mexican players and would have found a way to sign Blanco to Chicago even without the rule. The non-Blanco DP signings have all been dubious in one way or another.  To think a player the quality of Guille Barros Schelotto, decorated with numerous awards in Argentina, came to Columbus, WITHOUT using a DP slot should be evidence enough. The Beckham rule itself should be sunset, and Beckham himself should be jettisoned.

I’ll admit that I saw this coming but that does not make it in any way more justifiable. Major League Soccer has its newest Designated Player, and like some of the post Beckham/Blanco signings it is a player no major club in the world would even entertain a thought of signing. Freddie Ljungberg is a player that couldn’t find playing time at West Ham United, and was little more than a role player and cult hero on some very very good Arsenal teams earlier this decade and at the end of the nineties. But Ljungberg is not the type of player MLS needs to be signing with the DP rule. This player represents little if any natural fan base in the United States and is not of the type of quality to elevate the entire league or even arguably the Seattle Sounders team he signed for.  Ljungberg like Denilson last season and Marcello Gallardo and Claudio Lopez this year are players who do not bring a fan base with them and are at best a slight improvement over the players available within the MLS player pool already. The initial “Beckham Effect” with the DP rule of signing David Beckham, Cuauhetemoc Blanco, and Juan Pablo Angel as well as the non DP signing of Boca Juniors legend Guille Barros Schelotto has worn off. Now once again MLS appears to be a retirement home for players looking for one last paycheck: not unlike leagues in Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

Major League Soccer needs to either repeal the DP rule at the same time as raising the salary cap or somehow encourage its franchises all of which are controlled by the league to a great extent to not pull the trigger on DP signings based on reputation of a player because he played for either a top flight national team (the case of Gallardo, Lopez and Denilson)or a top international club. (Ljungberg) MLS must find players who fit an ethnic fanbase as both Blanco and Angel did, or a player whose natural talent and quality will elevate the whole league as Schelotto did. (for what it is worth Schelotto has a massive following among Boca Juniors supporters in the USA: only second perhaps to Martin Palermo.) Unless a DP meets these criteria the league should reject a club signing the player. It’s not only best for the club and MLS’ sake but for the reputation football in America maintains abroad.

CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE NOTES:

• With Houston’s 1-1 draw against Firpo in El Salvador last night, the Dynamo simply need to beat the Salvadorian side at Robertson Stadium November 26th to advance to the knock out stages of the CONCACAF Champions League.
• The Puerto Rico Islanders became the second USL side to advance to the quarters of the CCL with a 2-2 draw in Panama against Tauro FC.
• All four CCL groups were won by Mexican sides. Clearly no question can exist as to what the best league in the region is. What’s more signifcgant is that Chivas, America and Pachuca, traditionally the three best Mexican sides in CONCACAF competitions did not even qualify for this event.

MLS bounced back this past weekend after several weeks of the type of uninspiring action that would prompt critics of the league’s quality to claim the US first division is no better than League One or Two in England (The 3^rd and 4^th divisions in England.) While MLS has more quality in the attack than any second division in Europe (including the English Championship and Bundesliga 2 which I consider the two best second divisions on the planet) I would argue that the lack of quality defending which is an unintended bi-product of the salary cap makes sometimes even the most high scoring MLS matches totally unwatchable from a critical standpoint.

A great deal of this weekend’s MLS excitement and quality were created by the two biggest signings the league had made this decade, two signings that are unlikely to be replicated by the league in the near future. It’s not that MLS is not making good signings any longer: but to get two players, possibly the only two players on the planet that can be used to target the most skeptical potential fans of the league in one calendar year was beyond anything those of us who have followed this league since year one could have expected.

Since his arrival stateside ten months ago David Beckham has never played a ninety minute match like he did on Saturday night versus Kansas City. It was the Beckham many of us expected to see from day one, but the learning curve of a new league as well as injuries and England call ups prevented Beckham from truly blossoming with the Galaxy. Beckham’s game was familiar to many US based fans but inspite of playing for Manchester United and Real Madrid his true assets as a footballer were less known stateside than those of the other great MLS signing a year ago. But Beckham appealed to the casual fan and to the sports media who typically pays MLS little or no attention.

Cuauhtémoc Blanco had no learning curve necessary with regards to MLS. Blanco’s exploits familiar to the majority of soccer fans in the US thanks to his Club Americá and Mexican National Team days, continued the moment he touched down in Chicago. He was the single best player in Chicago’s 1-1 draw with Celtic in Blanco’s first match. His fantastic play has continued with consistency and it has had a profound impact ironically enough on the development of the US National Team: With the US MNT in my opinion at its weakest point from an attacking talent standpoint in fifteen years (just as Bob Bradley has transitioned the US from a pure counter attacking side to a more aggressive team), three attacking players have emerged as viable player pool options: Chad Barrett, Chris Rolfe and John Thorrington. Blanco’s signing has also registered MLS as being a more credible force among the largest base of soccer fans in the US: Mexican-Americans and more specifically among Club Americá supporters which along with Guadalajara fans provide the backbone of US based Mexican fans. One survey I have been made privy too noted that 32% of all Latino soccer fans in the US listed Club Americá as their favorite club. Chivas was favored by 31%, Real Madrid by only 7% and Manchester United did not even register.

 
Beckham and Blanco have not only brought MLS to new levels among fans and the media, but they have also as I noted above greatly improved the play on the pitch. Landon Donovan seems ready to explode into the player US fans have long expected him to become (even though I would argue even a half interested Donovan was clearly the best US player: That is both an indictment of the overall footballing talent produced in the US and a statement as to how special Donovan can be when he is really focused.) and even previously marginal players such as Alan Gordon and Edson Buddle are beginning to really benefit from Beckham’s work and Rudd Gullit’s tactical savvy. 

As MLS moves forward continuing to get solid play from Beckham and Blanco are as big a key to the league’s success and perception as any other factor.

A great article by Frank Dell’Apa on Soccernet.com.