Comments on: MLS Talk #67: Dave Brett Wasser, NASL Alumni Association

By: eplnfl

eplnfl — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 12:27:44 +0000

Very good show, looking forward to the next show on the US Mens team. Yes, it is tragic MLS has not embraced the past more. At the start it was good to have a clean break, but now it can be an important link to soccer’s history in the US which many people claim their is none.

By: Derek

Derek — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 03:57:32 +0000

That was a great show! I learned a lot. No wonder so many people loved the NASL. What would the landscape of soccer look like in the US if the league did not fold? In the late 70’s I played on a youth team and we went and saw the Detroit Express play. What a history soccer has in the US. I do wish MLS would embrace the past more fully.

By: LI Matt

LI Matt — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 21:49:14 +0000

“Futsal” is a contraction of futebol de salão — “living-room football”. It’s quite different from the MISL’s game.

By: Brian Zygo

Brian Zygo — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 06:34:08 +0000

Since he mentioned the Aztex, and complained about the stadium and pricing. I should point out that last night when the Dynamo played up there in Austin, the Aztex charged the Texian Army $26 per seat and wouldn’t give a group discount.

By: Modibo

Modibo — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 04:30:42 +0000

I also remember listening to Soccer Made In Germany, and being introduced to the World Cup through that program in 1982. Wow… I still remember Toby Charles, with his cheery opening lines like “well, it’s a lovely day for football here in the Bergelsberger Stadium!” I knew about ASL and indoor soccer at the time, but had very little awareness of the NASL outside of a book called “Advice from the Soccer Pros” with tips from NASL greats like Beckenbauer, Messing, Rote, Davis… So Soccer Made in Germany was absolute required viewing for me and my brother. Thanks for reminding me. And then there was World Soccer magazine! What an outstanding publication – we subscribed for years and lapped up every issue even though I would never see most of the teams and players in an actual match on TV, let alone live.
There’s one thing that the show unintentionally misportrayed, though. Prior to ‘94 Euro sides did regularly pick up foreign players – in most cases rules limited them to two or three. Bernd Schuster and Barcelona was a famous example because of his highly mediatized fallout with the DFB and rejection of any Germany call ups (which of course I know about now through SMIG and WS) but let’s not forget that players like Cruyff (Barca) had already played outside their home countries before coming to NASL. Sure, Pele was famously declared a national treasure in Brazil to block his transfer to Europe, but he was an exception. Of course the scale of the international player market was much more limited, which was the point I think that your comments intended to make. But there was a limited market for international stars at the time. I had never thought of that market in relation to the NASL, though, and the NASL’s effect on Euro leagues in the 1990s. Thanks for the eye opening show.

By: USA in 2010

USA in 2010 — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 14:52:21 +0000

GREAT, and I mean GREAT show.