Major League Soccer Talk

It’ll be Vancouver and Puerto Rico both of whom erased first leg defecits to advance. More later.

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If you have heard this week’s The Third Half (now out on the EPL Talk podcast, see iTunes), you would have heard that the MLS chat that I did earlier this summer is returning, and will be here at Major League Soccer Talk.

Join me from 7:20 pm Eastern/4:20 pm Pacific as we follow the evening that is Major League Soccer. 

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Some may blame the MLS playoff race. Others may simply claim Bob Bradley is biased towards players playing their club football in Europe. What is undeniable is that MLS has put only four squad players on this training camp roster for the United States. That’s an all time low for a qualifier since MLS began. By comparison MLS boasted 17 of 23 squad members in 1998 World Cup. However, Bradley’s squads have consistently included the same players and several of them have moved from MLS to Europe during his tenure, meaning even if the MLS playoff race wasn’t ongoing at this time perhaps only one or two more MLS based players would be in the squad. Also the inclusion of Jose Francisco Torres, a player too skilled to ever waste his time in MLS is a further sign that the US talent level is moving beyond what is a lower tier professional league in world football.

For all the hype and flair surrounding MLS’ recent foreign signings its overall commitment to developing American players has declined the last few years. The years 2001 through 2005 are considered lean years in MLS history from a financial standpoint but that was a golden period for the league in the sense that it was committed to building the domestic product with domestic players, many young, many getting a taste of first team, first division football which propelled them forward in their careers. The truth be told the emphasis on MLS rosters towards American players in that era may have owed itself to the leagues then precarious financial situation.

MLS has recently been exposed for its poor quality: games are often unwatchable and the second division in the United States, USL-1 used a backdoor route to place two teams in the CONCACAF Champions League: until this year continental competitions were not open to USL sides partly due to MLS’ insistence. In the Champions League USL-1 sides facing greater fixture congestion and travel demands on a lower payroll than any MLS team have vastly outperformed the MLS contingent. Of the four MLS sides that qualified for the event only the remarkable Houston Dynamo and their first class manager Dom Kinnear have managed to even put up a fight: ironically the same two teams from the region that knocked out MLS sides Chivas USA and New England in the qualifying round have since been beaten by the two participating USL-1 sides.

MLS did some very good work in player development between 2001 and 2005: good work which currently benefits the US team. Prior to that MLS produced in my opinion better football from 1996 to 2000 than it currently does. The rules were Americanized and odd, as were the funky looking NBA influenced kits, but if you could separate that and focus on the football, it really was surprisingly good for a brand new league. But currently, MLS is less compelling than ever: fewer and fewer American national team players call the league home, more American youngsters like Charlie Davies, Andrew Jacobson, and Sal Zizzo are skipping MLS entirely and plying their trade in more competitive football atmospheres and the league seems to be operating in more of a vacuum than ever. The league deemphasizes the established regional championship which holds with a ticket to the club world cup, something that could help MLS sagging international credibility (just this morning the Independent a fair minded British daily compared the top of MLS to bottom of the second flight Championship in the England: I believe Houston could play in the Premier League but for the rest of MLS that is a fair comparison.) in favor of a contrived three week long event, Superliga which MLS controls the revenues from.

We’ve discussed MLS’ problems and lack of quality before on this site. I’m not sure I want to rehash everything other than encouraging new readers to look at the archives going back to early this season and to observe my displeasure as a thirteen year fan of the league. But I do think it is telling that Bob Bradley who coached eleven seasons in MLS as head man and an assistant to Bruce Arena seems to value club form in Europe and Mexico over club form in MLS when making his selections. “in form” European based players like Charlie Davies while ignoring for many months in form MLS players like Chad Marshall and Kenny Cooper. (Davies is virtually the only American “in form” currently in an average to above average European first division: yet Bradley relies on European based players to form the backbone of his squad.)

As the United States national team continues to push forward and MLS becomes more concerned about making money, expansion and meaningless friendlies/Superliga, the backbone of the US team will continue to be players based in Europe and Mexico. MLS is becoming more and more of a retirement home for foreign players and select American stars like Brian McBride and Eddie Lewis. It is a league that has been shown up the second division that covers the same are in continental competition, and is a league whose insulting salary scale has pushed mid level American players like Clarence Goodson, Brian West and Hunter Freeman to seek fair pay for their services abroad. Bob Bradley knows this and as the US manager he has a responsibility to keep ahead of the curve with his national team and based on his last several squads he’s moving past MLS other than some very precious exception.

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The Puerto Rico Islanders had not lost 18 matches: thirteen USL matches and five CONCACAF Champions League matches. However that streak came to an abrupt end this evening at PAETEC Park against the Rocherster Rhinos. Having played late on Wednesday night in Guatemala, and having blown a late lead in that match the Islanders despite superior depth were forced to play just 44 hours after the conclusion of that match in Rochester NY, and now fly back to Puerto Rico for Sunday’s second leg down 2-0 on aggregate.

In the other USL-1 semifinal, the Montreal Impact will take a 1-0 lead back to Vanocuver. The Impact defeated Olimpia in the CONCACAF Champions League in Honduras two night’s ago but felt no ill affect of the travel. Sunday’s second leg will be the Impact’s 6th game in 11 days.

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GOALKEEPERS (3): Brad Guzan (Aston Villa: 2/2 SO), Tim Howard (Everton FC: 6/5 SO), Troy Perkins (Valerenga IF: 0/0)
DEFENDERS (8): Carlos Bocanegra (Rennes: 16/2), Danny Califf (FC Midtjylland: 2/0), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover 96: 17/0), Jay DeMerit (Watford FC: 1/0), Frankie Hejduk (Columbus Crew: 13/1), Oguchi Onyewu (Standard de Liege: 11/0), Michael Orozco (San Luis: 0/0), Heath Pearce (Hansa Rostock: 5/0)
MIDFIELDERS (7): Freddy Adu (AS Monaco: 1/0), DaMarcus Beasley (Glasgow Rangers: 19/4), Michael Bradley (Borussia Moenchengladbach: 5/2), Maurice Edu (Glasgow Rangers: 3/0), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA: 3/0), Danny Szetela (Brescia Calcio: 0/0), José Francisco Torres (Pachuca: 0/0)
FORWARDS (5): Jozy Altidore (Villarreal C.F.: 0/0), Brian Ching (Houston Dynamo: 9/4), Charlie Davies (Hammarby IF: 0/0) Clint Dempsey (Fulham FC: 11/4), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy: 24/8)

Thoughts:

• Troy Perkins gets recalled due top his stellar play in Europe. The competition for the 3rd goalkeeper spot is wide open and Perkins gets his chance to show the coaches in camp that he deserves to be in the mix.
• Danny Szetela gets a recall because he is one of the few Americans in Europe playing consistently.
• Charlie Davies has ten goals, placing him third in the Swedish league in scoring. Clearly he is more in form than any other American playing abroad.
• Jozy Altidore and Freddy Adu recalled: This is very good news.
• I’m disappointed Marvell Wynne is not in the squad. Very disappointed.
• I’m just resigned to the fact that Kenny Cooper is not part of the national team. He’s better than any of our strikers from a technical standpoint other than possibly Altidore, but for whatever reason Bradley has moved past him.

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Steve Goff of the Washington Post is reporting that Jose Francisco Torres, a budding superstar in the FMF for Pachuca a club that has been the most successful in the CONCACAF region over the past several seasons has decided less than one month short of his 21st birthday to play for the United States instead of Mexico. This is a massive development for the US National Team.

For all my criticism on air of both Sunil Gulati and Bob Bradley this is a massive coup. Torres has played a key reserve role for Pachuca not only in FMF matches but also in the CONCACAF Champions Cup, which Pachuca won in 2006 and 2007. Torres is left footed and very good with the ball at his feet: his addition to the US squad instantly improves a lackluster midfield attack, and quite possibly relegated Freddy Adu to the sidelines for the foreseeable future. While I certainly would hope this is not the case, as my CSRN American Soccer Show co-host believes Bob Bradley “hates Freddy Adu,” and Torres is certainly a more acceptable, and technically gifted replacement for Adu than anyone currently in the US pool.

Torres is one of three Mexican-Americans who have now opted to play for the United States instead of Mexico: he is certainly the most accomplished of the group which now includes Michael Orozco and Sammy Ochoa. Torres is the only one of the three, I could have realistically seen playing for Mexico. A big coup for US Soccer, and a job well done to Bob Bradley and whomever helped make this happen.

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Injuries, fixture congestion, Superliga, US Open Cup. The excuses these days are frequent and quite frankly amusing coming from DC United supporters. The excuses are from my vantage point completely unbecoming of a set of fans who have experienced more success than any other in the short history of MLS and an organization whose very success is quite possibly the only reason MLS is still in business.

As a supporter of MLS for years you could count on DC United to give an inspired and professional performance in every outing against an international side. It is of course DC United who have scored the three biggest accomplishments to date in MLS history: winning the CONCACAF Champions Cup against a Mexican side, Toluca in 1998 (when LA won the Champions Cup in 2000 they managed to avoid all Mexican and Costa Rican teams in the competition) the Inter-American Cup against Vasco De Gama in 1998 and of course the friendly win a few years later in North London against Totenham Hotspur.

Through the years DC United has traditionally had superior scouting and player chemistry than other MLS sides. Kevin Payne until this year has had the magic touch regarding player choices. Part of the reason USL-1 is so strong as we are once again learning in this CONCACAF Champions League is that so many MLS teams make mistakes with talented players. This is why Montreal and Puerto Rico have so many skilled familiar names in their side, players cast off from MLS clubs for various reasons.  But now Payne and Manager Tom Soehn (pictured above courtesy of the Washington Post) have committed one player error after another. It is not fixture congestion that forced DC to dump Bobby Boswell, Christian Gomez and Brian Carroll. It is not fixture congestion that prompted DC to sign Franco Neill, Jose Caravalho and Gonzalo Peralta. Injuries are part of football and the team that has been the hardest by injuries and suspensions the last few seasons in MLS are Chivas USA and Houston: Yet those two sides keep on truckin.

The Montreal Impact to their credit looked very very good going forward last night in a hostile Honduran environment. They are in the middle of playing six games in eleven days all Champions League or USL-1 playoff games so for DC fans to complain about fixture congestion is silly: they have half the burden the Impact do, with at least twice the payroll.  Houston somehow who has had so many injuries the last two years continues to excel in all competitions. Montreal has as mentioned above played an incredible amount of games in a condensed period. The PR Islanders played 18 games in 50 days culminating last Wednesday against Santos. And yet Colin Clarke has repeatedly said the USL playoffs are his priority, so much so that Clarke shuffled his lineup last night in Guatemala against Municipal but yet still escape with a draw.

DC had NEVER lost to a Mexican team at RFK prior to this year’s Superliga. Now they’ve lost three times in a little over two months. Somehow DC managed to balance the CONCACAF Champions Cup, 3 games in 10 days with the MLS Playoffs in 1998.  DC played 5 games in 12 days in that strecth and won them all. Perhaps all the fixtures caught up with United when they shockingly lost the MLS Cup final to Chicago, but still they did not whine and make excuses.The new DC fans who whine about this stuff either don’t know the history of their team or simply like to make excuses. Really their behavior is unbecoming of being a supporter of what I always considered the single elite club in US Soccer. Some like myself have over indulged DC United and its supporters through the years calling the red and black, the signature club in the United States and perhaps building up expectations that led to arrogance and even a sense of entitlement among United supporters.

I urge all United supporters to stop making excuses and hold your club and players accountable. DC United has traditionally had higher standards than the rest of MLS but now in days of despair it seems United supporters have dumped the higher standards and are applying excuse after excuse to the continued failures of America’s proudest football club.

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photo from CDSOCCER.com

Roberto Brown was not good enough for Fernando Clavijo. But he’s been good enough for Montreal of the second flight, USL leading the Impact to the league semifinals and now more importantly scoring two goals to give the Impact a huge road three points in Honduras against Olimpia in the CONCACAF Champions League. This was the third game in a stretch which will see Montreal play six games in eleven days, all the matches being either Champions League or USL playoff games. This point is precisely why when MLS fans complain about fixture congestion I cannot help but laugh at them.

Throwing out the result of a dispirited and quite frankly completely overmatched DC United team who right now is the laughing stock of the Champions League, Matchday three was very good for MLS and USL sides. (DC did play much better tonight than they have in the previous two Champions League matches but I recall a time not so long ago where DC would automatically get a result at home in an international competition. Besides Cruz Azul was playing its second eleven) Houston became the first MLS team ever to get a result in a competitive match in Mexico City with a 4-4 draw at Pumas. Puerto Rico continued an unbeaten streak of 17 games with a hard fought 2-2 draw in Guatemala against Municipal, and as discussed above Montreal beat Olimpia on the road.

Back to Brown. For my money he was the Rapids most dangerous player early last season. I saw him in person at DSG Park and was amazed by his skill off the ball. But for whatever reason, after making a big deal about signing him, Clavijo let him go after about 10 matches. Rather than go back to Panama, he latched on in USL with Montreal (as by the way many quality foreign players who get waived in MLS have in the past) and he has made a remarkable impact, no pun intended on the Quebec based club.

As things stand now, three MLS/USL teams have a very good chance of advancing to the knock out stages of the event. That’s something we all can be proud of.

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Major League Soccer has been shown up to be a weak footballing league the past few weeks in the CONCACAF Champions League. A combination of fixture congestion and late season playoff pushes have reduced MLS sides ability to compete in the CONCACAF Champions League. In addition, the Purerto Rico Islanders a USL-1 side made up largely of former MLS players and coaches has been one of the best sides in the entire tournament. MLS sides, Chivas USA, DC United and New England showed little fight or interest in the tournament. For DC United it was particularly galling: entering this season DC United had more finals and semifinal appearances in CONCACAF events than the rest of the league combined. But suddenly in 2008, United is just another MLS team in these events losing its first three home matches in history to Mexican or Costa Rican sides within the last 3 months.

But that was before the Houston Dynamo entered the competition thanks to a delay after Hurricane Ike. Dom Kinnear is never going to let his team disgrace itself the way DC United and New England did in their most recent home matches in the competition. Two matches away from home for the Dynamo and two results. Kei Kamara was outstanding up for the Dynamo and Cory Ashe brought a level of energy Pumas could not match on the flank. Bobby Boswell who was scapegoated by the sinking ship at RFK Stadium continued his solid play for the Dynamo with several outstanding defensive plays in the final 30 minutes of the match and Craig Waibel, scored twice…………yes I repeat Craig Waibel scored twice.  The Dynamo drew with Pumas 4-4 in Mexico City.

You see the Dynamo who has suffered just as many injuries the last few years as any MLS team doesn’t come into competitions with their excuses already written out and in the coaches back pocket. Unlike their MLS brethren, they play to win, and compete every night.  As I’ve said before MLS could take a lesson or two from USL and everyone in American soccer could take a lesson or two from Dom Kinnear and the Dynamo.

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In order for Soccer to make it to the U.S. sports fan’s main menu, it must play a schedule that has both sense and purpose.  An American professional soccer league must begin play every year 1-2 weeks before the Major League baseball season begins and it must end its regular season 3 weeks before the start of the NFL season. 

A professional league must make every attempt to take advantage of the U.S. sports calendar so that soccer can get the limelight needed to reach diehard U.S. sports fans.  Every ounce of sports spectating in America, including awards shows, is scheduled to a specific time in the year in order to gain a place within the public’s eye.  

When there is a hole or dip in the sports schedule, like the MLB all-star game, soccer must fill the spot in a big way.  This year and in past years, professional soccer has not scheduled games on baseball’s all-star break.  This is an error in judgement from those who are the decision makers for professional soccer.  Professional soccer should always try to maximize its exposure in the sports spectator calendar, especially on days when no other major U.S. sports are being played. 

There are few holes left in the sports calendar, but tradition doesn’t need holes in schedules.  Tradition can bring professional soccer to its rightful place on the U.S. sports calendar.  Tradition should be that professional soccer always stays one step ahead of both baseball and footfall.  Placing its regular season on the U.S. sports calendar for the months of March, April, May, June, and July, with its playoffs in August, will stabilize and solidify professional soccer’s niche in the sports spectator marketplace.

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