Major Link Soccer
by Dizzo on Feb 4, 2011 10:13 AM PST
in Sounders: MLS Regular Season
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PrintGood morning everyone. This week has been filled with reports from around the web on preseason training with the occasional trade or loan rumor. The young guys are fighting for a spot on the team while the veterans are fighting against the MLS salary cap. The transfer window closed across much of Europe this week so the rumors will probably die down. However, as we see with the potential loan of Charlie Davies to DC United clubs in Europe can still send players abroad for loans or transfers if the receiving league's window is still open.
Ben Olsen Making Moves: Ben Olsen is putting his stamp on DC United and creating a team for the future. The biggest news is a potential loan of Charlie Davies from French club Sochaux. Financial details have already been arranged and now Charlie Davies goes to Florida for a week long evaluation so the DCU staff can gauge his form after recovering from a fatal car accident. Davies is excited to return stateside and get his career back on track. If Davies is at even 80% of his form before the accident he could be the final piece of the puzzle for Olsen. Olsen has already put together a midfield that has the potential to be one of the better in the league and he's also gone a long ways toward rebuilding the league's worst defense.
More links after the jump:
Ranking the Off-Season So Far: Drew Epperley has taken a look at the off-season in MLS and gives some rankings. Topping his list are the NY Red Bulls (A), DC United (A-) and our own Seattle Sounders (A-). Epperley gives the Sounders good marks for acquiring O'Brian White and adding quality depth across the board.
Whitecaps Dig Deep for Strikers: One team that didn't score high marks on Epperley's ratings is the new Vancouver Whitecaps (C-). The defense, led by Joe Cannon and Jay DeMerit is starting to take shape, but the offense remains a giant question mark. 86 Forever goes down the striker list and the list is wanting. When your best and close to only option is moving Atiba Harris from the wings over to a target striker...you know you have problems.
Timbers Look to Add Yet Another Striker: While the Whitecaps continue to ignore their lack of offense the Timbers are doing the reverse by focusing yet again on strikers. Colombian Jorge Perlaza is joining the Timbers in training and could add yet another option to a offensive that is looking pretty good. If you took the Whitecaps defense and the Timbers offense you would have a pretty good team.
Americans Across the Globe Start Afresh: Charlie Davies move is just one among many loan moves and transfers for American internationals. Some of the biggest are Michael Bradley's loan to Premiership side Aston Villa and Jozy Altidore's loan to defending Turkish champion Bursaspor. The success of both moves hinge on their ability to earn playing time at their new clubs.
No Nike Swoosh in MLS: Adidas has been a vital part of building MLS and vigorously guards their investment in the league. Reports indicate the extension they signed last summer to be the official athletic sponsor of MLS extends to 2018 and is worth $200 million. They're involvement could provide a major stumbling block to ownership groups aligned with other jersey sponsors such as the NY Cosmos group (Umbro), Barcelona (Nike) and Boca Juniors (Nike).
Player News From Around the League: The Whitecaps continue to ignore their striker problem and bring in 19-year old German defensive midfielder Lennart Hartmann while home grown defensive midfielder Ethan Gage signs with Reading FC. Colorado does a whole lot of nothing since trading for Sanna Nyassi and drafting RB project Eddie Ababio. RSL does even less in the off-season with the biggest news this week being Nick Rimando coming back to RSL for at least another year. Not that they need to make changes...they're focusing on the CCL quarterfinals (and rightly so IMHO). The NY Red Bulls look to add depth by adding Norwegian midfielder Jan Gunnar Solli, signing homegrown midfielder Matt Kassel and English striker Luke Rodgers.
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They’re involvement could provide a major stumbling block to ownership groups aligned with other jersey sponsors
I’m not naive enough to be one of these people who actually believes that the MLS – or any League, for that matter – could possibly exist without corporate partnerships, but hearing things like this troubles me. The last thing we need in the country is “stumbling blocks” for the growth of the Game…
...that's MISTER Keller to you!!!
The Cosmos knew what they were doing, and they did it anyway
Agreed that it’s a bummer that this could be a stumbling block for a marquee team to enter MLS in a marquee market, but it’s not like they didn’t know the MLS had an exclusive deel with Adidas. Reading the article Dizzo linked to and then reading this press release again really shines a light on the contridiction that is the Cosmos:
October 1, 2010 (Manchester, England) – Umbro has today announced that it will be the leading kit supplier for the newly reformed New York Cosmos soccer club…
And then down at the bottom in the informational text about the Cosmos organization:
The club’s ultimate vision is to be a part of Major League Soccer and to compete for the championship.
Those two statements appear to be in diametric contradiction. Furthermore, Umbro appears to be well entrenched with the Cosmos, so this may end up being a non-starter in the same way BarcaMiami was.
The problem is that the Cosmos continues to go about this whole thing bass-ackwards, securing the club name first, then an exclusive shirt maker, and now they’re even starting to hire for FO staff positions. All of this with no stadium or MLS club yet. Talk about putting the cart before the horse.
Yes, these stumbling blocks are frustrating, but the Cosmos have pretty much done it to themselves. Umbro and Adidas are mutually exclusive for the forseeable future.
by K61 on Feb 4, 2011 7:03 PM PST up reply actions
I never understood how they thought they could be in MLS and have an academy in another teams area.
If I am not mistaken, MLS rules are something like a 50 mile radius and then two outside of area signees,
Charlie Davies (not Davis)
I’m really hoping the loan works out, since it’s way easier to follow players in MLS than it is when they are scattered around a few dozen leagues in Europe.
^this
The repeated use of Davis was driving me crazy.
DC has really impressed in the offseason
Yeah, they had pretty much nowhere to go but up, but that doesn’t mean that had to go very far up. Just look at Toronto. I’m not sure they’ll make the playoffs this year – they still have big question marks – but they ought to be a LOT better than last season.
RSL CCL
That article on how RSL should focus on MLS rather than CCL drives me nuts. I will grant there is a legitimate arguement between CCL and MLS regular season but the authors main point is they lost a preseason match to Vancouver.
First one would have to show that they lost because they were focused on CCL, also you would have to assume that the outcome of a single game is a good indication of where a team is focused. Then you would have to show that preaseason games are an indicator of anything at all. And then maybe you could make the case that they are putting too much focus on CCL. But she does none of that and just says that they lost and that they should not focus on it because the attendence for the games (once you through out the high attendence games) are low.
What a worthless sports writer!
Also, they're already in the quarterfinals
I can kind of understand (not agree with, but understand) poo-pooing a competition when it hasn’t started yet. But if you’re two wins away from the final in a competition that hasn’t seen a US final team in over 10 years, that should affect your priorities.
Nos Audietis
Not to mention...
…there are no Mexican teams standing between them and the final. It’s good for the winner of RSL and Columbus that they get to play each other in competitve games during their preseason before the winner takes on a team that is in the middle of their competitive season.
And looking at Saprissa, they finished last in their division for league play last fall, so they could be vulnerable. And Olimpia looks to be no better than Marathon, which was certainly a beatable team. It would be great fun to see either Columbus or RSL take on a Mexican team in a home-and-home for the CONCACAF title.
by ubelmann on Feb 4, 2011 1:59 PM PST up reply actions 1 recs
poo pooing a competiont
The competition that has not started is the MLS regular season!
I totally agree
It would be a great achievement for MLS if Real Salt Lake win the CCL and can go to the Club World Cup to play against the likes of Barca. My concern is that her one uninformed opinion might better represent opinion in SLC. Overall, a pretty bad piece of journalism.
by Dizzo on Feb 4, 2011 2:21 PM PST up reply actions 1 recs
She's not an outlier among RSL fans
Denz over at RSL Soapbox tweeted his disinterest in RSL making the CCL again next season and pretty much said the same thing in this blog post. The weird thing is he later made a Christmas wish to win the CCL… awkward. Anyway, there’s another data point on how an RSL fan feels about the CCL. They both seem to agree that it’s viewed as more of a distraction than anything else.
For the most part, I think Seattle fans feel different about this. I think most of us would take a CONCACAF championship above anything else. MLS Cup and/or SS would be awesome of course, but the best available prize of the 3 is CCL.
by K61 on Feb 4, 2011 6:46 PM PST up reply actions
It's hard for me to imagine not being interested in winning CCL
Even if you’re just playing an African or Asian team in the first round, and don’t make it to one of the big dogs from Europe or South America, I just find it fascinating that such a global tournament exists. That we could have the opportunity to beat a top European team in a competitive match would be enthralling. Sure, we’d probably lose, but it would be a hell of a ride, and would be a much more unique opportunity than league play.
I guess maybe it just comes down to that: you get a chance to win your league every year. How often are you going to get a chance to win your confederation? Or the Club World Cup? And CCL is only going to get better as MLS approaches the quality of Mexico’s league. Especially since meaningful national team games could be few and far between, this provides a great outlet for the US v Mexico rivalry.
by ubelmann on Feb 4, 2011 8:04 PM PST up reply actions 1 recs
I am a Sounders fan and I am greedy. I want the Sounders to win the MLS Cup, the Open Cup and the CCL
I do not understand not wanting to win any competition that you are involved.
by Coug1990 on Feb 4, 2011 9:34 PM PST up reply actions 1 recs
This^
I want to win the cups so we have a chance to beat the other teams in CONCACAF. If MLS really wants to be respected we need to prove it on the field. CCL is the best way to do this. Win trophies and players will want to play here. Look at Europe, Torres just left LFC to chase European glory in the champions league and Tevez almost quit MCFC because of the promises of CL.
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