MLS gets better, the Revs stay the same. Really needed one of those MLS Cups because I don't think we'll be seeing a final for a long time.
The 2017 Major League Soccer Thread
- Thread starter Titans Bastard
- Start date
At this point, if the Revs do something good it just makes me worry that whatever Picture of Dorian Gray style bargain the Krafts struck is over and the Pats will become mortal.
And another!
Seattle has an interesting pipeline right now. They had some early success with smash-and-grab poach jobs like Yedlin and Morris who were recruited as rising HS seniors, went to college for a few years, then signed. Now their system is deeper and they have quality at younger ages.
Some background on Gonzalez can be found here. His family moved from Las Vegas three years ago so he could play for an MLS academy. We're starting to see that sort of thing more and more. It's good that MLS clubs are casting a wide net for talent; it would be better if there were more pro teams and more pro academies throughout the country.
Seattle has an interesting pipeline right now. They had some early success with smash-and-grab poach jobs like Yedlin and Morris who were recruited as rising HS seniors, went to college for a few years, then signed. Now their system is deeper and they have quality at younger ages.
Some background on Gonzalez can be found here. His family moved from Las Vegas three years ago so he could play for an MLS academy. We're starting to see that sort of thing more and more. It's good that MLS clubs are casting a wide net for talent; it would be better if there were more pro teams and more pro academies throughout the country.
Crazy night in the Northwest. Seattle erases a 3-0 second half deficit, scoring four goals in 28 minutes to beat DC United 4-3. They did lose Lodeiro to a late red card unfortunately.
In Portland, there were three red cards and RSL rolls to a 4-0 win.
So from a sure loss to tied with Portland for fourth in the West. Good night for the Sounders.
In Portland, there were three red cards and RSL rolls to a 4-0 win.
So from a sure loss to tied with Portland for fourth in the West. Good night for the Sounders.
Apparently, this is the first time in MLS history anyone has ever come back from 3-0 down to win a game.
The Metros beat the Mutiny 4-3 after being down 3-0, but needed a shootout to complete the comeback.
MLS will be implementing VAR starting August 5.
https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2017/07/20/major-league-soccer-implement-video-review-league-wide-beginning-aug-5
https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2017/07/20/major-league-soccer-implement-video-review-league-wide-beginning-aug-5
Fascinating, if you remember, the Revs' official account tweeted out of a video of Fagundez's suspension, followed by Giovinco's non-suspension, so this is weirdly consistent for the team.
Also, Kei just tweeted a photo of himself wearing a romper, so thanks for introducing me to his account.
Would be nice if just robots ref'd the matches entirely. PRO's incompetence is getting staggeringly worse every season.
Does to Injuries, Gold Cup and Red cards, Jeremy Ebobisse got is first MLS start today. He also tallied a goal, and an assist.
The assist, a beautiful back-heel:
The Timbers got 3 very important points both in the MLS table, but also in the Cascadia Cup.
The assist, a beautiful back-heel:
The Timbers got 3 very important points both in the MLS table, but also in the Cascadia Cup.
MLS rejected $4 billion deal which wanted promotion/relegation
This seems short-sighted to me, as eventually MLS is going to run out of cities to "expand" into, isn't it?
The fact that this came from the same NASL owner who commissioned that Deloitte pro/rel study makes this smell very "publicity stunt" to me.
Dom Dwyer to Orlando City for a bunch of allocation cash.
https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2017/07/25/dom-dwyer-traded-orlando-city-sc-record-deal
https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2017/07/25/dom-dwyer-traded-orlando-city-sc-record-deal
Wow, didn't see that coming. It kind of stinks for Dwyer, as Leroux just forced a trade to KC only last winter to be together. As the article alluded, OCSC was flush with extra Garber bucks from the Molina trade, so they were able to surrender a king's ransom for Dwyer. According to reports, the Revs "only" paid a million in TAM and GAM to acquire Kamara, who at the time was the MLS golden boot winner.
Galaxy pick up Jonathan dos Santos for a $5 million transfer fee.
http://www.goal.com/en-us/news/69/transfer-zone/2017/07/25/37329432/sources-galaxy-complete-5-million-transfer-for-jonathan-dos?ICID=HP_BN_1
http://www.goal.com/en-us/news/69/transfer-zone/2017/07/25/37329432/sources-galaxy-complete-5-million-transfer-for-jonathan-dos?ICID=HP_BN_1
Wow. The Galaxy play at Seattle on Sunday. Welcome back, Sigi.
Edit: And now Doyle says something even bigger coming.
Edit: And now Doyle says something even bigger coming.
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Good to see Cheatin' Bob back with Chivas.
As to the other news, I assume getting tactically abused by Jay Heaps isn't too good for your career prospects, so I'm not shocked may the firing. That being said, Kinnear, Cassar, and Onalfo must be furious that they're out of work, but that dope still has a job. Ever since it became obvious Heaps is over his head (roughly mid-2016) proven MLS managers Kreis, Petke, Schmid, and Bradley have all landed MLS jobs while Mike Burns twiddles his thumbs.
I think Bob Bradley is a good pick for an expansion club, given his strength as a manager is building team unity and helping his players gel quickly. He hasn't actually managed in MLS since 2006, so I'm curious to see how he matches up with other managers in the league at this point.
Onalfo was one of the weirder coaching hires in recent memory. He was a disaster for DC. He was a disaster for KC. I don't think his LA II teams were known for a particularly nice brand of soccer even by USL standards. Something went badly wrong with LA's planning process last winter. They made a poor decision with their coaching hire and they gave MLS contracts to way too many mediocre reserve team players. A lot of them are okay depth players, but you can't sign all of them at the expense of signing actually good players.
Onalfo was one of the weirder coaching hires in recent memory. He was a disaster for DC. He was a disaster for KC. I don't think his LA II teams were known for a particularly nice brand of soccer even by USL standards. Something went badly wrong with LA's planning process last winter. They made a poor decision with their coaching hire and they gave MLS contracts to way too many mediocre reserve team players. A lot of them are okay depth players, but you can't sign all of them at the expense of signing actually good players.
The Revs signed a new CB, Claude Dielna. The press release says he'll be either a TAM player or a DP depending on other moves, but that basically means his salary is in the mid/high six figures.
His resume doesn't look very impressive. He had a run in Ligue 2 with Istres and Sedan, then a year as a part-time starter with Ajaccio in Ligue 1. Then another part-time starter year with Sheffield Wednesday in the Championship, then short loan stints at Slovan Bratislava two years ago and Dinamo Bucharest last year.
I thought the whole point of introducing convoluted budget rules like DP and TAM was to be able to spend more money to sign a higher caliber player...
@Dummy Hoy
Based on his stint in England, does this guy suck?
His resume doesn't look very impressive. He had a run in Ligue 2 with Istres and Sedan, then a year as a part-time starter with Ajaccio in Ligue 1. Then another part-time starter year with Sheffield Wednesday in the Championship, then short loan stints at Slovan Bratislava two years ago and Dinamo Bucharest last year.
I thought the whole point of introducing convoluted budget rules like DP and TAM was to be able to spend more money to sign a higher caliber player...
@Dummy Hoy
Based on his stint in England, does this guy suck?
He had a last minute goal a few years ago (maybe at Blackburn? Forest?) and got a little run under Stuart Gray but he wasn't much. He's probably a bottom half of the league starter in the Championship, which is probably on par with the Revs. There were some stories he was a dick in the room, but who knows with that. I'd guess he'll get some burn, have a decent game or two, and then pick up a knock.
This is basically the perfect Revolution DP signing, which is part of the reason I don't bother to get behind that club.
This is basically the perfect Revolution DP signing, which is part of the reason I don't bother to get behind that club.
Thanks, that's basically what I expected based on his track record and the Revs' track record.
I do think that MLS could have a significantly bigger presence in Boston, but it'll never happen as long as the Krafts are in charge.
The USL announced Fresno FC for 2018.
http://www.uslsoccer.com/news_article/show/817487?referrer_id=2349190
The release states that one more club will be announced for next season in addition to Fresno and Nashville. Signs are currently pointing towards Las Vegas. FC Dallas also needs to cut the crap and put a reserve team in the USL, given how much young talent is coming out of their academy.
Meanwhile, the San Francisco Deltas in the NASL are predictably struggling, per this post from ownership:
http://www.uslsoccer.com/news_article/show/817487?referrer_id=2349190
The release states that one more club will be announced for next season in addition to Fresno and Nashville. Signs are currently pointing towards Las Vegas. FC Dallas also needs to cut the crap and put a reserve team in the USL, given how much young talent is coming out of their academy.
Meanwhile, the San Francisco Deltas in the NASL are predictably struggling, per this post from ownership:
On one hand I appreciate that Kraft was in on the league from day one and fairly supportive. But he has shown absolutely zero interest in this franchise being anything other than a spare change generator. They seem content to sucker 10,000 suburbanites into buying concessions and ignoring the 3000 die hard supporters while they hobnob with NFL celebrities.
It sucks, but I won't really follow them and thusly won't really follow MLS. I'm willing to follow garbage football teams (that's been apparent), but not when they're content to remain garbage.
Agreed. Kraft bought a fair amount of goodwill by sticking with the league in its darkest days when it was down to him, Lamar Hunt, and Phil Anschutz. He even took over the SJ Earthquakes for a while. However, I certainly feel that the well of goodwill ran dry a long time ago. It is difficult to watch what NFL owner-backed teams in Seattle and Atlanta are doing.
I suspect this comes across in my posting, but I feel that I am as much of a general MLS + US soccer fan as I am a Revs fan in particular, at this point. That balance could easily change if there were more to root for around here.
Other summer window activity:
NYRB signed Panamanian CB Fidel Escobar on loan from Sporting San Miguelito for the next 1.5 years. He's a regular for Panama who spent last season on loan with Sporting CP's reserve team. NYRB needs the help at CB because Baah is out for the reason and Perrinelle and Collin are old and rickety. I'd expect him to partner with Aaron Long in fairly short order.
They also signed Muhamed Keita, a Gambian/Norwegian attacker, from Lech Poznań and loaned forward Brandon Allen to Minnesota for the rest of the season.
Montreal signed 22 year old Romanian center back Deian Boldor on loan from Bologna, which is effectively Montreal's sister club. Boldor has a limited track record in Italy consisting of a few Serie B loans. Meh.
Vancouver mutually terminated Paolo Tornaghi's contract and signed New Zealand #1 Stefan Marinovic. "New Zealand #1" sounds more impressive than "guy who played for Unterhaching in the Regionalliga last season".
Speaking of Kiwis, Portland signed Bill Tuiloma from Marseille. He's a 22 year old who never broke through into the first team; he plays DM and can fill in across the back line.
San Jose signed 26 year old Swiss center back François Affolter from Luzern.
Colorado signed 29 year old German winger Stefan Aigner from 1860 Munich on a free.
Houston signed 22 year old Argentine forward Tomas Martinez from Braga.
NYRB signed Panamanian CB Fidel Escobar on loan from Sporting San Miguelito for the next 1.5 years. He's a regular for Panama who spent last season on loan with Sporting CP's reserve team. NYRB needs the help at CB because Baah is out for the reason and Perrinelle and Collin are old and rickety. I'd expect him to partner with Aaron Long in fairly short order.
They also signed Muhamed Keita, a Gambian/Norwegian attacker, from Lech Poznań and loaned forward Brandon Allen to Minnesota for the rest of the season.
Montreal signed 22 year old Romanian center back Deian Boldor on loan from Bologna, which is effectively Montreal's sister club. Boldor has a limited track record in Italy consisting of a few Serie B loans. Meh.
Vancouver mutually terminated Paolo Tornaghi's contract and signed New Zealand #1 Stefan Marinovic. "New Zealand #1" sounds more impressive than "guy who played for Unterhaching in the Regionalliga last season".
Speaking of Kiwis, Portland signed Bill Tuiloma from Marseille. He's a 22 year old who never broke through into the first team; he plays DM and can fill in across the back line.
San Jose signed 26 year old Swiss center back François Affolter from Luzern.
Colorado signed 29 year old German winger Stefan Aigner from 1860 Munich on a free.
Houston signed 22 year old Argentine forward Tomas Martinez from Braga.
Sebastian Giovinco is good at soccer. Two great goals and an even better assist today.
Toronto is dismantling NYCFC at home, 4-0. TFC really is one of the better teams I've seen in this league. They have the high end talent, they have insane depth by MLS standards, they've made a few smart foreign signings, and they've brought some good young players through their academy. Giovinco hasn't even been in good form until rather recently.
Toronto is dismantling NYCFC at home, 4-0. TFC really is one of the better teams I've seen in this league. They have the high end talent, they have insane depth by MLS standards, they've made a few smart foreign signings, and they've brought some good young players through their academy. Giovinco hasn't even been in good form until rather recently.
I went to this game, crowd was on it all match. First MLS match I attended since the Valderama Mutiny days, and I was in the loud section behind the south goal. Had a good angle to see both of two Giovinco goals, the bend was really something on both, nothing Johnson could do. It's a nice place to watch a match, shaded on a very sunny day
Bumping most MLS2 teams to D3 if/when the USL adds another division makes sense to me. In the short term I've been all about consolidating lower division clubs in order to create the critical mass necessary to reduce travel costs.
However, the "big" lower division clubs don't have that much in common with MLS2 clubs and a rift like this is inevitable.
Some MLS2 teams like LA and Portland are going with very young rosters and losing a lot. Seattle started going young about two months ago and is now on a long losing streak. Teenagers figuring it out are going to lose to a group of seasoned adult pros.
In the long run it may make more sense to have a local D3 team for teenage pros and academy amateurs and then find a small number of D2 loans for guys who are too good for entry level D3 ball but not ready for MLS.
Right now it sounds like MLS clubs are resistant about dropping down. I guess it's hard to say yet because D3 hasn't come into focus at all yet.
However, the "big" lower division clubs don't have that much in common with MLS2 clubs and a rift like this is inevitable.
Some MLS2 teams like LA and Portland are going with very young rosters and losing a lot. Seattle started going young about two months ago and is now on a long losing streak. Teenagers figuring it out are going to lose to a group of seasoned adult pros.
In the long run it may make more sense to have a local D3 team for teenage pros and academy amateurs and then find a small number of D2 loans for guys who are too good for entry level D3 ball but not ready for MLS.
Right now it sounds like MLS clubs are resistant about dropping down. I guess it's hard to say yet because D3 hasn't come into focus at all yet.
As a Timbers season ticket holder I get free tickets to T2 matches this year. Last year they played at the beautiful Merlo Field at the University of Portland (seriously, it's beautiful: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BxW9d68CEAA2fXV.jpg) and charged for tickets. They had to move to Providence Park because Merlo holds under 5k and USL rules required over 5k. Overall attendance is averaging about the same, but they had a "kids day" where they bused in about 5k kids for a match so that alone has increased the average numbers slightly.
I don't really care about T2 winning anything as long as they develop a few players, and they might be doing that.
I think there was some talk of moving the T2 to Boise, ID, but they wanted to have the players that were on the bubble training with the big club more often and not having to make the 7 hour drive.
If T2 tickets remain free I'll continue to show up sometimes regardless of who they are playing.
I don't really care about T2 winning anything as long as they develop a few players, and they might be doing that.
I think there was some talk of moving the T2 to Boise, ID, but they wanted to have the players that were on the bubble training with the big club more often and not having to make the 7 hour drive.
If T2 tickets remain free I'll continue to show up sometimes regardless of who they are playing.
Adidas signed a six year, $700m extension to their sponsorship contract with the league.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/adidas-extends-major-league-soccer-sponsorship-6-years-700-million-152955630.html
This is big money for MLS and nearly a 5x increase over the previous deal (albeit a little less than a 4x increase per team due to expansion):
Clubs could do a lot of things with a collective extra $88m/yr in their pocket.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/adidas-extends-major-league-soccer-sponsorship-6-years-700-million-152955630.html
This is big money for MLS and nearly a 5x increase over the previous deal (albeit a little less than a 4x increase per team due to expansion):
Clubs could do a lot of things with a collective extra $88m/yr in their pocket.
10 teams in 2004: $1.5m per
15 teams in 2009: $1m per
16 teams in 2010: $1.56m per
20 teams in 2016: $1.25m per
22 teams in 2017: $5m per
(I grabbed this from Twitter so it might not be 100% right)
15 teams in 2009: $1m per
16 teams in 2010: $1.56m per
20 teams in 2016: $1.25m per
22 teams in 2017: $5m per
(I grabbed this from Twitter so it might not be 100% right)
Wow, that's more than the league collects in national television revenue, which has been reported as $90 million per year from 2015 through 2022. (It also indicates Riccardo Silva's offer may have been a lowball by the time MLS renegotiates that contract.)
The Timber match on Sunday may get moved to 11am local time (from 1pm).
Portland is in the middle of a pretty significant heatwave, today it expected to be ~105, and the forecast for Sunday in 95. It will be interesting, I don't think I've been to a sporting event live in the morning before.
Portland is in the middle of a pretty significant heatwave, today it expected to be ~105, and the forecast for Sunday in 95. It will be interesting, I don't think I've been to a sporting event live in the morning before.
This is big for the Galaxy. Alvarez is supposed to be a stud and probably every single Liga MX club was lining up to sign him. He's an '02 who was young enough for the U14 DA league in the 2016-17 season, but he was playing all the way up with LA's U18s and scoring golazos left and right.
Alvarez has been in US camps before, but he's been playing for Mexican YNTs over the last year. He is still too young for any of these games to matter; only official U17, U20, and U23 games have any impact on cap-tying. Fellow LA academy star Uly Llanez just showed up to a USYNT camp after an El Tri dalliance, so maybe Alvarez will come back to the fold, too.
Regardless, the chatter among people who really pay attention to this stuff is that the 2002s look like a bumper crop. Gio Reyna (Claudio's kid) is supposed to be really good, too.
EDIT: Someone pointed out that Alvarez was born two days after the US knocked out Mexico in the 2002 WC. Man...
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Cincinnati defeated Miami FC 1-0 in front of 10,000+ people in Miami to advance to the USOC semifinals. They will host NYRB while KC hosts SJ.
VAR makes its debut in MLS tonight. No doubt there will be involved in some sort of shambolic situation. I'm curious to see how annoying the stoppages for review will be.
The Sounders are starting to round into form. Defense is still a bit shaky, but they have a mighty offense.
They picked up a 28-year-old midfielder from Spain named Victor Rodriguez and reportedly are close to picking up a 23-year-old midfielder from Paraguay. Not sure what either brings currently, but could be protection against Joevin Jones' departure after this season.
Anyway, Dempsey has been much better off late and Bruin has been killing it as well. They are suddenly in second in the West.
They picked up a 28-year-old midfielder from Spain named Victor Rodriguez and reportedly are close to picking up a 23-year-old midfielder from Paraguay. Not sure what either brings currently, but could be protection against Joevin Jones' departure after this season.
Anyway, Dempsey has been much better off late and Bruin has been killing it as well. They are suddenly in second in the West.
The essence of following the Revs mainly comes down to the perpetual question of how to divide the blame between Heaps, Burns, and Kraft.
You almost can't even blame Heaps...he's not going to quit and frankly doesn't get the support from Burns.
You almost can't even blame Burns...he's not going to quit and frankly doesn't get the support from Kraft.
You almost can't even blame Kraft...he's making money with zero effort and still gets to be a power monger with human chattel to the blind adoration of millions.
You almost can't even blame Burns...he's not going to quit and frankly doesn't get the support from Kraft.
You almost can't even blame Kraft...he's making money with zero effort and still gets to be a power monger with human chattel to the blind adoration of millions.
A few other transfers & rumors:
Orlando signed midfielder Yoshimar Yotun from Malmö. He's 27 year, has 64 caps for Peru, and is apparently quite versatile. Orlando has accumulated a mix of pre- and post-Kreis players, so it definitely feels like a winter purge is coming. They will be no doubt moving on from Kaká, who has not been especially effective given his advanced age and periodic injuries.
Montreal signed DM Samuel Piette, who has become a regular in Canada's XI in recent times. He passed through the youth or reserve teams of Metz, Fortuna Düsseldorf, and Deportivo La Coruña before playing for a couple of lower-division Spanish clubs in recent times. Playing for Canada doesn't mean much, as they aren't even able to muster 11 guys who are average-quality starters in MLS. Piette, however, is a local boy from Quebec.
Meanwhile, the Impact may be losing their young Canadian/Ivorian winger Ballou Tabla, who wants out after the club rejected a few transfer offers. Canadians are always convinced that they will lose every decent dual national they have....but that's because they usually do. He hasn't actually played for Canada, so it won't be surprising when he accepts the eventual call from Ivory Coast.
There will be announcement later today that Birmingham will have a USL team in 2019.
http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2017/08/celebratory_announcement_set_f.html
Fresno and Nashville have been announced for 2018. Las Vegas is expected to have an announcement for 2018 on Friday; the USL has already spoken of them in a press release as a done deal. The USL has acknowledged that it is possible that another MLS2 team may join the league next year as well; it is believed to be DC, pending the identification of a place to play in Northern Virginia.
Memphis has been rumored to be joining in 2019 and I expect a few more will roll in at some point.
https://www.soctakes.com/2017/08/07/usl-expansion-rumors-2019/
The USL was able to regionalize travel a few years ago. Eastern and Western Conference teams don't play each other except for a few of the border clubs. The league is now well on its way to carving out a Central division which would further reduce travel costs. They have a nice virtuous cycle going on right now.
http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2017/08/celebratory_announcement_set_f.html
Fresno and Nashville have been announced for 2018. Las Vegas is expected to have an announcement for 2018 on Friday; the USL has already spoken of them in a press release as a done deal. The USL has acknowledged that it is possible that another MLS2 team may join the league next year as well; it is believed to be DC, pending the identification of a place to play in Northern Virginia.
Memphis has been rumored to be joining in 2019 and I expect a few more will roll in at some point.
https://www.soctakes.com/2017/08/07/usl-expansion-rumors-2019/
The USL was able to regionalize travel a few years ago. Eastern and Western Conference teams don't play each other except for a few of the border clubs. The league is now well on its way to carving out a Central division which would further reduce travel costs. They have a nice virtuous cycle going on right now.
Real Sociedad confirms this morning's rumors: Carlos Vela is coming to MLS in January.
https://beta.realsociedad.com/es/noticias/detalle/principio-de-acuerdo-para-el-traspaso-de-carlos-vela-a-la-mls
The club doesn't mention Vela's destination, but it's reported to be LAFC. Very, very big signing for them. He should be a real star on the field. Off the field, there aren't all that many players in the world who would make a bigger splash, given the Mexican population in LA.
https://beta.realsociedad.com/es/noticias/detalle/principio-de-acuerdo-para-el-traspaso-de-carlos-vela-a-la-mls
The club doesn't mention Vela's destination, but it's reported to be LAFC. Very, very big signing for them. He should be a real star on the field. Off the field, there aren't all that many players in the world who would make a bigger splash, given the Mexican population in LA.