MLS Turns 21 - the 2016 season

Yeah, that was a mess.

Five draws in seven games for the Revs. A trip to DC next should be winnable, but it feels like the sort of game the Revs never win. Good thing the Revs are in the weak East; even a lackluster start has them in 5th place, albeit with an extra game played compared to most teams around them in the standings.


The Red Bulls have certainly taken a turn. Supporters Shield winners to three points and a -10 goal differential after seven games? Three of the four semifinalists last year have totally sucked so far. Dallas has been the exception and have been doing well even without their magician Mauro Diaz for half their games.

Meanwhile, Colorado has the third highest point total in the league even though Jermaine Jones has only played one game so far? I don't understand this league.

Atlanta is making progress on their $60m training facility.




Drone footage of BMO Field's renovations

Looking good. The upper deck + roof really makes it look like a big-time stadium, moreso than even Red Bull Arena.

Random news and notes:

- RSL is spending $50m on their own training facility in the SLC area, which will be used by the MLS team, their USL team, and by future academy teams. Their primary academy teams are currently based out of Casa Grande, AZ in a residential academy setup. I'm not sure if they plan to launch a second set of academy teams or shift their primary academy setup to Utah. Certainly, it would be nice to have U18 players closer at hand for use in USL games, since being able to test amateur academy players in a pro environment is a perk of having a USL team. Or simply having them train with with pros with regularity.

- FC Cincinnati improved on their 14.5k attendance on opening day with a >20k effort against Louisville City, their nearest rivals. It's amazing to me to see the level of support for minor league soccer in cities like Cincy and Sacramento.


In 2010, the third division of US soccer consisted of six teams in the mid-Atlantic and averaged less than 1,700 fans a game. There are now 29 teams in the third division and at least eight of them are averaging over 5,000 early in the season.

- De Anza Force, which is a prominent youth club near San Jose, has hired Albert Puig Ortoneda, who was Barcelona's academy director from 2010-2014. Definitely an interesting hire. Most youth clubs in MLS markets have lost many of their best players to MLS academies, but De Anza Force seems to have done a better job than most in holding off the Earthquakes.

Garber did a press conference today. Some nuggets:

- Claims no more expansion decisions after the next round (i.e. more than 28) for the next 10 years.

Doesn't mean much to me. So much can change by 2026. Still teams #25-28 wouldn't start to come on line until 2020 at the earliest so it wouldn't even be a huge gap.

- Sacramento and St. Louis are the top contenders right now.

AFAIK, Sacramento is pretty ready and just needs to be given the green light. Much more work to do in St. Louis, but the league seems particularly interested in the city.

- Detroit, San Diego, San Antonio or Austin, and Cincinnati are in the next tier.
- No update on NYCFC stadium.
- LAFC stadium could open by 2018
- 35% of national TV audience is Hispanic
- would consider expanding limit on international players [ed's note: please don't]
- says teams collectively spend $30m/yr on player development. [$1.5m per team doesn't seem like all that much]
- USL may experiment with instant replay

https://twitter.com/AnAbnos


Also this:


Wake me up when it's done.


Lastly, more international TV deals. This time it's Japan and an expansion of the deal in China.

Titans Bastard said:

Five draws in seven games for the Revs. A trip to DC next should be winnable, but it feels like the sort of game the Revs never win. Good thing the Revs are in the weak East; even a lackluster start has them in 5th place, albeit with an extra game played compared to most teams around them in the standings.

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Yep. A dismal loss.

The Revs have 8 goals and 1 win in 8 games. This team isn't great, but I can't help but feel that they are less than the sum of their parts right now.

Domer said:

Less than the sum of their parts is a great way of putting it. Heaps had played pretty much the same lineup over the last three games, with changes only due to Goncalves' injury, and they've accomplished squat offensively. There is plenty of attacking talent on the field with Nguyen, Diego, and Teal, but I think most of it is wasted with Teal as their lone striker. I understand injuries to Agudelo and Davies have somewhat forced his hand, but he needs a more creative solution than fitting square pegs in his empty round holes. I've seen very little tactical variation from Heaps so I don't know how they can solve this. At the very least, I'd Like to see Femi start if they're going to insist on playing the same way.

Also, the fact that the team played worse without Tierney doesn't reflect well on Heaps. No team should be that dependent on a left back.

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I don't think Heaps is a particularly skilled tactician, particularly when it comes to making in-game adjustments. Need a goal? Subbing in Daigo Kobayashi, the World's Most Boring Midfielder, is not the stuff of inspiration.

When it comes to the bigger picture, I think the roster is a bit frustrating in that it's hard to find a way to truly make all the pieces work together well.

The current 4-2-3-1 hasn't been very effective this season. Eight goals in eight games says it all, especially considering the Revs have not had a particularly tough schedule so far.

I'd be interested in trying a two-forward formation. I think Davies, Agudelo, and Bunbury make a pretty decent group. Davies has historically played some of his best soccer in two-forward formations. Bunbury, I think, is basically a two-forward-formation specialist, since he's not that good at being a lone forward or a winger.

The problem, then, is where does that leave Lee Nguyen? He's wasted out wide. So maybe you play a 4-4-2 diamond with Koffie anchoring the midfield? That benches Scott Caldwell, which is too bad. It also doesn't leave us much depth at wide midfield -- Rowe, Fagundez and ???. With even Caldwell on the bench, we'd have way too many CMs in Kobayashi, Herivaux, and Neumann. And eventually Kouassi will show up and get healthy.

What about a 3-5-2? Two forwards and more breathing room in the midfield. The Koffie/Caldwell/Nguyen triumvirate stays intact, and you get two forwards. What about the wingbacks, though? Does Tierney have the legs to cover that much ground? Can Fagundez hack it as a right wingback? Or is he wasted in this formation? We also don't have much in the way of CB depth; we'd need to start Gonçalves/Farrell/Woodberry with the completely untested Sambinha as the only real reserve. One injury and it could get ugly.


These are the problems with being a team that lives off of scrap heap reclamation projects. It's hard to build a truly coherent team this way.

Some interesting news items from Grant Wahl today:

Talks between the Beckham ownership group and the Qataris have broken down:

PSG’s Qatari owners are now out of the picture with David Beckham’s Miami MLS team after talks broke down that would have made the Qataris the majority owners of the team.

Qatar Sports Investments made a detailed presentation to Beckham’s people in February, but Beckham’s manager Simon Fuller made such sweeping demands that the Qataris walked away from the table.

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I'm not particularly sad to see the Qataris go, but it does seem very much that Beckham needs more investors to make his project happen.


The owner of the Pistons and the owner of the Cavaliers are teaming up for a Detroit expansion bid.

A serious bid for an MLS team in Detroit emerged on Tuesday when Detroit Pistons owner Tom Gores and Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert exchanged coy tweets about teaming up to "kick around" some ideas for a team. I'm told that the two owners want to build a soccer stadium in downtown Detroit and add more investors to the group. Garber is visiting Detroit this week with Gores and Gilbert.

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They are talking about building a downtown arena. They still have a long way to go, but two established Big Four owners seem like the kind of group that MLS really likes. Now we know why Garber has been talking about Detroit lately.

Sacramento, Detroit, St. Louis, and San Antonio look like the clear group of frontrunners for #25-28 right now...but it's early.

Awesome Fossum said:

Out of curiosity, why don't you consider Cincinnati to be a favorite? 20K for a USL game is bananas. Is ownership not up to snuff? Too close to Columbus?

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I think it's the geography and market size. They have major league ownership in the Lindner family, who used to own the Reds.

I think there's a chance that Cincinnati could be the Sacramento of this expansion cycle. Last time, Sacramento had all the fundamentals -- deep pocketed ownership, a city that was very willing to work out a stadium deal, strong USL support. Sacramento even has a local TV deal. The only problem was that the league just wanted to be in other markets more. They wanted second teams in NY and LA. They also really wanted teams in Atlanta and Miami: they're the last two top 10 metro areas not in the league, Orlando isn't enough to give MLS a real presence in the South, and I think the league has visions of recognizable names lining up to play for Miami, which is the only American city on par with NYC and LA as a sexy destination for Europeans.

Like Sacramento last time, there's nothing wrong with Cincinnati (as long as they worked out a stadium situation). It's just that other bids might bring more to the table.

Sacramento (Sac Kings, SF 49ers), San Antonio (Spurs), and Detroit (Pistons, Cavs) also have big-time investors who are connected to Big Four franchises. Detroit's metro area is over twice the size of Cincinnati's. San Antonio's is about 250k larger than Cincinnati's and the gap is growing quickly. Sacramento is the only city with a fully developed bid so far.

You could definitely make an argument for Cincinnati over St. Louis, but it just seems like MLS wants to be in St. Louis. You can tell by the way they are trying to jump on the site that had been proposed for a Rams stadium. There isn't a stadium plan, there aren't even prospective owners (not publicly anyway), but the league is actively trying to make it happen. They aren't going to actively try to make Cincinnati happen, but Cincinnati could step in if another bid falters (esp. St Louis, which doesn't have any real substance yet) or if they simply blow away the competition with their support.

robssecondjob said:

Donnie Smith had himself a nice, reliable safe game. Way better than I expected.

Heaps should start Femi Saturday and see what he has in him. In his sub appearances he is quite active and actually provides some spark to the attack.

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I only saw the second half, but I thought the same about Smith. He looked more solid than I expected for a guy making his third MLS appearance in his fourth season with the Revs. From what I saw, the Revs looked better than they have this season in terms of controlling the game, but they are still missing a killer instinct in the final third.

Agudelo showed some strong hold-up play, but he has an annoying habit of dithering on the ball. He needs to make quicker decisions.

NYRB picked up Aurélien Collin from Orlando today, in exchange for a fourth round draft pick (i.e. nothing). It's a salary dump for Orlando, even though they are reportedly still picking up about half of his salary. Collin has a sizable contract, but had fallen down the pecking order, especially with Tommy Redding's emergence. Meanwhile, NYRB is desperate for CBs since they didn't properly compensate for Miazga's sale and Perrinelle's injury. Their new signing Gideon Baah has alternated between okay and injured and holdovers Ronald Zubar and Karl Ouimette are both clearly subpar. I would imagine Collin goes straight into the lineup.

This was a hell of a set piece goal:

SocrManiac said:

And a horrific call. Leave that crap to GolTV.

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That was the English SAP feed on Univision. It seems that Univision wants their English language broadcast to reflect the character of their Spanish language broadcast, but Ramses Sandoval can't really pull it off even though I like the energy of Mexican-style announcers. They started 2015 with Paul Caligiuri as the color guy and believe it or not he was significantly worse than Sandoval.

SocrManiac said:

I commend the league for what it's done to establish its own identity over the years. There was a lot of gimmicky stuff at first (the volleyball and PK shootout), but more recently the brand has started to come into its own. Sandoval sounds like a throwback to a league that was desperate to establish itself as legitimate by borrowing from others.

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I'm not sure how much influence MLS has over the English SAP announcers on Univision. I think it's more likely Univision's decision and I don't see it as desperate, I see it as Univision experimenting with adapting their successful Spanish-language model to English. We've had decades of TV companies approaching soccer commentary like they are doing baseball or golf before finally ditching all the Dave O'Brien types, so I don't mind giving Univision more time to see if they can iron it out. I'd like to see someone else try PBP other than Ramses Sandoval. Part of the problem is that the viewership who watches the English feed on Univision is quite small, so it would be part to attract talent to the position.

I've watched a lot of soccer games in Spanish between Liga MX, MLS games broadcasted as part of deals with Spanish-language channels, and lots of pirated rojadirecta feeds. YMMV, but I like how Spanish feeds channel and reinforce the energy of the game. That classic Simpsons episode making fun of soccer captures it well:

teddykgb said:

It would be nice if I could watch MLS matches in any language whenever they are playing. I know I have bitched about this before but Direct Kick annoys the hell out of me. There were multiple games I wanted to check in on today and none of them were on my TV. This is not how you build a following

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Local blackouts? That's a bummer. Thankfully the Revs don't black out their games on MLS Live, so I don't have to deal with any of that. The worst was how the Crew screwed the pooch a year or two ago and signed a local broadcast deal with a channel that didn't have 100% distribution...and who then blacked out games locally on MLS Live. Fans who didn't get the channel were screwed.



Speaking of the Revs, they're now up to seven draws in ten games. Very frustrating game, conceding a late equalizer and then just barely missing out on the winner deep in stoppage time. I'm glad that Agudelo looked sharp, we need him to be good.

A trip to LA next weekend doesn't bode well, I'm afraid.

Domer said:

Ashley Cole will be suspended for that match because he received two yellows in 20 seconds of running time according to my DVR.

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That's impressive.

Earlier today Portland's Dairon Asprilla received a yellow one minute after coming into the game and proceeded to commit two more borderline yellow fouls within the next 60 seconds. Fortunately for him, Baldomero Toledo had swallowed his whistle early on in the game.

Stadium news:


LAFC announces they have received final planning and environmental approvals to build their stadium. It'll be on the site of the LA Sports Arena, right next to USC's football stadium.


Nice looking rendering, but the final product of a stadium often looks a bit different so we'll see.

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In Miami, Beckham's stadium negotiations have hit a new roadblock. Nothing is easy in South Florida, it seems.

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Toronto's home opener is tonight in their renovated stadium. It looks good:



They added the upper deck above the white maple leaf last year and they added the roof and more seats this year. What it used to look like:

The Revs are about to kick off at LA on ESPN. Keane's back for LA, no Ashley Cole (suspended), no Nigel de Jong (injured), Gerrard on the bench. But still, trips to LA rarely end well for the Revs.

Tierney and Smith are both injured, so Woodberry comes in at LB, which could be an awkward fit.

Crazy scenes in the USL match between NYRB II and the Pittsburgh Riverhounds last night. Pittsburgh's Romeo Parkes did this to NYRB center back Karl Ouimette:



Pittsburgh has already terminated Parkes' contract.

3-0 LA at halftime, and well deserved. The Revs' defense has totally sucked. This team just isn't clicking.

I'm taking a wait-and-see approach.

Kamara is a quality player and much of the stuff the Revs gave up to get him is stuff that they probably weren't going to use anyway. So, that's all good.

My concern is how the team is allocating its resources in terms of players. The Revs have added another center forward. I'm not 100% convinced that the team's goal-scoring troubles are actually mostly on the attackers or whether they are a symptom of problems in the midfield and defense. This group of attackers has produced a lot of goals in the past.

Meanwhile, the Gonçalves/Farrell partnership isn't working well, Je-Vaughn Watson is very shaky defensively, and Bobby Shuttleworth is a bottom-half starting GK in this league. This trade doesn't solve any of these problems and -- given Kamara's max-salary cap hit and all the GarberBux going to Columbus -- will likely hamper the team's ability to make additional signings.

It feels like another shoe needs to drop over the summer window, in the form of trading Rowe, Bunbury, Davies, or Agudelo for a defender.

For now, we have Kamara, Agudelo, Davies, Nguyen, Rowe, Fagundez, Bunbury, and Femi competing for four spots (mostly, in whatever formation Heaps uses). Depth is a good thing, of course, but too much depth in one area in MLS is wasteful when there are holes elsewhere on the roster.