Don Garber's MLS Crew: 2017-18 MLS Offseason Thread

[Vinho Tinto]

I'm not a Kraft apologist, but I hardly consider it hardball to ask a player to honor a contract he signed less than two years ago. It's not the team's fault that the league has instituted rules that would have allowed him to earn more on the current market; that contract is the product of bad timing on his behalf. Nguyen held out of practice to get that original extension, I don't think the club should give into him twice.

Unlike the NFL, the MLS does not have a defacto monopoly on labor. That’s why you see top players around the world have their contracts ripped up with regularity.

If they don’t want to make him happy, then trade him. There is no great moral point to be made. It’s not like they have a long history of success that they can point to. They have never won the Supporters Shield or the MLS Cup. The only domestic trophy they have won was a single US Open Cup.

 

[Titans Bastard]

Carlos Carmona has been sold to Colo Colo. Atlanta didn't want to get rid of him, but he wanted to go home to be with his wife, who is pregnant.


Cubo Torres has been sold to Pumas. He was never quite what Houston wanted him to be.

http://www.espn.com/soccer/pumas-unam/story/3359618/erick-cubo-torres-to-join-liga-mx-pumas-from-houston-dynamo-reports?src=com

Columbus signed Milton Valenzuela, a 19 year old Argentina left back, on loan from Newell's.

LAFC signed 24 year old Honduran GK Luis Lopez from Real España. He'll compete with Tyler Miller for the starting job.

 

[Titans Bastard]

With John Doyle out as GM and Dom Kinnear out as manager, San Jose is a changed club.

 

[Awesome Fossum]

On the Austin front, Precourt Sports Ventures removed what was reported to be their top choice for stadium site from consideration. A city council member was going to offer a resolution to remove city park lands as options, which would have nixed two of the three remaining sites. With PSV dropping their top choice, the resolution was abandoned, implying that a deal was struck and PSV sacrificed one parkland site to keep the other in play. According to the Save the Crew crowd, this is evidence of the entire plan coming apart at the seams, and according to the MLS in Austin crowd, this is evidence of the plan coming together.

http://www.statesman.com/sports/soccer/crew-ownership-backs-away-from-butler-shores-austin-stadium-site/vFgTRImfLQvaUqa6ZRnbqJ/

 

[Titans Bastard]

Hmm.


Not too many players right now would have a bigger off-the-field impact than Ibra. He's not in the top three, but he's up there.

 

[moly99]

Ibrahimovic would be a mistake, IMO. Not because he would be bad. But because LA Galaxy needs to change its roster-building strategy of signing whatever high profile player is currently available. They need to focus on building an actual team ATM.

Of course, as someone who hates the Galaxy I would love him to sign there and then spend the next year trashing his teammates in the media.

 

[Titans Bastard]

Ibrahimovic would be a mistake, IMO. Not because he would be bad. But because LA Galaxy needs to change its roster-building strategy of signing whatever high profile player is currently available. They need to focus on building an actual team ATM.

Of course, as someone who hates the Galaxy I would love him to sign there and then spend the next year trashing his teammates in the media.

Agree that he's not a great fit for the Galaxy. They have had a nice offseason and have a squad that looks well balanced. Signing Ibra after acquiring Kamara would likely induce them to moving GdS back to the midfield, which will create a variety of problems.

 

[steeplechase3k]

Justin Meram to Orlando City...


Reportedly for 750K in TAM and 300K in GAM and an international spot.

 

[Titans Bastard]

Miami starts in 2020.

 

[Infield Infidel]

Curious to see what facility they use for a temp stadium.

FIU stadium would be optimal size-wise at 20,000 seats, okay location in West Miami, but not only does Miami FC play there, it's currently called Riccardo Silva Stadium, named after Miami FC's owner. If NASL exists in 2020 this won't be an option unless FIU really wants it and can break the contract.

Marlins Park is probably a no-go since the seasons overlap. It's a bit too large at 37,000, but the location is good and they can close the roof during early evening rain storms.

Hard Rock Stadium makes a lot of sense, empty the first 5 months of the season, but it's huge and a bit far from Miami. With the new canopy, it does look the most like the traditional soccer stadium.

Lockhart Stadium has decent size (17,000), but it's kinda old and is furthest away in Fort Lauderdale. Going way back it was home to Miami Fusion FC

 

[Zososoxfan]

Curious to see what facility they use for a temp stadium.

FIU stadium would be optimal size-wise at 20,000 seats, okay location in West Miami, but not only does Miami FC play there, it's currently called Riccardo Silva Stadium, named after Miami FC's owner. If NASL exists in 2020 this won't be an option unless FIU really wants it and can break the contract.

Marlins Park is probably a no-go since the seasons overlap. It's a bit too large at 37,000, but the location is good and they can close the roof during early evening rain storms.

Hard Rock Stadium makes a lot of sense, empty the first 5 months of the season, but it's huge and a bit far from Miami. With the new canopy, it does look the most like the traditional soccer stadium.

Lockhart Stadium has decent size (17,000), but it's kinda old and is furthest away in Fort Lauderdale. Going way back it was home to Miami Fusion FC

For the reasons you stated, I think it's the Hard Rock. I don't think the location is much more of an issue than FIU. Plenty of population around that way too.

 

[Titans Bastard]

Harrison is sold to Man City and immediately loaned to Middlesbrough. So since he was sold within CFG, do you think the transfer price was artificially low or artificially high? Hopefully some solid reporting on the numbers comes out soon.



There's a latent desire for more MLS vs. Liga MX games. The leagues created SuperLiga, which was eventually killed by CONCACAF's move to reform the Champions Cup into the CCL. Now that the CCL format kind of sucks again and isn't providing as many MLS vs. Liga MX games, I'm not surprised to see this stuff crop up again.

 

[Titans Bastard]

And Cyle Larin is sold to Besiktas. Orlando City is salty about the process:

ORLANDO, Fla. (January 30, 2018) - After recognizing the existence of a valid contract, Beşiktaş J.K. has agreed with Orlando City SC on terms for the transfer of forward Cyle Larin to the Turkish side for an undisclosed fee.

Although the Club was disappointed with the unacceptable behavior of the athlete and his representatives, a decision was taken to guarantee compensation with the Club’s future in mind.

The Club looks forward to focusing on the upcoming season with staff and players who honor and respect the strong values of the Club and commitment to our community to lead us through 2018 and beyond.

 

[Cellar-Door]

All these MLS owners keep forgetting that they don't have a monopoly. Have to treat the good players better or they'll go elsewhere.

 

[Titans Bastard]

All these MLS owners keep forgetting that they don't have a monopoly. Have to treat the good players better or they'll go elsewhere.

The idea of players having leverage in these situations is one that is taking MLS owners time to digest. If you want to develop better players and/or import more good young players, this stuff is going to happen more and more if teams don't acknowledge the reality that top MLS players are going to want to progress to better leagues.

It's not just ideological, though. MLS has a hard cap ($650k in 2017) on the portion of the transfer proceeds that can be reinvested in salaries. That makes it less desirable to sell top players because even if you get a huge fee, there's only so much that can be spent on the salary of a replacement.

 

[Titans Bastard]

The Rapids signed 26 year old Scottish CB Danny Wilson from Rangers. Colorado now has quite a few CBs, so either the rumors that they are shopping Axel Sjöberg are true or they are going to a 3-5-2 next season. That wouldn't be a bad idea - they picked up a wingback in Edgar Castillo, while young-ish players like Dillon Serna and Marlon Hairston seem ripe for a winger-to-wingback conversion.

Orlando has continued to wheel and deal, picking up DM Uri Rosell from Sporting CP. Rosell was quality for SKC a few years ago, but has mostly been farmed out on loan since being sold to Portugal in 2014.

Orlando still needs to sign a couple of CBs, but they've done a nice job of sorting out their roster, which always felt like a discombobulated mess created by too many cooks in the kitchen. Their entire attacking midfield has been rebuilt with Meram, Kljestan, and Colman. They have so much depth at CM now (Rosell, Yotun, Higuita, Powers, Lindley, Johnson) that I expect someone (Higuita?) to be flipped for a CB.


LAFC signed 32 year old Canadian CB Dejan Jakovic. He's kind of a blast from the past. He had a run with DCU as an alright defender before playing in Japan starting in 2013. He was with the Cosmos last year. Depth move - Ciman and Zimmerman are the obvious starting pairing. After starting off with the bang of the Carlos Vela signing, LAFC haven't built a roster with the glitz and glam that I expected.

Seattle signed 27 year old Norwegian midfielder Magnus Eikrem, who was last with Malmö. The Sounders have had a pretty quiet offseason. I don't know exactly where Eikrem fits into their scheme.

 

[moly99]

All these MLS owners keep forgetting that they don't have a monopoly. Have to treat the good players better or they'll go elsewhere.

The issue was not Larin wanting to go to Europe, but rather claiming that he didn't have a contract and was available as a free transfer. Orlando said last summer they would transfer him if he wanted to leave.

 

[soxhop411]

It seems like LAFC wants to copy the dodgers.

YouTubeTv is going to be the official broadcaster for LAFC games (and they will
Be GeoLocked to LA.

So if you are in LA you need to buy a $35/month subscription to YouTube tv or you are SOL

https://www.google.com/amp/www.latimes.com/sports/soccer/la-sp-lafc-youtube-20180131-story.html?outputType=amp

 

[Senator Donut]

It seems like LAFC wants to copy the dodgers.

YouTubeTv is going to be the official broadcaster for LAFC games (and they will
Be GeoLocked to LA.

So if you are in LA you need to buy a $35/month subscription to YouTube tv or you are SOL

https://www.google.com/amp/www.latimes.com/sports/soccer/la-sp-lafc-youtube-20180131-story.html?outputType=amp

So after years of insisting they weren't going to be Chivas 2.0, LAFC decides they are only going to broadcast its games in Spanish? That's a bold move.

 

[soxhop411]

So after years of insisting they weren't going to be Chivas 2.0, LAFC decides they are only going to broadcast its games in Spanish? That's a bold move.

This is the same crap that the dodgers UCLA(pac12 net) and Lakers did.

They really didn’t think this thru

 

[Titans Bastard]

LAFC will likely make more money this way, but if I were them I'd want to focus on accessibility from the outset. That said, about half of their games will be on national TV anyway.

Given how shambolic the Galaxy were in 2017 and LAFC's superior location, LAFC was poised to throttle LAG from day one. I'm much less sure that's going to happen - this TV deal, LAFC's roster construction isn't as glamorous as the Carlos Vela signaled it might be, and LAG is having a strong offseason rebuilding their roster.

--

After Beitashour's departure, Toronto has found their replacement at RB: Gregory van der Wiel. He's not without risk because he's been injured frequently in recent years, but that's a good quality player and not too old either (he's 29).

Replacing Beitashour with van der Wiel also highlights an interesting roster-building dynamic that has come with the introduction of TAM. TAM allows clubs to buy down the salary cap hit of players who are making more than the non-DP maximum. And you can buy down players to about a $150k cap hit. It's actually less of a salary cap hit to sign a $1m/yr player and buy him down to $150k than to sign an existing vet like Beitashour for $350k because TAM can't be used to reduce the impact that contract will have on the salary cap.

I'm not sure if this was an unforeseen consequence or by design, but domestic MLS veterans are getting squeezed.

 

[moly99]

I'm not sure if this was an unforeseen consequence or by design, but domestic MLS veterans are getting squeezed.

Squeezing the overpaid veteran Americans is of course the reason the league has increased TAM rather than increasing the salary cap.

I think people need to remember that while the percentage of American players has dropped from roughly 60% to 50% from 2010 to 2017, the number of teams has also increased from 16 to 22. There are roughly 30 more jobs for American players than there were a few years ago even with the decrease in percentage of American players. MLS does in fact need a mechanism to prevent money being invested in rosters from simply inflating the wages of American players who are already benefiting from artificially high demand.

 

[Titans Bastard]

Squeezing the overpaid veteran Americans is of course the reason the league has increased TAM rather than increasing the salary cap.

I think people need to remember that while the percentage of American players has dropped from roughly 60% to 50% from 2010 to 2017, the number of teams has also increased from 16 to 22. There are roughly 30 more jobs for American players than there were a few years ago even with the decrease in percentage of American players. MLS does in fact need a mechanism to prevent money being invested in rosters from simply inflating the wages of American players who are already benefiting from artificially high demand.

I'm not entirely sure about that. TAM was introduced to increase spending on higher-quality players for the upper-middle range of MLS rosters in such a way that increased salary spending wouldn't trickle down to rank-and-file players. That much is 100% clear.

But the new squeeze is a result of this winter's dramatic increase in TAM. Now it's possible to sign quite a few "TAM players", who are being paid salaries in the $500k-$1.5m range, but who actually have a lower cap hit than a $350k American. A few guys got squeezed before, but now the systemic pressure is higher. I'm just not sure if this was the plan all along, or just a second step the league took after the initial success of their TAM budgeting experiment.

The league knows that there isn't much downside to being aggressive with domestic players. Median salaries have risen to the point that decent American starters in the league no longer have incentives to explore options in Scandinavia, but decent American starters generally aren't good enough to attract interest from higher-paying clubs in the Big Five leagues. And of those leagues, only the Bundesliga doesn't have significant red tape for American players.


BTW, the percentage of playing time in MLS earned by US-eligible players in 2017 was a little under 45%. It was around 48% for domestically developed players (including non-citizens who grew up here or dual nats who play for another country, excluding Jermaine Jones types).

 

[Titans Bastard]

This is a good article on the recent deals between Man City and NYCFC regarding Mix Diskerud and Jack Harrison. The fee for Harrison was reportedly $6m plus add-ons. I don't think that either of these transactions are egregious from a MLS rules/fairness standpoint (Diskerud was already off NYCFC's salary books; the fee for Harrison isn't unreasonable), but dealings within CFG like this are a bit uncomfortable and have the potential to get worse.

Yet another Venezuelan! NYRB signed an 18 year old midfielder, Cristian Casseres. I'd imagine that he's viewed as someone who may be able to step into Tyler Adams' shoes when he is inevitably sold abroad. Casseres was a regular for Venezuela's U17 team at the CONMEBOL championship last year.

NYRB also appears to be on the verge of signing Kaku from Huracán for a substantial transfer fee after a transfer soap opera that rivaled that of Ezequiel Barco.

Portland picked up Cristhian Paredes, a 19 year old Paraguayan CM who comes on loan from Club América.

RSL signed 19 year old midfielder Pablo Ruiz from Chile's San Luis. He appears to be a central midfielder who once played at the U17 WC for Argentina, but according to RSL's press release, may have switched to Chile. In any case, RSL really needs to be thinking about replacing Beckerman at DM, as Dreads is on his last legs - though I'm not sure that is Ruiz's role.

I saw a stat on Twitter that MLS clubs had signed ~19 (IIRC) South Americans this winter with an average age of around 21. And that's before these last three teenagers! I'm really pleased with the approach that so many MLS clubs are now taking towards the transfer market.

Old hand Rico Clark, a free agent, signed with Columbus. He'll be veteran depth behind Wil Trapp and Artur, I'd expect.

Orlando picked up 25 year old Egyptian-American center back Amro Tarek Abdel-Aziz on loan from Egyptian club Wadi Degla. He played for the reserve teams of some German clubs before playing in Egypt and also had a brief loan stint at Columbus while under contract at Real Betis. It's kind of mysterious whether or not he's any good, but Orlando had zero CB depth behind Spector and Aja. They'll need to sign another CB, too.

 

[Titans Bastard]

Jermaine Jones is claiming the silly blind draw to determine whether he would go to Chicago or New England was rigged. A variety of sources are denying. My current position is that while it's totally conceivable that it was rigged, I take what Jones says with a grain of salt. Good times.

 

[steeplechase3k]

Interesting breakdown of MLS players by age. FCD is youngest, Houston is oldest.

https://public.tableau.com/profile/fennsk#!/vizhome/MLSRosters/AgeDistribution

 

[Titans Bastard]

• SKC signed a DP -- 27 year old Chilean CM Felipe Gutierrez. He's a veteran of the 2014 WC and most recently was on loan from Real Betis at Internacional in Brazil. Their midfield is getting crowded with Gutierrez and Croizet coming in to join Espinoza and Ilie Sanchez.

• Chicago signed Serbian winger Aleksandar Katai on loan from Deportivo Alavés. He hasn't done much in La Liga, but put up big numbers for Red Star Belgrade a few seasons ago. Of course, there's the Serbian connection with Fire manager Veljko Paunovic. He has big shoes to fill, after David Accam was sold to Philly for allocation money.

• RSL signed Croatian midfielder Damir Kreilach from Union Berlin. Every time they sign a CM I assume it's a long-term replacement for the soon-to-be-36-year-old Kyle Beckerman, but he doesn't seem like a DM, having scored 23 goals in the last 2.5 seasons. Probably an upgrade on the mediocre Luke Mulholland.

• LAFC bought Canadian midfielder Mark-Anthony Kaye from Louisville City. Apparently they are actually paying a transfer fee to a USL team, which is a rarity among MLS clubs. Kaye is 23 and unusual in that he came through the Canadian university system.

• DC United traded $50k allocation money to Seattle for Jamaican fullback Oneil Fisher. I'd say depth move, but DCU have very few fullbacks on hand so at the moment he's a contender to start.

 

[steeplechase3k]

The Timbers appear to have signed Samuel Armenteros. He is a striker for Benevento in Serie A. Merritt Paulson had said a while ago that they were targeting a striker for a big league in Europe.


and a screen shot because MP "tweeted and deleted" as he likes to do.

 

[dirtynine]

Do you guys still consider MLS single entity? I know all teams have independent owners now, and they operate much more competitively than they did 10-15 years ago. But where is the technical line drawn? Player contracts are still with the league, correct? I'm only asking because I hadn't thought about it in a while - MLS is doing a pretty reasonable impression of a league of autonomous teams (byzantine financial rules notwithstanding).

 

[Titans Bastard]

Do you guys still consider MLS single entity? I know all teams have independent owners now, and they operate much more competitively than they did 10-15 years ago. But where is the technical line drawn? Player contracts are still with the league, correct? I'm only asking because I hadn't thought about it in a while - MLS is doing a pretty reasonable impression of a league of autonomous teams (byzantine financial rules notwithstanding).

Player contracts are held by the league, but the league plays no part in the negotiation of contracts and hasn't for quite some time.

MLS certainly considers itself to be single-entity, but that legal status hasn't been challenged since Fraser v. MLS was decided in 2002. Since then, teams have definitely operated more autonomously in a variety of ways. On the other hand, single-entity at its core refers to the fact that "team owners" are really investors in the legal entity known as Major League Soccer and with that investment also have a license to operate one of the clubs within MLS. Nothing has changed in that regard.

MLS has an interest in remaining single-entity because they can't be guilty of colluding to suppress domestic player salaries if they are a single entity or organization; if clubs are legally viewed as regional branches of the same company, there's no one to collude with.

Single-entity and centralized control of player contract negotiations + the assignment of players to clubs aren't the same thing. Of course, the more the system has become decentralized, in theory, the weaker the argument that MLS is truly a single entity becomes.

I'm sure MLS has an army of lawyers that evaluate their player movement rule changes with regard to a potential future single entity lawsuit.

 

[Titans Bastard]

Lee Nguyen is back in training for the Revs. His state of mind and how that will affect his level of play is TBD.

The Revs have signed four defenders in recent days, including all three of their draft picks. Nicolas Samayoa (drafted from FGCU) and Jalil Anibaba (longtime MLS journeyman) ensure that the Delamea-Dielna starting duo will be basically unchallenged.

They also signed their two first round picks, Brandon Bye (Western Michigan) and Mark Segbers (Wisconsin), both of whom seem to be fullback conversion projects who may also be used as wide midfielders at times.

The Revs are now at least two deep at every spot along the backline, though there are plenty of questions about the quality of their depth (and in some cases, the starters) going into the season.

--

Portland signed Swedish forward Samuel Armenteros on loan from Benevento, who evidently couldn't get minutes at the Serie A offensive juggernaut... He did score 19 goals for a middling Eredivisie club last year, though.

 

[Titans Bastard]

MLS Live is shutting down. Access to non-nationally-televised games will be rolled into ESPN's new ESPN+ streaming service.

It sounds like the entire ESPN+ package will be cheaper annually than MLS Live, so that's good as long as quality remains the same.

 

[Titans Bastard]

The Revs signed a DM in a deal that included "allocation money" (unclear if TAM or GAM).

https://www.revolutionsoccer.net/post/2018/01/11/revolution-add-midfielder-wilfried-zahibo

Wilfried Zahibo is a 24 year old French DM who comes from Gimnàstic de Tarragona in the Spanish second division. He didn't seem to be a starter there. Prior to that, he spent a few years with Valencia's reserve team and made a few first team starts. If he's really a TAM salary player (>$500k or so) that's very dubious. This sums up my thoughts:

Zahibo made his preseason debut today and managed to get sent off in the eighth minute for this absurd challenge:

 

[Titans Bastard]

Catching up on the week. The pace of signings has slowed as rosters have filled up and teams are getting into gear with the new season on the horizon.

The biggest news is that the saga of NYRB's two-month-long pursuit of Kaku has come to a successful conclusion, with the Argentine attacking midfielder finally being announced. He's supposed to provide a creative presence following the departure of Sacha Kljestan.

DC United signed their own 23 year old Argentine winger, Yamil Asad from Vélez Sarsfield. He had a very productive year with Atlanta in 2017 while on loan. He was overshadowed by the success of Almiron and Martinez, but a 7g/13a season is nothing to sneeze at. This gives DCU some real options in attacking midfield, along with Paul Arriola, Luciano Acosta, and Zoltan Stieber. Too bad they have crap for forwards.

Dallas signed 23 year old Colombian winger Santiago Mosquera from Millonarios. They've been unable to adequately replace Fabian Castillo - Roland Lamah was a mediocrity last year - so this guy in the latest attempt.

Minnesota signed another mystery Cameroonian, defender Bertrand Owundi Eko'o. He comes from Rainbow FC, which is a local Cameroonian club from which an number of other MLS players have emerged. Who knows whether he's any good.

San Jose bought out the contract of Simon Dawkins, who was one of those you-knew-from-day-one-he-was-going-to-be-a-bust type DP signings.



CCL starts in two days. The forecast for Rapids-TFC? High of 19 in Denver. [insert fall-spring calendar comment here]

 

[Senator Donut]

CCL starts in two days. The forecast for Rapids-TFC? High of 19 in Denver. [insert fall-spring calendar comment here]

The best aspect of the CCL format change will be removing dead weight like the Rapids from the competition. I shudder to think what could happen if they beat TFC (very possible because it's early in the season and cold) and draw a Liga MX side next round.

On the other hand, TFC could represent the best MLS side in CONCACAF in quite some time. We were deprived of seeing their record-breaking 2017 team in the tournament because Vancouver was representing Canada Soccer as the 2015 champions.

 

[Titans Bastard]

The best aspect of the CCL format change will be removing dead weight like the Rapids from the competition. I shudder to think what could happen if they beat TFC (very possible because it's early in the season and cold) and draw a Liga MX side next round.

On the other hand, TFC could represent the best MLS side in CONCACAF in quite some time. We were deprived of seeing their record-breaking 2017 team in the tournament because Vancouver was representing Canada Soccer as the 2015 champions.

It looks miserable there. I saw on Twitter that beer is unavailable at the game because the tap lines have frozen. It's around 10 F and dropping.

Colorado is rolling out a 3-5-2. It looks like Toronto is playing a 4-4-2 diamond.

Free (and legal!) English stream here:

https://www.go90.com/videos/7aAKbmsfrhW

 

[Titans Bastard]

Toronto goes up 1-0 through an Osorio header that made an off-balance Tim Howard look every bit his 38 years. The Rapids really should have scored in the first half, but Dominique Badji is a speed merchant who is a questionable finisher.

 

[Titans Bastard]

Giovinco is good. Very nice finish on a Auro cross, 2-0 Toronto.

Looks ever more doubtful that the Rapids will be able to play spoiler here.

 

[Pesky Pole]

Philadelphia finally rumored to be signing the #10 they've lacked for a few seasons since Barnetta left. Borek Dockal is his name and he's been in China.

http://www.phillysoccerpage.net/2018/02/21/the-rundown-on-the-unions-rumored-no-10-borek-dockal/

 

[Titans Bastard]

It's the first half of Tauro (Panama) vs. FC Dallas, no score so far. At CM, Kellyn Acosta is injured, but young right back Reggie Cannon is in the lineup and looks to have the inside track on on the RB position this season.

Meanwhile in another CCL game, América's goalkeeper had a cell phone confiscated.

 

[Titans Bastard]

Dallas ended up losing 1-0. Plenty of opportunity to turn it around at home in the second leg, but not a great result.


In offseason trax news:

• Orlando signed French/Senegalese center back Lamine Sané from Werder Bremen. On paper at least, this looks like a pretty solid signing. He started for Bordeaux for quite a few years and then in the Bundesliga for Werder. The concern is that he's 30 and from what I understand hasn't had a good year this season. Still, Orlando badly needed another CB and this guy looks like he'll at least be solid. Orlando has really had quite the offseason and look like real contenders this year.

• NYCFC signed defensive midfielder Ebenezer Ofori, a 22 year old from Ghana. He was a regular for AIK in Sweden for three years before moving to Stuttgart in January 2017. He played a bit at the end of last season, but hasn't been in the mix now that Stuttgart are back in the Bundesliga. At the moment he's probably depth behind Alexander Ring and Yangel Herrera.

• Brad Evans, a free agent this winter, has landed with SKC. Depth at a variety of positions at this point.

• The Rapids signed attacking midfielder Enzo Martinez, who was last with the Charlotte Independence. He had some hype coming out of college, but never played much for RSL and had been in the lower leagues since.

• The Rapids also signed forward Joe Mason on loan from Wolves. Middling-at-best Championship types rarely do well in MLS these days, but we'll see. While so many MLS clubs are looking at young South American talent, Anthony Hudson and the Rapids are stockpiling players from New Zealand and the British isles.

• Dallas signed goalkeeper Kyle Zobeck, last of the NY Cosmos. He's a backup and one of very few professionals from Iowa.

 

[Titans Bastard]

The Sounders are playing a Salvadoran team that's wearing neon green jerseys. It's weird.

 

[Titans Bastard]

I went to bed with Seattle and NYRB up 1-0 and woke up to see the final scores of 1-2 and 1-1. Poor results in leg one, albeit all on the road.

In the three MLS vs. CONCACAF R16 matchups:

First half: 2-0 MLS
Second half: 4-0 CONCACAF

CCL teams haven't done a good enough job building up fitness in time. Dallas, Seattle, and NYRB have to do better at home next week.

 

[Senator Donut]

I was shocked to learn Jordan McCrary is even on an MLS team (even TB didn't bother to mention his signing) let alone starting a Champions League match. McCrary was first round pick and a youth MNT player, but he has never appeared in an MLS match. Not sure why they would send such a weak XI to El Salvador, especially since Seattle usually takes that competition somewhat seriously.

 

[moly99]

I was shocked to learn Jordan McCrary is even on an MLS team (even TB didn't bother to mention his signing) let alone starting a Champions League match. McCrary was first round pick and a youth MNT player, but he has never appeared in an MLS match. Not sure why they would send such a weak XI to El Salvador, especially since Seattle usually takes that competition somewhat seriously.

Lots of players were not match fit.

This is what happens when your first match out of preseason is in Central America with many second and third string players starting.

 

[Titans Bastard]

Rough stuff for Seattle and Jordan Morris:

 

[Titans Bastard]

• Toronto signed 24 y.o. Spanish attacking midfielder Ager Aketxe from Athletic Bilbao. They just have so much depth - he'll back up Victor Vazquez.

• Vancouver signed 32 y.o. free agent Sean Franklin. At this point in his career, he's veteran depth and I'd expect him to back up the much younger Jakob Nerwinski.

• Vancouver also traded for Orlando's 24 y.o. Uruguayan CB Jose Aja, sending allocation money in the other direction. The Whitecaps don't currently need a CB, but the rumors are that Tim Parker is unhappy with his contract status and may be traded. The move for Aja lends credence to the idea that Parker is on his way out. Orlando needs to get another CB now, though.

• 18 y.o. academy left back Sam Vines signed an MLS deal with Colorado, bypassing a bunch of top NCAA programs. I'd imagine he'll either go out on loan to the USL this year unless he beats out Kip Colvey to be Edgar Castillo's backup at left wingback in the Rapids' new 3-5-2.

• LAFC signed the #3 overall pick in the draft, right back Tristan Blackmon out of the University of the Pacific. LAFC still weirdly only has 19 players on their roster - not sure what's going on there.

• Minnesota signed 22 y.o. Brazilian defensive midfielder Luiz Fernando on loan from Fluminense. As with just about every Loons signing this winter, who knows if he's any good.

 

[dirtynine]

On some alternate timeline the Morris news and its potential impact on the USMNT, WC roster implications etc. is a big soccer media story.

 

[Titans Bastard]

Damn, I almost forgot it's CCL time again!

Tigres is hosting Herediano. They were held to a 2-2 draw in Costa Rica, but they should finish the job back at home.

Toronto is taking a 2-0 lead to BMO Field. It'll be a huge shocker if they don't advance over the Colorado "Revs of the West" Rapids.

 

[Titans Bastard]

Womp womp.


Glad the Rapids exited quickly.