MLS 2021: On a scale of 1-10, my baby's 26

Titans Bastard

has sunil gulati in his sights
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Dec 15, 2002
14,446

ThePrideofShiner

Crests prematurely
SoSH Member
Jul 16, 2005
10,687
Washington
I really, really hope Pineda doesn't leave. He's been a rock solid coach for Seattle.

In other news, I'm going to the Union vs. Toronto game tomorrow night. Excited to go to my fourth MLS stadium!
 

Titans Bastard

has sunil gulati in his sights
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Dec 15, 2002
14,446
I really, really hope Pineda doesn't leave. He's been a rock solid coach for Seattle.

In other news, I'm going to the Union vs. Toronto game tomorrow night. Excited to go to my fourth MLS stadium!
Nice!

You've got one on me. I've been to Gillette, Red Bull Arena, and the Dick. There's a very clear hierarchy among those three!
 

steeplechase3k

Well-Known Member
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Oct 25, 2005
2,978
Portland, OR
I've been to Portland (100+ times), Seattle (18-20 times), Vancouver (6-8 times), RSL (3) and Denver (1). In a non-covid world I would have added San Jose in 2020.
 

ThePrideofShiner

Crests prematurely
SoSH Member
Jul 16, 2005
10,687
Washington
Shit, I forgot about Salt Lake. I've been to Seattle, RSL, FC Dallas and SKC. So tomorrow will be five.

We drove by the stadium and it is incredible looking.
 

tmracht

Member
SoSH Member
Aug 19, 2009
3,070
Damn I'm slacking I've been to Red Bull, whatever you wanna call NYCFC, Gillette, Pizza Hut Park (though I can't remember that game at all :( :( :( :()
 

ninjacornelius

Member
SoSH Member
Aug 18, 2005
584
Austin, TX
I've been to Q2 (Austin), BBVA (Houston), this Saturday I'm going to Toyota Stadium (Dallas), and if the border is open I really want to go to BC Place (Vancouver) over Labor Day. Failing that I'll shoot for Dick's (Denver) in late September.
 

67YAZ

Member
SoSH Member
Dec 1, 2000
8,729
Chicago is starting Gabe Slonina, who will become the youngest keeper in MLS history. Oh boy.


edit: How does your team start a 17 year old keeper and a 36 year old left back?

43196
 
Last edited:

ThePrideofShiner

Crests prematurely
SoSH Member
Jul 16, 2005
10,687
Washington
You haven't lived until a bunch of Union supporters start yelling, "Fuck that Sounders guy" at you because you are wearing a Sounders shirt at the game.

Also, Toronto looks awful.
 

67YAZ

Member
SoSH Member
Dec 1, 2000
8,729
Slonina gets a shutout! It was a pretty weak performance from NYC, especially with the hot streak they’ve been on.

would have been nice for the Fire to press the issue after NYC went down to 10 in the 73rd minute, but defensive solidity is progress.
 

Titans Bastard

has sunil gulati in his sights
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Dec 15, 2002
14,446

Titans Bastard

has sunil gulati in his sights
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Dec 15, 2002
14,446
It's deadline day for everything but out-of-contract free agent signings. There have already been a bunch of moves and there will be more done later today that will eventually be announced tomorrow.

1. LA Galaxy signed Dejan Joveljic, a 21 year old Serbian forward. He's a "U22 initiative signing" so his cap hit will be small. Had a good season on loan at Wolfsberger in Austria, but never broke through at Eintracht Frankfurt.

2. Chicago Fire's Polish winger Przemyslaw Frankowski has been sold to Lens for around $3m. Thoughts, @67YAZ?

3. The Ebobisse trade was officially announced. I'm looking forward to seeing how he does in San Jose.

4. Vancouver signed 19 year old Ecuadorian CM Pedro Vite from Independiente Del Valle for what Transfermarkt claims is a $2.5m fee (but who knows really). MLS teams have been going after Ecuador YNT players quite a bit lately; five of Ecuador's U20 starters from the 2019 WC team that knocked out the US are now in MLS.

5. Houston signed 22 year old Panamanian CM Adalberto Carrasquilla, who comes on loan from Cartagena of the Spanish second division, where he started twenty games last year. Carrasquilla has played against the USMNT twice, both in the January 2019 friendly and in the 6-2 drubbing last November in Austria. I must say that nothing sticks in my mind about him. He's been a regular starter for them in WCQ and in the Gold Cup. @trekfan55?

6. SKC signed 25 year old Argentine/Italian CM Jose Mauri on a free from Talleres de Córdoba of Argentina. His career path looks strange. He was a regular starter for Serie A at age 19 for Parma, moved to Milan, then played sparingly for a number of years except for one loan stint at Empoli. Then he landed in Argentina for a couple of seasons. In any event, SKC are about to be down a CM when Busio is officially sold, and now they're not.

7. NYRB traded French midfielder Florian Valot to Cincinnati. He's not a game-changing player, but he could be the sort of useful cheap piece that all MLS rosters need. He didn't seem to fit with Struber's style.
 

67YAZ

Member
SoSH Member
Dec 1, 2000
8,729
2. Chicago Fire's Polish winger Przemyslaw Frankowski has been sold to Lens for around $3m. Thoughts, @67YAZ?
I laughed at your post in the other thread because any team that heavily scouted MLS wouldn’t think much of Frank. He’s a perfectly adequate winger, but on a team that can’t score, he’s not really standing out as any kind of threat. He’s been kind of interesting playing inside-to-out in the 3-5-2 that Wicky has recently rolled out, but he doesn’t look dangerous by any means. Frank looked much better banging crosses at Lewandowski during the Euros, but of course, who wouldn’t?

getting $3m in the midst of another blah season is decent business.

It’s all a lot how they reinvest the funds. Ivanov started his first match last night and looked like a guy who just missed 4 months after knee surgery. They really need him to pan out since he was the Djordje replacement. To fill the hole on the other wing really requires a proven MLS goal scorer/creator. BGuti is still too one-dimensional and physically slight. Bringing in a strong vet on a 2-3 year deal would allow Guti to develop and the team improve.

We’ll see. Heitz has shown zero interest in recruiting MLS players so far.
 

Titans Bastard

has sunil gulati in his sights
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Dec 15, 2002
14,446
I laughed at your post in the other thread because any team that heavily scouted MLS wouldn’t think much of Frank.
One more thing to add — I remembered that Lens offered $3.5m for Tajon Buchanan a few weeks ago. They know what's good — it just seems like they can't afford it.

I guess Frankowski is just "la serviette" ("serwetka"?) for RC Lens...
 

67YAZ

Member
SoSH Member
Dec 1, 2000
8,729
One more thing to add — I remembered that Lens offered $3.5m for Tajon Buchanan a few weeks ago. They know what's good — it just seems like they can't afford it.

I guess Frankowski is just "la serviette" ("serwetka"?) for RC Lens...
Is it good scouting to offer for an MLS fullback at this point? Or just getting in on the fad?

I hope they have a plan for Frank and he excels in it. He plays hard, but got washed over in a flood of mediocrity with the Fire.
 
Last edited:

Titans Bastard

has sunil gulati in his sights
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Dec 15, 2002
14,446
Is it good scouting to sign an MLS fullback at this point? Or just getting in on the fad?

I hope they have a plan for Frank and he excels in it. He plays hard, but got washed over in a flood of mediocrity with the Fire.
We'll see what happens with him in bigger leagues, but Tajon has been a winger for all but a few games in his career.
 

trekfan55

Well-Known Member
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Oct 29, 2004
11,586
Panama
5. Houston signed 22 year old Panamanian CM Adalberto Carrasquilla, who comes on loan from Cartagena of the Spanish second division, where he started twenty games last year. Carrasquilla has played against the USMNT twice, both in the January 2019 friendly and in the 6-2 drubbing last November in Austria. I must say that nothing sticks in my mind about him. He's been a regular starter for them in WCQ and in the Gold Cup. @trekfan55?
I can tell you he’s an up and comer. Panama has undergone almost a full turnover from 2018.

Like that he gets a chance to play in MLS.
 

67YAZ

Member
SoSH Member
Dec 1, 2000
8,729
The Fire address their attacking woes by signing...21yo Argentine defensive mid Federico Navarro. He'll be Chicago's 3rd Young Designated Player, alongside Aliseda and Duran.

Edit: sounds like a $5m fee! And a 4 year contract plus an option. Wow.

 
Last edited:

ninjacornelius

Member
SoSH Member
Aug 18, 2005
584
Austin, TX
Austin went up to play an in-form Dallas team tonight and, despite having all 3 DPs healthy and available, Josh Wolff started none of them. I guess his plan was to sub them all on after 60 minutes to run against tired legs, but by then Austin was already a goal down and chasing the game. Managerial malpractice IMO.
 

Awesome Fossum

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 20, 2005
3,894
Austin, TX
Very frustrating game. We talked a few pages ago about the ideal trajectory for an expansion team, with "scrappy/fun/interesting and in the mix for a playoff spot" perhaps being a fine starting point. Well, Austin is none of those things. I think the Copa Tejas and the lucky win against Houston offered a much needed distraction, but they squandered that away last night.
 

67YAZ

Member
SoSH Member
Dec 1, 2000
8,729
Flip on the Fire-RBNY 10 minutes in, and Chicago is up 2-0. What even is this team?
 

Pesky Pole

Well-Known Member
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Jul 31, 2001
2,465
Phoenixville, PA
The Union playing three teenagers with their pending trip to Azteca later this week. 17 year old Aaronson 2.0 ties it up in Foxboro.

and I jinxed them with the 20 year old giving up a poorly taken PK with a juicy rebound finished. Damn old guys letting us down.
 

67YAZ

Member
SoSH Member
Dec 1, 2000
8,729
Lacking the skilled backline players to pull it off and a keeper who is even interested in trying, Wicky finally decided to play everything long tonight. No build from the back, just clear some fucking lines. And it’s working, especially since it seems to have caught RBNY off guard.

also catching RBNY out is starting Teran and utilizing his long throws as set pieces. The second goal came from a perfectly executed long throw into the box flick on to the back post. Pragmatic Wicky > Dogmatic Wicky.
 

Titans Bastard

has sunil gulati in his sights
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Dec 15, 2002
14,446
It's deadline day for everything but out-of-contract free agent signings. There have already been a bunch of moves and there will be more done later today that will eventually be announced tomorrow.

1. LA Galaxy signed Dejan Joveljic, a 21 year old Serbian forward. He's a "U22 initiative signing" so his cap hit will be small. Had a good season on loan at Wolfsberger in Austria, but never broke through at Eintracht Frankfurt.

2. Chicago Fire's Polish winger Przemyslaw Frankowski has been sold to Lens for around $3m. Thoughts, @67YAZ?

3. The Ebobisse trade was officially announced. I'm looking forward to seeing how he does in San Jose.

4. Vancouver signed 19 year old Ecuadorian CM Pedro Vite from Independiente Del Valle for what Transfermarkt claims is a $2.5m fee (but who knows really). MLS teams have been going after Ecuador YNT players quite a bit lately; five of Ecuador's U20 starters from the 2019 WC team that knocked out the US are now in MLS.

5. Houston signed 22 year old Panamanian CM Adalberto Carrasquilla, who comes on loan from Cartagena of the Spanish second division, where he started twenty games last year. Carrasquilla has played against the USMNT twice, both in the January 2019 friendly and in the 6-2 drubbing last November in Austria. I must say that nothing sticks in my mind about him. He's been a regular starter for them in WCQ and in the Gold Cup. @trekfan55?

6. SKC signed 25 year old Argentine/Italian CM Jose Mauri on a free from Talleres de Córdoba of Argentina. His career path looks strange. He was a regular starter for Serie A at age 19 for Parma, moved to Milan, then played sparingly for a number of years except for one loan stint at Empoli. Then he landed in Argentina for a couple of seasons. In any event, SKC are about to be down a CM when Busio is officially sold, and now they're not.

7. NYRB traded French midfielder Florian Valot to Cincinnati. He's not a game-changing player, but he could be the sort of useful cheap piece that all MLS rosters need. He didn't seem to fit with Struber's style.

Gotta follow this up with more moves from deadline day at the end of last week:

8. FC Cincinnati "parted ways" with their GM, Gerard Nijkamp. A prime example of a foreign GM coming in and underestimating the league, though in fairness to him FCC had already totally botched their roster by the time they arrived. FC Cincinnati's president Jeff Berding deserves a lot of scrutiny at this point given how badly the team has been managed on and off the field. Anyway, they also signed 27 year old defender Tyler Blackett, who has a decent amount of Championship experience. (Will this fix FC Cincinnati???)

9. Atlanta signed 25 year old Brazilian winger Luiz Araujo from Lille. Hope they did their homework, as a lot of their expensive imports have failed to live up to high price tags since their initial batch. They reported paid $12m for Araujo.

10. The Sounders signed 21 year old Brazilian winger Léo Chú from Grêmio for $3m. They also acquired veteran French winger Nicolas Benezet from the Colorado Rapids. Benezet has been around the league for a couple of years now and is a depth option.

11. Minnesota bought out Ike Opara's contract. Opara has been out for a very long time with some sort of undisclosed injury, and that's too bad. He was a top MLS CB in his prime, even though his developmental trajectory was constantly derailed by injuries. He could have accumulated a solid number of USMNT caps in an alternate timeline.

12. LAFC acquired CB Sebastien Ibeagha from NYCFC. They need depth at the position after losing Eddie Segura for the season.

13. RBNY brought in 19 year old CB Lucas Monzón on loan from Danubio (Uruguay). The loan is through the 2022 season, so they will have ample opportunity to decide whether they want to execute their option to buy.

14. LA Galaxy signed 24 year old LB Niko Hämäläinen on loan from QPR. Seems like cheap-ish depth, and he won't cost an international spot because even though he's cap-tied to Finland he has US citizenship.

15. Minnesota signed 20 year old Honduran midfielder Joseph Rosales on an 18 month loan from Independiente of Panama.

16. Vancouver picked up aging German CB/DM Florian Jungwirth from San Jose. The Whitecaps are consistently among the least interesting MLS teams for me.
 

Titans Bastard

has sunil gulati in his sights
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Dec 15, 2002
14,446
SKC lost 6-1 to Leon in Superliga action. Alexi Lalas said it was embarrassing, but I don’t think anyone was watching Nations League quarterfinals.

With Herrera back on the touch line, I have an excuse to post this.

View: https://twitter.com/miguelherreradt/status/474650540706889729
Somewhat embarrassing for SKC to lose by such a margin, but also kind of embarrassing for the Leagues Cup to have SKC throw a team on the field that's full of backups. I don't blame Vermes; with so many midweek games as it stands, it's reasonable to prioritize the league over an interleague competition of very questionable prestige.
 

67YAZ

Member
SoSH Member
Dec 1, 2000
8,729
Going to shout out the Fire for being part of a $31m community investment - a muti-organization project with state grant support and a little money kicked in by the Cubs' Jason Heyward to build a full block education, health, and rec space in North Austin, one of Chicago's poorest and most violence plagued community on the west side. The Fire will run their community outreach program PLAYS from the site and maintain full-size indoor and outdoor pitches. This will include free youth program for the community as well as dedicated community access times.

Love the idea, love the location, excited to see how it develops.
 
Last edited:

Titans Bastard

has sunil gulati in his sights
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Dec 15, 2002
14,446
I really, really hope Pineda doesn't leave. He's been a rock solid coach for Seattle.

In other news, I'm going to the Union vs. Toronto game tomorrow night. Excited to go to my fourth MLS stadium!
Condolences.

To me it feels like a bellwether that Atlanta has gone with an MLS assistant rather than a flashy name from overseas. Too many imported GMs and managers have struggled to adapt, and you can feel the trend heading in the other direction (SJ and Cincinnati are looking for GMs with MLS experience now). This trend will inevitably be taken too far, eventually leading to a rise in demand for imported managers and execs, naturally.

View: https://twitter.com/ATLUTD/status/1425820670408024078
 

ThePrideofShiner

Crests prematurely
SoSH Member
Jul 16, 2005
10,687
Washington
Even worse is Djimi Traore went with him to Atlanta. Two key assistants leaving in the middle of the season. I don't feel like that happens in other sports.
 

Titans Bastard

has sunil gulati in his sights
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Dec 15, 2002
14,446
Even worse is Djimi Traore went with him to Atlanta. Two key assistants leaving in the middle of the season. I don't feel like that happens in other sports.
The Sounders said that Djimi is heading to Europe for a new job that is TBA by whatever club he's joining.
 

67YAZ

Member
SoSH Member
Dec 1, 2000
8,729
Columbus are in a real funk. They lost in Chicago 1-0. Crew had 54% of the ball, but the Fire out-shot them 17-12 (6-1 on target, Columbus’ 1 coming in the 92nd minute).

Chicago picked ip 7 points during a 3 game home stand, but all the goals came from midfielders. They need to get something going up top to maintain this momentum.
 
Last edited:

Titans Bastard

has sunil gulati in his sights
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Dec 15, 2002
14,446
This is pretty tasty: the whistleblower for Inter Miami's budget scandal was club co-owner Marcelo Claure, who is currently trying to sell his stake in the club.

According to multiple sources, Claure had informed Garber that Inter Miami was in violation of the roster and budget guidelines. Once the investigation was underway, according to the league’s announcement of sanctions, Mas and Inter Miami cooperated with the league and alerted them to other unreported agreements.
https://theathletic.com/2773516/2021/08/17/inter-miami-beckham-mls/
 

67YAZ

Member
SoSH Member
Dec 1, 2000
8,729
If anyone has WGN, Chicago & Miami are playing a very sloppy & very entertaining second half. 2-2 with Pizarro just checking into the match.
 

67YAZ

Member
SoSH Member
Dec 1, 2000
8,729
And Pizarro does them in. Fire haven’t won on the road since October…of 2019.
 

ThePrideofShiner

Crests prematurely
SoSH Member
Jul 16, 2005
10,687
Washington
Ruidiaz just scored less than 20 seconds after coming on as a sub in the 61st.

It's a nice thing when you can bring on Jaoa Paulo as a sub at half and Lodeiro and Ruidiaz at 61 minutes.
 

67YAZ

Member
SoSH Member
Dec 1, 2000
8,729
Who the hell is van der Water & why is he destroying Chicago’s left side like a young Ronaldo?