MLS Thread 2015

The MLS season started on Friday. Chivas is gone, Orlando City and New York City are in and the league has 20 teams playing in 2 - 10 team divisions. Sporting Kansas City and Houston Dynamo have moved from East to West to accommodate the new teams. The league signed new TV deals with ESPN, Fox and Univision that run through 2022 and are worth $90 million per year. ESPN get 34 regular season games at 5:00 Eastern on Sunday that will air on ESPN2. Fox get 34 regular season games to air at 7:00 Easter on Sunday. ESPN were also supposed to have streaming rights on ESPN3 for all games not nationally televised but that couldn't be worked out in time.

Notes and thoughts heading into the season ...

1. I watched Orlando/NYCFC on Sunday and they both are in the top half of the league in terms of ability. If Lampard truly does join NYC this summer, look the heck out. But Kaka and David Villa both look like they received a youth serum and should both be difference makers going forward.

2. That said, the balance of power is still probably out west in the form of Seattle and LA. Donovan will be replaced by Stevie G soon enough and that club is loaded even without him. Seattle looked all sorts of classy in their opening win and have continued to improve a very solid mix of reliability and excitement.

3. Toronto just HAS to be a top side given their payroll and talent level. Adding Altidore (who opened with a brace) and Giovinco (former Juve and Parma attacker) just takes them up to a level I don't see from anyone else in the East.

I think the league accomplished not a single thing in their new labor agreement, but whatever. The talent level continues to rise and they've been doing it with guys who aren't all over the hill, like in years past. The trend continues to be up overall, and I really thought the league was darned watchable last season.

My friend is a Galaxy season ticket holder for the first time, and I'm his "first choice" to sit in the other seat. Went to the home opener vs. Chicago. Was disappointed Mike Magee was unavailable, but forgot he's recovering from last season's hip surgery. Thought Shaun Maloney was a disappointment for them; didn't factor into the game for them as much as I thought he might.

Galaxy defended well, and at least they put away two of their chances. But this team will need to ride its defense until Stevie G. appears. No Landon Donovan AND no Marcelo Sarvas left this team looking unsure of itself in midfield.

Remember ... Galaxy have always had to play their way into their form under Arenas. They seem to always look tentative early on before blasting through the last 2 months of the season like gangbusters.

On Maloney ... I have a fair amount of affection for the guy since he spent a long time playing for my two primary clubs (Villa and Celtic). I know he's slowing down a bit but I have hoped for him in MLS because speed was never a part of his skill set. I hope he settles in and does some good things soon. He's a good guy and always works his tail off.

This week-end's scores includes wins for the two new clubs, Orlando winning away from home.

Friday 13th March 2015
Houston Dynamo 0-1 Orlando City SC

Saturday 14th March 2015
Chicago Fire 0-1 Vancouver Whitecaps FC
Columbus Crew SC 2-0 Toronto FC

Sunday 15th March 2015
FC Dallas 3-1 Sporting Kansas City
Real Salt Lake 3-3 Philadelphia Union
Seattle Sounders FC 2-3 San Jose Earthquakes
New York City FC 2-0 New England Revolution
Portland Timbers 2-2 LA Galaxy

Saw the Galaxy match ... well, most of it, anyways. Galaxy took awhile to settle in, but they played much better in the second half. They leveled the score at 1 in the 65th minute (Gyasi Zardes making another claim for national team consideration), and had several other opportunities to score. Then came the last five minutes of the match (including injury time): a great ball played wide that led to the second Adi goal for Portland in the 90th minute, only to see L.A. snatch a point in the third minute of injury time thanks to a wonderful header by ex-Timbers Alan Gordon off a corner.

And if you haven't seen it yet, the goal Innocent Emeghara scored for San Jose in their win over Seattle was all kinds of special, from the mazzy run and flicked pass to the return pass and well-taken goal to put them up, at the time, 3-1. Btw, watching parts of that match, I had to wonder what happened to the well-oiled machine that was the Sounders in their rout of the Revs last week-end.
[video=youtube;fqBt5FbaNNw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqBt5FbaNNw[/video]

Yeah ... Emegara's gaol was sweet, but who didn't see that cutback coming? I mean, c'mon guys ...

MLS is in advanced talks with representatives from Minnesota United FC for an expansion team. Assuming David Beckham gets his act together in Miami, that would bring the league to 24 teams, which was Don Garber's stated goal. However, he said today that the league will evaluate expansion beyond 24 teams. The Minnesota United group was apparently chosen over another group from Minneapolis affiliated with the Vikings. United have plans to build an outdoor, soccer specific stadium in downtown Minneapolis. The other Minnesota team would have shared the new Vikings stadium.

http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/artic...ns-minnesota-expansion-will-evaluate-going-be

Speaking of stadiums, the Sounders signed a 10 year extension to stay at CenturyLink Field through the 2028 season. Right now, 6 MLS teams don't play in soccer specific stadiums; Sounders, DC United, New England, NYCFC, OCSC and Vancouver. DC United have announced plans and a site for a new stadium and New England are actively seeking sites for a new stadium. OCSC move into a new downtown Orlando stadium either this season or next. While no timetable has been set for NYCFC to move out of Yankee Stadium, that arrangement can't last long. With the Yankees as only 20% partners, it will only take a couple of bad bounce singles for them tire of the sharing arrangement. The rebranded LAFC will need to build their own stadium as part of the deal to come back. They won't be sharing StubHub with the Galaxy any more. The new Atlanta franchise will be playing in the new Atlanta stadium that is replacing the Georgia Dome. So theoretically, by the time they get to 24 teams, 21 will either be in soccer specific stadiums or have plans in place for one.

http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/artic...extension-keeps-them-centurylink-field-throug

If the league ever does decide to expand beyond 24 (which seems inevitable), they should seriously look into a promotion/relegation system by creating a "two-tier" MLS. Problem is, I don't see any of these monied-types coming in wanting to risk the possibility of the realities of relegation.

Cali Ed said:

If the league ever does decide to expand beyond 24 (which seems inevitable), they should seriously look into a promotion/relegation system by creating a "two-tier" MLS. Problem is, I don't see any of these monied-types coming in wanting to risk the possibility of the realities of relegation.

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While I'd like to see that, there are a lot big problems to overcome. We would have to have a single entity govern all soccer in the US and Canada, similar to the FA in England and Wales. And the money and corporate structure in MLS makes that impossible. MLS isn't a traditional league with individual owners. Think of it more as a partnership. The league, through its investors, owns and operates all the teams. That's how AEG operates both the Galaxy and Houston Dynamo. Theoretically, if a team were relegated, MLS would have to pay some portion of the operator's investment back, since his investment was contingent on being in MLS. And, since the team is owned by MLS, they'd have to find a new owner at the lower level. At the same time, the owner of a newly promoted team would lose his ownership stake in the team to join the MLS "partnership". MLS also owns all the player contracts. There is also a disagreement between MLS and US Soccer on the pyramid structure. According to US Soccer, NASL is 2nd and USL is 3rd. There are 24 teams in USL; all but 4 have some affiliation with a MLS team and 6 are owned outright by a MLS team. Another problem is infrastructure, or lack thereof, at the lower levels. Of the 11 teams in NASL, only 2 have a seating capacity over 15,000. In USL, it's 5 over 15,000 but 3 of them are MLS fields...Saputo in Montreal, Red Bull and Rio Tinto. Of the rest, 10 are 5,000 seats or less.

Yeah. The single owner structure (no matter how loose) makes it impossible for even rudimentary relegation and promotion to take place in North America. Besides, VERY few of the USL/NASL markets are top flight ready, nor are many of them likely to get there anytime soon. MLS has already culled the cream of the crop with this last round of expansion, and I think the talent pool is stretched really thin for the budgets as well.

I was thinking more along the lines of some kind of two-tiered system in a future MLS, and not stretching it to include USL/NASL clubs. A 24-team MLS, as appears currently envisioned, is going to be quite unwieldy. Can you imagine 30-32 teams in one league? I know it would take a major restructure of the entire system to pull it off; otherwise the league will become a farce. And ultimately, that's why I said what I said about the "monied interests" opposed to it.

24 teams? No thanks, Don.

Cali Ed said:

I was thinking more along the lines of some kind of two-tiered system in a future MLS, and not stretching it to include USL/NASL clubs.

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OK ... gotcha. I like that better and if you tiered it up correctly you might free up some cash for the higher flight by restricting payrolls in the 2nd flight.

My take on what SHOULD be MLS' short term goal is this. They need to find one more quantum leap in terms of payroll cash in order to bring in better players (read - younger better players) and be better positioned to retain homegrown players. I think that's a LOT more important right now than adding new markets.

Exactly!


Not that I sought to get the last word on this, but I wanted to acknowledge that idea. Spot on, Jeff.

Last night in the US Open Cup, Seattle finished with 7 men against Portland, losing 3-1. Brad Evans was sent off for a 2nd yellow in the 69th minute. Obafemi Martins left with an injury right after Seattle used their 3rd sub. In extra time, Michael Azira got a straight red for an elbow and Clint Dempsey picked up 2 yellows for dissent, after ripping up the ref's book. US Soccer policy classifies this as "damaging the referee's uniform or personal property" and it carries a minimum 3 month ban. Under normal circumstances that doesn't matter because USSF discipline doesn't carry over to MLS. But the suspension would cover the CONCACAF Gold Cup.

http://www.sounderatheart.com/2015/...tle-sounders-red-card-suspension-ussf-referee

Saw the "highlights" of that nightmare just now. Frankly, the USSF needs to hold hearings on that whole scenario. I'm not sure that ref gets a pass.

jeffbear said:

Saw the "highlights" of that nightmare just now. Frankly, the USSF needs to hold hearings on that whole scenario. I'm not sure that ref gets a pass.

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A continuing problem in MLS. The second yellow on Evans was crap and I'm not sure that the elbow on Azira deserved a straight red. It looked inadvertent to me.

andyt said:

A continuing problem in MLS. The second yellow on Evans was crap and I'm not sure that the elbow on Azira deserved a straight red. It looked inadvertent to me.

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There are maybe 3 or 4 decent refs in MLS. Those handful are actually quite good, IMO. The rest of them seem to have been drafted in from parent coached youth leagues.

An MLS announced a 3-game ban for Dempsey after that Cup fracas even though there's not a single thing in their rule book that applies to both the offense (assault on a ref or his equipment) or the punishment (should be six). Not to even mention that the MLS doesn't have jurisdiction for punishment in a Cup game and their ruling conveniently means Dempsey won't miss time with the US side in the Gold Cup.

Yeah ... clown college stuff right there. Making FIFA look competent isn't a good move, MLS.

Fun to watch the Galaxy dismantle another quality opponent at home last night, this time Toronto FC 4-0. And Stevie G. got introduced at halftime.

Now if they only learn to play like that away from the StubHub Center.

Toronto is completely gutted by National team callups ... maybe more so than any other club with the exception of Sporting KC.

Not minimizing Galaxy's win. Just pointing out that MLS games during the Gold Cup are going to be really interesting with some many players out.