Major League Soccer

thank fuck

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/soccerinsider/2010/03/mls_players_union_reach_deal_a.html

http://teacherweb.com/MA/WatertownLowellElementary/Gould/fireworks.gif

Pretty convincing win for NYRB over Santos on Saturday in the new Red Bull Arena. For a friendly both sides played hard. Red Bulls looked light years better than last season - quick passes, overlapping fullbacks down the wings, very attractive soccer.

really looking forward to the Fire/NJRB game this weekend

hey dan what do you think about the fire dropping busch?

someone here reads sbi

I think it's weird, but not entirely suprising. The team was carrying 3 keepers, and even with the new salary cap expansion it's still expensive. They're also looking to bring in a new left back, and the money's got to some from somewhere. Still unnerving though. For all the positive comments surrounding Dykstra (the former backup, now likely starter) he's still almost completely untested.

If this backfires RBNY-last-year-style, a lot of people here are going to be PISSED. Buschy is a very popular player.

Also I don't fully believe it until I hear someone other than Ives reporting the story.

I'm not going to worry about anything else until I secure two tickets somewhere in the end zone as near as possible to the supporter's club. Not sure how I'm going to deal with the ticket issue for the rest of this season, and I haven't had the $$ to think about it until now. But I'm getting WELL excited for Saturday.

I'm hearing now that under the new CBA certain veterans have to be waived by 5PM today, so we'll likely see some other surprise dropped players.

I love this league because tonight I swapped texts with the recently departed goalkeeper and swapped buying beers with the team technical director. Where else could this happen?

I know, I know, English 5th division right

The MLS salary cap will increase from $2.315 million to $2.55 million and will increase by %5 each season thereafter.

The CBA provides for guaranteed contracts for all players 24 years old or older with three years of MLS service.

Minimum salaries for senior roster players will increase from $34,000 in 2009 to $40,000 in 2010, with an increase of 5 percent each year thereafter.

MLS will establish a Re-Entry Draft. Players eligible for the draft include those whose options were not exercised, those whose contracts were terminated and those whose contracts expired.

Player Contracts will now have a limit on the number of option years they can have. The limit is two option years for players who are at least 25 and have four years of MLS service. All other contracts can have up to three option years.

Players whose annual compensation is less than $125,000, the minimum base salary increase will be %10 for players who play in at least 66 percent of his club's games and 12.5 percent for players who play in at least 75 percent of club's games.
Increases in 401K contributions by the league, appearance fees, per diem and relocation expense reimbursement. Among the addtional player benefits in the CBA are full health care benefits for every player and his family at no cost, 401K contributions and expanded insurance benefits.

Bonuses for wins and exhibitions. The CBA includes a package of bonuses for wins in MLS games and international tournaments, as well as appearance fees for international exhibitions.

The sides reached an agreement on an extension of the Group License that will run through 2015.

The sides will establish a joint committee to study the re-launch of a Reserve Division. In the event the rosters are expanded, the salary for those players will be a minimum of $31,250, with additional annual increases.

really liking the possible return of the reserve league

i love philly:

returned to Philly last weekend for my bachelor party. i'm walking down the street wearing a celtic shirt after watching the game vs. st johnstone in the morning and a group of guys stopped and asked if celtic won. they also asked if i was going to some union games this year. i was only able to say, "well i just moved to the DC area" when i started getting booed. i just rolled my eyes and continued, "so i'm going to come up for as many games as possible, I'm not a United fan all of a sudden".

any time you get booed in philadelphia for anything, you know it's officially arrived

the first piece of MLS-writing I've ever done:

http://www.section8chicago.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=497:some-words-with-jon-busch&catid=1:general-supporter-news&Itemid=161

yo mls people -

when you go to a game, are the stands divided into home/away sections like in yoo-rup?

Yeah, there will be a designated away-fan area, usually only one section or a part of one section.

good article dan

lol, lxy had never seen or heard lalas. her take: "gah shut the fuck up i hate him"

yes, lalas blows hard, but just wait until you hear max bretos call a game...

interesting signing by KC, apparently the best player out of India currently? I know their nat'l side is no great shakes, but he's still young and has scored a few goals.

http://theoriginalwinger.com/2010-03-26-kc-wizards-sign-sunil-chhetri-will-be-first-indian-player-to-play-in-mls

lxy smrt

http://dealbreaker.com/_old/images/thumbs/drudge_siren.gifSECOND DP SLOT ADDED FOR ALL TEAMS EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELYhttp://dealbreaker.com/_old/images/thumbs/drudge_siren.gif

In other words, a big fuck you to LA, NY, Toronto, and Seattle, you money-grubbing sons of bitches. If you can't win with the players you have, better spend more. :/

dp?

DP = designated player (AKA The Beckham Rule)

In a nutshell, it allows teams to only have a portion of the salaries of marquee players count towards the salary cap. Beckham, Blanco, Ljungberg, Angel are/were all DPs. There are a handful of lesser-known DPs as well.

The league decreeing (in the second week of the season, no less) that all teams suddenly are allowed a second such player (and can trade for a third) means that the teams who have the richest ownership groups (the ones I listed above) can now buy, buy, buy. Kind of throws the facade of parity across the league out the window... The league-only transfer window closes in another week or two, but the summer window could be very interesting. New York'll likely sign Henry.

additionally LA has had 2/3 DPs on their roster for years (they grandfathered in Donovan) so who knows what kind of shenanigans they'll be able to pull now

http://www.mlssoccer.com/content/mls-expands-designated-player-rule

Sounds pretty good, actually. Is this intended to make the league competitive like other US sports, rather than in the way of things over here? Also must be good prospects of humour if two dps turn out to be mismatched egowise

I realise this is a big question but:

Kind of throws the facade of parity across the league out the window...

so?

One thing that the league has taken pride in is that there is no "big four" as in the leagues across the pond. They've repeatedly asserted that unfettered wage-wars among big market clubs would kill the league a la NASL (something that was often cited in the recent CBA negotiaions when players were looking for expanded free agency). Adding another DP spot plays into the hands of the big money clubs, even if every team gets extra one. Of course, LA has had 2 DPs for 3 years now (3 DPs if you count Carlos Ruiz) and they haven't won anything. So who knows?

Actually what is most galling to me about this is the timing of the announcement. Everyone who follows the league was on pins and needles for weeks during the labor negotiations. It's very surprising for the league to announce a big change like this now that this season's play has already begun.

We saw dueling-DP egos already with Beckham and Donovan, but imo the real humor in it all comes from the players who get signed to DP contracts and then FLOP. Dallas had a Denilson (not sure which one) that was beyond sad. Houston has a Mexican guy at the moment who is turning out to be crap, too.

Of course, if Chicago signs Riquelme I will be A-OK with all of this.

a buddy of mine sums up the good and bad of this better than I can:

http://pitchinvasion.net/blog/2010/04/01/the-sweeper-the-rich-get-better-in-mls/

lol socialism

MLS 2010 RE: BUDDLE

new thread?

"Toronto FC can't win the US Open Cup because they are from Canada: MLS 2010"

OK so my team sucks ass so far. Anyone else?

I'm afraid to even say anything lest I jinx it.

glory glory wizards top of the table
ryan smith appears to be a great signing.

Edson Buddle is insane, he's scored all of LA's goals so far iirc.

The 'zards are looking much, much stronger than previous seasons. Could be the boost of having their stadium on the way, or it could be that getting rid of Onalfo was a good move...

...on a related note: LOL DC.

The Fire are not playing terribly, but new guy Collins John had two open looks at goal on Saturday -- whiffed one, and a defender cleared the second off the line. Finishing was the problem last year and he was supposed to be part of the solution to that. :/ The random Salvadoran players that the new coach has brought in are underwhelming as hell so far, and the rookie GK isn't so hot either. Might be a rebuilding year after all.

does buddle have any chance of making the world cup?

Seems like there's a lot of online opinions that say yes. I don't know if he's ever been capped, so it'd be a hell of a thing to throw him right into the mix. Another name that is getting tossed around a lot is Herculez Gomez, who has scored I think 8 goals in 12 games for Puebla in Mexico. Honestly, I think I'd rather see him... he played in the 07 Copa America and seems slightly more reliable than Buddle.

buddle has one cap, according to wiki, in a 2003 friendly

all that matters is that the wild-card selection has an A++++ name

Yeah, these guys have much more entertaining monikers than Conor Casey or Brian Ching.

Would love to hear a commentator call a Gomez goal w/ "Herculeeez, Herculeeez" a la The Nutty Professor.

Allegedly MLS has moved past the NHL and NBA in attendance: http://www.mls-daily.com/2010/04/mls-attendance-moves-past-nba-nhl.html

The hockey fan in me dies a little bit.

ok i just watched final kick, espn's highlights of the week, and about half the goals were the result of absolutely shocking mistakes by defenders/ goalies.

haha how long have you been watching this league? :)

the replay of the first SJ goal agaist the Fire should have had some kazoo/slide whistle/BLOINK sound effects

Seattle get a 36,000 average attendance? That's pretty hefty.