Major League Soccer

apologies if that doesn't make sense, the US soccer landscape esp with regards to college is incredibly hard to unpack

imo klinsi gets it here (starts at about 2:00 if you don't want to listen to lalas talk)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8y-fZpD_BrE

The book reckons that you'd never come across kids kicking a ball in the street or elsewhere without it being an adult·supervised activity, though xp. That seems to limit the pool of talent drastically. The Soccernomics book I read a couple of weeks ago pointed out that the really top players mostly come from the poorest backgrounds in the richest countries - your Ronaldos, Rooneys and Drogbas - because they're the ones who have nothing else for entertainment, yet are in a position to get scooped up into a fantastic infrastructure once they prove themselves.

Yeah, Klinsmann's excellent - that's such an intelligent, strategic view. It's so funny to hear McManaman follow straight up with "that's right, but you also need a goalscorer to get you twenty, thirty goals a season"

thx for the review IK, i'll be sure to pick it up

Whoa, San Jose Earthquakes sign Geovanni of Hull City fame.

wow. he looked decent w/jozy at times last year

updated player salaries released:

http://www.mlsplayers.org/files/august_12_2010_salary_information__alphabetical.pdf

kind of amazing to me that Marquez is on higher wages than Henry, if only slightly

Haha, that's exactly where I went first! Also amusing that Henry's bonus seems designed purely to leapfrog back over Marquez. It's pretty awesome that that doc exists.

Yeah, the players' union is pretty dedicated to showing exactly how badly most of them are getting paid.

it was only a couple of years ago the league min for developmental players was like $12K

Red Bulls are starting to get scary good.

nice goal by marquez

god I fucking hate Brian Ching

looks like the chicago keeper is a more worthy recipient of your hate

It wasn't his best night, but he's a rookie and it was only his 4th league appearance. Trust me, if it was the guy they started the season with it'd have been like 6-3 instead of 4-3.

i dreamt landon donovan checked groceries at my local qfc, what does this confusing dream mean

http://www.brooklynvegan.com/img/music/weezer/waterfront/23.jpg

Makin my morning, thanks dude!

I mean I don't know who that is or anything, but the Metros are giving me a contented glow in general this seas.

Rivers Cuomo of popular rock combo Weezer iirc

I wondered why there were so many awful sunglasses & gay haircuts in that crowd, decided it couldn't possibly be at a pre-game because o_O

CONCACAF Champions League play last night had some incredibly lolzy refereeing, including a Cbus goal being called back because a player was wearing a jersey w/ no number after going off for treatment for a bloody cut on his head.

From the official MLS blog:

MLS teams are now 0-19-2 in competitive matches in Mexico.

Good thing I hate Cbus.

"Travesty"

http://blog.dispatch.com/crew/2010/08/travesty.shtml

lol, imo

Hey, just wanted to ask this -- the $40 buck premium internet all-access pass thing for MLS seems like an awesome deal. Anyone else have this thing and is it, indeed, awesome? (Well, as awesome as MLS can get, at least...)

I've purchased it when they drop the price mid-year. It worked pretty well the past couple of seasons, but if I understand right it's gotten better this year, more of an ESPN3-style service with borderline-if-not-HD picture quality, etc. Plus you can watch archived games. The one drawback is that anything on a national broadcast, i.e. games on FSC, Telefutura, or ESPN, are not broadcast live. I think they are in the archive, though.

Well they don't show a lot of Toronto FC games on TV so I think I might get it then... Plus I'd get that mid-season price drop! Cool!

hi, here is the first--and it's gonna be the most indepth, how could it not be--rundown of the 2011 expansion draft, who might be available, protected, and exempt for portland and vancouver:

http://usasoccer.blogspot.com/2010/08/2010-mls-expansion-draft-preview.html

so are the playoffs over 2 legs or at a neutral venue?

i notice steve nicol is managing the revs

playoffs are 2 legs for the first round, one game each round after (yes, it's stupid)

wow, had no idea the pay in the mls was that lousy. can you even live in new york on a 40k salary?

suburban NJ maybe? still...

and yeah, the mls final is
in a neutral venue,toronto this year iirc. there's been talk of changing it to the home field
of the team with the best regular season record (or something)

The salaries are public record, fyi. Not sure of the url but they put them on teh internets every so often. And the lowness of salaries is what results in players being roommates in deeply unimpressive apartments in New Jersey, or living in the basements of other, more successful/"big name" players.

You can totally live in NYC on a 40k salary but it would be an underwhelming life in which you had lots of roommates and/or didn't go out. Tights budgets are one thing, but when yr teammates are making more and can do shit, and your lifestyle is basically that of an under-paid editorial assistant, you have to wonder why yr training your ass off and going on national tv every week.

hey now many of us are/were living in nyc at around or below 40k and are whelmed constantly

Totally true. Have done, for many years.

iirc a lot of the players coach youth teams to make extra $

ps I fucking hate Fredy Montero this week

he is the man tbh, stoppage time whuut

macinerney w/a quality chip this weekend, check it out, composed & a tite angle

i wonder what the avg. salary of NY Cosmos players was back in the heyday and what that would be in 2010 $$$

Jack Mac's goal was nice, hope he can do that for the nats. What really amazed me from that game is Justin Mapp's play, he looked 10 times more involved than he ever did for the Fire this year.

And yeah, Montero is clutch. I can't believe he's still in the league and not gone to Spain/Germany/Italy or something. I wish he would. Also I wish the Fire's back line wasn't cobbled together from rookies and out-of-position players. :(

http://imgur.com/ZWuW8.jpg
l-r: t. henry, random rbny fan, r. marquez
on a train to the match
what a country

I mean f redbull and all but where else could this happen?

<3 Henry!

Not only is that guy an RB fan, he's an ESC member! Don't know him, it's the scarf.

So this is kind of huge, adidas has re-upped with the league until 2018 for an assload of money. Sure, each team will continue to be in somewhat boring kits, but the return of the reserve league is huuuuuge.

http://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/article/66565

HUGE, I tell you.

CHICAGO, IL (Sept. 3, 2010) – Chicago Fire forward and U.S. Soccer star Brian McBride will announce today at noon CT at TOYOTA PARK, that he is retiring after the conclusion of the 2010 MLS season.

The MLS All-Time Best XI forward and three-time U.S. World Cup star will end his illustrious 17-year playing career following the Fire’s 2010 season. McBride, the number one selection in the 1996 MLS inaugural player draft, has appeared in 211 games, scoring 78 goals and adding 51 assists over the course of his 11-year MLS career with the Chicago Fire and Columbus Crew. One of the most decorated players in United States soccer history, the renowned striker appeared in three FIFA World Cups, scoring 30 goals in 95 appearances for the U.S. Men’s National Team from 1993-2006.

:(