Also countries where soccer is religion and always has been for almost a century if not more. Brazil and Argentina also sell players to Europe and the majority of their teams don't play domestically.
The Argentine league is really suffering because the second a player shows a modicum of talent he's sold abroad. That includes to the North American leagues like Liga MX and MLS. The quality of play in the league has really suffered. But the Argentine national team is going strong because of the developmental pipeline in Argentina. Its fine that American prospects of the Cavan Sullivan, Mathis Albert, Julian Hall, Jude Terry, Chase Adams, KK Spivey etc. category all leave. But they can't leave until they're 18 or 16 (with a European passport). Until they're able to leave, they have to maximize their developmental opportunities with the Union, LAG, NYRB. LAFC, Columbus, San Jose, etc. I read a 4-4-2 article once about development in Holland. What years are considered the most important "formative years" in the development of a Dutch soccer player? That article said 11-13. The work in MLS and USL academies is a CRUCIAL for the success of the USMNT. We're not going anywhere without it. You really CANNOT be a fan of the USMNT without ALSO wanting MLS and the USL to excel. Its incongruous. Unless one thinks we'll just build a USMNT with German and English dual-nationals.
The biggest problem with the Argentina league is the economy of the country. Hard to keep a player that can make much more outside the country and live a better lifestyle. At the same time it's one of the reasons MLS isn't a top league as it's hard to keep a player that can make more playing in Europe. Brenden Aaronson makes over 2 million playing in the second division of England and also the money he got from transfer fees. Until a league can make it hard to pick where to play without wages being somewhat equal, it just makes financial sense for a player to move.
We can have a different conversation about Argentina. FYI, I think we will see them suffer more after Messi reties. My issue or question is why don't MLS teams give youth players minutes? After the 2003 age group. How many players are starting in the playoffs? If MLS wants to be a good league they need to raise the floor. MLS should trust their youth players more
Inter Miami featured 7 players 22 and under on Saturday. How many should they field and how many points should they be willing to sacrifice?
True story. The same number of players under the age of 18 appeared in Week One of MLS than have appeared the entire season in the Bundesliga. [Noahkai Banks is the 3rd youngest player to appear in the Bundesliga this year. He did so right after he turned 18.] Last year 35 players under the age of 19 appeared in MLS games. Not just 20. 35 under the age of 19 when they appeared. The oldest of those was Esmir Bajraktarevic, who later transferred to PSV. Sometimes I wonder if people on this board watch European soccer leagues and see tons of teenagers playing in the games. MLS stacks up very well in this regard. Statistically. Its an easy analysis to do.
The thing is he couldn't make it without leaving. Take Quinn Sullivan, he's 20 years old and made 154K last season having a breakout season. If he scores 15 goals this year with 16 assist, the Union don't have a DP spot and someone would offer to buy him from a top league in Europe where he would make a lot more. Now change it to 10 goals and 4 assist and he's still probably moving because the Championship and a boat load of teams with money in other countries can pay more like Mexico, Brazil and smaller European leagues. Until MLS can let the Union compete with this next level there no chance you can have him choose between 1.6 million or moving and making 1.75 million in Mexico. If they could he might decide to stay here for a little less.
It's up to the managers to pick the best team available and the GM's to decide the strategy for the club.
Soccer was better when they had the DA. Many more pathways for kids. Now everything is funneled through MLS. What the f? Someone please fix this
USSF barely looks at MLS Next. They look 99% at MLS academies. MLS Next includes a lot of former DA clubs. But USSF doesn't look at them anymore. Before MLS academies USSF looked at all the DAs. And they were spread out in a wide variety of cities. Now you have to be in a city that has a MLS team.
MLS should increase the salary from $6 million to $10-12 million and fewer DPs. Also I want to see a cap on how many foreign players are on the pitch at one time
So in thread titled "Soccer will never be popular in America.", MLS take over the thread for pages... to talk about MLS. It appears these motherfucjers will do anything to kill off USMNT fans.
You can feel free like a crap product. Hey, maybe it is nice night for the family. Nothing wrong with that. I asked identity of the league and teams. It is often very unclear and very different than what they try to sell. If you people lying and scamming you, have at it. I cant tell what the league is trying be and not sure they know either. Years ago we were told they would the top league by now. They obviously aren't and don't look to be trying to do that. Garber recently said they were going to be a selling league, and doesn't really fit as too many guys who shoukd move, don't. I can't figure out if they trying to be too many things nd so achieve none of them, or all their talk is just a distraction from they don't care about the actual game at all.
Not sure if you were around when the majority of people on here complained about everything Klinsmann did, but they went after everything. One of the arguments to get rid of him was challenging the whole project and claiming a top down approach won't work. For some reason, they think it is an acceptable approach for club soccer. The only reason it so expensive is because the league is trying to be "major". I am not sure you are getting my point that MLS sits on top of a horrible ecosystem where there are no incentives to invest. Id much rather have 100 people investing 5 million dollars into the ecosystem than one dude paying a $500 franchise fee to MLS. If rather spend money on coaching than stadiums. We have more first division teams than any country in the world, but only 14 independent third division teams in this country. Id argue that we should have ten times that number. Remember MLS isn't a TV product so you are only going to do that for major cities. Id also there little proof of that as most cities attendance tails off over time. Almost 30 years and new Yorkers couldn't care. Id think you actually grow more fans of the game by having regional 3rd division leagues all over the country pulling a couple thousand. Trying to compete with other sports at this stage is losing endeavor like it has always been. The majority of kids with potential in this country who want to be professional soccer, dont want to play in MLS. That want to go to Europe. These positives you are throwing out don't seem that strong to me.
Not going to spend much time on either and even less on doing it 30 years ago, since I know you folks won't really consider anything other than MLS is great. Not sure how this isn't obvious. It comes down to opportunity and incentive. There are bunch of Americans who invest in European soccer teams, but interest in lower divisions in England is quite telling. I think we could 100 3rd division teams in a couple years with pro/rel. English Football League (EFL): At least 22 of the 72 clubs in the Championship, League One, and League Two have American investment, either majority or minority stakes. Notable examples include Birmingham City (Tom Wagner and Shelby Companies Ltd, with Tom Brady as a minority owner), Wrexham (Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney), and Burnley (ALK Capital). If we focus solely on distinct American individuals or entities with majority stakes in European clubs, the number of unique owners is likely in the range of 30 to 40, factoring in the top leagues and the EFL. The trend is growing, with American investment in European soccer surging due to relatively lower acquisition costs compared to U.S. sports franchises and the global appeal of the sport. For example, Wrexham was bought for $2.5 million in 2020, while a new MLS team like San Diego’s cost $500 million in 2023. Still, without a comprehensive list of every minority investor, the precise count of individual Americans remains an educated estimate rather than an exact figure. Instead of humiliating itself with its horrible launch, they could created a much smaller version of what they did and consolidate all the other leagues under it. Reduce the number of big names and build a bunch of 5k to 10k stadium with ability to expand to 20k+ like the Atlanta Silverbacks have. So create a new first division of 10 teams and divide the the 26 other professional teams and 42 semi-pro teams in divisions 2 through 4. Summary Table of Soccer Leagues in the U.S. in 1995 League Type Number of Teams APSL / A-League Professional (D2) 6 USISL Professional League Professional 20 USISL Premier League Semi-Professional 42
The MLS fan is going take is ball and go find a safe space with only other MLS. This is an absurd claim. I know you guys like to just make shit up,, nut would you care to explain?