Another round, another loss. Another round.
For those who feel the season is loss, I understand where you're coming from.
I'm a geek; so as long as there's a mathematical chance, I'm hanging on.
Three weeks ago, I assigned City three possible losses: Galaxy, Whitecaps, United.
Draws weren't allowed.
So, instead of beating the Crew, they dropped five points to them.
Those five points must come from somewhere, which means they now must beat Vancouver and DC.
I understand the depression.
Have you ever noticed that MLS players never die, they just turn up on somebody else's roster?
If we're fed up with Josh Saunders, how do you feel about Jaime Penedo?
Penedo and the Galaxy "separated" because Jaime wanted more dinero.
We've never accused CFG of not spending money.
Six million dollars is nothing in the English Premier League.
Unless you happen to be a side already under scrutiny for violating Financial Fair Play.
Unless you happen to be a side that wants to stick it to another "Top 4" side in the Premiership.
So, you have this global branding project going on.
How about we sign him for one of our new Cities?
Time marches on.
"Frank, have you thought about Australian summers?"
I spent thirteen years in Los Angeles and contemplating going back.
As someone who was born in Brooklyn and lived there for 19 years, lived two years in Washington Heights , trust me when I tell you. New York is becoming more like Los Angeles every day. And, it's a little scary.
If you want to import Europeans, and I don't know why you would want to do that instead of developing young "Americans", at least import young Europeans like Giovinco and other young internationals like dos Santos. The three-time emphasis there is young.
I haven't drank the Kool-Aid that European soccer is universally better than Usonian soccer. Of course, some of it is. They've been doing it better (professionally) longer than we have. I'm especially amused by the English where League One is actually the third tier. In the United States, we're on our third try at trying to get it right. Professional soccer hasn't grown organically here. It's been planted and it dies out.
We had an A-League. I don't know much about that. Then the original NASL came along and I lived that. In reality, the NASL was probably a lot like the A-League, except for one side. The [New York] Cosmos became a national and global spectacle with names like Pele and Beckenbauer and many more. They spent a lot of money growing that brand; so much so that there's somebody still pumping money into the brand, following a similar formula.
Major League Soccer is the most recent attempt at planting a Division 1 league in the United States. With its quirky financial rules and equally quirky structure, it has manage to survive until the sport has taken root in much of the country, except apparently in Hoboken. The point being there are some top drawer clubs like Galaxy, the Sounders, the Timbers and even the Fire, although there's some discontent there which speaks to its history. DC United and Kansas City are important clubs in MLS. NYCFC and Orlando are fighting to get into the mix.
Somewhere along the way, North Americans have bought into the hype that their domestic league isn't as good as other domestic leagues and, to an extent, that is true. However, if you follow, for example, the English Premier League, you quickly learn that it's all about the "Top 4" and the same names are mentioned for those four slots year in and year out: Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City and Manchester United. More or less, everybody else is on the outside looking in.
The Europeans, and the English in particular, are good at "developing" futbol. They have EPL; we have MLS. They have FA Cup; we have Open Cup. They have Champions League; we have Champions League. They have Capital One Cup; we have... oh wait, nothing to match. They have Europa League; we had SuperLiga, but it didn't take hold. Capital One Cup is essentially FA Cup without the amateurs. Europa League is a losers' league. (I'm sure I'll be corrected on that one.)
All of that to say "Don't buy the hype."
I'm sick of people like Klinsmann who feel being on a European club training with Europeans is better than being on the pitch and actually playing. Most of our young players have come home and our league is a more quality league because of it. If our talented young players come home and talented young internationals join them, our league will be better for it.
And so it goes.
