Vieira Coming to the MLS?

Could aging French International Patrick Vieira be showing up in the US next summer? So far it doesn't seem to be much more than Vieira making a comment in the press about maybe doing it. The ol' soccer equivalent of "I'd like to get married someday". http://www.clubcall.com/intl-football/vieira-looking-across-pond-939261.html

"I still have a year left on my contract and I think it will be my last in Europe at the highest level," he told Orange Sport. "I would like to try an experience in the United States, (former French international) Youri Djorkaeff has convinced me."

Rapids Waive Petke

Major league Soccer held their waiver draft today. The waiver draft process is as sexy as a pair of Rosanne Bahrs soiled undies. It's understandable tha tthe league's marketers didn't put effort into promoting the event.

Unfortunately for Rpaids fans Mike Petke was placed on waivers and taken by the New York Red Bulls. The Bohemia, New York native is the Colorado Rpaids all-time leader for games started with 129 in his 4 years with the team.

Petke looked good later in 2008 once he recovered from last years injury. At age 32 he likely has a couple years left in him. With Gary Smith showing in 2007 that he was happy to start a healthy Petke, it's likely that the Mike Petke wanted this move. It could be that this is a chance for Mike to work his way into the Red Bulls front office.

We wish Mike and his family the best fo luck with the move.

Columbus Crew's GK Will Hesmer

Did you know that the Columbus Crew's goalkeeper Will Hesmer has saved 3 of the 4 penalty kicks he's faced in 2008? Now you do. ;)

DC - Toronto

Toronto wins the match tonight 1-0. This time last year would you have imagined that early in 2008 DC United would be on a 4 game losing streak? More so, would you have imagined Toronto FC being unbeaten in 6 straight games?

2008 Predictions

FC Rocky has predictions for the 2008 MLS season from a slew of folks. They can be seen here.

The Soccer Gods Are Smiling

Denver is one of the few places where the old saying "If you don't like the weather, wait 15 minutes" is actually true (at least for 2/3rd-3/4th of the year). This time of the year, spring, we have some absolutely wonderful days and some chilly ones (after all, March is the month where we get the most snow despite having normal highs in the mid 50s).

After last years chilly home opener at the then brand new Dicks Sporting Goods Park (what did it get up to? 33F? 35F that day?), we were all nervous about the MLS moving up the opening day by a couple weeks. We had great weather earlier this week but some chilly air has moved in down onto the high plains here. Despite that it still looks like the WX for tomorrow's home opener against the Los Angeles Cosmos Galaxy will be about as good as we could can hope for this time of year. Go Rapids!

Player Salaries - Looking Back

With the new MLS season around the corner, I thought it would be nice to look back at 2007 to see who made the most money. Climbing The Ladder has list of the top 25 wage earners from the 2007 season. The list was made in May 2007. Anyone on that list you see that didn't perform well enough given their wages?

MLS - Yankee Coaches Only?

With all the recent coaching changes in Major League Soccer, there has been talk by American soccer pundits over MLS coaching changes. Some of that talk has been centered on non-American coaches and if they can succeed in the MLS. A lot is made of Major League Soccer's quirks when compared to other leagues in the world. That is, the MLS' salary cap, the college draft, the eccentric player rules and others.

I would never disagree that the college draft isn't going to present some challenges to someone like Ruud Guillit. At least not the draft that's going to occur in a few weeks. But is tracking and evaluating American players in college all that different than what European clubs do in tracking youth and reserve players? In fact, I'd venture that being able to draft a player may be a relief to the managers. No more trying to sweet talk a player into a move to your club based on cash or by implying they'll get time in the first team or dazzling them with the current internationals in your squad. You simply take a look at the players out there, a large chunk of which gather and put their goods on display at the Adidas combine, and prioritize which players you want. Come draft day you re-adjust who you actually pick based on the picks the other clubs make before yours. At the end of the day you know you're going to pick up some of those young players. In Europe there are no such guarantees. If you don't strongly pursue the players you do want you could end up getting none of them. Having some guarantee of sorts on getting some young players surely should be less stressful for anyone coaching in the MLS.

As for the salary cap being an issue, sure the dollar amount pales compared to some of the big clubs in the top European leagues. Nevertheless, every club has a budget for players. That player budget is in essence a self-imposed salary cap in any given year for that team. It's not as though as long as your a manager of a team in the Bundesliga that you have an infinite budget for player transfers and wages. They're both finite. The difference is that the MLS' is a league wide cap and it's a lot smaller than what is found in the bigger leagues.

Look at George Burley at Southampton. The Saints are having some financial problems. In the off-season he had to sell 2 of his best young players Gareth Bale and Chris Baird. Now one can argue if Baird is good enough to be a prem player... but that's different than how valuable he was to a Championship (div 2) club.

Sure, what Burley did was different from the MLS in how it was executed. But what he did to get there, sorting through player wages, evaluating what he could get for various players and deciding how the club could be best served in meeting those isn't all that different. The numbers are bigger but there are still limits. Just because you're in Europe doesn't mean you have some sort of an unlimited, pie in the sky player budget. Most clubs have one and it's rather limited relative to the league they play in.

In selling those players, Burley was able to hold on to some key veteran players. I'm not sure this is any different than Ruud Gullit having to decide what to do about Landon Donovan. He's going to need to evaluate offers from other teams for Landon, see what he can get, what kind of cap room it frees up, and what LA has to give up in return. I mention Landon because even with the grandfather of him, LA still has something like $700-800K of their $2.4 million salary cap tied up in just Landon and David Beckham. Great players for the MLS but it still makes things tight for the rest of the squad.

What about Dominic Kinnear in Houston and Steve Nicol in New England? Both teams made the MLS Cup final for the 2nd year in a row. Both teams have veteran players, some with contracts up for renewal and others possibly looking to shake things up and demand a pay increase despite still having another year or two left on their contracts. They will need to evaluate who they have, what their budget is, who they're willing to pay more or who will be let go from the team. I don't see how that is all that different from what George Burley had to do at Southampton. Granted the league didn't impose the cap on Burley. That was imposed by the company's management. Southampton's board saying that they will only spend XYZ on player wages and actually need to raise some cash from the transfer market to address their debts. The affect is the same.

I say this because in a column for Soccer America a while back Ridge Mahoney touched on this MLS pay issue. He's far from the only one. I don't mean to single him out. He made a point of noting that a possible coach for New York Red bulls, Steve McClaren, was coaching at a club that likely spent more on just 11 players than the entire MLS spends (note: since that column, NYRB hired Osorio). Is that true? I didn't run the numbers but it would not surprise me. Nevertheless, compared to the most of the Premiership Middlesbrough are hardly big spenders. McClaren had to compete for players with other teams not only in the Premiership but also the English Championship (div 2) and in France and Germany and Spain and Italy and Holland and Scotland and.... getting the picture? For example, Fulham, not a club noted for it's spending, was able to lure Franck Queudrue away from Middlesbrough. FQ isn't a household name. He shouldn't be. He's not a great player. But he's still a good left fullback for the Prem. Middlesbrough had him and would've liked to keep around; just not at the price that Fulham were offering. Had McClaren had some sort of a bottomless put full of money for player acquisitions and wages, the story would likely be different. But he didn't and Quueudrue left for greener pastures (pun intended). After all, how do clubs like Liverpool and Manchester United get their big players? I doubt it's the crappy, rainy cold weather nor the northwest's idea of "culture" that are bringing them there. Money talks; compared to many clubs he was competing with, McClaren didn't have it.

Most all of coaches in the game have to deal with monetary constraints. The MLS' salary cap shouldn't be that large of an issue for foreign coaches. The issue will be how they adjust to American culture and to what players in the MLS are capable of doing. That is, how will they adjust to having athletic players who tend to be lacking in tactical knowledge in the game. Well, that and most MLS clubs aren't willing to pay the coaching salaries that foreign coaches are looking to get. Either way you cut it, it's not an unbridgable divide for foreign coaches.

Catching Up With Player Moves - Part II

A couple weeks ago I posted the start of a comprehensive list to track all player moves before the season starts. I haven't noticed anyone doing this and it seemed an important thing to keep track of for future use. We tend to forget things like when last year the Rapids traded a major allocation to Toronto for Conor Casey with Toronto FC picking up part of Casey's salary for the year. There have been some more player moves since then. As always, please share any additions or corrections.

Chicago Fire Out:

• Jim Curtin (traded a conditional pick in 2010 MLS Super Draft to Chicago Fire)
• Matt Pickens (free transfer Queens Park Rangers in English Championship - Div 2)

In:

Chivas USA Out :

• Preston Burpo (traded to San Jose for 4th round pick in 2008 Super Draft)
• Jason Hernandez (expansion draft)

In:

• Jim Curtin (traded a conditional pick in 2010 MLS Super Draft to Chicago Fire)
• Alecko Eskandarian (traded to Real Salt Lake for allocation money)
• Attiba Harris (traded 3rd round pick in 2008 MLS Super Draft to Real Salt Lake)
• Raphaël Wicky (free; last with Swiss club FC Scion)

Colorado Rapids Out :

• Jose Cancela (out of contract)
• Daniel Osorno (retired)
• Tony Sanneh (out of contract)
• Zach Thornton (waived)

In:

• Jose Burciaga (traded KC a 2nd round pick in 2009 MLS Super Draft)
• Chase Hilgenbrinck (free transfer; previously played with Ñublense in Chile)
• Christian Gomez (traded DC United first round draft pick and future considerations, rumored to be Colorado's DP slot for 2 years, for rights)

Columbus Crew Out:

• Marcos Gonzalez (sold to Chilean club Universidad Catolica for an undisclosed sum)
• Andy Herron (out of contract; traded MLS rights to Chicago Fire)
• Kei Kamara (traded to San Jose Earthquakes for Brian Carroll)

In:

• Brian Carroll (traded to Columbus Crew for Kei Kamara)

DC United Out:

• Brian Arguez (transfer; Hertha Berlin)
• Bobby Boswell (traded to Houston Dynamo in exchange for Bobby Boswell)
• Brian Carroll (picked by San Jose in expansion draft)
• Christian Gomez (traded to Rapids for first round draft pick and future considerations, rumored to be Colorado's DP slot for 2 years, for rights)
• Troy Perkins (transfer; sold to Norwegian club Valerenga)
• Greg Vanney (out of contract)

In:

• José Carvallo (transfer Peruvian club Universitario de Deportes; holds green card)
• Gonzalo Martinez (transfer from Columbian club Millonarios)
• Gonzalo Peralta (transfer from Argentine club Almirante Brown)
• Franco Neil (one year loan from Argentine club Argentinos Junior)
• Zach Wells (from Houston Dynamo in exchange for Bobby Boswell)

FC Dallas Out:

• Denilson (out of contract)
• Chris Gbandi (transfered to Norwegian lcub FK Haugesund)
• Clarence Goodson (expansion draft; out of contract)
• Carlos Ruiz (traded to Los Angeles Galaxy for allocation money & 2nd round pick in 2009 MLS Super Draft)

In:

• Duilio Davino (free transfer; previously with Mexican club Club America)

Kansas City Wizards Out :

• Jose Burciaga (traded to CO for a 2nd round pick in 2009 MLS Super Draft)
• Nick Garcia (traded to San Jose for 1st round pick in 2008 MLS Super Draft)
• Eddie Johnson (sold to Fulham in English Premiership for $6 million)

In:

Houston Dynamo Out :

• Ryan Cochrane (top draft in expansion draft)
• Joseph Ngwenya (out of contract; signed by Austrian club SK Austria Karnten)
• Zach Wells (traded to DC United in exchange for Bobby Boswell)

In:

• Bobby Boswell (from DC United in exchange for Zach Wells)
• Tony Caig (free transfer; previously with Scottish club Gretna)

Los Angeles Galaxy Out :

• Chris Albright (traded to New England for allocation money)
• Joe Cannon (traded to San Jose for allocation money)
• Gavin Glinton (expansion draft)
• Cobi Jones (retired)
• Clint Mathis (out of contract and signed with Greek club Ergotelis)

In:

• Clint Mathis (traded NY 3rd round pick in 2008 MLS Super Draft for rights)
• Carlos Ruiz (traded allocation money & 2nd round pick in 2009 MLS Super Draft to FC Dallas)

New England Revolution Out:

• Pat Noonan (out of contract; signed with Norwegian club Aalesund)
• James Riley (expansion draft)

In:

• Chris Albright (traded allocation money to Los Angeles)

New York Red Bulls Out :

• Sal Caccavale (waived)
• Clint Mathis (out of contract)
• Joseph Vide (expansion draft)

In :

• Juan Carlos Osorio (coach; gave Chicago 1st round pick in 2008 Super Draft)
• Zach Thornton (free transfer)

San Jose Earthquakes Out :

• Brian Carroll (traded to Columbus Crew for Kei Kamara)
• Clarence Goodson (out of contract; signed with Norwegian club IK Start)

In :

• Preston Burpo (traded to San Jose for 4th round pick in 2008 Super Draft)
• Joe Cannon (traded allocation money to Los Angeles for Cannon)
• Brian Carroll (expansion draft; previously with DC United)
• Ryan Cochrane (top draft in expansion draft)
• Nick Garcia (traded 1st round pick in 2008 MLS Super Draft to Kansas City)
• Clarence Goodson (expansion draft; previously with FC Dallas)
• Ned Grabavoy (expansion draft; previously with Columbus Crew)
• Ivan Guerrero (expansion draft; previously with Chicago Fire)
• Jason Hernandez (expansion draft; previously with Chivas USA)
• Kei Kamara (traded Brian Carroll to Columbus Crew)
• Chris Pozniak (expansion draft; previously with Toronto FC)
• James Riley (expansion draft; previously with New England Revolution)
• Joseph Vide (expansion draft; previously with New York Red Bulls)

Real Salt Lake Out:

• Alecko Eskandarian (traded to Chivas USA for allocation money)
• Attiba Harris (traded for 3rd round pick in 2008 MLS Super Draft)
• Jamie Watson (waived)

In:

• Ian Joy (signed on a free; previously with FC Pauli in Germany)

Toronto FC Out:

• Chris Pozniak (expansion draft)

In:

Evaluating Team Defense

I just want to take a moment to point out yet another soccer blog, this one focused on the Colorado Rapids. It's View From The Couch. One bone I have to pick is with the idea that the Rapids had the 3rd best defense. I didn't walk away from 2007 thinking Colorado had the 3rd best defense in the league. I didn't think GA in itself was a good indicator. I think one needs to look at shots allowed and shots on goal allowed. When you look at that, you can see why I walked away with that gut feeling. Colorado more or less allowed other teams to take just as many shots as many other teams in the league. The key is that they only Houston allowed less shots on goal. Now SOG is not an exact measurement of the number of quality scoring chances given. I would argue that allowing the shot in the first place indicates some level of chance. But the Rapids allowed only 320 SOG by opposing teams. Other than Chivas USA, that is a lot better than most teams in the league. Bouna Condoul was a big part of that but the defense at a whole helped, too.

What other things can we see from these numbers? I think they show DC United relied on Troy Perkins to save their butts more than their GA indicates. It also shows that Real Salt Lake by far had the worst defense in the league.
Note: SOG (below) really is Shots On Goal Allowed. My apologies for any confusion.

By GA
Team	GA	Shots	Shots / 90	SOG	SOG / 90	Saves	Saves / 90	Saves / SOG	GA / 90	GA / SOG
Houston	23	280	3.111	118	1.311	93	1.033	0.788	0.256	0.195
Chivas USA	28	324	3.600	125	1.389	100	1.111	0.800	0.311	0.224
Colorado	34	320	3.556	161	1.789	121	1.344	0.752	0.378	0.211
DC United	34	349	3.878	164	1.822	124	1.378	0.756	0.378	0.207
Chicago	36	351	3.900	157	1.744	123	1.367	0.783	0.400	0.229
New England	43	359	3.989	169	1.878	120	1.333	0.710	0.478	0.254
Columbus	44	354	3.933	152	1.689	131	1.456	0.862	0.489	0.289
FC Dallas	44	381	4.233	158	1.756	112	1.244	0.709	0.489	0.278
Kansas City	45	342	3.800	159	1.767	110	1.222	0.692	0.500	0.283
NYRB	45	366	4.067	168	1.867	116	1.289	0.690	0.500	0.268
RSL	45	403	4.478	205	2.278	152	1.689	0.741	0.500	0.220
Los Angeles	48	388	4.311	179	1.989	125	1.389	0.698	0.533	0.268
Toronto FC	49	352	3.911	169	1.878	115	1.278	0.680	0.544	0.290
By SOG
Team	SOG	SOG / 90	Shots	Shots / 90	Saves	Saves / 90	Saves / SOG	GA	GA / 90	GA / SOG
Houston	118	1.311	280	3.111	93	1.033	0.788	23	0.256	0.195
Chivas USA	125	1.389	324	3.600	100	1.111	0.800	28	0.311	0.224
Columbus	152	1.689	354	3.933	131	1.456	0.862	44	0.489	0.289
Chicago	157	1.744	351	3.900	123	1.367	0.783	36	0.400	0.229
FC Dallas	158	1.756	381	4.233	112	1.244	0.709	44	0.489	0.278
Kansas City	159	1.767	342	3.800	110	1.222	0.692	45	0.500	0.283
Colorado	161	1.789	320	3.556	121	1.344	0.752	34	0.378	0.211
DC United	164	1.822	349	3.878	124	1.378	0.756	34	0.378	0.207
NYRB	168	1.867	366	4.067	116	1.289	0.690	45	0.500	0.268
New England	169	1.878	359	3.989	120	1.333	0.710	43	0.478	0.254
Toronto FC	169	1.878	352	3.911	115	1.278	0.680	49	0.544	0.290
Los Angeles	179	1.989	388	4.311	125	1.389	0.698	48	0.533	0.268
RSL	205	2.278	403	4.478	152	1.689	0.741	45	0.500	0.220
By Shots Allowed
Team	SOG	SOG / 90	Shots	Shots/ 90	Saves	Saves / 90	Saves / SOG	GA	GA / 90	GA / SOG
Houston	280	3.111	118	1.311	93	1.033	0.788	23	0.256	0.195
Colorado	320	3.556	161	1.789	121	1.344	0.752	34	0.378	0.211
Chivas USA	324	3.600	125	1.389	100	1.111	0.800	28	0.311	0.224
Kansas City	342	3.800	159	1.767	110	1.222	0.692	45	0.500	0.283
DC United	349	3.878	164	1.822	124	1.378	0.756	34	0.378	0.207
Chicago	351	3.900	157	1.744	123	1.367	0.783	36	0.400	0.229
Toronto FC	352	3.911	169	1.878	115	1.278	0.680	49	0.544	0.290
Columbus	354	3.933	152	1.689	131	1.456	0.862	44	0.489	0.289
New England	359	3.989	169	1.878	120	1.333	0.710	43	0.478	0.254
NYRB	366	4.067	168	1.867	116	1.289	0.690	45	0.500	0.268
FC Dallas	381	4.233	158	1.756	112	1.244	0.709	44	0.489	0.278
Los Angeles	388	4.311	179	1.989	125	1.389	0.698	48	0.533	0.268
RSL	403	4.478	205	2.278	152	1.689	0.741	45	0.500	0.220

Catching Up With Player Moves

Seeing Celtic's manager Gordon Strachan saying that he's not planning on making any new player signings reminded me of skepticism I had over Brad Guzan making a move to a British team before the winter transfer window closes. He doesn't meet the requirements. And I didn't think it was likely that a move to a team like Fulham would pass muster even on appeal as they already have 2 excellent goal keepers in Anti Niemi and Kasey Keller. The move for Celtic didnt' seem likely with it initially appearing that it was dependent on their Polish goalkeeper Boruc being sold to another team. It's looking like I'll have to eat a bit of crow now with many sources including Sporting Life reporting that Celtic is willing to sign Guzan even without selling Boruc and that, in fact, Guzan is in Glasgow to sign with the team. If that is the case, who is Chivas USA likely to turn to take over for Guzan? Their previous fill-in for Guzan, Preston "Stone" Burpo, is now in San Jose. My first impulse was to say "well, maybe they're trade Colorado for an old vet like Thorton". But Zach Thornton recently signed with New York.

And that lead me to see the need to start tracking who is in and out at different teams in the MLS. This is not a complete list right now. I know there are players missing off of it. It's a start and I'll keep adding to it. Please feel free to make note of any players in or out and what was behind the move (released, traded for a player, sold, et al.). That includes guys like Clint Mathis who went from NYRB to LA and before LA could sign him on for 2008, moved on a free to Greece. And I'm including San Jose despite all the players coming in from the expansion draft because, as we've seen with players like Goodson and Carroll, those picks can move on to another team before ever setting foot on the pitch for San Jose. For now I'm not going to note draft picks. Those will be tracked in summarizing the drafts and by who is on the roster come opening day in the end of March. Chicago Fire Out: Chris Armas (retired) Jim Curtin (traded to Chivas USA for a conditional pick in 2010 MLS Super Draft) Juan Carlos Osorio (coach; NYRB gave 1st round pick in 2008 Super Draft) Ivan Guerrero (expansion draft) Andy Herron (out of contract) Paulo Wanchope (retired)

In: Andy Herron (just his MLS rights; send 4th round pick in 2010 MLS Super Draft to Columbus)

Chivas USA Out : Preston Burpo (traded to San Jose for 4th round pick in 2008 Super Draft) Jason Hernandez (expansion draft)

In: Jim Curtin (traded a conditional pick in 2010 MLS Super Draft to Chicago Fire) Alecko Eskandarian (traded to Real Salt Lake for allocation money) Attiba Harris (traded 3rd round pick in 2008 MLS Super Draft to Real Salt Lake)

Colorado Rapids Out : Jose Cancela (out of contract) Daniel Osorno (retired) Tony Sanneh (out of contract) Zach Thornton (waived)

In: Jose Burciaga (traded KC a 2nd round pick in 2009 MLS Super Draft) Chase Hilgenbrinck (free transfer; previously played with FC Pauli in Germany)

Columbus Crew Out: Marcos Gonzalez (sold to Chilean club Universidad Catolica for an undisclosed sum) Andy Herron (out of contract; traded MLS rights to Chicago Fire) Kei Kamara (traded to San Jose Earthquakes for Brian Carroll)

In: Brian Carroll (traded to Columbus Crew for Kei Kamara)

DC United Out: Bobby Boswell (traded to Houston Dynamo in exchange for Bobby Boswell) Brian Carroll (picked by San Jose in expansion draft) Troy Perkins (transfer; sold to Norwegian club Valerenga) Greg Vanney (out of contract)

In: Gonzalo Martinez (transfer from Columbian club Millonarios) Franco Neil (one year loan from Argentine club Argentinos Junior) Zach Wells (from Houston Dynamo in exchange for Bobby Boswell)

FC Dallas Out: Denilson (out of contract) Clarence Goodson (expansion draft; out of contract) Carlos Ruiz (traded to Los Angeles Galaxy for allocation money & 2nd round pick in 2009 MLS Super Draft)

In: Duilio Davino (free transfer; previously with Mexican club Club America)

Kansas City Wizards Out : Jose Burciaga (traded to CO for a 2nd round pick in 2009 MLS Super Draft) Nick Garcia (traded to San Jose for 1st round pick in 2008 MLS Super Draft) Eddie Johnson (sold to Fulham in English Premiership for $6 million)

In:

Houston Dynamo Out : Ryan Cochrane (top draft in expansion draft) Joseph Ngwenya (out of contract; signed by Austrian club SK Austria Karnten) Zach Wells (traded to DC United in exchange for Bobby Boswell)

In: Bobby Boswell (from DC United in exchange for Zach Wells)

Los Angeles Galaxy Out : Chris Albright (traded to New England for allocation money) Joe Cannon (traded to San Jose for allocation money) Gavin Glinton (expansion draft) Cobi Jones (retired) Clint Mathis (out of contract and signed with Greek club Ergotelis) In: Clint Mathis (traded NY 3rd round pick in 2008 MLS Super Draft for rights) Carlos Ruiz (traded allocation money & 2nd round pick in 2009 MLS Super Draft to FC Dallas)

New England Revolution Out: Pat Noonan (out of contract; signed with Norwegian club Aalesund) James Riley (expansion draft) In: Chris Albright (traded allocation money to Los Angeles)

New York Red Bulls Out : Sal Caccavale (waived) Clint Mathis (out of contract) Joseph Vide (expansion draft)

In : Juan Carlos Osorio (coach; gave Chicago 1st round pick in 2008 Super Draft) Zach Thornton (free transfer) San Jose Earthquakes Out : Brian Carroll (traded to Columbus Crew for Kei Kamara) Clarence Goodson (out of contract; signed with Norwegian club IK Start)

In : Preston Burpo (traded to San Jose for 4th round pick in 2008 Super Draft) Joe Cannon (traded allocation money to Los Angeles for Cannon) Brian Carroll (expansion draft; previously with DC United) Ryan Cochrane (top draft in expansion draft) Nick Garcia (traded 1st round pick in 2008 MLS Super Draft to Kansas City) Clarence Goodson (expansion draft; previously with FC Dallas) Ned Grabavoy (expansion draft; previously with Columbus Crew) Ivan Guerrero (expansion draft; previously with Chicago Fire) Jason Hernandez (expansion draft; previously with Chivas USA) Kei Kamara (traded Brian Carroll to Columbus Crew) Chris Pozniak (expansion draft; previously with Toronto FC) James Riley (expansion draft; previously with New England Revolution) Joseph Vide (expansion draft; previously with New York Red Bulls)

Real Salt Lake Out: Alecko Eskandarian (traded to Chivas USA for allocation money) Attiba Harris (traded for 3rd round pick in 2008 MLS Super Draft) Jamie Watson (waived)

In: Ian Joy (signed on a free; previously with FC Pauli in Germany)

Toronto FC Out: Chris Pozniak (expansion draft)

In:

Josh Grenier

American defender Josh Grenier. The rumor mill lately has him making a move back to the US. RSL was rumored to have been interested in him. The Colorado Rapids are rumored to be looking to bring home an American defender. Will we see Josh signing with an MLS club soon?

MLS' Best Bicycle Kicks

So which bicycle kick was the most impressive? Little Mauricio Cienfuegos' beauty against the ol' Dallas Burn? Marcelo Balboa against the Crew? Or was it just seeing Carlos Ruiz in a LA Cosm.... I mean, Galaxy uniform?

No DP???

There will no be DP slots for Eddie Johnson, Landon Donovan and Carlos Ruiz next year. Despite originally declaring that the grandfathering in of these players would only occur for one year, the MLS has gone back on it's word. Those 3 players won't count as designated players in 2008 despite making more than $400,000 for the year.

If you're thinking that's good news for all 3 teams, it really benefits Los Angeles the most. Kansas City did not have not used their DP slot. There could be several reasons for it but it's likely they didn't want to make a move for a DP that was beyond a 1 year commitment knowing in 2008 if Eddie Johnson was still around that they would need a 2nd slot for him.

FC Dallas brought in Denilson half-way through the 2007 season. But his contract was only guaranteed for 2007. Even if Denilson had performed wonderfully on the pitch, which he has not, FC Dallas wouldn't be committed to bringing him back in 2008. They wouldn't have had to give away an arm in the leg to keep Carlos Ruiz (well, assuming they'd actually want to do that).

The Los Angeles Galaxy were the only team of those 3 facing a situation where they would have had to secure a 2nd DP slot to keep their grandfathered player, Landon Donovan. It was highly unlikely that the Galaxy would trade away David Beckham. For 2008 they were, as the original DP rule stated, going to need a 2nd DP slot since Landon Donovan is making a something a bit short of a million a year. The problem is every team knows that to be the case. There was no poker to be played; no picking up a 2nd DP slot on the cheap like New York did last year. Worse, Los Angeles didn't have much to offer other teams. And what little they had to offer would also mean giving away what talent they did have on rather mediocre 2007 roster.

I'd love to know why they did this. As the season wound down there was a lot of chatter about the MLS adding a 2nd DP slot for 2008. That seemed odd since they hadn't made the 1st one permanent. It was a limited time deal (3 years, IIRC) that was to be reviewed in the future. More so most teams did not have a designated player, let alone were looking for one. The big three - LA, Chicago and NY - had all used theirs. FC Dallas was the only other team to do the same. And New York had already secured a 2nd DP slot from Chivas USA before the season started. Why would most MLS owner / investors be in favor of opening to a second one? Having a home game or two with a larger crowd would be nice but they're already losing the arms race; why did a bigger hole for themselves?

My two-bits worth on it is that Los Angles was the largest source of that push. Chicago may have played along seeing the attendance boot Blanco gave them. It seems unlikely that many owners were taking the idea of a 2nd DP slot seriously. They may have even recognized that LA was pushing it. And if they thought the league was taking it seriously, they may have felt it had a chance despite a lack of strong support by most ownership groups. So permanently grandfathering in Landon, Eddie and Ruiz may have seemed like a good way to dodge the bullet of having pressure to fill not only one but a 2nd designated player spot. If that's the case, chalk one up for LA in the sly politics column.

The remaining question is how this will be treated for the salary cap. I would assume that they'll be treated as a 2nd DP which means only $350,000 of their salary goes toward to the team's cap. The question is, what will that cap be? It'll be tough to put together a complete roster with $750,000 of cap space tied up in just 2 players when the cap is unlikely to be much beyond $2 million.

SI's article on this one is here.

Seattle Announcement On Tuesday

According to the Seattle Times, Major League Soccer (MLS) will be announcing on Tuesday November 13th that Seattle will be getting an MLS franchise. This rumor has been accepted as fact. Tuesday it will become official. Is this a good move by the league?

Chivas USA With Best MLS Home Record Ever?

The 2007 Major League Soccer season is almost over. Beside playoff significance, the upcoming Chivas USA - Colorado game is important in that Chivas USA could be on the way to set the MLS record for the best unbeaten home record. The 2005 San Jose Earthquakes, since then having relocated to Houston, own the unbeaten record having gone 9-0-7 for 34 Points in 16 games (2.125 points / game). As long as they don't lose either of their last 2 home games, Chivas USA will best San Jose's 2005 record.

Even if Chivas USA win out they'll come up short in 2 other measurements. The 2000 Chicago Fire have the most points overall at home, 40 in 16 games. The 2002 San Jose Earthquakes have the best points per game with 37 points in 14 games for 2.6429 points per game.

Current Record
2007 Chivas USA 10-0-3 : 33 points - 13 games (2.5385 points / game)

Below are the possible home records that Chivas USA could end up with in 2007. They have Colorado and Dallas at home to close the season out. Neither of those teams have been doing anything to show that Chivas isn't quite capable of winning both of them.

Possible final home records for Chivas USA :
10-2-3 : 33 points - 15 games (2.2 points / game )
10-1-4 : 34 points - 15 games (2.2667 points / game )
10-0-5 : 35 points - 15 games (2.3333 points / game )
11-1-3 : 36 points - 15 games (2.4 points / game )
11-0-4 : 37 points - 15 games (2.4667 points / game )
12-0-3 : 39 points - 15 games (2.6 points / game )

Previous MLS season best home records by points :
2006 Houston 12-3-1 : 37 Points - 16 games (2.3125 points / game)
2005 New England 11-2-3 : 36 Points - 16 games (2.25 points / game)
2004 DC United 9-2-4 : 31 Points - 15 games (2.0667 points / game)
2003 Chicago 10-1-4 : 34 Points - 15 games (2.2667 points / game )
2002 San Jose 12-1-1 : 37 Points - 14 games (2.6429 points / game)
2001 Miami 10-2-2 : 32 Points - 14 games (2.2857 points / game)
2000 Chicago 13-2-1 : 40 Points - 16 games (2.5 points / game)
1999 Dallas 13-3 1SOW : 37 Points - 16 games (2.3125 points / game)
1998 Chicago 13-3 : 39 Points - 16 games (2.4375 points / game)
1997 Tampa Bay12-4 : 36 Points - 16 games (2.25 points / game)
1996 Tampa Bay 12-4 : 36 Points - 16 games (2.25 points / game)

Ruiz - Clark Videos

If you haven't heard, during Houston's 3-0 win over FC Dallas Ricardo Clark and Carlos Ruiz were red carded. Clark's snapping and kicking another player is sickening and inexcusable. Nevertheless Ruiz's punching him in the back and then acting as though he was kicked in the face is inexcusable in another way. The question is, what should their punishments be?

The Next MLS Team

It looks like the next MLS expansion team will be in Seattle. They will join the league in 2009. Will 3 years of expansion thin out the player too much and affect the league? Will the league go to a single table in 2009?

Soccer By Ives MLS Underground

Those Things We Say

It's that time of year again. Major League Soccer's season is winding down and the last spots in the playoffs are being decided. There is one thing about this time of year that really bothers me though, the cliched statement about peaking too soon.

I don't have an issue with cliches as a whole. They're often useful in us having a common language to describe what is going on. For example if I told you that a striker was often coming back looking for the ball, you would understand that the striker literally did not have problems seeing the ball. You would know that they weren't having the ball passed to them and getting touches (another cliche we use for that is "seeing the ball"). So they start playing further back to try to get involved. We can say the player's coming back looking for the ball and we know what is meant.

The cliche that bothers me this time of year is that of referring to teams peaking too soon. To me it implies that there is some science to how teams play. There is some pre-allocated amount of wins, good play, accurate passes, and goals that each team gets for the entire season including the playoffs and they better use them well less they use them all up before they win the MLS Cup.

Team's don't have some predetermined number of wins, losses, good play, bad play or any of that. Any given game is determined by what they do on they accomplish on the pitch. A team could go 30-0-0 if they can get the job done in each and every game. They could play really well at the beginning of the season, guarantee a play-off spot and close out the season with a string of losses and still win the MLS Cup.

That aspect of the saying peaking too soon isn't so bad in itself. It also has the connotation that the season is a marathon and you don't want to wear yourself out too soon or go into the playoffs missing a couple starters. What really bothers me is the context in which it gets used.

The real problem with the ol' saying is that it's used to imply that some team that hasn't clinched a playoff spot yet is somehow doing something smart. The earlier a team clinches a spot, the more wiggle room a team has in how they use their players. They have the luxury of resting a player with a niggling injury. Or they may give a rookie a chance at getting some time to have them better prepared in case they're needed during the playoff run. And there also is the mental aspect of being able to relax going into a game knowing that a loss or a tie isn't going to ruin things; you can just worry about making sure you play well both as individuals and a team.

On the other hand a team that isn't peaking too soon tends to find themselves struggling to make the playoffs. They have to take risks to try to take maximum points. An example of this is when the Colorado Rapids played Chivas USA on September 16th. They started Mike Petke despite a nasty stomach flu. The result of that was not only an early substitution out in the 23rd minute but, I would assert, Facundo Erpen getting a deserved red card in the 14th minute. Petke was lost in no man's land (not something he's prone to do especially this year). It left a seam for Laurent Merlin to run down after a errant Rapids pass turned the ball over. Erpen wasn't able to catch up to Merlin until he was in the box. Why Erpen felt compelled to take Merlin down instead of letting Bouna Coundoul, arguably the most athletic keeper in the league, handle the situation is another matter (would it be Erpen if he didn't do one or three dumb things each game?). The point being the Rapids had to take risks to try to take points. Instead of walking away with 3 points from a home win, they squeked out a late goal for a point. What's the gap between them and the last playoff spot right now? It's just 2 points.

There are many other examples like this. I'd love to for you to share them in the comments. Do you remember a time late in the season when your team was forced to play an injured player only for him to make the injury worse? Were key players in need a rest after a string of club and international games but with the team apparently trying to peak at just the right moment, they were still played and at that looked absent?

I'd love to see the pundits stop using this phrase about a team peaking too soon. The beautiful game isn't some dry form of accounting with a ball and grass. There isn't some ceiling in place for a maximum amount of good play. Soccer is a classic case of chaos theory at work in the world. Encourage teams to go out there and get the job done. And please, please don't use this phrase to excuse a team that's procrastinating. They can't turn on and off good play as though it's regulated by a switch. If they haven't shored up a playoff spot, it's because they've made mistakes earlier in the season.

Thunder To MLS Follow-Up

Last week I mentioned that the word on the street was the Minnesota Thunder were about to get new owners [props to Throughball for flaggin' it; and props to the usual MN folks, too]. The change in ownership still isn't official nor is it clear that the owners, if the deal goes through, can get the team a new stadium built in 2 years plus get the team into the MLS. But seeing it mentioned again, this time by the Twin Cities publication City Pages, helps one stay hopeful.