Daily news roundups

Fortress Talen Energy Stadium, Steelmen top City Islanders, FIFA wants restitution

Photo: Paul Rudderow

Philadelphia Union

Jim Curtin’s weekly press conference is scheduled for today at 12:30 pm.

Speaking to reporters after Tuesday’s training session, the team’s first since Saturday’s road win over Columbus, Curtin said of Sunday’s home opener against New England, “A win against Columbus means nothing if we don’t back it up with three points in this building.”

Curtin said the team is setting a minimum goal of ten wins at Talen Energy Stadium for 2016: “Ten of 17 may not sound like a lot to people, but, you know, the franchise record is 12 wins in a year. If you get ten in that building, which I think is a realistic goal, you’ll be in the playoffs. I believe that. If you look at the (tables), right around 14 wins pretty much assures you, obviously, ties are factored in, but if you get to 14 wins, historically that’s been a benchmark (for getting into the postseason). Ten at home is the goal, minimum. It starts on Sunday against a good New England team.”

Curtin also provided some info on the ankle injury that kept Vincent Nogueira out of the lineup against Columbus:

He had a little bit of injury in training. We talked to him after and he didn’t think it was much. He got on the plane [to Columbus] and woke up the next morning, maybe not feeling as good and as certain (as he was before). We talked to the medical staff, they put him through some tests, and we made the decision, literally right at the pregame meal, that we’d make the change and put Warren (Creavalle) in. We didn’t want it to be a situation where Vince is out there for 15 minutes, then all of a sudden we have to burn a sub. We wanted him to be 100 percent to start the game. We informed Warren at the pregame meal, and he did a heck of a job. He came into a tough situation and broke up a lot of plays and did really well.

Kevin Kinkead reports at Philly Voice that Nogueira did not participate in Tuesday’s training session. However, Tranquillo Barnetta did practice.

At MLSsoccer.com, Dave Zeitlin has a piece on Ilsinho. The Brazilian says of moving to MLS, “I always followed the league no matter where I was playing.I saw the league was growing, and it’s a very exciting format playoff-wise. And I wanted to be a part of it. In my past leagues, there’s only been two favorites that are probably going to win it. Over here, anybody can win any week. It’s a very exciting league. That’s what I’ve noticed so far.”

Kinkead reports Curtin said the best is yet to come from Ilsinho, who is still reaching match fitness: “There’s some things starting to gel. It’s not perfect yet. C.J. (Sapong) is still doing a lot of the holdup play and a lot of the dirty work. Ilsinho is starting to get used to his teammates and find his fitness. He’s dropped about eight pounds since preseason, he said. His weight in the Champion’s League I think was 188; I think he’s still around 196.”

Asked what weight he wants Ilsinho to reach, Curtin laughed, “I just want him to be playing well. I don’t care how much he weighs. That’s just a reference point for where he’s at, and he’s still gaining fitness. He’s a special player. We need him on the ball more, as much as we possibly can.”

PRO has announced the officials for Sunday’s home opener against New England. Carrying the whistle will be Nima Saghafi. The ARs will be Sean Hurd and Adam Wienckowski. Alan Kelly will be the fourth official.

Philly Sports Network on the importance of winning the home opener.

Vote Andre Blake for Save of the Week!

At MLSsoccer.com, the Union move up two spots to No. 17 in the latest power rankings.

Brotherly Game compares player ratings from the win in Columbus.

Bethlehem Steel

An Amoy Brown strike in the final minute of play saw Bethlehem Steel defeat Harrisburg City Islanders, 1-0, in a closed door preseason game at Lehigh University’s Goodman Stadium on Tuesday. WFMZ has footage of the goal:

video platformvideo managementvideo solutionsvideo player

More on the game from Unauthorized Bethlehem Steel FC Blog. Allentown Morning Call has a photo gallery from the game.

BSFC jersey

Is this the Bethlehem kit or simply a training jersey? Photo: April Bartholomew/Allentown Morning Call.

An article a The Bent Musket notes, Isaac Nana Addai “has been training on and off with Bethlehem Steel, Philadelphia Union’s USL team, for the past couple months. He might have a shot at a USL contract after the season starts.”

Philadelphia Union Academy

The beginning of play in the Generation adidas Cup final starts on Friday in Frisco, Texas. In Group C of the Premier Division, The Union Academy U-16 team faces Colorado Rapids on Friday, followed by Pumas UNAM on Sunday, March 20, and Tokyo FC on Tuesday, March 22. All of the Union games kickoff at 11 am ET and none of the teams games will be streamed. Click here for the tournament schedule. For more on the tournament, click here. More at Brotherly Game.

Local

The Temple women’s team has announced its spring schedule.

MLS

Former Union man and Lancaster, Pa. native Andrew Wenger has been voted the Player of the Week after scoring a goal and two assists in Houston’s 5-0 humiliation of FC Dallas.

New York Red Bulls has waived another one of the Homegrown Player signings it made in December. This time they have waived midfielder Chris Thorsheim.

On the video replay front, Grant Wahl reports the league “will conduct extensive video testing using IFAB’s recommendations at the Generation Adidas Cup.” MLS could implement video replays as soon as 2017.

US

The Guardian considers why the US hasn’t been able to produce a global soccer star.

The 91st Minute on how the liberal substitution rule and short schedule in the high school and college game harm player development.

Elsewhere

FIFA announced today it has “submitted documents to the US authorities in an effort to reclaim tens of millions of dollars pocketed illegally by corrupt FIFA members and other football officials…In its capacity as a ‘victimised institution.'”

FIFA president Gianni Infantino said in a statement,

The convicted defendants abused the positions of trust they held at FIFA and other international football organisations and caused serious and lasting damage to FIFA, its member associations and the football community. The monies they pocketed belonged to global football and were meant for the development and promotion of the game. FIFA as the world governing body of football wants that money back and we are determined to get it no matter how long it takes.

The AP reports this is the “first time” FIFA has acknowledged “that votes were bought in past World Cup hosting contests.” You can read the cover letter for FIFA’s restitution request by clicking here. To read the full 22-page restitution request, click here. More from The Guardian, ESPN, ReutersPA Sports, and Sky Sports.

Inside World Football reports, “The former president of the Brazilian FA (CBF), Ricardo Teixeira, is fighting what appears to be a losing battle against the parliamentary inquiry (CPI) led by senator Romario into corruption in Brazilian football. His request to protect bank secrecy has been denied. ” Teixeira is among those indicted by the US as part of its FIFA corruption investigation.

ESPN reports Karl-Heinz Rummenigge “has confirmed to FAZ that clubs and UEFA are currently considering a third European competition to be placed above Champions League and Europa League.” However, a UEFA spokesperson tells Goal.com this is not true: “UEFA constantly reviews the format of its competitions and invites stakeholders, including member associations, to share their ideas in a consultative process. There are no concrete proposals on the table at this stage as we are just beginning a new three-year cycle (2015-18) for club competitions.”

ASN looks at the Chinese Super League. Big spending but what’s underneath?

51 Comments

  1. Just a couple of quick points:
    Curtin’s Home win goal is a great idea IMO. If there’s any chance for us, we MUST win at home. The only playoff year was based on the home wins and a stingy defense.
    .
    I’m a little more impressed with Creavalle after reading this. He most likely had no thought in his mind of coming in this game, especially with Alberg and Le Toux virtually guaranteed to be 1/2 off the bench. He made some mistakes, very little in comparison to Carroll, but it makes sense since he was just thrown in there last minute.
    .
    Why the hell is Curtin letting Ilsinho play himself into fitness? Doesn’t this go against everything he proclaims? Alberg is coming in full fitness. Leo would be better in the middle with Le Toux on the wing. Ilsinho has looked a step slow in body and mind and it makes sense now. Instead Curtin is laughing about it. Makes no sense at all.
    .
    Can’t wait to go to the home opener Sunday. A great test to start the year. Also, congrats to Wenger.

    • old soccer coach says:

      Curtin is making the judgment call to play Ilsinho into shape. As long as the fitness improves and the role played in the game plan does also, I see little problem.
      .
      If the rest of the team likes the player for whom the exception to the rule is being made, and if the team accepts that that player is obviously superior in quality to the alternatives, and if the coach has openly and honestly explained to everyone why he is breaking his own rule and is trusted by his players, AND if the move is “working” on the field in games, then the exception will work, at least for a while.
      .
      if all my guesswork above were to happen to be correct, I would take it as a sign of Curtin taking significant risks to gain early success. Whether that means he’s on the hot seat only time will tell. He’s “going for it” for whatever reasons, and I applaud that approach. 3 points in March counts the same as three points in October.
      .

      • Does Curtain have a rule about fitness? If he does, I don’t remember reading it or hearing about it. The main thing he looks for is how well they do in practice. A player can do well in practice but still be unfit. Right? Sure it may be splitting hairs. If he feels Ilsinho is one of his better players but can only go 60, then so be it. I have no problems with that, and it breaks no “Curtain commandments” that I’ve seen.

      • I don’t think this is a Curtin Commandment either. Last season I recall he regularly started Maidana before he was at “90 minute fitness levels” and everyone expected him to come out after 60-70 minutes. Eventually he developed that fitness level and he was regularly going 90 minutes by the end of the year.

      • Yes I agree he has never come out about fitness. I guess I was inferring that not being match fit would translate to practice as not practicing as well as others.

      • Buccistick says:

        Thank you for articulating so carefully the concerns I have harbored, in all their contingent glories — from dressing room to MLS standings. Over a 34-game season, Ilsinho still seems a massive gamble (but at what price, we never know).

        Anyhoo, yet another example of why this here PSP rocks, on so many levels!

  2. old soccer coach says:

    The “Unauthorized Bethlehem Steel FC Blog” referenced above is posting quite frequently at the moment and is being as thorough as it seems possible to be given the lack of information being made public. I offer these opinions after reading through the articles. Upon occasion you will need German to understand everything, which makes me wonder if der Fussballzuschauer (perhaps it means the Football Observer, based on a translating device found on the internet) may be the author?

  3. So, ummmmmm, are we rooting for FIFA now? I’m not an attorney, but it looks like they are trying to get money from Blazer, Warnet, et al. Some smart person please footsplain it to me.

    • FIFA is doing damage control, media relations, US large corporate law-firm style. “Hero, victim, fool, or villain?” is the narrative. FIFA is going for “victim”. In my view, they will never rise above “fool”. I don’t think they care if they actually get the money back. CONCACAF and CONMEBOL have better claims to it.

    • old soccer coach says:

      Feels like a reach to me, given that they were reportedly told if they failed to pass the reform package at the extraordinary congress, they would loose their victim classification and become a target under the organized crime prosecuting statute RICO as an organized crime entity. Seems like they are poking the Bear.
      .
      It does tell you that FIFA may have real money problems. They are two years away from their next major burst of income, and Putin’s Russia is not world famous for fiscal integrity, so how much they will actually realize from 2018 may be a bit uncertain.

      • agree its not voluntary, but their silk stocking law firm would have told them to pitch this PR play regardless. And re WC18, most of the money comes from TV – and most of that from Western Europe and North America – which I would imagine they do control. They will rebuild their bank accounts and move forward, “a new cleaner, won’t be victimized again (until we admit we are) FIFA”.

    • Gabriele Marcotti at has a nice Q&A summary of the issues over on the ESPN FC site.

    • Section 114 (Formerly) says:

      Talk about unclean hands!!!! Maybe USSoccer uses this to file its own claim, naming FIFA as well as the defendants????

  4. old soccer coach says:

    The most interesting point above from my point of view is that Barnetta practiced yesterday. Kinkead Komes Thru!

    • Agreed. I thought getting at least one of Barnetta / Noguiera back for Sunday was key. (Obviously, getting both back would be best.) Sounds like we’re on our way to doing just that – getting at least one back.

      • old soccer coach says:

        Curtin’s presser suggests that fitness with limit Barnetta if he even makes the 18.

      • Here’s a question, with the midfield fully healthy (minus Edu), who are the starters and first subs?

      • With Edu being out, and assuming Nogs and Barnetta are healthy, I’d go Nogs, Barnetta and Alberg. For me this was the best showing midfield trio of the preseason.

      • Agreed.
        .
        I’ll go a step further, though, and say that’s our best trio even if Edu is healthy…

      • You may be right Mr. Ling. It’s certainly a better possessing trio. I just think it’s a bit lacking on the defensive front. But maybe they wouldn’t have to play defensively as often if they possessed the ball more. Interesting conundrum.

  5. RE: Guardian Article.
    .
    The win now mentality is crippling…. this to me is the crux of the travel soccer problem in America… Nothing new there… from my perch…winning as evidence of superiority trumps true individual development.
    .
    Start building street futsal courts on old run down courts, start hosting open futsal games and leagues where kids of differing ages play against each other…this notion of always clumping children into the same age group is debilitating… the natural hierarchy of play dictates the skill, flair and creativity to ‘survive and thrive’
    .
    Pass time as culture. Recreation. Academy. Professional.
    .
    Kids need to eat sleep and breath the game… that is why we have not produced one world class player… we have a culture problem and until that is address at its core- not likely MLS will ever produce a World Class talent… the other leagues our American players migrate to will produce them. This is likely an undeniable fact as much as I wish it was wrong.
    .
    We think two practices a week and a game or two matters… if a kid isn’t touching the ball every day on their own- our league won’t be good enough, let alone develop World Class talent or even a Lionel Messi. I’m curious how many of the Union Academy kids are grinding out their talent to skill… how many are ISO of play as if to not play is to not breath. We have a Pragmatist that visits and writes wonderfully here… I am the idealist.
    .
    Oh and of course an open pyramid but blah blah blah blah.

    • old soccer coach says:

      speaking from direct coaching experience, El P, there is an unacceptable level of physical danger to the young immature boy when competing all out against a larger, stronger adult man. The kid can get hurt, badly.
      .
      In situation where aggression can be controlled, absolutely, I agree with you. Let the technical skills and soccer IQs float to the highest possible level.
      .
      But little boys playing big men in an all-out game gets the little boys hurt. And the coach dismissed and sued, potentially, for not judging physical safety.
      .
      It is a fundamental judgment that has to be made in any sport, not just soccer, to protect the health and safety of the player.

      • On the flip side of that argument, one of the best kids I coach in our local rinky-dink rec league is so good because he’s constantly playing various pickup games with his father, uncles, older siblings, their friends, etc. He has to learn to protect the ball better on the dribble. Odds are, these older teens and adults are in fact “bringing their game down” a notch or two to keep this kid (and the few others) safe.
        .
        But I think this is what El P is talking about – pick up games with family, friends, neighbors, etc.My daughter and I can go out front of our house with a basketball, and within 20 or 30 minutes there are enough neighbors outside to play a 3v3 or 4v4 game most days. If we take a soccer ball out to the front lawn – or up to the middle school or high school fields – we have the grass all to ourselves.

      • in my anectdotal experience, playing with and against older people was the most beneficial aspect of learning the game, mainly because I thought I was getting better … until I went up against the older people and I wasn’t; and conversely, I wondered if I was getting better … then I was able to hang with them and be taken seriously. U-14 coach: “a player with belief and confidence is a better bet than a player despite abundant skill with no belief or confidence”. Gov jerry brown was right back in the 70s – self esteem matters most of all.

      • OSC with all due respect…I do not think young kids playing with adults is what I inclined to argue for… but a 6 year old playing with 8 and 9 years old and a 9 year old playing with 11 and 12 years old IMO is perfectly suitable and acceptable…
        .
        I remember being a child and this was the governing dynamic of play… and in a day and age when kids do so little suburban playing with one another because they are constantly racing off to practice…it is one more thing we adults could help facilitate- all the while being as on the periphery as possible….
        .
        There is this kid Colby Kraynak who I have mentioned on this site before…he’s 12 and he has signed with Espanyol and during the summer he and his father trundled all over Barcelona ISO pick up games and they were everywhere from makeshift streets to old basketball courts changed into futsal courts with old ratty cages without nets…to verandas between cafes using trees as goals…and the kids range in age from 12 to mid 20’s.
        .
        I’ve seen the home videos…
        .
        When you grow up playing the ball…the physicality is nullified a bit. The street is where the game HAS to grow in this country….and you don’t slide tackle on the street. This has been my whole argument… if we really want to affect change… give kids back their 3 or 4 hours of U10 travel time and put it into building a street culture…the game will explode from there…just like professional basketball.
        .
        What upset me is people call me an elitist regarding this fundamental philosophical shift and it is the exact opposite of elitist is is rooted in a worldview of being poor.

      • A few neighborhood dads and I have been getting together with our kids — 3rd graders — for fun play. The kids love it. They love playing this game they created called World Cup, which is an every-kid-for-himself frenzy the rules of which are still unclear to me. So to your point, El P., I agree. Regimented (and often pricey) skills training doesn’t instill in these kids a love for the game. It doesn’t help them get creative the way pickup basketball in city courts produces the best hoops players in the country.
        .
        In a way, it’s odd, because soccer really lends itself to the pickup game. All you need is a ball. You can (and my kids do) make goals out of anything. Maybe we just don’t yet have the number of fathers and mothers passing the game down to their sons and daughters yet. I feel like that’s just starting now.

      • Those kids didn’t create that game. We use it in practice from time to time, usually in pairs though rather than everybody for themselves.

      • old soccer coach says:

        Criticisms and modifications accepted and understood, the boarding school where I got my first assignment as a soccer coach over forty years ago (I could walk and chew gum at the same time so I was a soccer coach) had a run of outstanding teams built around faculty brats who all played together regardless of age. And John Ling’s point about being careful of the little ones applied quite thoroughly.
        .
        I am confident that the examples cited were vetted by the adults in charge on a case by case basis. If it is appropriate, I am all for it. But playing “up” is generally exceptional rather than usual. And sometimes different rates of physical maturation preclude it.

      • Agreed 100% I’m looking to get rid of the playing up mentality altogether.
        .
        less you have a kid in the academy who is exceptional…
        .
        Playing up would cease to exist… just like a kid who shows up to run at a basketball court doesn’t think I’m playing up… he just plays and benefits.

    • A major problem I have noticed when discussing this with various friends/coworkers is mindset of most of the parents. Some see the greater picture, but almost all of them without fail use the same argument, “why are we changing how everything is done for .1% of the players who may be truly excellent?”
      .
      They want the kid to win. They want the competition and score. They like the 1-2x per week practices because it fits well with their schedules and the other 200 things going on.
      .
      Nothing changes here when 90% of parents don’t get the overall goal or how cultivating talent and trying to win can be one in the same. The kid usually is playing Soccer/Basketball/Baseball and some kind of combination in summers. They will continue some into High School and very few beyond that.

      • Because the game has been built this way by US Soccer and now MLS… that too is the whole point… travel soccer exploded as an outlet for superiority in a time when there was no significant professional league.
        .
        Parents accept what they have been given… but if in ten years the next generation of parents wasn’t driving their kid to 2 practices a week and a game in NJ on a saturday morning because their kid was playing in the old basketball court down the street and had a rec game at the elementary school I bet most of those parents would be quite pleased with the less demanding requirements…

        .
        Long view.
        .
        then if you have an outlier kid who is grinding out their game through sweat equity and feeds off of futbol at 7 and 8 THAT kid is exceptional and THOSE parents need to asses their values about time commitment… not every parent with a kid playing the game…
        .
        we have it backwards… this is my point every time this comes up to urge and help those 90% parents to begin thinking of ways to change their and our paradigm.
        .
        My platform is cultural shift.

      • BTW…good points Great One… forgot to highlight… I get to rambling…. sorry.

      • I agree with your points, I think the target is the parents and their mindset.
        .
        Basketball is the ultimate pickup sport in this country, there are courts everywhere. I remember the first time I visited Rome in college and the weird similarity but difference of seeing the same sized courts that we have here, but they were all for soccer. Kids there went to those courts and played after school. That’s what we need. I think building local field like that would go a long way. Make them multipurpose for Tennis/Soccer/Lacrosse if it helps with funding.

      • I think one major point that is missing is supply vs. demand. Demand = desire. So then the question becomes, how do kids desire to play everyday (whether it’s after school free play or organized)? My father was never interested in hockey or basketball. It just wasn’t important in his development. But I learned to love hockey from my uncles. One of my earliest memories is sitting on the floor next to my uncles watching a Flyers game. My love of basketball (now mostly defunct) came late in middle school to early high school. This was due to having friends caring about march madness and doing tourney pools in school. These loves then grew further by playing EA sports video games. I credit NHL 94 on Sega Genesis for helping me convince a group of 10 or so friends to start playing street hockey on roller blades in our High school years. Most thought of hockey as a joke sport. But EA legitimized it with their games. Guys who never skated before in their life were convinced to buy roller blades and start falling on their a$$es (in mid-winter freezing weather) at an age that Canadians would laugh at.
        .
        My point is, how do we capture the interest of the children. I think the answer is early exposure. If you get their desire going, it won’t matter about soccer fields and futsal fields. They will find two sets of trees or four trash cans, and they will play because they want too. They will say I’m Messi, or I’m Ronaldo, and things will grow organically from there. I just think building fields to build them, is putting the cart before the horse.

      • I should also add, and most likely more important, was the emergence of ESPN and Sportscenter. Man I like to type. Sorry for being so long-winded. I really need to work on being more concise.

      • Not that I’m a good example of exceptional, but I personally found my greatest level of creative development once I went off to college years ago and started playing in pickup games at Penn State whenever I could. Never would have tried half the stuff I did there, and so much more of it works than you would imagine from the way your youth coaches lecture. Games varied in size from 11v11 all the way down to 3 a side, playing a man short, half field games so you only needed one keeper, mini goals, whatever was available that day. In order to encourage the fearless creativity that inspires the truly great, they need an area to hone their game in their own way, free of the judgement of coaches and even parents (that almost always have no clue either)

  6. Heard something interesting today on SiriusXM. There is a U19 UEFA Youth League and they just played the quarterfinals. The Anderlecht team defeated Barcelona 2-0! Also, the Chelsea – Ajax game seems to have been an incredible game (supposedly much better than the 2 Champions League games that were played yesterday). More at http://www.uefa.com/uefayouthleague/

    • Hey Guido… good stuff….check out the latest These Football Times article on the Dutch and Champions League… a good read…
      .
      http://thesefootballtimes.co/2016/03/13/can-a-dutch-club-win-the-champions-league-again/

      • Thanks for posting! Great article. I actually think a Dutch team could repeat. Just look at Leicester. They are a team built on a budget with good insight which players could shine and a great coach. Also, PSV missed getting into the quarter-finals by a whisker yesterday. They had a first class keeper and should have finished better on couple easy chances they had. Also they were unlucky to hit the cross bar on the 15th penalty. Seems the other 14 were world-class.

      • Could be… certainly an interesting argument… interesting how TV revenue has caused such a huge divide between the Haves, the Have Mosts and the Have Lesses…
        .
        How good were those two games between PSV and AM though… not a single goal in 210+ minutes… the day when our soccer culture can embrace that is the day we will know for sure we are on the right path.
        .
        Brilliant football between two so evenly match teams it came down to the manager in el Calderon imploring his fans to set off the spot kick.
        .
        That might have gone on forever.
        .

  7. old soccer coach says:

    In reference to the caption of the Photo of the unidentified BSFC player above, it cannot be kit since it has no numbers on the front of the shirt or on the shorts (or on the backs of any of the back shots in the rest of the series of 25 photos available in the photogallery on the Morning Call’s website.

  8. old soccer coach says:

    General “Heads Up” to any STH going on Sunday who is planning on using Union Dollars. I just tried to update my account and failed to be allowed to log in. Check before you assume it works, apparently.
    .

    • Thanks for the heads up. It’s a good reminder for me to check my balance in general, and to make sure I have cash on hand just in case…

  9. Thoughts on the article about high school/college substitutions being a major issue? Because passing drops off a cliff after halftime, that means college soccer should move to a professional 3 sub rule? Wouldn’t fresher legs from regular substitution help with passing completion? My main objection of course is that at high school and college levels, why have a group of kids in the 18 going games at a time without any game action? The best players are still going to play a majority of minutes, but what amateur player is sticking around to play 15 minutes every third game? As a paid professional, being the 18th man on the Union roster has its perks…but making it more difficult for a kid to ever see the field on a HS or college team? I’m not seeing the value…

  10. What is doing on with the NYRB’s and their home grown players? This off-season in December they signed (to much ballyhoo) six homegrown players and have now (by my count) waived three of them just months after signing them. It just seems crazy to sign all these kids and then cut them after a few months and mess up any college eligibility that they may have had.

  11. Re: Guardian Article – Payments to local clubs.
    .
    I have read this section of the article several times and I can’t seem to grasp what the goal of US Soccer, MLS and MLSPU is. There must be some tangible or idealistic reason why they are fighting the solidarity payment so strongly. From what I can tell, it’s 100% about not losing a cent of $$$, and every reason given is to justify their position. I would think that the local clubs receiving a few bucks, but elevating the overall skill level or number of skilled players would only eventually bring more money and higher transfers to the MLS clubs.
    .
    Some or most of the MLS teams have academies now, which is great, but that still only targets a small number of players and is largely based on a select few local guys who give the suggestions. Wouldn’t the MLS teams want other local clubs bringing other local talent along at a higher rate? I mean think about this year, if we didn’t get screwed with the Rosenberry claim. We would have had him AND Vincent. These homegrown players can be massive boosts to their teams.
    .
    Then again, US Soccer, MLS and MLSPU oppose the payments, I just can’t wrap my head around it being only about money.

    • What I took from it was the concern about child labor laws and the “double dipping” with pay to play. It seems they are trying to avoid too much inspection of what goes on. More of “don’t look at the man behind the curtain” kind of stuff. As always, I could be wrong.

    • I couldn’t agree more– its a big mess rooted in control and it’s about worldview again… in a single entity system, MLS is concerned first with ITS bottom line, it is daddy- nothing happens without MLS consent.
      .
      The irony in all this with team names like Atlanta United FC, NYCFC, Seattle FC is…they are puppets… the whole MLS operation is a rouge based on control and fear… they aren’t clubs… no way. They are franchises with a parent organization controlling the information the money every thing.
      .
      Yes NASL folded… well not entirely… it corrected. All about money and control… what if Kid A plays in a fancy tourney for some SoCal Club team and ManCity wants to sign him for $1.5 Million. Who gets that kicker?
      .
      Its a joke and many can argue this is what’s best and maybe it turns out to be just like the other major sports…the trouble is in all those sports we are already producing the highest quality players in the world. Not in this game though… and that factors in… hugely.
      .
      Ugh. I gotta stop. Enjoy the conversation though.

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