Union
The Union have released their list of protected players for the 2017 Expansion Draft. Significantly, Fabian Herbers, Ilsinho, and Fabinho (thank you Tim) are listed as protected players, signaling Union intent to bring them back for the 2018 season.
No official word yet, but Eric Ayuk could be coming back from Sweden this season.
College
Stanford won it’s third straight NCAA D1 Men’s Soccer title on Sunday. Paired with the women’s win last week, comparisons to UConn Basketball don’t seem unreasonable.
MLS
In a complete switch of last year’s MLS Cup- Toronto wins, and Seattle loses.
What wasn’t different about MLS Cup this year is that once again Stefan Frei had an excellent game.
Columbus ranked third in MLS Cup TV ratings, significantly ahead of Austin (and Philly). #SaveTheCrew
Significant TAM increases are on the way for the 2018 and 2019 seasons.
Selling Homegrown Players should net teams even more money next season, according to reports.
And immediately after the MLS Cup, a half day transfer window opened. Highlights include Kamara to Vancouver, Zimmerman to LAFC (Dallas now top of the allocation order), and an international slot to Portland in exchange for DC United getting negotiating rights on Darren Mattocks.
World
Chelsea will have to get through Barcelona (again) to advance through the Champions League knockout round.
United v. City is the new Toronto v. Red Bull.
Tigres UANL are Apertura champions after defeating Monterrey in a rivalry-fueled Liga MX Final Regia.
A resurgent Werder Bremen beat spiraling Dortmund (and Pulisic)
Fabinho was also protected.
I know there is a lot of Fabi-hate on this site, but honestly, what is the option? Gaddis? Whomever they have at Steel?
I would opt for a left back who is actually good, but I realize that I might be too strident on this issue.
Fabi is who he is.
He is a good hand and a squad player who is reaching an age where his skills should decline. We brought in his replacement last year who should have taken his job easily.
He didn’t.
I have to put that more on his replacement than Fabhino but Mr. Moon Rocket did his job admirably and did it with the teeth grinding white knuckle flair he is known for.
When he leave the Union it will be as much the end of an era as Letoux’s leaving was.
I’ve seen many speculating Marquez will get picked up by LAFC. I’m not so sure. There are a lot of unprotected players in the league and LA is only taking 5. Not to mention they just acquired Zimmerman from Dallas.
–
I have to wonder how much the cold affected the quality in Toronto. It has to be a pretty big factor for why Giovinco can’t net a goal in the fall for some reason. His free kick miss was extraordinarily poor. The ball left his boot flat, without any backspin whatsoever. I dunno. Never played the game in sub-freezing temps (thank god). I’m still surprised how poor Seattle were. They really wilted. Wonder if the cold is a factor there, too.
–
Manchester Derby was a hoot. A little bit rough and tumble, but a great match. Nice way for City to set the straight wins record at 14 with a likely 15th coming against Swansea on Wed. City v. Spurs at Wembley Saturday will be a must-watch.
The only person worth taking a flyer on is Simpson and he is too expensive.
My first thought was that Fabinho, Ilsinho, and Herbers were all protected to fulfill the international requirements. But then some of the coffee kicked in, and I believe all three have a green card. Which rules out that theory.
They just love Fabinho, there is no other logical reason. He was protected last year, and he’s protected again this year. The biggest – and least addressed – concern throughout the Union’s history has been left back since Jordan Harvey left. I’ll grant you they have lacked a playmaker and elite striker, but I would also they tried to address those concerns with Alberg & Ilsinho, Jay Simpson, and acquiring CJ Sapong a few years back. The left back position remains empty behind Fabinho, even though the departing Wijnaldum played well enough this year.
This is why I wish there were more media attention on this team. I don’t have a clue why Wijnaldum didn’t work out. I had heard he wanted out of the team, but I never read comments from the young man himself and don’t recall hearing Stewart or Curtin address why he failed to make the cut for the first team. Is Real ready? Would love to know. This isn’t a knock on the people covering this team, because they do so on practically a volunteer basis.
If you lose Fabhino you have to replace Fabhino and get someone else.
They haven’t done that yet so why make yourself completely vulnerable?
Matt Real is the other left back in the organization. He is signed to a USL contract with the Bethlehem Steel.
.
He came a very l o n g way in 2017, but has a total of 18 professional starts. He needs to take the next step at the USL level, which is to move from a consistently competent starter to a more dominant, impact-level player in USL. That means not an occasional nice offensive foray from game to game, but doing it all the time game after game.
.
He’s not there yet. And acquisition of experience is also important.
.
Do keep in mind he is a year younger than Trusty, who got a second year of games witH the Steel.
.
You still need 2 left backs if you ditch Fabhino. And the team absolutely doesn’t want Fab as their starter.
I’m surprised there hasn’t been anymore information on the homegrown transfer fee going to the teams and how much they can use toward the roster?
Can somebody explain this TAM “increase” thing in a simple way?
—
The article says “TAM may be used to sign new or re-sign existing players whose salary and acquisition costs are more than the maximum salary budget charge but less than $1.5 million.”
—
What is the maximum salary budget charge? Does that mean that they are DP if they are over that level? Does this “additional” $2.8M mean that the ownership would have to fund it, not the league? I just can’t seem to understand….
learn more about it here: http://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/2017-18-offseason-player-movement-rumors.2076768/page-7
Thanks
Typically it’s used to bring in the Victor Vasquez’s of the world and cheat the 3 DP max.
Sugarman will just us it to pay down existing salaries and bring us back to a 1 DP team.
The Zimmerman link takes you to the Kamara article on the Whitecaps site.
Doh!
I would have loved to have picked up Kamara and reunited him with CJ in a 2-striker setup. But maybe my memories of that high-flying SKC squad aren’t completely accurate. But I do remember that team being fun to watch. I’d like to have a team that is fun to watch…
CJ wasn’t exactly successful in KC. He wasn’t a dog, but they kept him out wide which everyone felt wasn’t his best position.
That was after the highlight year. In 2012, he had 9 goals playing centrally with Kamara. When Dwyer arrived, they pushed CJ out wide and his numbers took a nosedive.
.
But 2012 has Kamara, Sapong, Bunbury, Espinoza, etc. They were a potent, fun team. Utterly hateable outside of Kansas City, but a fun team if they were your guys.
.
Jimmy Nielsen was a bit of a loon, too, but good.
.
Here I am, daydreaming again about a team that is fun and competitive. Ah, the offseason…I’ve managed to un-hate SKC for a minute.
.
Wait…Graham Zusi. Collin. Ok…I’m back. I hate them again.
All our troubles should be solved. At the Union holiday party I saw they had a spot to write letters to Santa. I wrote one asking for Neymar to get a burning desire to play for the Union. Once Santa delivers on this one, everything should be fine for the next 10 years or so.
What spiked the drinks at that party! 😉