Daily news roundups

News roundup: Pulisic off to Chelsea, local teams in FL showcases, spending and success in MLS

Photo: Earl Gardner (see more here)

Philadelphia Union

Jay Simpson is training with England’s fifth division.

Local

Two 19U Boys teams, Lehigh Valley United and the Lower Merion Soccer Club, did well in the US Youth Soccer National League Boys in Orlando, They secured top-two finishes in their respective divisions to give them each a spot in the National Championships.

Also in Florida, near Orlando, Delaware F.C. didn’t fare too well at the Disney Soccer Showcase. They lost their first two games (though one was against a Florida club ranked #4 in the country), and had a draw in the third game.

Over the holiday break, PA Prep Live posted four articles on local high school players:

  • Hill School’s Euan Forrest builds on a rich family legacy
  • Conestoga goalie Luke Smith continues family’s legacy between the posts
  • Owen J. Roberts’ Kylee MacLeod gave everything to the sport she could always count on
  • Downingtown East’s Emily Buckner stands above the rest, even from the back line
MLS

Pro Soccer USA recaps MLS’ December transactions. They also posted their favorite stories from 2018, which includes the one about Jim Curtin and Jesse Marsch’s friendship.

A D.C United fan reviews Ben Olsen‘s 2018 season.

A Loon looks into the relationship between spending and success in MLS.

Bidding farewell to David Villa. By the way, Villa will be back on our shores in late January, early February for preseason camp with his Japanese club; they’re hitting Columbus, LA, Toronto, and Orange County.

USL

A piece over on the USL website explains why North Carolina FC and former USMNT manager Dave Sarachan are a perfect fit.

U.S. Soccer

Which youth clubs had the most U.S. Youth WNT call-ups in 2018?

Around the globe

The rumor is true. Chelsea signed Pulisic for $73 million, but will loan him back to Borussia Dortmund until the end of the season.

Bundesliga.com asks, “Why are the best young American players flocking to the Bundesliga?”

Susanna Dinnage pulled out of becoming the Premier League’s CEO.

Speaking of the EPL, here are some scores from yesterday:

  • Everton 0-1 Leicester City
  • Arsenal 4-1 Fulham
  • Cardiff City 0-3 Tottenham

How Italy’s love for soccer turned to hate, and its stadiums became fascist circuses.

I’ve officially seen it all now: Elephants playing soccer in Nepal.

Highlight of the day

21 Comments

  1. Interesting comment from Will Parchman via Twitter: “Whatever happens with Pulisic at Chelsea, America’s insistence upon ignoring FIFA rules is robbing PA Classics, the club that developed Pulisic, of about $730K in solidarity payments off the transfer fee. Tragic.”

    Imagine what that club could do with $730,000. How many years would that fund operations? How many low-income kids could it subsidize?

    • Love reading the idiotic replies on twitter that PA Classics wouldn’t desrerve it as they are pay to play. The only places that are not pay to play a mls academies and colleges. Clubs are supposed to be able to see a future that hasn’t arrived yet and operate at a loss for 15 years.

    • Yes, perhaps they wouldn’t need to be pay to play with an extra $730,000.

    • Does PA Classics have a professional team it’s players can go to?
      .
      Oh that’s right, they don’t. Which is exactly why the Pay to Play youth clubs don’t receive payments. Imagine what your day care/nanny/babysitter could do with all of the compensation payments from your employers when you change jobs/careers…..
      .
      Compensation/solidarity payments were put in place to prevent bigger professional clubs from poaching all of the talent from the smaller professional clubs.

      • this is the correct take

      • The point is not to claim that PA Classics deserves payment now. They don’t. The point is that instituting the FIFA standard here would create a market incentive for clubs to find and develop talented players. Which means it would be worth it to fund training for kids who otherwise couldn’t afford it. This is why MLS is now in favor. They have clubs putting money into player development and some of those players are heading off to Germany for free.

      • The daycare/nanny/babysitter argument is just nonsense. Anyone can be a baby sitter, not everyone can teach your kid to be good enough to make compensation/solidarity payments. Now if the nanny taught your kid multiple languages, and learning skills so that your kid can go to college at age 12, then you may have a point. But if a nanny could do that I’m sure they’d be making more than $10 /hr.
        .
        Also why are people against this? How does it effect you in the slightest? Getting upset over it seems a bit odd.

      • el grunon Pachyderm says:

        In my opinion the full expression of training and compensation can only come from an open system of pro/rel… where every club has a pipeline to a first team which generates revenue beyond operating costs and the dollars a DOC pockets. To do this though, puts the game in the hands of club soccer and the clubs’ investors and not the few Gatekeepers who dictate policy and reap ungodly profits while parroting a line of we are not ready. Part of the problem is there are only a handful of first teams in US Soccer.
        .
        Forced scarcity and ‘all that jazz.’

  2. happy hew year!

    overpaying for Pulisic. good for him.

    As someone who travels fro big tourneys, the beer pricing will be what: $12–$14 like everywhere else? just hope they bring enough. i’m thinking of doing that one.

  3. Good news everyone! The fact that the Union doesn’t spend any money on players doesn’t have any correlation to winning the Supporter’s Shield or MLS Cup:
    .
    https://www.epluribusloonum.com/2018/12/31/18156934/part-one-soccer-as-a-business-major-league-soccer-payroll-performance-analysis-soccernomics
    .
    Ok, so the next question is – if it’s not money that wins then what is it?
    .
    Hopefully the answer is Tanner!

    • I honestly couldn’t make heads or tails out of these pieces. I don’t even understand how MLS spending is something you can analyze when there are layers upon layers of artifice in terms of allocation funds and salary caps and Generation Adidas rules, etc. On top of that, MLS teams don’t play balanced schedules. And then there are the deals, transfer fees, etc. that are “undisclosed as per league policy.”

    • I’m glad someone commented on this. The logic behind the author’s argument is flawed. He uses only salary data and does not take into account transfer fees, which are a significant portion of player spending. For example, last year Atlanta had Salaries of $11.6M but also had annualized transfer fees of $7.5M. Ditto LAFC, $14.1M in Salaries and $5.3M in annualized transfer fees. It’s pro sports. Quality matters over anything else. Coaching and tactics can only go so far. (As an aside, Union were 19th in total spending, finished 11th in total points).

      • The author’s argument is based on one of the conclusions in Soccernomics by Kuper and Szymanski that determined, using economic-based analysis, that the variable that trended most closely with league position was player salaries, not considering or including transfer fees.
        .
        I have some other questions on the validity of the conclusions of the author, but the logic behind the analysis is based on an identical analysis by someone who has been called a “leading sports economist”.

  4. Zizouisgod says:

    Think about how long it will be until the Union play a meaningful match again and then remember that starting this year, that layoff in the future will likely be at least two weeks longer.

  5. Boy this move for Christian. It is only good if the young man plays once the loan back to BVB is over. For my liking, I’m thinking a transfer to mid major club where he never leaves the field… maybe that’s Chelsea’s plan as well.

  6. John O'Donnell says:

    Obviously Will Parchman isn’t really being totally forthcoming with the subject of training fees and how we got here. Treating the situation like it’s easily rectified and the system should just be like any other is just wishful thinking for a complex problem. As it stands now it’s not MLS or USSF that’s the problem but MLSPA.

    What I can’t understand is how a player pays to play and if he makes it the club should benefit in anyway. Imagine going to college and paying tuition only later to have the college benefit from your success. Usually it would be on Pulisic as an alumnus to make a donation or gift in his name, which I can’t see a reason he still couldn’t do.

    Going forward, the rumor is that with the lawsuit by Crossfire soon to be ruled on, MLS is waiting before they change anything. MLS is now in favor since they have their own academies and would benefit as well. The sticking point is another lawsuit threatened by the MLSPA, so this will probably be a CBA issue as the current one runs out next year and something that will be on the negotiating table.

    • Isn’t it the chicken/egg. How can I club be free to play if they don’t get other compensation? Ok, to charge some but not others and then collect on those you didn’t charge?

      • John P. O'Donnell Jr. says:

        YNo it isn’t. We already have the chicken. MLS teams are funding academies to play for free with the thought of benefiting the first team. Other clubs run a team and charge players, it’s a business plain and simple. If you paid for your child’s education, would you want the school to get a cut when he gets a good job or be reimbursed? Obviously if we want to transition from one to the other you need better solutions. Imagine every parent that paid a fee for their child getting a refund for spending money to keep said club running all these years till everyone it’s paid back and the club can end pay to play once they can build a kitty to run the club going forward.

  7. John P. O'Donnell Jr. says:

    No it isn’t. We already have the chicken. MLS teams are funding academies to play for free with the thought of benefiting the first team. Other clubs run a team and charge players, it’s a business pain and simple. If you paid for your child’s education, would you want the school to get a cut when he gets a good job or be reimbursed? Obviously if we want to transition from one to the other you need better solutions. Imagine every parent that paid a fee for their child getting a refund for spending money to keep said club running all these years till everyone it’s paid back and the club can end pay to play.

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