MLS Murky Offseason....The Story So Far.

While MLS trumpeted high profile new signings, it's Golden Boot winner went South

You could say that the last couple of weeks of this MLS offseason have been.....eventful.  Personally I would describe it as a soap opera almost juicy enough to pass that English soccer soap opera, you know the one, "Dream Team."  Love MLS or hate it, you've been able to look around the last couple of weeks and find plenty of ammunition to support your point of view.

The rumblings began before the playoffs were even totally underway.  After the Colorado Rapids lost to the Seattle Sounders in the first round, a rumor spread through MLS like wildfire that Rapids manager, and my pick for Manager of the Year, Oscar Pareja would be packing his bags and heading for the open job at FC Dallas.  That rumor was laughed at and even went away for awhile, until a couple of weeks ago when reports hit that Pareja had resigned from the Rapids.  This was eventually followed up with an announcement that Colorado and Dallas had reached a deal for Pareja to coach in Dallas.   But that wasn't all for the Rapids either.  On January 9 Chivas USA announced that Rapids assistant Wilmer Cabrera was now the head coach of the Goats.  This left Colorado without a head coach on draft day, and Colorado legend Pablo Mastroeni was named as "Assistant to the Technical Director."  The Rapids website suggests that they will take their time looking for a new coach, and that they may hire an interim coach for the short term.  That's rattling a few sabers as the beginning of preseason training is nearly upon us.

Now as rough as that might sound for our friends in Colorado who still have an outstanding young squad, it's nothing to what supporters of the Vancouver Whitecaps have endured so far.  The Caps, despite just missing the playoffs last year, had some things to be positive about.  They won the Cascadia Cup and ended up with the MLS Golden Boot winner, Camilo Sanvezzo.  Camilo looked to be a dynamic player that their new coach could build around in the offseason.

Then Mexican side Queretaro posted a picture of Camilo wearing their kit on twitter and introducing him to their fans as a new signing.

This seemed to take both the league and Vancouver completely by surprise.  After all, the 'Caps had exercised a club option for Camilo at the end of the season.  Chaos reigned.  The 'Caps said they still had Camilo's International Transfer Certificate, and that Camilo would be expected to report for preseason training.  New pictures soon emerged of Camilo training with his new side south of the border.  There was much snarling and gnashing of teeth, and nearly every MLS pundit on twitter turned into a Lawyer that specialized in International Contract and Commerce Law.  The 'Caps had a strong case.  The 'Caps had no case.  Rulings of the International Court of Arbitration for Sport were cited.  FIFA precedents were mentioned.  In the end all the poor folks in Vancouver got was a half hearted apology from Queretaro, a transfer fee that might have been put to use earlier, and a statement from Don Garber saying he was "disappointed" in the situation.

Really Mr. Garber?  You should be outraged.  Your league's top scorer just went to a rival league.  Not just a rival league, THE RIVAL LEAGUE.  Now, nobody's saying that Camilo was the next Pele or anything, but he was clearly a dynamic player that leaves a huge hole in Vancouver's lineup right before the start of preseason training.  I'm glad that Mr. Garber is disappointed, but I'd like to see him be as outraged as the Vancouver supporters that I follow on Twitter are.

But why should he be outraged?  While the league's leading scorer was sneaking out the back door, MLS was too busy pointing to a brand new shiny object for us all to love.  Ok, actually two brand new shiny objects, Jermaine Defoe and US International Michael Bradley, who signed with Toronto FC.  Now I'm not here to bag on these great signings.  I'm thrilled for TFC Supporters, who now actually have something to be excited about.  TFC's season tickets looked to sell out in a manner of days and depending on who you were, you were either putting MLS Cup in their hands or at least putting them on par with Sporting Kansas City and New York Red Bulls, which they are clearly not.  But hey, new signings generate excitement which is great for the league, and I look forward to seeing them play when TFC visits Rio Tinto.

The question I have is this: more league money was used to sign up Defoe and Bradley, one way or another, just like it was for Dempsey.  On the surface I don't have an issue with this, these players are extremely talented guys who will help raise the profile of MLS.  On the other hand, the league couldn't spare a little cash to throw at Camilo so the 'Caps could keep the Golden Boot winner around?  That's followed up by reports that the league is having issues with the Philadelphia Union's pursuit of Maurice Edu, even after the Union traded up to the top allocation spot to get him, of course neither Dempsey or Bradley were put through allocation, the reasoning being that they are DPs.  The Union want to pay Edu, but the league doesn't believe that he is worth that money.

Now the league is probably right in that regard.  Edu is no Dempsey or Bradley.  Coaching moves aside though, this all underscores the need for more transparency in the way MLS handles these things.  Garber flat out said in the State if the League that they were kind of "making it up as they go along."  Really?  The game itself has rules, supposedly MLS has player acquisition rules and procedures as well.  However these rules, which were already murky in the first place, seem to have gone right out the window in some very high profile matters while they are more strictly applied in other cases.  Wouldn't it be nice to have a set of rules that applied to everybody in this "single entity structure?"

On top of that, Garber announced during the draft that MLS is still bleeding money to the tune of  7-10 million dollars per year.  Of course, if you've read "Soccernomics" you don't REALLY expect soccer organizations to turn a profit, but I know my job would be in trouble if my company was losing 7 mil per year.  My employers wouldn't be out dropping extravagant money on new employees either.  Of course all of this hits as negotiations are set to be going forward for a new CBA between the league and it's players, and you couldn't begrudge the rank and file MLS player for wondering where his piece of the pie is in all this.   I'm hoping for a salary cap bump and a salary bump.  We could also do away with this stupid allocation process which the league only uses when it suits them anyway.  Let the players play where they want within the confines of the salary cap structure.

In the end, it probably seems like I'm really ripping on MLS here.  It's true, I do have concerns.  Bradley and Defoe aren't Beckham.  I think the future of the league will be cemented by bringing up academy talent  and perhaps more players from Latin America to help raise the total standard of play in the league.  Bradley, Defoe, and Dempsey aren't going to do that by themselves.  Ticket sales and jersey sales are great, and help the league's bottom line.  However if the league really wants to raise it's profile, we need to keep raising the standard of soccer on the pitch by providing a set of rules for all clubs to follow, raising salaries and the cap to make the league a more attractive destination, and be a little bit more careful throwing huge chunks of league money at players while we're still bleeding money.

But that's all just my two cents.  I can't wait until the season starts so we can actually talk about the product on the pitch instead of "MLS: As the Brazuca Turns."

Moyes: Should He Stay or Should He Go Now?

Without a win in 2014, the pressure mounts on David Moyes at United.

Coming into the Premier League's Christmas fixture period, it looked like David Moyes had finally gotten some things tuned up at Manchester United.  They had finally found a decent bit of form in the league, they had advanced relatively easily to the group stage of the Champions League, and they had hit the semifinals of the League Cup, where a seemingly favorable tie with Sunderland awaited them.  Not bad after the way they started the season.

Then the clock chimed in 2014, and things have gone south again in a hurry.

The first three matches of the new year have not gone well for Moyes and United.  They have lost each one by a 2-1 scoreline including a league loss at home to Spurs, a loss in the FA Cup third round to Swansea, and today they dropped the first leg of the league cup semifinal tie away to Sunderland.  Oops.

I suppose that wouldn't be so bad for many clubs in the league.  After all, it's been a few years since United has had a great deal of success in the FA Cup, and they had won their previous four in the Premier League before the loss to Spurs.  Also, a 2-1 away to Sunderland isn't the worst result in the world, especially since Sunderland's second came off of a rather soft penalty in the second half.  They still have the second leg at home.  Is all of this "Moyes out" talk a bit of an overreaction?  

Actually, I think it is.  First off, the domestic cups are hardly the crown jewels in the eyes of the EPL's big clubs.  Yes a trophy is a trophy. but these clubs, especially United at this point, have bigger fish to fry.  They were impressive in Champions League group play, albeit in a group that wasn't the most challenging.  Still, Europe is still Europe, and they played pretty well.  Let's also stop and realize that RvP has spent most a good portion of the season injured, and Wayne Rooney has been out some as well.

Still, that does sound like papering over the cracks a little bit.  The midfield has not been good.  Tom Cleverley is exhibit A, as he had another horrible match against Sunderland, including conceding the penalty that cost United the match.  Giggs is still Giggs, but he's another year older and can hardly be the answer at this point.  Where is Kagawa?  The former Dortmund man seems to have been lost in the shuffle and Carrick has been injured as well.

Defense?  Vidic is forever suffering injury after injury and Ferdinand is on the downhill slope of his career at United as well.  Smalling does some good things, but continues to underwhelm, especially when he's made to play at outside back.

That discussion points back to the last summer transfer window and what an abject failure it was for United.  As metro.co.uk points out, United were all over the map, and a lot of their bids weren't really considered seriously at the prices that they were tossing out.  30 million for Fabregas?  Really?  Pity, because he could help them out.  Lets also not forget that Wesley Sneijder is perpetually linked with Old Trafford as well, but to what end?

I think you can do good business in the January window, though it might cost you more money to do so.  If I were United, I'd loosen the purse strings a bit and let Moyes seriously go after some talent, especially in the midfield.  If you can strengthen that facet and get Rooney and RvP healthy, this club can still do some damage.  Honestly, I'm not sure Sir Alex could get much blood out of this turnip right now, but this is all pretty easy for me to sit back and say, because I'm not a United fan.

So do you agree with me that Moyes should get more time, or should be sacked immediately?  Feel free to leave a comment or hit up the poll out of the pull out menu on the right side of the blog front page.

Eusebio: The Passing of a Legend

Portugal legend Eusebio passed away Sunday at the age of 71 (Yahoo Sports)

I admit to feeling old a lot of the time, but there are times when I feel too young as well, particularly when it comes to being a soccer fan.  I say that because I never got to see so many of the legends of the game live, even on TV.  This is a particularly sad case with legendary Portuguese attacker Eusebio, who played in his final games for the New Jersey Americans of the old ASL the year after I was born.

It's fitting that as I return to the blog to start 2014 that I pay tribute to this legend.  But what do I say?  I've never seen him play except on video clips.  I could rehash and summarize the feelings of a million news stories and blogs from around the internet, but you've all read those if you care to.  

I want to use the occasion of the passing of this great man as a reason to reflect on the heritage that the game of football, or soccer if you prefer, leaves us.  Many sports have a long history.  In the United States the history of baseball stretches back into the late 1800s.  Ice Hockey has a distinguished lineage in Canada and the USA as well.  However, in my opinion few sports leave us the rich international heritage that soccer gives us.  It's easy for American boys like myself to think back on the legends of baseball from the same time period that Eusebio played football.  I think Hank Aaron or Willie Mays.   However, much of the rest of the world thinks back to players like Eusebio, players of the world's game.  Players who helped define what that game is to us today.  When you consider the worldwide reach of soccer and it's history, you realize the scope of it's power and that the greats like Eusebio will forever live on in the minds of a great many fans from all over the world, not just in the streets of Portugal or Mozambique.

As I've read about him, I've learned that he only stood 5'9, weighing in at a mere 160 during his career. Seeing pictures of him next to CR7 reinforces this fact.  Still, he was a hugely gifted forward.  He has been named as one of the top 10 players of all time and was known for deflecting credit from himself and being a truly humble human being.  The New York Times said he "represented the best of soccer and of Portugal."

So as we enter this world cup year, take a few moments and read about this legend of the game.  Find some video clips if you can.  My guess is that during Brazil 2014, there will be more than a few reflections back to 1966, when Eusebio stole the stage from England for just a little while.

For more reading on Eusebio, hit up the NY Times Obit or Jerry Trecker's piece on FoxSoccer.com.

Eusebio's casket at midfield of Luz Stadium in Lisbon (BBC)

Eusebio statue covered in scarves outside Luz Stadium (Yahoo)