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."
No comments:
Post a Comment