MLS Thread.

[Ct jr.]

Charlston Cup(preseason):

DC United 1, TFC 0.
Goal: Moreno 62nd minute.
Red Card: Toronto's Santang in the 27th minute.

Moreno's scored a lot this preseason. Hopefully he can continue his scoring ways despite his age.

hopefully no more goals against toronto though

 

[thebes20]

Owners

Checketts: "The Owners Have A Plan" for "Something Very Aggressive" - Bill Archer Blog - Soccer Blog - BigSoccer

The comments at the end are interesting.

 

[toffeejerseygrl99]

Well, I guess there's a new CBA after all.

MLS, players reportedly near labor deal

NEW YORK -- Major League Soccer and its players are close to agreeing to a five-year contract that would avoid a strike scheduled for next week, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press.

The deal was likely to be announced Saturday, the person said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the announcement had not been made.

The MLS Players Union had said it would strike if an agreement wasn't reached before the league opener on March 25.

Negotiators began intensive talks Thursday in Washington, D.C.

--Associated Press

 

[spikeman]

Soccer Insider - MLS strike averted as players' union reaches deal

Five days before the season opener, MLS and the players' union have struck a deal on a new, five-year collective bargaining agreement. The players had threatened to strike if a new pact couldn't be reached this weekend. With approximately 25 players participating, the sides met all day and night Thursday and Friday at the offices of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service offices in Washington, and announced the deal this afternoon.

The players' primary issue was free agency, and although they were not granted full rights to move between clubs in the league, they did agree to a "re-entry draft" for players out of contract at the end of the season.

"Going forward, we are going to have a real relationship with the league as opposed to being combative at times, and that's crucial for any league to do well," Los Angeles Galaxy forward Landon Donovan said. "We have been extremely unified and united throughout this process. It's been a very productive few weeks. We are all mainly excited to play soccer this year and proud of what we accomplished. This is not a one-day celebration; this is the start of many good things to come for many years for our players and our league."

According to union chief Bob Foose:
*For the first time, a majority of players will have guaranteed contracts.
*The players' ability to move freely within the league will be greatly improved.
*Player compensation will be increased substantially.

"This has been a major victory for the process of collective bargaining," federal mediator George Cohen said.

"It was not fun, it was tiring, but it was productive," Commissioner Don Garber said. "I look forward to not having to do it quite like this in five more years."

Free agency was not adopted, as the players had hoped, but the sides did compromise.

Said Garber: "MLS was founded on the principle that our owners would not be keeping against each other for player services. When we think of free agency, it is that concept of internal bidding, and there will not be internal bidding for player services. Players whose options are not exercised, players who are terminated and players at a certain age - and just respect the fact that we have got to get this out to our own people before we get it to the public - will have the opportunity with a certain mechanism of also going into this re-entry draft. That process addresses, to a large extent but not to the total extent, the players' wishes and desires. At the same time, it provides the league with something that is crucial to us and will remain crucial to us. In our view, there is no actual free agency."

Added Foose: "We made progress on this area. Not necessarily as much as we would have chosen, but that is collective bargaining agreement. We made a lot of progress in other areas as well, and there is real progress on correcting certain situations that were vitally important to our players involving movement within the league, including teams retaining rights to players. There are changes there, significant changes."

Landon is probably torn on the inside. He is in the picture above behind the guy in the left chair(the only guy not clapping )

 

[spikeman]

Moreno scored twice again against the Charleston Battery as DC United won the 2010 Carolina Challenge Cup. The final score was 2-0. Thats 5 goals in three games for him.

Soccer Insider - D.C. United wins Carolina Cup

 

[Aztattooedfootballfan]

curious to see this new young striker that the Sounders added.

Actually, I thought we picked up 2. One is currently playing for FC Twente and was a Swiss International player. The other is another youngster from Columbia.

 

[pettyfog]

... I think the MLS should make a rule that no NFL owners can own a MLS team - it just introduces too much of a conflict of interest. Our league is infantile and needs owners that are 100% committed to and behind the teams - not owners distracted by NFL empires.

Umm... so you would have ruled out Lamar Hunt? MAYBE Randy Lerner?

Interesting oversimplification, as I think you would get agreement from Chief's fans. But look at the Glaziers and the Buc's and tell me it's a 'conflict'. No it isnt. Dumbass Owners are Dumbasses, period. What's the relationship between Redskins and DCU? .. Bueller... Bueller.. Anyone?

TGF Mike Brown NOT being a Soccer Fan

And BTW.. do not EVER link to MLS-Rumours for anything. It's a crap site, and any MLS FAN orta know that.

 

[spikeman]

Umm... so you would have ruled out Lamar Hunt? MAYBE Randy Lerner?

Interesting oversimplification, as I think you would get agreement from Chief's fans. But look at the Glaziers and the Buc's and tell me it's a 'conflict'. No it isnt. Dumbass Owners are Dumbasses, period. What's the relationship between Redskins and DCU? .. Bueller... Bueller.. Anyone?

TGF Mike Brown NOT being a Soccer Fan

And BTW.. do not EVER link to MLS-Rumours for anything. It's a crap site, and any MLS FAN orta know that.

Not that I want this to happen, but if Dan Snyder bought DCU, we could maybe be able to get a new stadium (even though it not exactly the owners fault).

 

[MLS is not quite EPL]

Beckham probably played more games for AC Milan than he did for LA the last two years, yet still got to come back in time to play in the MLS cup.

Beckham's played 47 games for LA and 33 for Milan.

Oy. Hyperbole for the sake of a satirical comment is lost on you, eh?
Joking aside, those numbers aren't that far apart.

Moreno scored twice again against the Charleston Battery as DC United won the 2010 Carolina Challenge Cup. The final score was 2-0. Thats 5 goals in three games for him.

That's amazing. Sounds like he's in midseason form already. You realize he has scored more goals than our entire team did all preseason (La Manga cup aside).

curious to see this new young striker that the Sounders added.

Actually, I thought we picked up 2. One is currently playing for FC Twente and was a Swiss International player. The other is another youngster from Columbia.

You're talking about Miguel Montano (enye over the "n", i have an American keyboard). He's only 18 and apparently is Montero's size. Hopefully he isn't as easy to push off the ball, and more importantly hopefully he's not as much of a salesman. Those South & Central Americans need to wipe the "dive" ethos from their systems!

The other is Blaise Kufo, but he won't join until mid-July. /can't wait.

Umm... so you would have ruled out Lamar Hunt? MAYBE Randy Lerner?

Interesting oversimplification, as I think you would get agreement from Chief's fans. But look at the Glaziers and the Buc's and tell me it's a 'conflict'. No it isnt. Dumbass Owners are Dumbasses, period. What's the relationship between Redskins and DCU? .. Bueller... Bueller.. Anyone?

TGF Mike Brown NOT being a Soccer Fan

And BTW.. do not EVER link to MLS-Rumours for anything. It's a crap site, and any MLS FAN orta know that.

Don't know where the MLS Rumors comment comes from (did I reference it here somewhere?), but FYI MLS Rumors is just for fun; discussion & debate, nothing more. I don't read that site unless someone links me there first.

You misunderstood my point about NFL & MLS owners though; it has little to do with passion and more with distraction & funds. I will agree that the Glazers are dumbass owners, and what you said about dumbass owners being dumbass owners is true..... but that's a coincidence that distracts from what I was really trying to say.....
the NFL is the cash cow in this country and gets all the pomp & circumstance. It is too easy for an owner (let's use Kraft in this example since that was the original comment) to be distracted and commit all resources to another venture.

In Kraft's case - he has the Patriots, arguably one of the biggest NFL franchises in the country (by virtue of accomplishments, fan base, media, publicity, etc). The Patriots have their own stadium, turn a pretty decent profit every year, have backorders of much of their merchandise, and have sold-out season tickets with waiting lists. Kraft is also on the NFL board and I think he held a chair on the competition committee.

With all that said, how much time, effort, and money do you think he is putting in to the Revs? Here's what I saw of the Revs last year: soccer on painted NFL lines, borrowing a stadium under the terms that it be only lightly modified at most to accomodate soccer, averaging 12,427 people a game, and running on a negative cash flow basis.

It's not that I wouldn't want Kraft's money in the MLS, but how strongly is a guy like he going to push for a soccer-specific stadium for his team (when he already has Gillette for his NFL team and probably figures it's "fine" for his Revs), how much money would he contribute to that cause, and how much of his time will he commit to the MLS as opposed to the NFL? He didn't even attend every Revolution game last year (read that on Big Soccer). And I guarantee that isn't because he didn't want to, he probably is just too busy.

 

[mtnkill]

It's not that I wouldn't want Kraft's money in the MLS, but how strongly is a guy like he going to push for a soccer-specific stadium for his team (when he already has Gillette for his NFL team and probably figures it's "fine" for his Revs), how much money would he contribute to that cause, and how much of his time will he commit to the MLS as opposed to the NFL? He didn't even attend every Revolution game last year (read that on Big Soccer). And I guarantee that isn't because he didn't want to, he probably is just too busy.

Kraft has purportedly offered up 1/2 cost of a soccer specific stadium (roughly $100m) out of his own pocket, if someone else meets him half way (ie. public funding). As they say, talk is cheap, and I'll believe it when I see it. They really need to move closer to Boston in order to consistently draw larger crowds.

 

[MLS is not quite EPL]

Kraft has purportedly offered up 1/2 cost of a soccer specific stadium (roughly $100m) out of his own pocket, if someone else meets him half way (ie. public funding). As they say, talk is cheap, and I'll believe it when I see it. They really need to move closer to Boston in order to consistently draw larger crowds.

Wow, didn't know that, that's awesome. What did the city say when he offered up 50%?

 

[pettyfog]

Wow, didn't know that, that's awesome. What did the city say when he offered up 50%?

You can pretty well imagine what taxpayers would say, cant you?

But this makes the point. All the owners understand the need for soccer stadia.. Speaking of which, Guess the MOST SIGNIFICANT Stadium in the last 15 years according to 'Stadia Magazine'.. you'd never... cause Wembley is #2!!!!

Now, looking back, you see the real significance of the #1 stadium.. though every one after it is far nicer and more comfy.

Here's the rub though, how do Us Soccer interests convince NFL owners and Colleges to make their BIG stadia soccer friendly? so that we can host World Cups and major tournaments?

Cincy's Paul Brown cant do it. Ohio State cant do it.. that's why Crew got their own.

By the way... I think Seattle does the best in accomodating soccer in an NFL ground.

 

[TX Bill]

Anyone watch the NY Red Bull vs. Santos friendly?

Loved the stadium and am extremely jealous. Our local politicians have no incentive to get a stadium deal done for us anytime soon and you've got the typical redneck opposition down here.

On a second note, if you saw the match, what a goal by Richards huh?

 

[spikeman]

Soccer Insider - Najar signs with D.C. United

Midfielder Andy Najar, a junior at Edison High School in Alexandria, Va., who excelled in D.C. United's youth academy, has signed a pro contract with the MLS club. Terms were not disclosed, but under salary guidelines agreed upon in the new collective bargaining agreement, he will earn at least $40,000.
Najar, who turned 17 last week, played for United's under-16 and under-18 teams last year and spent much of this preseason with the senior squad, starting several matches. He is a right-side player with attacking qualities and has been tested at right back as well.
As homegrown players, Najar and Bill Hamid, an academy goalkeeper who signed last fall.....
will not count against the 24-player roster limit and are eligible for all competitions, United officials said. The homegrown roster rule is incentive for clubs to develop their own talent. Each club is permitted two homegrown exemptions.
Najar, who came to the States from Honduras a few years ago, scored 22 goals and was named first-team All-Met by The Post last spring. With the help of a tutor arranged by United, he will continue to pursue a high school diploma.
"This is a great story about the importance of our academy teams, and the ability those teams give us to find young players who, in the past, we might never have met," United President Kevin Payne said.
The MLS roster deadline is Wednesday at 5 p.m. for 20 senior and four developmental players. While the developmental classification remains in place in the new collective bargaining agreement, developmental contracts no longer exist, the Insider has learned. Other details in the CBA are expected to be made public within two weeks. The pact must first be ratified by the players and MLS board of governors.

 

[MLS is not quite EPL]

By the way... I think Seattle does the best in accomodating soccer in an NFL ground.

Probably because Qwest was designed from the ground-up to be a dual-purpose stadium: NFL & Soccer.

Anyone watch the NY Red Bull vs. Santos friendly?

Loved the stadium and am extremely jealous. Our local politicians have no incentive to get a stadium deal done for us anytime soon and you've got the typical redneck opposition down here.

I love that stadium; the seat colorations to form the red bull logo is so cool as well. I feel for you guys down in Texas; you consistently field one of the best teams in the league, yet it seems your local population doesn't embrace you as they should.... and you definitely aren't playing on a pitch worthy of your team, especially after UoH gets done playing on it.