Sounder At Heart

The Recession Killed Profits in MLS

2010-03-12T22:16:56Z

So we all know the Forbes study about 2007. We should all know that it did not include the money from Soccer United Marketing. SUM makes a lot of money. That will be true in recession or not, but recently the Timbers had to publicly declare how they as an MLS side would make money and pay back the city for all those great tax breaks, etc.

Let's first look at 2007 though - only 3 teams were "profitable" without SUM money.

THREE - Los Angeles, Toronto and Dallas. One could argue that with SUM money that another 3-6 clubs likely made money in that single year. At least it could be argued. Let's also remember that sports teams almost never make money on a year-to-year basis, but instead are like real estate, and have annual costs past their income, but when sold makes the owner some bank. This is true for all but the top 10% of teams in pretty much any league in the world.

But since 2007 the world has changed. Iceland nearly doesn't exist as a financial entity. Governments in most democracies have changed their ruling party. The WORLD has reached a Recession nearing on depression. How did that hit MLS?

The answer is HARD. It hit MLS very hard. Despite the Seattle Sounders magical attendance numbers the league was still down. This is a league that makes more money off of gate than it does off of TV, and that hurt. The shine of Beckham is gone. The newness of TFC is GONE. Dallas still doesn't know how to market in Frisco.

So I did some math. Really basic stuff, but the Portland release filled in some data points and I could extrapolate a range of profits for MLS sides in 2009 based in part on the 2007 study and in part on how the Timbers plan to make money.

Things in MLS aren't really that good. Revenue is high, but profits aren't following, unless you include SUM. There are some mysteries surrounding how that money is distributed, but let's ignore SUM for a bit.

Only 2 clubs turned a profit in 2009 - Seattle and Toronto. I'm going to have to deal with ranges, because the math is a bit fuzzy, and I had to estimate, but Seattle took in about 36M$ in revenue. No joke. In the down economy Seattle launched to a perfect storm. No other team in any American league will ever do that again. Toronto barely turned a non-SUM profit though. While Seattle had a non-SUM profit of between $10 and 17 Million, TFC only came in at about $1 to 3 Million US.

No one else likely made a profit during the Recession. If we count SUM money the way Portland does (which isn't necessarily the "right" way to do so, as I have heard that it is an incentive rather than even distribution) the following "profits" were made in MLS, accounting for gate, and announced sponsorships since 2007:

The Galaxy had about $2M less in Gate revenue from 2007 to 2009. Dallas still mainly makes money from non-soccer revenue, so it was harder to estimate. Salt Lake will start climbing the revenue ladder as it starts to pay off the stadium.

In all things in MLS aren't good. A 12% reduction in attendees crushes a league that depends on gate.

Seattle	15,322,672
TFC	2,819,697
RSL	934,144
FCD	678,151
San Jose	501,318
LA	259,161
Houston	258,397
C-USA	-612,923
NER	-962,664
CR	-2,079,073
KCW	-2,278,705
DCU	-4,203,862
CCrew	-4,232,625
Chicago	-4,348,156
NY	-6,068,760

Obviously these are ugly estimates. Quite rough. One would likely be better having a range, based on some unknown factors not listed in either report, so let's do some jujitsu on the numbers;

Seattle	10m to 17m
TFC	0m to 3m
RSL	neg2m to 0m
FCD	neg2m to 1m
San Jose	neg2m to 0m
LA	neg5m to 2m
Houston	neg3m to 0m
C-USA	neg3m to neg1m
NER	neg4m to neg1m
CR	neg5m to neg3m
KCW	neg4m to neg3m
DCU	neg7m to neg5m
CCrew	neg6m to neg5m
Chicago	neg7m to neg4m
NY	neg8m to neg7m

There are still teams that despite having labor costs in the $2-3M range are losing twice that much money. At least if the Forbes estimate and Portland numbers are remotely accurate. Yes, a majority of clubs are making money if we COUNT SUM, which is technically a seperate entity, but let's also remember that almost ZERO MLS players are responsible for the earnings from SUM.

SUM holds the rights to the World Cup, the Gold Cup, the WPS, the US MNT, the Mexican NT when in the USA, Barcelona in the USA, Interliga, Superliga and the PanPacific Championship. Those last two are the only ones that MLS players participate in by nature, and they are also the only two that don't exist in 2010. Should MLS players get a portion of that money? Likely no.

On Roles within Formations

2010-03-12T16:03:07Z

A few weeks ago Graham wrote the excellent primer On Formations, but that was really just a primer to establish notation, the "bands" in which many teams play, and as well cover the simple states of the game. It was an introduction that in soccer formations are nuetral, but how they are used changes things.

Even a 5-4-1 can be an offensive formation if everyone pushes up, with a highline and wingbacks and three attacking midfielders. On this site I speak of the roles of players in a specific manner, but often it only makes sense to me.

Well, no longer.

Some of this is adapted from watching the game, from my thoughts on the game, my understanding of other games of posession, a little bit of FIFA'10 and just trying to discover how to write so that the readers will understand me. Most readers here are by now familiar with what I call Sigi's Arrow, or the 4-1-Diamond-1, or a 4-5-1 of types. But the roles available are quite fluid, even without discussing Total Football.

See the chart below for the most common roles.

	Left Forward	Center Forward	Right Forward
Left Wing		Withdrawn Forward		Right Wing
Left Attacking Mid		Center Attacking Mid		Right Attacking Mid
Left Mid		Center Mid		Right Mid
	Left Defensive Mid	Center Defensive Mid	Right Defensive Mid
Left Wingback		UpBack/Libero		Right Wingback
Left Back	CenterBack	CenterBack	CenterBack	Right Back
		Sweeper
		Keeper

Now, it should be obvious that not all of those roles could be occupied at once. Several are almost never occupied. You will also note that I say Center Forward here, but that one could also be called a Target Forward (if they are typically a target of long balls and lofty crosses) or a Striker. Positionally these three are basically the same.

When I speak of the role of a player I am talking about the space they typically occupy in a given match as relates to the rest of their own team. The game is very fluid in nature, and so labeling this role does not mean that said player is always in said space, just that they typically are.

Withdrawn Forward (WF) v Center Attacking Midfielder (CAM)
It could be said that these two roles are quite similar and that's why I will try and clarify with them first. Also, Freddie Ljungberg has been used in both roles during his stay with Seattle, and if we were to chart his position on the field it would likely average the same general placement despite playing two types of games. As a Withdrawn Forward (also noted by some as a Second Striker and Offset Striker) the player plays with the ball at their feet in an effort to shoot. They use the Target Forward (CF, Striker) to help create space for their own runs. They tend not to be the target of the air game. Jaime Moreno and Omar Cummings are two good examples of the WF. Goals scorers that also put up good assist numbers.

The Center Attacking Mid has a very similar position relative to the rest of their teammates, but what they do with the ball changes. When the ball is at their feet they primarily look to pass. This leads many commentators to refer to someone in this role as a "pivot" or "advanced pivot" as in a majority of build-up situations a team will look for this player to change the flow of the game from left to right or forward. If soccer has a point guard it would be this player. Back in the 90s this wasCarlos Valderama, but now is Guillermo Barros Scheletto and Blanco. Except when those last two aren't doing that.

In many situations a team's most expensive talent has been a floater, a player who can do either role effectively and the coach let's that player stick one foot in either role in a given match. This is why you can sometimes see the same team listed as a 4-5-1, a 4-4-1-1 and a 4-4-2. DeRo, GBS, Blanco and Ljungberg all do this at times, and while it seems to take away from the clarity of the situation, it is also part of why they are great players.

The Wide Midfielders
Several different roles can be seen as wide midfielders. I will even go so far as to throw the Wingers of a 4-3-3 into this element as they are in some ways a variant of the midfield as well, though with less defensive responsibilities. From the chart above listed from most attacking to most defensive and only on the Left side - Left Wing, Left Attacking Midfielder, Left Mid, Left Defensive Mid.

Wing(er) - Whether Thierry Henry or Steve Zakuani, this player is both a goal scorer and an assist threat. They come in at the elbows with the ball at their feet attacking the goal or threading a pass to a teammate making a central or far post run. Often these passes are low, aimed at the feet of the player for a one touch goal scoring opportunity. Whether the role is occupied by a nominal Forward or Midfielder neither has great defensive responsibilities, mainly focusing on forward defense and stealing the ball in the attacking third.

Left/Right Attacking Mid - This role isn't seen too often, as a team needs two players capable of being Attacking Midfielders that both belong on the pitch at the same time. It will appear in certain variants of the 4-5-1, particularly the "Christmas Tree" or 4-3-2-1. Each player is like a CAM in nature. They don't provide width typically, but instead control lanes on either side of an imaginary centerline. A team using the LAM and RAM would need its fullbacks to get forward quite a bit in order to keep opposition fullbacks honest in defense.

Left/Right Mid - This is a box-to-box player who plays both ways. It is the difference in ways between a Steve Zakuani on the Left and those times when we saw Seb Le Toux or Roger Levesque on the Left. More defensive in orientation than the previous two wide roles, you often see this player as providing a lot of width in play, and they are well known for the booming cross. Dave ven den Bergh and David Beckham are probably the two clearest examples of this role. You don't necessarily need a fast player here, but as always speed helps.

Left/Right Defensive Mid - These paired roles show up in both 3-5-2 and 4-5-1 formations, so Seattle will almost never use them. But if you think back to the matches against DC United (particularly the Open Cup Final) you will note Rodney Wallace in this role. There are also times where a 4-4-2 can have two defensive mids when both wide players are nearly wingers, and the Sounders toyed a bit with having Alonso and Evans paired in defense like this. In any formation but the 3-5-2 that has two Defensive Mids you will find that the team using that style is playing to hold the current score as they lose offensive punch by having 7 of their 11 players behind the ball in almost all cases.

Fullbacks - WingBacks at Flat Backs
Graham kind of dissected this one already when talking about James Riley early in this site's history on SBN. He then adressed it again a bit in his discussion on the Offside Trap. So I don't need to say much except that the WingBack is more of an offensive threat (think Leo Gonzalez) where the plain Back (Zach Scott) is just a defender, likely better at executing the trap.

Central Defense
There are several roles that appear in the middle of the defense and they appear in both the midfield and along the backline. Some of these have grown more popular over time, and other take someone truly special to make it work.

Center Defensive Mid (CDM) - Any team playing a Diamond in the midfield likely does so in order to have a 5th defensive outfielder. This player provides an extra layer of defensive, counteracts the CAM, and sometimes makes second runs into the offensive third to provide depth in attack. Whether Osvaldo Alonso, or Kyle Beckerman, this is a player that stops the run of play by the opposition, or at the least slows down a break so that other midfielders can get back as well.

Libero (or UpBack) - I don't like to use non-English when talking soccer, because I have enough trouble with my own language. So I invented the word UpBack to represent a central defender that gets forward on occaission like the WingBacks. It is rare to see in the modern game and takes a truly special centerback that can get this done. If the CDM gets into the attack 20% of the time the Libero/UB does so only 10% of the time. Patrick Ianni did this a bit last year, and Jeff Parke seems to have done so last night against the Timbers.

Sweeper - I see this as a nearly dead role. One that is like adding a final backline behind the other CenterBacks. I guess if there were 3 or 5 defenders one may drop closer to the keeper, but this would lose the ability to execute the Trap. Sometimes the Sounders will use Hurtado in a kind of sweeping fashion during a long ball battle as Marshall goes up, Hurtado will then try to capture the second ball if Marshall doesn't get the first.

Central Midfielder/Box to Box Midfielder - While in the top leagues this "non-specialist" is disappearing, I think it is alive and well in Major League Soccer. Whether it is Brad Evans who does go from 18 to 18, Sharlie Joseph who goes from 18 to 6 or even Peter Vagenas who goes from 30 to 30 MLS needs and uses these players to control the pace of a match, to provide a presence within the middle layer and to give just a bit more scoring punch. The CM has to have strong tactical knowledge, good technical skills and a great understanding of the coach's system. It shouldn't be a surprise that the two players with the most experience on Sigi Schmid led teams are the ones that he uses in this role.

Hopefully that new table helps. As always ask questions if you have any. Also the tag "primer" has other introduction to soccer concepts, as well as intro to MLS concepts.

Timbers @ Sounders Open Thread - Your thoughts, your analysis

2010-03-12T01:40:03Z

There is a starting role up for grabs, at least in the early going, in the Right Midfield. Also, the Sounders have plenty of issues with their depth and cover, particularly at LM and RB, while it is likely that a Center back goes to the IL, or just gets cut, but this match is about more than mere roster space.

It is the continuation of a legacy of soccer in America that actually stetches back more than a single generation. It is a rivalry game, regardless of status as a pre-season tuneup, or as a friendly. The Portland Timbers faithful hate Seattle Sounders and the Seattle Sounders supporters laugh at a club that has struggled for trophies.

Tonight though, the MATCH is a bit secondary. First off all tickets sold are for charity. Secondly is the news that the Union is willing to strike.

But tonight, the Sounders look to pass average MLS attendance for a preseason match, when stars aren't likely to see more than a half. If you aren't there, you can catch glimpses on KONG 6/16, or on live blogs on Sounders FC.com, or Seattle Times, or at Prost Amerika.

Here today, we provide your place for instant analysis and dreams of when soccer in American isn't fliriting with Russian Roulette.

		Montero
		Ljungberg
Zakuani				Souter
		Vagenas
		Alonso
Gonzalez				Evans
	Hurtado		Marshall
		Keller

That's the Sounders starting lineup. Your commentary to follow

CBA Update: Talks continue

2010-03-11T22:39:28Z

You may have heard that the players have overwhelmingly voted to strike, according to Steven Goff.

Well, he's updated the story to reflect comments from MLS officials.

In response to comments made by players after the labor negotiations in Washington this week, MLS President Mark Abbott told the Insider on Thursday that "the meetings were productive and we have scheduled a number of additional meetings. While I can't discuss what takes place across the bargaining table, I can say that the players' comments do not accurately reflect the proposals that we have made to address the players' concerns or the productive nature of the discussions between MLS and the union."

Apparently, as part of the mediation agreement, neither side was supposed to be talking to the media. The players are obviously trying to apply as much pressure as possible. And as long as the mediation is ongoing, both sides are barred from calling a work stoppage.

The two sides are scheduled to meet next week, so there probably won't be any big news over the weekend.

Preview: Community Shield, Sounders vs. Timbers

2010-03-11T07:22:03Z

Today's Inaugural Community Shield match ensures that the Seattle-Portland rivalry will continue its 35-year run in which the two teams played every season they both fielded teams. The rivalry has stretched across three leagues.

Although it's being billed as a friendly, the 13,000-plus fans who will be in attendance may not feel the same way. The two teams have met 60 times, with the Sounders holding a 34-21-5 advantage, including wins in each of the past two meetings.

There are reportedly four busloads of Timbers fans making the trip to Seattle. The game will kick off at 6 p.m. with plenty of tickets still available. Proceeds from ticket sales will go to the Boys and Girls Club of Washington State, Seattle SCORES, Soccer Saves and Washington Youth Soccer.

While the match may not have any significance in terms of the standings, it also marks the penultimate preseason game for the Sounders.

There are stil 21 Senior players listed on the Sounders' roster and, if as expected, the roster limit is 20 that means at least one player won't be making the active roster (and that doesn't include Blaise Nkufo, who will join the team after the World Cup). This listing also does not include David Estrada and the battle for the four Developmental Slots

If the players' rhetoric is to be believed, this may also be the last time Sounders fans have a chance to see their team at home, at least for the foreseeable future.

According to Toronto FC defender Nick Garcia, the federal mediator has failed to bring the sides any closer together on a new CBA. Garcia also said the players will not play under the terms of the old CBA.

"We're anticipating not having the season starting [on time]. As of now, for us, we're very far apart — even with the mediator there in D.C. We're hoping things can get done, but quite frankly I don't think we're confident things will."

Will this be a showcase of the League's future when tens of thousands of fans show up for a preseason friendly between long and bitter rivals, or will it be the last time we see Sounders in their home Rave Green for the forseeable future?

Champions League Resumes Tonight - Crew Host Toluca

2010-03-09T17:50:15Z

The Champions League for our region (CONCACAF) resumes this evening and the impossible may be as possible as ever. Mexican Primera side Toluca travels to Columbus in a quarterfinal two-leg aggregate knockout round. Major League Soccer sides tend to hold their own against non-Mexican competition, but against our southerly neighbors it hasn't been a contest.

Columbus only has one significant loss. They can no longer count on Alejandro Moreno to draw free kicks and penalties for GBS. When you watch this game you will see a team more experienced than Seattle, but running a similar style. GBS roams behind the striker and flirts with being both a CAM and Withdrawn Forward at the same time.

Toluca is not a historically strong club and only has a few titles in the past half decade. They are currently struggling in League play more than half way through the Mexican Spring season. Eleventh with 11 pts in an 18 team league they do have a +3 Goal Differential. But they are traveling to cold Columbus, a stadium where Mexico players perform poorly.

They say that "Impossible is Nothing" but in this game, and at this stage of MLS, the impossible is a necessity for an MLS side to advance in the knockout rounds of the CCL. Tonight, on FSC, at 5PM Pacific you have the best opportunity for an MLS club to set up the impossible.

For those of you that want a stronger MLS, with more revenue, you need to watch matches that don't involve your own side. That's why TV ratings are strong for MLB, NFL, NBA, EPL, etc. Higher ratings for all matches involving MLS sides means more revenue, more revenue means more salary cap monies, which means better overall talent.

And let's be honest, this is one of those times that you have a clear rooting interest in an MLS side and their best chance to pick up goals against a club from Mexico. Oh, and it gives you a preview of the Crew's strength in this upcoming season.

Nkufo has serious pedigree

2010-03-08T19:24:14Z

Blaise Nkufo might be the best pure scorer to ever join Major League Soccer.

I realize that's a bold statement, but you should know that it's not just homerism taken to hyperbolic extremes.

Since Nkufo's signing, I've been trying to figure out a reasonable way to set expectations for a soon-to-be 35-year-old player most casual fans have never heard of and won't be joining the team until after the World Cup.

What I found was somewhat startling, even in light of everything I've read about him in the past few days. Not only is Nkufo one of the most prolific goal scorers (on a per-game basis) to come to MLS from a foreign first-division league, but he does so in the midst of a four-season stretch in which he's averaged more than a goal every other game in league matches. Based on what other similar -- and perhaps lesser -- players accomplished in their first seasons in MLS, it's perfectly reasonable to expect six to nine goals and a few assists despite the fact that he'll miss half the Sounders' regular season games.

In other words, it wouldn't be crazy to expect him to be the team's top scoring threat, or even one of the best goal scorers in the league.

Beginning with the 2002 season, I found 13 players who came to MLS in their 30s and could be reasonably classified as goal scorers during their previous professional experience. Based purely on goals-per-game, Nkufo was more prolific than any of them. Over the course of 335 games against first-division competition -- mostly in the Dutch league -- Nkufo has scored 160 goals, or about .48 per game.

The most comparable player in that sense was Juan Pablo Angel, who joined New York in 2007 after scoring 135 goals in 335 first-division games in South America and Europe. Granted, this is not a pure apples-to-apples comparison. While the Dutch league is generally considered roughly on par with MLS, the final seven seasons of Angel's pre-MLS career came in the Premier League -- generally regarded as the world's top professional flight. Angel was also 32 when he signed on with MLS, although he was coming off three consecutive disappointing seasons -- which is why I suppose he was available in the first place.

In any case, Angel probably represents the highest level of potential expectation. During his first MLS season, Angel scored an astounding 19 goals in 24 games and averaged 1.82 points per 90 minutes ({goals x 2 + assists}/minutes x 90).

If we assume Nkufo is able to manage a Freddie Ljunberg-like 83 minutes per game and play all 17 post-World Cup matches, production on this level would result in somewhere in the neighborhood of 12 goals and three assists. (Ljundberg, by the way, registered a .64 PP90 last year as a 32-year-old. Of course, he's more of a creator than goal-scorer, which is why I don't go into a lengthy comparison in this piece. Fredy Montero, the Sounders' top PP90 player last season, registered a 1.28 as a 22-year-old playing in his first MLS season. He scored .54 goals per game as a professional in Colombia.)

On the other end of the spectrum would be players like Andreas Herzog and Edgaras Jankauskas, both of whom plied their trade in Europe before coming to MLS in their mid-30s. Of course, I wouldn't call this a real apples-to-apples comparison, either.

Herzog was a midfielder, for one, and was not nearly as prolific a scorer. During 438 first-division games (his most recent stop before MLS was in the Austrian Futbol Bundesliga), he scored 97 goals, or about one every five games. As a 35-year-old, he scored four goals and had seven assists (.66 PP90) during the 2004 season with the Los Angeles Galaxy.

Jankauskas was a forward, who came to MLS with 21 goals in just 74 first-division games, with his most recent pre-MLS stop coming in the Virsliga of Latvia. He scored two goals and had .67 PP90 during 10 games with New England last season.

Production at this level, still assuming 83 minutes per game over 17 games, would yield a result of roughly four goals and two assists. We could certainly call that disappointing, but that production would have made Nkufo the fourth leading scorer on the team last year in just half a season.

Like I said, though, neither of those players have near the pedigree or scoring touch of someone like Nkufo.

Among the players who scored at least a goal every third game during their first-division careers before joining MLS are Youri Djorkaeff (.35 GPG in the top-flight leagues in England, France and Germany) and Cuauhtemoc Blanco (.37 GPG in Mexico).

Both players averaged better than 1.0 PP90 during their first seasons in MLS, with the 37-year-old Djorkaeff scoring 10 goals with seven assists in 24 games for New York in 2005 and the 34-year-old Blanco scoring four times, while adding seven assists, in 14 games with Chicago in 2007. Those two players scored about a goal every third game for their national teams (France and Mexico, respectively) over 190 contests. Nkufo's national team career hasn't been quite as prolific (.24 goals a game in 29 caps), although he did score five goals during Switzerland's recent World Cup qualifying run.

Combining their performances, gives us a PP90 of 1.17. That kind of production for Nkufo would probably look something like this (with the previously stated playing requirements): seven or eight goals and two to four assists. If Nkufo scores like that, you can bet the Sounders will be very pleased.

Aside from Angel, the two top MLS scorers on my list were Brian McBride and Darren Huckerby, although both players need some explanation since they don't fit my exact criteria.

McBride, as you probably know, started his professional career in MLS before playing for Fulham in the EPL. I included him based on his return to MLS after four years away. And I realize Huckerby didn't actually play in a first-division, but his time in the Championship with Norwich City was at a high enough level for me to consider his experience relevant.

Neither of those players were serious standouts in Europe. Each scored about once every four games over 460 combined contests.

They were much more effective here. In McBride's first year back in MLS, the 36-year-old scored five goals in 11 games for the 2008 Chicago Fire. That same year, the 32-year-old Huckerby nearly carried the Earthquakes into the playoffs with six goals and four assists in 14 games.

Their combined PP90 of 1.18 is essentially the same as Blanco and Djorkaeff, and would obviously result in similar stats, although it probably serves to bolster the case that this may be more of a baseline.

At least one other player deserves mentioning: Columbus' Guillermo Schelotto. Yes, I realize he was more playmaker than pure goal-scorer when he came to MLS, but the Argentine has evolved into more of a scorer, netting 12 goals last year. Plus, he was brought to Columbus while Sounders coach Sigi Schmid was running the show.

As a 34-year-old, Schelotto registered five goals and had 11 assists in 22 games during the 2007 season. Again, that's good for a 1.18 PP90. Sense a theme?

Maybe I'm assuming too much from a playing time standpoint, though. If we settle on this figure of 1.18 PP90 and give Nkufo a couple games off, but still keep him at about 83 minutes per contest, we're still looking at somewhere in the range of six to seven goals and two to four assists. Not bad production for a half season.

Obviously, this production would come at the cost of another player. The smart money seems to suggest it would be either Nate Jaqua or Steve Zakuani that ends up taking a reduced roll. Those two players combined for five second-half goals last year. If we assume that half that production is lost and replaced by Nkufo's seven goals, that's a net of at least four additional goals. Last year, that probably would have been enough to give Seattle the best regular season record in all of MLS.

I realize there are too many assumptions made here to be relevant from a hardcore statistician's viewpoint. Still, I don't think it's a stretch to say the Nkufo signing has the very real potential to be a serious game changer and very much worth the investment.

Note: Admittedly, this analysis totally ignores utter disasters such as the signing of Denilson, who scored just one goal in eight games for Dallas during the 2007 season. As for the sources I used, I'm a bit embarrassed to say that all the international numbers came from Wikipedia. The MLS numbers came from MLSnet.com. The exception being the half-by-half breakdown for Jaqua and Zakuani, which came from ESPN. As always, if anyone has better sources, I'll happily update my information.

Poll

What's your best prediction for Nkufo's production?

Quick Recap of Sounders @ Whitecaps Nil-Nil Draw

2010-03-07T20:13:11Z

Seattle fans got their first live look at a preseason match, but only if they traveled. Emerald City Supporters had 2 busses, Gorilla FC got a van, and of course there were dozens that traveled on their own. Thursday Night ten thousand more will be able to see the action live as well. This will be your last shot to see some of the depth on the team until injuries or the US Open Cup, so if you are intrigued by guys like Fucito, Estrada, Scott, Nyassi, Levesque, Wahl, Parke, Ianni or Graham you may want to get those cheaper tickets. (Yeah, I just tried to sell tickets).

This match seemed to be like one of missed chances, too many offsides, and a wasted opportunity when Fucito passed instead of pulled the trigger;

"I thought in the first half, we put together a couple of good combinations. We got caught offside today, and more so in 20 minutes than we have been called offside in the last five games together. Either some of the runs were really off, some of them were really close, you couldn’t really tell. I thought we had a chance to win at the end of the game, Mike Fucito really should’ve pulled the trigger."

"I thought in the first half we had four or five really good chances. Overall, we’ve put a lot of emphasis on trying to play balls behind the defence. And I think we probably tried to overflow that hand a little bit by trying to do that too much. I think the combination play wasn’t as good as it has been in the past. We got to make sure that we still find the right balance in possession of the ball and get it behind the opposing defence. We just have to become better at our decision making process."

Off and on-ball movement continues to be the message, as the talent on this team is completely capable of having a top 5 offense in this league. Minor injuries continue to clutter the reading of tea leaves, but the image of player rotations continues to gain some clarity.

		Montero
		Seamon (83)
		Ljungberg
		Estrada (83)
Zakuani				Nyassi
Fucito (63)				Estrada (63)
		Sturgis		Souter (83)
		King (78)
		Alonso
		Vagenas (78)
Gonzalez				Riley
Wahl (73)				Scott (87)
	Hurtado		Marshall
	Parke (73)
		Keller

I have noted that Estrada likely slid to the withdrawn forward role when Souter came on, and Seamon stayed forward, but it would be great if someone who was live at the event could talk about how the 4 attacking players were distributed late in the game.

Sigi said that both teams slid into more of a 4-2-4 late, my guess is that the shape changed as each team's Reserves and Substitutes pressed forward to change the game and make the roster. Ideally in the Arrow we would hope that shape would compress and extend like a slinky to maintain width in attack and depth in defense.

From Ljungerg's comments it sounds like the Vancouver side play like a mid-table MLS side already; physical and direct.

"It may have not been the best game to watch, but it was a good game for our fitness. I thought Vancouver played quite well. They played very direct and are a physical side, so it hard for us to play against them today. I think they will do very well when they get into MLS next year.”

You can also read a recap from Bucholtz at Sporting Madness

Gamethread: Sounders @ Vancouver, preseason

2010-03-06T23:55:08Z

UPDATE: Sounders tie Whitecaps, 0-0 in front of about 4,000 fans.

I'm still looking for a live radio stream, but if I can't find any I'll at least post the score and highlights.

That said, here's the starting lineups:

Sounders: Kasey Keller, James Riley, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Tyrone Marshall, Leo Gonzalez, Sanna Nyassi, Nathan Sturgis, Osvaldo Alonso, Steve Zakuani, Fredy Montero and Freddie Ljungberg.

Whitecaps: Jay Nolly, Chris Williams, Taka Hirano, Greg Janicki, Martin Nash, Ricardo Sanchez, Nelson Akwari, Ansu Toure, Dever Orgill, Cornelius Stewart and Nizar Khalfan.

Feel free to discuss...

Previewing Sounders @ Whitecaps Preseason Match from the Other Side

2010-03-06T12:07:53Z

There was a ton of transition in the lower levels of North American soccer this off-season, and keeping up was just a bit more difficult for me. So today, as a preview of the match against our Northern Cascadia rivals I decided to ask one of the experts on said team. The following post is written by Andrew Bucholtz of Sporting Madness. If its happening in sports in Western Canada Andrew knows. Here are his thoughts on the team in transition, and who to watch for on the other side of the ball.

It's a season of transition for the Vancouver Whitecaps. For one thing, they're in a new league (the awkwardly-named USSF Division II, which is made even weirder by their team not technically falling under the jurisdiction of the USSF). The league isn't actually going to look that different in practice, though, as it still will contain most of the teams they competed against in the old USL Division I last season.

However, the organizational changes the Whitecaps have made are more likely to have a significant long-term impact. At the top, there's a new chief executive officer, former Tottenham Hotspur executive director Paul Barber. Barber (not the actorwho played Denzel in Only Fools and Horses) is a huge acquisition not just for the Whitecaps, but for the profile of North American soccer as a whole. He was Tottenham's executive director for four years and in charge of most of the key areas of the club; you don't see too many guys of that variety make the jump across the pond, particularly to a second-tier league.

Of course, the Whitecaps aren't going to be second-tier for long, as they're set to join MLS in 2011. Still, the organization isn't content to sit around until then. Last year saw a heavy focus on developing young talent, and coach Teitur Thordarsontold me early on that the team's goal was to try and prepare their young stars for MLS rather than focus on winning now. They were able to accomplish both goals, though, coming just short in CONCACAF Champions League qualification thanks to the Montreal Impact laying down in their final game against Toronto FC and then making it to the USL final against the Impact. They weren't able to come home with their second straight league championship, but they exceeded pretty much all expectations.

This year's Whitecaps will be very different, though.

There will still be the focus on youth and building for the future, and that's reflected in the new figures on board. In addition to Barber (who was recruited thanks to his friendship with Whitecaps co-owners Jeff Mallett (of Yahoo! fame) and Steve Nash (of NBA fame)), the Caps have brought former DC United head coach Tom Soehn on board as director of soccer operations. He'll work with president Bob Lenarduzzi and head coach Teitur Thordarson on putting the team's roster together and developing their young talent and other teams. The Whitecaps have also added former Canadian star Colin Milleras an assistant coach with the pro team and the interim head of the residency (elite youth training teams) programs. The Whitecaps have signed two guys who played in MLS last year, Greg Janicki (from DC United) and Blake Wagner(from FC Dallas), as well as several players from other USL teams, including defenders Nelson Akwari and Zourab Tsiskaridze and midfielders Jonny Steele, Chris Williams, and Ricardo Sanchez.

With the additions come departures. From an organizational standpoint, the biggest one is Thomas Niendorf, who headed up the residency programs. From an on-field perspective, the toughest losses are up front, with young star Marcus Haber leaving to join West Bromwich Albion and team-leading goal scorer Charles Gbekeheading to China to play with Guangzhou FC. Marlon James is back, and he was very effective in spurts last year, but beyond him, it will largely be up to young talent to fill the net. Randy Edwini-Bonsu and Dever Orgill were both effective in limited duty last year; we'll see how they do over a full season.

The Whitecaps have plenty of talent still on board, though, and they'll likely demonstrate that in today's match against the Sounders. In goal, they have Jay Nolly, who has consistently been one of the USL's top keepers; I've made the argument many times that he could compete for an MLS spot. On defence, they have two excellent wingbacks in the veteran Takashi Hirano and the brilliantly talented but still developing Wes Knight. Luca Bellisomo will likely take one of the inside spots, but the other one is largely up for grabs. The midfield has plenty of talent with Martin Nash, Ansu Toure, Justin Moose and Ethan Gage among others, and the forwards have tons of potential, if not the most consistent record.

Of course, Seattle still has the superior roster on paper. They're a strong MLS side, whereas the Whitecaps are a Division II side building towards MLS. However, I wouldn't be surprised if this one winds up reasonably close or in favour of the Whitecaps. Seattle beat Vancouver 3-2 on Feb. 11 in Arizona, and the Whitecaps lost 4-1 to Chicago during the same training swing, but they also topped Real Salt Lake 2-1. There's also a long history between these sides at both the NASL and USL-1 levels; they've played 111 competitive matches, with Seattle leading the series with 54 wins, 42 losses and 15 draws. The Whitecaps fans will be fired up for this one, and that might translate to the players as well. Beyond that, though, as Sigi Schmidt said, differences in talent are minimized in these one-off games. "Over a whole season, you would see a difference but on a given day, they will be competitive and give us a very good match."

For a different look at the match results check Sporting Madness after the match.

MLS, players union agree to meet

2010-03-06T00:13:11Z

I'll use my past experience here and say this is not bad news, but I'm not sure it's anything to get excited about, either. From the looks of it, the league and players have agreed to sit down with a federal mediator but haven't agreed to binding arbitration. Neither side is legally bound to accept the mediator's ruling, if I'm reading this right. Although it usually doesn't hurt to have a disinterested third party sitting in the room telling each side how realistic they're being.

The league's release:

NEW YORK -- Major League Soccer confirmed that MLS and the MLS Players Union have agreed to meet next week in Washington, D.C. to continue collective bargaining agreement negotiations.

As part of the meetings, MLS and the Union have jointly accepted the invitation of George H. Cohen, the Director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS), to serve as a mediator during the discussions.

In my experience, federal mediators are good at getting both sides to be honest and realistic about what they can accomplish. During our negotiations, the mediator managed to at least get us moving in the right direction and ultimately we were able to hash out a deal after about a year of negotiations.

Apparently, Cohen was a union lawyer for about 40 years before accepting a job with the federal mediators. I'm not so sure I'd read too much into that, though.

In any case, it's a lot better than both sides just brooding in their own corners.

Jaqua not ineffecient use of money

2010-03-05T02:52:34Z

The Blaise Nkufo signing has people judging the merits of Nate Jaqua. He's been considered a failure despite putting up solid Goal and Assist numbers in the league. He was one of the best second forwards in the League last year by these measures, and when adjusted for a rate stat, he remains in the top.

Today I saw a new argument, that he was just too inefficient a use of the 208k that he made, so I added in salary to my PP90 number and valued each player by Points Per 90 per 100k of salary. This makes it a double rate, because I'm lazy I only did it for the players last year who will be in the league this year, and who made more than 200k. That made it only 27 players, we are missing Blanco, Vitti and Huckerby, but Jaqua was certainly better than all but Blanco, and rolly-polly made a ton of money, so it would be close.

Guess what? Nate Jaqua was 3rd. Yep, THIRD. Its a rate stat people. He scored goals, got assists. He was efficient, and of the high priced players he performed. Oh, and he really wanted to play in Seattle. Sure, he wasn't pretty, and he certainly isn't a classic Target Forward. But only Jeff Cunningham and Conor Casey were better values amongst the "rich" MLS players. The poor man's Brian Ching (that's Jaqua), just edged out Brian Ching. Go to the bottom of the list and you'll find the DPs.

Full Chart below the Jump

Name	Salary	Minutes	Points	PP90	PP90 per 100k
Cunningham	219	1918	42	1.971	0.900
Casey	200	2087	33	1.423	0.712
Jaqua	208	2278	25	0.988	0.475
Ching	243	1549	19	1.104	0.454
Moreno	355	1240	21	1.524	0.429
Wolff	200	2348	22	0.843	0.422
Kljestan	203	2041	13	0.573	0.282
Jankauskas	240	667	5	0.675	0.281
Ferriera	300	2692	25	0.836	0.279
Barrett	203	2069	13	0.565	0.279
Gomez	321	1612	16	0.893	0.278
DvdB	227	2446	17	0.626	0.276
DeRo	426	2444	28	1.031	0.242
Joseph	450	2228	24	0.969	0.215
Arnaud	229	2214	12	0.488	0.213
Fred	257	1422	8	0.506	0.197
McBride	385	1963	16	0.734	0.191
Mapp	255	1013	5	0.444	0.174
GBS	775	1816	27	1.338	0.173
Morales	200	2076	7	0.303	0.152
Donovan	900	2152	30	1.255	0.139
Emilio	758	2070	22	0.957	0.126
Corrales	202	2066	3	0.131	0.065
JPA	1798	2133	26	1.097	0.061
Ljungberg	1314	1836	13	0.637	0.048
Beckham	6500	889	7	0.709	0.011
de Guzman	956	450	0	0.000	0.000

I'm notsaying that I want Jaqua more than others on this list, what I am saying is that if we are going to invent a measure of a player's effectiveness let's see what the numbers say before we condemn the man. I am also not saying that this is a complete image of who any of these players are.

Blaise Nkufo joining Sounders in 4 months

2010-03-04T19:51:13Z

First, Blaise mentioned that one of the things he and Kasey talked about back in December was that the team went through a scoring drought. The Sounders know this, and as of today, they are addressing it. This summer in the secondary window they will add a player with over 200 goals in his long career. Yes, he will have tired legs, but he has the strength and fitness that should minimize the impact.

There are two impacts to this signing that I see.

First is roster math, and second is the depth chart.

Adrian noted that part of the advantage of having Blaise come to the team in July during the secondary window is that it will give the team plenty of time to figure out how to fit him onto the squad under whatever rules are needed. While it did come out that Nkufo is on an 18 Month plus 1 Year Option contract, it was not stated that he is/isn't a DP.

In fact it was stated that they will be creative in the financials on the deal bringing him on for the lowest cap number they can under whatever cap rules are agreed upon between the League and Union. It could be as a DP, or a just a contract with a lot of allocation. That's a fun little advantage to the Secondary Window and the lack of CBA. Find a player who wants to live and work here, and just "make it work"

The depth chart on the other hand gets complex, but also delayed.

Nothing actually shifts for quite a bit. There will be months of tweaking for Sigi and the coaching staff where they can figure out where the Freddyain play, how to use Estrada, Jaqua, Zakuani and Fucito. I actually don't expect the Arrow to change much. For me the starting lineup may shift to the below;

		Nkufo
		Ljungberg
Zakuani				Montero
		Evans

Gonzalez		Alonso		Riley
	Hurtado		Ianni
		Keller

Yes, it bumps Jaqua to the bench alongside Estrada, Levesque and Fucito. That's a crowded amount of talent to have come August, but necessary if the Sounders make the Group Stage of the CONCACAF Champions League and get those extra six matches.

In fact if all four are on the team, and the Sounders are in the CCL, that would be a great second set of attacking players for MLS, not CCL play. I, in fact, would suggest starting the better players in CCL in order to get out of the Group stage.

Nkufo will be moving to Seattle and making it home for the extent of his contract by the way calling it "very much like Vancouver." This is a life move for him, not just a soccer move.

"Major Announcement" Open Thread

2010-03-04T17:21:38Z

Speculate for the next hour or so. Again, I will be tweegting updates, and we'll see what else I can get out.

Be a community and talk amongst yourselves.

Having Friends in High Places Should Help Sounders

2010-03-04T04:43:10Z

Yes, there is a "major announcement" tomorrow. No, I don't know what it is. The Sounder at Heart team is arranging coverage. Now, there is speculation that it may revolve around a possible announcement of a friendly, with Mayers linking an AP story.

Said AP story does focus on partnerships that MLS is looking to develop with a few EPL clubs. Not necessarily friendlies, but it does mention three teams that will likely be in the USA this summer.

Some English clubs already play in the U.S. in the summer, with Manchester United, Manchester City and Tottenham possibly making the trip this July. Garber said helping to grow the sport is the next logical step for interested clubs.

"Whether it's an existing team or an expansion team is irrelevant to me," Garber said. "But I would see over the next number of years us continuing our connection with international football clubs, and having it go beyond representing them in the United States for brand development and fan opportunities."

Would those three be the right type of club for Seattle to host this summer? Absolutely, and there are numbers that prove it.

See, just this past week Deloitte released the top 20 revenue clubs in European Football. If there are three friendlies a year I would suggest that two should be off of that list EVERY SINGLE YEAR. Those 20 clubs, and a few others are name brands throughout the globe. They are not regionally recognized. They ARE football, anywhere.

Manchester United is 3rd on the list this year, and were second last year. Their ownership issues dominate most news, but let's remember they sell out stadiums around the world. In the past four years they have 7 domestic trophies and 2 internationals. Qwest would get a smattering of the Reds, but the international exposure for the Rave Green would sky rocket.

Manchester City are 19th. Their global identity is not quite as broad, their titles not nearly as extensive, but they have a solid reach in England and the Arab world. But this is still a well known brand, with history and one that obviously knows a thing or two about marketing.

Tottenham Hotspur makes the list as well. Fifteenth this year and 14th last. Seriously, the 'Spurs are another "non-Big Four" and yet they make millions, about 200M US$ in a year. That's big cash, and they two have a bit of a global, not just English following. Only one trophy in the last four years, they have the unique secondary benefit of being managed by a Sounder -Harry Redknapp.

Look at that list of 20 again.

It is a list of global football brands, and each would elevate the Sounders financially, and with exposure. Yes, one is on my "no friendly list" already. This list isn't just title winners, it is a list of powerhouses, financial gold mines, and probably the only clubs in Europe actually making money off of football these days.

While there are a few clubs in the Americas that make substantial revenue it is doubtful that any have the global appeal that this list of 20 does. The final team on the list earned ~120M US$ last year. For a comparison, the top revenue team in MLS in 2007 made 23M$, and in 2009 it is likely that the top revenue team in MLS (certainly the Sounders) made 30-35M US$.

If the Sounders are picking friendly opponents based on the ability to make money for themselves, to raise global awareness of their own brand and to create connections with the world's best it only makes sense that the top revenue earning clubs in Europe are the start of the conversation.

Oh, and tomorrow's announcement it could also be about a player signing, trade or transfer, but in light of the CBA I'll place my bet firmly on a friendly.

Beyond the Touchline: Steve Zakuani Launches Kingdom Hope

2010-03-03T03:42:11Z

Steve Zakuani's life has taken him from the Congo, to London, to Akron and Seattle. Through that time he focused on soccer as his future. An accident had that dream stopped at one point and his focus shifted to life learning. His dream of a pro career in England stopped. But, as he returned to health, he discovered this strange thing called an athletic scholarship to a university in America. On his website he calls those two years at the University of Akron "One of the best periods in Steve Zakuani’s life. "

Zakuani is starting with a small foundation, running camps, having a scholarship, but his vision is large for Kingdom-Hope. While it will begin in Seattle, in the end he hopes to connect three continents and not just improve some people's chances at soccer, but with life education and academic work.

Below is our conversation about education, opportunity and soccer. He talks about how a program can start small and grow in ways like a player's development. It is a conversation about having dreams both on the pitch and beyond the touchline.

Dave Clark: What was so different about the college experience playing soccer and your time in London?

Steve Zakuani: Being from Europe, I grew up in a kind of environment where there was a focus on professional football from a young age. By the time you get to 16 you have to sign a pro contract. If you don't you aren't going to be a pro. But you are still young, you are still developing. So by coming to the States I got that time. We had a good team, and over those two years I got a good level of training, good playing. And I achieved my dream at 21 years old.

Had I stayed in England, that wouldn't have been the case. One could get a good education, or play at a good level. One or the other. Here I got both. I like eduction. I like to read. But I also got to play at a good level and then go pro. It was a unique opportunity. At the same time I have friends back home, some who were more talented than I am, who never got a chance. But they didn't sign a contract, they gave up and went and worked 9 to 5. For me it's tragic, for if they had the chance at a scholarship they would have taken it. They would have learned.

For me that's why the scholarship fund is important. So that if you want to go to college, but don't have the financial means to do so, you can. I can help them out, because I know for me those two years were great for my development as a person and also as a player.

DC: Talk a little bit about that educational journey. I know in other interviews you talk about studying a lot of social issues; those that affect America as well as global social issues. How did you become involved in studying social issues?

Zakuani: I had a bad injury ... on the moped, I had that crash. I couldn't train or walk for 18 months. During that time I was getting down, my dream was gone. I wanted my dream so much, but it kind of went that I was never going to play. I was even just struggling to walk. But during that time, I call him my mentor today, but he was my teacher then, he kind of opened my eyes that there were more important things. That's when I started to expand my life I guess.

But there was like a two-year gap where I hadn't studied anything in school. I was kind of hungry to learn, to fill that gap. So college was good. I took good classes. I took sports management, leadership, history, American history, black history, government all that kind of stuff. It opened my eyes, and I read a lot; things like philosophy. From there, I just like to be around people and get knowledge and just have a life away from soccer.

College was perfect because in the morning I could train, but then I could do my studies. I could be around real people and real situations.

DC: Do you think the two systems of academy and college soccer can and should coexist in one country?

Zakuani: I don't think they could coexist in one country. If every team had an academy going from 9 years old to 16,17, 18, I think that would kind of kill the college game. College was good for me, but for others, the English system could be right. I have a lot of friends playing in England right now. For me, though, I like the American system.

It gives you more time to develop and the focus isn't just on soccer like it is in Europe. The focus is on results so much there that they don't take time to develop. I think if teams got more academies going and it became successful, in the long run the college game would suffer. Players wouldn't go to college, they'd just play for the academy team. Teams wouldn't go to the Draft to get players, but get them at 16 or 17.

I'm not for or against either one, as they are just so different. For me though, I'm glad I got to go to college for those two years.

DC: Certainly the injury was some influence, but do you think that the college game helps that kind of "late-bloomer?"

Zakuani: I think it is ideal for that actually. It really is ideal. For someone like myself. Yeah, I was coming off that injury, but I was not anywhere near ready to play pro. In England it would have been, "That's it. You're done." But coming here even for just those two years, or for four years, you are playing at a good level. You are getting that confidence. You are also playing for results, but you can still go pro. But you aren't a pro yet. You can make your mistakes. You can find yourself as a player. Then, eventually, you can make that jump.

When I came to Seattle I knew pressure. I already knew because I had played in college where I could make mistakes. I could miss shots, or do dribbles that didn't work. I couldn't do that under a national spotlight. If at 16 and you are playing in front of 35,000, that can kill you if you aren't successful right away. It can stop your development as a player. It can kill your confidence. It definitely gave me time to grow and develop.

DC: Learning and development is a continuous process, how will this year compare to last year?

Zakauni: Last year was good in two ways. It was certainly nice there were no expectations, that no one really knew we would be good as an expansion team. The second part that was good, is that we were good. We won the Open Cup, made the playoffs.

This year will be different. The league knows us. They know us as players. They know our strengths and our weaknesses. Because we did good last year, the expectation is higher. That isn't a bad thing, though. There is just less margin for error. Less room for mistakes. We have to get results

I think that it will help because we are playing with mainly the same guys. Last year we had only 10-12 games with the starters, but this year we have a full pre-season and a full year getting to know each other.

DC: I'm going to return to Kingdom Hope because I think it is a really inspiring dream and vision that you have. You have your foot in three nationalities at once, and your vision includes them all - Seattle, London and Congo - talk about that vision. We once talked about Danny Mwanga also being from Congo and back-to-back No. 1 picks. How do you hope that Kingdom Hope can have an influence there?

Zakuani: Well, right now it's just camps [and scholarship] so it's not exactly right now, but I've got really good people working with me to help with the camps and getting the scholarship off the ground. But we will open an academy in London in a few years' time, it will be like a soccer college. Where kids live and learn. They will do training every day, scholastic education but also life education. Things like financial management, time management, relationships that kind of stuff.

That's what the academy is going to be. It is going to be soccer, a good education and life education.

London obviously that's where I'm from, but for the States it was between Ohio and Seattle. Seattle is more of a soccer market and so that's why I chose it. The Congo, that's where we want to be as well. Like you said, we got the last two No. 1 picks. There's lots of good players from Congo, but they don't play for Congo.

There's a bunch of guys they play for France and Belgium, but I think that if people get involved and we get a program like Kingdom Hope for two years and they can come from Congo to the States and get scholarships, or professional tryouts with professional teams that's going to do good for them. Then the kids in the next generation, they are going to have players to look up to.

Right now, I didn't have any Congolese when I was coming up. I want to give them opportunities, so maybe in 20, or 30 years' time they can think, "He made it and so can I." No more playing for France, playing for England, playing for the States, but playing for the country you are from. That's where that came in.

This project that Steve Zakuani has launched is born out of his experiences growing up with feet in both the English academies and American colleges. It starts with things like soccer camps and a scholarship, but his ideal and his dream are these hybrid academies with one part education, one part life lessons and one part soccer on three different continents.

Kingdom-Hope starts small, but like a rookie, isn't going to look at what can be done in their first year, but how that first year can get them to their ultimate goals.

Pulling back the curtain on player acquisitions

2010-03-02T20:56:19Z

One of the more notable additions to Major League Soccer this offseason was undoubtedly the signing of teen-standout Luis Gil.

What should have been seen as a coup for MLS -- and Real Salt Lake which ultimately ended up with his services --was instead viewed by many detractors as yet another example of the league's insistence on rigging the rules however it sees fit.

Whether or not that viewpoint is fair somewhat misses the point. The reality is that most casual MLS fans -- and even many seasoned observers -- don't understand how front offices go about building their teams.

The league's website provides Rules and Regulations, but even that needs a fair amount of explanation. (Although a new CBA could change some things -- players are pushing for less restrictive rules in regards to those who are "out of contract" -- most of that language will remain intact.)

In a non-expansion year, when players move within MLS it's usually one of two ways -- via trade or through waivers. During the 2008 offseason, for example, there were a total of 29 transactions involving a player moving from one MLS squad to another. All but seven of those involved a trade. All seven involved players who had been released by their former teams before their contracts had expired.

There's no reason to waste too much time on how trades work. Essentially, players can be swapped for just about anything ranging from other players to allocation money (we'll get into that later) to draft choices. (I'm also going to assume there's a basic understanding of the EXPANSION DRAFT and SUPERDRAFT, and won't be explaining those in detail, either.)

In the case of WAIVERS, MLS rules are relatively straightforward:

(G) WAIVERS
A team may place a player on waivers at any time during the regular season at which point he is made available to all other teams. The waiver claiming period shall commence on the first business day after the League delivers notice to teams and shall expire at 5 p.m. EST on the second business day after the Waiver Period Commencement Date. The claiming period is 48 hours.

In instances where multiple teams place waiver claims on the same player -- this usually happens shortly after the roster cutoff date -- the league conducts a Waiver Draft.

In the offseason, the order of the draft is determined by reverse order of standings. Expansion teams are placed at the bottom of the list. After at least three games have been played during the season, the order is determined by points per game. Once a team selects a player via Waiver Draft, they move to the back of the line for subsequent drafts.

Where the rules are less straightforward, however, is when a player's contract runs out and he is not able to come to terms with his former team -- these players are considered OUT OF CONTRACT.

OUT OF CONTRACT PLAYERS / OPTIONS NOT PICKED UP: a team retains the right of first refusal to the player indefinitely only if attempts were made to re-sign the player.

Usually what ends up happening in these cases is that the team has attempted to re-sign an aging player at a reduced rate -- Dave van den Bergh is a recent high-profile example -- the player refuses and the team refuses to place him on waivers.

In this case, the player is left with two choices: try to sign with a team in a different league, most likely overseas, or wait for his old team to trade his rights. What makes this especially tricky is that since the league holds his contract, it is left trying to find a team willing to take the salary-cap hit without allowing the player to directly negotiate with other teams. With most teams not have an excess of salary-cap space and understandably unwilling to trade for a player they aren't sure if they'll be able to sign, the player can very easily find himself squeezed out of a job.

This is a bit off-topic but it bears mentioning: Perhaps the single biggest thing players seem to be asking for in the CBA negotiations is for this rule to be changed. At the very least, they would like to be able to negotiate with teams individually, as opposed to having to go through the league.

The league rarely has these kind of problems finding places for young players or those with built-in drawing power -- Kasey Keller, for example.

When the league acquires a player like that, it is almost always with the knowledge that at least one team is willing to make room for the player.

(A) ALLOCATIONS
The allocations will be ranked in reverse order of finish for the 2008 season, taking playoff performance into account. Seattle, as an expansion team, will have the top-ranked allocation at the beginning of 2009. The rankings will be separate and distinct from the allocation amounts and will only be relevant in the event two or more teams file a request for the same player on the same day, in the case of returning U.S. National Team players, or in other cases where the League, in its discretion taking into account all the circumstances, determines that the allocation rankings shall be applied. In such cases, priority will be granted to the team with the higher allocation ranking. Once the team uses its allocation ranking to acquire a player it will drop to the bottom of the list. The ranking itself can be traded provided part of the compensation received in return is another team's ranking.

Each team is given an ALLOCATION AMOUNT every season to sign players whose rights are not already owned by the league or to re-sign current players with league approval.

A club receives allocation money for (1) poor performance during the preceding MLS regular season; (2) the transfer of a player to a club outside of MLS for value; (3) roster purposes due to expansion status; and/or (4) exceptional circumstances as approved by the Competition Committee.

There are, of course, other signings that don't fit into these main categories.

Such as Luis Gil.

The 16-year-old Californian had been reportedly pursued by Arsenal after a brilliant amateur career which culminated with him leading the U.S. U-17 team to a CONCACAF championship, tallying a goal and two assists in the final against Cuba.

It was seen as a bit of a coup for MLS to convince him to remain stateside -- although reports differ on how interested Arsenal was in ultimately signing him -- and the online world was abuzz in anticipation of where he'd end up. (He was signed just after the SuperDraft.)

The initial speculation was that he'd somehow end up with one of the two L.A.-based team -- despite the fact that there would be a lottery for his rights that would give the worst teams from last year a decided advantage. Eventually, that pool of teams was believed to include the San Jose Earthquakes. Finally, rumors leaked that as part of his signing, Gil had identified just two teams for which he was interested in playing: Seattle and Salt Lake.

Which would seem to fly in the face of the rules regarding the lottery:

(H) LOTTERY
Some players shall be assigned to MLS teams via the weighted Lottery process. ... Players are assigned via the lottery system in order to prevent a player from potentially influencing his destination club with a strategic holdout.

Emphasis mine. As we now know, before signing, Gil had stipulated that he indeed wanted to play for the Sounders or Real Salt Lake. Although the Kansas City Wizards eventually won the lottery and made some attempt to convince Gil to play for them, within a day or two he had been traded after the Wizards chose Real's "closed-envelope" trade offer over the Sounders'. (The incident was not entirely different than the one that resulted in Freddy Adu playing for DC United, who had traded an allocation to the Dallas Burn in exchange for the No. 1 pick in the 2003 SuperDraft.)

The lottery rule is probably going to be tested again in the relatively near future when Sheanon Williams officially enters the fold. The U.S. U-20 player has signed a developmental contract with the league and is reportedly training with Salt Lake, but has not been assigned to a team.

There have been similar confusion among fans when it comes to DESIGNATED PLAYERS.

B) DESIGNATED PLAYER
The Designated Player Rule allows the League to sign players (under the League's single entity system) whose salary will fall outside of the team salary budget and whose cost above the salary budget charge will be the financial responsibility of the club for which they play. A Designated Player's salary budget charge will be capped at $415,000 per annum in 2009, but his actual compensation is higher. Each team initially received one Designated Player slot, and clubs are allowed to trade Designated Player slots. However, no team can have more than two Designated Players. The Designated Player Rule is a three-year initiative that will conclude after the 2009 MLS season when its future will be reviewed.

* Landon Donovan is the only remaining pre-existing high-salaried (grandfathered Designated Player) in the League. He will continue to be grandfathered and will not count as a Designated Player in 2009.

Aside from the fact that the Galaxy actually have an advantage written into the official rules, in 2007 they had a third player, Carlos Ruiz, who had also been grandfathered in. DC United and the New York Red Bull are the only other teams to have more than one Designated Player at the same time, although both acquired their second slots via trade.

Incidents like these, understandably, drive fans crazy. We can argue until we're blue in the face about what rights MLS owes its players, but one thing seems abundantly clear: Whatever compromise is struck during CBA negotiations needs to be more transparent.

Four Dollar Beers!

2010-03-02T04:08:52Z

Four Dollar Beers!

The Rapids are really busting out some great ideas. Terraces, 4$ beer, 5$ food, ticketless entry.

But it isn't just Colorado who has decided that they are tired of losing money.

The Revolution are kicking their ticketing buzz up a bit too. They launched a referral program, with a hell of a peak prize - trip to the All Star Game.

The down attendance hit every team last year. Back in 2007 there were only 3 profitable teams according to Forbes (likely 7 of 14 if you count SUM money), but in 2009 due to that 12% decrease in attendance for returning clubs only 2 turned a pre-SUM profit. Somewhere around 6-9 did when couning SUM dollars. The Rapids and Revolution are two teams hovering just under profitability, and a bump of butts in the seats would push them over that margin.

Cut Day becomes Add Day? Sounders Looking at Costa Rican Striker?

2010-03-01T17:56:04Z

Cut Day becomes Add Day? Sounders Looking at Costa Rican Striker?

A report this morning from Aldia.cr suggests that Costa Rican striker Álvaro Saborío could soon be joining Sounders FC. Previously the player had been connected to a move to Real Salt Lake. A Google translation reads:

Costa Rica striker Alvaro Saborio, is reportedly close to signing for the team Seattle Sounders in MLS, and is therefore, also in Costa Rican teammate Leonardo Gonzalez.

If true the Sounders would than have 21 Seniors under contract while looking at 3 more. 3 Developmentals are reportedly signed at this time with a dozen potential additions.

No one should be surprised if a few players are put on the Injured List.

Preseason Level of Competition

2010-02-28T17:20:14Z

The Sounders preseason actually features some rather tough opponents. While the most of MLS is beating on each other, college teams or the US U-17 squad the Sounders are facing the 7th in League, 2nd in Playoff Vancouver Whitecaps FC (one time still to come). They took on the most storied team in Norwegian history in Rosenborg BK (1st in League, quarterfinals in Cup).

Then they faced Stabaek IF also of Norway (3rd in League, quarters in Cup). Creative scheduling allowed them to get in a short scrimmage against FC Midtjylland if Denmark (4th in League, out in rd of 32 for Cup). Finally they played against SK Brann also of Norway (5th in League, quarters in Cup). Sigi, Adrian and Chris will be making personnel decisions after seeing matches against decent competition.

Other MLS sides will be doing the same thing tomorrow morning based off performances against Florida Gulf Coast College, the United States U-17 split squad. I think this matters a little bit. Maybe its my Army influence but I'm big on "train as you fight" or at an even higher level of intensity. Sure this may be the longest preseason ever, but it seems well spent.

The Sounders have gone 3-0-2 in five matches with a -1 0 Goal Differential (8 For, 8 Against) versus what is solid competition. When the lowest quality side faced will be in your league in just a year they haven't had cakewalks. They've played competition at their basic level and have scored more frequently than last season, and while they have given up more goals they will also not face a team as good as Rosenborg unless they make the Group Stage of the CCL.

Will this help them avoid retaining players that are good against lower levels of competition but just don't have it against MLS quality? I'm not certain, but I'm certain that training matches against higher competition can only help, especially when you win more than you lose.

For those keeping track - they have one more against the Whitecaps (next Sat), then one against the Timbers of Portland (1st in League, semis for playoffs) here at Qwest on March 11th and lastly they go to Colorado for the final preseason match. Arguably their easiest (9th in League, no Open Cup).

Do these performances change your opinion on need for additional talent? How do they color your opinion of the Sounders talent evaluation?