The Swamp

P.D.X. wrote: ↑Thu Feb 02, 2023 8:55 pm Can’t imagine any team has been there that finished lower in their league table than Seattle did.

wlu_lax6 wrote: ↑Sun Feb 19, 2023 7:36 am Apparently T mobile Tuesday next week will have the MLS season pass.

Rex wrote: ↑Sun Jun 04, 2023 12:52 pm Brilliant stuff from DC United last night

Rex wrote: ↑Wed Jun 07, 2023 8:19 am As I'm sure you've heard, the noise around Messi to Inter Miami has really intensified overnight. I won't believe it until Woj or Shams weigh in.

rass wrote: ↑Tue Jun 06, 2023 7:36 pm I guess stupid FCC’s second goal against the Riverhounds was fricking awesome

ETA:

Rex wrote: ↑Wed Jun 07, 2023 8:19 am As I'm sure you've heard, the noise around Messi to Inter Miami has really intensified overnight. I won't believe it until Woj or Shams weigh in.

Nonlinear FC wrote: ↑Tue Jun 06, 2023 1:08 pm I know we're not here to be full historians on every post, but the success of MLS is only partly due to Designated Players over the years. Talking up the development of US players, moving toward a model of playing almost exclusively in soccer-specific stadiums, and the concurrent/symbiotic relationship with a National Team that has only failed to make the WC once since 1990 (I know 94 doesn't count, but it in of itself was massive for soccer dev in the US) are items that standout.

David Beckham was a MASSIVE signing and the era of adding quality (aging, not OLD) players absolutely played a role. That was in 2006-08 I think. And there were a handful of other signings in those years (Blanco comes to mind) that helped solidify or bolster the quality of the league. But, really, by then we were moving into the expansion era, a far cry from when they had to contract Miami and Tampa in the early years. The league added a new Earthquakes, the Sounders and the Philly Union in those years (2008-2010 or so). They'd already added Toronto FC, who stormed into the league with a rabid fan base and sold out games.

All of the groundwork for the next stage of the league (designated/high profile players) was laid in the years after the 2002 WC (Dos a Cero!) and the signing of Freddy Adu. Soccer was turning the corner, but it took a lot of faith from a few of the rich owners and a solid strategy to guard against an NASL-type of crash (outsized salaries and more often than not, shitty stadium rental agreements).

When I see/hear ppl squawking about relegation/promotion my immediate thought is "tell me you don't know the history of American soccer without actually saying you don't know the history." I actually think that we are moving incrementally closer to that model, but I still don't foresee existing owners agreeing to that type of risk on their investment.

Nonlinear FC wrote: ↑Wed Jun 07, 2023 2:36 pmSo... I guess my question is... Bigger than the Beckham signing??

mister d wrote: ↑Wed Jun 07, 2023 2:38 pm

Nonlinear FC wrote: ↑Wed Jun 07, 2023 2:36 pmSo... I guess my question is... Bigger than the Beckham signing??

Was talking about this yesterday. Unconfidently landed on Messi obviously being the better player but Beckham being more singularly popular in terms of everyone knowing who he was at the time above and beyond all other soccer players.

govmentchedda wrote: ↑Wed Jun 07, 2023 3:07 pm

mister d wrote: ↑Wed Jun 07, 2023 2:38 pm

Nonlinear FC wrote: ↑Wed Jun 07, 2023 2:36 pmSo... I guess my question is... Bigger than the Beckham signing??

Was talking about this yesterday. Unconfidently landed on Messi obviously being the better player but Beckham being more singularly popular in terms of everyone knowing who he was at the time above and beyond all other soccer players.

Agree with sentence #2, but I think not a bigger signing than Beckham because Becks was first.

wlu_lax6 wrote: ↑Thu Jun 01, 2023 5:03 pm Phil Neville out as gaffer of Miami