1502 replies to this topic

[BSLChrisStoner]

ESPN: MLS youngsters ready for Europe: Who's next in line to follow Brenden Aaronson and Tyler Adams across the Atlantic?
https://www.espn.com...ss-the-atlantic

[BSLSteveBirrer]

Jesse Marsch taking over for RB Leipzig is huge for us. The pipeline to go from RB NY to RB Salzburg to RB Leipzig just got even better. I suspect Aaronson goes to Leipzig this summer and Clark goes either there or to RB Salzburg first. Lots of guys were hoping Marsch would take over the USMNT after they fired Klinsi (me included). By all accounts he's a really solid coach. Can't wait to see how he handles the Bundelsiga.

[BSLChrisStoner]

ESPN: MLS Power Rankings: Seattle soar back to No.1, New England up to No. 2

[BSLChrisStoner]

ESPN: MLS Power Rankings: Seattle still No. 1, Chicharito and LA Galaxy No. 2 after beating LAFC

[BSLChrisStoner]

ESPN: Vela, Chicharito, Higuain have top MLS salaries

[BSLChrisStoner]

ESPN: MLS 2021 roundtable discussion: The hits and misses of the season so far

https://www.espn.com...e-season-so-far

[BSLSteveBirrer]

I'll have a midish season review in a week or two but in the interim take a look at this article. Could have just as easily put this in the USMNT section. Keep an eye on Ricardo Pepi. This kid might be the special striker we need. He's only 18 and at 6'1" will fill out to a nice size #9.

 

https://www.mlssocce...-a-high-ceiling

[BSLSteveBirrer]

Mid season review. Second half is going to be interesting. The Gold Cup really opened up eyes overseas that the MLS may be better than they thought and has some pretty high end players that would be worth pursuing.

 

https://baltimorespo...season-look-in/

[BSLSteveBirrer]

For the baseball is hard crowd - MLS has fielded 28 American players so far this season under the age of 19. 

[BSLChrisStoner]

ESPN: MLS All-Stars beat Liga MX in shootout with Matt Turner heroics

https://www.espn.com...t?gameId=606311

[BSLSteveBirrer]

Turner certainly helped his aim to be the US keeper.

[BSLSteveBirrer]

Guys here's a look at the last month of the regular season. Been overshadowed a bit with all the international stuff this summer but the MLS is really doing well.

 

https://baltimorespo...o-the-playoffs/

[DuffMan]

DC United currently getting crushed against NYC. But the story is the field. Playing at Yankee Stadium. My goodness, the field is woefully too small. One goal was a result from the goal kick getting all the way down the field.

[BSLChrisStoner]

ESPN: Head-to-head shows there's still a gulf between MLS, Liga MX

[BSLSteveBirrer]

There are a number of reasons why MX is a bit stronger than MLS and the head to head results clearly show that the top Liga MX teams are better than the top MLS teams in a home and home series.

 

But what gets overlooked is a fundamental difference in the way the two leagues are run when it comes to the selling of players to Europe. Liga MX still has the higher dollar transfer going to Europe although the gap has narrowed a bunch and I expect it to flip in January when several big MLS transfers are going to happen (Ricardo Pepi for one). The real difference right now though is the number of players transferring to Europe. For this year MLS has sent 3 times as many players to Europe as Liga MX.

 

But so what does that have to do with which league is overall the better one? Simple really. The MLS is moving more and more to a sellers league. Their academies are producing some really great talent. The get moved up to the parent club and often are quickly sold overseas. That money is then fed back into their academies for even more development. In the short term that makes the MLS club overall talent very fluid. Philadelphia Union is a great example. In January the Union transferred defender Mark McKenzie and midfielder Brenden Aaronson to Genk and Salzburg, respectively. Both players have seen significant time with the USMNT since then and in fact Aaronson is thought by many to be on of our top 3 or 4 players.

 

Now the Union are sitting 3rd in the Eastern Conference in MLS. How much better would they be if they still had both of those players!

 

Long term this is approach is going to make MLS better and better. These major investments in academies and youth programs improves facilities, coaching, and the number of kids being run through the programs. This is just going to make huge improvements in the soccer landscape in the US.

[BSLSteveBirrer]

One week left in the MLS regular season. Lots of teams still have shots to make the playoffs. Here's what the playoffs would look like as of right now. Some things are locked in but lots of scenarios going into Decision Sunday next week.

 

https://www.mlssocce...n-started-today

 

I'll have a full preview up next week.

[BSLSteveBirrer]

Here's the playoff scenarios for Decision Day tomorrow.

 

https://www.mlssocce...on-decision-day

[BSLSteveBirrer]

Playoff matchups are set and start Nov 20th. Since the playoffs don't start until after the upcoming WCQ window I will wait and put up my thoughts on the playoffs until after the qualifying matches. At this point in the season injuries can have big affects. Hopefully players out now can get back and nobody gets hurt in national team duty.

[BSLSteveBirrer]

Here's my look at MLS Cup 2021. Go RSL...lol

 

https://baltimorespo...ls-cup-preview/

[BSLSteveBirrer]

Philadelphia Union and Sporting KC both won today. No surprises there.