Major League Soccer Offseason. Bored? Fall to Spring it be!

MLS needs 5-6 more Southern U.S. based clubs, (for example: a minimum of one more Florida franchise, a Tennessee club, a Carolina club, a third Texas team, Las Vegas and San Diego). And the Major League Soccer season needs to run from early August to late May/first week of June.

Why? Glad you asked.

Major League Soccer's playoffs need to stop going up against college and professional footballs' most exciting few weeks, Mid-November through Mid-December. Trying to grab mainstream TV, print, and radio attention this time of year is a losing battle at this point in Major League Soccer's development. If the playoffs and MLS Cup final finished before the NBA and NHL finals' series started, there would be very little in the way of headline grabbing, competitive overlap for viewership.

Major League Soccer could start the first three weekends of August play seeing the Southern tier clubs travel north. Winter break would start after the weekend before Christmas. The final two weeks of the fall portion of the season would see the Northern clubs travel south.

Now...the most exciting part!

After a three week winter break, all league clubs could gather in one or two cities like Las Angeles, CA., Las Vegas, NV., Miami or Orlando, FL. The NBA does a July summer league in Vegas, and it gets more and more popular every year. Three weeks of winter training and games in true winter destination cities would provide the league an opportunity to really sell itself and its players at a prolonged, up close, fan-oriented event. Think supporter's summit, bar hops, etc. The possible tie-in events are legion.

The Spring half of the season could start the first or second weekend in February. The first two or three games could once again take place in the league's Southern cities.

This schedule gets Major League Soccer on FIFA's calendar. It leaves seven weeks of the summer open for national team competition and a pre-season summer version of the winter carnival in one or two of the mostest fun Northern MLS cities. As a bonus, there would be no need for the MLS, what the hell are we doing?, All-Star game.

I've not been a fan of changing the schedule...in the past. Now that the league is back in Florida, hopefully in Las Vegas, in Atlanta, etc., I am jumping to the other side. The change makes sense in so many ways.

It may take a few more years and teams to make this possible (maybe a scheduling genius could make it work with only two or three more Southern United States based clubs?), but little things like the rhythm of North American life, weather patterns and maximizing exposure seem to indicate, at least through these rose-colored glasses, a change is needed.

To Copa, or To Cup? That is the Question

(Making a Cup/Copa? From the movie Ghost)
(Is Patrick Swayze the United States, or is Demi Moore?)

Recently, Liga MX president, Decio De Maria unveiled the possibility of a Cup/Copa competition between Major League Soccer clubs and their counterparts in the Liga MX. Read Mark Baber's article Inside World Football.

The view from both sides of the border seems similar, capitalize on the marketability of high profile games between the clubs of two substantial leagues which grow closer and closer to being competitive equals each year. Funny thing though, now, unlike in the past, games between teams such as Pachuca and the Columbus Crew would seem to benefit the Mexican sides more than the U.S. and Canadian based sides. This seems counter-intuitive; but, hear me out.

The U.S. market for all things professional soccer: TV, advertising, sponsorship, ticket sales, merchandising, etc. is growing rapidly. Read David Keyes Soccer is no longer America's sport of the future. And this Nielson article Beautiful Game: Soccer in the U.S. Could be a Win for Advertisers and Programmers Alike

This growth includes the Mexican/Hispanic demographic in the United States. Traditionally, the Mexican American population has watched more Liga MX soccer than MLS, the various South American Leagues, the EPL or European League soccer. This still holds true, in a very overwhelming way. Read Seth Vertelney on GOAL Liga MX is television ratings king in the United States. But with the money and quality of play increasing in Major League Soccer, and more and more young Hispanic and Mexican players finding their way into MLS Academies, read Primetime Sports and Entertainment's How US Hispanic Participation Will Shape American Soccer, it is only a matter of time before the Hispanic-American demographic begins shifting a greater portion of its soccer devotion over to clubs in the United States. Importantly, this shift will mean major $$$ to the United States domestic league.

If I were Decio De Maria, president of Liga MX, I would be doing exactly what he is attempting. I would partner, in any way possible, with the fastest growing soccer league in this hemisphere, and possibly the world, Major League Soccer.

I am not ignoring the real potential for MLS to exploit such a relationship. But, the game is changing. Don Garber needs to carefully measure moves like throwing his teams into multination competitions, this includes the current Concacaf Champions League. Major League Soccer now has a lot to offer wherever it travels.

Major League Soccer is competing with Liga MX for, not only the Hispanic/Mexican soccer fan in the United States, Major League Soccer is competing to be THE professional soccer league in the Americas, and will be increasingly as each new season approaches. Perhaps the most important steps MLS will take in the next few years will be...

1. Improving the on field quality of each MLS club until they are on par with Liga Mx sides.

2. Embracing the Hispanic players and communities throughout the United States as they assimilate into the U.S. culture (whatever that is? ; )

Bottom line, MLS will grow going forward. The question is, how much? Liga MX could be losing viewership going forward. To whom are partnerships like a Liga/MLS Cup/Copa more valuable? Who has more to gain/lose?

If Anthony Precourt, Gregg Berhalter and the Columbus Crew SC...

Are serious about turning our beloved Crew into something which transcends anything that has come before on the Columbus sports landscape, then...

Alan Pulido

and 

Carlos Vela

(pictured above: left and right)

are the kind of attacking players they should be breaking the bank

to offer Black and Gold jerseys

Spending the kind of money needed to grab hold of young attacking quality, such as the two above, must carry with it the real possibility of seeing a return on investment. As I mentioned in my previous post  Berhalter Spotted in the Heart of Gold Spaceship Mexico is a logical and prudent direction to look for the kind of players who can both greatly improve the quality and marketability of the club.

There are thousands of Mexican ex-pats living in Columbus. Anyone who has gone to a Crew game in the last few years knows that the number of those ex-pats showing up to games on Hudson Street is a small sliver of the overall Mexican and Mexican-American population in our town. 

If Anthony Precourt and Greg Berhalter want to extend the reach of the newly rebranded Crew, they have to begin including ALL the soccer fans in Columbus. The only meaningful way to achieve this is player personnel. These players would cost millions. You're looking at $1.5 million/year for each of these players. But they are the kind of players who have a damn good chance of selling enough tickets and jerseys to more than cover the financial risk.

The ball is in our owner's end of the field. The television money is beginning to skyrocket. There will be a new Collective Bargaining Agreement before the 2015 season kicks off. NOW is the time to make this sort of move. Engaging  Columbus' futbol loving Mexican-American residents (and just for the heck-of-it, let's make some front office moves that open doors for the soccer fanatic Somali residents who call Columbus home) would be a game changer of epic proportions. The resulting cosmopolitan feel to a night in Crew Stadium would be sublime.

PS: I realize Vela's transfer fee would be silly big.

Crew SC Protect, Expose, Make Moves Ahead of Expansion Draft

This draft is strange animal. The purpose of it is to help along new teams without having to field an existing team before entering the league (even though Orlando City SC did have a team). In theory, it's suppose to help maintain the level playing field that the league wants - while behind the scenes it helps control cost of starting up a fully professional "top division" team from scratch (more at bottom).

Whether this mechanism works on the competitive level is up for serious debate. Recent expansion teams in Toronto, Vancouver, Philadelphia, Montreal and even Portland (save for one year) have been mid to bottom half teams since they joined. In fact, one could make the argument that the expansion draft dilutes a limited pool of players and drags the overall quality in the league down... is probably a topic worth exploring further, in another post.

On the financial front, it's been a cost saver for expansion teams because they don't have to give up anything for MLS level players. There are league granted "allocation funds" given to teams that have players plucked but it costs little else. With the next two waiver drafts coming up along with a number of picks in the college draft, new teams can have full rosters in no time for basically nothing. They don't even have to flip the bill for developing any players. Magic.

Every existing Major League Soccer team had to submit their "protected" list of 11 players yesterday as required by the expansion draft rules. Both Orlando City SC and New York City FC get to pick ten players each from every exposed list of players from each team.

Before the draft even started, Gregg Berhalter and Company got to work trying to get something in return for valuable players that they were not going to protect. That ended up coming by way of to of the longest tenured guys in Josh Williams (sent to NYCFC for reported more than the would have received from the draft) and Bernardo Anor (to Sporting KC, no word on what the Crew got in return).

PROTECTED ELEVEN
GK Steve Clark
D Waylon Francis
D Michael Parkhurst
D Emanuel Pogatetz
MF Tony Tchani
MF Hector Jimenez
MF Romain Gall
MF Ethan Finlay
MF Justin Meram
MF Federico Higuaín
F Kei Kamara

Exempt: GK Matt Lampson (HGP), D *Ross Friedman (HGP), D *Matt Wiet (HGP), D Chad Barson (HGP), CDM Wil Trapp (HGP), MF *Matt Walker (HGP), D Ben Swanson (HGP) and MF Mohammed Saied (new signing)

A couple notes: First off, it gives you an idea of what the starting line up might look like. Second off; this draft blows your 18 to smithereens (where Williams and Anor would have been).

Next up is who the MLS Columbus did not protect, along with a quick player rating (out of stars ✪) and some notes by yours truly:

Ben Sweat, 23 (LB) ✪✪✪
Admittedly didn't see as much as I should have (Crew closed scrimmages save for the one in Dayton) but I liked what I saw when I did. He's better with the ball than your average college left back, confident and makes good decisions. You can tell when a player knows what he's doing, and he's one. Too early to tell if he is starter quality but I think an expansion side is just what the doctor ordered with a player like Sweat. He needs game time.

Ben Speas, 23 (CM) ✪✪✪
In three years in Columbus, Ben has proven he can play in MLS. In fact, I should probably put him above Sweat, but I'm leaving it as is. He could easily be a four star guy. Maybe he is. There is something about him that keeps him right on the fringe of starting under two coaching staffs now. I've seen two sides of the player. One fully engaged in the action and another, towards the end of this season, where he was letting the game happen around him. In my heart of hearts, I want him to get picked up by NYCFC so he can start along side Josh Williams. Don't care what the scouts or advanced stats might say about the two. If you have both of them starting you will finish in the top half or they will die trying to get you there. What more should you ask for in MLS.

*Agustin Viana, 31 (LB, CDM) ✪✪✪
There is enough MLS footage out there to tell you that Viana is league ready. What he lacks in speed he makes up with in skill. Too often MLS teams look at speed. Viana didn't fit Berhalter's wing back role and was overlooked as a central defensive mid off the bench behind Tony Tchani and Wil Trapp. Also had a couple injuries. He's out of contract with the Crew and not likely back either way but would be a solid pick up for anyone.

Brad Stuver, 23 (GK) ✪✪
I'd give Stuver two and a half stars if I could figure out the alt-code. I think a lot of the same things about him as I do with Sweat. These guys need game time. Stuver's performance against Indy Eleven this year (in a blowout loss, but that's were you get the best looks at GKs) was inspiring. He also played well with Wilmington Hammerheads to close out the USL Pro season, including two late season shutouts against league leaders Sacramento and Orlando.

*Eric Gehrig, 26 (CB, RB) ✪✪
Playing or not, Gehrig is the quintessential team guy. That's, by far, his number one attribute. In all honesty, I hesitate to put something like that down as a label for a player this day and age. Not a sports show (especially on the MLS site) goes by without pundits mentioning how much heart and grit a guy plays with. It annoying and used so much that it minimizes the meaning when a someone actually has those things. Gehrig has mostly been role player in his four years with the Crew with the exception of the back end of 2014, where he helped propel the team into 3rd place in the East.

Tyson Wahl, 30 (CB, LB) ✪✪
Like Gehrig, contributed greatly towards the end of 2014. Even, it appeared, kept a major team signing in Emanuel Pogatetz on the bench. Plenty on Wahl. Durable, probably the first word that springs to mind. He seems to find good teams, good coaches. Something to be said for that.

*Jairo Arrieta, 31 (F) ✪✪+
Before last season, Arrieta was a four or even a five star player. Something happened along the way and I'm not quite sure what. I do believe there is another couple productive years for Jairo but I feel sort of bad for him this year as Berhalter decided to go with Adam Bedell and Aaron Schoenfeld over him. I put a little + up there because he's the perfect player for a team to pick up (expansion or otherwise). He's still on the outer fringes of the Costa Rican national team and looking to impress.

The rest:
Kevan George, 24 (CDM, CB) ✪✪
Aaron Schoenfeld, 24 (CF) ✪✪
Adam Bedell, 23 (CF) ✪
*Daniel Paladini, 30 (CDM, RM)
*Kingsley "Fifi" Baiden, 23 (CDM)

*Currently out of contract with the Crew SC.

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To fully understand why something like this exists in the world of soccer means you have to accept that a team can buy their way directly into the highest tier vs starting from the lowest tier and working their way up. Some might say that the top divisions buy their way in via best players, which is true, but those players still have to perform and you are also talking about a very small percentage of teams. The other 99% of clubs are grinding their way.

Berhalter Spotted in the Heart of Gold Spaceship!

Photo: From the Magnificent Douglas Adams Book

Ever since the Columbus Crew Soccer Club's disastrous finish to the 2014 season, the Crew's coach, Gregg Berhalter, was thought to be lounging somewhere in the offices of Crew Stadium sipping on leftover draft beer. Rumors were spreading in regards to Coach Berhalter's utter despondency over losing to the New England Revolution in the Eastern Conference Finals. There were even whispers linking the sporting director to Frankie Hejduk's barber.

The Helltown Beer Blog can confirm that none of the above is true (well, maybe the barber thing has some validity, but don't expect Gregg Berhalter to equal Frankie Hejduk's length or style by first kick 2015). The real scoop is Coach Berhalter and Josh Wolff have been using the Infinite Improbability Drive, which powers the Heart of Gold spaceship, to travel unnoticed to far-flung places such as Sweden and Egypt. Armed with nothing more than towels, smiles and exceedingly cheery dispositions, the two Crew coaches have signed Mohammed Saeid and hope to ink Omar Gaber.

These two recent developments, following on the heels of Kei Kamara's re-joining the Crew, help solidify Gregg Berhalter as one of the top minds in Major League Soccer. The Columbus Crew SC, with new owner, brand and marketing in hand, want to break attendance records, win championships and establish the Black and Gold as a sophisticated worldwide entity. Finding where the true soccer nuts in Columbus hibernate, barely noticing the old hardhat wearing Crew, was critical.

For almost twenty years the Columbus Crew front office milked the tried and true suburbanite soccer families of Central Ohio. The ebb and flow seen on the attendance front was easily predicted. 

Turning the thousands of Crew averse sleepy soccer nuts into Black and Gold SC fanatics, while continuing to reach out to the core fan base, apparently, required the Herculean efforts of Anthony Precourt, Gregg Berhalter and a copy of The Hitchhiker's Guide to International Soccer (not to mention The Heart of Gold). These latest moves, by one of Major League Soccer's best young managerial minds, are quite clever and may pay super-sized dividends long into the future.

Kei Kamara, Mohammed Saeid and Omar Gaber are all quality soccer players. Kamara is an MLS proven commodity, while Saeid and Gaber are young internationals who complement Gregg Berhalter's rapidly developing Crew squad. The icing on top is the fact that these signings have the power to tap into the large and soccer passionate international community in Columbus.

Kamara, Saeid and Gaber, as well as Justin Meram, now playing for the Iraq National Team, give the Columbus Crew a unique international flavor. Kamara grew up in Sierra Leone, having moved to the United States at the age of sixteen. Saeid, born in Sweden and a veteran at the age of 24, brings European pedigree to Columbus. Gaber, Egyptian and having national team level experience, will be the first Egyptian to play in Major League Soccer...if he signs. Meram, born and raised in the U.S., is the unique case of an American citizen playing for a Middle Eastern country.

Columbus boasts a large Somali population. This group of recent immigrants is quite crazy for the soccer. Through Ohio State University, Columbus can also boast a growing and varied international population. Finally, there are a substantial number of people living in Columbus who count Mexico as their country of origin. Maybe coach Berhalter should look to a our neighbors to the south for the Crew's next addition? 

Whether they be home grown, European, African, Middle Eastern, or Mexican, Gregg Berhalter finding and signing young talented players from a diversity of locales can only help win games, and perhaps just as important, bring thousands more Columbus, Ohio citizens out to see the ever more sophisticated, worldwide entity known as The Columbus Crew Soccer Club.

LA Wins '14 MLS Cup

Bruce and Landon. #MLSCup #MLS #LAGalaxy pic.twitter.com/urYmzHLDkU

— Pablo Maurer (@MLSist) December 8, 2014

Bruce Arena ]$20k[ anerA ecurB

STEVEN GOFF: It’s a forgiving league because you can start slowly and turn it on before the playoffs, right?

BRUCE ARENA: That has often been the case.

STEVEN GOFF: Do you plan to make any significant roster moves before the Sept. 15 deadline?

BRUCE ARENA: No, we are fine. I don’t know what you can do at this point — even though, the way things have been happening [in MLS] lately, God knows what could possibly happen.

--------------------------------------

A few months back The Washington Post's "Soccer Insider" Steven Goff interviewed Bruce Arena in the wake of New England being awarded, via blind draw, Jermaine Jones. Whether it was timing, luck, or Arena letting off some steam about not getting Sacha Kljestan - Goff caught Arena at his very annoyed Brooklynite best.

Arena would go on to give this infamous quote: “Because they are children and there have to be adults in the process, and we didn’t have enough of them. I think we are back into the old days in the league when the rules are somewhat arbitrary. Hopefully we will get that straightened out in the offseason.”

Arena likely knew that Jermaine Jones is be the proverbial "game-changer" and he wanted something similar out in L.A. with Kljestan. Turns out Jones was a guy that did bring a team back from the dead in New England to go nearly unbeaten in there last 13 games to, as Goff puts it; "..turn it on before the playoffs."

The reason I'm bringing this back up now is because Arena just did another longer form interview with Sports Illustrated's Grant Wahl where is tune has curiously changed.

As soon as you follow the link to the piece you are greeted with a grinning ear to ear, slightly past magic hour photograph of Bruce Arena and an opening from Wahl:

CARSON, Calif. — Bruce Arena is bullish on America: On MLS, on the development of young soccer players and on the future of the sport here.

What follows is 4,000 words that might as well have been about the professional looking photo at the top of the page --- A confident, successful man in focus with calming afternoon hues blurred behind him as he is about to play an important match --- is my assessment of both the piece and the photo.

However, the other side of this piece that I see is that of Arena as a post third-largest-fine-in-league-history man.

Don Garber, MLS commissioner, had a busy year. Taking on prostate cancer and navigating the World Cup chief among them - but it was also taking on the two USA National Team coaches in Bruce Arena and Jurgen Klinsmann.

The tool Garber employed in trying to getting Klinsmann in line was a public lashing. The result wasn't all the successful and mostly left Garber with egg on his face. With Arena the punishment was easy, as he is employed by the league and Garber is his superior. Fine him $20,000. Amazing how suddenly attitudes and approach change after that.

--------------------------------------
Late on in Sports Illustrated's December 4th Arena interview, Grant Wahl asks him about the difference between East and West Coast mentalities that I think explains how a fine can change a man from Brooklyn.

SI.COM: What does an East Coast mentality mean to you?

ARENA: I think you have a work ethic. You’re honest. You say what you think. What I’ve found: Athletes and coaches are confident, arrogant people. That’s why they’re good at what they do. They’re elite people in their profession, so they have confidence. We often run into people that object to things we do and say, because they’ve never been in that environment and they have thin skin, and they can’t deal with criticism and all of that.

SI.COM: What is your life like out here?

ARENA: It’s pretty good. I get to see the Pacific Ocean every day. I have grandchildren living around the corner. I like the weather. I like the culture of L.A. I like basically everything here. It’s a great community. It’s obviously pretty diverse. Just a different way of life.

Soccer, Intolerance, Beauty, Brutality, Dreams

A comment left by a regular reader, Kyle, of the Helltown Beer Blog got me thinking. Kyle's comment on my post The Middle East and Safety at the 2022 World Cup pointed out the difficulty inherent in writing about soccer when the sport so intimately wraps itself around and weaves itself through the social, political and cultural aspects of our often agonizing world.

As if to prove the tapestry of soccer and life are ever intertwined, earlier this season I wrote about The Columbus Crew's Justin Meram, Do Over! And then, Presto!, Justin was offered the chance to play for his father's country of birth, Iraq, at the end of the Crew's 2014 season.

This triumvirate of stories, Qatar 2022, Justin Meram and his breakout season and Justin Meram being called up to the Iraq National Team, blend together with almost every possible color and texture of the human existence.

A young man, Justin Meram, who plays the sport of soccer and is a United States citizen is offered the chance to play for the national team of a country, Iraq, which is torn apart by war, both cultural and physical. The United States is intimately involved in the war in Iraq.

Iraq's region of the world, the Middle East, is a region in turmoil. The struggle between those who seek tolerance and freedom, and those who wish to continue a long tradition of intolerance and repression rages throughout the Middle East.

Qatar is part of the Middle East, a very small part in terms of land mass and population, but a very large part in terms of wealth. And yet, despite this wealth, the rulers of Qatar cling to the long tradition of intolerance and repression.

I wonder, what was Jutin's reaction to the call-up? And what was the discussion like between father and son when Justin Meram was offered the chance to play for his father's nation of birth? For a glimpse of what may have transpired read this story from www.clickondetroit.com and Kelly Haapala. While there is no mention of Meram's interaction with his father, Justin's own excitement tells you a lot about what playing for Iraq means to him.

Justin's story is an example of the positive product that can emerge from the collision between soccer and life. But there are factions: violent, intolerant and influential factions throughout the Middle East which make Justin's story both inspiring and a cautionary tale.

It is the very culture in much of the Middle East which allows intolerance and systematic rape, murder and torture to continue on such a horrific scale. Qatar is not an outlier to this vicious intolerance. And yet, Qatar has been awarded the beautiful game's most beloved competition.

I hope Justin Meram can continue his dream of playing soccer for his father's home country. I also hope that World Cup 2022 is taken from Qatar. Our beautiful game's greatest and most visible moment should not have the remotest chance of being used to glorify, justify, and legitimize a culture which practices such hate and brutality.

The most difficult aspect of taking in and processing Qatar, the World Cup and Justin Meram's dream is the fact that this triumvirate are not mutually exclusive of each other. Dreams and beauty exist even in the darkest of moments.   

Crew Re-Sign Meram, Anor

Today's announcement that the Columbus Crew (SC*) have re-signed Justin Meram and Bernardo Anor means that the roster is now up to 26 players. One more than the rumored 25 (--) that the new 2015 CBA will allow and 14 more than can be protected in the upcoming MLS Expansion Draft** (**a bunch of rules may apply).

Anor and Meram putting pen to paper gives some of the longer, near term fans of the team warm fuzzies. Partly because they are familiar names but also because they are what's become known as "old heads." With that, here is when everybody joined the team.

2010 - 1
Josh Williams

2011 - 4
Bernardo Anor
Eric Gehrig (--being worked on)
Justin Meram
Tony Tchani

2012 - 6
Ethan Finlay
Kevan George
Federico Higuain
Matt Lampson
Aaron Schoenfeld
Ben Speas

2013 - 3
Chad Barson
Waylon Francis
Wil Trapp
Tyson Wahl

2014 - 10
Waylon Francis
Adam Bedell
Steve Clark
Romain Gall
Hector Jimenez
Michael Parkhurst
Emanuel Pogatetz
Brad Stuver
Ben Swanson
Ben Sweat

2015 - 2
Mohammed Saeid
Kei Kamara

*Trying to get use to adding SC. Also; Anor is the one of the true footballers on the team. He should always be on the roster.