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| Friday, September 14, 2001 24:14 EST |
MLS needs Greater Good
By Jeff Bradley
[ESPN The Magazine]
A few weeks ago, I brought you the "Throwaway Column." Remember? I was headed off on a golf trip, my brain was elsewhere, and I just decided to go off on a soccer tangent.
Well, today, I bring you the first (well, actually it's just the first time I'm admitting it) Airplane Column, written on board America West Flight 638 from Newark to Phoenix, where I'm off on a double-secret, non-soccer (of course) Magazine assignment.
So, just to set the table, here's what you won't be getting from Seat 3A (gotta love First Class upgrades, though the quiche was only mediocre):
1. Reportage. (I cannot hide Airphone bills anywhere on my expense report).
2. News. (Come on, when's the last time you got any of that from me?)
3. Financial Updates. (I'm laying off the MLS Business Report for a while).
And here's what you will get:
1. Opinion
2. A little more opinion.
Today's inspiration comes from an article I just read in Sports Illustrated on the return of Mario Lemieux. The story talks an awful lot about how Lemieux was coming back to fill a huge void in the NHL, a faceless league that's become too over-run with "system" teams.
Immediately, my brain switched to soccer and, in particular, to MLS. I began to wonder if this was a problem in MLS. Is the league bogged down by "system" teams and devoid of players who possess the ability to change the game with individual brilliance?
My first reaction was, "Yes." Then, I quickly re-thought my position.
To write that specific column would be to jump on a crowded bandwagon. If you read any soccer opinion pieces, I bet my house you've read at least a dozen pieces on "creative players" and how (name the league/country) lacks them. Chances are, you've read a dozen of them in the last calendar year. That opinion is just too easy to hammer out on the keyboard ... in any sport. Who doesn't like creative players? I could well have wasted a thousand or so words, and in the end, this is what I'd have said: MLS needs more stars. Now that's a great column isn't it? So, I'm going to skip that point. To say MLS needs more star quality is too obvious and too unlikely to happen any time in the near future.
Besides, what I really think MLS needs even more than a few star players is more "good" players. By that, I mean MLS needs more guys who can make a play with the ball at their feet, players who can collectively produce long stretches of quick possession play.
For my taste, more beautiful than the player or two who can dribble and step over the ball is the team that can combine quickly and move the ball with purpose. In their three championship seasons, no team in MLS did this better than D.C. United. At times, the Los Angeles Galaxy have provided this type of action, and so have the better versions of the Tampa Bay Mutiny and last year's Chicago Fire. In '99, the Dallas Burn were a fun team to watch because they knew how to move the ball.
Sure, it would be easy to heap all the credit for possession on Marco Etcheverry, Mauricio Cienfuegos, Carlos Valderrama, Peter Nowak and players like Leo Alvarez and Oscar Pareja. But, it's more than that, it's having defenders who aren't content to beat the ball upfield, players who can play with their head up and make decisions and connections. Coaches who are willing to spend less time at the chalkboard and more time just allowing their team to play with the ball.
If more teams approach the game from the standpoint of keeping and moving the ball, it should follow that good players survive and bad players are weeded out. Does the league need stars? Of course, every league in the world needs stars. But, MLS needs to keep developing more B+ and B players for the quality of the soccer to continue to improve.
Maybe that's another reason why I'm not so anxious for MLS expansion. If you're a fan of hockey (and I am), you know why the league has become faceless and system-dominated. It's called having too many teams. The same thing will happen in MLS if you dilute the player pool even further. Those players who've been weeded out - the guys who cannot make a play with the ball - will be back in business.
News bulletins
So, I lied, maybe there will be a little (very little) bit of reporting this week...
This just in from the league meetings and subsequent conference calls...
The Senior Roster size for MLS Teams in 2001 will be reduced from 20 to 18. And before you go screaming bloody murder, understand the change comes in conjunction with the expansion of its Youth International Player Pool, which doubled from 12-24. Youth International players (like Project 40s) don't count against the Sr. roster.
Youth Internationals also do not count against a team's Senior International limit, a rule that allows teams to carry more than three foreign players. There is no limit on the number of Youth Internationals that may be included on a team's roster. The league will place three players from Bolivia's Tahuichi Academy in the SuperDraft, along with several players from the Caribbean. The rest of the Youth Internationals will be players identified by MLS coaches.
A total of 10 allocations will be awarded for the 2001 MLS Season.
Chicago will receive one, a replacement for Ante Razov.
Colorado will receive one, a replacement for Jorge DiGiMaLimpar (that's Jorge Dely Valdes/Joey DiGiamarino/Anders Limpar).
Columbus gets one for failing to make the playoffs
D.C. United also gets one for failing to make the playoffs.
Kansas City will get one, a replacement for Miklos Molnar.
Miami gets one for failing to make the playoffs
New England gets one, a replacement for Jose Luis Morales.
San Jose will get a total of three. One for failing to make playoffs, one as the long-awaited replacement for Eddie Lewis and one as a replacement for Khodadad Azizi.
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