Re: T&T 0-3 US: The Victory of “Anti Football”

Ash — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 11:39:53 -0000

Hilarious. Four days ago England was a pariah following their 2-0 win over Andorra. Now they're soccer's greatest heroes.

It's human nature to believe that the unknown quantity is always a better choice than the known, which is why so many people are screaming "Adu!" and "Altidore!". But coaches have to base selections on performance, past and present. When and if Adu and Altidore get some regular playing time, they'll start getting more looks at the national level. Adu in particular has never shown much at the club level. In over four years as a pro, he's never been a regular - not in MLS, not for Benfica. We'll see what happens at Monaco. Now Adu has excelled in our youth squads (including the Olympic squad), but that's a poor gauge of performance at the club or national level. In youth tournaments, Adu's tiny stature isn't the great disadvantage it continues to be for club and country.

I'm more optimistic about Altidore's prospects, but he still needs tto show it as a club regular. Hopefully he'll get that opportunity soon.

Re: Donovan Deal Could Have Killed MLS

Ash — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 18:09:23 -0000

Dovonan has been in Europe before and the league didn't implode. That's the only data point we have regarding your premise, and it doesn't support it.

Regarding the percentage of MLS players on national teams, the decline is simply an indication that American players are improving and gaining respect worldwide. This is a good development, not a negative. You may have noticed that all those great South American teams are composed of players who mostly play in Europe. That doesn't seem to have hurt their domestic leagues or their national squads. I think we would welcome the day our situation resembles Argentina's, not whine about it. Like most domestic leagues, MLS is never going to compete against European leagues for top players unless god comes down and miracles soccer into the most popular sport in America. Not holding my breath.

As far as MLS vs. USL: I suggest you use all available data for comparison rather than cherry-picking a couple of results from a single tournament. Since MLS was formed, the USL has won the US Open Cup once out of 12 or 13 years. And this is in a tournament that MLS squads rarely take seriously until the finals, while USL sides take it very seriously. Using that information, it's clear that while USL sides can sometimes achieve great results, MLS is much higher quality overall.

Would you use this same approach on English soccer in some year that a Championship squad wins the FA Cup? I doubt it. Like any sport, upsets are rare but they do happen.

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Re: T&T 0-3 US: The Victory of “Anti Football”

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