US Soccer Players

Short-Term Loans

By Dario Camacho - MIAMI, FL (Feb 17, 2011) US Soccer Players -- If you're an American soccer fan, we can add the debate about the Major League Soccer schedule to a list of absolutes that includes items like single-entity and the quality of officiating.  Fans and pundits alike want to offer critiques, alternatives, and defenses.  It's the MLS version of a hot stove league, filling the offseason months with something to talk about.  As 2011 moved into 2012, it was the schedule taking priority in MLS.

Some believe a move to the traditional European calendar would lend legitimacy to the League and give a boost to player fitness.  Others don't understand why any North American sports league thinks it needs to schedule for so many months out of the year.  MLS triggered even more debate and conversation by announcing they would start in March and end in December, leaving only January and February without an MLS game that counts.  It's still not the August-to-May standard of Europe, but it's a lot of soccer spread out over the longest schedule in North American professional team sports. 

Here Come The Galaxy

By Dario Camacho - MIAMI, FL (Feb 10, 2011) US Soccer Players -- All of a sudden, we are back at it again. With just a couple of weeks away from the start of the season, it's time to pick a contender, the team to beat for a title that won't be decided until early December. It’s a requisite, lets be honest. We have nothing else to talk about, so we make things up that sound informed, erudite even though most of it will blow up in our face by the time we reach the All-Star Game.

But what the heck, let me have a crack at it.

If you haven’t been paying attention, the LA Galaxy have become the new favorites to win it all... even after they took it all just a few months ago. But, that was an eternity, eons ago. So last year.

This is now.

Philadelphia And The Business Of The Future

By Dario Camacho - MIAMI, FL (Feb 3, 2011) US Soccer Players -- As weeks go, this hasn't been one of Philadelphia Union manager Peter Nowak's most successful from a public relations perspective.  In terms of fan loyalty, it has been down right ugly.  What transpired in the course of a couple of days has been the complete gutting of the Union's veteran presence.  The first to go was goalkeeper Faryd Mondragon.  His story is understandable, making the choice to return to his homeland, even if it meant a goalkeeper crisis for the Union. 

For a while, that seemed to be the big question needing answering before the beginning of the season.  What transpired next would overshadow Mondragon's exit in the public conversation, while on the playing side the Union are without a veteran keeper and a veteran forward.

The Gap In Quality?

By Dario Camacho - MIAMI, FL (Jan 30, 2011) US Soccer Players -- When we see the recent success of former and current Major League Soccer players in England, it has to feel good for fans of North American soccer.  An ex-Revolution player outrunning a pair of defenders en route to a triplet of goals was a cathartic, ecstatic moment for those of us rooting for Fulham's Clint Dempsey.  His performance as the first American with a hat-trick in the EPL will be remembered as a watershed moment.

A week later, it was Landon Donovan assisting on two goals against Dempsey's Fulham in the FA Cup.  Two other MLS designated players are also doing work, Robbie Keane at Aston Villa and Thierry Henry at Arsenal. 

Risky Business

By Dario Camacho - MIAMI, FL (Jan 20, 2011) US Soccer Players -- As with any new year, all teams in Major League Soccer are in a period of transition.  Whether it is a minor tweak here or there, or a full system reboot, most teams will see a few new faces in training camp.  In recent years, that's been due to the predictable disruption caused by expansion teams coming into the fold.  It's not just the changes losing players in an expansion draft creates, it's the changes to all the other teams.  That requires multiple face lifts, with continuity at a premium in this League.

Add the countless drafts, overseas free agency, trades and transfers, and some teams are likely to have an entirely new core of players to work from.  Change is good if you're a struggling club, but what about those that had solid 2011's?   Successful teams look to build, not reconfigure.  Keeping that nucleus of players, the ones that got you to the playoffs and beyond, is job one for these clubs.

Coming Back

By Dario Camacho - MIAMI, FL (Jan 13, 2011) US Soccer Players -- Last year’s Major League Soccer season probably had two of the worst injuries I’ve ever seen.  The first I happen to catch on replay, was Steve Zakuani’s broken leg.  The physical revulsion of watching a pro athlete’s leg dangling, swinging in all improper directions, was an unnecessary reminder of the brutal side of the sport.

The second injury I saw live on TV, when Real Salt Lake lost Javier Morales to a tackle from behind.  The thing that I remembered the most was the stunned faces of the crowd as the camera panned. 

What increased the pain for the MLS faithful was that these two players are key figures for their teams as well as the League.  Considering the depth of teams in MLS, coaches are left scrambling.  Normally, that sentence would end with 'for a solution,' but that's simply not the reality due to MLS  budgetary strains.

In Need Of The Old Guard

By Dario Camacho - MIAMI, FL (Jan 5, 2011) US Soccer Players -- If you haven’t been keeping up with the transfer rumors, you might have missed an interesting development.  With all the young MLS names that have been spread across transfer stories, the ones grabbing the most attention and making actual progress have been with the older designated players in Major League Soccer.

Thierry Henry, Robbie Keane, and Landon Donovan have been courted by Premier League clubs with Donovan making a short-term move to Everton.  It’s a phenomenon that isn’t entirely unexpected.  All three of these examples are not just established players, they're established Premier League players.  Donovan might not have the length of service of Henry or Keane, but he's shown he can factor in England.  Even with the youth advantage of prospects that could be signed at a bargain and prove invaluable, the surer thing is getting noticeable attention.  

According To Reports…

By Dario Camacho - MIAMI, FL (Dec 30, 2011) US Soccer Players --Ah, the off season.  A magical time when bloggers, sports writers and columnists following and discussing the North American soccer scene start to maniacally  pull out their hair while blankly at the screen to come up with a story worth reading.  Unfortunately for us, there is no off season to speak of.  We have to write as our livelihoods depend on it, yet when there is literally nothing to write about or the pickings are slim, we tend to fall back on the ridiculous world of transfer rumors.

Gossip, to be exact.  The MLS off season is ripe of the stuff.  It’s the equivalent of grannies sitting around the table playing canasta, sipping chamomile tea, and gossiping what Mrs. Q said to Mr. X across the street.  It’s entertaining enough in the moment, but ultimately empty and unsatisfying.

It’s also something that will never get old or go away.  It’s part of pro sports regardless of game or code.  Who will move where and what will it mean, regardless of whether or not it actually happens.

MLS Fashion

By Dario Camacho - MIAMI, FL (Dec 19, 2011) US Soccer Players -- When you are a kid living in Bogota, Colombia there comes a time and realization that one day, you must pick a side.  The eternal battle between the local teams, Millonarios and Santa Fe de Bogota is one of the countries oldest rivalries.  It’s a rite of passage for most young boys and girls of a certain age to pick one and root for them for the rest of our lives.

There lies a division between my parents.  My mother, in her infinite wisdom, is a Millonarios fan.  My father, on the other hand, is a Santa Fe man through and through.  When it was my turn to decide, it would tilt the balance of power in my household.  I thought about it, and the decision could have been made based on a multitude of metrics that many people would associate with the sport to determine a certain favoritism towards a team.

The Stadium Show

By Dario Camacho - MIAMI, FL (Dec 9, 2011) US Soccer Players -- An atmosphere counts.  If you’ve ever seen, let alone been at a soccer match at Old Trafford or San Siro, you would understand the effect on atmosphere that such venues create.  Fans chanting, arms outstretched in unison, the bickering and bantering of fans at opposing players, the clapping of appreciation of a well placed tackle.  The little things that coagulate to a flood, a mass of supporter behavior that creates the sort of ambiance only seen, experienced, and understood in places across the pond in Europe, South America, and around the world.  That’s what it is over there.

It’s what MLS is trying to build over here.  And build they must if they want to raise the appeal of the game in North America. 

A Fan Finds A Team

By Dario Camacho - MIAMI, FL (Nov 11, 2011) US Soccer Players -- When I was a little kid in Colombia, my father used to take me to a soccer academy.  Every Saturday morning I would wake up, and be whisked away so I could fulfill his dream of his son becoming the next Colombian National team goalkeeper.  Yep, a parent living through his offspring. 

In any case, the only thing I remember clearly was the day I learned my first intangible lesson about soccer.  I was in front of goal, and I remember my dad kicked the ball way into the sky.  As I remember it, the ball always seems to move slowly through the air, arching my way.  I outstretched my arms as if awaiting an incoming sack of potatoes, and instead of doing what a professional future Colombian National Team keeper should do with the ball, it slowly drilled my face.

Managing A Disappointment

By Dario Camacho - MIAMI, FL (Nov 11, 2011) US Soccer Players -- When the final whistle blows at this Sunday's MLS Cup, the story will finally come to a close for one of the biggest disappointments in Major League Soccer history.  It's a story that ended when the Los Angeles Galaxy knocked New York out of the playoffs, a predictable conclusion when a  #1 seed meets the 10th-place club.

At the beginning of the year, the pundits, the critics, the fans, and everyone else with a pulse for the game picked the Red Bulls out of the East.  It was supposed to be New York as the top seed, then everyone else.

We know how that turned out.

Something Given...

By Dario Camacho - MIAMI, FL (Nov 11, 2011) US Soccer Players -- The script couldn’t have been written any better.  It was the sort of night that everything aligned perfectly for the Los Angeles Galaxy and Major League Soccer.  The LA - Real Salt Lake game had everything you could ask for in a Western Conference Final.  Goals, fantastic chances, frantic moments in front of net, the dings of balls caroming of posts, the big names making a difference.  All culminating in Bruce Arena and Landon Donovan holding the Western Conference Final trophy, grinning, amidst the fluttering confetti of blue and gold.

It was a night for celebration in LA, and given the disappointment of last years MLS Cup Final, it was likely a night of celebration inside the confines of the League office.  Supporters' Shield to MLS Cup is how the playoffs are supposed to work.  When that team's stadium is also the site of the final, you sell all available tickets quickly.   MLS spends the two-week break between the Conference finals and MLS Cup without the worries that surrounded last year's game in Toronto. 

A Legacy Awaits

By Dario Camacho - MIAMI, FL (Nov 4, 2011) US Soccer Players -- It was a wonderful assist.  A lobbing ball, kicked from just past the half field circle.  It arched into New York’s box, bounced upwards once, and sat pleasantly enough in the air for Mike Magee to slot it far post into the net.  To put it simply, it was classic Beckham.  That little bit of bend it like Beckham charm is what resulted in a first-leg win at New York for the Western Conference Semifinal.

Even at 36, David Beckham has the magic right foot to produce passes of world-class caliber.  Lesser players would have booted that into the keepers mitts, even lower players would have booted that to the stands.  It's in those moments of technical athleticism that so few in the world achieve that we see  the true value of the LA Galaxy’s #23.

Playing Favorites

By Dario Camacho - MIAMI, FL (Oct 28, 2011) US Soccer Players -- The season is over.  The gauntlet’s been thrown.  The second season begins.  The preamble of the last eight months has produced the final ten teams looking for glory in November.  We all have our favorites and our dark horses and the teams that will surprise us, and since Wednesday those ten teams will test our predictions. 

It will be interesting to see what the outcome holds, and which two teams will come out on top, ready to battle it out for the Cup in the year’s final game.  In all transparency, I’d like nothing more to see a final with Seattle and Kansan City.

Like I said, we all have our favorites.  But so does the League.

A League in Transition

By Dario Camacho - MIAMI, FL (Oct 20, 2011) US Soccer Players -- It’s no surprise what Major League Soccer wants to become: an elite soccer league.  What elite means isn’t necessarily easily definable, but in general it could be argued that a world class league has world class players.  Where those players come from, be it national players born, raised and developed in the USA or from other countries doesn’t matter.  What matters is the quality that they provide to the league and to its fans.  As such, the standard of play is by far the best metric to define such a league, and that’s where MLS wants to be in the foreseeable future.

The question is, how does MLS get there?

Too Much Of A Good Thing

By Dario Camacho - MIAMI, FL (Oct 11, 2011) US Soccer Players -- Here we go again.  Deep into the final weeks of Major League Soccer’s regular season, we start to talk about next year.  The addition of the Montreal Impact in 2012 as MLS’s 19th team will have one major consequence to every MLS team.  Montreal's debut unbalances the schedule.  As the League's Board of Governors consider formats for next season, that schedule looms as a potential liability. 

What that should mean is the focal point radically shifts towards adding regional games at the expense of every team playing each other home and away. Obviously, there are benefits to this.  It allows the League to take advantage of what’s already popular, to expand on that, and give the fans more of the spectacle of derbies, full stadiums and those oh-so important rivalries.

No Place Like Home

By Dario Camacho - MIAMI, FL (Oct 3, 2011) US Soccer Players -- As the saying goes, home is where the heart is.  When applied to Major League Soccer, taking advantage of home stands is the bread and butter of successful teams.  Win at home and settle for a draw on the road.  Obtain the magic combination of those two ideals and you have the makings of a productive season. 

Los Angeles and Sporting KC stand atop their respective conferences for that simple reason.  Their ability to make the most of home games and the advantages that come with it exemplify the importance of winning at home in MLS.  The long distances and three hour time zone differences necessitate piling up points where they're easiest.  Having teams come to your home under those conditions and not pulling out the three points is an easy way to get a team in trouble.

Missed Opportunities

By Dario Camacho - MIAMI, FL (Sep 26, 2011) US Soccer Players -- It’s a shame how destructive hope can sometimes be.  In the case of New England, it might be the reason for its downfall in 2012.  With Major League Soccer being generous this year, ten teams get to keep playing well past October 23rd.  New England won't be one of them.  But that wasn’t the case before the trade deadline came and went last week.

One of the impacts of extending the playoffs to ten teams is that struggling teams that normally would have thrown in the towel by this time in the season still held hope that things could work out.  That 10th team would be playoff bound, even if it meant a play-in round with the 9th-seed.   That essentially kept teams from trading their key or marquee players away for the rebuilding blocks needed for next year.