In the wake of Vancouver's acquisition of Lee Nguyen and a Koren fullback, which were at least partly inspired by their desire to market to the city's large Asian population, it got me thinking. What ethnic groups should other MLS teams appeal to by signing name players? A few have done this--most notably Seattle's signing of Freddy Lungberg and Erik Friberg to appeal to the large Scandinavian population in the City. What are some other possibilities for MLS teams?
Vancouver--now has a Korean national, a Chinese national, and the best Vietnamese soccer player in the world. They now need a filipino and a Japanese player. Make it happen!
Seattle--go for the Swedes and Norweigans. A Dane would work as well.
Portland--I think they'd best be represented by a white American guy in a fleece jersey
San Jose--lots of options here--they aren't going to find a lot of great Vietnamese or Filipino players, so they'd better aim either for a Mexican star or, more interestingly, someone from Afghanistan. Nearby Fremont is a center for Afghan Americans!
Galaxy--I'd say Central Americans, or just to keep it interesting, what about someone from one of the world's largest Armenian populations (outside of Armenia)? How's Yura Movsisian doing in Europe these days?
Chivas USA--Boring, but it's gotta be a Mexican star...
RSL--Ok, if you've been to Salt Lake, you'll notice a large Pacific Islander population, courtesy of LDS Missionaries in the South Pacific. Surely there's someone from Tonga or Hawaii to energize this fan base, no?
Colorado Rapids--other than the region's Mexican population, I'm drawing a blank. Help anyone?
Dallas FC--Mexicans again! (That's cool, I'm one of them)
Houston Dynamo--Here I'm going for some representation from the large South Asian population in the city. There's gotta be some talent in the sleeping giant that is India, right? Pakistanis also welcome.
Kansas City--I have no idea
Columbus--Ditto
Chicago--so many ways to go here, but let's stick with their Polish history
Philadelphia--this team definitely needs an Italian Star, no? Isn't Del Piero available?
DC United--lots of ways to go here as well, but I think I'm going with the city's sizable population from Africa. What a player pool they've got with an entire continent at their fingertips! Let's start with Drogba, thoiugh
New England--Gotta be an Irishman. Trade for Robbie Keane!
NYRedBulls--can choose literally anything from this metropolis. I'm thinking they need someone from the Caribbean, though-a Puerto Rican or a Dominican would be awesome.
Toronto FC--English, sigh...
Montreal--obviously a Frenchman would do well here (Ribery! He would also appeal to a large Muslim population)
I mean, if we're serious about attracting a larger crowd, let's make this happen!!
Friday, December 16, 2011
Tiki Taka American Style
Alright, something I've always wondered is how the USMNT would look if we put our 10 most technically skilled players on the pitch at the same time. This is not to say that some of them might have other skills--like endurance, running fast, tackling, or scoring. But what if everything (and I mean everything) took a backseat to possessing the ball. Could you construct a team made up of American players that could dominate possession against most squads in the world? Who would be on this squad? Could this squad score? Would they possess the ball enough to limit their opponents scoring chances (because the defense would certainly suffer--the US is not exactly known for possessing technically proficient backs). This team might have to play some guys out of position, but what would happen if Klinsy gave it a shot? Here's my squad:
-------------------------Dempsey----------------------------
----------------------Adu----------------------------------
Feilhaber---------------Torres--------------F. Johnson
-----------------------Holden---------------------------
Williams---------Ream-----------Cameron-----------Cherundolo
Howard
Actually, this doesn't look so bad. Demps may hate being up there by himself, but the four guys behind him are probably our best ballhandlers. I know, no Landon, no Bradley, no Altidore, and no Shea. But as good as those guys are, they are not our best passers, our best holders of the ball. I think we'd lose a lot of games 1-0, and look damn good at it. But I'd love to see it sometime... Your thoughts?
-------------------------Dempsey----------------------------
----------------------Adu----------------------------------
Feilhaber---------------Torres--------------F. Johnson
-----------------------Holden---------------------------
Williams---------Ream-----------Cameron-----------Cherundolo
Howard
Actually, this doesn't look so bad. Demps may hate being up there by himself, but the four guys behind him are probably our best ballhandlers. I know, no Landon, no Bradley, no Altidore, and no Shea. But as good as those guys are, they are not our best passers, our best holders of the ball. I think we'd lose a lot of games 1-0, and look damn good at it. But I'd love to see it sometime... Your thoughts?
Post #1 Gettin in the flow--speculator style!
Alright, where better to begin than with a question that has been posed in other places--one of the all time speculative topics related to Major League Soccer and its place in the world. My version comes from my own lottery driven fantasies. Of course, to win the lottery I'd have to buy a ticket, but that doesn't keep me from fantasizing about how I'd spend my, say $300 million in winnings. First on my list of things to purchase (and possibly last, because $300 million just doesn't go as far as it used to) is buy a team in the English Championship (the 2nd division of English football). Let's say Watford for discussion's sake, simply because they treated Jay DeMerit right. I'd then sell all the contracts on the current roster, and re-build my team with players currently playing in Major League Soccer. I know, your first thought is, why would MLS go along with this? I never said this site would live in the realm of probability, so keep that in mind. But for discussion's sake, let's imagine I slipped $1million to Garber to get him to go along. I imagine you're also thinking that I'll never get around those pesky work permit rules for this project. Just go with it, ok? Don't kill the fun of it.
Anyhow, my 30 man roster would be made up of the 30 highest paid players in MLS 2011. If my calculations are correct, my overall salary would be somewhere around $37million a year--a considerable sum for a Championship side. We'd get the boys together for a summer of training, and then unleash them on the Euro, er, Anglosnobs. This is my great social experiment, paid for by my lottery winnings, but you get to decide how this team would do. Now, a couple of caveats. I know that the 30 best paid players in MLS does not necessarily make for the "best" team, but my thoughts in going this way were 1)it would allow me to construct a roster that would have wages competitive with English football clubs, and 2)it keeps me from having to choose a roster myself. Of course, I'd still have to choose my starting 11, but that's for another time. Anyway, here's the MLS Dream Team, or rather Watford MLS FC.
David Beckham, Juan Pablo Angel, Chad Marshall, Andres Mendoza, Conor Casey, Marvell Wynne, David Ferreira, Branko Boskovic, Dwayne DeRosario, Brian Ching, Carlo Costly, Jeferson, Landon Donovan, Robbie Keane, Bennie Feilhaber, Thierry Henry, Rafa Marquez, Frank Rost, Freddy Adu, Faryd Mondragon, Javier Morales, Alvaro Fernandez, Fredy Montero, Bobby Convey, Julian de Guzman, Torsten Frings, Danny Koevermans, Jay DeMerit, Eric Hassli, Mustapha Jarju
This squad leans towards attackers, given MLS' propensity for paying guys who contribute going forward, not defending the back. Here's my stab at a Starting 11, playing in something resembling a 4-4-2 formation:
----------------------Henry--------Keane----------------------------
Donovan------------Morales--- DeRosario---------------Beckham
Convey-------------DeMerit----Marshall------------------Wynne
Mondragon
Could this team climb its way out of the Championship and into the Premier League? Could it finish in the Top Half of the Premier League? My own highly speculative belief is that this team could finish in the Top 3, and if one could stop the aging process long enough, could finish in the Middle of the Premier League.
There it is, my first public speculation. Thoughts?
Anyhow, my 30 man roster would be made up of the 30 highest paid players in MLS 2011. If my calculations are correct, my overall salary would be somewhere around $37million a year--a considerable sum for a Championship side. We'd get the boys together for a summer of training, and then unleash them on the Euro, er, Anglosnobs. This is my great social experiment, paid for by my lottery winnings, but you get to decide how this team would do. Now, a couple of caveats. I know that the 30 best paid players in MLS does not necessarily make for the "best" team, but my thoughts in going this way were 1)it would allow me to construct a roster that would have wages competitive with English football clubs, and 2)it keeps me from having to choose a roster myself. Of course, I'd still have to choose my starting 11, but that's for another time. Anyway, here's the MLS Dream Team, or rather Watford MLS FC.
David Beckham, Juan Pablo Angel, Chad Marshall, Andres Mendoza, Conor Casey, Marvell Wynne, David Ferreira, Branko Boskovic, Dwayne DeRosario, Brian Ching, Carlo Costly, Jeferson, Landon Donovan, Robbie Keane, Bennie Feilhaber, Thierry Henry, Rafa Marquez, Frank Rost, Freddy Adu, Faryd Mondragon, Javier Morales, Alvaro Fernandez, Fredy Montero, Bobby Convey, Julian de Guzman, Torsten Frings, Danny Koevermans, Jay DeMerit, Eric Hassli, Mustapha Jarju
This squad leans towards attackers, given MLS' propensity for paying guys who contribute going forward, not defending the back. Here's my stab at a Starting 11, playing in something resembling a 4-4-2 formation:
----------------------Henry--------Keane----------------------------
Donovan------------Morales--- DeRosario---------------Beckham
Convey-------------DeMerit----Marshall------------------Wynne
Mondragon
Could this team climb its way out of the Championship and into the Premier League? Could it finish in the Top Half of the Premier League? My own highly speculative belief is that this team could finish in the Top 3, and if one could stop the aging process long enough, could finish in the Middle of the Premier League.
There it is, my first public speculation. Thoughts?
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