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?
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