And, to round out my day, here's a quick round-up of other items of interest (now limiting myself to five...yes, I'm growing...)
- Count Jorge Vergara among the Mexican fans taking a dim view of the early days of the Hugo Sanchez era.
- While New England adds a player here, another player there - and two years later...and grudgingly - the Kansas City Wizards can't stop adding 'em...and they're attacking players! Dammit! There's also some interesting chatter in that same Down the Byline post about a soccer-specific stadium in the KC area.
- The Columbus Dispatch ran a little piece (carrying a curious, though applaudable, lead) on Guillermo Schelotto, who sounds happy about his move to Columbus. All I know is I've never seen a less enthusiastic goal celebration than the one he turned in last Saturday. Oh, and it sounds like Gaven will start in place of Robbie Rogers this weekend...should be interesting.
- Bill Urban wrote a good piece on the apparent tension between talent and expansion. For what it's worth, I say roll the dice. God meant for expansion teams to suffer; Toronto has it all wrong. They'll catch up in time.
- Finally, the Las Vegas Sun builds an article on a Big Soccer thread. Suddenly, I don't feel so bad about all those book reports written from Cliff's Notes*.
(* OK, for the record, I've never once used Cliff's Notes; I enjoy reading too much.)
(########)
2 comments:
I agree with Urban, the pool is probably too shallow to support the 13 teams there are now, let alone another 3 over the next few years.
However, without a demand, i.e. teams, teams, teams, there really is no pressure to create, nurture, discover, accquire, train, feed and care for more players. Without the pressure of MLS teams needing more, and better quality, players there is little reason to develop a real reserve system, a real scouting system, a real youth system, a by-pass of the NCAA choke point and, perhaps most importantly, paying more realistic wages.
Besides, right now it appears that qualified management is more of a question. RSL can't get out of its own way, Chivas could implode at any time, LA has Alexi the Mouth, Red Bull gives you comedy relief and many of the current crop of expansion wannabes read like a who's who of ponzi scheme rejects. The Las Vegas "proposal" alone makes my head hurt.
Kelly
"and many of the current crop of expansion wannabes read like a who's who of ponzi scheme rejects..."
Kelly:
Might have to nick that one for future use, although whether the merriment is in reference to the expansion candidates or Alexi's kit sponsor is still under question...
both, most probably.
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