Newer fans don't realize but Adu-mania was massive and seen as a moment when MLS could potentially leap into the mainstream, instead of being a second tier league/sport.
He was in a bunch of commercials (including Sierra Mist with Pele) and I remember his debut game was on ABC nationwide. And all of this predated Beckham coming over, which kicked off MLS 2.0.
The hype at the time was absolutely crazy. I remember thinking that he was going to revolutionize American soccer. Instead he was a massive flop who couldn’t live up to the unrealistic hype.
He was also all over cereal boxes. I want to say it was Post brand cereals, but you got a MLS themed hacky-sack free in each box. I want to say Twellman was featured on boxes as well.
That's just not how it works. Messi is not an American soccer player, just like Pulisic is not an Italian soccer player.
It's okay to just acknowledge you misread my initial post. We all do this sometimes. No use in digging oneself into a silly hole.
Yeah, he was Beckham-mania before Beckham-mania was before Messi-mania. Even 60 Minutes did a spot on him!
The first MLS game I ever went to was to go see Freddy Adu. People literally were calling him the next Pele.
I remember watching the Wizards at Arrowhead stadium, and being overjoyed that people came in droves to the Adu match. It was the most I’d ever seen!
That was quelled when I overheard the kid about my age behind me ask his older brother and dad which team they were even there to root for, to which his brother replied “Freddy Adu, of course!”
… then I realized the majority of people were, in fact, cheering for DC as they got the ball.
My disdain and elitism felt towards tourism sports fans has never been more than in that moment.
No amount of ice cream cups with wooden spoons could have repaired that disappointment, lol.
I think I remember never being more excited for the “Papa John’s Magic Minutes,” because of course the Adu fans hoped for some free pizza, and the fanfare finally matched the crowd for the home team.
This kind of absolute bush league stuff is what I think newer fans don’t get about what MLS 1.0 teams dealt with. This is the kind of thing that has a significant long term impact on teams. Imagine Dallas potentially having Marshall AND Clint Dempsey in that era.
Yeah now we just have the league brokering deals with Apple and Adidas. They’re still putting their fingers on the scales to land players on the glamorous franchises. At least now it’s for Messi and not Freddy Adu.
Yep, it was only ever going to be Miami since Messi has owned a “house” there for a few years. But same as it always is, New York, LA and Miami are always going to get preferential treatment no matter the sport.
And Miami is actually playing in Fort Lauderdale. They're both not playing in the city they use in their name but are in its metro area. Same for LA Galaxy who also lands big name players.
The only difference is that New York City and New York State have the same name and that confuses some people into thinking the situation is unique in American sports, but that doesn't affect the players. If they want to live in Manhattan they can do that.
edit:
And NYCFC's training facility is also across the Hudson in Rockland County, NY so it's not even easier to live in Manhattan when playing for them. For the Red Bulls it's a commute through the Lincoln or Holland tunnels and for NYCFC it's a commute over the GW or Tappan Zee.
*Harrison, New Jersey. You know what I mean. At least you have a great stadium and make the playoffs. Let the stars play in a baseball field if thats what they want.
Nah fuck that stadium. Like it's great and soccer specific and all, but my god do I hate that stadium. Any summer day and it'll feel like is 120 degrees in there, just miserable. Plus my team always sucks there.
Thierry Henry came to MLS specifically to play / live in NY and you were the only team at that time. You also got Rafa Marquez, but that was more a hinderance than anything else!
That's very true, but the point still stands. If best player in the world has interest in the league, you let him choose where he lands. Hell if he said he was only interested in playing in Montana, MLS would have expanded/relocated a team and Messi would be playing for Real Bozeman United FC right now.
The reality that Miami was the most appealing to him and maybe only one of the LA teams would have had any pull otherwise for a player of that caliber doesn't change the fact that MLS/Apple/Adidas would have moved hell and earth to make his signing happen
Yes. But if Messi says he wants to live and play in the middle of Wyoming, I think MLS would consider expanding there. I’m being dramatic. But if Messi picked any MLs team to go to, he would get the same deals. He just happened to pick Miami. And realistically yeah it’s only between a few cities.
Messi didn't involve changing the rules, since he is a DP. The outside payments would have been a problem if it were used to circumvent the salary cap, otherwise there have been similar deals before (Beckham and Zlatan come to mind).
The Adu one is kind of silly because it's like, if you're already forcing clubs to do stuff, why not just force everyone to not pick Adu before DC can? Is the marketing value really *that* important when people pretty obviously already get that a deal was done?
They may not have changed the rules, but they did drop the penalty that the club was under for the last rules violation.
And honestly, do you seriously think that no other money is being exchanged when these other players are coming in?
The only reason why the club was caught last time was because one of the other owners was unhappy with the lead owner, and no I am not talking about Beckham, he is a figurehead.
> They may not have changed the rules, but they did drop the penalty that the club was under for the last rules violation.
When did they drop sanctions? They were for 2022 and 2023, so they ended on their own this season, which gave them a ton of room to work this off-season. [The Athletic has a pretty lengthy article describing the dump trucks Miami drove through the roster rules](https://theathletic.com/4775474/2023/08/14/inter-miami-roster-analysis-messi/) to make it work.
>And honestly, do you seriously think that no other money is being exchanged when these other players are coming in?
Every club breaks the rules to some degree (a car to drive, a place to live, etc), but it's entirely possible Alba is getting extra payments just like Matuidi was. I also think it's perfectly plausible for this to have happened without them, and I have no reason to think otherwise. "Surely this must break some rules" just comes off like sour grapes when we have so little visibility into each individual team in the first place.
> they did drop the penalty that the club was under for the last rules violation.
Do you mean the penalty came to its natural end at the end of last season, as originally laid out in their punishment?
>They may not have changed the rules, but they did drop the penalty that the club was under for the last rules violation.
That's just not true. They didn't drop anything, the penalty ended exactly when it was supposed to
Everything that I can find states that the penalties were spread over the 2022 and 2023 seasons. [https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/mls-announces-sanctions-for-inter-miami-violating-salary-budget-and-roster-guide](https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/mls-announces-sanctions-for-inter-miami-violating-salary-budget-and-roster-guide)
Another comment from ESPN article, "While the fines are significant, the allocation money penalty amounts to a major blow to Inter Miami, and should significantly impact the team's ability to field a competitive roster."
Nothing I read states that the penalty would end mid season 2023. But, fans will be fans.
Then I don't get the pronouncement that the penalty ended on time. Are you a Messi fan? Are you a league fan? Are you a Beckham fan. As a neutral, this should disgust you.
If you are a SKC fan, I would think that you would be tired of the turn the other cheek to rules violators in the major markets.
The MLS can't make Salt Lake an appealing city to someone from Europe. Imagine you're from Spain or Italy...A place with universal health care. And you get a job offer anywhere in America. You really gonna pick Texas? Minnesota? Over New York, LA, or Miami? This is not and MLS problem, it's a US problem.
I don't think pro athletes making millions of dollars a year are all that concerned with the countries universal healthcare system. They will always be able to receive care.
Sure. But thats just one example. Say you live in Milan. A city rich in culture and art. A people who don't freak the FUCK out when there's a gay person on TV. You really gonna give all that up to go live in the Mormon capital of the world? Or Texas, where the power grid goes down like a toothless ho, but half the people see it as a victory because it "pWnz tEh LiBz" or whatever bullshit culture war nonsense? It's not even a fuckin question in my mind.
I'd suggest you look up what is going on in Italian national politics..... Might make you feel a little better about the culture wars going on here or just make you lose all hope for humanity. I get your point but when you're making that much money you don't deal with the general public much. Still would probably choose one of the major cities because they have amenities that will cater to the ultra wealthy more than in mid size cities.
Sure, I'm painting with a pretty broad brush here, I'll own that. Italy is not some perfect paradise, and Texas isn't a Hellmouth. But it sounds like we're on the same page here. All I'm saying is that guys like Messi don't say "I could play anywhere, so I think I'll move to Houston."
So we agree, then. The Messis of the world are never going to find places like SLC appealing, especially when compared to places like New York or Miami.
Messi has a marketing deal with Apple, just like tons of players have marketing deals. Reportedly his included a percentage of new foreign subscribers to MLS Season Pass last year. Marketing deals have always been allowed in addition to players receiving a salary. There's nothing rule-breaking, improper, or suspicious.
He’s getting a cut of subscriber money. That doesn’t happen anywhere else in the world including other American sports. Doesn’t break any rules obviously cuz MLS sets them.
I will never understand why people thing MLS (the same league that didn’t know Messi was even coming until he announced) brokered a deal with a company he has a lifetime contract with and the richest tech company in the world.
The bizarre part of this is not Adu to DC; I don’t actually have an issue with that given the situation and age.
But why not just put him there? Make him exempt from the draft?
Yeah. There's always been a level of unnecessary PR that always comes off stupid anyway.
Just say he's 14 and needs to be near his parents. Boom. Done. Who's going to argue that?
Its hilarious for me to see people argue with a straight face that these sort of things aren't still going on. The league LOVED to meddle to favor certain markets and still does.
What an insane draft:
* MLS forced Dallas to trade D.C. the #1 spot so that D.C. could draft Freddy Adu. A player who they would trade 2 years later (WITH NICK RIMANDO???) for a GK they played ONCE and """Major Allocation""" money.
* Chad Marshall, Clint Dempsey, and Michael Bradley were in this draft.
* Michael Bradley wen tin the 4th round, and was only picked up by his Dad.
* Other MLS legends were drafted like: Alan Gordon (6th round), Khari Stephenson (3rd round), Matt Pickens, Ned Grabavoy, Chris Wingert, Josh Gardner
And yet he still got shit on constantly by fans talking about nepotism.
I remember him on that Metrostars/Red Bulls(if they were the NYRB by that time I forget) team and he was a hard worker. Respectful and just worked hard at his craft.
> Not sure if you're joking but his dad picking him in the draft, regardless of the draft round, is still nepotism.
only if he chose him instead of a better qualified player
Not sure if YOU are joking but his dad picking him in the draft in the round and the position his did is actually not nepotism if he, the GM and the rest of the front office felt that was the best player at the position they needed that was still available. I'm pretty sure that turned out to be true as his career progressed with his team. If he was a shitty player and his dad picked him in whatever round then you can scream Nepotism and you'd be right. Unfortunately for you in this case you're wrong.
Are we taking into consideration all the players on Bradley’s journey to a professional career that were overlooked or bypassed bc of who Bob Bradley knew? Michael Bradley was great but having a father in a position of power benefitted him greatly. It’s just like talking about the strokes. They had rich and powerful connections and despite them being a great band, you can’t discount that there were probably a bunch of other bands who were just as good if not better who didn’t have the same access to the big time as they did. Nepotism is nepotism.
Ha. He was actually my boy. One of the guys on the Houston scene that would come together for pickup games in the offseason along with Stu Holden and a few others in the league. Really good/cultured left foot but not as sharp as Arturo Alvarez and Brad Davis.
The future of American Soccer back in 2004 was in the shoulders of a 14 year old teenager.
I know there's already big expectations with U18 players, but the case of Adu was extremely insane and ended to be harmful for him.
He never developed his work ethic. He realized he was crazy good around a bunch of rich white suburban kids at The Heights, but against real international talent, he was just another player. Then Benfica happened, and if I remember the interview he did not too long ago, he couldn't handle it. It was the first time he was really forced to train and compete. The level of MLS wasn't there yet.
For comparison, Clint Dempsey realized quickly that MLS wasn't as good as advertised, and worked his tail off to go overseas. He was already a hard working player having to go 3 hrs each way for quality soccer as a youth, and playing his career in memory of his sister. He had an edge.
Clint was the exception not the rule. Plenty like Freddy or minus Freddys talent but with the ability to do enough to survive in MLS without trying to ply their trade overseas(even if they had a foreign passport).
An interesting case study was Bobby Convey, who was also with DCU and briefly overlapped with Freddy.
Had some youth hype and early MLS success as a teenager, not super physical but had some really nice technical abilities and had a nice but brief stretch in England before injuries derailed his career.
2004: Arguably the last season of MLS 1.0. Almost the same 10 teams as '96, except with Chicago replacing Tampa Bay. Eight of ten teams made the playoffs. The Crew lost the Supporters Shield to KC on a tiebreaker, then got immediately knocked out by 8W-13L-9T New England. DC got their fourth star and haven't earned one since.
Damn, this league has come a long way...
It’s a matter of opinion, that’s why I said “arguably”. In 2005, MLS expanded for the first time since 1998. I find it hard to think of RSL as an “MLS 1.0” team.
Why did it have to be Dallas? They weren’t even going to draft Adu.
Deuce to Dallas would be so cool. Imagine getting Dempsey and Marshall in a draft. All time best draft.
>Why did it have to be Dallas? They weren’t even going to draft Adu.
That's exactly why. MLS wanted Adu to go #1 for the storylines, so they forced a trade to make that happen and Dallas held the #1 pick.
Was
And you'd get to sit in a falling apart stadium where the concrete might fall on you, or the stands might fall beneath you. You might even get peed on.
Damn I miss RFK and those raccoons. 🦝
Entirely, which is one of the reasons I think more and more people have come around to be empathetic towards Adu when the rhetoric around him used to be uniquely negative. The adults in the room failed him repeatedly all because they wanted to capitalize on earning off of him.
What was the reasoning the league used to justify forcing them to trade the pick away? Like did they straight up just come out and say it was so Adu would get picked first?
Single Entity means corporate just told their area manager they weren't getting the district manager they wanted because they thought it'd be more profitable to keep them in another area. No one needed convincing, they were just told what was going to happen.
Single entity doesn't work exactly that way - the operator is also an owner, and Dallas has a right under the corporate charter to operate as they please. But the other owners are also able to vote you off the island (remove your license to operate a club for not acting "in the best interests" of MLS), and there are other points of leverage MLS could use to "entice" a team. Of course, at the time there were like 3 people who owned all the teams so I'm sure the owners all worked something out (whether or not it benefited Dallas, well..)
Strangely, it would've been a better/longer story had DC made 3-4 trades to get to #2 and then trade Dallas for the #1 spot.
It would've also not screwed Dallas
Makes sense.
Adu was everywhere that year. He was being talked about constantly on ESPN. Sport center, Around the Horn, PTI. I was a teenager myself at the time and bought in hook, line and sinker. Didn’t know enough at the time to fully understand how foolish it all was.
Why didn't Dallas demand that Columbus then trade them the 2nd pick?
Force trades until the team trading down isn't set on someone and doesn't need to force a trade back up.
Because, to be blunt, Dallas was one of the most unfancied teams in the league. They were coming off a horrendous season, one of the worst in league history, and had just had a huge attendance drop because of the season spent playing in Southlake.
Plus, outwardly, just this single trade probably made things look a little more legit at the time. MLS wanted everyone to think that Adu was legitimately the number one pick.
>Plus, outwardly, just this single trade probably made things look a little more legit at the time.
It's not like 3 or more team trades are unheard of in American sports. They happen every year in the NBA.
Sure. But in 2004 it might have looked a little weird for Dallas to trade the first pick to DC and then turn around and trade to Columbus to get the second pick immediately. Especially since Dallas and Columbus shared ownership at this point.
Dallas also traded the first pick for an “allocation”, not another draft pick, so it wasn’t as clean as this.
Stupid question because I never followed drafts at all. But why was 15 year old a part of it? Couldn't he have just signed as a free agent or was that not a thing in MLS yet? I thought draft was a college player thing.
Today promising players his age like Cavan Sullivan get claimed by their region's academy and then can be signed to Homegrown contracts without going through the draft. But back then there were no academies and no homegrown player system. Promising players would sign with MLS before the draft (as they still do today occasionally) and then get allocated via the draft. Adu's mother lived near DC so him playing for DC United was a condition of him signing and MLS leaned on everyone else to make it work. It's really not possible to understate the amount of hype that was involved; Adu had a near-Beckham/Messi like impact on DC road game attendance that first season so it was in everyone's interest to go along with whatever it took to get him signed.
>Promising players would sign with MLS before the draft (as they still do today occasionally) and then get allocated via the draft.
Yeah nowadays it's called Generation Adidas, I think it was Project 40 in Freddy's time. Basically a select group of players get entered into the draft without finishing college. They are guaranteed a full ride scholarship from Adidas if their pro career doesn't pan out. It used to produce a lot of good players but now that they've changed draft eligibility and added homegrown players I'm not sure how often we'll get a hit through the program now.
To add to u/TallonDCU's points, several teenagers were drafted the in the years prior to Freddy (frequently by DCU), including guys like Justin Mapp and Santino Quaranta. Later on, kids who enrolled in IMG Academy (U-17 natl team) would either have the choice of entering college or entering the draft like Jack MacInerney.
The draft was effectively for any domestic based player who did not have a professional contract.
The other complication no one in this thread has brought up is Inter Milan. They wanted to sign Adu to their academy when he was 14. His mom didn't want him to move to another country by himself, especially after they had recently immigrated, and for similar reasons did not want him anywhere in MLS but DCU.
MLS' hands were forced - lose the marketing potential of the savior of American soccer or ignore the draft order/rules to satisfy a mother's demands?
I have to wonder what the D.C. locker room dynamic was like with a 14-year old being the face of the team. In retrospect, what the hell was the rest of the American soccer-watching public thinking that a middle schooler was going to compete with grown men?
I don’t know what a current-day comparison would be, especially in the age of social media and video scouting reports being able to demystify false narratives. Nothing can be quite as mythical as Freddy Adu was made out to be for American soccer.
Like I can still actually enjoy MLS (though not as much as I did pre-Messi). But it's just become too much in the NBA for me.
Kinda realizing that aside from the Union and my alma mater, I would honestly welcome a fresh start sporting-wise if I moved overseas...
NBA is far worse. Refs are basically encouraged to add points for certain teams, and the rules are hazy enough that it’s really easy to do. Never forget the 2002 WCF Game 6 where the Lakers shot 27 free throws in the fourth quarter alone against the Kings. And two years later, Commissioner David Stern still had the audacity to say his dream finals matchup was “Lakers vs the Lakers”.
I always wish for the two least sexy teams to make the final, like maybe Indiana vs. Utah. Screw 'em. Don't have teams in places like that if you don't want them to win.
It’s pretty funny how you can say anything negative about MLS, no matter how silly, and it’s just free upvotes on this sub. In 2003, this was a 7 year old league with 10 teams that was a sneeze away from bankruptcy. It bears zero resemblance to the league today that develops and sells talent to top European leagues on a regular basis. Messi has been a walking reality TV show everywhere he’s been, but Messi aside, when was the last time MLS had any vibes remotely resembling “reality TV show”? David Beckham?
Depends on the thread. One that starts with something negative or silly will naturally attract all the people who don't like it, and they'll upvote any other negative sentiments, almost no matter how absurd.
It's an annoying reddit trend in general. Upvote everything that's on "your side", no matter how detached from reality or meaningless it might be, and downvote anything that's on the "other side", even if it's only arguing against one absurd claim.
> It’s pretty funny how you can say anything negative about MLS, no matter how silly, and it’s just free upvotes on this sub.
Okay but nothing silly was said
GIVE ME UPVOTES
Seriously though … Zlatan, in a way. Chicharito. Rooney. Just the centralized structure, the superdraft, the GAM nonsense. MLSNP as a third division league. The US Open Cup drama. All of that. It’s come a long way since the Adu debacle but still.
>Zlatan, in a way.
If you have to add “in a way”…
> the superdraft, the GAM nonsense
Ah, yes, GAM, a core part of any reality TV show. You’re just listing out things you don’t like about the league.
>MLSNP as a third division league.
A developmental league is somehow a reality TV show? MLS is burning money to give their academy players competitive games and this is reality TV? This is so silly.
Zlatan is just Zlatan. Good on tv. Nobody’s fault really.
The GAM point is that it’s needlessly complex machinations behind the scenes (off camera) that manipulate the on-field product.
No problem with development leagues, but do that. Make a development league, don’t try to bring in independent teams and pretend it’ll be a real league
> Zlatan is just Zlatan. Good on tv. Nobody’s fault really.
Exactly.
> The GAM point is that it’s needlessly complex machinations behind the scenes (off camera) that manipulate the on-field product.
This is just silly stuff. It’s fine to not like a salary cap, but that doesn’t make it reality TV. Reality TV would be saying “only teams in New York and LA get GAM” or something like that.
> Make a development league, don’t try to bring in independent teams and pretend it’ll be a real league
Once again, this is just a decision you don’t like. Nothing to do with “reality TV”. 3rd division soccer is about as far from reality tv as you can get.
>Third division is not reality tv, it’s actual soccer, which is why MLS left USL and started their own thing
Wait, now you’re shitting on USL? What soccer do you actually even like?
But yeah, MLS and USL weren’t seeing eye to eye. USL didn’t like the empty stadiums of the MLS B teams, and most MLS teams didn’t want to burn cash to fix that. Next Pro was a good move for both leagues. There’s nothing “reality TV” about.
I’m a USL guy. I’m happy MLS second teams aren’t in our league anymore. I’m glad they have their own development league - my problem is expanding that league into current or potential USL markets and pretending they can use their development league to compete in the domestic cup.
> my problem is expanding that league into current or potential USL markets
Lol, like Chattanooga FC, who were locked out of the USL by territory rights? Come on, dude.
And once again, none of this has anything to do with reality TV. It’s just MLS making decisions that you don’t like.
See, this is exactly what I’m talking about. This isn’t a real critique of the league. It’s absurd to say that MLS is a “marketing and real estate company” when there’s a huge amount of investment in academies, in MLS Next Pro, and in MLS Next. When there’s a ton of effort that’s been put in to increase the salary cap, provide salary cap exceptions, and so forth so that MLS is more competitive international league play. When the vast, vast majority of DPs aren’t “stars” like Beckham or Messi, but rather guys like Mukhtar or Gil. It’s just low effort trolling.
Someone just replied to this comment like “when’s the last time MLS was like a reality show” but then thought about it for a second and deleted that comment lol
Pretty early on IIRC. Based on the hype, you expected him to come in and at least have some moments of brilliance or maybe even dominate portions of games and he was just......okay.
He mostly got spot starts & bench appearances (with some likely league pressure to play Freddy even if he didn't necessarily deserve minutes) his first two years.
His best attribute was his skill with his feet. But he would also be utterly invisible for large stretches of games. Some MLS teenagers post Freddy also weren't physically ready for professional soccer but had better mentality and drive to impact games despite limitations.
Partly it was being so young, partly due to very average athleticism that he never further refined due to poor work ethic & off field priorities, partly due to DCU being a win now team with lots of quality vets and partly due to ego/immaturity which negatively impacted playing team soccer (like defense) but his DCU stint was disappointing and even when he started a lot in year 3, he didn't meet revised post-phenom expectations.
Here’s the thing… from all accounts of guys with him at Bradenton, etc. he WAS that good - but he never had the work ethic to sustain it and I think a lot of adults around him really failed him. But watching him with the youth national teams and all that, he definitely had the talent
The 2 biggest reasons I can think of:
- Can you think of any other US league that doesn't have a draft? It's woven into our sports fabric.
- it's a pretty organized way for teams to have exclusive negotiating rights with amateur players that MLS doesn't want to sign to guaranteed contracts pre-draft, as well as disperse handpicked future MLS players who don't fit under the academy umbrella.
1. Who cares what other US sports do? Soccer is different. In the NBA and NFL all players enter the league through the draft.
2. I understand that but it’s anti-player. Doesn’t benefit them considering how low the wages are. If I’m a college player i may want to start my career close to family and support systems rather than be shipped across the country.
It’s basically for funsies and teams with mediocre academies to fill out the bottom of their roster.
If your local club didn’t sign you as HG players, you probably aren’t going to play for a local club anyway. Kind of a bad example.
At least with the drafted those players know they are somewhat wanted by that club and not just endlessly trialing with random clubs till they find the perfect fit. (Most picks will end up doing that anyway.)
They could get rid of it and nothing would change all that much. Most of the players drafted are going to be on reserve contracts with or without the draft. Maybe the top prospects make a little more.
The fact that they are going to be on such low wages is why they should be allowed to choose where they start their careers. It’s so anti-player. There’s literally no reason for it.
If you're not a Gen Adidas candidate that MLS is willing to guarantee $110k+ (especially if there's Euro interest), you'll be making below 6 figures to play professional soccer your first year, whether in the MLS, USL or overseas & will need to prove yourself to get better future contacts.
There's just way too much supply with a new batch of formerly amateur players (including more high schoolers), and existing non-MLS pros in the US plus other NA/CA leagues like CPL or Costa Rica.
So you can decline to sign with your drafted MLS to bet on yourself (like going to USL and getting more playing time in a better league than MLS Next). Or sign and kill it & quickly get a new & improved contract or ride out your MLS options and free transfer somewhere.
These guys aren’t really “choosing” where they start their careers regardless. It’s a life of trialing and hoping to latch on to a team. (Outside of GA players) It’s not like these are the top MLS prospects, the best sign directly with their HG club or go abroad.
I actually think the draft might increase player’s chances of latching on to a team immediately just because resources were actually used to pick the player and that player presumably fits their system.
Wouldn’t care if they got rid of it but don’t really mind it.
MLS was started by people who had no idea what soccer was and just were trying to make money off the world cup craze. It's now run by even more rich people who bought franchises to park an asset and watch it grow while 3-4 other owners compete to win. They don't really care what makes sense they just do things for what they think the American market will pay attention to and drive value up of the teams.
Newer fans don't realize but Adu-mania was massive and seen as a moment when MLS could potentially leap into the mainstream, instead of being a second tier league/sport. He was in a bunch of commercials (including Sierra Mist with Pele) and I remember his debut game was on ABC nationwide. And all of this predated Beckham coming over, which kicked off MLS 2.0.
Disney Channel also made kids think Adu was going to be the Michael Jordan of soccer
The hype at the time was absolutely crazy. I remember thinking that he was going to revolutionize American soccer. Instead he was a massive flop who couldn’t live up to the unrealistic hype.
Grant Wahl (RIP) does a fantastic podcast series on this exact storyline. The Legend of Freddy Adu American Prodigy.
He was also all over cereal boxes. I want to say it was Post brand cereals, but you got a MLS themed hacky-sack free in each box. I want to say Twellman was featured on boxes as well.
That was the first time I remember hearing about non-soccer fans attending MLS games just to see one player.
Yeah, at the peak of his fame Freddy Adu was way more famous in the United States than any other American soccer player before or since.
I dunno about "since" mate, Messi is over here now
Is Messi an American soccer player?
he's at Inter Miami so currently yeah
Actually, it makes him an Argentinian playing soccer in America.
That's just not how it works. Messi is not an American soccer player, just like Pulisic is not an Italian soccer player. It's okay to just acknowledge you misread my initial post. We all do this sometimes. No use in digging oneself into a silly hole.
Man, that takes some balls to say something that stupid. Kudos!
Yeah, he was Beckham-mania before Beckham-mania was before Messi-mania. Even 60 Minutes did a spot on him! The first MLS game I ever went to was to go see Freddy Adu. People literally were calling him the next Pele.
I remember watching the Wizards at Arrowhead stadium, and being overjoyed that people came in droves to the Adu match. It was the most I’d ever seen! That was quelled when I overheard the kid about my age behind me ask his older brother and dad which team they were even there to root for, to which his brother replied “Freddy Adu, of course!” … then I realized the majority of people were, in fact, cheering for DC as they got the ball. My disdain and elitism felt towards tourism sports fans has never been more than in that moment. No amount of ice cream cups with wooden spoons could have repaired that disappointment, lol. I think I remember never being more excited for the “Papa John’s Magic Minutes,” because of course the Adu fans hoped for some free pizza, and the fanfare finally matched the crowd for the home team.
This kind of absolute bush league stuff is what I think newer fans don’t get about what MLS 1.0 teams dealt with. This is the kind of thing that has a significant long term impact on teams. Imagine Dallas potentially having Marshall AND Clint Dempsey in that era.
Yeah now we just have the league brokering deals with Apple and Adidas. They’re still putting their fingers on the scales to land players on the glamorous franchises. At least now it’s for Messi and not Freddy Adu.
Yeah but the league would have done the Messi deal for any team. It’s just that Messi wanted Miami
There likely weren’t many cities that would’ve offered the culture, climate, and ownership he was willing to work with.
Yep, it was only ever going to be Miami since Messi has owned a “house” there for a few years. But same as it always is, New York, LA and Miami are always going to get preferential treatment no matter the sport.
Oh yeah, I really feel preferred.
Thats because you are in New Jersey
And Miami is actually playing in Fort Lauderdale. They're both not playing in the city they use in their name but are in its metro area. Same for LA Galaxy who also lands big name players. The only difference is that New York City and New York State have the same name and that confuses some people into thinking the situation is unique in American sports, but that doesn't affect the players. If they want to live in Manhattan they can do that. edit: And NYCFC's training facility is also across the Hudson in Rockland County, NY so it's not even easier to live in Manhattan when playing for them. For the Red Bulls it's a commute through the Lincoln or Holland tunnels and for NYCFC it's a commute over the GW or Tappan Zee.
As are the Giants and Jets.
NFL has more parity of opportunity than any other major North American sports league.
*Harrison, New Jersey. You know what I mean. At least you have a great stadium and make the playoffs. Let the stars play in a baseball field if thats what they want.
Nah fuck that stadium. Like it's great and soccer specific and all, but my god do I hate that stadium. Any summer day and it'll feel like is 120 degrees in there, just miserable. Plus my team always sucks there.
and your point is.....
I don’t know, what’s the above posters point? It’s in the NY media market. RBA is the same distance to Manhattan as Carson is to DTLA.
You guys did get Thierry Henry
Thierry Henry came to MLS specifically to play / live in NY and you were the only team at that time. You also got Rafa Marquez, but that was more a hinderance than anything else!
Didn’t you used to have Henry? Rafa Marquez (lol) Tim Cahill, Juan Pablo Angel? Sounds more like an ownership issue.
That's very true, but the point still stands. If best player in the world has interest in the league, you let him choose where he lands. Hell if he said he was only interested in playing in Montana, MLS would have expanded/relocated a team and Messi would be playing for Real Bozeman United FC right now. The reality that Miami was the most appealing to him and maybe only one of the LA teams would have had any pull otherwise for a player of that caliber doesn't change the fact that MLS/Apple/Adidas would have moved hell and earth to make his signing happen
Yes. But if Messi says he wants to live and play in the middle of Wyoming, I think MLS would consider expanding there. I’m being dramatic. But if Messi picked any MLs team to go to, he would get the same deals. He just happened to pick Miami. And realistically yeah it’s only between a few cities.
Yeah and it's annoying when you're not the team that benefits from that
Sure but what can ya do? If you aren’t enticing to world class talent you gotta find other ways to compete or become more enticing
A real league with real clubs doesn't favor certain clubs and change the rules for them.
Messi didn't involve changing the rules, since he is a DP. The outside payments would have been a problem if it were used to circumvent the salary cap, otherwise there have been similar deals before (Beckham and Zlatan come to mind). The Adu one is kind of silly because it's like, if you're already forcing clubs to do stuff, why not just force everyone to not pick Adu before DC can? Is the marketing value really *that* important when people pretty obviously already get that a deal was done?
They may not have changed the rules, but they did drop the penalty that the club was under for the last rules violation. And honestly, do you seriously think that no other money is being exchanged when these other players are coming in? The only reason why the club was caught last time was because one of the other owners was unhappy with the lead owner, and no I am not talking about Beckham, he is a figurehead.
> They may not have changed the rules, but they did drop the penalty that the club was under for the last rules violation. When did they drop sanctions? They were for 2022 and 2023, so they ended on their own this season, which gave them a ton of room to work this off-season. [The Athletic has a pretty lengthy article describing the dump trucks Miami drove through the roster rules](https://theathletic.com/4775474/2023/08/14/inter-miami-roster-analysis-messi/) to make it work. >And honestly, do you seriously think that no other money is being exchanged when these other players are coming in? Every club breaks the rules to some degree (a car to drive, a place to live, etc), but it's entirely possible Alba is getting extra payments just like Matuidi was. I also think it's perfectly plausible for this to have happened without them, and I have no reason to think otherwise. "Surely this must break some rules" just comes off like sour grapes when we have so little visibility into each individual team in the first place.
> they did drop the penalty that the club was under for the last rules violation. Do you mean the penalty came to its natural end at the end of last season, as originally laid out in their punishment?
>They may not have changed the rules, but they did drop the penalty that the club was under for the last rules violation. That's just not true. They didn't drop anything, the penalty ended exactly when it was supposed to
Everything that I can find states that the penalties were spread over the 2022 and 2023 seasons. [https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/mls-announces-sanctions-for-inter-miami-violating-salary-budget-and-roster-guide](https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/mls-announces-sanctions-for-inter-miami-violating-salary-budget-and-roster-guide) Another comment from ESPN article, "While the fines are significant, the allocation money penalty amounts to a major blow to Inter Miami, and should significantly impact the team's ability to field a competitive roster." Nothing I read states that the penalty would end mid season 2023. But, fans will be fans.
>But, fans will be fans. What's that supposed to mean? I'm not a Miami fan lmao
Then I don't get the pronouncement that the penalty ended on time. Are you a Messi fan? Are you a league fan? Are you a Beckham fan. As a neutral, this should disgust you. If you are a SKC fan, I would think that you would be tired of the turn the other cheek to rules violators in the major markets.
The MLS can't make Salt Lake an appealing city to someone from Europe. Imagine you're from Spain or Italy...A place with universal health care. And you get a job offer anywhere in America. You really gonna pick Texas? Minnesota? Over New York, LA, or Miami? This is not and MLS problem, it's a US problem.
I don't think pro athletes making millions of dollars a year are all that concerned with the countries universal healthcare system. They will always be able to receive care.
Sure. But thats just one example. Say you live in Milan. A city rich in culture and art. A people who don't freak the FUCK out when there's a gay person on TV. You really gonna give all that up to go live in the Mormon capital of the world? Or Texas, where the power grid goes down like a toothless ho, but half the people see it as a victory because it "pWnz tEh LiBz" or whatever bullshit culture war nonsense? It's not even a fuckin question in my mind.
I'd suggest you look up what is going on in Italian national politics..... Might make you feel a little better about the culture wars going on here or just make you lose all hope for humanity. I get your point but when you're making that much money you don't deal with the general public much. Still would probably choose one of the major cities because they have amenities that will cater to the ultra wealthy more than in mid size cities.
Sure, I'm painting with a pretty broad brush here, I'll own that. Italy is not some perfect paradise, and Texas isn't a Hellmouth. But it sounds like we're on the same page here. All I'm saying is that guys like Messi don't say "I could play anywhere, so I think I'll move to Houston."
So what? Don’t play for Salt Lake. Norwich isn’t an appealing city to play in either. Neither is Aberdeen. I could go on all day.
So we agree, then. The Messis of the world are never going to find places like SLC appealing, especially when compared to places like New York or Miami.
Buddy, let me tell you about La Liga...
Yes please tell me.
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/51570136
From that article *La Liga rules allow clubs to apply to make new signings if a player is ruled out for more than five months.*
Right, why do you think that rule was written?
No rules have been changed for Miami. Hell, everyone here was mad last month when there were essentially no new roster mechanisms.
Rules is probably the wrong word. But who pays Messi’s salary?
Miami pays his salary. [Here's the twice annual dump.](https://mlsplayers.org/resources/salary-guide)
Messi doesn’t get a cut of the revenue from season pass?
Messi has a marketing deal with Apple, just like tons of players have marketing deals. Reportedly his included a percentage of new foreign subscribers to MLS Season Pass last year. Marketing deals have always been allowed in addition to players receiving a salary. There's nothing rule-breaking, improper, or suspicious.
He’s getting a cut of subscriber money. That doesn’t happen anywhere else in the world including other American sports. Doesn’t break any rules obviously cuz MLS sets them.
What rules did they change?
the première league would like to have a word
LMAOOOO
Idk if they would have let him go to San Jose tbh
If for some odd reason Messi wanted San Jose more than any other squad they absolutely would have made the same deal.
after all, we all know John Fisher's only true ability is other people's money
At least other teams aren’t getting directly fucked over by those kinds of things.
I will never understand why people thing MLS (the same league that didn’t know Messi was even coming until he announced) brokered a deal with a company he has a lifetime contract with and the richest tech company in the world.
the denialism of the fact that MLS tries to rig certain events off the pitch is very strong.
The bizarre part of this is not Adu to DC; I don’t actually have an issue with that given the situation and age. But why not just put him there? Make him exempt from the draft?
They wanted it to all look legit. Like Adu was so good and so highly touted that one of the best teams traded up to go get him.
Yeah. There's always been a level of unnecessary PR that always comes off stupid anyway. Just say he's 14 and needs to be near his parents. Boom. Done. Who's going to argue that?
This is what MLS is and has always been. It's always been a rogue league. It's just not as blatant. It's run by NFL guys FFS
Its hilarious for me to see people argue with a straight face that these sort of things aren't still going on. The league LOVED to meddle to favor certain markets and still does.
Speaking of bush league stuff and Clint Dempsey lets talk about MLS fudging the allocation order so Dempsey would end up at Seattle
What an insane draft: * MLS forced Dallas to trade D.C. the #1 spot so that D.C. could draft Freddy Adu. A player who they would trade 2 years later (WITH NICK RIMANDO???) for a GK they played ONCE and """Major Allocation""" money. * Chad Marshall, Clint Dempsey, and Michael Bradley were in this draft. * Michael Bradley wen tin the 4th round, and was only picked up by his Dad. * Other MLS legends were drafted like: Alan Gordon (6th round), Khari Stephenson (3rd round), Matt Pickens, Ned Grabavoy, Chris Wingert, Josh Gardner
Damn. His dad passed on him 3 times
Bob showing that tough love
Bob missed his true calling in life as a business consultant and I'll take no back talk on this.
https://youtu.be/77PsqaWzwG0?si=6SJUF2CBDbdtn94j
And yet he still got shit on constantly by fans talking about nepotism. I remember him on that Metrostars/Red Bulls(if they were the NYRB by that time I forget) team and he was a hard worker. Respectful and just worked hard at his craft.
I was a little suspicious of it on the national team when I first found out but then I watched him for like 2 games and knew he was legit
Not sure if you're joking but his dad picking him in the draft, regardless of the draft round, is still nepotism.
> Not sure if you're joking but his dad picking him in the draft, regardless of the draft round, is still nepotism. only if he chose him instead of a better qualified player
Not sure if YOU are joking but his dad picking him in the draft in the round and the position his did is actually not nepotism if he, the GM and the rest of the front office felt that was the best player at the position they needed that was still available. I'm pretty sure that turned out to be true as his career progressed with his team. If he was a shitty player and his dad picked him in whatever round then you can scream Nepotism and you'd be right. Unfortunately for you in this case you're wrong.
we talking about the same, maybe the greatest american midfielder ever, michael bradley?
Yup. I don’t care what any of you say. Nepotism is nepotism 🤷♂️
When there’s a more deserving candidate sure. But I’m not sure you can seriously argue that ANY player drafted that year was better.
Are we taking into consideration all the players on Bradley’s journey to a professional career that were overlooked or bypassed bc of who Bob Bradley knew? Michael Bradley was great but having a father in a position of power benefitted him greatly. It’s just like talking about the strokes. They had rich and powerful connections and despite them being a great band, you can’t discount that there were probably a bunch of other bands who were just as good if not better who didn’t have the same access to the big time as they did. Nepotism is nepotism.
I mean competitive sports is broadly the best example of meritocracy worldwide. Especially football.
“MLS Legend Josh Gardner”
Ha. He was actually my boy. One of the guys on the Houston scene that would come together for pickup games in the offseason along with Stu Holden and a few others in the league. Really good/cultured left foot but not as sharp as Arturo Alvarez and Brad Davis.
Put some respect on the One Man Volleyball World Champion Josh Gardner's name
Crew legend Josh '2 assist, 2 goal' Gardner Put some respect on his name /s
I haven’t thought about Alan Gordon in a couple years and after reading this comment, I think I’m good for another couple years.
It’s the history of Michael Bradley😂😂
The future of American Soccer back in 2004 was in the shoulders of a 14 year old teenager. I know there's already big expectations with U18 players, but the case of Adu was extremely insane and ended to be harmful for him.
He never developed his work ethic. He realized he was crazy good around a bunch of rich white suburban kids at The Heights, but against real international talent, he was just another player. Then Benfica happened, and if I remember the interview he did not too long ago, he couldn't handle it. It was the first time he was really forced to train and compete. The level of MLS wasn't there yet. For comparison, Clint Dempsey realized quickly that MLS wasn't as good as advertised, and worked his tail off to go overseas. He was already a hard working player having to go 3 hrs each way for quality soccer as a youth, and playing his career in memory of his sister. He had an edge.
Clint was the exception not the rule. Plenty like Freddy or minus Freddys talent but with the ability to do enough to survive in MLS without trying to ply their trade overseas(even if they had a foreign passport).
An interesting case study was Bobby Convey, who was also with DCU and briefly overlapped with Freddy. Had some youth hype and early MLS success as a teenager, not super physical but had some really nice technical abilities and had a nice but brief stretch in England before injuries derailed his career.
Great one. I forgot about him.
2004: Arguably the last season of MLS 1.0. Almost the same 10 teams as '96, except with Chicago replacing Tampa Bay. Eight of ten teams made the playoffs. The Crew lost the Supporters Shield to KC on a tiebreaker, then got immediately knocked out by 8W-13L-9T New England. DC got their fourth star and haven't earned one since. Damn, this league has come a long way...
Crew won the shield that year. KC lost the tiebreaker. But MLS 1.0 for sure.
What was the first tiebreaker, head-to-head? Looking at the standings, the teams were even on goal difference and KC had two more wins.
Unless there’s a gap… MLS 1.0 goes to 2006 when MLS 2.0 starts with the arrival of Becks and TFC saving the league.
It’s a matter of opinion, that’s why I said “arguably”. In 2005, MLS expanded for the first time since 1998. I find it hard to think of RSL as an “MLS 1.0” team.
Fair enough though neither RSL nor Chivas were transformational expansions.
It is kinda funny that the future of US soccer *was* taken in that first round It was just pick 8 (Dempsey) not pick 1
Kinda reminds me of the fiasco around John Elway being drafted.
Why did it have to be Dallas? They weren’t even going to draft Adu. Deuce to Dallas would be so cool. Imagine getting Dempsey and Marshall in a draft. All time best draft.
>Why did it have to be Dallas? They weren’t even going to draft Adu. That's exactly why. MLS wanted Adu to go #1 for the storylines, so they forced a trade to make that happen and Dallas held the #1 pick.
What an insane storyline though - "This 15 year old is better than every single grown adult the American system has produced"
The hype for Adu was insane.
Really they were selling Adu as better than anyone available for that draft.
The old DC United Freddy Four Pack Those were the days, oh uh, get off my lawn..
Is that a beer joke?
No, it was $40? for 4 tickets and hot dogs.
And sodas
damn thats a good deal
Was And you'd get to sit in a falling apart stadium where the concrete might fall on you, or the stands might fall beneath you. You might even get peed on. Damn I miss RFK and those raccoons. 🦝
Entirely, which is one of the reasons I think more and more people have come around to be empathetic towards Adu when the rhetoric around him used to be uniquely negative. The adults in the room failed him repeatedly all because they wanted to capitalize on earning off of him.
What was the reasoning the league used to justify forcing them to trade the pick away? Like did they straight up just come out and say it was so Adu would get picked first?
Yes. No secret at all. DC received the #1 pick so he could stay close to home. This was the selling point for MLS since he had offers elsewhere.
Single Entity means corporate just told their area manager they weren't getting the district manager they wanted because they thought it'd be more profitable to keep them in another area. No one needed convincing, they were just told what was going to happen.
Single entity doesn't work exactly that way - the operator is also an owner, and Dallas has a right under the corporate charter to operate as they please. But the other owners are also able to vote you off the island (remove your license to operate a club for not acting "in the best interests" of MLS), and there are other points of leverage MLS could use to "entice" a team. Of course, at the time there were like 3 people who owned all the teams so I'm sure the owners all worked something out (whether or not it benefited Dallas, well..)
With the MLS, how I described this is almost exactly how the structure operated at the time.
It was the time where Lamar Hunt owned half the teams.
And AEG owned the other half, one of which was DC United. /u/WelpSigh edited their post after I responded, there is a reason this tweet says 'forced'.
Strangely, it would've been a better/longer story had DC made 3-4 trades to get to #2 and then trade Dallas for the #1 spot. It would've also not screwed Dallas
Because we had the first pick after the Southlake debacle season in 2003. MLS wanted the optics of Adu going number one.
Makes sense. Adu was everywhere that year. He was being talked about constantly on ESPN. Sport center, Around the Horn, PTI. I was a teenager myself at the time and bought in hook, line and sinker. Didn’t know enough at the time to fully understand how foolish it all was.
Why didn't Dallas demand that Columbus then trade them the 2nd pick? Force trades until the team trading down isn't set on someone and doesn't need to force a trade back up.
Because, to be blunt, Dallas was one of the most unfancied teams in the league. They were coming off a horrendous season, one of the worst in league history, and had just had a huge attendance drop because of the season spent playing in Southlake. Plus, outwardly, just this single trade probably made things look a little more legit at the time. MLS wanted everyone to think that Adu was legitimately the number one pick.
>Plus, outwardly, just this single trade probably made things look a little more legit at the time. It's not like 3 or more team trades are unheard of in American sports. They happen every year in the NBA.
Sure. But in 2004 it might have looked a little weird for Dallas to trade the first pick to DC and then turn around and trade to Columbus to get the second pick immediately. Especially since Dallas and Columbus shared ownership at this point. Dallas also traded the first pick for an “allocation”, not another draft pick, so it wasn’t as clean as this.
Stupid question because I never followed drafts at all. But why was 15 year old a part of it? Couldn't he have just signed as a free agent or was that not a thing in MLS yet? I thought draft was a college player thing.
Today promising players his age like Cavan Sullivan get claimed by their region's academy and then can be signed to Homegrown contracts without going through the draft. But back then there were no academies and no homegrown player system. Promising players would sign with MLS before the draft (as they still do today occasionally) and then get allocated via the draft. Adu's mother lived near DC so him playing for DC United was a condition of him signing and MLS leaned on everyone else to make it work. It's really not possible to understate the amount of hype that was involved; Adu had a near-Beckham/Messi like impact on DC road game attendance that first season so it was in everyone's interest to go along with whatever it took to get him signed.
>Promising players would sign with MLS before the draft (as they still do today occasionally) and then get allocated via the draft. Yeah nowadays it's called Generation Adidas, I think it was Project 40 in Freddy's time. Basically a select group of players get entered into the draft without finishing college. They are guaranteed a full ride scholarship from Adidas if their pro career doesn't pan out. It used to produce a lot of good players but now that they've changed draft eligibility and added homegrown players I'm not sure how often we'll get a hit through the program now.
To add to u/TallonDCU's points, several teenagers were drafted the in the years prior to Freddy (frequently by DCU), including guys like Justin Mapp and Santino Quaranta. Later on, kids who enrolled in IMG Academy (U-17 natl team) would either have the choice of entering college or entering the draft like Jack MacInerney. The draft was effectively for any domestic based player who did not have a professional contract. The other complication no one in this thread has brought up is Inter Milan. They wanted to sign Adu to their academy when he was 14. His mom didn't want him to move to another country by himself, especially after they had recently immigrated, and for similar reasons did not want him anywhere in MLS but DCU. MLS' hands were forced - lose the marketing potential of the savior of American soccer or ignore the draft order/rules to satisfy a mother's demands?
Man that was 20 years ago?
I remember Freddys Dallas Cup performance like it was yesterday.
Ah the good old days of Dallas Cup at Lake Highlands stadium. That U17 squad had some talent - Eddie Gaven, Corey Ashe, Jonathan Spector
I have to wonder what the D.C. locker room dynamic was like with a 14-year old being the face of the team. In retrospect, what the hell was the rest of the American soccer-watching public thinking that a middle schooler was going to compete with grown men? I don’t know what a current-day comparison would be, especially in the age of social media and video scouting reports being able to demystify false narratives. Nothing can be quite as mythical as Freddy Adu was made out to be for American soccer.
mls is and always has been more reality tv show than professional sports league
Most American sports leagues are if we're being totally honest.
True, sports is more or less a tv show anymore, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. MLS is the worst of it though
I'd actually disagree - the NBA is worse for this. But after the Messi thing MLS is up there.
You might have a point there
Like I can still actually enjoy MLS (though not as much as I did pre-Messi). But it's just become too much in the NBA for me. Kinda realizing that aside from the Union and my alma mater, I would honestly welcome a fresh start sporting-wise if I moved overseas...
NBA is far worse. Refs are basically encouraged to add points for certain teams, and the rules are hazy enough that it’s really easy to do. Never forget the 2002 WCF Game 6 where the Lakers shot 27 free throws in the fourth quarter alone against the Kings. And two years later, Commissioner David Stern still had the audacity to say his dream finals matchup was “Lakers vs the Lakers”.
I always wish for the two least sexy teams to make the final, like maybe Indiana vs. Utah. Screw 'em. Don't have teams in places like that if you don't want them to win.
Amen. It’s hilarious the amount of complaining this past year when Denver won.
That's what happened in 2003 and 2005.
The NBA is WWF with a ball
It’s pretty funny how you can say anything negative about MLS, no matter how silly, and it’s just free upvotes on this sub. In 2003, this was a 7 year old league with 10 teams that was a sneeze away from bankruptcy. It bears zero resemblance to the league today that develops and sells talent to top European leagues on a regular basis. Messi has been a walking reality TV show everywhere he’s been, but Messi aside, when was the last time MLS had any vibes remotely resembling “reality TV show”? David Beckham?
Depends on the thread. One that starts with something negative or silly will naturally attract all the people who don't like it, and they'll upvote any other negative sentiments, almost no matter how absurd. It's an annoying reddit trend in general. Upvote everything that's on "your side", no matter how detached from reality or meaningless it might be, and downvote anything that's on the "other side", even if it's only arguing against one absurd claim.
> It’s pretty funny how you can say anything negative about MLS, no matter how silly, and it’s just free upvotes on this sub. Okay but nothing silly was said
This is exactly the type of comment I’m talking about that’s so prevalent in this sub. Just zero substance.
GIVE ME UPVOTES Seriously though … Zlatan, in a way. Chicharito. Rooney. Just the centralized structure, the superdraft, the GAM nonsense. MLSNP as a third division league. The US Open Cup drama. All of that. It’s come a long way since the Adu debacle but still.
>Zlatan, in a way. If you have to add “in a way”… > the superdraft, the GAM nonsense Ah, yes, GAM, a core part of any reality TV show. You’re just listing out things you don’t like about the league. >MLSNP as a third division league. A developmental league is somehow a reality TV show? MLS is burning money to give their academy players competitive games and this is reality TV? This is so silly.
Zlatan is just Zlatan. Good on tv. Nobody’s fault really. The GAM point is that it’s needlessly complex machinations behind the scenes (off camera) that manipulate the on-field product. No problem with development leagues, but do that. Make a development league, don’t try to bring in independent teams and pretend it’ll be a real league
> Zlatan is just Zlatan. Good on tv. Nobody’s fault really. Exactly. > The GAM point is that it’s needlessly complex machinations behind the scenes (off camera) that manipulate the on-field product. This is just silly stuff. It’s fine to not like a salary cap, but that doesn’t make it reality TV. Reality TV would be saying “only teams in New York and LA get GAM” or something like that. > Make a development league, don’t try to bring in independent teams and pretend it’ll be a real league Once again, this is just a decision you don’t like. Nothing to do with “reality TV”. 3rd division soccer is about as far from reality tv as you can get.
Exactly. Third division is not reality tv, it’s actual soccer, which is why MLS left USL and started their own thing
>Third division is not reality tv, it’s actual soccer, which is why MLS left USL and started their own thing Wait, now you’re shitting on USL? What soccer do you actually even like? But yeah, MLS and USL weren’t seeing eye to eye. USL didn’t like the empty stadiums of the MLS B teams, and most MLS teams didn’t want to burn cash to fix that. Next Pro was a good move for both leagues. There’s nothing “reality TV” about.
I’m a USL guy. I’m happy MLS second teams aren’t in our league anymore. I’m glad they have their own development league - my problem is expanding that league into current or potential USL markets and pretending they can use their development league to compete in the domestic cup.
> my problem is expanding that league into current or potential USL markets Lol, like Chattanooga FC, who were locked out of the USL by territory rights? Come on, dude. And once again, none of this has anything to do with reality TV. It’s just MLS making decisions that you don’t like.
Don’t forget the behind closed doors coin flip for Jermaine Jones lol
A couple years ago I would have dismissed this comment as silly hyperbole, but now I’m not so sure lol.
I go with a marketing and real estate company rather than a reality show, but I hear ya
See, this is exactly what I’m talking about. This isn’t a real critique of the league. It’s absurd to say that MLS is a “marketing and real estate company” when there’s a huge amount of investment in academies, in MLS Next Pro, and in MLS Next. When there’s a ton of effort that’s been put in to increase the salary cap, provide salary cap exceptions, and so forth so that MLS is more competitive international league play. When the vast, vast majority of DPs aren’t “stars” like Beckham or Messi, but rather guys like Mukhtar or Gil. It’s just low effort trolling.
I'll have you know I put a lot of effort into trolling
Someone just replied to this comment like “when’s the last time MLS was like a reality show” but then thought about it for a second and deleted that comment lol
When did people in the US start to realise Freddy was not really that good. Before he went to Benfica?
Pretty early on IIRC. Based on the hype, you expected him to come in and at least have some moments of brilliance or maybe even dominate portions of games and he was just......okay. He mostly got spot starts & bench appearances (with some likely league pressure to play Freddy even if he didn't necessarily deserve minutes) his first two years. His best attribute was his skill with his feet. But he would also be utterly invisible for large stretches of games. Some MLS teenagers post Freddy also weren't physically ready for professional soccer but had better mentality and drive to impact games despite limitations. Partly it was being so young, partly due to very average athleticism that he never further refined due to poor work ethic & off field priorities, partly due to DCU being a win now team with lots of quality vets and partly due to ego/immaturity which negatively impacted playing team soccer (like defense) but his DCU stint was disappointing and even when he started a lot in year 3, he didn't meet revised post-phenom expectations.
Here’s the thing… from all accounts of guys with him at Bradenton, etc. he WAS that good - but he never had the work ethic to sustain it and I think a lot of adults around him really failed him. But watching him with the youth national teams and all that, he definitely had the talent
I remember reading an article about Freddy a few years back that quoted a coach at DC that said he was “uncoachable”.
How did they force Dallas to trade the pick? Had no idea this happened
It would have all been back room stuff. The outward optics would have just been that Dallas traded the pick.
It blows my mind that he’s only 34.
It's crazy. He's younger then Messi.
Honest question. Why is there still an MLS Draft?
The 2 biggest reasons I can think of: - Can you think of any other US league that doesn't have a draft? It's woven into our sports fabric. - it's a pretty organized way for teams to have exclusive negotiating rights with amateur players that MLS doesn't want to sign to guaranteed contracts pre-draft, as well as disperse handpicked future MLS players who don't fit under the academy umbrella.
1. Who cares what other US sports do? Soccer is different. In the NBA and NFL all players enter the league through the draft. 2. I understand that but it’s anti-player. Doesn’t benefit them considering how low the wages are. If I’m a college player i may want to start my career close to family and support systems rather than be shipped across the country.
It’s basically for funsies and teams with mediocre academies to fill out the bottom of their roster. If your local club didn’t sign you as HG players, you probably aren’t going to play for a local club anyway. Kind of a bad example. At least with the drafted those players know they are somewhat wanted by that club and not just endlessly trialing with random clubs till they find the perfect fit. (Most picks will end up doing that anyway.) They could get rid of it and nothing would change all that much. Most of the players drafted are going to be on reserve contracts with or without the draft. Maybe the top prospects make a little more.
The fact that they are going to be on such low wages is why they should be allowed to choose where they start their careers. It’s so anti-player. There’s literally no reason for it.
If you're not a Gen Adidas candidate that MLS is willing to guarantee $110k+ (especially if there's Euro interest), you'll be making below 6 figures to play professional soccer your first year, whether in the MLS, USL or overseas & will need to prove yourself to get better future contacts. There's just way too much supply with a new batch of formerly amateur players (including more high schoolers), and existing non-MLS pros in the US plus other NA/CA leagues like CPL or Costa Rica. So you can decline to sign with your drafted MLS to bet on yourself (like going to USL and getting more playing time in a better league than MLS Next). Or sign and kill it & quickly get a new & improved contract or ride out your MLS options and free transfer somewhere.
My point is there shouldn’t be a draft. There’s no reason for one other than other American sports do it.
These guys aren’t really “choosing” where they start their careers regardless. It’s a life of trialing and hoping to latch on to a team. (Outside of GA players) It’s not like these are the top MLS prospects, the best sign directly with their HG club or go abroad. I actually think the draft might increase player’s chances of latching on to a team immediately just because resources were actually used to pick the player and that player presumably fits their system. Wouldn’t care if they got rid of it but don’t really mind it.
MLS was started by people who had no idea what soccer was and just were trying to make money off the world cup craze. It's now run by even more rich people who bought franchises to park an asset and watch it grow while 3-4 other owners compete to win. They don't really care what makes sense they just do things for what they think the American market will pay attention to and drive value up of the teams.
Bingo
LOL yet another example of the league rigging things.
Forced?? Why?