To counter its piece earlier in the week on the 11 big issues that Major League Soccer must face, the US national team players' association site runs another editorial pointing up 11 things that the league is getting right. Once again, there's plenty of room for debate.

The spread of ownership and the increase in sponsorship are no-brainers. More contentiously, the editorial cites the fact that MLS is a selling league as a plus point, because as a revenue generator "it's worked on a level no one should have been predicting." The Beckham signing also belongs in the plus column because he "generates more attention than any league could reasonably buy."

Transparency at the league has improved, claims the column, speculating that "maybe they're equally sick of having to treat everything as a state secret as the people covering them." It also sticks up for the league in helping soccer journalists after print and internet outlets made cutbacks in their already sparse coverage. "MLS helped salvage a coverage area where full-time is a rarity. Writing for [official league site] MLSnet is the difference for a lot of people trying to put together enough freelance work to make covering soccer viable."

By number nine on the list, there's a struggle to reach the finish line. Playing through international dates is a plus point because "enough fans seem willing to pay and watch MLS teams minus their stars." Point 11 is the adidas deal that has led to the world's dullest, most generic jersey designs, but which the editorial also views positively as "a bold move to push past the likeliest suitor and take a group licensing deal with their biggest competitor." Once more, discuss.

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