By Ridge Mahoney At the U.S. Soccer Development Academy finals last summer at Home Depot Center, I got my first look at a very talented, very young D.C. United playernamed Andy Najar. His highlight moment, or nearly so, came when he controlled a difficult ball on his chest and while under pressure, first-timed a volley […]
Soccer America Confidential
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Young newcomers get off the mark fast
By Ridge Mahoney In the last two weeks, MLS has announced an ambitious expansion of its Designated Player option as well as more opportunities, to go along with bettersalaries, for young players whom teams have brought through their development programs. In the past year, it has also signed a slew of young foreign players, many […]
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Reyna needs backing of the pro ranks
There’s lots to like yet much to fear about the hiring of former U.S. international Claudio Reyna as youth technical director by U.S. Soccer. He’s a product, one of the best ever, of a much-maligned system he is tasked with revamping and strengthening. Layers of bureaucracy and petty political squabbling cast across a vast countryof […]
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Might more DPs mean less for the rank-and-file?
No doubt many players at the lower end of the MLS salary scale greeted the news of more DP slots with more trepidation than excitement. MLS did chop down the salary-budget charges forDPs from $415,000 to $335,000 and will allow teams to “buy down” those cap hits with allocation money, but the modest salary-cap increases […]
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Two thumbs up for two, or three, DPs per team
MLS might have kept it simple by simply increasing the number of Designated Players each team can sign from one to two, and also allowing a team the option of using a third DP slot if it sowishes. This is what the league has done, sort of. It has also opened up the cash box […]
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The keys to making a profit
By Ridge Mahoney During a conference last week, MLS Commissioner Don Garber pounced on a chance provided when asked of his frustration regarding thelack of progress on a stadium project for D.C. United. “I just can’t understand why we can’t make progress in D.C., and what more do we need to do to have the […]
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What to look for on Saturday
At a Quakes training session Friday a colleague asked me if it felt like the MLS season started a month ago, and reflecting on all the CBA stuff I’d read and written during that time I feltcompelled to agree, with a caveat. Once games commenced, as occurred Thursday when the expansion teams of 2009 and […]
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Players union didn't 'cave,' it gained
By Ridge Mahoney Is “greater freedom of movement” the same as “free agency?” I would say not, but judging by the spin spun by MLS and subsequent coverageof this critical facet of CBA negotiations, these terms are one and the same. MLS did an excellent job of equating the two, and perhaps for this reason […]
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Donovan can be game-changer in union talks
Can the magical presence of Landon Donovan loosen the impasse that MLS and the MLS Players Union can’t seem to extricate themselves from? He flew to Washington, D.C., Thursday to join about two dozen player representatives, and all manner of executives and lawyers from the opposing sides trying to reach deal by which a threatened […]
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An icon goes down: Beckham's American legacy in doubt
By Ridge Mahoney Like it or not, David Beckham is still the only soccer player who moves the sports media needle in the United States. Newsof his torn Achilles’ tendon and probable absence from the World Cup emerged from a fierce blizzard of stuff Sunday, during which NBA, NHL and exhibition baseball news were submerged […]