He's not even the best CM we've signed, it's Juninho of LAG fame.

The value of allocation money must have dropped this winter compared to years past for some reason, probably because the league is issuing more of it.

You missed that the Union signed the next BWP Jay Simpson.

ya that's kool, i like Juninho

he and Dax could help solidify things there, or at least keep them out of the basement, if they stay healthy

ya i'm sure i missed a lot, trying to keep tabs on this league is enough to drive anyone mad, and it only keeps growing! i only did a quick skim, so keep the news coming

(also fwiw i just left most of the unconfirmed rumour type stuff alone for now)

also i wonder what China and the loss of big-name DPs like Lampard, Gerrard, Drogba, etc means for MLS. knowing they can't/won't compete on that level, if they've gotten smarter about scouting better fits that are cheaper, or if they're just bringing in lesser players and we'll all just have to deal with it (and hope that the domestic quality improves). it won't really bother me too much, i appreciate the league for what it is, but it could potentially hurt the league if they don't have these known superstars to sell. though the league hasn't had much success going national, i think they'd certainly like to. but it's still possible if they wind up with a bunch of Giovincos around the league and/or increase the number of Jordan Morriseseses.

might still be a long way off though, as even MLB and the NHL are pretty regional leagues, and so far MLS has only really had regional success.

lol at MLB being a regional league.

Any increase in league quality will have to come from foreigners, I douby there are more than two dozen Americans better than Morris not playing in MLS in the world. We should expect to lose bidding wars to China for the foreseeable future.

MLB is definitely regional compared to NFL/NBA, i mean the NBA's national tv deals are worth over 3x that of MLB afaik

but there's huge interest in teams locally (hence gigantic local tv deals for some teams), but lol @ the country sitting down to watch a nationally televised Mets/Rockies game or something

NHL & MLS are a homeless man's version of that, where the leagues basically don't exist in places where there isn't a team

MLS to San Diego seems like a great fit with the Chargers packing up. The idea is to tear down Qualcomm and put in a new smaller sized venue suitable for the Aztecs, I've heard the 40K number thrown around. Put in some mixed use developments in the area to help pay for it and boom, win win.

Now do I think SD should jump other expansion locations? Maybe not Sacramento. But say Beckham still can't finalize a Miami deal after all these years. Maybe he'd be willing to settle for sunny San Diego instead.

Funny that the Chargers exit facilitates all this happening, and of course the Chargers will be playing two years worth of games at the completely undersized stub hub center. LA didn't want the Rams, and they REALLY don't want the Chargers.

As for SJE, at least they've re-signed Tommy Thompson and Marvell Wynne. As 72 pointed out, no more DPs are headed in near term. Again, since Dom is not the GMs guy, wise to see if they have a competitive squad (hint: probably not) before spunking on new shiny pieces. Especially since the team's DP signings historically have been terrible.

Was a bit of a joke, as Union fans were hoping for a DP striker signing. We now have 3 similar level #9s. Hopefully they sign a decent #6, rumors of a #6 and veteran CB signing still to come. On the plus side Ilsinho who was a ton of fun to watch last year but came to camp 30lbs over weight, loss some more weight over the winter break and is looking to be pretty fit which should help limit his injuries.

they're revamping CCL once again, now the 5 MLS & 4 Liga MX qualifiers will get a bye to the round of 16

pretty big FU to all the other countries in the region who will have to scrap it out for the other 7 spots, but i guess they're already tired of trying to make ppl care about this thing

And while Fioranelli would not comment on rumored signings, he did indicate multiple new signings will be announced "in the next seven days."

GET HYPE
(and as a VWFC fan, i feel your pain ... doing about the same thing here)


- Galaxy sign Olympique Marseille winger Romain Alessandrini as a DP
- Gooch signs with Philly
- Atlanta United has sold 27,000 season tickets
- Tampa Bay/St. Petersburg & San Diego officially enter bids for expansion teams before tomorrow's deadline

roster analysis of all 22 MLS teams

CCL still hasn't addressed the main problem, which is the timeframe, which still puts MLS at a huge competitive disadvantage, but I do like the change b/c the only way this thing every becomes interesting is if MLS can make a push and start to challenge LigaMX. So assuring more matchups between the 2 seems to be the way to go.

In new jersey news, the Timbers appear to be the big winners:



And the Vancouver Napkins, oops I mean Whitecaps, are the big losers. They've had some awesome kits recently, so I guess they were due for a stinker.

http://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2017/0...una-dusseldorf


also they loaned homegrown LB Sam Adekugbe (who was better than starting LB Jordan Harvey like 2 years ago) to Brighton. think he scored in his first game there, has made a good impression overall, and now doesn't want to ever return. and why would he?

so not only are VWFC not signing enough good 1st team players
or developing enough from their academy
but the few who are good enough to help the team, are being given away to any Euro club who wants them

GJGE
**** this dumbass team

damn, 12 cities submitted expansion bids. do they charge a fee for that to make a little extra coin / pay related expenses? some/all other leagues do

http://www.mlssoccer.com/topic/expan...on-cities-bids

and even though they basically never turn out half as cool in reality, i always enjoy the artist renderings of the stadiums


Charlotte




Indianapolis




Detroit




Phoenix




St. Louis



looks like TFC's park heh


Sacramento




San Diego




and also Nashville, Raleigh-Durham, San Antonio, Cincinnati, and Tampa Bay-St. Petersburg

All look nice, too hard to decide so take them all and institute pro/rel.

in a bit of a dilemma - i've sworn off NYRB as my team as soon as they unceremoniously dumped dax. i'm in tampa, so the logical move would be to support OCSC.

HOWEVA with the rowdies getting in the mix w/r/t expansion, i find myself not wanting to jump ship if they get in. i plan on supporting the rowdies more going forward as well as OCSC - but assuming both are in MLS at one point, who do I claim as the club i support?

looks like he's signed with Union

I just read that the Union have 8 players who have been capped by the US on their current roster. Wonder if that is a record?

The Union roster is look a bit more exciting now then 2 weeks ago.

Impact did next to nothing except cut some dead weight and add Duvall and sign a home-grown stud who was a threat to leave for Europe.

They will return their entire starting lineup that lost in the East finals, so I guess it will be a good case study to see how much continuity matters. They will add Dzemaili mid-season and will have another DP spot to play with, although Saputo's been talking about showing profitability next season so I don't think it'd be a high salary player.

Pretty excited for next season, I think Piatti and Mancosu could both go for 20g if they stay healthy.

That is a really sexy Timbers kit. Love it. Also don't think the Whitecaps kit is anywhere near awful, but they've had some great ones over the years so in comparison it's probably slightly below average

MLS with their first DP referee signing. Howard Webb is joining PRO, but not as an on-field ref, he'll head up the video replay department, which MLS is hoping to roll out in the 2nd half of next season.

One of SAF's best signings!



MLS should feel honored



on an unrelated note, Mexico vs. Iceland here in Las Vegas starts in a few minutes. I thought about going, but decided I didn't want to get showered by bags of urine or caught in the middle of a riot so I passed.

Alright, preseason games kicked off this week so it feels like time for a 2017 season thread.

I'll try to get that up and going in the next day or so before all the bigger pre-season tournaments start.

ATL already the best MLS franchise

http://the18.com/soccer-news/atlanta...players-roster