bump, rumor has it OP will return for another round of questions at some point. Thanks for asking him Wondercall.

Great read. The whole MLS system sounds ridiculous

At some point after Monday next week.

cool.


I was wondering if he could describe what the camps are like for the NT and what preparations they do before the games.

Also maybe he could generally describe what the entire experience feels like.

Last question, does he have any concerns for what may happen to soccer here if the MLS players strike? What is his opinion/perspective on whats going on with the current labor talks?

OP, thanks for the thread.

Please give a few thoughts on Pete Vagenas. Obviously after 12 years in MLS he's proven to be worthy, Sigi must think so at least (since UCLA days, both of them). But the fanbases just are brutal to Pete (mostly talkin about message boards here), on the Galaxy and now. Sure, his numbers aren't fantastic but he's been an integral part to more than a few winning teams. Just your thoughts on his ability.

Is this dude ever coming back? great f'n thread

my question is does it bother you that people in america doesnt respect soccer like other parts of the world

MLS champion!

Who is the op in the above picture?

Number 3, Brad Evans, has been commonly accepted as the OP.

Ty sir

Great thread, congrats on the championship

yessss! awesome bump

Congrats!

Would love to have OP do another round of questions given the huge changes in American soccer and the progress of his career.

awesome thread. it would be incredible of OP returned, but even if he doesn't, I'd be interested in hearing knowledgeable fans' take on the predictions of 8 years ago... have foreign players taken over MLS, or did the regulations change again?

re: foreign players

this is kinda true, kinda not

there are 8 international roster slots per team, so as you can imagine teams tend to use these on key players

but i mean, let's say each team has an average of 4 domestic starters, there will be 22 teams for the 2017 season, are there really 88 good "American" players out there? then add in key reserves and whatnot ... doesn't seem like a huge lack of opportunity
(or am i underestimating the number foreign citizens/permanent residents who qualify as domestic?)

and of course, leagues are never exactly helped by these quotas that jam in more mediocre domestic players

senior roster minimum is up to $65k/year for 2017
reserve player minimum is up to $53k/year for 2017

slowly but surely

players obviously, and some fans, think things should be progressing much quicker, but while the restrictions support parity and protect owners from themselves, they also protect the league from the kind lousy owners who've helped destroy about every other NA soccer league

the salary cap is up to $3.845m for 2017 + designated player and other exceptions that take salaries even higher

as true now as it was 8 years ago

cool! thanks

yeah please come back op