Why mls is bad

There are some pretty simple reasons why, yet the brain-trust in charge of the MLS has made the beautiful game look more like a glorified game of kick-and-chase in the United States.

You don't think a guy like Cristiano Ronaldo would want to come here and play in say New York? Los Angeles? Or Washington D. And let's not even think about the big quality players—you don't think there are thousands of quality mid level players in Europe who wouldn't want to come and play in the States? The problem is MLS works under, of course—an Americanized sports version of a cap, so that everything is fair. Therefore, even if say Ronaldo wanted to come and play in the United States, he couldn't.

Furthermore, how about the window structure? As a result, when the normal transfer window opens ub Europe, the MLS is not allowed to make moves, and vice-versa. Another Americanized theory falling in line with that of football, hockey, basketball and baseball, the MLS feels it needs a bracketed playoff structure—and it's a pretty lame system.

You play two games, against the same team, and if it ends in a tie, that's fine. Others, notably Bayern Munich, have established working agreements with MLS teams to effectively do the same.

Bayern's relationship with FC Dallas ostensibly exists to improve soccer in the United States, in part by importing its developmental philosophies. But running camps in conjunction with FC Dallas is also an efficient way for Bayern to spot talent for itself, or prospects to nurture and eventually transfer to an Austrian club or perhaps a club in 2. Bundesliga, the German second division. The odds of finding future first-teamers at any of these academies aren't high. On the other hand, the next Messi is out there somewhere.

If a club could find him, or even the next Pulisic or Reyna, it would recoup its entire U. At 18, Amato arrived at American University in Washington to play soccer. In typical fashion, he didn't quite see things as his coach did. Amato returned to England but later ended up in Virginia working for a club in Annandale. It had a partnership with MLS' D. He was looking for more. He recalled his time at Tottenham, where the spirited training sessions were the highlight of his day.

Surely someone could recreate that passion here. Through several intermediaries, word reached Villarreal, who had been looking to affiliate with an American club.

It wouldn't be just for branding; Villarreal was too obscure for that. Amato said he'd be interested if Villarreal actually sent its coaches to Virginia. As it happened, that's just what Anton had in mind. In , the first year, kids turned up. The second year, the tryout attracted 1, Simultaneously, Villarreal opened more academies, including in cities like Fayetteville, North Carolina, and Lincoln, Nebraska, because that's where the operators they wanted to partner with happened to be.

Eventually, Anton said, he aspires to build a residential facility where the best players would be given scholarships. Then the Annandale club challenged Amato's agreement with Villarreal, saying the contract legally belonged to them.

The relationship between Amato and Villarreal endured, but the dispute brought bad publicity on soccer websites. The pandemic followed. Both Amato and his academy struggled.

To make ends meet, Amato took a construction job. Villarreal promised to continue its support, but travel restrictions kept its coaches in Spain. Like Anton, Amato yearns for a success story. If he could establish a tangible connection between Villarreal Virginia and LaLiga, it would secure the future of his club. For a while, it seemed like Ricky Vanderhyde might be the one. Vanderhyde was born in December to an American father and, crucially, a Swedish mother.

At 8, he started to get serious about soccer. That started his family on a quest to find proper coaching for their only child.

Ricky was big and fast, so it was easy for coaches to put him on the wing and send him down the field to score. That helped their business model -- goals lead to winning teams, which attract players. But it wasn't much help to Ricky, who ended each season as a larger, faster version of what he'd been when it started.

They did not care about the kids. They only cared about the score. The Vanderhydes often visited family in Europe, where Ricky enrolled in week-long soccer camps. That led him to decide that he wanted to play overseas as soon as possible. The coaching was better, he felt. The game came at him faster, which forced him to improve. In the fall of , the family came to a Villarreal Virginia training session. It didn't take long for Amato to appreciate that Ricky was an unusual talent. If he kept him with the s, his age group, that team would win a lot of games.

But Amato also knew Ricky would soon get frustrated with the level of skill around him. So Amato moved him to the s. That impressed the family. So did the practices, which were run by Spaniards. Week by week, Ricky felt his game awareness improving. Getting to Spain was always part of the equation. In March of , Vanderhyde was picked to travel to Villarreal. The trip was geared toward teenagers who'd never been to Europe, but Vanderhyde had already attended games at Ajax and Real Madrid.

He wanted to play, not take tours. He returned home disappointed. Still, his parents, who'd come along, were able to get a sense of Villarreal. They were impressed that a small community, only slightly larger than Annandale, could have such impressive facilities. They liked the club's youth program. They asked if Vanderhyde could spend a season there, getting the European game experience he craved. In late , Villarreal invited him for the following fall.

That August, Vanderhyde decided to go anyway. Only 16, he began training and playing with year-olds. A personal coach assigned to him analyzed Vanderhyde's performance after every game. He couldn't attend the first team's games because nobody could. He couldn't eat in restaurants, or hang out with friends he'd made.

Much of his time was spent alone. For the most part, the Vanderhydes say, Villarreal fulfilled its promises. But for reasons that the family can't fathom, the U19 coach played Vanderhyde as a winger, not the right-back he'd developed into. Ricky asked why, but never heard a clear answer. Even his personal coach was perplexed. In April, with a month remaining, Vanderhyde left the program. He'd learned a lot, he told his parents, but felt he wasn't getting an opportunity to show his skills.

He traveled to Sweden , where the season had started, and tried out for a team, but there wasn't room at his level. Gregg Berhalter shares his thought process in starting a significantly rotated lineup against Panama.

The family isn't bitter toward Villarreal Virginia. The club said it would give Vanderhyde the opportunity to get to Spain, and it did. But Spain hadn't worked out, so what was the point of returning? Ricky spent this fall in a local MLS Next program while attending high school.

He hopes to be in Europe after Christmas. Would it have turned out differently if the pandemic hadn't hit? Or for a different family? Or with a different coach? But in any case, Ricky Vanderhyde won't be the success story Anton can use to justify Villarreal's investment, nor the one Amato has been waiting for to help market his club in the Greater D. Perhaps Yurem Linares will be. After that June practice, he was announced as one of the Villarreal players invited to Spain in August. He immediately began making plans to go, but because of the summer's COVID surge, the trip was postponed indefinitely.

Is it now easier to score in MLS than it has been previously? Has that been a factor in their success? Recent seasons has seen the average number of goals in an MLS match creep up and up. Last season saw 3. In fact, not since the season had the average goals per regular season game ratio tipped the scales at three until last season. This season is currently charting at 3. Of course, MLS has been home to clinical goalscorers before. Stern John also scored 26 goals over the season for the Columbus Crew while Mamadou Diallo reached the same number for the Tampa Bay Mutiny in But of the five most prolific goalscoring seasons in MLS history, four have come in the last seven years.

The Los Angeles FC forward is just five goals away from pushing it up again. Vela has never before charted such impressive numbers.