MLS 2018: More Barco Than Bite

ThePrideofShiner

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I couldn't find a US Open Cup thread, but a bit of chaos out of last night's LAFC 3-2 win against Portland.

First, an LAFC player accuses Portland of racism:

Second, Portland is protesting the game, saying that LAFC used too many foreign born players. It's a serious enough protest that the U.S. Open Cup semifinals draw was postponed.


 

Titans Bastard

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I don't really pay attention the MLS scheduling; how do they only have 2 home games in an 8 game stretch?
I have no idea. Counting the Minnesota game, it's 2 home games in a 9 game stretch, although they had a three-game homestand immediately prior.

The only thing that comes to mind is that DCU's home games are extremely backloaded due to the timing of the opening of Audi Field. Maybe there were some weird ripple effects in the schedules of other teams in the East.
 

Titans Bastard

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Second, Portland is protesting the game, saying that LAFC used too many foreign born players. It's a serious enough protest that the U.S. Open Cup semifinals draw was postponed.


LAFC claims that they specifically asked the USSF about Mark-Anthony Kaye and were told he counted as a domestic player. So it looks like the USSF might have screwed up....what a mess.

 

Senator Donut

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LAFC claims that they specifically asked the USSF about Mark-Anthony Kaye and were told he counted as a domestic player. So it looks like the USSF might have screwed up....what a mess.

And it looks like the USSF has disqualified clubs even after clearing a player as eligible. Let’s see if they’re willing to do it to an MLS side.
Perhaps the most notable protest involved the Ventura County Fusion’s use of Gabe Gonzalez, who had played for Cal FC in qualification, in a 2-1 First Round victory over the LA Wolves FC.

According to the Fusion, the club was aware of Gonzalez’s participation in the qualifying rounds, but were told specifically by USSF that Gonzalez was cleared to play for the Fusion. How did the Wolves know he was ineligible? Because he played against them in qualifying for Cal FC. The Wolves edged Cal FC 2-1 to clinch their first-ever Open Cup berth.

The Wolves protested the decision and the Fusion were disqualifiedfrom the tournament.
http://thecup.us/2016/05/31/series-of-forfeits-teams-with-ineligible-players-overshadow-2016-us-open-cup/
 

ThePrideofShiner

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Vancouver's Alphonso Davies will miss Saturday's match against Seattle because ... he's being transferred to Bayern Munich. Not bad for the youngster. And helpful to the Sounders.
 

Titans Bastard

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Vancouver's Alphonso Davies will miss Saturday's match against Seattle because ... he's being transferred to Bayern Munich. Not bad for the youngster. And helpful to the Sounders.
Base fee reportedly around $12m, which would be the biggest outgoing transfer in MLS history.

Multiple league sources tell The Athletic that the Vancouver Whitecaps are “close” to a deal that would send Davies to Bayern Munich. The deal, one source said, includes a base fee around $12 million (U.S. dollars) and could rise from there with add-ons and clauses contingent on performance.
We would have been talking about Davies incessantly over the last couple of years if he were American.
 

Titans Bastard

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Josef Martinez is now the all-time league leader with six career hat tricks.

He's been in MLS for 1.5 seasons.
 

Titans Bastard

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Third straight loss for the Revs. Losing @ NYRB isn't a bad loss, but the Revs are going to have to pick up some unexpected points to make up for some recent sins.

Andrew Carleton made his long-awaited first MLS start last night and basically assisted on one of Martinez's goals (technically it wasn't an assist because of a slight deflection off a defender). Here he is giving the people what they want off the field, too:

 

Titans Bastard

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Wow.

It's a weird situation that feels like there's more going on under the surface. Acosta has not been playing well for almost a calendar year now. A change of scenery may do him some good, although Colorado has to suck as a destination when there was talk of Euro interest 12 months ago.

A thread here from a guy who covers FCD very closely:



FC Dallas had a historic collapse last season in which they went from Western Conference leaders to out of the playoffs over the last few months of the season. There are various theories why such a solid team cratered, but one of them centers around locker room issues following FC Dallas' failure to sell certain players after receiving legitimate transfer offers.

FCD seems to be learning from this. They recently sold Mauro Diaz, who was their talismanic #10 when healthy, and now they're cutting bait on their biggest-name homegrown player. Dallas' academy in particular churns out CMs (Acosta, Ulloa, McKennie, Hyndman). Acosta is gone, but they do need to open up space for fresh blood anyway. Jacori Hayes (draft pick, not academy) stands to benefit right away, but Brandon Servania '99 will get more opportunities, as well as a number of potential future academy signings.
 

Titans Bastard

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RSL reached an agreement to mutually terminate the contract of Spanish forward Alfredo Ortuño. He's arguably the worst bust of the past winter transfer window, even worse than Toronto's Ager Aketxe. Throwing $1.15m at a 27 year old Segunda Division forward? He could barely get on the field behind Luis Silva and surprisingly effective homegrown rookie Corey Baird.
 

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The Revs signed Cristhian Machado, a 28 year old Bolivian DM who can also play along the backline.

https://www.revolutionsoccer.net/post/2018/07/23/revolution-acquire-midfielderdefender-cristhian-machado

He's mostly played for Jorge Wilstermann in Bolivia, but had a short stint for the Fort Lauderdale Strikers in 2012. Somehow, he has a green card despite barely playing in the US earlier in his career. Maybe he's married to a US citizen?

Anyway, the Revs could really use both a CB and LB.
He can play along the back line, but Machado is right-footed, so I don’t know what they’re doing here. Caicedo, Caldwell, and MLS All-Star®️ Zahibo seem to be adequate coverage.
 

ThePrideofShiner

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The Davies transfer is a done deal.


Kristian Jack: Alphonso Davies to Bayern Munich is a done deal. Fee is around 13 million euros with substantial add ons that could make the entire package worth a record $20 million. Davies will remain with the Whitecaps for the rest of the season.
 

Titans Bastard

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It makes sense that Davies will stick around, as he doesn't turn 18 until November and therefore can't be registered to play in Germany until the winter window.

Meanwhile, MLS has officially arrived as a high-profile league:

 

Titans Bastard

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The Alphonso Davies transfer has been finalized. The 'Caps press release says it has incentives that could take it up to $22m (USD). General reporting indicates the base fee is $12m or $13m. Even with no incentives, this is the largest outgoing transfer in MLS history, topping Altidore's $10m move to Villarreal. This is a big deal because it delivers the first truly big proof-of-concept for the investment clubs are making in youth development.

FC Dallas signed another player from its academy, attacking midfielder Thomas Roberts. Roberts is a 17 year old who was part of the group of Americans who have recently trained with Bayern. Based on what a number of prospect-watchers are saying, Roberts' stock has risen a lot over the past year or two and right now he's near the top of the pile of 2001s. Roberts spent the last season bossing the U19 DA, despite being young enough to play in the U17 league. He's also the only current professional from Arkansas. The supposed advent of FC Dallas' USL D3 team next season will be a boon to him and many others in their academy.

NYCFC signed midfielder Eloi Amagat from Girona. He's a 33 year old Spaniard who has mostly played in the lower divisions. NYCFC manager Domenec Torrent overlapped with him at Girona a long time ago, which I guess is why Amagat has been brought in as depth.

Montreal sent $100k of GAM to San Jose for an international roster spot. This is generally understood to be the groundwork for the acquisition of French striker Jimmy Briand.
 

steeplechase3k

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Yikes, Audio field is having drainage issues already

I guess it rained really hard, but it's still NEW. It shouldn't have problems like that.
 

OCST

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Yikes, Audio field is having drainage issues already

I guess it rained really hard, but it's still NEW. It shouldn't have problems like that.
Storm was bad enough to delay start of game 1 1/2 hours due to the lightning.

Not disagreeing with you but seems like a hell of a storm.
 

OCST

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at 2' of the DCU-NYRB game, Bradley Wright-Phillips scored. It's his 100th MLS goal. He took off his red shirt with his jersey number "99" on it, and had a white RB shirt with "100" on the back underneath it. Ran around and celebrated.

Fun.

Of course he got booked for it.

I saw Men in Blazers in Brooklyn a few weeks ago and he was one of the guests. Really cool dude.
 

Titans Bastard

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Montreal sent $100k of GAM to San Jose for an international roster spot. This is generally understood to be the groundwork for the acquisition of French striker Jimmy Briand.
Montreal Impact: "oops"

Orlando - NYCFC is the warmup for the second edition of LAG vs. LAFC tonight. It's amazing how much Orlando has spent this year and how bad they still are. Justin Meram, who cost a fortune in MLS trade terms, is on the trading block and hasn't been in the 18 for a little while now. Their CBs are trash.
 

Titans Bastard

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Alphonso Davies had a ridiculous night for for Vancouver with 2g/2a in a 4-2 win over Minnesota. He also nearly scored what would have been an absurd goal in the 71st minute. He's still 17; this dude is going to single-handedly carry Canada to the Hex.

https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2018/07/29/bayern-munich-bound-alphonso-davies-destroys-loons-whitecaps-win?autoplay=true

Old (Rooney) > Older (Howard). It's sad, but Tim Howard is probably the worst starting GK in the league, and really should be benched in favor of Zac MacMath at this point. Of course, the Rapids are a very poorly run organization and are deferring to the player making a boatload of money.


Rooney's night then went downhill:

 

ThePrideofShiner

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Sounders won again and are inexplicably within five points of a playoff spot.

Curious to see what happens to Dempsey. He's been in the 18 the last two matches but hasn't played.
 

Titans Bastard

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LA Galaxy 4-3 Orlando with a Zlatan hat trick and trash defense all around is very symbolic of both teams' seasons.
 

Titans Bastard

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The All-Star game vs. Juventus is tonight, for those who care about such things.


A few moves recently:

FC Cincinnati acquired their first two players via trade. Fanendo Adi comes from Portland and Fatai Alashe comes from San Jose. Both had fallen out of regular roles at their club, but should be useful in MLS, especially Adi. Alashe recently had that weird incident with Mikael Stahre where he was sent out from HT, then pulled before the half actually began. In the meantime, both should be really good in the USL for the rest of the season. Cincinnati is already tied for the best record in the league.

FC Dallas signed Moises Hernandez, who was an academy product on their roster from 2010-2016. There were several periods of time when he was out of favor and out on loan. After 2016, he joined Comunicaciones of Guatemala for a while. Now he's back, presumably as LB depth.

NYCFC signed 19 year old Argentine attacking midfielder Valentin Castellanos, who comes on loan from CA Torque of Uruguay. He's kind of a man of mystery.

NYRB signed 23 year old Romanian winger Andreas Ivan. This is a weird-looking one; Ivan's career has mostly taken him through various German Regionalliga clubs. Unless he's way better than his resume indicates, he'll be an insta-bust.
 

Titans Bastard

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MLS All-Stars lost to Juventus on penalties last night. Tragic.

Miami still hasn't been finalized, but they just hired Paul McDonough away from Atlanta United to be their sporting director. This would be a pretty dumb move for McDonough if Miami falls through, so perhaps this should be taken as a positive sign for Miami's progress.

Cincinnati acquired a third player - 24 year old Swedish left back Pa Konate, who comes from SPAL in Serie A. "Serie A left back" is a little charitable though; SPAL signed him from Malmö where he didn't even start regularly, then he didn't make a single appearance last season except in Coppa Italia.
 

Titans Bastard

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Justin Meram returns to the Columbus Crew after just half a season in Orlando. The Crew gave back a bunch of the financial assets they acquired from Orlando in the first Meram trade last winter, but keep $300k in GAM, which is not insubstantial in MLS budgeting.

Meram was unhappy in Orlando and his absence from the 18 lately signaled the likelihood of his departure. Columbus really needs more production from the wings, so he'll be a big (re-)addition for them.

https://www.columbuscrewsc.com/post/2018/08/03/columbus-crew-sc-acquires-midfielder-justin-meram-trade-orlando-city-sc

The Revs signed defender Michael Mancienne from Nottingham Forest. While the Revs badly need depth at center back, the number of fans of a bad Championship team like Forest who are celebrating Mancienne's departure doesn't make me feel good about this.

https://www.revolutionsoccer.net/post/2018/08/03/revolution-sign-defender-michael-mancienne


LAFC picked up an international slot from Toronto in exchange for some cash. This usually means they'll be signing someone soon. The window closes in five days.
 

Titans Bastard

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Epic choke for the Revs tonight, who traveled to Orlando "1-12 in the last 13 games" City. They blew a 2-0 lead, then they blew a 3-2 lead in stoppage time. Once again - that's how you miss the playoffs.

There was an even more epic choke for Minnesota, who were up 1-0, bungled a 3v0 against the keeper in the 89th minute, had the play called all the way back via VAR to an incident in their own box which turned into a Seattle penalty, conceded at 90+1", then coughed up the winner at 90+7".


To stay on the same theme, Atlanta gave up a late equalizer to Toronto despite controlling the game and Dallas lost 3-1 at home to San Jose, which was the Quakes' first win of the season over someone other than Minnesota.
 

Titans Bastard

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SKC gave US U17 midfielder Gianluca Busio his first start in MLS tonight and he looks lively and smooth on the ball. He also delivered a great assist. Intriguing stuff for a kid who only turned 16 a few months ago.


With a change of scenery, Kellyn Acosta is suddenly good again.

 

Titans Bastard

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The Revs have reportedly shipped Krisztian Nemeth to KC for cash. No surprise there, as it never seemed like Nemeth was part of Friedel's plans. Nemeth had one good season with SKC before heading to Qatar. He hasn't been productive with the Revs.

There's also talk that Kelyn Rowe, whose status has diminished under Friedel, is on the trading block.
 

Titans Bastard

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LAFC is getting busy this summer. A few days ago, they acquired Brazilian defender Danilo Silva on loan from Internacional. He's a bit of an oldie at 31, but he looks to be a high-level player. He spent seven years at Dynamo Kyiv before returning to Brazil.

LAFC also sent a boatload of TAM and GAM to Minnesota in return for forward Christian Ramirez. Ramirez is the closest thing Minnesota has to a club legend. However, despite the fact that Ramirez consistently scores goals in MLS, Minnesota has always been trying to replace him. They drafted Abu Danladi in their first year and just signed a DP striker. I'm not sure why they never had faith in him, but now he'll join an increasingly potent attack. Adama Diomande just injured his hamstring, so Ramirez should join the fray right away.

Lastly, LAFC is rumored to be signing former u20 winger Joshua Perez, who is out of favor at Fiorentina. He made his Serie A debut a couple of seasons ago, but then went on a not-too-awesome loan to Livorno in Serie C where he mostly came off the bench. He has athletic limitations, but good skill and a sweet left foot. Hopefully he benefits from the change of scenery.
 

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D.C. United acquires Vytautas Andriuskevicius from Portland Timbers for $50,000 TAM. Timbers will cover half his salary.
No real shock here, Vytas has barely played this season after suffering an injury early on and then getting benched for Zarek Valentin.
 

Titans Bastard

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Plus, nobody in the league has weaker fullbacks than DC, so Vytas will probably be an immediate help.
 

Titans Bastard

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Philly replaces Earnie Stewart with a German who has past experience at 1860 Munich, Hoffenheim, and Red Bull Salzburg. His background seems to be rooted in academy work, which makes sense given the Union's recent emphasis on player development. Philly has been doing reasonably well (by their standards, anyway!) with two teenagers starting at CB.

 

Titans Bastard

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It's deadline day and quite a bit has happened.

  • Seattle has signed 24 year old Australian left back Brad Smith on loan from AFC Bournemouth. Nouhou Tolo has mostly been the starter at LB thus far this season.
  • DC announced the Vytas transfer that @steeplechase3k mentioned yesterday
  • Toronto signed 23 year old Argentine winger Lucas Janson on loan from Tigre in the player's home country.
  • SKC signed 28 year old Spanish CB Andreu Fontas. SKC really likes signing former Barça B players! Fontas actually got into a handful of La Liga games for Barcelona, before eventually moving on to Celta Vigo. In 2018, SKC has been a mirror image of their typical selves, with a decent attack and a shaky defense.
  • After half a year at Midtjylland, Bill Hamid is back. He blew his shot in Denmark, wound up on the bench, and now is back with DC United on an 18 month loan.
  • It's relatively rare to see a straight up player-for-player deal in MLS. Montreal dealt out-of-favor forward Dominic Oduro to San Jose for Quincy Amarikwa. Doesn't seem very consequential to me.

There are a bunch of rumors in process as well - it seems that Villafaña is heading back to Portland, there's talk of Hector Moreno coming to Chicago, etc.
 

Titans Bastard

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More Montreal:

They've signed....Bacary Sagna. What a classic Impact signing. At 35, I can't imagine he has anything left in the tank. Also, nondescript central midfielder Micheal Azira has gone from Colorado to the Impact.


LAFC has signed former youth NT winger Joshua Perez on a free from Fiorentina. He's 20 now, and hopefully he can get some momentum going. He has a really nice left foot, but his right is useless and he has athletic limitations that will limit his upside.
 

Titans Bastard

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Philadelphia is through to the US Open Cup final after a 3-0 win over Chicago.

LAFC and Houston are playing in the other SF. Currently 3-3 after Diego Rossi completed a hat trick with a ridiculous looping header goal at 90'+6'. On to extra time!
 

Titans Bastard

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Houston is through on PKs, 7-6 after 8 rounds. LAFC had the chance to ice it after five, but Ciman choked with a terrible penalty.

Houston vs. Philadelphia in the final. Neither has ever gotten this far before...and one will embarrass represent MLS in next spring's CONCACAF Champions League
 

Titans Bastard

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This smells like drama:


Ellis has been starting for them and Tchani has been in the rotation. Off the field issues, perhaps?

Lucas Melano has returned to the Timbers after a few years on loan. He was a high-priced disappointment, but perhaps Savarese will get more out of him.
 

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Houston is through on PKs, 7-6 after 8 rounds. LAFC had the chance to ice it after five, but Ciman choked with a terrible penalty.

Houston vs. Philadelphia in the final. Neither has ever gotten this far before...and one will embarrass represent MLS in next spring's CONCACAF Champions League
I never question you on MLS, but this is Philly's third Open Cup final in it's nine year history. They seem to value it for some reason. The prior two they've both lost at home, this time they can lose on the road. Congrats Houston!
 

Titans Bastard

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I never question you on MLS, but this is Philly's third Open Cup final in it's nine year history. They seem to value it for some reason. The prior two they've both lost at home, this time they can lose on the road. Congrats Houston!
You should question me on MLS because I was obviously wrong! Oops. I glanced at Philly's season by season record too quickly and somehow missed that.

Anyway, listen - somebody has to be the "Revs" of US Open Cup finals.
 

Titans Bastard

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Ellis has been starting for them and Tchani has been in the rotation. Off the field issues, perhaps?
Update: I knew that Ellis was once suspended by SKC and shortly left the club, but I never heard why. I did some digging in old fan forum threads. Apparently the rumor was that he took a dump in Graham Zusi's locker. He did something, anyway, to get the mysterious suspension.
 

Titans Bastard

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The Revs achieved another important milestone on the road to not making the playoffs last night by losing 3-2 at home to the Union. Philadelphia is not a bad MLS team and actually would be kind of good were C.J. Sapong and David Accam not having shockingly bad seasons. Still, this is the sort of game that playoff teams need to win at home. New England has finally slipped out of the top six. While Philadelphia and especially Montreal are soft targets at #5 and #6, I expect Toronto to finish strong and I think they'll steal one of those spots. Meanwhile, the Revs don't have a particularly easy schedule to finish out the season.
 

Titans Bastard

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A moment of idiocy from Jozy Altidore in the 10th minute of a key home game against NYCFC.


Toronto lost 3-2.
 

Kliq

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Rooney with seriously one of the most impressive plays I’ve ever seen a soccer player make to win it for DC.
 

speedracer

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I thought Rooney would wilt in the DC humidity about 3 games into the season. Couldn't have been more wrong about him.