I don't quite know why, but I love this guy and hope this is the beginning of the flood gates opening. Too bad he wasn't allowed to take the PK, but I can't picture him grabbing the ball from Michael Bradley... haha.
Other than for marketing, why sign an old has been like Fat Frank? He won't do that well in mls.
Didn't mind him as a hammer, hated him as a blue.
But to suggest he'd be useless? LOL. no.
MLS, isn't even in the top 25 leagues in the world. He played on avg every second game for a club that finished 3rd, in arguably the most competitive top flight football league in the world.
Just like EPL discards, Keane, DeFoe, & Dempsey, that have performed very well. And they are a step down from Lampard, yet a few years his younger.
Marketing, oh for sure.
But he won't do that well in, candidly, a beer league?
He'll probably dominate.
MLS, isn't even in the top 25 leagues in the world.
Really? I know MLS is far from a top league but I feel that the quality has improved and the league is still quite young. If you fielded an MLS all star team, I think you'd be hard pressed to put together 25 all star teams from other leagues that are better.
Really? I know MLS is far from a top league but I feel that the quality has improved and the league is still quite young. If you fielded an MLS all star team, I think you'd be hard pressed to put together 25 all star teams from other leagues that are better.
I suspect MLS would be top 25. A lot would depend on definitions - are we talking the best team in the league or the median? A lot of European leagues have one or two teams that are good and a lot of mediocrity (i.e. Scotland, Ukraine, Czech Republic, Denmark) whereas the MLS is probably one of the most even leagues in the world - a salary cap tends to have that effect.
Assuming that Brazil, Argentina and Mexico are clearly ahead of MLS and none of the leagues in Africa, Asia or Australia are (an argument could be made for Japan), that would require MLS to be equal to about the 20th best European league. Right now the UEFA country coefficients would put Cyprus, Denmark, Poland, Croatia, Belarus and Scotland around that level. I'd guess that an average MLS team beats an average team from any of those leagues more often than not.
The Following User Says Thank You to Arsenal14 For This Useful Post:
Really? I know MLS is far from a top league but I feel that the quality has improved and the league is still quite young. If you fielded an MLS all star team, I think you'd be hard pressed to put together 25 all star teams from other leagues that are better.
The dilution is the concern. Not the star players.
That said, I think you could do "better 11" from the following:
3 teams from England, Germany, Spain, Italy
2 from France, Netherlands, Portugal
1 from Portugal, Greece, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Croatia, Russia, Scotland, Belgium, Sweden
The dilution is the concern. Not the star players.
That said, I think you could do "better 11" from the following:
3 teams from England, Germany, Spain, Italy
2 from France, Netherlands, Portugal
1 from Portugal, Greece, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Croatia, Russia, Scotland, Belgium, Sweden
You could argue that Man U, Arsenal, Liverpool, Man City, Chelsea, and maybe a couple more are already better teams than an MLS all-star team. Let alone having to actually make an all-star team from the EPL.
Similar with Spain where at least Real, Athletico, and Barca are better with their regular roster, plus any all-star team you can make from the rest.
Yeah but nobody would claim that MLS is better than La Liga or EPL. I agree it's not the best league in the world and hopefully was just trying to get a reaction/hyperbole more than anything because anybody who compares MLS to a beer league doesn't know crap about world soccer, full stop.
Atmosphere and infrastructure are not great but the quality of play isn't bad at all... and they are producing pretty decent players. Half the US world cup team plays in the MLS, many of the rest were developed there and the US were a better team than England imo.
Also I've been following Palace for the last couple years a little (yeah I know) and calling Dempsey, Defoe and Keane EPL "discards" is another pretty questionable comment... many EPL teams would take any of them. Maybe top 6 club discards.
Yeah but nobody would claim that MLS is better than La Liga or EPL. I agree it's not the best league in the world and hopefully was just trying to get a reaction/hyperbole more than anything because anybody who compares MLS to a beer league doesn't know crap about world soccer, full stop.
Atmosphere and infrastructure are not great but the quality of play isn't bad at all... and they are producing pretty decent players. Half the US world cup team plays in the MLS, many of the rest were developed there and the US were a better team than England imo.
Also I've been following Palace for the last couple years a little (yeah I know) and calling Dempsey, Defoe and Keane EPL "discards" is another pretty questionable comment... many EPL teams would take any of them. Maybe top 6 club discards.
TFC Just dealt their top allocation spot and also some rumored allocation money to Houston for Warren Creavalle. Houston fans like him, I don't know much about him but it seems a steep price for a versatile utility player.
Houston will use the allocation spot to sign DaMarcus Beasley, who Toronto didn't need and couldn't afford anyway.
Creavalle is a midfielder mainly so might mean Laba is staying with the caps permanently.
His opta stats show a decline which isn't unexpected for a 36 year old so it will be interesting to see how much he does contribute during a grueling season. Great pedigree but this doesn't help the image of MLS as a retirement league.
united predominantly playing their bench, and trouncing the top mls club's reserves, one season removed, 7-0 doesn't bode well for the image either.
fyp
I never knew you and your ilk put a lot of weight on these friendlies. I'm sure you came away impressed when the Wizards beat United 2-1 a few years ago. Of course, not a shocking result considering reserve players like Nani and Giggs playing. /green text
TFC Just dealt their top allocation spot and also some rumored allocation money to Houston for Warren Creavalle. Houston fans like him, I don't know much about him but it seems a steep price for a versatile utility player.
Houston will use the allocation spot to sign DaMarcus Beasley, who Toronto didn't need and couldn't afford anyway.
Creavalle is a midfielder mainly so might mean Laba is staying with the caps permanently.
Creavalle is a good, Young player. Dynamo fans were sorry to see him leave. This is the type of depth signing good teams need in MLS. It beats previous comparable signings like Jeremy Hall or Reggie Lambe.
I think there is no chance Laba returns to TFC.
Last edited by Johnny199r; 07-25-2014 at 10:54 PM.
Soccer wise, he's been a pretty poor signing. Bad value considering injuries and performance for a big salary. The Caps brass must be thrilled to see him go.
Creavalle is a good, Young player. Dynamo fans were sorry to see him leave. This is the type of depth signing good teams need in MLS. It beats previous comparable signings like Jeremy Hall or Reggie Lambe.
I think there is no chance Laba returns to TFC.
I think the Whitecaps need to pay a pretty large sum to close the deal still so its in their court, I think he is a very good player headed in to his prime. Only wish he didn't have those Argentina youth caps so Canada could naturalize him.
Wait I meant to say some variant of MLS sucks garble garble United United garble garble
