Sorry to say that I have a correction here. Your figures in the present are wrong.
There are three foreign international slots per team, but there are also 20 under-25 slots available in MLS (they can be traded around, the Metros have five, for instance), and foreigners with Green Cards now count as US players as well.
They key is, as Jeff said, that they add good foreign players. People who will play attractively and put some fannies in the seats as well. I hope teams don't waste their foreign allocation on 35 year old central defenders of holding mids. Geez.
Cheers!
Robert.
In a message dated 9/23/04 11:41:30 AM, casbahman@verizon.net writes:
Adding more foreigners will strengthen the league. But, as Jeff said,
the key is to add good foreigners. If you are going to have foreign
players just to round out your 5, but a couple of those guys are no
better than average MLS players, then there is not much point in.
The next question on my lips is will all 5 players be allowed on the
field at the same time? That clearly would be harmful for US soccer in
general. Because, even though the number of teams has increased by 2,
the number of spots available on the field could decrease significantly
for US soccer players.
Some quick math, under the current system, there are 80 on-field spots
for Americans (assuming each team had all 3 foreign spots filled and
those players were starters). Under a 5-foreigners limit, even though
the league will expand by 2 teams, the number of field spots available
for Americans could potentially decrease to 72 (again, assuming each
team had all 5 foreign spots filled and those players were starters).
So, by increasing the foreigner limit, we *could* be potentially
increasing the quality of the league. But we would definitely be
limiting the starting jobs of American players if more foreigners are
allowed on the field. And considering the current level of play and the
progress that American players have made, I don't like the tradeoff.
Hopefully, the foreigners added will be high quality ones and this will
improve the quality of American players at a faster rate than their
current progress. But I don't see that being the case. I think their
progress is related on on-field experience more than level of quality in
practices. And if less Americans are getting onto the field, the
progress of US soccer will be stunted.
Darrin
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nas-owner@americakicks.com
> [mailto:nas-owner@americakicks.com] On Behalf Of Brian Shea
> Sent: Thursday, September 23, 2004 3:11 AM
> To: NAS@americakicks.com
> Subject: RE: [nas] I need a ruling
>
>
> If the other rumor is true and they expand the
> developmental squads to foster reserve team play, then
> the number of American slots will increase, albeit at
> a lower wage.
>
> I think the addition of more foreigners is part of a
> multi-pronged approach to strengthen rosters, something that
> can only benefit the league as a whole.
>
---
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