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April 29, 2006

Quality American Soccer, For Under $1,000,000

The MLS Players Association leaked players salaries again this year. There's some real bargains in there (and some kids who must be living at home with their parents while the play a professional sport). In fact, I'll assemble a team that could easily test a mid-table Premiership squad. We're talking world-class quality here, for under a million greenbacks. Behold, a classic 4-4-2 that will make Everton weep:

Goalie
GK Reis, Matt $100,000 (hey, splurge on the goalie. you'll only need one)
Defense
D Serioux, Adrian $90,000
D Dunivant, Todd $95,000
D Parkhurst, Michael $63,250
D Wynne, Marvell $47,500
Midfield
M Mapp, Justin $95,000
M Martino, Kyle $81,675
M Nunez, Ramon $75,000
M Dempsey, Clint $75,863
Forward
F Rolfe, Chris $50,000
F Cooper, Kenny $55,000
F Gomez, Hercules $47,000 (just for fun, a twelfth man, Mr. Assist himself)

Grand Total
$875,288

Ye gods! By Hercules, we've assembled a band of fleet-footed mighty men, and still have moolah left for the kit & caboodle that these boys might demand. Red Bull and Twinkies for all! I dare you to find another league in the world with these kinds of deals.

Blue Light Specials
GK Guzan, Brad $47,250
D Ihemelu, Ugo $50,000
M O'Rourke, Danny $34,125
M Davis, Brad $77,500
M-F Storey, Marcus $11,700
F Kamara, Kei $30,000

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Comments

Interesting that your entire team costs less than the average Premiership salary [676,000 GBP].

too bad MLS will never be able to compete with the wage structure of European football. even if you factor in cost of living, top players can make so much more playing in Europe because the market there can support the high wages.

sure, the MLS gives value for money, but without competive pay the good players will more often than not go to where the money is.

Posted by: Andrew at April 29, 2006 04:51 AM

Wow. I didn't realize that was the average Prem salary.

The MLS is going to keep growing, and you'll see more competitive wages as a result. As for the wage structure, I think that the MLS is in the same boat as the smaller European leagues--Dutch, Belgian, Czech, etc. Great for domestic talent, development of foreign talent, but not the top flight of international soccer.

Posted by: Noel at April 29, 2006 04:26 PM

Interesting exercise... though as a side note, I don't think any team with Kyle Martino in the midfield could touch Everton. (I'll admit I haven't seen him play this season, but the last couple of seasons he's been a ball-losing machine. Actually, ever since he got taken out while with the Nats during that continent's cup in Europe (I forget what its called).

Posted by: rob at April 29, 2006 06:05 PM

Fair enough point with Martino. I put him on because of his intl experience. I'll just sub him out with O'Rourke or Davis. I think my argument still stands. Everton's midfield: Kevin Kilbane?

Posted by: Noel at May 1, 2006 11:32 AM

Have some respect for Zinedine Kilbane... (with all seriousness, though, the only one of those midfielders I'd consider letting play for my team if I was Moyes is Dempsey; Mapp's too inconsistent and you have to be able to play defense in the Premiership, Nunez is also raw, Davis I think has a serious pace deficit, not a huge problem in MLS, but over the pond... though I thought he was quite good in the Gold Cup and I'd definitely put him in the team instead of Mapp or Nunez; O'Rourke I haven't seen much of)

Posted by: rob at May 2, 2006 02:06 PM

I've always wanted the Collina shirt...

I like Mapp. He's been all over the field so far this season. Nunez is young, but he seems like the type to thrive on challenges. Moving out of the midfield, the defense is solid if provincial, the keeper will shut down all but the best shots, and the forwards have enough trickery to get through.

However, with those caveats, I concede to your superior knowledge. When did you start following this stuff?

Posted by: Noel at May 2, 2006 05:41 PM

I don't know that I'd say have any superior knowledge... its just that I'm a bit of an Everton fan, so I hate to see the Toffees maligned (if, for instance, you had said "Aston Villa", I probably wouldn't have even bothered to disagree).

I think I got stuck on soccer around the last World Cup... I had paid some attention to it before then, but there's nothing like a World Cup (except beating Mexico 2-0, I'd rather watch the US beat Mexico 2-0 than see any other sporting event on the planet). Unfortunately my soccer addiction has gotten a bit extreme, including spending vacation money on a trip to Columbus (although it was totally worth it, because the US did beat Mexico 2-0).

Moving to DC has been nice... it was getting quite depressing following the Atlanta Silverbacks; a United game is about as good as it gets in this country.

Posted by: rob at May 4, 2006 09:52 AM

Ah, now I understand. Let's settle to use Villa then, and we can proceed apace. You've had a rough season, too. I thought the Toffees underachieved this year.

Dos a cero is a beautiful score. The pursuit of it is worthy. I'll never forget the snuff job that Gooch did on Borgetti. Unfortunately, it didn't help us in the seeding for this WC.

You've got to be happy with DC the best in the MLS right now. And Adu's 3 goals. How about Olsen's shot last game? Didn't know that he bagged 30-yarders.

Posted by: Noel at May 4, 2006 05:28 PM

Eh, underachieving is what Everton does. As long as Duncan Ferguson picks up a couple red cards for near-criminal offenses and relegation is avoided, its been a good season.

I can't say I'm disappointed with DC, although I have a feeling that Olsen will be missed more sorely during the World Cup.

Posted by: rob at May 8, 2006 05:50 PM

Ah, that's right, Ferguson is there. Or maybe Ferguson has decided to be there. Anyways, congrats on gaining Timmy Tourettes. That should make for an entertaining backline/locker room.

Posted by: Noel at May 10, 2006 05:24 PM

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