An abhoration or the start of a trend?

A piece this week on ESPNFC discussing the move of former MLS forward and Jamaican International Ryan Johnson from the Portland Timbers to the Chinese Super League and now the Korean K-League raised an eyebrow for me.  The fact is that in the future, MLS will not only face a challenge of keeping domestic talent from leaving to one of the big european leagues, but may very well face the challenge of retaining talent from the developing and lucrative Asian football market.

Having american footballers practice their craft in Asia is a foreign concept to the growing legion of U.S. soccer fans.  For me however as a supporter of the Honduran National Team, having players from my country play professionally in Thailand, Malaysia and China for example is common practice.  For years now Honduran footballers like Georgie Welcome, Mitchell Brown, Osman Chavez, Walter Martinez and Emil Martinez to name a few of many played professionally in Eastern Asia.  Most if not all of these footballers had the skill to play in MLS (Walter Martinez did in fact play for San Jose for a season). Many chose to play in Asia because of the fact they can make significantly more money in Asia than they could in Major League Soccer or any other league in the CONCACAF region.

Could we begin seeing this trend in Major League Soccer where we might start losing out talent to China, Korea or even Malaysia?  Is Ryan Johnson who had a successful career in his eight years at Major League Soccer be an anomaly or the beginning of a larger movement?  Time will tell but it would be keen for MLS owners and the powers that be in New York City to not ignore what Johnson has done.  In fact they should pay very close attention.

Ryan Johnson in China

When Ryan Johnson left Major League Soccer he was making $144,000 according to the MLS players union.  He more than doubled his yearly wage by moving to the Chinese Super League.  According to the ESPNFC piece linked previously, Johnson has taken a slight pay cut but still making significantly more money in China than he would with Major League Soccer by signing a new two year contract to play professionally in Korea.

Major League Soccer is in prime position to take significant advantage of the countless sins that have been committed economically and due to corruption in European Leagues like Seria A and La Liga.  You can't tell me that the signing of Sebastian Giovinco by Toronto FC is not a clear sign of the continuing rise of MLS and reflective of the troubles going on in Italy within the sport.

As a league however MLS needs to make sure they are not only attracting players at the 'DP' level that make seven figure salaries.  Commissioner Garber and team owners need to make sure they are taking care of all players and make sure that we can compete as a league with other emerging markets.  MLS needs to be proactive and this current CBA negotiation is the perfect time to address this possible issue.

I respect Major League Soccer conservative approach and single entity model that was a requisite for the league to get to where it currently is. Its time however to continue investing talent and make sure we are not only taking care of the Kaka's, Frank Lampard's, Clint Dempsey's and other big name DP that attract the big headlines.  It is also time to take care of financially to the other 96% of your players economically.  If not, Ryan Johnson might not be an aberration but the beginning of an unfavorable drift for MLS.

Orlando City - Top 5 Players

Before we get knee deep into preseason story lines and depth chart controversies, I want to look back and give my Orlando City top 5 all time players.

The OCSC bandwagon will be full of soccer 'fans' who in the past have only tuned into the sport of soccer during the World Cup or to the random EPL game of the week on a saturday morning when nothing else was on television.  Orlando City is full of season ticket supporters who would not be able to distinguish or know Rob Valentino from Sean Kelley if they were to run into them at the local CVS.  And frankly good for them.  Were it not for these new supporters, Orlando City would be destined to be another failed franchise.  I don't begrudge our new supporters.  I simply freely acknowledge that they missed out of four amazing seasons of soccer.

There are many of us however that have supported OCSC from day one. Well before there were billboards of Kaka on I-4 and advertisements of grown ass men in unicorn costumes marketing the team, some of us were at the Citrus Bowl watching the likes of Matt Luzunaris and Mechack Jerome play on a random Thursday night against teams like the Los Angeles Blues and Dayton Dutch.  

I want to give recognition in my own small, feeble way to the five players who were my all-time favorite Orlando City players in our time in the USL.  

(Honorable Mention: Dennis Chin, Jordany Alvarez, Sean Kelley, Lewis Neal, Erik Ustruck, James O'Conner, Adama Mbengue, Luke Boden)

#5 Kevin Molino - Kevin Molino is the only player on my top five list that will be joining the team in Major League Soccer in 2015.  With 87 caps under his belt for the Lions, Molino has been staple for Orlando City Soccer from day one.  Since 2011, I have long praised the talent of the speedy midfielder.  For the longest time however despite the Trinidadian internationals wealth of skill, I felt that the Nike 'Lazy but Talented' phrase was particularly fitting for him.  There were long periods of time in many matches where Kevin Molino would disappear as though he were Harry Houdini circa 1903.  Molino became one of my all time favorite players just this past season when Orlando City signed him to a long term deal which guaranteed him an MLS contract in 2015 and beyond.  That assurance which gave Molino the guarantee he was finally going to be playing in the top flight of American soccer was the fuel for this skilled and able footballer to finally start taking his game to that proverbial next level. Kevin Molino was by far the best player in USL in 2014.  Great things lie ahead for this young man.  I'm excited to see what he will do.

#4 Dom Dwyer - With only 17 appearances for OCSC under his name, Dom Dwyer is the player with by far the least number of caps to his name to have made my top five list.  In those 17 appearances however Dwyer became arguably the most famous player to wear the purple during our time in the USL.  His impact was immediate and astonishing.  Scoring 22 goals in the 17 matches for the purple, including a memorable four goal performance in the 2013 USL finals to give Orlando City its second championship, Dom Dwyer became an instant legend for the Lions.  Dom may not initially have wanted to come here on loan from Sporting KC but I think he will be the first one to now admit that may have been one of the biggest blessings of his professional career.  Dom Fucking Dwyer.  He literally scored whenever he wanted.

#3 Jamie Watson - Thru the end of 2013, Jamie Watson was as much a symbol of Orlando City Soccer as you could find in this town.  Watson was the poster boy for OCSC as his face littered the city with marketing campaigns for those first few USL campaigns.  With 60 caps for Orlando City, Watson became a fan favorite because of his work ethic on the pitch and his appreciation for the fans.  While players like Molino would many times just give the supporters little more than a golf clap as he exited the pitch, Jamie Watson would go out of his way to show he appreciated the supporters.  Watson's epic goal celebrations when he would run into the stands after scoring won't be forgotten anytime soon.  His heart and hustle on the pitch was only surpassed by the charitable work he did throughout our community.  Jamie Watson's speech in front of the Orange County Board of Commissioners was among the most moving in trying to convince local decision makers to approve funding for our stadium to be opened in 2016.  His time in Orlando was surprisingly and abruptly cut short when depending who you ask, Watson requested to be traded away or was simply sent away by front office decision makers due to there being no room for Watson in our 2014 roster.  I don't know what happened for sure nor frankly does it matter much at this point.  What I do know is that any OCSC supporter that backed this club throughout the USL years has the upmost respect for Jamie Watson.  

Four of the all time greats

#2 Miguel Gallardo - You will be hard pressed to find a player more loved than Miguel Gallardo for Orlando City Soccer from 2011-2014.  With 81 caps and an OCSC original here from the original days of the Austin Aztex, Gallardo was a stalwart presence at goal for Orlando City.  Gallardo loved this club.  Miguel had a cool presence about him that made him a great leader on the pitch and a phenomenal community representative for OCSC during our introductory years as a franchise.  Miguel Gallardo was not perfect.  He was very much flawed and at times committed errors that would leave your head scratching.  With that said however, I would not have traded Miguel for any other keeper in the USL.  He was an outstanding keeper.  I selfishly wish he would have joined us in 2015.  I wish him the best in Jacksonville.

#1 Rob Valentino - Rob Valentino exemplifies everything I love in a footballer.  Valentino plays with heart, passion and never took shit from anyone.  Rob was our captain.  The importance to how big Valentino was to our franchise cannot be overstated.  Anyone that followed Orlando City Soccer throughout the USL years no matter how new you were to the sport can tell you we played an attacking brand of soccer where we applied relentless pressure up the wings and moved the ball around in a beautiful symphony of fluidity.  That style of play makes a team susceptible to quick counter attacks and little room for error in defense.  Valentino was the crux of that backline.  He would never allow himself to get pushed around and played with a laser like focus as though he were conducting heart surgery.  He was quick to chew out one of his fellow defenders if they were out of position and held himself to such a high standard.  In his 77 caps for Orlando City, Rob Valentino exemplified all the positive qualities I like to see in professional footballers.

Sorry for not posting recently....

Fact is work and life have gotten in the way.

At any rate there are plenty of bloggers and fly by night pundits that have done a decent job following OCSC in the off season.  Orlando City has done an excellent job bringing in top notch talent for an expansion side.  We are shaping up to have an attacking squad which will be pleasing to the eye based on the talent we have acquired.

I look forward to sharing my thoughts and opinions on Orlando City and all random things sports once again.

You can't stop John Rooney.  You can only hope to contain him

The Tally Hall Acquisition

In life, all we can ask for is a fair shot.  Sometimes we get that chance to fully prove ourselves and many times we do not.  There are moments however when we get that fair shot despite the fact our own prejudices and experience will not allow us to see it.   

I have a feeling based on the news today that Orlando City traded for Houston Dynamo goalkeeper Tally Hall a few months back while the USL season was still going on, former OCSC players will wonder if they really did get a fair shot to make the 2015 MLS roster because of the fact the club was still acquiring players during the USL season that they kept secret. 

Tally Hall

   

 The news today of the Tally Hall acquisition tells me two things which are very much interrelated with one another.  The first is that Orlando City front office was set on the fact that neither Miguel Gallardo nor Carl Woszczynski were of MLS ilk well before the seasons end.  You do not make a secret acquisition for Tally Hall in the middle of the season that is just today being made public without that having been a matter of fact.  The second is that the framework for the 2015 Orlando City MLS roster has been a work in progress for a long time now with deals and player acquisitions being made sometimes even unbeknownst to Orlando City fans. 

OCSC has a long history of secrecy.  The severity of player injuries is many times kept hush by the front office as we have seen on numerous occasions throughout the USL years.  We were given little to no update on the health status of Yordany Alvarez just this past season until late in the season as a prime example.  The status of players on the roster has also many times been kept confidential from the public as though it were a state secret.  The situation that stands out the most in my opinion was when John Rooney mysteriously disappeared from the 2012 Orlando City roster with no word from the front office despite his high profile acquisition going into that season’s campaign.  I have always found this cloud of player personnel mystery always surrounding Orlando City perplexing as I never fully understood what the thought process was behind the veil of mystery OCSC constantly kept up.  I did not understand the end game.   Were we really that worried about keeping the Rochester Rhinos and Wilmington Hammerheads on their toes about what was really going on with our squad?  

When it comes to the decision for Orlando City to trade for Tally Hall and the decision to keep that news secret however, I see the bigger picture.  I understand what the club did.  Miguel Gallardo was signed to play for Orlando City in 2014.  The club made no guarantees to him or to any other player not already signed by the Lions as to what their future would be with the club.  Based on what happened to Jamie Watson before the start of the season, any OCSC player would be insane to think the Phil Rawlins would bring any player to MLS based on some false sense of ‘loyalty’ or nostalgia for the USL years.  If Orlando City would have announced the trade for Hall back when it occurred, how would that have affected the play of Miguel and the continuity of the team?   The club needed to keep certain decisions like this under wraps for the greater good.  The front office made the conscious decision to try and affect the squad as little as possible with respects to 2015 personnel decisions.   That was only fair to those players on the roster and to us as fans.  Announcing the Tally Hall trade with Houston would have served no purpose other than causing unnecessary drama and player speculation.

Brad Rusin Reaction to today aquisition

Twitter comments made today by Brad Rusin echo I’m sure what some former OCSC players think today as he expressed his frustration of OCSC acquiring players in secrecy before the regular season was over.  I don’t blame Brad for thinking the way he does nor would I blame Miguel Gallardo if today’s news felt like a punch in the gut.  I get it. 

Those guys had their chances however.  They had their fair shot.  I thought Rusin was a heck of a defender and that Miguel Gallardo was good enough to at least be an MLS backup despite his scarce untimely lapses in judgement.  For the greater good of the club fortunately though I am not Paul McDonough and I am not Adrian Heath.  I am Carlos Alvarado and my opinion means nothing.  Both of these guys know much more about football than I ever will and they are the decision makers for the Lions.  As a supporter of Orlando City Soccer, I appreciate the strategic bigger picture the front office is committed to executing for our teams long term success.   Far too often in professional sports we see front offices without a clear vision and strategy.  Luckily we don’t have that problem in Orlando. 

Stay classy Portland...

Timbers Army in a pissing match with their owner after being eliminated in CCL