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.

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.