Whitecap Owl Posted June 28, 2022 Share Posted June 28, 2022 Seems like some of the MLS clubs are heading down the "old players" route that inevitably destroyed NASL.. I don't think it's going to kill the league this time around... I just think some of the marquee players coming into MLS over the years have been a bit of a bust... (Rooney springs to mind LOL)... I understand Bale wanting to play over here this year. He contemplated retirement but with Wales making the World Cup this is a chance for him to get some games in before November. LAFC are playing us in Vancouver this weekend... pretty sure he won't be in the lineup though... We will have enough trouble keeping Vela off the scoresheet.... ffs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BridportOwl Posted June 28, 2022 Share Posted June 28, 2022 I think it is the perfect move for Bale , plenty of game time with the chance of a couple of weeks rest before the WC starts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitecap Owl Posted June 28, 2022 Author Share Posted June 28, 2022 21 minutes ago, BridportOwl said: I think it is the perfect move for Bale , plenty of game time with the chance of a couple of weeks rest before the WC starts. Agreed - Plus he will get some warm/hot weather conditioning playing in LA.... Hope he does well TBH 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0wl18 Posted June 28, 2022 Share Posted June 28, 2022 Rooney scored every other game in America. Hardly a poor signing. Carlos Vela went aged 29, 63 goals in 101 games. Ibrahimovic scored 53 in 58. Drogba scored 21 in 33. Tim Cahill went over and featured in the team of the year and, was NYRB’s MVP. Defoe scored 11 in 19. Lampard score 15 in 29 games and was an MLS all star. David Villa 80 in 124. The older generation aren’t the issue. They come across to wind down and get paid a fortune. The league is just rubbish. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOOFABI Posted June 28, 2022 Share Posted June 28, 2022 When Mark Crossley scored for us, he did so out-jumping a teenage Gareth Bale. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitecap Owl Posted June 28, 2022 Author Share Posted June 28, 2022 23 minutes ago, 0wl18 said: Rooney scored every other game in America. Hardly a poor signing. Carlos Vela went aged 29, 63 goals in 101 games. Ibrahimovic scored 53 in 58. Drogba scored 21 in 33. Tim Cahill went over and featured in the team of the year and, was NYRB’s MVP. Defoe scored 11 in 19. Lampard score 15 in 29 games and was an MLS all star. David Villa 80 in 124. The older generation aren’t the issue. They come across to wind down and get paid a fortune. The league is just rubbish. I guess I am just wary of these old stars coming in... only wanting to play for LA NYC etc. - In the late 70's I watched NASL bring in Pele, Beckenbauer, Lorimer etc. Yes, the fans loved them but the game became more of a spectacle than a serious league. For me, I see the league and it's various academies being a driving force in bringing along Canadian and US talent. Some of the teams have fantastic academies - FC Dallas stand out as probably the best. Vancouver have a large network of (all ages) academies across the country bringing along talent that, only a few years ago, didn't exist. We are starting to see a shift towards more homegrown talent and less reliance on the DP imports... Big name imports is a business model I am not interested in but it drives the LA and NY market into a wild frenzy of insanity!!! The larger network of opportunities that have arisen from MLS (Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal) and a stable Canadian Pro League (Calgary, Edmonton etc) has made a major impact on the national team. Canada has made the World Cup for the first time in 30 odd years... thanks in part to the growth of the game on the professional level.. so Rubbish? maybe... but the bigger picture is helping create a more competitive national team for Canada and the USA.... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edmontonowl Posted June 30, 2022 Share Posted June 30, 2022 Bringing in marquee players like Bale gives abit of a boost to marketing the game and its profile. In the 70s the NASL was a place for Euro/UK players to come to party and make extra cash. No thought then to developing the game in the same way that MLS has done since 1994 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kopparberg Posted June 30, 2022 Share Posted June 30, 2022 Win win situation in my eyes. What wages is he getting though ? Nothing like the £400k a week he was on Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
g-owls Posted June 30, 2022 Share Posted June 30, 2022 He’ll go through the motions and nothing more. He knows he’s getting into the Wales World Cup squad even if he played 45 minutes a week for Merthyr Tydfil between now and November. There’s no chance he’s going to risk getting himself injured, and what better way than going to Los Angeles, getting paid a handsome amount, running around a bit whilst improving a clubs profile. He’ll spend more time on the grass of the golf course than the football pitch. A great player who deserved the move to Madrid and the honours that followed, but it just seemed to stop dead in its tracks. He didn’t even look bothered when coming back to Spurs. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiJ Posted July 1, 2022 Share Posted July 1, 2022 Has been going through the motions (at club level) for quite a while now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swfcAH Posted July 1, 2022 Share Posted July 1, 2022 Cardiff or LA seems a fairly easy choice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trev Posted July 1, 2022 Share Posted July 1, 2022 Great move for him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bannofan Posted July 2, 2022 Share Posted July 2, 2022 He's just got to keep himself match fit for the World Cup, then he can retire after that. He's been semi retired for the last two seasons at least, so can't see him wanting to go much further than the new year. Actually expect to see players doing this MLS route at an increasingly earlier age , as they become multi millionaires in their early 20's and have achieved everything they want in the game before 30. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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