Only One Football

Thierry Henry does not have many fans in the Republic of Ireland tonight.  The best footballer in the world, according to the Castrol Rankings, used his hand to put France through to the World Cup Finals next Summer. While the Boys in Green are red with fury and probably wouldn’t object to a Hammurabi-like justice exacted on the former Arsenal ace, it should be kept in  mind why France was playing Ireland at all.  FIFA put the fix on, as best they could, weeks before by seeding the UEFA second place playoffs at the last moment so that massive soccer nations like France, Russia and Portugal would have a lesser chance of missing South Africa 2010.  Cheers to Slovenia for defying the soccer gods.

When the lords of the sport announced that the draw would be seeded, the Irish immediately reacted with disgust, and for good reason.  The third-ranked team in their group, Ireland saw their way clear to second place in Group 8, giving Italy a run for their money.  The Irish never lost a group 8 match, drawing 6 times and winning 4 matches.  It was a qualification run that went right along Giovanni Trapattoni’s master plan.  And then came deus ex machina.

Instead of an equal chance of facing France, Russia, Portugal, Ukraine, Greece, Bosnia and Slovenia, FIFA decided in September 2009 - long after qualifying started and as it was basically complete - that the pots should be split into two sets, one of four for the teams with higher world rankings, and another set for 4 the teams with lower rankings.  For Ireland, Bosnia and Slovenia, it meant the chance of a dream draw was gone.  Ireland goalkeeper Shay Given summed it up: “It’s totally unfair on us smaller nations. If they say that before a ball is kicked then at least you know the picture, you know exactly where you stand but to change it now is absolutely ridiculous and I don’t think it’s right at all.”

It may not be right, Mr. Given, but it was the commercially wise thing to do.  A World Cup without poster boy Cristiano Ronaldo?  Without Les Blues?  Without mighty Russia (oops)?  Unthinkable.  So they did the best they could to fix the outcome as favorably as possible, they seeded the draw.  If France, Russia and Portugal were not in jeopardy - if Danish and Serbian dreams were at play instead of those of the French and the cult of Cristiano - would the draw have been seeded at all?  Clearly this wasn’t planned from the start.  Lots of euros, dollars, pounds sterling, simoleons, or whatever your favored currency, was at stake.  The big show without some of its key big players wouldn’t quite be the same.

If it wasn’t the calculated effort of seeding the draw, incompetence on the part of FIFA had a hand in this outcome as much as Thierry Henry.  The lack of instant replay.  The blindness of the line judge.  The deaf ears to the protests of Given and Il Trap.  A blatant catch of the ball, redirected to a foot and crossed to a head booked France passage to South Africa 2010.  The Irish put themselves in the best position that could have reasonably expected from a nation of their size to make it through to the World Cup in a crowded confederation like UEFA.  All that work was foiled by a man from Switzerland who refused to remain neutral, a cheating Frenchman and a blind line judge, each who played their part in preventing a penalty shootout where the Irish would have pit one of the world’s finest goalies in Given against the French and for the first time in 210 minutes find themselves on equal footing with Les Blues.  Perhaps Ireland should just switch federations to CONCACAF, where they could assure themselves a World Cup place every four years.  Now that’s a fix even Sepp Blatter could get behind.

On the pitch and among the fans, Celtic and Rangers may be the fiercest of football rivals.  When it comes to the business end of things, namely the mission to maximize their financial potential by fleeing the Scottish Premier League, the Old Firm pair are partners in crime.  Like any good rivalry, Celtic and Rangers need each other.  However, they are quite aware that they do not necessarily need any other team in Scotland.  So the pair has made their desire to join the English Premier League well known, and this past week, their desires were spurned once again.

Leaving the Scottish league makes sense for Celtic and Rangers as businesses and as competitive entities.  The top flight in Scottish football has fallen far behind the English Premier League.  Outside of the Old Firm, the better clubs are Championship caliber and the rest perhaps League One.  The likes of Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool have their mettle tested week in and week out by other excellent teams in the EPL, an elite league that is attracting top talent even to teams outside of the regular European contenders.  The star-studded nature of leagues like La Liga, the EPL and Serie A draws in more and more sponsor revenue, widening the gap between them and the next two tiers of leagues down the UEFA coefficient ladder.  Both Glasgow clubs have begun to see their performances begin to suffer in European competition, and part of that must be the less-challenging nature of their domestic league.  They are still huge clubs, drawing enormous and passionate crowds, but the trajectory of Celtic and Rangers is all wrong.

Phil Gartside’s wily scheme to bring the Glasgow duo into an expanded, two-tier Premier League setup was nixed by other EPL clubs.  The setup would have seen a Premier League and a new division below it.  Rumor has it that together the tiers would consist of somewhere between 36-40 teams and there might not be relegation to levels below.  While Celtic and Rangers are unlikely to give up on ways to join the cash-rich competition to their south, there is another angle which may be more likely to succeed.

There are other clubs like Celtic and Rangers, big clubs where the quality of competition in their local market limits their upward potential.  A few years back talk of Atlantic League emerged, a premier league type setup between top clubs from Scotland, Holland, Portugal, Belgium and some of the Scandanavian countries.  Surely a league featuring the likes of not only Celtic and Rangers, but also Ajax, PSV, Feyenoord, Porto, Benfica, Sporting Lisbon and other top clubs would draw more sponsorship revenue to these big clubs than any of their domestic leagues alone.   Such a league would not need to mean the end of promotion and relegation - the worst placing club from a given country could face a relegation playoff vs the top finisher in the nation’s domestic league (picture 4 clubs from Scotland, 4 from Holland, 4 from Portugal, 3 from Belgium, etc, drawing invites).  Countries who could participate include Scotland, Portugal, Belgium, Holland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and both Irelands if the league decided to make an investment on the idea Irish-based clubs in a strong competition could siphon away big dollars being poured into Liverpool and Manchester United (Celtic may not like this particular idea, though).  European competition places would have to be worked out some how, but if an Atlantic League is supposed to represent a premier league level for these countries, then it would only make sense for them to work out a way with UEFA to have top European slots assigned to the clubs they send into the Atlantic League.

If Celtic and Rangers want to remain elite clubs, they need to find a better league to play in and do so in relatively short order.  If their fellow Britains can’t find a way to start them at a level at least as high as the Championship and let them earn their way up to the Premier League, they may have to look at alternatives and find like-minded clubs.  An Atlantic League would certainly not be the Old Firm’s first choice, but they should begin looking into it seriously.  If nothing else, the specter of a new elite league competing with the EPL for sponsorship money might convince the English clubs to look on their cause in a different light.  One thing is for sure, without some type of action on this front, Celtic and Rangers are likely to continue to find themselves over matched by clubs that draw significantly smaller crowds, but yet far more revenue.

There were two big New York soccer rumors reported in the media this past week.  The first was that Pele may be recruited by newly minted New York Cosmos owner Paul Kemsley to serve as President of the organization, which he intends to build into a lifestyle brand as well as a football club.  The second is that David Beckham is eyeing New York, Miami or Montreal as the location in which to exercise his right to start a new MLS franchise.  In my opinion, these two rumors should in reality become one, Kemsley and Beckham should work together to bring the New York Cosmos brand into MLS.

Kemsley, a famous English businessman who has appeared as a judge on the British version of The Apprentice, has experience in Premier League football operations from his stake in Tottenham Hotspur.  Although his financial empire is reported to have been dealt stunning blows during last year’s economic collapse, Kemsley’s business wiles caused him to recognize an undervalued asset in the Cosmos brand and snatch it away from Peppe Pinton for what in the near future may be considered a bargain the likes of which New York sports has not seen since George Steinbrenner bought the Yankees for $17M and turned them into a billion dollar empire.

In order to make such a transformation happen Kemsley needs to reestablish the New York Cosmos as both a football club and a brand.  The reported idea is that Kemsley wants to restart the Cosmos as a star-studded traveling team that plays high profile exhibitions, and then look at options to bring the Cosmos into a league. The good news is the Cosmos remain the most recognizable brand in American soccer even though they have not set a foot a pitch in almost 25 years. The bad news is that there’s one viable league in the US to enter, and the costs of entering MLS are very high.   In addition, a Cosmos team needs to have star players in order to sustain the attention of the New York media in a market that has the Yankees, Mets, Giants, Jets, Knicks, Nets, Devils, Islanders and Rangers.  Not to mention the Red Bulls, and a recent and often-ran TV commercial reciting that list of New York teams didn’t bother listing the Red Bulls.  That is the type of mainstream consciousness the Cosmos would need to break through.

What better way to tackle all of these issues in one swoop then to partner with star footballers like David Beckham, Thierry Henry and Patrick Vieira.  Henry and Vieira have indicated a desire to come play in the United States soon, with New York at the top of their lists.  Beckham loves New York enough to have named one of his sons after a borough, and he holds an asset that would be very valuable in this situation:  Rights to start an MLS franchise.  Kemsley owns the brand, Beckham owns the buy-in voucher and if they partner with Vieira, Henry and some other high profile players the New York Cosmos could relaunch in their full glory as soon as 2011.  Montreal Impact owner Joey Saputo has been trying to get MLS to let his club into the league as a 19th franchise as soon as 2011 - why not add both Montreal AND the Cosmos to round out the league at 20 clubs?  It’s not like other sports where adding teams dilutes the talent in the league - the world is abundant with soccer talent at the MLS and better level of play.

Now those familiar with MLS rules might have already dismissed my proposal by saying the salary cap would prevent a club from having Beckham, Henry AND Vieira, let alone more star players.  That is where a smart ownership system could come into place, one whose value to its star players isn’t in their cap-restricted paychecks, but instead in assets of greater value.  The founding members of the new Cosmos could be granted an ownership stake. Beckham obviously would have to be a part owner in this scenario, but the others also could be.  That, in addition to endorsement money they would earn and a large piece of shirt sales, and Beckham, Henry, Vieira and any other stars brought over to the Cosmos would be handsomely rewarded.  You could set aside future stock grants in the club, smaller than what you would give the initial group, for future high profile players to be lured onto the Cosmos after the initial group retires.

The New York Cosmos being reborn into MLS through David Beckham’s franchise option seems like such a natural fit.  If the egos involved could mesh in a mutually beneficial way, the media attention poured on Major League Soccer would be unlike anything since at least Beckham’s arrival, and at best the arrival of Pele and the heyday of the Cosmos in NASL.  Major League Soccer has long avoided the legacy of the Cosmos, but in order for MLS to launch to a new level of visibility in the public eye, it needs to embrace a scenario like the one I’m describing if the opportunity were to come.   The lords of MLS have been wise to run their business conservatively and they have been rewarded by doing so with financial stability and growth in the most difficult economic period in recent times.  However, the opportunity to field a Cosmos team with Beckham, Henry and others is one they should figure out a way to work into the league, without sacrificing the league’s fiscally wise ways.  The benefits would certainly outweigh the risks, and the reborn New York Cosmos would usher the league into a new era.

There will never be promotion and relegation in Major League Soccer. At least not in the traditional, European sense.  The franchise fees are too high to risk what would be perceived by American audiences as a demotion to a minor league.  No, there will never be promotion and relegation in the MLS in the traditional sense.  Now the emphasis in that last sentence is where things get interesting.

Right now the USL franchises in Montreal, Vancouver, Minnesota, Miami, Carolina as well as potential franchises in Tampa Bay, Atlanta and St. Louis are looking at forming their own breakaway league.  There has been some talk of them doing this in partnership with MLS to create MLS2, which would serve as a second division.  Now at first glance that might look like an unsavory bunch.  Vancouver will be leaving USL anyway in 2011 to join MLS and Montreal is all but announced to do the same in 2012.  However, those ownerships have reportedly indicated they have interest in setting up a second tier affiliate in another city, Victoria in the case of Vancouver and Quebec City in the case of Montreal.  You might point out that Minnesota has been reported in dire financial straits and Miami has one of the worst attendance records in pro soccer.  You might also point out that 3 of the 8 teams in the purported league didn’t even compete in 2009.  All fair.

However, what should not be overlooked is the benefits this would bring.  Under the MLS brand, these franchises would receive much greater legitimacy in the general sports-going public’s perception. After all, thanks to Beckhamania, the average US sports fan is quite familiar with what Major League Soccer is, though they have no idea what USL is.  With no reserve league, MLS teams would have somewhere to loan out younger players and emergency squad players for game experience.  With MLS having 16 teams in 2010 and this league perhaps having 8, a clean 2:1 ratio before potentially adding more clubs to MLS2 in future years.  Further, it would provide MLS an opportunity to test out some promising markets.  Not sure whether to green-light franchises in St. Louis and Atlanta?  See how well the owners run the team and how well the fans turn out in MLS2 first.  Thinking about giving Tampa and Miami a second try?  Lets see if the fans show up in MLS2.

Oh yes, promotion and relegation, the favorite topic of every US soccer fans who wants MLS to grow up into one of the leading leagues in the world.  Where does that fit in?  Well, that’s an area where MLS can look to USL for some inspiration.  In USL, teams are promoted and relegated based on their financial situation and ability to operate, rather than based on their on-field performance.  So teams that incubate well in MLS2 can be “promoted” to MLS.  MLS’s financial strugglers could, rather than lose their team, perhaps drop down to MLS2 for a few seasons while they get their house in order and way for the next MLS1 spot to appear again.  Its better than losing your team outright, correct fans?  Get that sweetheart stadium deal, or maybe a new owner, and get back to MLS1.  Meanwhile you still field a team and play in a competitive league as well as in Cups.

One thing you must give Don Garber and MLS credit for is that they are hell bent on doing this thing their way.  Not only are they not looking to emulate European leagues, they are going into Europe and telling them to emulate MLS.  That’s why I’m more convinced then ever that we will not see a traditional soccer pyramid built off MLS with promotion and relegation between divisions.  However, MLS2 makes sense if Garber and MLS do it their way.  And maybe they can get FIFA off their back just a little bit, and win the USA some brownie points toward hosting the 2018 or 2022 World Cup as a cherry on top.

In 2002, stubborn pride destroyed the Republic of Ireland’s greatest ever hope of the ultimate World Cup glory.  The Irish squad comported themselves well in Japan & Korea, making the quarterfinals before losing a penalty shoot-out to Spain.  But every fan of Irish soccer looks back at 2002 and asks what could have been, if the stubborn pride that caused the manager Mick McCarthy and captain Roy Keane to butt heads on the island of Saipan, had subsided.  The details will always be a point of dispute between fans who side with McCarthy and fans who side with Keane, but essentially Keane made controversial comments in an interview as he is known to do, McCarthy, filled with stubborn pride and bad managerial judgment, confronted his combustible superstar in front of the team, and the combative and passionate Keane exploded on McCarthy.  Wounded by words, McCarthy ordered the player most responsible for the national team being in the 2002 World Cup Finals away, and Keane obliged, stubbornly making his way back to Manchester to walk his dog, never to return to the Ireland squad until McCarthy was fired not long too after Japan & Korea.  In the story of Irish soccer, Mick McCarthy will always be Agamemnon and Roy Keane will be an Achilles whose fiery temper and stubborn pride was his heel.

This same issue, stubborn pride, is robbing Ireland of its best player once again.  There are similarities between Stephen Ireland and Roy Keane, and there are severe contrasts.  On the surface, the two could not appear more different.  Keane is the picture of masculinity, with a hard, square-jawed face and icy eyes.  A former boxer, he’s completely fearless and unafraid to get in people’s faces.  The force of his personality and unwillingness to accept anything less than 100% from his teammates and club is often credited as a reason why Manchester United won so many honors while he donned the armband (and was also the source of his gripes against McCarthy’s Ireland setup).  He could physically intimidate men 6 inches taller than him.  Stephen Ireland could politely be considered effeminate.    The state of his hairline was a public controversy by the time he was 21 and he has been known to own a pink car.  Yet, both men are from Cork, Ireland, and both are the most gifted Irish midfielder of their generation.

Stephen Ireland left the Irish camp during the disastrous tenure of Steve Staunton.  He was allegedly harassed by teammates, and the ever-present rift between the mercurial star and the Irish squad turned into a chasm after he lied to his manager saying his grandmother had died in order to leave the squad to deal with his girlfriend’s miscarriage.  Ireland has publicly stated his intent to return to the Irish fold and current manager Giovanni Trapatonni has publicly stated a desire to have him back.  Yet, Stephen Ireland has not worn the green shirt during Trap’s reign.  Trap recently issued a warning to Ireland through the media, stating that it is getting late for him to return for the 2010 World Cup push.  Basically, Ireland can’t hope to be the anti-Keane of 2002, playing no role in the qualifying and then showing up for the finals.  The sense of urgency to solve the resolve the issue seems to be lacking since the national team is in good position in their qualify group so far, but with turning point matches vs. Bulgaria and Italy coming up later this month, the Republic of Ireland needs to put their best XI on the pitch, and that squad surely would include Stephen Ireland.

Trapatonni himself cannot be considered free of the curse of stubborn pride, despite his lack of Irishness.  His inexplicable dispute with Andy Reid has shown that much.  Trap has a game plan, a style he wants the Republic of Ireland to pay in, and he’s going to use players that fit into that system despite talent levels.  Perhaps therein lies why Trap has not made a serious push to bring Stephen Ireland back in the fold.  Perhaps Ireland doesn’t fit into Trap’s system enough for Trap to really care. He thus far has seemed to prefer to play two strong and sturdy midfielders in the center.  He would have loved to have Roy Keane to pick, who was worth two such midfielders and more.  While Stephen Ireland is more of a playmaker, he’s better at it than Andy Reid.  If Trap couldn’t fit Ireland into his system in the center of the pitch, on the wing or up front, Ireland could be an impact player off the bench to change the look when things do not go to plan.

Ultimately, the Republic of Ireland is a better team with Stephen Ireland in the squad.  In a pool with Italy, Bulgaria, Cyprus and Montenegro, Ireland can take nothing for granted.  While Ireland is seeded third in the pool, they now outrank Bulgaria in the FIFA rankings thanks to Trap’s leadership.  Despite this, a few injuries or bad results could make things head south quickly.  It would be miracle if Ireland won this pool over Italy, the second place playoffs is what they can realistically aim for.  To have the best chance at playing in South Africa 2010, they need every weapon in their arsenal.

So far using the media has been ineffective tool.  Ireland has spoken through the media, Trap has spoken through the media.  Trap indicates they have spoken face to face, Ireland’s comments seem to suggest this has not happened.  Irish legend Liam Brady, one of Trap’s assistants, might be expected to heal this rift … but Brady isn’t the man for the job.  In the Saipan dispute, he was severely in the anti-Keane camp, and thus he simply may not be able to relate to Ireland.  Trap should first enlist his captain Robbie Keane and two senior players who are club-mates of Ireland, Shay Given and Richard Dunne.  They should tell Ireland they’ll look after him and tell the other players, who might be as motivated by getting more international minutes to help their careers, to lay off the kid from here forward.  If that approach doesn’t work, and it should, there is another wild card approach.  Whichever current or former Ireland player has the best relationship with Roy Keane should ask him to speak with Stephen Ireland about his regret around the 2002 World Cup.  Keane has publicly stated his regret, and as Stephen Ireland has recently stated that he would like to become a Roy Keane-like figure for Manchester City, he must admire his fellow Corkonian greatly.  If Robbie Keane, Richard Dunne and Shay Given can’t heal the rift management cannot, they can try to enlist the man who is admired more than any other sportsman in the rebel county.  For Roy Keane, it would be a small but important way to salve the scars of Saipan and perhaps open up a path for him to one day manage the Irish national team his way.  For Stephen Ireland, it would end an awkward chapter that has tarnished his image as one of the great young players in the English Premier League.  For the Republic of Ireland, it would mean having the best shot at making the 2010 World Cup Finals.   Everyone’s a winner, if stubborn pride can be put aside.

FC Barcelona’s bid to put a MLS club in Miami is dead, according to the great Ives Galarcep, and Vancouver now stands out as the front runner.  With New York City, Montreal and now Miami-backed-by-Barca fallen by the wayside and the Dow Jones at less than 50% of what it was last Fall, it makes sense for MLS to make the safe play as far as expansion is concerned.  The safe play is most definitely to move forward with Vancouver and Portland as the league’s 17th and 18th teams.

Both cities boast successful USL1 franchises right now.  Seattle Sounders FC’s transition from USL to MLS is off to an overwhelmingly successful start, with the club selling nearly 20,000 season tickets and selling out its opener against the New York Red Bulls.  Toronto FC is the only franchise in MLS with comparable success.  Vancouver and Portland come from not only the same region as Seattle, the Pacific Northwest, but the same USL roots.  Adding those two clubs will create a profitable three way derby and tap into established fan bases and already successful operations.

Compare that to the Ottawa and St. Louis bids, the only other two left on the table (Atlanta also pulled out).  Ottawa would be the MLS’s smallest market from the start and while it would attract a rivalry with Toronto, it is down the list of attractive markets in Canada.  While it has a nice ownership group, it does not offer the type of guaranteed success that Portland and Vancouver do.  St. Louis is more attractive being one of the hot beds of US soccer.   MLS Commissioner Don Garber has spoken out on numerous occasions saying that there is not enough financial weight behind the St. Louis bid.  It is not clear that the situation has improved markedly since those comments were made and in these uncertain financial times that is an area in which it is a good call to be conservative.

If I were in Don Garber’s shoes, I would go with the safe choices of Vancouver and Portland.  I would politely advise the prospective ownership groups of Ottawa and St. Louis — and New York City for that matter — to open up a club in USL1.  Yes, I would send them to the competitor league.  I would tell them that they have a lot of potential but they should do what Vancouver, Portland and to an extent Monteral has done:  Establish a successful club in USL1, show that you can build a fan base, show you can run a successful soccer franchise and then come back in a few years for “promotion” to MLS.  USL1 is a relatively low investment for those owners and while it may not be the spotlight they are currently seeking, it will be a soft launch that minimizes their risk, also a good call in these times.  This type of approach is one where everyone wins.  MLS gets two strong clubs and establishes a pipeline for a few years down the line, USL1 gets new franchises and the chance to continue trying to pip MLS as the top North American soccer league and the fans in those areas get a high level of professional soccer.  In a time for sound investments, this approach is a winner.

Nearly a fortnight has passed since the United States beat Mexico in the opening hexagonal CONCACAF qualifier in Columbus, Ohio, and the one thing that stands out above all else from that intense match is that Michael Bradley is on his way to becoming America’s Roy Keane.  While Freddy Adu wastes away in Monaco, Jozy Altidore’s Spanish journey finds him failing to get minutes in La Liga Segunda and Giuseppi Rossi pretends he’s not an American in an Azzurri shirt, Bradley’s February dominance for club and country make him the most outstanding Yankee outfield player plying his trade on any side of the Atlantic Ocean.

While comparing Bradley to his soccer idol may seem unfair, consider that when you look at where they are at in their respective careers, Bradley has an edge on the Corkman so far.  Both played as teens in their little-respected home country leagues, Keano with Cobh Ramblers and Bradley with the New York MetroStars.  At age 21, Roy Keane was operating in the midfield at Nottingham Forest in the last season of Brian Clough’s storied career, with relegation awaiting despite the midfielder’s best efforts.  Bradley’s Borussia Monchengladbach appears as relegation bound as Forest was in 92-93, though Bradley has established himself as a quality player in the Bundesliga.  This after banging in an American-in-Europe record 16 goals last year for Heerenveen in the Dutch top flight, though one could argue whether that is a greater accomplishment than Keane’s 22 goals in three English top flight seasons for Forest.  Whether or not Monchengladbach survives the drop, it is a sure thing that Bradley’s play has earned him the attention of bigger clubs in Germany, England and elsewhere with Manchester United said to have its scouts watching.

The Mexico match demonstrated what Bradley offers.  He’s a tireless worker, has a good football brain, puts in his tackles and is not afraid to take a crack from midfield to keep the goalkeeper honest when the opportunity is right.  Not long ago critics said his inclusion in the USA starting XI stunk of nepotism from his father/USA manager Bob Bradley.  That night Michael shut down those criticisms forever and when asked by an ESPN reporter at game’s end if he was feeling an extra bit of pride after Michael’s brace, Coach Bob said it was only about the team right now.  And he looked like he truly meant it.  That focus and sense of purpose seems to have been passed down a generation and it would not be far fetched to imagine a scenario where the USA’s manager and captain were father and son.

While the armband appears a certainty in Bradley’s international future, his club career is full of possibilities after this season.  Perhaps an opportunity to follow his idol’s path from relegated side to Manchester United seems unlikely with central midfielders like Paul Scholes, Michael Carrick, Owen Hargreaves, Darron Gibson and Darren Fletcher already on the books at Old Trafford, but a move to one of England’s midtable sides would allow Bradley to amass more playing time anyway.  He was closely linked to Middlesborough in the Summer though they are likely to be playing in the Coca-Cola Championship next season.  Everton and Keane’s Sunderland were said to be kicking the tires on Bradley after his torrid Heerenveen campaign.  Clint Dempsey’s success this season at Fulham can only make Bradley more attractive, as though an English speaking two-way midfielder with a tireless work rate and his best years ahead of him were not already enough.

While Michael Bradley is a long way from becoming a legend like Roy Keane or even a world class player like his USA teammate Tim Howard, he’s not off to a bad start.  While Adu and Altidore get more press and FIFA video game box covers, Bradley has firmly established himself as the best of the young Americans.   If he can lead the USA to the top position in the CONCACAF qualifiers, contribute to a respectable American showing in the 2010 World Cup and advance his club career, Bradley has every chance to end up being the USA’s most successful ever non-goalkeeping male footballer.  Not bad at all for a kid who just last year people thought was only getting picked because his daddy was the coach.

A few days ago the New York Times reported that FC Barcelona is having second thoughts on attaching their brand to the new Miami MLS franchise they have to this point backed.  Bolivian tech billionaire Marcelo Claure is the chief financier of the Miami bid.  FC Barcelona was thought to be splitting the costs of the MLS club with Claure, but from comments at Barcelona’s biannual financial meeting it appears the Bolivian may be on his own.  The Times says that Barca’s chief executive called the MLS bid situation “very delicate and we are evaluating if the situation allows for the model planned to be implemented in Miami or not.”  It sounds like Barcelona has cold feet on the eve of the MLS’ final decision on which cities will be awarded the 17th and 18th franchises.  Could this all be David Beckham’s fault?

With Beckham doing everything he can to seal a permanent move to AC Milan, Barcelona may see the league’s prospects as dimming quite a bit from a marketing point of view.  With Beckham in MLS for the next three years and stars such as Thierry Henry waxing on about playing in MLS, the momentum of the league might have seemed attractive.  With Beckham leaving, the MLS will lose its glamour and possibly the interest of the Henry’s of the world.  This chain of events would make it unattractive to FC Barcelona as well.

It is possible that these words are just posturing on the part of the Miami bid.  Since the beginning, the Miami group has tried to pressure MLS into letting it start play in 2010 rather than the 2011 debut date set for clubs 17 and 18.  On top of this, there has been speculation that the Miami bid may be trying to get MLS to accept less than the $40 Million fee required by the league.  With other willing suitors, MLS would be unlikely to budge at such a tactic, especially since it already spurned the superbly attractive idea of adding Montreal to the league because their owners didn’t want to pay full freight.

To the American sports audience, David Beckham’s attempts to force a transfer from the Los Angeles Galaxy to AC Milan may seem petty, as though he is refusing to honor his contract.  This type of behavior is generally looked down upon in American sports.  It happens, such as when Eli Manning forced a trade from the Chargers to the Giants just as John Elway did from the Colts to the Broncos.  Those players recovered because they excelled in the spotlight of the Super Bowl.  Beckham’s brand will certainly lose luster in the eyes of American audiences over this saga, but it is the MLS that has more to lose than Beckham.  In reality, the league has no choice but to sell the former England captain.  The league can position itself as a place where Beckham rejuvenated his career (even though he really did that towards the end of his time at Real Madrid).  It use that as a way to try to attract aging or struggling soccer stars like Ronaldo, who ended up going to the Greek league.  But if MLS doesn’t let Beckham go, they may be seen by these same footballers as a place to be wary of and that a pact with MLS is like a deal with the devil.  That is something the league cannot afford.  Beckham must go for the good of the future of MLS and its ability to attract brand name players.  Beckham’s time here can be seen as a positive if it ends gracefully, and the only way to do that now is to sell Beckham since he’s making it clear to the world that he wants out.

In the short run, this may make MLS less attractive to the likes of FC Barcelona.  That may not be a bad thing, though.  Chivas USA already provides the MLS with a club that gives off the sense of being a minor league team, it may not be in the league’s long term interests to have another.   If Barcelona walks, the MLS would still have the attractive options of Portland, Vancouver, St. Louis, Ottawa and yes even a Barca-less Miami.  When Beckham leaves, the MLS will no longer have its golden boy, but it will have a league with a much higher profile than when he came on board.  They can’t win this battle, but they will have gone a long way toward winning the war to be a true major American sports league.

It was reported this week that the Philadelphia MLS expansion franchise has narrowed down its potential names to a shortlist of four.  Since there’s no existing Philly club and fan base coming over from the USL, as Seattle Sounders FC had, the field is wide open.  The choices are AC Philadelphia, SC Philadelphia, Philadelphia City and Philadelphia Union.  To me, there is only one choice among the group:  AC Philadelphia.

It is interesting to note that the short list contains only Euro-style team names. There’s no Philadelphia Fury, Philadelphia Atoms or other such names as a throwback to the NASL.  Like Toronto FC, Philadelphia will go the Euro route and forsake an official nickname, regardless of the fan voting (unless you count Union as such).

Polling on sites like SoccerByIves.net and BigSoccer.com suggests AC Philadelphia and Philadelphia City are the front runners.  I personally eliminate Philadelphia City and Philadelphia Union off the bat.  Since the team will be playing in Chester, PA, not in the city of Philadelphia, it makes little sense to call the club Philadelphia City.  It’s simply inaccurate.  As for Philadelphia Union, I understand that is supposed to reference Philly’s cornerstone place in the formation of the USA and its blue collar background, but it comes off as a little too WNBA/Minor League Baseball to me.

That leaves SC Philadelphia to contend with AC Philadelphia.  I suppose the SC would stand for Soccer Club.  If you were going to go down that round, it would be better to do FC Philadelphia.  It has a better ring to it and it stakes a claim on the term football … what else would you expect from a blog called OnlyOneFootball anyway?

AC Philadelphia is not just the best of a bad batch of names … it is actually a fantastic choice in and of itself.  AC, which I assume stands for Athletic Club,  references an earlier part of Philadelphia’s sporting history, the Philadelphia Athletics.  Before the A’s were playing baseball in Oakland, they spent the better part of the first half of the 20th century being by far the best baseball team in Philly.  The Phillies edged ahead during the decade in which teams started moving out west, so it was the A’s who move to Kansas City (and later Oakland, and possibly soon to San Jose, those gypsies).  On top of this AC Philadelphia has an Italian feel to it (as in AC Milan) and Philly has a large base of Italian-Americans in the region.  While it would mean the derby with DC United will be dubbed AC/DC, its still a fantastic name.

Whichever name is chosen, its high time for a Philadelphia team in MLS.  While there have been rumors of trouble that might push the club’s debut to 2011 instead of 2010 (with the sure-fire expansion candidate Barcelona Miami filling in the 2010 spot), a Philadelphia team playing in a soccer specific stadium is a lock to be successful, especially with natural rivalries with New York and DC ready to go.  If the club is called AC Philadelphia, all the better.

Major League Soccer is expanding at a rate of about one team per year, and despite the uncertain economic situation in the world, is showing no signs of slowing down.  When a major sports league in the USA adds new franchises, one of the laments of the anti-expansion die-hards is that the talent pool is diluted and the quality of play in the league overall will suffer.

When Major League Baseball added the Arizona Diamondbacks and Tampa Bay Devil Rays so soon after the Florida Marlins and Colorado Rockies joined the MLB, traditionalists in that sport’s audience cried foul.  Despite having access to a global pool of talent unprecedented in the history of baseball, the league has held firm at 30 teams with talk of contraction rather than expansion more fresh on the minds of pundits.

American Football’s NFL added the Jacksonville Jaguars and Carolina Panthers in 1995, the league’s first expansion since 1976 when it added the Seattle Seahawks and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.  The NFL sits at a very even 32 teams and the prospect of expansion only comes up in discussions of adding teams in Los Angeles or Toronto.  American Football can only mine the USA for any significant talent base but one could make that case that the NCAA and Arena Football develop enough talent to add a few more teams.

The NBA and NHL have similar settled on 30 teams both drawing on a talent pool with greater depth outside of North America.  This past season, the MLS played with 14 teams and will see Seattle Sounders FC take the number up to 15 clubs for the 2009 season.  Philadelphia will join in 2010, with two more expansion teams joining by the 2011 season.  That will take Major League Soccer up to 18 teams.  Such rapid expansion, writes some soccer pundits, will impact the quality of play in MLS.

The reality is though that there is no reason why rapid expansion needs to adversely impact the MLS’ talent pool.  The reality is that no sport on Earth has the depth of global talent available that soccer owns.  A glance down the rosters of the clubs in the English Premier League shows players coming from every nook and crany of the globe.  As long as Major League Soccer is able to bring in enough quality talent from around the world to supplement the North American players, there is no reason why MLS cannot grow even beyond the 30-32 team norm of the mature major pro sports leagues in North America.

There are more than enough great candidate cities for future MLS teams in North America:  the current crop of expansion hopefuls including Miami, St. Louis, Portland, Atlanta, Ottawa and Vancouver;  Cities that have had major expansion rumblings including New York City, Montreal, Las Vegas and Phoenix;  USL cities like Cleveland, Tampa, Rochester, Austin, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Charlotte, Minneapolis/St. Paul and Richmond;  Other major North American sports cities like Detroit, Milwaukee, New Orleans, Calgary, San Diego, Nashville/Memphis and San Francisco.