Is Blanco the best DP MLS has seen so far? (Getty Images)

I’ve had this thought for a little while, on the surface the Designated Player rule is good as it brings quality players into Major League Soccer that do help in more areas than just on the field itself. We know the cons against it like teams spending so much money on one player but I started looking at all the past and present DPs and started wondering if this rule really is worth it.

Now first of all I’m not going to advocate for or against this rule today. I just merely want to point out who’s done well with it and who’s not. We’ve seen this rule in place for a couple seasons now and so far only a few clubs have ventured out with this rule. Now it seems like most clubs are going away from the rule, currently only five clubs have a DP (Toronto, New York, LA, Seattle and Houston).

Also, so far five clubs (or six if you count Philly too) have yet to use their DP slot. RSL won MLS Cup 2009 without one so maybe they aren’t worth the money.

So let’s take a deeper look into each DP. What worked about it and what didn’t work on and off the field. We’ll go from worst to best in this instance. I’d also like to note that two fo the DPs on this list have only played a little under a half season with their clubs so grading and discussing them at length seemed unfair at this time. If you are wondering about who I am talking about here those two are Houston’s Luis Angel Landin and Toronto’s Julian De Guzman. (For the record I like De Guzman but don’t care of Landin…but saying that I am very curious about their upcoming seasons.) Continue Reading…

The 2010 Crew look a lot like the 2009 Crew, does that mean another Supporter's Shield is on the way? (Getty Images)

I had hoped to get this post out of the way earlier in the day but some issues on the back end of my site kept me busy all day (some PHP bug!). But I felt like it was still alright to move on with out look at each Major League Soccer club and how they are doing this offseason.

Today we go back east and look at the two time defending Supporter’s Shield champion Columbus Crew.

The offseason hasn’t been too busy for the Crew but they were able to make some big noise at the SuperDraft with a couple of their selections. Continue Reading…

Guillermo Barros Schelotto has been a fan favorite since joining the Crew. (Getty Images)

A move that definitely keeps the Columbus Crew contenders finally became official today. The club announced the re-signing of midfielder/striker Guillermo Barros Schelotto to his forth season with the Black-and-Gold.

Schelotto will not occupy a Designated Player slot in 2010, thus meaning his new contract is a lot cheaper than what he was making last season.

The Crew really needed the veteran back for another year due to his high production he’s done over the last three years since joining the Crew. So far he has scored 26 goals and tallied 39 assists in 78 regular-season and playoff games. Not a bad stat-line for any player.

While the Crew didn’t have the greatest Draft last week I think this re-signing still keeps them in the top half of teams in the league going into this year. No doubt with his leadership on board this club will be a contender yet again in 2010.

Schelotto looking to possibly stay with MLS. (Getty Images)

Some news this morning that should excite fans around the league, especially those in Columbus. Former league MVP Guillermo Barros Schelotto is said to be working on getting his green card.

From this news it sounds like GBS is serious about staying with Major League Soccer and the Columbus Crew. I’ve also been told that he wants to eventually get into coaching, so this could be a move to keep him in the States long enough to secure a coaching position when he is done with this playing career.

As of this morning there is no new news about his contract with the Crew. But this news about him going after a green card should mean he is serious about re-signing with the Crew. That can only help the Crew going forward into this season, without him they’d have a lot of ground to cover in the draft and in the transfer market to replace his productivity.

Montreal inches closer to a MLS expansion bid.

By now we’ve all seen the lovely quote from MLS commissioner Don Garber yesterday about future league expansion.

“We’ve had productive conversations with Montreal to be our 19th team,” said Garber.

With all the issues going on with the USL/TOA crap you have to think that Montreal owner Joey Saputo is trying to figure out the best way to get his club into the top-tier league instead of a new breakaway league. Saputo probably would have gotten an expansion bid for the 2011 round had he not gone crazy over the expansion fee this time last year. Instead he is busting his ass to get a deal done as soon as possible from what folks up north are saying.

We mentioned last week that he was invited to MLS Cup this weekend by the league as well. That should definitely be a place that he is able to boost his club’s ratings up a bit to get into MLS.

But after Montreal we still have no idea who the 20th club will be. Garber didn’t bring up a name for who he thought was even in the running for the 20th club. Some folks sure jumped on the Detroit bandwagon real quick yesterday with the news about the Silverdome being bought to be used as a soccer facility. Honestly, like I said yesterday I just don’t buy that at all.

What about New York though? I know a group that seems keen on the idea still of a club in the city. And based on some recent news (or another mention) of David Beckham’s group looking at owning a club in either Miami, New York or Montreal when he is done with his time in MLS definitely sparks some interest for those guys in New York.

Go ahead and throw Montreal out of the mix for Beckham. We’ve known for ages it was always going to be either Miami or New York for him. A lot will come down to where the potential club would play and probably support from the local area. Are the Miami Ultras better than the Borough Boys? Only time will tell.

My money is still on New York even though we do need to see a club in the Southeast again sometime down the road. Continue Reading…

GBS helped lead the Crew to a second straight Supporter's Shield trophy. (Getty Images)

We all expected big things in 2009 for the Columbus Crew. Anytime you win a MLS Cup and retain the bulk of a lineup that got you that title you expect to repeat or come extremely close to do so. As we saw last week the Crew fell short of that this year as they lost to Real Salt Lake at home in the semi-finals of the eastern conference.

Still what can you say about this year’s Crew other than it was pretty much a carry-over of some sorts of the 2008 team. Robert Warzycha stepped in as Sigi Schmid headed west to be with the new Seattle Sounders club and things on the roster pretty much remained the same way with Guillermo Barros Schelotto, Robbie Rogers, Chad Marshall and Frankie Hejduk all there.

The Crew stumbled a bit out of the gate though with questions of if this bunch was really good enough to repeat. Columbus didn’t earn their first win until May, eight games into the season. But even with the lack of winning early on there was only a couple losses on the fixture table.

In the summer the Crew really turned things on. Schelotto looked like the MVP that we all knew he was and instead of assisting on goals like he did in his MVP season of 2008, he was scoring goals to help the Crew win games. Between June and August the Crew only lost a couple matches in league play while their CONCACAF Champions League play started off well.

Late in the year the Crew wrapped up their second straight Supporter’s Shield title, ensuring another birth in the CCL next year. While they did fall short in the playoffs they proved once again how a stable club can do so well in the league.

What Went Right In 2009:
When all key parts were playing things looked unstoppable for this group. Schelotto was a beast when he was fully healthy, Marshall repeated as Defender of the Year even though he wasn’t totally fit and other guys like Steven Lenhart and Jason Garey filled in nicely. Its hard to complain too much about a Supporter’s Shield type season like the Crew had but I know the way things ended left a lot of folks unsatisfied.

What Went Wrong In 2009:
Injuries played a big part in things that did go wrong. Some might also point a finger at Warzycha for playing it too safe in Salt Lake for the first leg of the playoffs. Either way this club was pretty gassed by the end of the season. Their schedule in the fall months between the league slate and the CCL group stage really left them on empty. They went from being one of the most dominate home clubs in league history to a team that lost three straight home games to finish the year (including the playoffs).

What’s Next:
Next up is figuring out who is staying and who is going. We know Philly will certainly pick someone from this club in the expansion draft and then there is the likelihood that Robbie Rogers will leave. What is bigger though is whether or not Schelotto will hang it up or not. If he returns along with other veterans like Hejduk and Alejandro Moreno then this club should have no problem returning to the top of the food chain. But at the same time they definitely need to go out and find some offense this winter. It was something that lacked all year and a reason why Schelotto had to pick up the scoring slack.

Eric Brunner and Columbus try to slow down Yura Movsisyan and RSL tonight. (Getty Images)

Tonight the second leg of the first round playoff matches kickoff in Columbus as the Crew host Real Salt Lake. RSL holds a slight 1-0 lead in the goals department in this two-legged series thanks to the late goal from Robbie Findley last weekend.

Now is really where the fun begins for each side. Columbus went defensive in the first game by sitting Guillermo Barros Schelotto and Alejandro Moreno. Each should see plenty of time in this game as the Crew will be gunning for goals to take the advantage back. Most figure RSL will go defensive in this game and bunker down as much as possible.

To come away with a victory on the road won’t be easy as the Crew were one of the best home teams in the league this year while on the flip side RSL was one of the worst road teams. RSL’s lone game at Crew Stadium this year was a 3-1 loss back in July. Going defensive means they will have to rely more on the play of guys like Jamison Olave and Chris Wingert. I’d also imagine we’ll see a little more Clint Mathis in this game as well from Jason Kreis.

RSL has to continue to hope that the Crew stays cold. Its been a few games since the Crew have scored a goal and one has to figure that streak will end at home. The pressure is on the Crew to score but it is also on a very much on the RSL defense to do well in this one. During the regular season RSL gave up 24 goals on the road while the Crew scored a mean 25 goals at home.

I think having a rested Schelotto goes far for the Crew in this one. It was a big gamble sitting him in game one but he sees the field like no one else out there. RSL will rely a lot on the speed of Robbie Findley and Yura Movsisyan up top but with Chad Marshall a little more fit going into this game I just like the Crew at home. Its still very hard to pick RSL on the road anyways. Columbus escapes this series but only by a slim margin.

WVH Prediction: Columbus 2, RSL 0