A bad week that was actually good for the game

giggsy - Allsopp was not a top rated Victory player. Victory fans never rated him. Unlike, Thompson who is a top rated Victory player. Carlos Hernandez is also another top rated Victory player. What was that about getting a clue :)

Thanks clearing up that up Jeff from Seattle, much appreciated - giggsy should learn some manners :)

Cheers Edwin I don't know if you have a similar problem than we do here but last year we sort of suffered with the huge disparity of our best players vs our worst ones. Their would be a big difference in standard between some team mates. We have a fairly generous min wage (about 68-70k) but if a kid from the NYL team (basically the reserve league) gets called up he could be on 7k playing next to a marquee on 600k. Though normally the kids go allright. I think the key for both leagues improving on the field is improving the next generation of players. We have a natioanal technical program in it's early stages and a national youth league and you guys have the home grown rule and that huge accademy system (I can't remember it's name but accademies everywhere) which should make a big difference. Both need a lot more licensed youth coaches (enough so every decent kid gets access to them regardless of circumstances).

Well he is 32 now and he did well when Melbourne were doing well but he struggled in his first year there when Melbourne didn't do so well (3 goals in 20 games). Meanwhile Shane Smeltz came from a couple of divisions lower and scored bucket loads (would have been a much better bet for MLS). Very unusual to play out the prime of your career in Australia like he did since he did ok in lower tier English football when he was younger. Fred only played 17 games in the A league (4 goals) but he was very popular...but then the early days of the a league the league was fairly um "agricultural"...... still is on occasions.

Hard for me to say which league has a better quality of play, but if MLS were so inferior, why is Alsopp's performance down so far from his career averages? Granted, he's on the worst MLS team, but he's been pretty poor himself.

Man the guy who wrote this article was on the wrong track. Did he even bother to look for facts or he just took the word of his buddy Allsopp. Reading these comments alot of you guys are confused. Here are some facts MLS cap is 2.55 mil will rise to 2.68 mill 2011 and 5% rise each year there after till 2014. MLS has alot of ways that they pay for players without counted it against the cap i.e allocation money which is an "UNKNOWN" amount that every club has to pay down a players salary it can be traded for, or given to the worst team (DC UNITED ALLSOPP) and given to new expansion teams. MLS also pays the up and coming youth stars generation addidas and youth contacts which don't count in that nefarious 2.55 mil cap. 1. The leagues are comparable in aspects but MLS is head and shoulders a better league with more depth on the field. Off the field the gap widens its not really comparable and im a fan of the a leauge I DVR every A-LEAGUE,J LEAUGE game and highlight show off directv all the time. As far as on the field product I give a slight nod to J league only for technical ability it seems just a tad bit higher but that is the only department. Then MLS followed by a distant A-LEAGUE. I like A-Leauge because it reminds me of a young MLS but you guys dso have a ways to go. 2. This guy who wrote this article is rubbish and if he reads this and doesn't like my post than fix your JOURNALISM. Now here are facts in these links since he can provide you that service if they don;t work google the info off the links provide below then you'll get the picture. http://grant-wahl-soccer.si.com/2010/08/20/mls-player-salaries-crunching-the-numbers/?xid=cnnbin&hpt=Sbin http://www.mlsplayers.org/salary_info.html MLS Team Salaries 2010 (Includes the exact ammounts) 1. New York: $15,666,639 2. Los Angeles: $10,978,593 3. Chicago: $5,559,103 4. Toronto: $5,214,381 5. Seattle: $3,118,103 6. New England: $2,983,032 7. Dallas: $2,924,318 8. Kansas City: $2,905,107 9. Philadelphia: $2,886,399 10. D.C. United: $2,881,530 11. Columbus: $2,808,203 12. Colorado: $2,710,113 13. Salt Lake: $2,645,721 14. Houston: $2,565,875 15. San Jose: $2,518,590 16. Chivas USA: $2,477,548

Actually Andy, I wish that the Pan Pacific Championship could have continued. I thought that it was an interesting tournament. I honestly feel that this was a fluff piece aimed at those fence sitters/people that haven't decided that the A-league is worth their time. I also feel that this was written to possibly soften the blow when the US and England get awarded the next two World Cups. To be honest, I would rather that the USA get snubbed in favor of Australia. I've visited this place before . . . I want to see footy take off in the USA and in Australia and I honestly believe that football as a whole needs Australia to improve more than FIFA needs the USA to improve. It's already taking off here and is getting more popular every year. The World Cup would be big for either country but bigger for Australia

Yes, it got linked on dunord.blogspot.com which is a great American soccer news aggregator site.

I think this article has obviously gone international...... we will have some A league vs MLS tournament by the end of next week at this rate.

Giggsy well said. Im a big fan of MLS as they are doing things in a smart financially viable way. Unlike the a-league which is effectively broke. MLS is miles ahead of the a-league off the pitch. On the field its closer but MLS will always get the bigger names. Since the introduction of Thierry henry and rafa marquez New york are playing the best soccer ive seen in MLS for a long time.

Your final point is valid, but you've got the particulars backwards. The league pays the $2.55 million. Clubs are allowed up to three players that partially don't count against the salary cap. (They call them Designated Players, which is a bad choice of names in my opinion.) The first $355K of their salary goes against the cap and is paid by the league. Anything over that is paid directly by the club. So the bulk of the contracts of Henry, Beckham, Donovan, etc is payed by the club. So a club like New York with three DPs has 3 x 355K, or about $1 million of their cap tied up in 3 players. That leaves only about $1.55 million for the other 20 or so players on the roster.

the A-League better than MLS? i am under no delusions about the level of MLS but that is simply preposterous, both on and off the pitch. remind me again where former top A-league players Fred and Allsopp are playing? MLS. and they are mediocre here at best. this FIFA weekend there are over 30 MLS players away on international duty? how many A-leaguers? if you are judging the quality of MLS by DC United (Allsopps club) then it is no wonder you'd be deluded enough to think the A-league is better. they're terrible due in no small part to the fact that Allsopp cannot finish for shyte. and off the pitch there is simply no comparison. by 2012 there will be 19 teams all but 3 of which will play in revenue controlled and/or soccer specific stadiums. right now Seattle Sounders have 32K season ticket holders and get 36K fans per game, every game, rain or shine and will likely have total revenues exceeding $40M (including a $5M kit sponsorship). the myth that MLS clubs are "losing millions" is just that, a myth. one perpetuated by the owners of the league during a somewhat acrimonious collective bargaining with the player's union before the season. the truth is that while a few individual clubs may lose money each season most break even a good number make healthy profits. the league itself rakes in obscene amounts of cash thru expansion fees, revenue sharing of ticket revenue, national sponsorships ($25M a year from Adidas alone) and the most important SUM which is a nice little "side business" of the league that makes money from all sorts of soccer related marketing areas including Mexico friendlies held on US soil that get 80K fans to each game. that money is technically "off" the MLS books but all of the investors in MLS (each "owner" of an MLS club is in actuality an "investor" in MLS that is granted the "license" to "operate" the MLS franchise or team) is also an investor in SUM and thus make a portion of the profits from that business too. on top of that almost every MLS owner also used their MLS "franchise" as a bargaining tool to get a stadium built at which they hold dozens and dozens of non soccer events each year making giant profits that are also "off" the MLS books but very much due to their MLS team. only the Melbourne Victory would even rate in the top half of MLS franchises in terms of fan support and off field financial strength. on the pitch i'd say maybe 3-4 teams would be competitive with the upper half of MLS teams.

way to get it exactly backwards. i have an idea. how about you have a clue what you are talking about BEFORE you open your yap. MLS teams have a salary cap of 2.55M. that amount is paid by the league itself and not the clubs. the clubs share 30% of their ticket revenue with the league. this along with national TV and sponsorship money is what is used to pay this. a marquee palyer or DP is a player for whom the first 335K of their salary is paid under the cap (ie by the league) and the rest of the salary is paid for BY THE CLUB. but hey. getting it exactly 100% wrong isn't all that bad right?

Allsopp?Ummmm . . . do you remember the former A-League MVP Fred? He also went to DC United and was a bit player at best, which is pretty much where Allsopp seems to be also. I'm an American that loves watching the A-League but I put it below MLS when it comes to level of play. It's still a young league and will have it's moments both good and bad. Once the league starts importing more South Americans, then you'll see the level of play leap forward.

Salecanard, And thats not a bad place to be. The A-League and MLS are decent grade footy leagues ... they are AA ball at least, with the better teams hitting AAA when everything goes right. And thats a better plan than trying to be in the majors when you don't have the funding.

I'm an American who watches the A-league (thanks, ESPN3) and MLS, and don't see the difference Messrs. Allsop and Corran do. Maybe they're paying a little too much attention to DC United? Just to fill you in, DCU is sniffing at setting the all-time lowest point season record in MLS. They are total crap. Watch some of the good teams, if you have the chance. My Real Salt Lake play a very attractive style of attacking and possession football, as do the Columbus Crew. Also at the top of the league table are the LA Galaxy and FC Dallas, which are very good, but play a more defensive game. I wouldn't put MLS on the same level as the J-league, but it's certainly equal with the A-league.

Then again, when you watch the drivel that was served up in gosford tonigh it is hard to fell positive for the league. Hoping tomorrow is much better.

Having watched only three games from the MLS in the past six months I said to myself it was about on par, but the A-league is quickly growing so it probably has surpassed it. We may have surpassed them on the field but off the field we are a joke in comparison, I really no team folds.

The main difference between MLS and A-League is that the MLS pay for the majority of the marquees wages and not the individual clubs. The MLS club has a salary cap $2.55 million. A player like Henry receives a $355k from the Red Bulls and other few million are paid by the MLS. This basically means if you take out the marquee players like Beckham and Henry MLS squads are the same if not weaker in terms of quality compared to an A-League squad.

Same, i Would have thought that the MLS would be on par with the J-League or something. From what i've seen from highlights, MLS looks very open and exciting. Some A-League games have been like that this season, but then u have a first half like Sydney FC vs Mariners, dull and terrible. Second half was eventful though!