What we Learned from the Friendlies

This past week the United States became the epicenter of the club football world with numerous friendlies involving large clubs from all over the world, as well as the unveiling of David Beckham as a member of the Los Angeles Galaxy. Now that the lights have faded and most MLS clubs are back to league action or off to Superliga, let's evaluate what we've learned this past week.

Asia Trumps the US as a Market for European Clubs

Manchester United has clearly determined what Chelsea now should. Having a preseason tour in Asia is a much better way to sell tickets, develop new fans and sell merchandise than touring the United States. Chelsea may have fine tuned the chemistry of their squad on this tour, but they could have quite frankly done that in Europe. Chelsea was overshadowed by Club America in the first match (which happens anytime Club America plays in the US), played in front of a near empty stadium in its second match and got caught up in Beckham mania hype in its third match.

Everton's first match of its US tour, a 2-0 loss to Real Salt Lake provided RSL's second smallest weekend evening crowd since the franchise began MLS play three seasons ago. Chicago's friendly with Celtic was played in front of a half empty Toyota Park and according to some reorts MLS gave away tickets to the All Star game Thursday Night (versus Celtic) to make Dick's Sporting Goods Park appear full on TV.

The bottom line is simple. While a few years back crowds flocked to see European clubs play on American soil, the novelty of these matches has worn off and right now event promoters are better off booking big Mexican clubs who come with a built in fan base wherever they play in the USA than European clubs who may or may not sell tickets.

Chelsea Will Be Alright

Unlike last season when Chelsea's poor performance against the MLS All Star showed the team suffered from post World Cup fatigue and a lack of cohesion, this trip showed Chelsea can find different ways to win matches against different types of quality opponents. John Terry despite a broken toe anchored a strong back line, and Didier Drogba worked to create space up front. While Jose Mourinho still has lots to learn in terms of using his flank players properly (including newly signed Florent Malouda) Chelsea's possession game versus Los Angeles was impressive, and save some great defending by former Liverpool and Everton defender Abel Xavier, Chelsea could have picked its scoreline.

Celtic's Slow Starts are Worrying

Gordan Strachan must be concerned about how lethargic his Celtic team looked in the first half against both the MLS All Stars and the Chicago Fire. Artur Boruc's heroic goalkeeping single handily kept Celtic from being blown off the pitch in the first half of both matches. The latter part of the second half of both games however were dominated by Celtic, which is somewhat confusing considering it was the second teamers that looked sharp. But the fact that Juan Pablo Angel, Juan Toja, and Eddie Johnson found so much space for the MLS All Stars in the first half versus Celtic and that Chicago's Cuauhtémoc Blanco appeared to be toying with Celtic the whole time he was on the pitch for shows Celtic's defense could be severely tested in the Champions League this season.

European style Fixture Congestion Has Come to the US

With the advent of Superliga, and all of these international friendlies MLS clubs are beginning to run into some serious fixture congestion. It was interesting to observe today how both DC United and Houston protected certain players knowing that they will play as many as five non-friendly matches in the next two weeks. The LA Galaxy schedule between the two friendlies this week, the MLS All Star Game, Superliga and MLS Regular Season is nothing short of cruel and unusual punishment. The Galaxy is a mess as it is, but may need two seperate squads to survive this brutal stretch.

Cuauhtémoc Blanco will Improve Chicago

The jury is still very much out on whether or not a specialty player like David Beckham will actually help the struggling LA Galaxy, or whether the team will completely sink in the circus surrounding Beckham's arrival stateside. But today we learned the second highest profile MLS addition of the summer, Cuauhtémoc Blanco has already developed an understanding of his team mates in Chicago and has taken on the #10 role with the Fire. Blanco clearly is relishing being the focal point with the Fire he was with Club America and his performance against Celtic was nothing short of spectacular.

The Galaxy Are Discrediting MLS With Their Performances

In the same week that bottom of the table Real Salt Lake beat Everton and last place Eastern Conference team Chicago drew with Celtic the L.A. Galaxy seeking to become North America's signature football club was humiliated in front of the world's eyes. The British media assembled to watch David Beckham's future club lose to a lower mid table Tigres side 3-0. After this match the Galaxy were described as a "pub team" by one British media outlet. The truth is the Galaxy is not much better than a semi professional team right now and in fact lost to a third division team last week.

The Galaxy is under a microscope and despite the fine performances of other MLS clubs and players this past week the Galaxy are the team the European press is watching and they did little to redeem themselves against Chelsea last night again showing a lack of quality in the attack and poor touches and clearances from the back line and midfield.

South American Signings Have Changed MLS for the Better

Four names for you: Angel, Scheletto, Toja and Emilio. Each of these new additions to the league have a quality and flair that has been sorely lacking in MLS since the early years of the league. Three of these four signings were below the radar so to speak but each player has improved the team he is on. The MLS for marketing purposes and to improve the quality of play on the pitch must continue to mine the best talent it can from Latin America and bring them stateside whether they are young prospects like Toja, old veterans like Scheletto, world superstars like Angel or journeymen like Emilio.

Randon MLS Thoughts

• It's a shame that Alexi Lalas didn't spend much time this offseason working on solidifying the Galaxy's porous defense. Less than a minute after Tyrone Marshall tied the match yesterday, Taylor Twellman responded with a goal that gave the Galaxy yet another home defeat.
• How bad will it be for the league if David Beckham ends up on a team that losses early in the playoffs or worse yet fails to qualify for the playoffs. The season is early, especially LA's season but the Galaxy have a lot of question marks, and may just be too young to win anything this season.
• I think Jason Kreis has already gotten through to the underachieving Real Salt Lake side. Freddy Adu had possibly his best game in MLS on Thursday Night, with several dangerous runs down both flanks and some spectacular footwork. Also the defense was much better organized and held its shape than it had under John Ellinger.
• Joe Cannon is the best keeper in MLS, but for a team lacking in consistent attacking options, I do not think LA should have traded Herculez Gomez. Gomez is almost single handidly keeping a shaky Colorado side in every match. Well Gomez, and Roberto Brown (one of the best foreign acquisitions this year nobody noticed) are keeping the Rapids afloat.
• Even though Red Bull NY lost midweek to the Galaxy in a US Open Cup qualifier, it was nice to see Juan Pablo Angel score on his debut.
• It was no shock to see Danny Dichio score a goal and get sent off in the same match today. Dichio is one of the more accomplished players MLS has signed in recent seasons, but the reason he was available is that in his native England he has developed the reputation of a thug. I asked an English friend of mine via email today after the match what he thought of Dichio and he responded, " Dichio is a dangerous psychopath who can score goals but should not be allowed to walk the streets." I think that sums it up. No word on whether MLS will attempt to sign disgraced Man City midfielder Joey Barton who like Dichio can score goals but also must be placed in the dangerous psychopath category.
• As much as I raved about DC United before the season, I'm beginning to believe they are one of the worst teams in the league if they keep their current roster. Their backline seems to be wearing down, their midfield doesn't play well together, and they lack a clinical finisher beyond Emilio. Besides every other team in the East seems to have a certain spark that DC thus far has lacked. Perhaps after a grueling CONCACAF Champions Cup United is just going through the motions, but even in their win against Chivas USA I didn't see much to convince me that my prediction of a runaway title winner was a very smart one.
• The inconsistency of FC Dallas is due to the relative youth of the midfield. Steve Morrow knew his team would have growing pains when he dumped Ronnie O'Brien and Richard Mulrooney in the off season, but by year's end I remain convinced that the Hoops will be among the league's elite.
• What a great night it must have been for Kansas City to break the magic 10,000 fan mark! Right now soccer lovers all over the San Fransisco Bay Area and state of Florida are wondering what exactly they did to lose their MLS teams. (okay, maybe in Tampa they are wondering why they lost their team but in south Florida many may not have known the Fusion ever existed.)
• Guillermo Barros Schelotto had his first MLS assist tonight and he should help to turn the Crew into winners in his time in Columbus. Schelotto is exactly the type of player MLS had to sign from a quality standpoint even if he doesn't bring any marketing ability with him. (Jeff Rusnak the well respected soccer writer stated last year that he'd rather see MLS sign Paul Scholes than David Beckham for exactly the reason why Schelotto needed to be signed by the league.)

Do Red Bull Have a Clue About the Beckham Rule?

Soccer websites are abuzz today with the news that Juan Pablo Angel has signed as a Beckham rule player with MLS traditional stomping bag, the New York franchise.

Throughout the history of the Metrostars/ Red Bull franchise they have failed miserably regardless of the reputation of the players allocated to them by the league and the coaches who have managed the club.

The franchise has had the following big name coaches:

• Carlos Alberto Parriera
• Carlos Queiroz
• Bora Milutinovic
• Bob Bradley
• Bruce Arena

The franchise has had the following big name international players:

• Roberto Donadoni
• Branco
• Wellington Sanchez
• Lothar Matthaus
• Alex Comas
• Amado Guevarra
• Youri Djorkaeff

Yet the most successful years of the franchise were when the team was led by Coach Octavio Zambrano and the volatile Clint Mathis.

The signed of Juan Pablo Angel, a player completely written off at Aston Villa is another sign that the franchise just doesn't get it. While other clubs have upgraded their product using the new Beckham rule, the Red Bulls have simply replaced discarded players with outcasts from what were both relegation threatened EPL sides. (Claudio Reyna formerly of Man City is the Red Bulls other "Beckham Rule" player.)

What's worse is that MLS signed better Colombian players prior to the Beckham Rule than Angel. Carlos Valderrama, Antony De Avila, Oscar Parreja and Leonel Alvarez all played in MLS before this rule was instituted. What's worse is the signing of an American player, Reyna who in my humble opinion is inferior to the guy New York gave up (Amado Guevarra) is simply put a corruption of the intent of the Beckham Rule.

It doesn't matter what international signs for New York or who coaches them, the club will continue to underachieve both on the field and in ticket sales if they continue to make the same poor decisions that have ailed the club prior to Red Bull taking ownership of the club.