What if the US does well in the WC...

[Aerick]

Will that mean that alot of our MLS players will get bought up by the European clubs? Not sure I like that idea too much if that's the case.

[I_Believe_In_Kreis]

I agree......let's tank the World Cup so we can keep our favorite players in MLS. Maybe if we do bad enough, the Euro clubs will send back our players who are already abroad (Keller, Gooch, etc.). 😉

You're forgetting, if we show well at the World Cup in theory it will increase the popularity of football in the U.S., which means MLS makes more money, which means MLS players get paid more, which means more of them are more likely to stay even with offers from abroad. Yeah, we all know it doesn't really work like this, but I still think doing well at the World Cup will help soccer's popularity more than MLS can.

[Burninator]

How many players have an honest chance in Europe? Dempsey? Eddie Johnson? Ben Olsen? Lannycakes wants to stay here in the good ol' U.S.ofA. and I can't really see any other MLSers making it in Europe.

Now, playing in the J-League for the Kashima Antlers? MAYBE.

[dysko]

Originally Posted by Burninator

How many players have an honest chance in Europe? Dempsey? Eddie Johnson? Ben Olsen? Lannycakes wants to stay here in the good ol' U.S.ofA. and I can't really see any other MLSers making it in Europe.

Now, playing in the J-League for the Kashima Antlers? MAYBE.

Are you kidding me? Those are the guys that I would sure shots... but I really believe that almost anyone playing for the Nats could make it in Europe... so what if they aren't in the Bundes... La Liga or Premiership.

There are opportunities out there to play at high level in Europe and make more money than in MLS. The question is if the players are willing to make the sacrifices necissary to play in Europe.

So you are saying you don't think that Brian Ching or Matroeni could make a European squad?

[prk166]

Originally Posted by Burninator

How many players have an honest chance in Europe? Dempsey? Eddie Johnson? Ben Olsen? Lannycakes wants to stay here in the good ol' U.S.ofA. and I can't really see any other MLSers making it in Europe.

Now, playing in the J-League for the Kashima Antlers? MAYBE.

I was thinking the same thing. Ya never know what some team will decide to do. But guys like Eddie Pope Pablo probalby aren't going to move because of their age. In fact, a lot of the MLS guys like Conrad, Olsen, Wolf and Pablo are all 28-30. Like I said, ya never know what happens.

Speaking of Pablo, remember after WC02 how he and Clint were hot picks to move on to Europe? Well, that really didn't happen. It took a few years for Clint and Pablo's still in the MLS. So even if there were a few more MLSers in that 23-26 age group and at that they had a good WC, it doesn't mean they're going to move on. The people making those buys know WC doesn't mean they'll play well for their team, esepcially after seeing so many of 02's Senegal team make big moves that were far from successul (Fadiga, Coly, H.Camara, Diouf).