As covered earlier in this blog, the mid-season cash spinning barnstorming tours by the giants of Europe (Man Utd, Barca), the wish-they-were giants of Europe (Man City) and the minnows of England (West Brom) are a somewhat unwelcome distraction.
President Bush inspects the Fire's new midfielder/marketing plan
It's routine to see players taking it easy in league matches to save their legs for the friendlies and we even saw Vancouver cancel a league match so that they could stage a friendly. It's annoying, it's a distraction and it inevitably paints a picture of MLS as a league that's not very serious about its own product.
A second is the MLS roster revamp. Because it's so absurdly easy to get into the playoffs, many GMs around the league feel content to build a provisional squad for the first half of the season with an eye toward adding a big name or some cheap talent once the summer transfer window opens. In theory this seems like a fine idea but more often than not players show up out of shape and are coming off of a 6-8 week break, then have to play themselves into shape while adjusting to the pace of the league and learning how to combine with their new teammates. More often than not there's not much to show for the effort until the middle of August, or in the case of last year's mega-bust Nery Castillo, he never gets it together and ends up eating a whole bunch of salary while producing nothing.
Chicago Fire Technical Director and Head Coach Frankie Klopas is perhaps the most guilty of this routine. The last few years have seen an incomplete roster to start the season built with the idea of adding a star at mid-season. Castillo was the most spectacular failure, but Brian McBride arrived exhausted and injured from the Olympics in 2008 and Freddie Ljundberg, while arriving fit, also came so late in the season that by the time he was playing well with his teammates the season was a lost cause. Only his mid-season addition of Cuauthemoc Blanco has worked for him.
Well, Frankie's done it again. The team announced the signature of Sebastian Grazzini, a journeyman Argentine playmaking midfielder, at the beginning of July and he finally made it on to the pitch for a 30 minute cameo against Man United on Saturday. He took some nice touches while looking a bit lost and unfit. His last competitive action came in early May after being used lightly by his Argentine club through the spring. Yesterday the Fire announced the signature of Mexican International and star Pavel Pardo through the end of the season. Pardo is a player of vast experience and skill who has performed at a high level in the Mexican league and in Germany as well as for the national team. However he's 35 years old and his last competitive action came at the beginning of May. He also plays a position, defensive midfielder, currently held by club captain Logan Pause, which isn't really an area of urgent need on the field. Now Klopas is expecting Pardo to get into shape, form a partnership with Grazzini and the rest of the club all while getting results on the field in the hope of making the playoffs. You could say it's an ambitious plan or just a foolish one. And the best part? He and Grazzini are only signed through the end of the season so we likely get to do this all again next summer.
So here's my message for management in MLS: we fans care about regular season games, namely winning them. We like to win in April as much as September and the points have the same value. It's cute and fun to watch your team get its ass kicked by the superstars playing 30 minutes at half speed while your fans deal with condescending fucks who feel that soccer's something to be watched on TV or live every 3 years when your nominal favorite team comes to down, but the priority should always be to build a strong team from the start of the season and take your regular season games seriously. And now that I'm done pissing into the wind I'll go change my pants.
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