HexagonalBlog

"Not ethical" to play in MLS, and for good reason

Miguel Calero has been Pachuca's goalkeeper for 10 years and has won just about everything to be won on this continent -- four Mexican league championships, three CONCACAF club titles, a Copa Sudamericana, and a SuperLiga.  He's about to turn 40 and retirement is something that is becoming more real.  After tonight's Superliga match he was asked by Mexican sports daily Medio Tiempo if he felt tempted to join the influx of foreign players into MLS.

His response: "It was difficult already, but at 40 years old even more so.  MLS is a league whose level has grown a lot and it's not a league to come and spend a farewell year.  So no, I think the league is at a good level and the American people and the league deserve some respect."

Good on him, I say.

A unique import to the Mexican league

Mexico's Primera División is arguably the richest professional soccer league outside of Europe, and its clubs are more than capable of attracting the best talent from all over the Americas.  (With the exception of the very best talent, which will always head for Europe.) 

Once in a while, a Mexican club will contract a player from outside of the Americas, like Cameroon's François Omam-Biyik who played for América in the mid 1990s.  Or Emilio Butragueño at Celaya during the same time period, although it was clear that the Real Madrid legend was looking for one last chance to play football at a decent salary before retiring.

This season, Querétaro has brought on the Bosnian Alen Skoro, who has spent most of his time with FK Sarajevo but had a spell at Olympique Marseille in 2000-2001.  It's quite a gamble for the Gallos Blancos, as Skoro is 29 and has only been successful in the Bosnian leagues (50 goals in Bosnia, and 27 in Austria and Croatia -- none in France or Switzerland).  Has the transfer market in South America become so inflated that a Mexican league club is now looking at Eastern Europe for prospects?  Or do Querétaro think they might have found a hidden jewel?

It is the kind of transfer move that if successful might be emulated by other Mexican teams, but then again, Omam-Biyik's success in Mexico didn't lead to Mexican clubs scouring Africa for talent.

A draft, but not a draft-draft

The 2010 Mexican League Draft for first- and second-division clubs started yesterday in Cancún and concludes today.  Like the drafts in American sports, there is a pool of players from which the clubs will make their selections -- out-of-contract players or those placed on the transfer market by their team.  Unlike the drafts that American fans are used to, there is no order of selection or allocation per se; rather, the clubs make deals with each other to sign the rights to a particular player.  The Mexican League Draft is merely an opportunity for club directors to make all those internal transfer decisions in one location at one time.

Most of the deals made involve loan agreements between clubs, but the outright transfers are what make the news.  In the top flight, the major transfers were Hérculez Gómez's move from Puebla to Pachuca, Damián Álvarez's transfer from Pachuca to Tigres, Matías Vuoso's transfer from Santos to América, and Federico Vilar's move from Atlante to Morelia.  In the second division (Liga del Ascenso), the big news was Jared Borguetti receiving a contract from León.  The leading scorer on Mexico's national team was rumored to be on the verge of retiring if he didn't receive an offer, and León presents his last chance for professional football in Mexico. 

Soccer Canada changes its governance structure

I don't blog on the Canadian soccer scene as much as I should, but I aim to write a few more posts in the future.  From Jason de Vos at the CBC comes news of significant changes that the Canadian Soccer Association made to its governance structure at their AGM in Winnipeg last weekend.  The executive board of the CSA will now consist of six elected members from the six geographical regions of the country (British Columbia/Yukon, Alberta/Nunavut, Saskatchewan/Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, Atlantic provinces) and six appointed members from any other sector of Canadian society.  None of the executive board members can be members of a Territorial/Provincial Board, and at least 1/4 of the executive board must be composed of women.  

The idea is to allow the CSA to be able to incorporate members from outside the traditional soccer structures, in particular from the private sector.  It sounds like a good idea to me -- get fresh thinking and new perspectives on the current state of soccer in Canada and how to improve it.  What was left unsaid was the criteria for forming the pool of candidates from which the appointed board members will be selected.  The article mentions specific guidelines for selecting candidates who bring "credibility and respect" to the Association, but it should be apparent that as long as people make the decisions, there will be political maneuvering.

That brings me to de Vos' shock that such a "sensible" plan was not approved unanimously and even faced opposition from some quarters of the CSA.  Well, yeah - the CSA is a democratically-run structure and there will be debate, and maneuvering, and attempts to use the by-laws of the association in one group's favor.  That is always true in the democratic system, no matter how much the band of "experts" find that idea repellent.  I do think that the plan was a good one and stands a good chance of moving Canadian soccer forward, but the promoters still need to convince half plus one of the association members that the plan is in their interests and in the overall interests of the CSA.

There is some additional work that needs to be made at the executive level before the new board is seated, but it looks that the CSA is serious about changing the way it is run.  It remains to be seen how this new structure will affect the sectors of the game that touch the average player and fan such as talent development and the growth of solid amateur and professional clubs.

Necaxa's lightning-fast return to Primera

Last season Necaxa were relegated from Mexico's top flight for the first time.  Tonight they clinched their return to Primera after defeating León 4-2 on aggregate (3-0 in Aguascalientes, 1-2 in León) to win the Liga de Ascenso's Clausura tournament.  Necaxa had won the Apertura tournament against Irapuato, so they won the lone promotion place without having to enter an end-of-season playoff.

So a former champion -- the team of the 90s -- will return to the maximum level of Mexican soccer without having to buy their way back.  See, that wasn't so hard, wasn't it?

Pachuca denied rest for Liguilla

Pachuca's late season surge earned them a place in the Torneo Bicentenario playoffs, but it also earned them a headache in scheduling around the CONCACAF Champions League final.  Pachuca play Cruz Azul on Wednesday in the second leg of the CCL final, and open the playoffs against Monterrey a little more than 48 hours later.  Pachuca requested a 24-hour delay in the start of the series, but the FMF turned them down.  Pumas even offered to move its Sunday home playoff match to Saturday in order to accommodate a schedule change, but the FMF denied that offer as well.

The other club in Pachuca's situation is Guadalajara, who play Vélez Sársfield in the Round of 16 of the Copa Libertadores tomorrow and next Tuesday (4 May).  FMF's quarterfinal round scheduling means that Chivas would have three days' rest.  These schedules are planned with the international competition dates already known, and the fact that they accommodate the Copa Libertadores competitors better than the CONCACAF Champions League representatives indicates which international tournament the FMF cares about more.

As Pachuca's the #8 seed, the odds of them advancing past Monterrey are very steep, but I'm sure Pachuca's players would like an extra 24 hours to recuperate from a continental final.

Herculez, Herculez, Herculez!

Despite not being able to play the final round of matches due to a red-card suspension, Hérculez Gómez made history today as he became the first American player to finish at the top of the Mexican League's goalscoring charts.  Gómez will share the title with Javier "Chicharito" Hernández -- formerly of Chivas and now of Manchester United -- and Johan Fano of Atlante.  Ten goals is a paltry sum for a goalscoring champion even in a short tournament, and it ranks as the lowest over all of the short tournaments in Mexico (11 goals have been good enough to win the goalscoring title on five occasions). 

Hérculez Gómez's achievement is most impressive when you consider that in contrast to Hernández and Fano, he was not a starter in the majority of his matches.  Five of his ten goals were scored when he entered the match as a substitute, and he logged almost 150 fewer minutes than Hernández and more than 400 fewer minutes than Fano.  El Chicharito reached his goal total in fewer matches, but Hérculez scored more often in the fewer opportunities given to him.  This afternoon I had seen the review show on Azteca TV anoint Hernández as the leading goalscorer based on doing it in fewer games.  Could he have owned the record outright had Javier Aguirre not held an extended camp for Mexico-based national team players?  Probably.  But the fact was that he was not on the field for the final five league matches, and Gómez and Fano ended up sharing the title with him.  They deserve some credit as well in the Mexican press.

There are a couple of questions in the wake of Gómez's feat. 

First, how did a  player who was at best a journeyman player between three MLS teams, a USL team, and a MISL side become the leading goalscorer in the Mexican first division?  Oscar Guzmán's column last Wednesday in Medio Tiempo attempts to give an answer -- that Puebla's head coach allows Gómez to play a position with which he is most comfortable.  If that's so, the reports out of Puebla that a head coaching change is inevitable would complicate Gómez's future at the club.  (As a bonus he discusses Carlos de los Cobos' head coaching debut with the Chicago Fire which has the potential to introduce some different coaching and tactical methods to MLS.)

The second question is whether Gómez has a chance of playing his way onto the US World Cup team.  That answer deserves another post, and there are a number of players who are in Gómez's situation.

El Chicharito unites with Man U

As you all know, Guadalajara striker Javier Hernández has signed a contract with Manchester United and will play for them starting in the 2010-11 English Premier League season.  (The Times of London is saying that Man U will pay Chivas around £8 million.)  It's all subject to a successful work permit application, which he should receive, especially if he plays for Mexico in the World Cup this summer.  In return, Man U will play the opening match of Chivas' new stadium later this summer. 

Hernández did not play in the last Hexagonal, but he had a breakthrough season in the 2009 domestic tournaments, and has maintained his goalscoring form in the Torneo Bicentenario.  Moreover he has played his way onto the World Cup squad by scoring for the national team in friendly matches this year.  Such efforts have significantly raised his profile in Mexico and have not gone unnoticed in Europe.  He was almost certain to depart for Europe in the summer transfer window, and any fee would have gone up significantly if he had performed well in South Africa.  It was for that reason that Sir Alex Ferguson decided to make his move for El Chicharito now.  

Ferguson has demonstrated himself to be an exceptional judge of talent, especially young and undervalued talent -- except with Latin American players.  Hernández has a lot of upside potential with his strength, speed, and finishing ability.   He may not start right away, but he will definitely give Nani and Dimitar Berbatov competition for the second striker alongside Wayne Rooney. 

Chivas win a volatile superclásico

Today was the day of Mexico's Superclásico between Guadalajara and América, the biggest rivalry in Mexican football.  It's not a true 'derby' in that both clubs are in separate cities -- which makes it closer to Barcelona-Real Madrid or PSG-Marseille -- but it is definitely the most fiercely contested of all Mexican league rivalries.  Tonight's match was no different as Chivas defeated the Águilas 1-0 on a goal by Omar Arellano.  It was a tightly contested match that threatened to boil over at times and finally did when Jean Beausejour made a vicious tackle on Xavier Iván Baez near the end.  Beausejour was sent off, but not before both sides converged on the scene for handbags at 20 paces. 

The win clinches a playoff spot for Chivas who lead the Torneo Bicentenario with 31 points, but they'll have to do it without five of their starting players who will be in training camps for the Mexican national team.  Chivas will find their experience difficult to replace but the loss of Javier Hernández will hurt the most.   El Chicarito has been the goalscoring revelation of the season with ten goals to lead all players in the Bicentenario.

América are on the outside looking in, as they lie two points outside the playoffs with two to play. (The top two teams in each group pass to the Liguilla along with the next two highest-ranked teams in the overall table.)  They'll have to make do without goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa and defender  who will go to the Mexican training camp as well.

MLS Cup heads north

When Toronto's BMO Field opened three seasons ago with the arrival of Toronto FC, it was only a matter of time before MLS would move its MLS Cup Final there.  With that in mind, today's announcement by Commissioner Garber was not much of a surprise. 

What was a surprise was that Red Bull Arena was not selected to host neither MLS Cup nor the MLS All-Star Game (Reliant Stadium in Houston will host).  MLS have used the two marquee matches of the season to showcase their soccer-specific stadia almost immediately after opening.  That MLS did not do so in the case of Red Bull Arena could mean that their possible foreign team for this year's All-Star Game is such a big club that a 25,000-seat stadium will not suffice.  It does present a backlog in future years for venue selection for MLS Cup or the All-Star Game, as new arenas in Kansas City (KS) and Philadelphia will come online, not to mention the renovated Timbers Stadium and BC Place.

There is a risk in moving a mid-November final to Toronto.  Weather will almost certainly be a factor, but people in Toronto will counter that their city lies south of Seattle and besides it was actually warmer in Toronto than Seattle at the same time last year.  (We all know how predictable the weather is months in advance!)   The match will kick off very late (close to 9pm local time), which will allow the weather to have a greater influence on the game.  I'm just praying for light winds.

I feel conflicted about the MLS Cup continuing to be at a pre-determined site.  In a pure sporting sense, the match should be at the site of the highest-remaining seed in the playoffs, with at least a ten-day window between the conference finals and MLS Cup.  But when you consider the various gala celebrations that take place in the run-up to the Final -- the Awards Show/Banquet, the Commissioner's Comments, the Supporters' Summit, the various sponsor celebrations -- it's easier from a logistical point of view to know the location of the final several months in advance.  It's frequently said that the NFL Super Bowl is much more than the final game.  The MLS Cup is starting to become that.

But at least this year's MLS Cup will be played on grass.