Futbol Chronicles: European Influence Needed for Major League Soccer

It can be argued that Major League Soccer can become a strong, quality football league if it has more European coaches and directors.

The broader supportive argument would be that Major League Soccer would need more Europeans to come into the league in general, period.

This suggestion seems odd at first, because Major League Soccer was initially designed as a league of which the best and brightest American football players can compete amongst each other in a league developed at home.

However, for the first ten years, Major League Soccer struggled to get the proper structures and club balances in place. 

Several clubs were either relocated or folded, the league was suffering operating losses every year, and fans and pundits alike began to wonder if the new fledgling league would last into relevancy at all.

American players who started out their trade with Major League Soccer in hopes of finding an easier route for success, found themselves wishing for greener pastures in Europe.

Major League Soccer also suffered the faults of its own bearings where clubs were forced to play in non football-specific stadiums because there simply weren't any.

It took the league an awful long time before clubs finally began the process of delivering on their promise to provide football-specific stadiums and, in the last few years, fan interest along with the quality of play began to pick up.

Now, Major League Soccer is in a brighter position considering the recent news that two north western cities (Vancouver and Portland) announced expansion teams that would begin play in 2011.

However, despite its advances, some are beginning to speculate whether a European version of the league would do wonders here for American football.

Europeans have taken an interest in Major League Soccer, but not because of the talent.  It has more more to do with the living standards in North America and quality of play that has been evident.

Clubs like Toronto FC and Seattle have shown to be welcome additions for the new league because of massive fan interest and support in both respective cities and, more importantly, because the interest in applying for an expansion is on the rise from cities that you'd least expect of wanting a professional football team at all.

A re-organization of the league would simply mean abolishing the two conference format in exchange for the one table league format.

In this proposed format, all teams play against each other twice with the top team winning the league crown, or top four teams playing in championship playoff to determine the league winner.

Another facet that Major League Soccer may look at is the modernizing of the designated player rule.  

Instead of imposing restrictions on big name signings, why not just adjust the rule so that every team is entitled to signing at least one to three designated players, regardless of star power, and also for the league to create an international draft to coincide with the Adidas Super Draft as well?

Also, European coaches, as opposed to American ones, are far more adept at developing the kind of managerial maneuverings and coaching that are commonplace in top flight football.

When it comes to tactics, organization, communication, and improvisation Europeans are the more superior in that department, which is another reason why most international players ply their trade in Europe.

Another area that Major League Soccer needs to address is if it wants to develop its game further in young talent.  

A strong league usually is highlighted by strong clubs who invest a portion of their resources into building youth academies, something of which Major League Soccer seems to miss out on.

An emphasis on each Major League club creating and developing their own academies would enrich the quality of play for the league, but on a national whole would help maintain the growth and management of football in the country.

An agreement of which college age players can transfer directly into a league comprised of Major League Soccer academy teams would prove to be an innovative and valuable process consideration.

With that perspective, along with good quality footballers, Major League Soccer can finally claim to make a serious push for football relevancy.

Perhaps this time Don Gerber would consider this proposition.

And maybe this time, Major League Soccer can at least become a more quality league in its essence.