52 Matches by Rethink Management Group

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Seattle Sounders 2-0 Philadelphia Union I San Jose Earthquakes 0-3 Real Salt Lake I Los Angeles Galaxy 1-0 New England Revolution I Colorado Rapids 2-2 Chicago Fire I Chivas USA 2-0 New York Red Bulls I Kansas City Wizards 1-0 Colorado Rapids I New England Revolution 4-1 Toronto FC I FC Dallas 2-2 Columbus Crew I Chicago Fire 1-2 San Jose Earthquakes I Houston Dynamo 0-2 Los Angeles Galaxy I Toronto FC 2-0 Seattle Sounders I DC United 2-1 Kansas City Wizards I Real Salt Lake 3-0 Philadelphia Union I FC Dallas 1-0 DC United I Philadelphia Union 1-1 FC Dallas I Columbus Crew 1-0 Chivas USA I New York Red Bulls 0-1 Seattle Sounders I San Jose Earthquakes 2-2 Columbus Crew I Toronto FC 0-0 Kansas City Wizards I Los Angeles Galaxy 4-1 Houston Dynamo I Seattle Sounders 3-0 New England Revolution I Chicago Fire 2-2 Colorado Rapids I Kansas City Wizards 2-0 Philadelphia Union I Chivas USA 1-2 FC Dallas I New England Revolution 0-1 Chicago Fire I Philadelphia Union 3-1 Seattle Sounders I Columbus Crew 2-0 New York Red Bulls I FC Dallas 2-0 Real Salt Lake I DC United 1-2 Los Angeles Galaxy I Real Salt Lake 1-1 Chivas USA I Colorado Rapids 1-0 San Jose Earthquakes I New York Red Bulls 1-0 Toronto FC I Houston Dynamo 4-3 Chicago Fire I Chivas USA 1-0 DC United I New England Revolution 3-1 Seattle Sounders I Colorado Rapids 3-0 Chivas USA I Chicago Fire 1-1 Los Angeles Galaxy I Houston Dynamo 1-2 San Jose Earthquakes I Seattle Sounders 0-0 Real Salt Lake I Chivas USA 2-0 New England Revolution I Los Angeles Galaxy 3-1 Columbus Crew I San Jose Earthquakes 0-0 FC Dallas I Philadelphia Union 1-0 Chicago Fire I Toronto FC 0-1 DC United I FC Dallas 2-2 NY Red Bulls I Real Salt Lake 1-1 Colorado Rapids I DC United 1-3 Houston Dynamo I New York Red Bulls 1-0 Kansas City Wizards I Seattle Sounders 3-2 Toronto FC I Chivas USA 1-2 Los Angeles Galaxy I Kansas City Wizards 4-1 San Jose Earthquakes I Columbus Crew 3-1 Philadelphia Union I Seattle Sounders 2-0 Philadelphia Union I San Jose Earthquakes 0-3 Real Salt Lake I Los Angeles Galaxy 1-0 New England Revolution I Colorado Rapids 2-2 Chicago Fire I Chivas USA 2-0 New York Red Bulls I Kansas City Wizards 1-0 Colorado Rapids I New England Revolution 4-1 Toronto FC I FC Dallas 2-2 Columbus Crew I Chicago Fire 1-2 San Jose Earthquakes I Houston Dynamo 0-2 Los Angeles Galaxy I Toronto FC 2-0 Seattle Sounders I DC United 2-1 Kansas City Wizards I Real Salt Lake 3-0 Philadelphia Union I FC Dallas 1-0 DC United I Philadelphia Union 1-1 FC Dallas I Columbus Crew 1-0 Chivas USA I New York Red Bulls 0-1 Seattle Sounders I San Jose Earthquakes 2-2 Columbus Crew I Toronto FC 0-0 Kansas City Wizards I Los Angeles Galaxy 4-1 Houston Dynamo I Seattle Sounders 3-0 New England Revolution I Chicago Fire 2-2 Colorado Rapids I Kansas City Wizards 2-0 Philadelphia Union I Chivas USA 1-2 FC Dallas I New England Revolution 0-1 Chicago Fire I Philadelphia Union 3-1 Seattle Sounders I Columbus Crew 2-0 New York Red Bulls I FC Dallas 2-0 Real Salt Lake I DC United 1-2 Los Angeles Galaxy I Real Salt Lake 1-1 Chivas USA I Colorado Rapids 1-0 San Jose Earthquakes I New York Red Bulls 1-0 Toronto FC I Houston Dynamo 4-3 Chicago Fire I Chivas USA 1-0 DC United I New England Revolution 3-1 Seattle Sounders I Colorado Rapids 3-0 Chivas USA I Chicago Fire 1-1 Los Angeles Galaxy I Houston Dynamo 1-2 San Jose Earthquakes I Seattle Sounders 0-0 Real Salt Lake I Chivas USA 2-0 New England Revolution I Los Angeles Galaxy 3-1 Columbus Crew I San Jose Earthquakes 0-0 FC Dallas I Philadelphia Union 1-0 Chicago Fire I Toronto FC 0-1 DC United I FC Dallas 2-2 NY Red Bulls I Real Salt Lake 1-1 Colorado Rapids I DC United 1-3 Houston Dynamo I New York Red Bulls 1-0 Kansas City Wizards I Seattle Sounders 3-2 Toronto FC I Chivas USA 1-2 Los Angeles Galaxy I Kansas City Wizards 4-1 San Jose Earthquakes I Columbus Crew 3-1 Philadelphia Union I Seattle Sounders 2-0 Philadelphia Union I San Jose

A Review Of The 2010 MLS Season Summary Report

Prepared For Major League Soccer by Rethink Management Group, LLC

Acknowledgments: Rethink wishes to thank Mr. Nelson RodrĂguez for his support throughout this project.

First Published October 2010 ÂŠ 2010 by Rethink Management Group, LLC.

All rights reserved. No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of Rethink Management Group, LLC.

Rethink Management Group, LLC (Rethink) is a boutique, football-centric, sports and culture consultancy based in the San Francisco Bay Area, California. Our clients include professional football clubs, leagues, national federations and investment groups from across the Americas and the United Kingdom. We have a diverse portfolio of consulting experiences and believe strongly in the importance of building lasting, sustainable relationships. Our approach is highly collaborative, designed to build organizational capabilities, increase coherence and improve performance, from visioning through to execution. Rethink is well connected within the football industry and can draw upon a global network of contacts and partners to develop bespoke solutions that deliver real and lasting value.

In September 2010, Major League Soccer (MLS) commissioned James Easton from Rethink, along with nine other consultants, to conduct a review of MLSâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 2010 regular season. The goal of the review was to perpetuated, while also looking for other ways to improve and broaden MLSâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s appeal and spectacle.

matches. It would have been preferable to watch the games live; however, due to time constraints and the distances between MLS cities, the majority of games were watched over the Internet via MLS Direct Kick. During the course of

review each team was observed a

minimum of six times: three times at home and three times on the road. During the more than 4,680 minutes of football covered by this project,

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Readers should be warned the aforementioned numbers are the full extent of our quantitative analysis. Over the past ten years there has been a growing interest in match analysis in football, no doubt sparked by the successful use of sabermetrics in baseball, and popularized in the mainstream by Michael Lewis in his book “Moneyball.” There are now a number of statistical analysis companies, who for a substantial fee, can help football coaches track their players every has, how many passes he successfully completes, his involvement in shot creation, and the percentage of tackles he wins are a just a few of the metrics that can be tracked.

No doubt there is a lot to be gleaned from such a close reading of the game. The various measures can reveal important technical and tactical truths about a team, which can form the theoretical basis from which coaches can deploy future strategies. But it must be considered that football, compared to baseball, which can be broken down into

uninterested in such discussions; they are relevant in their own way. Nevertheless, we do not have access to such match-analysis software and no doubt there are other contributors to this project who are better qualified to provide the type of thorough treatment such statistical analysis deserves. Rather, we purposely chose to take on the project from a slightly microanalysis, to track every pass and dribble, but there is also value in zooming out and taking a longer more holistic view — to look at the whole league system, rather than just its individual parts. By doing this, what we might have lost in detail, we hope to have gained in perspective. What follows is a précis of the observations and recommendations made in our full report to MLS; observations and recommendations we hope will help MLS achieve its stated goal of becoming a top world league. Some of the observations and recommendations are relatively minor, others would put MLS in-step with the practices of other elite leagues, while a couple are perhaps

obvious — what some might

call outliers.

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Fans attending MLS games come to see exciting play, where the eague’s advertised star

perform at the highest

vel. Set pieces,

like corner-kicks and free-kicks, represent excellent goal scoring opportunities and are ideally suited for top players to stamp their authority on the game. MLS is particularly fortunate to have a number of free-kick specialists in its ranks. Players like Beckham and Geovanni have an almost magical ability to whip and curl the ball in an during our review came from set-pieces — a number that is consistent play came from set-pieces. However, with just a small addition to the number can be nudged higher. Whenever a free-kick is awarded near goal, invariably the penalized team will be slow to retreat the requisite ten yards, which has the intended

referee then usually has no choice but to stop play and pace the wall momentum. Furthermore, as soon as the referee turns his back, the wall immediately begins reducing their distance from the kicker, making it

During the course of our review we witnessed multiple examples of the minutes of the league’s season opener in Seattle to see it happening. This problem is not one limited to MLS, however, it is a ploy used by coaches and players the world over. As a way to stop defensive walls from impinging on the ball and to give the Beckhams and Geovannis following the lead o f the FMF. In Mexico’s Primera División, referees

walls

keep the proper distance at free kicks. The white markings

made by the non-toxic water-based spray called AeroComex Futline,

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maintained. In addition, by clearly demarcating the

-yard distance

between the ball and the wall, referees should be able to reduce the number of cautions they hand out for dissent for failing to retreat ten yards, thereby decreasing the number of man-games lost during the season due to the accumulation of yellow cards.

in other sports, is almost universally accepted, although its precise cause is less understood. It has been found by some researchers that home-field advantage is impacted by crowd noise, which might enhance home-team performance, reduce visiting-team performance,

During the course of our review, referees handed out a total of 13 red cards, the slight majority of which were issued to visiting teams. This equates to roughly one red card being given every four games. It is

would lead to an increased number of goal scoring chances being created. However, based on our subjective observations, we would posit the net number of chances being created and a gameâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s overall appeal, especially if the penalized team still has the

chance to get a result from

. Generally, what we witnessed after the issuance of a red

card team, and only a nominal increase in the number of scoring chances by the team playing at full strength. The reason for the change was

caused

mostly

understandably, revert

because

the

sanctioned

team

would,

to a very defensive style of play, hardly

bothering to construct any meaningful attacks. While the advantaged team, despite carrying the approach and create goal-scoring opportunities.

who attend MLS games pay to see the leagueâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s very best perform. key member of the opposing team, never mind their own team, in an

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important game as a result of a red card from a previous contest.1 We are not sure how the frequency of red cards issued in MLS game sample mirrors what is happening in the league more broadly,

issued. Perhaps this can be done through the better education of

The U.S. and Canadian professional sportscapes are dominated by NFL football and NHL hockey respect

. Sports that, unlike football,

celebrate a culture of ritualized violence. This is not to say football can’t be vicious — it can. However, brute force is not something inherent in the game — coordination, speed and technique are the most important factors needed to succeed. Additionally, football is a sport that is structurally democratic. Male and female athletes of all shapes and sizes and from all socio-economic backgrounds can and do play well. While football’s inclusiveness and less violent spirit have helped it boom at the grassroots level, it has also, in our opinion, hindered the sport’s masculine professional sportspace. In addition, the penchant shown by some players to dive anytime a member of the opposition comes close further tarnishes the game’s “manly” image and invites derision from the mainstream sports media, a good number of who already view

While the incidence of diving in MLS pales in comparison to other top football leagues, there can be no denying it exists. If MLS wants to broaden its appeal to include the millions of North Americans who have to eradicate diving from its game. Even though the rules of football now punish by yellow card any simulation intended to gain advantage, it still requires referees to be in almost perfect position to catch the deceit so 1 When a player is suspended for an accumulation of yellow cards or from receiving a red card, MLS should consider having the player sit out home games, rather than punishing away fans from seeing a star player who might only visit their city once every couple of seasons.

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abjectly caught out by the all-seeing eye of television. This is not always easy for referees to do and as such divers often escape sanction. The top, middle and bottom of the issue then, is that when players resort to this type of subterfuge everyone is cheated: not only the opponents intensively fought and sanctioned. A football governing body that fails to punish divers, even after the fact, is complicit in the deceit. As a way to stamp out the histrionics MLS should equip its referees with pink cards in addition to the yellow and red cards they currently carry. of embellishing or fakery. While we understand this will never happen, especially as MLS wishes to conform to FIFA’s rules and norms, the idea of embarrassing or publicly shaming a player for trying to deceive the referee could still be used to best goals and saves, the league should run a parallel poll for worst dives. Players, knowing they risk being labeled cheats by their peers, referees and fans, would think twice about diving and hopefully make a wants to go down in the annals the way Brazilian international Rivaldo has — a once brilliant player, perhaps the greatest of his generation who is now better remembered for pretending to have been hit in the his footballing genius.

The sport of football is simple in its objective — to outscore your opposition. It is in the execution of this aim where the game can become layered and nuanced. One area where we believe MLS is unnecessarily system. Presently, MLS follows a two-conference scheme, whereby the top two teams in each conference earn automatic berths into the conference, also advance. In this regard, MLS stands apart from many of the world’s other top leagues, which favor a balanced schedule and

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Additionally, whereas winning MLS Cup is seen as a North American team’s crowing achievement, in the EPL, La Liga and Seria A, winning the league is considered a more highly valued prize than success in the country’s knockout competitions. To paraphrase the late Brian Clough, “The league is the priority because it requires a team to have every aspect right — endurance, talent, a little daftness, strength, psychology, you name it. And of course you need to have very good players.”

format, if for no other reason than ease of understanding, our point here

major league sports. However, because winning the Supporters Shield is a real battle of attrition lasting 8-months, we believe more should be done to recognize and recompense teams for their accomplishment.2 As it currently stands, only three times in MLS history have the winners of the Supporter’s Shield gone on to win MLS Cup. There is no doubt a variety of reasons for this, including injuries, travel schedules, bad

Football League (RFL) does in England. In addition to bringing some added excitement to fans, this “club call” feature would provide MLS an excellent and innovative way to turn one of its non-action events into a

There will be some readers who will complain this is not how it is done in the EPL, Seria A or La Liga. This is true; however, MLS is already bucking football tradition by following a conference system and holding season

2 At the time of writing the NY Red Bulls

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Table 1: Nil—Nil Draws Season # of Nil-Nil Draws 2010 18 2009 2008 12 2007 13

Season 2006 2005 2004 2003

# of Nil-Nil Draws 8 11 8

To millions of North American sports fans, the game of football is

the NASL introduced a number of changes to its rules, including: a shootout to decide tied matches; and bringing in a new point system that rewarded goal scoring. While the NASL might have thought changing the laws of the “ orld

ame” was an inalienable

American right, FIFA saw otherwise and punished the U.S. by dismissing the country’s bid to host the 86 World Cup; an action, that in hindsight, probably contributed greatly to the NASL’s eventual demise. While MLS has thus far done an admirable job staying onside with FIFA, spirit of its predecessor. Even though the basics of

require no

major changes, MLS still needs to be on the lookout for improve American audiences;

connectivity with North that enhance MLS’s spectacle but

that do not compromise football’s integrity or that draw down the wrath of FIFA. One idea to push teams to be more attack minded is to rethink

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the 3-1-0-point system. To be sure, we are not campaigning for MLS to revert back to the original NASL’s convoluted reward system, where teams received six points for a win and one point for each goal scored to a maximum of three. As a practical matter, any new system should we do believe a new

system, especially one that incentivizes

good for the MLS game and its watchability.

After watching so many games, one of the things we were struck by was how few Canadians play in MLS. Outside of Toronto, there only a smattering of

who turn out regularly for their clubs, two

of whom are aging goalkeepers. And yet the Canadian marketplace represents a fantastic growth opportunity for MLS. Very soon Vancouver, followed by Montreal, will join Toronto in MLS, bringing the juxtaposed next to current and projected numbers of Canadians playing in MLS, should be worrisome to everyone involved in the game.3 Since joining MLS in 2006, Toronto has been held up in almost every way as a model franchise; except that is where it counts most, on the

with Canadian nationals. No doubt there is some truth to this point, although we would argue the more probable reason for the welter of losses in Toronto has more to do with poor management and TFC’s whirling dervish like personnel policy, than it does with the caliber of the Canadian player.

Nevertheless, MLS, with support from its Canadian teams, looks set to change its rules and starting in 2011 neither Toronto or Vancouver will be

3 Given the Canadian marketplace’s increasing importance to MLS it is also somewhat curious the league does not employ a greater number of Canadians

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improve the Canadian teams

competitiveness in the

near-term, the decision to do away with the Canadian quota encumber

the

game

and

the

eague’s future long-term growth in the country. because MLS’s progress in Canad is closely interlaced with the fate of the country’s senior men’s national team.

participation

sport

Canada.

However,

the

country’s

mass

participation has not transformed Canada into a football or futbol nation. Like the U.S., Canada is a country made up largely of immigrants, a great many of whom grew up playing football in the country of their birth. While large numbers of these new Canadians can be found playing football in their local amateur leagues, their interest the national team and the domestic leagues of their

land.

because there exists an almost unshakable belief amongst some immigrant groups that Canadian players are technically inferior to their counter-parts in Europe and across the rest of the Americas: a standpoint that gets further entrenched with every passing FIFA World Cup Canada fails to qualify for. While Toronto FC has thus far been a hit at the gate, there are signs sputtered. We would argue, however, if not for the team’s cohort of Canadians, attendance at BMO Field would be worse. No doubt there there is also a large number of the club’s support who identify with the team by virtue of its Canadian makeup. The size and importance of this segment should not be underestimated. One only has to soak up the lessons of the NBA’s short and troubled sojourn in Vancouver back in the 1990s to see what the ferment of subpar performances and no local content can do to a Canadian sports franchise. There are many in the Vancouver sports media, who to this day, strongly believe the Grizzlies would still be playing in Vancouver if the eam’s senior management had not passed up the opportunity, not once, but twice, to sign two time MVP and local basketball star, Steve Nash.

it comes to football and player development, which has blighted the

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by the English game.4 World Cup, Canada’s showing was admittedly respectable, especially when held up against the U.S.’s experience, who four years later went to Americans took from the experience the opportunity to update and revitalize their

development programs, Canada

stagnated. We are of the opinion that the decline in Canadian football, both men and women, can be directly traced back to Canada’s showing in Mexico, because it helped anoint a style of play that centered on stamina, strength and organizational rigidity as the only tried a

tested

formula for respectability in international play a style of football that has since led the country nowhere but down a blind alley.

If MLS is to reach its full potential north of the border, then we believe the eague and its Canadian teams, in partnership with the CSA, have an obligation to contribute to the ongoing development of the Canadian player. Giving young Canadians

opportunity to play in

MLS, a league that has shown steady improvement since its inception, can only help elevate their play, which in turn, will help improve the fortunes of the country’s national team. By creating this virtuous circle, where the Canadian player co-evolves with MLS, the league will solidify support among its existing

Canad , but also gain

wider acceptance and legitimacy in the eyes of the country’s immigrant groups. We believe lack of foresight on this matter has the potential to upset MLS’s future growth and expansion north of the 49th parallel.

We shape the spaces we inhabit, but conversely, the spaces we inhabit also have the power to shape us. The only MLS games we saw played live during our review were ones involving the San Jose Earthquakes at Buck Shaw Stadium, a 10,300 seat facility located on the campus of Santa Clara University in California. Compared to the new, modern, amenity filled, football 4 How many talented young Canadians during the 1980s and 90s were turned into well-drilled drones from watching Charles Hughes videos at CSA ‘madrasas’?

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specific stadiums of the Galaxy and Red Bulls, Buck Shaw leaves a lot to be desired. That is why the Earthquakes are currently investigating the feasibility of building their own football

stadium.

As fans of the game, however, it is not the lack of food options or the uncomfortable bleacher seating that detracts from the viewing experience at Buck Shaw. Rather it is the size of the playing surface the Earthquakes play on.

at The Home Depot Centre, home to both the Galaxy and Chivas, is 120

penalty area size space in which to play. One of the things we teach young players is the importance of fanning elaborate formations and schemes to create space when on attack, and conversely, instruct players to accordion back into position so as to provides the gameâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

more time and room to showcase

their direct, and we would argue less attractive brand of football; one that values physical subjugation more highly than skilled and imaginative collisions to occur between opposing players. It would be interesting to in football, similar to what researchers found in hockey, when comparing smaller North American sized rinks to the larger Olympic sized rinks favored in Europe.

thereby giving the leagueâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s best players a little more time and space on the ball to

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At the start of the 2010 season Toronto and New York converted to playing on natural grass from synthetic turf, leaving only Seattle and many good reasons for this, but it seems incongruous that at the highest level of football in North America MLS teams are still playing current summer schedule format. Ask any professional player and almost to a man they will tell you all and returns the same consistent bounce as other stadiums. In our ball and changes the way the game is played. Watching MLS matches played on turf, players looked more tentative than on grass, perhaps a result both teams tended to play longer, more hopeful passes, which produced a less attractive pinball style of football. Beyond giving the home team the advantage of knowing how to play on surface might increases a playerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s risk of acute injury. Thus, while a team whose home stadium is

with a synthetic surface might enjoy

handicapped when trying to recruit a star player (or arrange exhibition games against foreign opposition) who might fear signing with the club due to increased risk of injury that playing on synthetic turf presents. For example, in a recent UEFA Champions League match away to Young Boys, Tottenham Hotspurâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s manager Harry Rednapp left four because he be too punishing

the

surface would

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It was a cracking game â&#x20AC;&#x201D; some claimed it was the best Manchester who share the same city. There is nothing like a little intra-city contest with bragging rights on the line to spice up an old town There are examples of other derby rivalries in football; Liverpool versus Everton in England, Dundee FC versus Dundee United in Scotland, Real Madrid versus Atletico Madrid in Spain. There are also examples of local derbys in other sports; Lakers versus Clippers in NBA basketball and Yankees versus Mets in MLB baseball. Derbies can excite the passions of the whole community, but they are generally insular in nature. If you do not hail from Dundee, chances are you do not care

much about

the Dundee United versus Dundee FC game.

developed over time and that transcend the physical distances that separate the two team

Often, as is the case with the Barcelona versus

Real Madrid classico in Spain, the matches are imbued with greater meaning that goes far beyond the realm of football. In the Barca versus Real example, supporters see the match as a battle between Catalan culture and language against the Madrileno culture and Castilian Spanish. It is this background that adds the extra color and romance to the game that makes them classicos. Additionally, the gameâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s outcome

In our opinion the LA Galaxy versus Chivas USA matchup is not a super classico, rather it is a local derby game, important to have and to market, but not a super classico. As such MLS would do better marketing the LA Galaxy versus NY Red Bulls as its signature matchup, especially if the Red Bulls continue on the same upward trajectory they were on for the 2010 season. This would play upon the East Coast-West Coast tension that has been used so successful

in other American sports

rivalries, such as the LA Lakers versus the Boston Celtics in basketball.

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Martin Vasquez, after only one year in charge. Vasquez should consider himself lucky. At least he was given the chance to see the season out at after being in charge for only 18 games and 24 games respectively. a of players who have exceptional physical and technical skills, but does not produce a team worthy of their potential, then very often things need to be changed. We do not know Vasquez, Onalfo or Preki. We have never seen them at work on the training ground or in the dressing room. As such, it would be unfair to pass judgment on their abilities as coaches. But we do know that a team full of quality and imagination does not fall unbidden from the sky. Rather, it is built piece-by-piece, through recruitment, trades and the development of youth, all of which takes time â&#x20AC;&#x201D; most certainly longer than 18 games.

If the history of sport teaches us anything, it is that sporting programs with stable coaching are generally the most successful, a fact that is borne out in the academic literature. In study after study the evidence is means to improve performance in the short-term and might even have

Occasionally, there will be times when a newly appointed coach is just a

hire a new coach (who will no doubt demand more money than their predecessor) and rebuild every 12 months, there is also the impact such a decision can have on

teamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s philosophy and style of play

going forward. In football, as in life, when there is no margin for loss, there is little margin for risk. Since there is a measure of risk playing attacking, attractive football, we should not be surprised then, when a newly instilled coach, who has taken over at a club where there has been

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manner or fails to introduce youth into his team. When people are guided by fear, they tend to have a very short-sighted view of the world, which can often be a cause of conservatism. By contrast, a coach at a club that is committed to building over years for success is inclined to be bolder in their approach to the game and accept some risk of loss if the prospect is for greater gain over time If MLS wants to encourage coaches to play in a more attractive and entertaining style, they need to dissuade club executives and owners who have a habit of treating coaches like human piñatas, lambast them

the feelings of the

as a whole.

Ever since the landmark ruling in Union Royal Belges des Sociétés de Football Association ASBL & others v. Jean-Marc Bosman helped create a pan-European football market back in the early 1990s, competitive balance in many European leagues has been weakening. The situation has been further exacerbated by the consolidation of wealth, especially from television revenue, among a narrow band of teams. The result has brought about an unmistakable concentration for top honors with the region’s super-clubs like Manchester United and Arsenal in England and Barcelona and Real Madrid in Spain.

has been the spread of negative tactics, especially amongst lower ranked clubs, when lining-up to play more talented, well-heeled ones. “anti-football,” puts a heavy emphasis on defensive solidarity to the near exclusion of any attacking or imaginative play. Last season in the EPL, for example, lowly Sunderland took on Manchester United at Old on goal. Similarly, when Bolton travelled to the Emirates to play Arsenal,

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it is safe to say they have given up any notion of trying to play attractive and entertaining football. The economic hegemony enjoyed by an elite group of teams is not enough in and of itself, however, to have spread the “anti-football” contagion so widely. Rather, we believe it is the threat of relegation and the tactic de jour amongst many of the region’s lesser clubs. After all, for teams like Sunderland and Bolton, gaining a point against one of the EPL’s super-clubs using such negative systems of play can be the footballing purgatory.

Leeds United.

world are hardly laudable, they are, we believe, understandable within a relegation / promotion context. In MLS, however, where teams compete safely cocooned in a closed league, and where all coaches and GMs work within the constraints of the same modest salary cap, such “anti-football” tactics are much harder to excuse.6 MLS, like the NFL, NBA, and NHL, is in the entertainment business. As such, it must entertain. Those who believe otherwise are deluding themselves. While a grinding nil - nil draw might appeal to a hardcore group of football followers, it will not generate much interest with a larger and less knowledgeable public. If MLS is to expand beyond its current boutique appeal, then it must discourage teams from using such overly negative systems of play. While it is a truism that it is a club’s GM/coach who builds a team to play in a particular fashion, it is also true that it is a club’s President/ CEO who hires the GM/coach, and as such, they too bear a degree of responsibility for a team’s overarching philosophy of play. If a club’s

6 Some readers might argue that MLS is trending, like many European leagues, towards becoming a guild of ‘have” and ‘have nots’ by virtue of its DP rule.

14 DPs has thus far been negligible. At the time of writing no MLS team has ever won MLS Cup with a DP on its roster.

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this, however, requires club Presidents/CEOs to have, in addition to the necessary business competencies, a

. If a club is to

take direction from its top executive, though it is not necessary for this person to have played/coached professionally or know the minutiae of football, they must have at least a strong global understanding and genuine passion for the game.

MLS is now populated with a number of U.S. and Canadian head coaches (10 out of 16 at the time of writing), the majority of whom cut their teeth coaching in the college ranks, with their national associations, or in MLS as assistant . Perhaps the reason for this is that North Americans have proven more successful coaching in MLS than those hailing from other countries. This is likely because coaches have a greater familiarity with the league’s unique set of rules and a superior knowledge of the U.S. college football scene. We are big supporters of North Americans getting the opportunity to coach in MLS; however, the league’s current coaching

If you were to take stock of world developments over the past 100 years, global phenomenon; except, that is, when it comes to the game of football. When it comes to the beautiful game, the U.S and Canada

There has been a great deal written lately about the importance of player development in world football. There is a lot less written, however, about coaching development, especially at the game’s elite level. Doctors, lawyers and other professionals are mandated to take courses to keep similar programs that we are aware of for MLS coaches. At any one time, there

any number of

football coaches in the

world out of work. Martin O’Neil, Jurgen Klinsmenn, Hugo Sánchez, Maradona and Dunga, have all coached on the world stage and are all currently without clubs. As a way to nurture MLS coaches, especially those born and raised in North America, and to seed

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innovation in how the game is played in MLS, the eague should consider hiring selected coaches for a short-term, non-renewable contract as part of a coach-in-residence program. Such a program could be set up similar to a writer-in-residence program at a university, or a senior fellow appointment at an economic in a variety of studies and actively participate in improve the

. Additionally, they would be

available to travel to the league’s various clubs to work with coaches and academy staff. Furthermore, if the installed coach-in-residence is a recognizable name, the league could leverage their media value to expand and strengthen the public’s engagement, both domestically and internationally, with the MLS brand. By initiating such a program, the league would be creating a learning environment where brainstorming about football and how to improve the level of play is something that is always running in the background of the organization.

It should never be forgotten that professional club football is MLS’s core activity and underpins everything the league does. However, sometimes the best ideas are those exapted from an organization’s external environment, and then put to work in a new context. Perhaps a more radical twist on the coach-in-residence / senior fellow concept basketball or American football, into the role. On the surface the idea might sound strange, nevertheless, it is not dissimilar to the practices of Apple and IDEO, two of the world’s most innovative companies, disciplines. (It should be noted that Viktor Maslov, arguably the father of modern football and progenitor of team pressing, came up with the basketball in Russia.) Diverse, horizontal networks of people, in our experience, often generate more innovative solutions than uniform, vertical ones.

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In observing other top football leagues from around the world, one quickly notices that head coaches are likely to be professionally turned and helps elevate their status on the federations around the world

bench. Many football

require their national teamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s head

coach/manager to be professionally attired

. In the U.S.,

there is a long tradition in some sports of coaches and managers wearing the same uniforms/warm-ups as their players. To fall in-line with the practices of other elite football leagues, MLS should consider mandating all head coaches to wear business attire during games.

The MLS Designated Player (DP) rule allows teams to sign players that would normally fall outside their salary cap, thereby providing opportunity for the eagueâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 16 teams to compete for star players in the international football market. In 2010, there were 14 DPs competing in MLS, including David Beckham, Thierry Henry and Rafael MĂĄrquez, the latter two players coming fresh from competing at the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. Signing players still near the height of their football prowess, rather than some aged, last chance football tourist, increase its legitimacy around the globe. For example, on the day arrival in LA, attendances have been up, as have television viewing numbers in games when he appears. The Galaxy has also sold an

estimated

600,000 Beckham replica game jerseys.

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While there is little doubt the addition of Beckham, Henry, Márquez and other DPs has helped boost attendance and bring MLS into the consciousness of people who might previously have known nothing about football or MLS, their impact on the league’s level of play has been somewhat more mixed. In addition to the hype and mania generated by the signing of DP stars, there was also hope their addition to MLS would help elevate the play of those around them. To varying degrees, this has no doubt happened. Young players cannot help but improve playing and practicing everyday with athletes of Beckham, Henry and Márquez’s quality; players who have achieved almost everything there is to achieve in the game. However, analogous to the way a small breakaway group in elite cycling is often pulled back into the peloton, the play of

the league’s DPs has tended to level back towards

the mean standard of play in MLS.

Part of the problem, as we see it, has to do with the unreasonable many believed

of Beckham, Henry, and Márquez would help

usher in a new gilded age in North American football. What

fail to

understand, however, is at their previous clubs Beckham, Henry and Márquez were only one in a constellation of star players. It is one thing to play a one-two with former FIFA world player of the year Zinedine Zidane or a through-ball to a streaking Raul, it is quite another who’s previous highest level of play was in the NCAA.

Additionally, compared to other sports like NBA basketball or NFL a game. Whereas a Kobe Bryant or a Tom Brady are involved in almost casual North American football fan how long, in a 90-minute game, a top player is in possession of the ball and you often hear 10-minutes or 20-minutes. The reality is even the world’s best players are lucky to have the ball in their sphere of control for one minute.

and show-business. The signings of players like Beckham, Henry and

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of play and entertainment is to improve the technical ability of the North American player, something we discuss in the next section. The other, which we believe could bear fruit faster, is to improve upon the quality of the league’s non-DP international signings.

made up of foreign-born players. It is this group, the league’s secondtier role players, and not its DP

stars, who we believe can have the For

example, players in the mold of Joel Lindpere, whose addition to the NY Red Bulls this season helped not only to elevate the play of his North American teammates, but also throw into higher relief the talent of his DP teammates.

Unfortunately for fans of MLS, however, for every Joel Lindpere,

spot in some local amateur leagues. If an MLS team elects to sign an international player, it would seem that it would be most advantageous for them to recruit players that are technically excellent and who can positively impact games with creative and attractive play.

current salary structure is admittedly not easy. Especially given that we live in a football world where a player’s worth is too often judged by price rather than value. Operating within the tight constraints of the league’s salary cap, MLS teams need to be proactive when investing in their playing squad, not relying solely on agents to bring them prospects, but rather looking to uncover value themselves in underdeveloped markets, like Central and South America, and Asia. Emerging hand-in-hand with the need to improve the caliber of the league’s second-tier of players is the need for teams to develop and expand their scouting networks. Scouting has become one of the most important functions in professional club football, something that has become even more imperative as the game has grown more global in scope. While there are some clubs in MLS who have already invested meaningfully in developing a scouting program, there are others who do not possess the resources or the will to build such a network. Unlike other major sports in North America, MLS was conceived from the beginning as a single-entity league. The centralized system helps MLS maintain strict management over all major aspects of team

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operations and gain important economies of scale. Perhaps MLS could leverage its centralized mode of operations to aid teams in their central scouting bureau, similar to what the Central Scouting agency does for the NHL, which provides the league and its member teams a full menu of amateur and professional player scouting services in North America and across Europe.

Without question the technical improvement of North American youth players is integral to MLS’s future success. Additionally, in-house the current trend in world football that encourages over-investment and extreme risk taking in the transfer markets. It should therefore be concerning to everybody in MLS that there are the exact same number of U.S. under-23 players starting in the league today as there was in 2002, despite the fact there are now six additional teams in MLS.

From our experience, there are two main ways to develop young football players. One way is to expose them to the very best coaching available. It does not surprise us then, that nearly all top professional clubs, including most in MLS, now have their own youth development academies, where a team’s philosophy of play is drilled into young recruits by club coaches as soon as they step through the academy doors. Additionally, the players become entrenched in the club’s culture, which may help them develop a loyalty that will keep them at the club in future years. While we fully endorse the idea that all teams in MLS should be investing in youth, the establishment of development academies should not be seen as some sort of panacea. For every team like Ajax in Holland who’s famed De Toekomst academy has developed the likes of Wesley Sneijder, there are tens, if not hundreds, of other teams whose

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extremely poor. Even Arsenal FC, whose youth academy has a sterling reputation, has achieved very little in terms of producing domestic-born

From an MLS perspective, the biggest challenge we see with concentrating singularly on academies to develop the players of tomorrow is that it takes time to see any real tangible improvement. abilities of young North Americans, it is more likely that improved performance will come from the aggregation of multiple, marginal gains over many years. Nevertheless, the law of accumulation teaches us that the aggregation of many little things is not little. If MLS and its teams can be patient and commit to developing players over seasons and not games, the cumulation of many small successes can add up to a big

The other way to develop youth, and one we believe might result in against superior opposition on a regular basis â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the tacit process of learning by mimicking others. However, MLS cities are located great distances from each other, which prohibits youth academy players from traveling to play against each other on a regularly basis. This problem is compounded further by the fact that even the best young North American players are not yet on par with young athletes from footballâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s skills of youth players by exposing them to other talented young players single entity legal structure, may have an advantage that might not have been considered.

Arguably, the best countries in the world today at producing young footballers are Mediterranean and South America ones (whose style appeal to both passionate and casual North American football fans.). Rather than importing coaches from these regions to come to North America to head up MLS academies, the league should invert the model and send its best young players out of the country to learn and immerse themselves in the environment where the latest innovation in the game is taking place and where the best young players in the world are being developed.

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club side that has a reputation of developing good young players in a country like Brazil or Argentina, and send the leagueâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s very, very best young talent to train, and if skilled enough, play for the team for a year. Immersed in a country that is football crazy, exposed to the latest coaching pedagogy and playing against the best young players in the world every day, these young North Americans cannot help but improve and develop. Such a project, however, would need to be done responsibly and a great emphasis would need to be put on ensuring the selected players were well looked after while living abroad and that they continued with their education. Perhaps this is a project that could be done in partnership with the USSF and the CSA, both have an important role to play in any player development model. In strict business terms, the caliber of young North American football players is an important input that goes into determining the end quality of responsibility of young North Americans to other countries like Argentina and Brazil, might seem objectionable to some. However, who vertically integrate backwards into their value chain. There are numerous examples of North American companies taking over or investing in foreign suppliers that produce the inputs/raw materials used in their manufacturing processes in order to guarantee a high quality for their end product items. By controlling further down the football value-chain, MLS would be better able to manage the quality of the end experience that fans pay to see.

the end product their fans are paying to see.

players

in MLS, investing in an overseas club has the

potential commercial opportunities that would open up as the league expanded into new foreign markets. Additionally, MLS could use the club as a training ground for some of its best young coaches to go and learn. Furthermore, if the project

set up in a Spanish speaking country

in Spanish, the native language of one of MLSâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s largest targeted fan groups in North America.

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Mr. James Easton is Managing Director of Rethink Management Group, LLC. Mr. Easton has gained extensive business experience working as a senior executive with some of Canadaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most successful and politically important organizations, a professional advisor and university educator. Previously, he played football at a professional level on three continents and had the honour of representing Canada internationally at the senior and youth team level. He has helped produce football training and holds

videos,

author

football

training

guidebooks

develop on line football training tools. Mr. Easton an M.A. in Graduate Liberal Studies and an M.B.A. in

Executive Management.

Contact: James Easton, MA, MBA Managing Director, Rethink Management Group, LLC I info@rethinkmanagementgroup.com