Tuesday, January 27, 2015

CBA negotiations stalling, MLS players take to Twitter to speak out about low wages and free agency

Major League Soccer and the MLS Players Union have been in CBA (Collective Bargaining Agreement) negotiations for months, but little progress has been made.

Players seem to be holding their ground on two main issues - salaries and free agency. They're upset with the current structure and they're speaking out.
(Warshaw: "You guys, you just made $4 million on the advertisement I wear across my chest, I shouldn't have to ask five times to get my $500 moving expenses reimbursed.")

With only 38 days left until the 2015 season begins the players hold all the leverage, and based on what they're saying and posting to social media, a strike seems imminent.
Former MLSer Bobby Warshaw told us why he thinks MLS may be headed for a work stoppage. Here's what some of the current players think.
A few more words from Warshaw on wages earned...
 

Saturday, January 24, 2015

Full quotes from U20 U.S. men's national team coach Tab Ramos following win over El Salvador (Highlights included)

The U-20 U.S. men's national team qualified for the World Cup after beating El Salvador 2-0 in a must-win knockout game Saturday night. Goals were scored by Ben Spencer and Paul Arriola.

After the game head coach Tab Ramos spoke about the team. Here's a recap of what he had to say.

On the team's performance...

"It's difficult to win four games in a row, especially having to eliminate and opponent every single game. The boys did a great job. I feel good for them because we pushed them really hard over the last week-and-a-half, especially for the last four games, and they did a really great job so I'm happy for them."

On Saturday's game vs El Salvador...

"El Salvador defended really well. They were similar to Guatemala and the way they defended, so we knew that it was going to take time to break them down. We ended up getting a couple of really good opportunities to score early on and we didn't put them away, and we kept them in the game. We knew that eventually we would break them down and I was confident that we would do well.

On the two goals vs El Salvador...

"We're happy we got a couple goals, but as you know we're leading the tournament in shots, so we've created a lot. We actually have not scored enough and we have not been good in front of the goal in general. At least today we got two. Defensively we've been excellent so I'm very happy with that."

On goalkeeper Zack Steffen's save on the penalty...

"I actually thought that he might save it. We practiced penalty kicks yesterday and [Zack] did really well on them. We're fortunate that in the U.S. we always have excellent goalkeepers. I was actually counting on that one so I'm glad he saved it."

On the team coming back from a poor start to the tournament...

"We had to because that surprise tie against Guatemala forced us to play different against Panama - where the tie wouldn't have been good for us - so we took a risk and by taking a risk the last 20 minutes of that game we lost it and felt way behind. But, I think it was a good decision considering Panama won all their games anyway so a tie wouldn't have been good. At this point I'm very happy with the team. I'm happy for them and I'm happy we're going to another World Cup."

On finally being able to relax a bit...

"I definitely need a few days off that's for sure."

Friday, January 9, 2015

The entire 2015 MLS Schedule (340 games) in one image

The 2015 MLS schedule has been released. But rather than constantly checking the schedule page over and over again to see what the matchups are each week, I've created a spreadsheet condensing everything into one simple image.

I did it last season for MLS Fantasy owners, and despite leaving MLSsoccer.com, I've decided to do it again. Enjoy and best of luck in 2015!