“They’ve never been closer to the title or this far above all the EPL’s traditional power teams this late in the season.”

The MLS academies have been around 10 years and have produced a few decent players. There’s still plenty of space for improvement which MLS is doing.

You said “move toward an Academy system.” That system is and has been in place.

Did I say it was great? You said MLS should move to an academy system, I pointed out that they have been for years. It takes years if not decades to develop an academy system that consistently produces talent. MLS teams are just now getting to the point where the investment is starting to pay off.

Since the A-League has no relegation, a salary cap with convoluted exceptions and they play in summer, I’m surprised that it is getting any coverage on this blog. The National Premier Leagues should be getting more coverage since they follow the rest of the world.

Entertaining league? Is it always this good? ::Investigates::

This is bullshit, apparently the MLS is at a disadvantage due to playing in the summer but it’s completely ok in the A-league. Hypocrites.

True.

Today’s Man of the Match, Robert Huth:

And yet, so many want to do away with the MLS salary cap, so we can have LA, NYRB, TFC, or Seattle win the MLS Cup every year.

Don’t get me wrong. The cap is way too low, but we need a cap.

Hating on MLS and stanning for the CSL. Interesting

Ah little Billy. New to the runnings I see. Every decade or so we have one of those spending sprees promising to be the next big league. Didn’t it happen with J-League sometime back. Those countries don’t have a history of football and it is not something that can be forced. It takes decades to build that sort of…

Buying good players for more than their market value doesn’t make your league good. Besides, they’ll all choke on the smog in less than 6 months and come begging back to Europe or Brazil.

Jackson Martinez is almost 30. He’s not full of potential. He is what he is. And he’s not worth what they paid.

Billy is an Arsenal homer, through and through. It’s kind of embarrassing to see his other articles titled:

...what had been a sieve-like defense...

Well, they put together the original agreement that kept the players in the game longer when other pro leagues kept disappearing. Otherwise, the players would have had to play outside the US to get any kind of decent pay and many would have left the game.

That’s because “soccer” coverage on this site is barely disguised fanfic for arsenal and hatred for everything MLS. Announcing this signing like it’s some sort of bombshell is just the latest example of their hipster-level attention to the sport.

Welcome to Deadspin’s soccer coverage, such as it is.

Thanks for that incredible insight to Guangzhou Evergrande.