Kevin Payne's fine = Complete joke

So once again, right here on the cusp of the playoffs, when we should all be feeling good about MLS and the competition and the soon-to-be champion, we get reality smacking us in the face that this is a league that is run by a bunch of marketing executives who think that selling toothpaste is the same as running a sports league.

DC DC United president Kevin Payne was fined $5,000 dollars for telling the Washington Post's Steven Goff: "We don't want to play like Colorado or New England, which most of the season sat with eight or nine guys behind the ball. How many people go to watch Colorado or New England play? That's a problem for our league. We can't play like we're a team desperately trying to remain in 14th place in the Premiership. Our market isn't there yet. They want to see something that is entertaining, and DC United has always had a way of playing. Given a choice, we would rather attack than cynically defend. You look at the way Real Salt Lake played when they came here [a 0-0 tie in May] and sat 10 guys behind the ball. You don’t have to do that. Sometimes that is the best way to get a result – if you don’t care about the product, if you don’t care about advertising your league. Long term, who wants to watch that?"

The fine was levied directly by MLS commissioner Don Garber. The official announcement referred to Payne's comments as "detrimental to the public image of the League."

This is nonsensical. Payne was right on the money. Teams that play back, that play anti-football, need to be called out for doing that. No matter what you think about DCU, the sentiment he expressed needed to be said.

I think this is wonderful, like when Landon Donovan incited the crowd in Dallas a few years ago. This is one of those things that makes sports fun.

What's worse is the fact that it would have been so much better for Garber to say something along the lines of: "Well, that's Kevin Payne's opinion and he's entitled to it. If I were New England or Colorado, I might take offense to it, but they can settle that on the field."

Now THAT'S what a commissioner ought to say. Here's where you see a look into the kind of "leader" that Garber is, and by extension, the kind of organization that MLS is: Way, way too much marketing and placement thinking and way, way too little competition and fire. Stir the pot. Get people talking about something real instead of something you're trying to make them talk about through preordained advertising.

This is nonsense and it's Garber, not Payne, who has put the league in a bad light. Read more!

Corrales coming to Houston

Over on Bernardo Fallas' blog, I saw a reference to a video report in Norwegian that US MNT defender Ramiro Corrales (who has been playing for 2007 Tippeligaen champions SK Brann) had signed with Dynamo. So I followed the link to a video report, which I just watched. Now, I am hampered by the fact that I, of course, do not speak Norwegian (and here I call for help from Playtherapy, who spent several of his young formative years three or four previous lives ago as a plucky American high school kid in Norway, rooting for Viking FK). However, the guy talking seemed pretty convinced to me that Corrales was gone. This is also rumored in news on SK Brann's Web site. Also, Corrales is not listed on the SK Brann roster, while new signing Michael Thwaite is.

Now when faced with this report, Fallas claims Dynamo are denying it, but I believe that the video shows a representative of SK Brann mentioning that he is coming to MLS, that Dynamo own his rights and Houston will be his likely destination.

Of course, with the closing of the European transfer window, this whole thing might just be water under the bridge, but I am the first to admit that the whole player transfer system leaves me a little confused, so maybe that's a big deal and maybe it's not.

One thing that is likely is that Corrales is coming to Houston in a few short days to play for the US MNT against Mexico. What more ideal time to finish this deal?


If this happens, what does this do to the team, who clearly needs help up front and not in the back? I see a few scenarios if Corrales signs:

1. The team makes no further moves for right now and goes with a lineup like this (subs in parentheses):

Onstad (Caig)
Corrales-Robinson-Boswell-Barrett (Ianni, Waibel, Mulrooney)
Mullan-Clark-Davis-Holden (Ashe, Mulrooney, maybe Ianni playing up, Wondolowski)
De Rosario-Ching (Wondolowski, Ashe)

Clearly, the team still needs at least one more forward on the attack, but oh my, WHAT a defense and midfield!!!! Who is going to score on these guys?

2. Dynamo package a deal including Corrales (or his rights) or some other player (maybe, unfortunately but possibly, hamstring-injury-recovering Craig Waibel) for the forward(s) they want.


This just underlines once again how strong the hand is that Dynamo have here. Like many of us in Dynamolopolis, I have been worried about the lack of movement in the offseason (the Wells-Boswell deal the main exception. Look closely and you can see Boswell in the image of the first day of camp yesterday.) and how most of the storylines were ones about players leaving. But when you look at what other teams have and you look at what Dynamo already has in place, you see easily one of the strongest teams, if not THE strongest team, in the league. I am already ready for a Dynamo-DC United rivalry to start taking shape. DCU have rightly gotten a great deal of press for their new signings. But the two teams already shape up as the beasts of their respective conferences and their dates are going to be things to behold. If you can make it to San Antonio for the Texas Pro Soccer Festival in early March to see them play each other in the preseason, you may just see the beginnings of this struggle taking shape. (You can get tickets here.) Looks like a ton of fun. Read more!