MLS: AEG sucks. Lampard to Galaxy a done deal.

Certainly this isn't all that surprising. There had actually been rumors about this midway through the MLS season. The thing that was really stopping it from happening at the time was that the Galaxy already had three DPs.

This was also a time when Robbie Keane was really struggling with his form and there was talk that LA was going to try to find a way to rid themselves of Keane in order to bring in Lampard, but I don't think anything really ever got close to happening. Of course, Keane went on a tear late in the season and has now had his deal extended by the Galaxy.

 

That's okay, we will roll with our Jamaicans and Central Americans.

 

Also, why blame AEG? Who's to say Lamps would have wanted to play and live in Houston when Los Angeles was an option? No disrespect to Houston but the opportunity to live in Los Angeles or New York is always tops for the European footy stars and then you factor in that as good as the Dynamo have been, LA are the current back to back champs.

Either way, the Dynamo machine will keep on trucking. Da-le!

 

Meh... he'd only slow us down anyway.

 

I wish Les bought them

 

Why?? We've been to back-to-back MLS Cups. We have one of the nicest stadiums in the entire country. We have one of the best managers, and front offices in the league. And, we have an ownership group who is always willing to do what it takes to win. I'm really not sure what Les would have done differently.

 

It's not just in MLS/soccer, it's every sport/league in the U.S.A. that every athlete wants to play in a big city like LA. In the NBA, players would choose Lakers or Clippers over Rockets and in the MLB, they will choose Dodgers or Angels over Astros. If L.A. gets an NFL team, the majority of football players would like to play in L.A. than playing for the Houston Texans.

 

I tend to agree with your larger point, but I think LA and NY have an even bigger advantage in MLS. In the NFL or NBA, players certainly prefer to play for the marquee teams in big cities, but they will accept playing elsewhere more often than not because they are still playing the game in the best league in the world at the highest level and their salary is likely about the same as would be offered by a big-market team.

In MLS, that's not the case. LA and NY have shown to be much more willing to throw big money around than, say the Dynamo or Columbus Crew or the Colorado Rapids. If you are a big-name European player in the twilight of your career looking to explore a move to MLS, it's likely that only LA or NY will offer comparable money to what you could get in Europe.

Also, if these guys are going to play in a lesser league (I like MLS, but it's just true), you know they are going to want to play in a city where they are still going to be in the relative limelight. There are only two places where that's the case in MLS.

 

If for no other reason than to end the conflict of interest that is caused by AEG owning two teams MLS teams.

 

Is there a tangible or intangible area where the team has been negatively affected by that? I agree that it should be an ultimate goal for every team in the MLS to have individual ownership groups that don't overlap, but not if it means it's to the detriment of a team. I'm not saying that selling the Dynamo to Les, or anyone else, would be to the detriment of the team, but AEG seems to be doing pretty well for Houston, and vice versa.

 

I think it's just a well run team, top to bottom from management down to coaching down to identifying players and getting them on the field and "making the right X and Os."

If the Dynamo had dummies running the club, and AEG didn't do a thing about it, then yeah, you can say AEG is letting the Dynamo be the red heads.

 

Watch them play like the lakers

 

How do you know that? I'm of the opinion that the Dynamo have the ability to go after these players and choose not to. It would be good business for AEG to make Houston a bigger name. I just don't think the management and coaching staff feel that they need to go after the big names for the sake of having a big name. If there was one available that fit in the club and was interested in playing in Houston, I sincerely doubt AEG would put a stop to it in the name of protecting the Galaxy.