-
Hello, Soc Takes crowd. It’s been a while, I know. The pandemic hit, sports got cancelled and my day job suddenly kicked into overtime. But now, the world is looking a bit more normal, and my soapbox needed a good dusting. You may remember that last January, I wrote...
-
Major League Soccer announced “The 25 Greatest” last week, its 25 greatest players of all time in celebration of its 25th season. Most of the players deserve to be on the list. One of them caught my attention. And I’m having trouble rationalizing it. David Beckham. No disrespect to Beckham....
-
As the MLS expansion project keeps its track, the American soccer market is gaining the attention of Liga MX assets, coaches, executives and Mexican footballers. The wages, lifestyle and multiculturalism of MLS seduce underpaid talent. One of the missions of MLS is to attract the attention of the Latino...
-
With Chicago’s recent rebrand announcement receiving a, shall we say, openly hostile reception, we’ve gotten to talking about soccer logos in the Soc Takes group chat. It’s a common pastime for us, much like any other members of #SoccerTwitter, and this got me thinking about the various brands and...
-
The North Carolina city would be the league’s 30th franchise Following MLS Board of Governors meetings on Thursday afternoon in Brooklyn, N.Y., it has been reported that MLS will go ahead with the announcement of Charlotte as the league’s 30th franchise in the coming weeks. Initially reported by Soc...
-
Los Angeles FC is in dangerous territory. October will define if it’s remembered as the most ambitious project in the history of MLS or as another good team with an impeccable campaign. If LAFC doesn’t culminate 2019 with the MLS Cup, it’s going to be a statistic, a precedent,...
-
With the rise of advanced analytics in soccer, expected goals (xG) has become a go-to metric for examining the quality of both clubs and individual players beyond base accumulation stats (goals, assists, etc.). Inspired by Ben Mayhew of Experimental 3-6-1, who utilizes similar statistics for the English Football League,...
-
In June, the MLS Players Association unveiled its salary guide — as has become customary — listing the base and total compensation of every player in the league for the 2019 season. Here’s the 2019 MLS salary guide converted into an Excel workbook to help you farther sink into...
-
With the rise of advanced analytics in soccer, expected goals (xG) has become a go-to metric for examining the quality of both clubs and individual players beyond base accumulation stats (goals, assists, etc.). Inspired by Ben Mayhew of Experimental 3-6-1, who utilizes similar statistics for the English Football League,...
-
Cha-Ching. Corked Champagne. Celebrations. On April 18, MLS confirmed what everyone except Don Garber had said out loud — MLS would be expanding to 30 teams, already accelerating beyond their previously set upper limit of 28. While this is good news for the top division, what does it mean...
Hello, Soc Takes crowd. It’s been a while, I know. The pandemic hit, sports got cancelled and my day job suddenly kicked into overtime. But now, the world is looking a bit more normal, and my soapbox needed a good dusting. You may remember that last January, I wrote...
Major League Soccer announced “The 25 Greatest” last week, its 25 greatest players of all time in celebration of its 25th season. Most of the players deserve to be on the list. One of them caught my attention. And I’m having trouble rationalizing it. David Beckham. No disrespect to Beckham....
As the MLS expansion project keeps its track, the American soccer market is gaining the attention of Liga MX assets, coaches, executives and Mexican footballers. The wages, lifestyle and multiculturalism of MLS seduce underpaid talent. One of the missions of MLS is to attract the attention of the Latino...
With Chicago’s recent rebrand announcement receiving a, shall we say, openly hostile reception, we’ve gotten to talking about soccer logos in the Soc Takes group chat. It’s a common pastime for us, much like any other members of #SoccerTwitter, and this got me thinking about the various brands and...
The North Carolina city would be the league’s 30th franchise Following MLS Board of Governors meetings on Thursday afternoon in Brooklyn, N.Y., it has been reported that MLS will go ahead with the announcement of Charlotte as the league’s 30th franchise in the coming weeks. Initially reported by Soc...
Los Angeles FC is in dangerous territory. October will define if it’s remembered as the most ambitious project in the history of MLS or as another good team with an impeccable campaign. If LAFC doesn’t culminate 2019 with the MLS Cup, it’s going to be a statistic, a precedent,...
With the rise of advanced analytics in soccer, expected goals (xG) has become a go-to metric for examining the quality of both clubs and individual players beyond base accumulation stats (goals, assists, etc.). Inspired by Ben Mayhew of Experimental 3-6-1, who utilizes similar statistics for the English Football League,...
In June, the MLS Players Association unveiled its salary guide — as has become customary — listing the base and total compensation of every player in the league for the 2019 season. Here’s the 2019 MLS salary guide converted into an Excel workbook to help you farther sink into...
With the rise of advanced analytics in soccer, expected goals (xG) has become a go-to metric for examining the quality of both clubs and individual players beyond base accumulation stats (goals, assists, etc.). Inspired by Ben Mayhew of Experimental 3-6-1, who utilizes similar statistics for the English Football League,...
Cha-Ching. Corked Champagne. Celebrations. On April 18, MLS confirmed what everyone except Don Garber had said out loud — MLS would be expanding to 30 teams, already accelerating beyond their previously set upper limit of 28. While this is good news for the top division, what does it mean...