It's Q&A Time

Well folks, with all the soccer action last weekend and all the activity at MLS Cup in Washington DC, it feels like a perfect time for another Question & Answer session.

Here is your chance to ask me soccer questions about anything from MLS to international soccer. Try to keep them reasonably-sized and try to limit your questions to one or two. I will do my best to try and answer your questions, or at least find the answers.

Let's here some questions. Fire away. (NO MORE QUESTIONS FOLKS. Thanks for those who submitted questions.)

Comments

[Brad]

What do you think of Drew Carey's clause he put in with the Seattle Team regarding a fan vote for a General Manager?

Is there any way we can get ESPN to do a fan vote for commentators for 2008? If so, I really think Julie Foudy should be in the booth by herself. Seriously though, is she coherent?

[Super Metro]

Ives,
1. Any real changes of Riquelme to MLS, what's his issue with clubs/FIFA etc.?
2. Update on J. Exantus

[CentralCoaster]

Whats your opinion on Marvin Avila of Guatemala. I've only seen him in Gold Cup and I know he scored against Mexico a few weeks ago. It seems like he's destined for something better than the Guatemalan league. Do you see the Mexican League, MLS, or some other league in his future?

[Dannyc58]

Oh man! I sent you an email, can that be my question? About Sebastian Lleget and his citizenship, etc?

[Carl]

Ives,

I don't know if you explored this in your column but do you think a withdrawn striker is what's missing from the Revs since Deuce left? Twellman has a lot of heart but we need another creator and finisher up front. Will New England decide to use a DP spot on a player like this and do you have any ideas on which player(s) may be available to come to MLS?

[Scott]

Do you think Bob Bradley will ever try out his son in a more attacking role? Feilhaber seems ineffective and it could be useful to have that flexibility if someone like Donovan or Adu goes down. Bradley seems to have a scoring touch that's put to waste as (very good) holding mid. Plus there's I think there's a decent wealth of defensive mids in the US pool. Any chance of this happening or is MB's role as a defensive mid too important to mess with?

[emilio]

Have you heard anything on potential candidates for the Red Bull coaching spot, do you expect coaches with MLS experience or international coaches. Is Paul Mariner being considered?

[chicago millonario]

1. Do you think an MLS club can make a serious challenge in the Copa Sudamericana soon?

2. Also, how would the scheduling work out? If a team makes it to the semifinals of the Copa AND playoffs/MLS CUP at the same time, which tournament should be the higher priority?

[Patrick]

What do you feel is the status of the even-keel Revolution going into the offseason? Is it time to start looking for a successor to Ralston? How good is Wells Thompson going to be? And god almighty is Khano Smith hopeless or what?

[Carl]

Ives,

Can you go into more detail on New England's claim to Jose Angulo? Can they fight the ruling that he would go into the MLS Draft? And how much of a difference-maker do you think this kid is? Altidore-esque?

[Ossington Mental Youth]

What have you heard about SI/YI spots being increased in the league?

[Brad]

Do you know if MLS players read your blog? Obviously Bobby Boswell is in tune with the blog community, but I didn't know if you'd heard of other players that read your blog or chime in with their viewpoints under different names or something.

[Big Z]

I know it was De Rosario who lifted the Dynamo but can you give me a list off the top of your head of the top 5 difference making midfielders in MLS? Is De Rosario ahead of Joseph now or is it just that Joseph has less class around him than De Rosario?

[Greg]

Ives,
Great to meet you at Summers. Any info on where the next MLS cup will be? Thanks

[Chris C.]

Ives,

I posted this question on the Jose Angulo Update, but I'll ask it here again:

How would you rate this year's Superdraft quality compared to year's past?

and, other than Jose Angulo, who are some other stand out prospects?

Thanks man

[Jaime]

How good do you think Jeff Larentowicz is? Is he developing into a difference maker like Parkhurst and other younger guys on the Revs?

[Juan Pablo]

Ives do you see Parkhurst and Dorman going to Europe in the next year or so? Where do you think Parkhurst might get a shot? Bundesliga? Prem? And even though Dorman might want to move, is anybody still interested?

[Dan]

Ives:

1. Is the issue of individual teams in MLS chartering flights rather than flying commercial going to be adressed this summer?

2. Are there any issues you think MLS should deal with but probably won't be dealt with during the off-season?

Thanks.

[Nick]

Hi Ives,

What are your thoughts on Garber allowing the new Seattle team to play at QWest field instead of building an SSS? I thought the MLS was only allowing teams with a SSS or plans for a SSS allowed into the league. I think QWest is the coolest stadium in the NFL, but it doesn't strike me as a soccer stadium even though I know it was built to cater to both sports.

[Chesterton Chris]

i remember reading fifa limits the number of teams to 20 per league. i know it's early in mls development, but do you see down the road (7-10 years from now) this being a limiting factor to the growth of soccer in the us and mls in particular? 20 teams won't cover the us well geographically. with $ being key to growth of any sports league, big $ won't be shelled out for tv from the networks if the network doesn't cover the whole country. could fifa change their stance? or would this lead into mls 2, ie, a second tier to cover cities which didn't make it into mls and then relegation?

sorry for the length

[Mikemike]

Hey Ives,

Have you logged onto

http://bestof2007-ussoccer.blogspot.com/search/label/Best%20Soccer%20Blog

to vote for your own site?

All the cool kids are doing it.

-Mike

[Nick G.]

Predict the futured a little bit here...

How do you see the U.S. attack shaping up in 2010 with all the options we may have by 2010? Beasley, Donovan, Dempsey, Adu, and Altidore will all make strong, strong cases for being starters, so how do you fit them all in, plus other possible options? Do you rotate, go with the hot hand (err foot), or play based on matchups...or something else?

[MattMathai]

Nick: "I think QWest is the coolest stadium in the NFL, but it doesn't strike me as a soccer stadium even though I know it was built to cater to both sports."

Having flown to Seattle from DC to watch DCU take on Real Madrid, I can tell you that Qwest Field is absolutely useful as a soccer venue...for big events. The field and facilities are top-notch. The problem is that no MLS team, not even a brand-new team, will be able to fill it. That means we'll always see empty seats. Most MLS teams would be thrilled to have 30K avg. attendance, but even with that, Qwest would be more than half empty.

I don't know what the plans are for a permanent SSS, so it might be that Qwest is just a temporary solution.

[ben]

Ives,
Who do you see headed to Europe out of MLS this offseason?

Also, do you think we'll see Robbie Findley spend any more time with the national team (or Kyle Beckerman for that matter)?

[andy b.]

Hey Ives,
I haven't watched enough MLS, I'll confess, to know if this is a consistent trend-- but the first 20-25 mins. of the final struck me as VERY physical, to the point where it seemed like it would have been hard to put together any passes, let alone displays of skill, because people were too busy just hammering each other. It eased up (looked like people just got worn down, and space started to open up as things progressed). What do you think about the level of "physical play" in MLS generally-- too much, too little, or 'just the way it is, who cares?'