Danny Dichio of Toronto FC and Terry Cooke of Colorado are just two of the handful of MLS players who have played professionally in England. BBC ran a story where Dichio and Cooke discuss MLS and give some of their insight and thoughts on the league and what David Bekcham might expect here.
Among the interesting things brought up in the story (the whole story is a pretty good read):
* Cooke says the league's Hispanic refs tend to be more restrictive and call more fouls while the American officials tend to let things go. I've not noticed that but I guess it's just that I haven't really paid attention to it. I'll have to keep tabs on it.
* Dichio chimed in on officials too and said the refereeing has been "interesting." To me, one of the worst things about MLS is the officiating. Dichio didn't make the same leap - at least not here - but poor and inconsistent refereeing hurts the league and is an ongoing problem.
* Climate is a big factor, both in high temperatures and the variations in them. Beckham only wears long-sleeve jerseys so that may come in to play more for him than Cooke and Dichio.
* Both Cooke and Dichio compared the level of play and the competitiveness of the league in general to the Championship, or the second tier of English football. I don't watch enough of the Championship myself to make a judgment on whether that's a fair claim or not but both players spent time in that league and would know more about that than most others, so I can't really second guess them.
2 comments:
I read this article, too. You forgot to mention about how the conditioning and athleticism is excellent here, too.
A striker from a Championship League team was called up to the England national team. So it's not insulting to me to compare MLS to that level. I have coworkers who are hardcore EPL fans and they believe most MLS teams can be a high level Championship team. Which is not a bad thing after 10 years of existense.
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