Hooray for shiny things!

It was good to see the Battery fans making the trip to DC for this. Reports indicated a few hundred came up from the carolinas to RFK.

Tyler Hemming from Toronto: any good?

Not terribly imaginitive, but reasonably pacy and plays positively. I thought he was never given the chance he deserved here, but he was misused as a midfielder when his real position is right back.

Has he washed up in Scandinavia?

Just signed for Tampere United. It says in the paper he was earning 17,700USD this year, and the TFC coach had the front to tell him he was letting his team mates down for getting a job that pays better than McDonalds.

There was supposed to be another Canadian signing this week, but he didn't turn up.

He was cut just after the start of the season, but taken on again (on a standard MLS developmental player contract, which, as you say, is 17.7K) about eight weeks later.

He was leting down his teammates by leaving when he did: he almost certainly would have got a rare start on Saturday had he stuck around as we had only 2 recognizable defenders among the 13 who were available to play (see previous post about intl call-ups). Had he waited a couple of days, I doubt anyone would have said anything.

Weekends like this really highlight how small MLS squads really are. Between injuries, international callups and suspensions, Toronto was basically doomed to lose, DC was woefully undermanned and LA was without two of its most important players. Toronto, DC and NE all had less than a full substitutes bench.

This extends to the reserve division, which seems to be getting to be more and more of a joke. Ben Olsen's brother played in a reserve game earlier this season, basically because he was around and had two legs.

But just about everyone is close to the salary cap (or has some deal to be allowed to be over it). At a time when MLS teams are in several competitions over the course of the year, something really needs to change.

Actually, turns out our subs bench was longer than I thought. Although we only had 13 regular players, we also dressed 3 extra players, to wit:

1) Our chief scout, former MLS defender Tim Regan. Friday morning the league allowed him to un-retire and play Saturday's game.

2) 39-year-old defender Ricky Titus, who spent 2002 with the Colorado Rapids and now plays in several local men's leagues. Titus couldn't accept payment for yesterday's game because he needed to maintain his amateur status for a men's league tournament later this month.

3) Defender Diaz Kambere, on a weekend loan from the USL's Vancouver Whitecaps.

Garber is an idiot.

The reason you were able to sign 3 guys is that Carver and Mo were only using 25 of the 28 available roster slots. Those two need to be blamed for not keeping a full roster to begin with. Chivas were also down 9 guys as well-2 callups, 5 injured, 2 suspended.

Pfrobably shouldn't bang on about this, but the minimum MLS wage - the three TFC players earn - is 500canadian dollars per year more than the Ontario minimum wage for any job. At all. Your reserves are always going to be looking for a transfer if you pay them that little.

Abslutely right, BC. What MLS pays developmental players ($17,700 per year) and it's basic professional salary ($30,000) is expected to be an important point in the new collective agreement talks this winter.

So, the salary cap, then.

I was trying to explain the cap to TonTon last weekend, and he just about fell off his chair when I explained that the cap is 2.3 million, or about 1.1 million GBP. This is, apparently, about average for League Two in England. So maybe some of those comparisons we all dislike so much ("what level is MLS equivalent to?") are actually true.

So, what does anyone think the odds are that the cap will be lifted soon so that we can raise salaries both at the bottom (where they are embarassing) and at the top, so as to entice better players here?

Oh it's going up, I don't think that's ind oubt. But there's gonna be absolute knifefights in the negotiating room over how much.

Man, this thread is moribund lately. But here's some news to perk everyone up. Ottawa is bidding for an MLS team.

I want this to go through because I loathe the City of Ottawa so much. It would be the best road trip ever. I could get really, really into an Ottawa rivalry. Fucking useless town full of useless people. The City that Fun Forgot and Fashion Never Found.

Whoa, Dougie Brimson to thread. It's 'kicking off'!

Any chance they'd call themselves the Ottawa Otters?

Then Gramsci could have himself an 'Otter War'.