Atlanta United president Darren Eales said he learned a lot about how the team will approach trying to sign its designated players after watching the 2015 MLS season.
He was keenly interested in seeing how Orlando and New York City FC, expansion clubs last season, approached their big-money signings.
New York City FC accumulated veteran midfielders with Andrea Pirlo and Frank Lampard, to go along with forward David Villa. The team didn’t make the playoffs and fired its coach.
Orlando mixed its designated players throughout its roster with veteran midfielder Kaka, 21-year-old midfielder Carlos Rivas and 21-year-old forward Bryan Rochez. The team also didn’t make the playoffs.
Eales said Atlanta United will stress to potential signees that the team will be trying to create a culture and ethos and will only have six weeks of training camp to do so. Because of the importance of culture and the limited time, Eales said the potential signees must understand that they are coming as pioneers, with all the responsibilities therein, and not just to play soccer.
They must also do their homework.
Numerous players, including L.A. Galaxy’s Steven Gerrard, came to MLS last year and quickly realized how much they did not know about the travel, the playing surfaces, the physicality of the league and the weather.
“It will be a challenge for us,” Eales said.
He said each player will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.
When he worked in England for West Bromwich Albion and then Tottenham Hotspur, he said some clubs believed that Portuguese players didn’t perform well in the Premier League, for whatever reason.
“If that was your philosophy, you would have never signed Ronaldo at Manchester United,” he said.
Age is another factor that must be looked at individually. Some MLS supporters don’t like that teams continue to sign players who are past their prime.
“This year, (Didier) Drogba was a roaring success at Montreal,” Eales said. “You can’t make blanket assumptions on a limited sample size.”
He said the team’s efforts should be helped by the success of the some of the younger designated players such as Toronto’s Sebastian Giovionco and L.A. Galaxy’s Gio dos Santos. Giovinco, a 28-year-old Italian, scored 22 goals last season to earn the league’s MVP honors. He also earned a call-up to the Italian national team. Dos Santos, a 26-year-old Mexican, scored three goals in nine appearances last season. He made nine appearances and scored two goals for the national team last year. Those are two examples.
“When we are talking to players, we can say you have a chance to cement your spot in the national team or get back into picture,” Eales said. “It opens the range of players that we are able to sign.”
Though owner Arthur Blank said that the team might pursue other venues to temporarily host the team, the options are relatively slim. The site would need to have a field large enough to meet FIFA's recommendations of 74 yards wide and 114 yards deep, it would likely need to be able to host at least 30,000 season-ticket holders and it seems probable that the team would like to recoup some of the revenue that it's going to lose by not playing in its new stadium.
Putting those factors together, there are few places that could host the team.
Georgia Tech associate athletic director Brett Daniels said the Jackets would be open to hosting Atlanta United. The issue with playing at Bobby Dodd Stadium is the dimensions of the grass field don’t meet FIFA’s recommendations.
Kennesaw State’s Fifth Third Bank has a large enough field, but not nearly enough seating. The same is true for Silverbacks Park.
Sanford Stadium in Athens hosted soccer in the Olympics, but it had to tear out its famed hedges to do so.
The Georgia Dome seems the easiest choice, but it scheduled to be demolished in the spring of 2017.
Good reads: This national team player slammed U.S. men's national team manager Jurgen Klinsmann.
Goal of the year: Watch this goal by Tottenham's Dele Alli on Saturday against Crystal Palace.
Soccer stuff for the new fans: You'll see the FA Cup pop up a few times in the list of the Top 10 games to watch list. One of the things that can be confusing for new soccer fans, or those who are just curious, are the number of tournaments played.
Well, the FA Cup is considered the oldest tournament in world soccer. It started in 1871.
The FA Cup is an English tournament in which every single team from the top professionals to the local amateur sides can compete. In past years more than 700 teams have competed annually. The best comparison for U.S. sports fans would be to imagine a basketball tournament featuring teams from the NBA to AAU starting in the same bracket and trying to advance to the final.
The equivalent tournament in the U.S. is the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup.
Arsenal are the FA Cup holders. This year’s final will be held May 21 at Wembley Stadium.
Top 10
Here are the top 10 games to watch in world soccer this week on your television or mobile device:
Friday
2:55 p.m., Derby County vs. Manchester United, Fox Soccer 2Go: This match in the FA Cup normally wouldn't make this list but it seems that each week's game could be the last for Manchester United caretaker manager Louis van Gaal. The Red Devils failed to win again last week. Despite spending hundreds of millions dollars more than his predecessor, David Moyes, van Gaal has won fewer points in the same amount of games.
Saturday
7:45 a.m., Colchester United vs. Tottenham Hotspur, Fox Soccer 2Go: Another FA Cup match features a red-hot Spurs team pushing for the title against a Colchester squad mired in the relegation zone in England's third division.
9:30 a.m., Bayer Leverkusen vs. Hannover 96, Fox Soccer 2Go: Leverkusen are pushing for a Champions League spot in the Bundesliga while Hannover are last in the table and desperate for points to move out of the relegation zone.
10 a.m., Barcelona vs. Atletico Madrid, beIN Sports USA: The game of the week in world soccer. The teams are tied atop the La Liga table with 48 points each, four more than third-place Real Madrid. Barcelona features arguably the greatest collection of individual talent in club soccer, while Atletico plays a galvanizing brand of team football.
12:30 p.m., Liverpool vs. West Ham United, Fox Soccer 2Go: It seems unlikely that either team will make the Champions League, so advancing in the FA Cup isn't a bad goal at this point. The Reds are coming off a shocking 5-4 win over Norwich, won by Adam Lallana in the fifth minute of stoppage time. The Hammers tied Manchester City 2-2.
8 p.m., Tigres vs. Leon, Univsion Deportes: Leon is atop the Liga MX table while Tigres are fifth, four points behind. Leon features four Americans, led by goalkeeper William Yarbrough.
Sunday
11:30 a.m., Bayern Munich vs. Hoffenheim, beIN Sports USA: There should be goals galore in this game feature the leaders of the Bundesliga against a Hoffenheim team that is in the relegation zone.
1 p.m., Toluca vs. Puebla, Univsion Deportes: Two mid-table teams will compete in this one.
2:45 p.m., Milan vs. Internazionale, beIN Sports USA: Runner-up for game of the week in world soccer. These two rivals are starting to lose sight of the Serie A leaders and need three points. Inter is tied for third and trails leaders Napoli by six points. Milan is in sixth, eight points outside a spot in the Champions League.
3:45 p.m., US vs. Iceland, Univsion Deportes: You would think that a country with a population of more than 320 million would produce enough soccer talent to walk over a country whose soccer talent comes from a population of 330,000. You'd be wrong. Iceland recently qualified for the European championships and could easily defeat the U.S. in this exhibition game.
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