All the tactical wizardry in the game of soccer wasn’t going to save D.C. United head coach Tom Soehn and his casualty-ridden, fixture-clogged team in its CONCACAF Champions’ League opening 2-0 loss to Deportivo Saprissa.
The blame for the hugely demoralizing start to the competition, which will make it extremely difficult for United to advance out of the group phase while striving to eke out a berth in the playoffs, rests squarely on the inadequate size of Major League Soccer rosters.
Of the 28 players on any MLS roster, only 18 of them earn a living wage as senior players, while the other ten are rookies and developmental players who barely expect to see the field during the course of a season.
“The 18-man [senior] roster needs to be expanded,” Columbus Crew head coach Sigi Schmid recently said. “I think there are players in [the minor leagues] who are better than some players who are developmental MLS players. The depth is not there.”
Some have advocated for the elimination of the developmental roster completely. But there are stepping-stone solutions that could be equally effective. The expansion of the senior roster by two to four players not only would make MLS teams more competitive, it would cost less than $20,000 per player.
Meanwhile, in Tuesday night’s highly-prized international match against the reigning Costa Rican champions at RFK Stadium, Soehn was forced to use two rookies in his first eleven, as nearly half of United’s senior roster was injured.
“I think the difficult part has been having to manage getting guys on the field,” said Soehn. “You’re not having to coach too much, you’re patching up things and it’s pretty difficult.”
The outcome was never in doubt, even before United defender Devon McTavish’s disputed red card.
And next fall, expect the exact same struggles because there is no indication that Major League Soccer will do anything to address the problem until the current collective bargaining agreement with MLS Players Union runs out at the end of the 2009 season.
Both the MLSPU and Major League Soccer deputy commissioner Ivan Gazidis have declined interview requests and would not comment on any topic pertaining to CBA negotiations.
