[ColoradoTree]

[quote author=ColoradoTree link=topic=17658.msg205784#msg205784 date=1507751118]
The bright side: we've got two very good young keepers waiting in the wings: Jesse Gonzalez, 22, from FC Dallas and Bill Hamid, 26, from DC United.  I'm excited to see what those guys can do with more opportunities. 

What about the young keeper who plays against European (read: actual) competition? Ethan Horvath is 22 and starts for Belgian First Division side Club Brugge, which is a perennial Champions/Europa League-caliber team. He's also from Highlands Ranch, CO - I feel like someone we know played his high school ball there... ;)
[/quote]

For sure!  Horvath is another guy that can and should get rotated into the mix at keeper to see if he rises to the occasion.  I didn't mention him because it's been a little while since he's been called into camp, though his omission from the Gold Cup roster shouldn't matter since that was a team  comprised of North American-based players. 

That said, I take issue with the suggestion that the Belgian league is better than MLS.  The competition in the league has generally improved year over year, and given how many CONCACAF internationals play their club soccer in MLS, I wouldn't put the Belgian First Division over it.  I don't know that there are good league rankings across confederations, but within UEFA, Belgium has been the 8th or 9th best league by country coefficient the last few years.  If an American is good enough to start in the Premier League, the Bundesliga, Serie A, or La Liga, then by all means, they should go there vs. playing in MLS.  Same goes for France in Ligue 1.  But after that, I'm not sure it's so obviously worth it.  Club Brugge is a good club, to be sure, but that league is dominated by Brugge and Anderlecht, and there's a big dropoff from them to the bottom of the table.  Now, to be fair, most European leagues are top-heavy, whereas central control by MLS ensures a greater degree of parity, so I'd argue that Gonzalez gets better tests week-in and week-out in Dallas than Horvath does in Brugge.  (A caveat: a good performance at Brugge might lead a better team to

I'm certainly no MLS apologist, as I tended to agree with Klinsmann that our better players should be playing in Europe, and I'm disappointed that Morris chose Seattle over Werder Bremen.  I sure hope that Morris will take the opportunity to move to a top European league if the opportunity presents itself again.  But not all European leagues are created equally, and the MLS has gotten better. 

[ColoradoTree]

[quote author=ColoradoTree link=topic=17658.msg205784#msg205784 date=1507751118]
The bright side: we've got two very good young keepers waiting in the wings: Jesse Gonzalez, 22, from FC Dallas and Bill Hamid, 26, from DC United.  I'm excited to see what those guys can do with more opportunities. 

What about the young keeper who plays against European (read: actual) competition? Ethan Horvath is 22 and starts for Belgian First Division side Club Brugge, which is a perennial Champions/Europa League-caliber team. He's also from Highlands Ranch, CO - I feel like someone we know played his high school ball there... ;)
[/quote]

For sure!  Horvath is another guy that can and should get rotated into the mix at keeper to see if he rises to the occasion.  I didn't mention him because it's been a little while since he's been called into camp, though his omission from the Gold Cup roster shouldn't matter since that was a team  comprised of North American-based players. 

That said, I take issue with the suggestion that the Belgian league is better than MLS.  The competition in the league has generally improved year over year, and given how many CONCACAF internationals play their club soccer in MLS, I wouldn't put the Belgian First Division over it.  I don't know that there are good league rankings across confederations, but within UEFA, Belgium has been the 8th or 9th best league by country coefficient the last few years.  If an American is good enough to start in the Premier League, the Bundesliga, Serie A, or La Liga, then by all means, they should go there vs. playing in MLS.  Same goes for France in Ligue 1.  But after that, I'm not sure it's so obviously worth it.  Club Brugge is a good club, to be sure, but that league is dominated by Brugge and Anderlecht, and there's a big dropoff from them to the bottom of the table.  Now, to be fair, most European leagues are top-heavy, whereas central control by MLS ensures a greater degree of parity, so I'd argue that Gonzalez gets better tests week-in and week-out in Dallas than Horvath does in Brugge.  (A caveat: a good performance at Brugge might lead a better team to

I'm certainly no MLS apologist, as I tended to agree with Klinsmann that our better players should be playing in Europe, and I'm disappointed that Morris chose Seattle over Werder Bremen.  I sure hope that Morris will take the opportunity to move to a top European league if the opportunity presents itself again.  But not all European leagues are created equally, and the MLS has gotten better.