Major League Soccer shows plenty of signs of good health and progress but beneath the surface the North American league has some critical decisions to make over its future direction.

After a week of largely upbeat build-up and nationwide publicity for a sport that so often struggles to get space, the league’s title deciding game, MLS Cup, was played out in front of over 46,000 fans here in Seattle – the city that is staking a strong claim to be the de facto home of U.S soccer.

“It was a memorable night for soccer in the United States,” said league commissioner Don Garber.

Strolling through the squares of downtown Seattle, packed with fans bedecked in team colours and chatting to the soccer-savvy locals, it was hard not to imagine how the sports scene in the U.S could change if the Seattle experience truly was replicated across the country.

David Beckham and L.A Galaxy didn’t get their title, losing on penalties to Real Salt Lake, but they did both earn some respect.

Beckham has surely put to bed the argument that he is not fully committed to his MLS project by playing through the pain barrier of a badly bruised ankle for 120 minutes and since Bruce Arena took over as head coach, the Galaxy feel like a real team rather than the circus act they were in danger of becoming.

Salt Lake won the league in just their fifth season of existence – a real boost for the trio of new teams about to enter MLS, Philadelphia in 2010, Vancouver and Portland a year later and encouraging also for other teams in the league without a big name foreign player.

But for all the very real advances the 14 year-old league had made, MLS now finds itself at the crossroads with some very difficult strategic issues to deal with, including some tough talks with the players’ union over a collective bargaining agreement on wages and conditions.

MLS has prided itself on avoiding the boom and bust associated with the first attempt at a nationwide professional league – the NASL which ran from 1968 to 1984 before collapsing as one debt-ridden club after another folded.

The MLS executives have led a conservative expansion and investment strategy designed for steady and intelligent growth and in many areas that approach has been justified.

The league is a ‘single entity’ which means that there is a strong central control over spending and a collective responsibility for debt. The salary cap and the restrictive rules on recruitment and squad development act as a brake on what is so often the biggest cause of debt in professional soccer — wages.

Like all the pro sports leagues in the U.S, the desire for parity – keeping as many teams as possible competitive with each other – leads to rules and regulations that are surprising for a country known as the home of modern capitalism.

There has been some loosening of the reins – the Designated Player exception, also known as the ‘Beckham rule’, allows clubs to have a player on their squad who is outside the salary cap restrictions and is paid for directly by the team and not the league.

Some clubs in MLS, such as the Seattle Sounders and the L.A Galaxy, would like to see an expansion of that exception and greater freedom for clubs to buy in their own players and offer lucrative deals while less wealthy franchises fear that would create a small elite.

At the weekend Galaxy owner Tim Leiweke suggested a rule change was on the horizon which would allow for three designated players and that he expected to see more big name players head to the league.

However, Garber was quick to put the dampers on such talk.

“It is clear that the LA Galaxy are a big proponent of the designated player rule but I can assure you that no decisions have been taken on the designated player rule,” he told reporters at halftime in Seattle.

“Frankly no discussions will be held at the board level on that rule or our salary budgets or anything related to what we spend on our players until after we get through our CBA negotiations,” he said.

BASIC MATTERS

It is a tricky issue for Garber to address. He wants to keep the big money backers of the Sounders and the Galaxy happy; he wants to see more Beckham style big-name players in the league but he doesn’t want to make the mistake of leaving weaker franchises to fade if they can’t keep up with the big-spenders.

But with the current agreement with the players running out on Jan. 31 and the union pushing for higher wages, it is more basic matters that Garber must attend to.

Some of the salaries being paid to experienced and talented players in MLS are astonishingly low compared to the money that players of similar ability earn in Europe or South America.

Stuart Holden, a 24-year-old U.S international and one of the top midfielders in MLS this season with Houston, earns a salary of under $35,000 from the league while Salt Lake’s top scorer Robbie Findley with 18 goals in 27 regular season games and the equaliser in Sunday’s final, this year earned just $72,000.

A deal needs to be struck with the union to avoid the acutely embarrassing and potentially damaging scenario of threats of a strike and also to lessen the danger of the country’s best talent voting with their feet.

Not only is MLS unable to attract quality foreign players into the league, salaries well below the international level mean that it cannot hang on to a lot of American talent.

Holden’s contract runs out in January and he could well move abroad and while players of his quality will always be tempted by an offer from England or Spain, what should be worrying Garber is the exodus of more modest talent to smaller leagues.

It doesn’t look good for MLS’s credibility as a major league – among U.S sports or on the international soccer stage — when young American players choose, as a number have, to move to the relatively anonymous and modestly paying Danish and Norwegian leagues in order to earn a better living.

And while Leiweke talks of new names coming into the league, the fact is that his team and the league can’t control the top names they do have.

Next year’s MLS season starts two months before the World Cup finals in South Africa – an event which is being well promoted on television and which is increasingly on the radar of mainstream sports fans in North America.

MLS’s two highest profile foreign players – Beckham and Mexico’s Cuauhtemoc Blanco – will likely be featuring in that tournament and offer the perfect way to lead interested fans from the World Cup to the domestic competition.

Yet at the start of the MLS season in March, those two players will be playing in different leagues, Beckham with AC Milan in Italy and Blanco back home in Mexico – thanks to deals designed to keep them in shape for South Africa.

Blanco may not return while Beckham is being loaned out — a bizarre situation that is simply unthinkable for any major league sport in the United States or any serious soccer championship elsewhere.

The one area where MLS’s caution has been less evident of late is in the matter of expanding its size. The league will go to 16 teams next year and 18 by 2011. In the subsequent seasons Garber would like to add Montreal and then a 20th team, possibly one owned by Beckham or a consortium he would front.

Here again there is something of a quandary – expansion risks spreading the talent too thinly across the league and creates a need for more imported players and therefore a demand for higher salaries to attract those foreigners.

But with interest in the game as a whole growing – with rising television audiences for the English and Spanish leagues and Champions League football – not embedding MLS into key soccer markets risks allowing a generation of fans to get their fix elsewhere – probably from foreign television.

MLS’s prudent, intelligent and relatively cautious approach has been largely justified by the steady progress the league has made and Garber is perfectly right to celebrate the achievements in bringing the sport to a new level in North America.

But there is, at the heart of all these issues, the conflict between the tried and tested methods of North American major leagues – salary caps, drafts, the desire to keep the gaps between the best and the worst to a minimum, and the fact that, unlike American football and baseball, MLS faces strong competition from overseas leagues and a global labour market for talent.

Soccer, globally, is a ruthlessly free-market business where the rich usually get what they want.

Ultimately, if MLS wants to step up to a higher level, if it wants to be truly major league in the U.S. and in the world soccer scene, there will be some strains on the almost socialistic structures it currently operates in.

PHOTO: Los Angeles Galaxy’s David Beckham watches the celebration after losing to Real Salt Lake in a penalty shootout during their MLS Cup 2009 championship soccer match in Seattle November 22, 2009. REUTERS/Robert Sorbo

Join Owen Wyatt for our regular wrap of world sport. This week, it’s a World Cup qualifier special, as we consider the plight of Diego Maradona and the battle for golden tickets for South Africa 2010.

We particularly welcome comments, so if you’d like to critique Owen’s schoolboy fashion errors, please do…

After a wave of optimism following their successful run in the Confederations Cup, the United States have come back down to earth with their 2-1 defeat to Mexico.

Although Mexico didn’t seal their victory on Wednesday until Miguel Sabah’s strike seven minutes from the end, the result actually flattered the United States who were outplayed at the Azteca stadium.

The U.S’s victory over European champions Spain in the Confederations Cup and their impressive performance in the final against Brazil – when they lead 2-0 before going down 3-2, showed the potential of Bob Bradley’s team.

Mexico though, reborn under coach Javier Aguirre, exposed the lingering weaknesses in the U.S line-up – as well as sending out a strong message that they aren’t about to get give up their long standing position as the dominant power in the CONCACAF region.

In fairness to Bradley and his team, playing at altitude in the Azteca in front of a hostile 105,000 Mexican fans is a devilishly difficult task which would test many of the world’s top teams.

But the context cannot totally excuse what was a weak display from the U.S and nor should it take away from the remarkable job Aguirre has done in getting Mexico back on track after their disastrous diversion with Swedish coach Sven Goran Eriksson.

Charlie Davies’ ninth minute opener for the U.S was quickly cancelled out by Israel Castro’s rocketing equaliser 11 minutes later leaving the sides on level terms at the break but Mexico had enjoyed the better of the possession.

That was even more the case after the break as the U.S defended bravely, led by the impressive Oguchi Onyewu at centre-half but gave the ball back to Mexico with surprising ease.

The U.S midfield never really got a grip on the game – the two holding players Michael Bradley and Ricardo Clark did little more than hold space while out wide Clint Dempsey and Landon Donovan were largely ineffectual.

Whether Donovan, the U.S’s all time top scorer, should be playing on the flank rather than up-front is a question that will surely be on Bradley’s mind – Donovan was poor at tracking back and his lack of defensive awareness was exposed for Mexico’s winner.

Surely, the best place for Donovan is in support of the main striker — playing in the dangerous areas where his sharp turns, intelligent passing and finishing ability can make a difference. There are better wide midfielders than Donovan avaliable to Bradley — there probably aren’t better second strikers.

Up front Davies was a livewire and deserves an extended run in the side but he received poor service and little support from his strike partner Brian Ching who struggled badly.

Bradley has enough quality in his squad to juggle his midfield and strike force around – Jose Francisco Torres and Stuart Holden offer options on the flanks and Jozy Altidore is the most obvious alternative to Ching if Bradley continues with Donovan deeper.

What will concern him more was the display of his two full backs – Steve Cherundolo at right back was given the run around by Andres Guardado and skipper Carlos Bocanegra also had a torrid time against Giovani Dos Santos.

Jonathan Spector is a valid alternative at right-back and it was hard to leave the Azteca without thinking that the experienced Bocanegra would be better used in the middle – but left back has long been a problem spot for the U.S.

PHOTO: A Mexican soccer fan, with her face painted in the national colors, chants slogans as she celebrates her team’s 2-1 victory over the U.S. in their CONCACAF qualifier for the 2010 World Cup. REUTERS/Jorge Dan

Former England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson has described his next challenge as director of football at English League Two (fourth division) club Notts County as his toughest test yet.

Some would say that’s an understatement.

“It’s the biggest football challenge in my life,” the 61-year-old Swede told a news conference in the Midlands city of Nottingham on Wednesday.

“I always said I wanted to come back to the (English) Premier League, because it’s the best league in the world. I’ve chosen a difficult way to do it, it will take some years but I’m sure we will do it.”

Has there ever been a more eyebrow-raising appointment in world football?

Of course a lot of money from the new Middle Eastern owners of the oldest club in the world has tempted Eriksson but there will be many soccer fans who still won’t quite be able to believe it.

Mexican clubs have stormed out of the South American Libertadores Cup after a row over the H1N1 flu outbreak and the national side will no longer take part at the Copa America.

“The game is over for us,” said Justino Compean, president of the Mexican Football Federation (FMF).

Mexican authorities threw their toys out of the pram after Brazilian champions Sao Paulo and Uruguay’s Nacional declined to travel to the country to face Guadalajara and San Luis respectively in the Libertadores Cup second round.

Yet, the weekend’s league matches in both Guadalajara and San Luis were played behind closed doors under the orders of the FMF itself because both are considered to be in regions where there is thought to be a higher risk of the virus.

Given the circumstances, it seemed premature, to say the least, to claim that either city would make an appropriate venue for an international sporting fixture.

Some commentators, notably David Faitelson writing for the Mexican edition of ESPN’s Web site, have questioned whether any football at all should be played in Mexico in the present circumstances. (more…)

Eight years ago, Mexico lost 3-1 away to Honduras in a World Cup qualifier, sunk by a Carlos Pavon hat-trick, and the defeat cost Enrique Meza his job.

Already under enormous pressure, Meza quit in the dressing room afterwards and has gone on to become a highly successful coach with Pachuca, a friendly club founded by Cornish miners whose modern-day facilities would put many of their European counterparts to shame.

On Wednesday, Mexico lost by the same score against the same opponents in the same stadium in another World Cup qualifier. By a strange coincidence Pavon was on target again, the mercurial striker having been brought back at the age of 35 to replace the injured David Suazo.

The result cost Sven-Goran Eriksson his job.

"This morning we talked to Mr Eriksson and announced his departure," Mexican Football Federation (FMF) president Justino Compean told a news conference. "It's a fact results have not been what we expected."

Eriksson's future seems to have been in doubt almost since the day he was appointed last June.

Mexico have enjoyed a 100 percent home record in competitive matches under the Swede's leadership but away results have been terrible with one draw (against Canada), defeat in Jamaica and the U.S. and two losses in Honduras.

Wednesday's debacle in steamy San Pedro Sula was the final straw.

PHOTO: Sven-Goran Eriksson walks during a practice session in San Pedro Sula March 31, 2009. REUTERS/Edgard Garrido

THIS POST WAS UPDATED AFTER ERIKSSON'S SACKING WAS CONFIRMED

Troubled Mexico face a potentially decisive five days in their attempt to qualify for the World Cup and the tension is already starting to tell.

After losing to the United States last month in the opening game of the CONCACAF qualifying tournament’s final stage, Mexico host Costa Rica on Saturday and visit Honduras — where they were beaten in a previous stage of the competition — on Wednesday.

Anything less than four points from those games is likely to end Sven-Goran Eriksson’s short spell as coach and discredit the players even further.

Tempers flared during an extraordinary media conference this week when Ukraine-based Nery Castillo lost his cool after being asked why he had reported late for training.

Castillo, back at Shakhtar Donetsk after his unhappy spell at Manchester City, replied with what, if nothing else, was an interesting diversion.

“You’re happy when the team does badly,” shouted Castillo, who was born in Mexico, left the country at the age of two, raised in Uruguay and began his football career in Greece.

“Have you ever played football? Was it in a first division team? That’s why, no matter how much you criticise me, I don’t care because I know I do things well.”

At the end of the outburst, Castillo offered to settle his differences with another reporter in the car park and then said: “You know what your problem is? That I’m in Europe and you are in Mexico and that is where you are going to stay.”

It remains to be seen how his last remark will go down with the 100 million other people who call Mexico their home.

PHOTO: Mexico coach Sven-Goran Eriksson of Sweden during a news conference in San Pedro Sula, November 18, 2008. REUTERS/Edgard Garrido

This is the final instalment in our look at the peculiarities of Latin American championships, after an introduction, a tour through Peru, and on to Uruguay and Mexico. 

And so to Ecuador.

With three stages, bonus points and a two-leg final, Ecuador’s championship is a brave attempt to keep as many teams in with a chance of winning the title for as long as possible. In fact, getting knocked out takes some doing.

In the first stage, the 12 teams play each other twice and the top four qualify for the third (repeat third) stage. They also carry through bonus points — three for the winners, two for the second-placed side and one for the third-placed side.

If a team happens to finish bottom of the first stage, there’s no need to fret because there’s still the second stage to come.

This time, teams are divided into two groups of six and the top two in each also qualify for the third stage (joining the four teams from the first stage). Should one of these four teams have also finished in the top four of the first stage, the next-best team will also go through. One bonus point is awarded for the winner of each group.

The bottom two teams over the first two stages combined are relegated.

Meanwhile, the lucky eight who reached the third stage are divided into two groups of four and the winners of each group meet in a two-leg final.

There are several drawbacks to this system. A team which qualifies for the third stage in the first stage will have little to play for in the second stage, apart from one measly bonus point. And it’s quite possible for the eighth-best team over the first two stages to win the title.

As with Peru, it does avoid the possibility of one team running away with the tournament, though.

PHOTO: Deportivo Quito’s Oswaldo Ibarra celebrates after his team scored against Universitario de Deportes during their Copa Sudamericana soccer match in Quito August 5, 2008. REUTERS/Guillermo Granja

This is the fourth instalment in our look at the wacky world of Latin American championships having started with an introduction and then analysed Peru’s interesting league system and moved on to Uruguay.  

Today, we’ve reached Mexico and it’s a goody.

Mexico has some of the finest stadiums in Latin America and pays some of the highest wages. It is also notable for having a system in which the championship’s best team repeatedly fails to win the title.

Like several countries, Mexico holds two championships per season, the Apertura and Clausura. There is no overall champion.

Each championships consists of a qualifying stage follow by a knockout stage, known as the Liguilla.

In the qualifying stage, the 18 teams play each other once — but are curiously divided into three groups. The top two teams in each group qualify for the quarter-finals while the two best teams from the remainder, regardless of group, also go through.

There are two major drawbacks: some groups often turn out to be much stronger than others and it is possible for a team to finish bottom of their group and have more points than the leaders of a different group; it is also common for the best team in the qualifying stage to then get unceremoniously dumped out in the quarter-finals.

Of the last five champions, only Pachuca also had the best overall record in the qualifying stage.

To complicate matters further, relegation is decided over three full seasons — which means six championships. This makes it theoretically possible for a team to win the championship and get relegated at the same time.

Tigres UANL came close to achieving this unique feat. They were relegated in 1996 and also qualified for the play offs, but lost to Necaxa in the quarter-finals.

PHOTO: Toluca’s Carlos Esquivel looks surprised during a Mexican League match against Tigres at the Universitario stadium in Monterrey November 8, 2008. REUTERS/Tomas Bravo

Like so often in the modern game, arranging international friendlies is much easier if you happen to be a big and powerful footballing nation.

While this week offered three lucrative and prestigious friendlies — Brazil-Italy, Spain-England and France-Argentina — smaller countries were left scratching around for opposition.

Paraguay, who despite playing at three successive World Cups seem unable to attract the promoters, ended up visiting Peru, a country they have already met twice in just over a year in World Cup qualifying matches. That followed a tortuous journey to Oman for a game last November.

In other games, Uruguay visited Libya while Colombia hosted Haiti.

Costa Rica, who beat Honduras 2-0 in a World Cup qualifier on Wednesday, often struggle to find friendly opponents.

They desperately want a fixture ahead of their visit to Mexico for another World Cup game at the end of March. The Mexicans, on the other hand, have already fixed up a game against Bolivia on March 11 in the United States, where they can be guaranteed a sizeable crowd of expatriates.

“It’s difficult, they ask me why Mexico can play Bolivia and we can’t,” Joseph Ramirez, general secretary of the Costa Rican federation, told local newspaper La Nacion.

“The difference is that they have the economic means and attract more people, the promoters don’t take us to play in the United States because there’s a risk the public will not go.

“We’re trying to bring a team from South America. It’s more practical to play here, some teams will accept to pay for their own tickets and we pay for the accommodation, and sometimes there are teams who will pay everything under the concept of solidarity.”

Another example of inequality in the modern game.

For more blogs on other sports than soccer, check out http://blogs.reuters.com/sport

PHOTO: Paraguay’s Enrique Vera (C) fights for the ball with Peru’s Paolo De la Haza during their friendly match in Lima Feb. 11, 2009. REUTERS/Enrique Castro-Mendivil