The 2005 season has brought a new wrinkle to MLS: Every team has a reserve team. We are now beyond the halfway point and I think it is time to look at the reserve teams. Is it working? What are the positives? What are the negatives? And are there any changes that should be looked at for the future.
The reserve league is a huge step for MLS and a very positive step. Players who would languish on the bench and lose all their game fitness get the chance weekly, or at least semi-weekly, to play.
You look around the league and at this time of the year when so many players are missing it is good to fall back on players who have been playing. Good examples from this past weekend are Herculez Gomez from Los Angeles Galaxy with two goals, Eric Vasquez of Columbus, who also scored a goal and Will John of Chicago, among others.
Players need games and games are a lot more fun than training at any level. The games refocus and motivate players. This is especially true if the head coach takes a real interest. If the players know that their performance will be seen and rewarded it is extra motivation.
The roster size is 28 per team and that embodies the first team and the reserve team. Is that enough? Personally, I don't think so.
The number, if all are healthy, creates strange training sessions. The group is too large to put them all together and if you divide them up the second group is often too small. It leads to rotational training sessions where some players do not get enough of what they need.
When you have injuries the numbers for training are better. But when you add national team call-ups to the mix it becomes difficult to run two teams. That part is a real challenge to all teams.
Some teams are forced into signing anywhere from two or three to as many as nine or 10 players for the weekend to field a reserve team. This affects the quality of the game. But the real impact is economic. MLS is now spending precious dollars to fly, feed and put players into hotels that will probably never play in the league.
Reserve teams are for development and for players to get back their rhythm coming off injury. That is where the money needs to go. When it is put to this use in this manner, the concept is brilliant.
Increasing the roster size would alleviate much of this problem. It would not only spend dollars on guys who have a chance of playing in the league. It would also increase the numbers at training to allow squads to be separated that would lead to better training when all are healthy.
The games will become more competitive because the players playing will all be guys who are training everyday and are on the team. Many teams fill in their open weekends with local opponents but due to a numbers issue sometimes pass on this. Increasing the squad size will allow all teams to play weekly either against another reserve team or a local team.
Another alternative is to have the reserve teams be part of the USL First Division. It is our second division. Real Madrid's reserve team just got promoted to the second division of the Spanish league.
The present investment in this team by the MLS clubs would have to be enhanced. But maybe it can be co-shared. If the MLS team approached an interested party and said they had $150-200,000 to put into a team, would that other party also put in the same or a little less to have an USL First Division team? Would they find takers? I hope so.
The MLS team would need to determine the coach. The MLS players would all be cleared in some fashion to play on the reserve team. They would train on the training complex of the MLS team, and play their games on adjacent facilities, like the track stadium at The Home Depot Center or at sites in the community.
I am sure the marketing and ticket guys can figure a way to combine a ticket to a lower-division game with an MLS ticket. In that way hopefully, the investor and MLS will all reap an economic benefit.
Playing in this league strengthens the USL First Division, but more importantly, gives the reserve teams meaningful games every week.
That's just one idea. But we need to keep improving the reserve team concept because it is an important step in MLS player development.
Sigi Schmid is one of the winningest coaches in MLS history, having led the Los Angeles Galaxy to four honors in his five-plus years at the helm, including the 2002 MLS Cup championship. Send comments to Sigi at sigischmid@hotmail.com. Views and opinions expressed in this column views and opinions are the author's, and not necessarily those of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
