USSoccerPlayers’ Ian Plenderleith has a lengthy interview with Ivan Gazidis in which the MLS Deputy Commissioner discusses the coming influx of South American talent, the success of the Designated Player Rule, the 2007 season, and how recent changes made by the league will help improve the overall product of MLS soccer.
Not for the first time, Gazidis says that adding Latin American talent will be key to improving the quality of league. “The higher level of play we have on our field, the better that’s going to be for everybody associated with the game,” he says, adding that MLS already limits the number of foreign players per team (four senior internationals) and is thus not engulfed in anti-foreign player controversy such as in England.
Moreover, the salary cap keeps teams from being able to stockpile their rosters with foreigners — all of which makes adding Latin American talent a realistic short-term goal for the league.
Gazidis admits that he doesn’t know what the Designated Player Rule will produce over the next two years, although he is happy with what it produced in 2007. Obviously, MLS doesn’t want to be known as a retirement destination for “aging pros”. He argues that the players who have been brought in have been “impactful,” which is what MLS teams are aiming for — players like Cuauhtemoc Blanco who cam control and change games.