Wednesday, September 12, 2007

A (Possible) Positive Result From the DP Rule

In his September 11th Inside Soccer article, Grant Wahl wrote:

2. The Galaxy’s ‘08 schedule needs to make sense. ... Keep in mind, Beckham might also miss a significant chunk of ‘08 if England qualifies for the European Championship (June 7-29, 2008). Don’t expect the Galaxy to be playing many games from late May to mid-June next year.

As I read this, I thought about the other DPs, and what playing time they might or might not get for their national teams. Is this kind of impact something that might move beyond Beckham? I doubt that we’ll see JPA, Reyna, or Denilson called up but Blanco is a possibility. Then there are a number of non-DPs that are seeing time on their own nations benches. Perhaps the added visibility of the DPs will force the MLS to start taking FIFA international dates more seriously—and, hey, wouldn’t that be a good thing?

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