The Marmol Saga is Over ( Chicago 1 – Red Bulls 0 )

By: Dave Martinez | April 30th, 2008

Well, its over. And after three months of this, I could care less already.

Chicago wins the services of Lider Marmol. Finally.

Looking in retrospect, they were always to be the eventual suitors. For once, MLS stuck to its guns as an organization and enforced their rules. Amongst all the talk of managements “Mickey Mouse” approach to the leagues regulations, which are easily swayed to whatever team is in favor, MLS called this one by the book, and awarded the Fire for moving faster (1 day faster) than the Red Bulls on Liders services.

Sure Lider wanted to stay here with Osorio in New York – but how many times in the professional sports landscape do we see players forced to stay in a town they hate playing in?

And yes, Marmol served in practices well, at times being the highlight of them. My only fear is that he gives the nuances of the Red Bulls system away to his new team. Then again, I think Chicago is familiar with Osorio already.

This Stinks

What I do not like in all of this is the fact that Marmol was actively participating in training sessions, chalk talk, the whole nine – how can a league allow a structure where a player is discovered by a team initially, but is then allowed to train with one of that teams most intense rivals for months, only to be bought back to his original team and signed for good.

That is not kosher.

Ruud Gullit recently made the league look terrible, focusing on the rules related to the reserves squad system. It turns out that a player is not allowed to play in the reserves if they have seen any action within 48 hours of a game. This has forced Ruud to go into his corporate offices to round up people to complete a full squad.

Nonsense.

Though the league is growing, and play has been tremendous, stories like the above only serve to perpetuate the clammers of so many haters worldwide who do not view the MLS as a respectable league. And it is a shame.

Regardless, the chase is over.

Now comes the interesting part – with Marmol and Conde now in the locker room, will they adapt or rebel? Only time will tell.