Who is Alejandro Taraciuk?   I didn’t have a clue either a couple days ago.  But now I think he should be the most popular guy around MLS.   He specializes in helping bring Argentine (and other South American) players into MLS after having been an intern with the league while going through law school.    With the financial mess that many large Argentine clubs find themselves in you’d think that there are quality players out there thinking that a steady, if slightly lower, salary in a league that might get them looks from Europe would be a good option right about now.   Of course, since the world of soccer is sometimes stranger than fiction, it seems Argentine clubs are still dishing out money for players despite… um… being broke.   Wait, spending money they don’t have… Argentine? They sound American.

Well, as it turns out, MLS appears to be acting anti-American . . . by, well . . . trying to manage its balance sheet responsibly.  Sports Illustrated has a great article posted that is a pretty even handed view of where the league is and some of the hard (but mostly good) decisions made and the difficult challenges that remain.   Given the need for careful financial planning, the upcoming renegotiation of the Collective Bargaining Agreement will be a VERY interesting process.