us soccer: new retirement plan

the day before the mls cup game, the brass announced a new salary cap rule: the beckham rule. teams are now allowed one 'designated player' position, to be traded among teams, with no team ever having more than two. this way, teams will be able to pay those elite players more than the mls salary cap of $400,000.
so now u.s. teams can afford to court european players, like beckham and figo, who are nearing the end of their careers. giving these players another option besides retirement - come play in the u.s.! hey, they're too old to play for real teams, since those teams are always getting younger, faster and better. but not ours - we're willing to override current salary caps in order to sign star players who are past their prime to play anywhere else. now that sounds like a plan to get u.s. soccer taken seriously by the rest of the world.
the kicker is that many u.s. professional soccer players are not paid enough, and need to have a second job to live comfortably. that actually goes against the definition of being a professional.

dc united players:

bobby boswell, 2006 mls defender of the year.

troy perkins, 2006 mls goalie of the year.

both players were salaried $29,400 in 2006, 1/3 of the league average salary.