On January 14, 2025, arguably the best active indoor soccer player quit on his team, the St. Louis Ambush. We wrote about it a day later and were stunned, but the news barely made a ripple in the soccer community and never landed on any national SPORTS outlets (like ESPN).
Within a week, Franck Tayou was back on the Ambush like nothing even happened. No news, no explanation, he was just back. The Ambush itself dropped from ninth to tenth place in the 12-team league and, quite frankly, I gave up waiting for an explanation.
Then yesterday, Tayou posted the above graphic on Instagram. Now despite the Ambush's poor record, they could have feasibly made the playoffs, the top 8 teams go to the postseason tournament in San Diego. Now? Tayou goes to the 5th place Wave.
The Wave will receive the 6th leading scorer in the league in Tayou, who is still averaging 1.9 points per game. The Ambush receive....
Who's Robert Williamson? This straight from the MASL website: "In a blockbuster move, the St. Louis Ambush trade the MASL's all-time leading point scorer Franck Tayou to the Milwaukee Wave for Robert Williamson and cash considerations."
That sentence is the whole article. It appears that Tayou was traded for money and an average defender who is willing to transfer from Milwaukee to St. Louis at the grocery store chain that he works for as his day job.
Listen, I'm not trying to be a jerk here, but there is remarkably little information for a lopsided trade of this magnitude.
When Luka Doncic was traded to the Lakers in the NBA, Dallas figuratively shut down. The earth shifted on its axis.
I am telling you right now, arguably the best player in the league, Franck Tayou, is now on his FIFTH indoor team in two years (Strykers, Wings, Utica City, Ambush, and the Wave.)
I'm not the one calling Tayou the King of All Indoors, that's the MASL. That's Tayou himself. The MASL needs to cash in on some of that drama like the NBA does, because I am telling you, it's there.
My predictions for this trade?
The Ambush will fall from 10th to 11th and miss the playoffs.
The Wave will hold at 5th and lose to Chihuahua in the second round.
Franck Tayou? I think he'll sign with a different team this fall, which will be his 11th indoor team of his career, 22nd soccer team overall.
Something's not right about that.
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