What a week! How bout those gunners? City vs Liverpool & Spurs vs Chelsea cant wait till Sunday.
What a week! How bout those gunners? City vs Liverpool & Spurs vs Chelsea cant wait till Sunday.
I'll be hoping for a repeat of New Years Day. COYS
Glad MLS pulled their collective heads from their rears and will not go the route of hockey and baseball.
Exactly. God how much of a setback would that have been for the sport nationally if there was a players strike.
Well I only day nationally just seeing how long it took baseball and hockey to dig themselves out of the strikes.
However the NHL is better off than it was the year before the season long strike.
I'm so excited to see a soccer thread . . . with a discussion of the MLS labor agreement drama, no less! The CBA looked grim for awhile. I'm glad the minimum salaries were raised--that'll help the depth over the next few seasons.
We're season ticket holders in Kansas City. I'll be heading to Sporting Park on Sunday to start our season. I'm even taking a buddy from London to the match against RSL in April. I'll enjoy a Boulevard at the match while thinking of the beers I have carbonating at home.
Bring itComing for you Galaxy.....and Portland but really who worries about the timbers.
Eh I think that was just a burst of energy that was misdirected. He had been getting feeds that were just slightly off all half and finally banged one in. We've all seen players get so excited they yell at nobody in general.I see Keane is well ahead in the ****** of the year award
Man U vs Arsenal should be a great game. Can't wait
arsenal's record is so bad at OT. Anything better than a 3-0 loss I will consider a success.
MLS: Dempsey/Martins looked good. Expecting good things from Seattle this year.
Nice. Welcome! Are you in The Cauldron?
It's still pretty physical, IMO. But I dig the simulation cards.So, here's my assessment of the opening weekend for MLS.
1. A Less Violent Game?'
The refs were harder on fouls and even threw out two second yellows for persistent infringement, could MLS be moving towards a less violent play style? The refs were also harder on "simulation", particularly in Orlando the refs pulled out the yellow card for multiple "simulation" situations. On Sunday, the only game that didn't see a second yellow for multiple infringements was Sounders vs Revolution (two teams known for being "soft" in the league).
KEANE-O!2. Big Money Pays Off
Whether it's Altidore's brace, the Dempsey and Martins show in Seattle, NYCFC vs Orlando or Keane in LA, the vast majority of goals were scored by designated players this weekend. With a few exceptions (I'm looking at you Villa!) MLS designated players showed why they earn the big bucks. The new CBA increases the minimum salary, but it's pretty clear why teams continue to chase the "right" designated player.
I don't know, I thought they did a really good job. The shrinking screen bothered the crap out of me but not enough to the point I didn't enjoy the experience.3. Fox Sports Did...Okay
A lot of people were worried because Fox Sports is taking over from the very excellent NBC/NBCSN soccer coverage, and that's a very valid concern; that said, Fox Sports did okay this weekend. While the announcing for Sporting vs Red Bulls was terrible (seriously, super bad, like hearing paint dry), Lalas and Strong make an excellent "A team" of announcers. Even if you dislike Lalas (I do!) there's no doubt his team is superior by a large distance to the "B team" and that even if you don't like his opinion he at least expresses it in an entertaining way. From an in studio perspective, Landon Donovan may be an excellent analyst from a technical perspective, but the man needs to let some emotion into his voice; I think he will improve. Overall, I can't complain too much about their coverage, after all, NBCSN stumbled a bit at the outing too.
Simulcasts, both over different networks and different languages, seem like they are logistical nightmares. I'd say the vast majority of people with access to UniMas (and if you don't have AT&T) got to enjoy English on a Spanish network. I, myself, used a Canadian VPN and watched it on MLS Live, which has the SAP function and is amazing.4. Unimas is a Problem
The opening game was on Unimas, but Unimas is not on the vast majority of cable and satellite packages. Set aside, for the moment, the idea of a primarily English speaking country having to turn on SAP to understand what is being said by the announcers, the fact that Unimas isn't on most TVs is an issue. I've heard that Unimas had a live stream that was free, after the fact, but MLS didn't advertise this, perhaps because they have a pay to watch streaming service themselves. MLS needs to sort this out and either advertise the live stream or find an alternative way to get this on most TV sets.
A little sloppy but I thought every nationally televised match was very entertaining.5. Sloppy Openers
Most of the games on tap this opening weekend were pretty sloppy, filled with fouls and restarts. Part of this is because of the refs finally clamping down on fouls (see 1.), but I think a lot of frustration and jitters from the CBA are a factor here too. I'd expect to see smoother games come next month.
This. I've converted several people who used to say, "I think soccer is cool but I can't watch it because of all the diving" and all I have to say is, "MLS fines and suspends players for diving."Personally I am glad they were carding for simulation, anything to make em think twice before going down
Great things. Terrible, yes.... but great.MLS: Dempsey/Martins looked good. Expecting good things from Seattle this year.
I don't know, LA is looking pretty freaking solid without Gerrard [/homerism]Seattle is arguably the best team in the west. I don't know if anyone will compete with them. Aside from LA when they add Gerrard. East looks like they have a handful of quality squads. TFC looks great, New England should be in the mix, they were without arguably their 2 best players,
Heh, either way you're there and supporting your boys. They're looking pretty solid, even after getting gutted a little. Dwyer needs to work on his finishing, though.We're not in the Caldron. My wife tells me she's too old to stand for an entire match, so we sit with the oldsters on the west side.
I don't know, LA is looking pretty freaking solid without Gerrard [/homerism]
But yes Seattle will probably take #1 in the west. However I think their competition for the Shield may be from New England, who find themselves in a weaker conference (unless NYCFC and OCSC come storming out of the gate.)
TFC will make the playoffs. Calling it now. I'll wait a few weeks before I decide if they will be in the knock-out rounds or get a bye come November.
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It's still pretty physical, IMO. But I dig the simulation cards.
KEANE-O!
I don't know, I thought they did a really good job. The shrinking screen bothered the crap out of me but not enough to the point I didn't enjoy the experience.
Simulcasts, both over different networks and different languages, seem like they are logistical nightmares. I'd say the vast majority of people with access to UniMas (and if you don't have AT&T) got to enjoy English on a Spanish network. I, myself, used a Canadian VPN and watched it on MLS Live, which has the SAP function and is amazing.
A little sloppy but I thought every nationally televised match was very entertaining.
This. I've converted several people who used to say, "I think soccer is cool but I can't watch it because of all the diving" and all I have to say is, "MLS fines and suspends players for diving."
Great things. Terrible, yes.... but great.
I don't know, LA is looking pretty freaking solid without Gerrard [/homerism]
But yes Seattle will probably take #1 in the west. However I think their competition for the Shield may be from New England, who find themselves in a weaker conference (unless NYCFC and OCSC come storming out of the gate.)
TFC will make the playoffs. Calling it now. I'll wait a few weeks before I decide if they will be in the knock-out rounds or get a bye come November.
Heh, either way you're there and supporting your boys. They're looking pretty solid, even after getting gutted a little. Dwyer needs to work on his finishing, though.
Afterwards, Dwyer said that his wife would have scored at least twice on the looks he got, which is probably true given who his wife is. Poor finishing aside, his work rate with a real finisher behind him this year (we hope) will pay dividends.
In other news, Seattle is looking scary, but I keep telling myself it's just a single game. That's still a fearsome roster, though.
How can Chelsea be the most hated?! These same tactics can be seen with any BPL team. Just because your own team cannot hang, does not mean we deserve to be hanged.
Absolute nonsense. Give me any example of another PL team acting like Chelsea did this week in the last 15 years? I'd say since the Roy Keane United side we've not seen a PL side harass a ref in such a manner.
Chelsea really are the most despicable club in England. From a racist captain, to racist fans, to harassing refs, to the least classy manager in the game. Chelsea are just despicable.
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