The [Horribly Unpopular] Soccer Thread
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Grannyknot
Well-Known Member
What a week! How bout those gunners? City vs Liverpool & Spurs vs Chelsea cant wait till Sunday.
worst European loss ever.
even worse than when they didn't even show up to either leg of PSV in 2007.
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
Me too Chelsea has to be the most hated team on Earth. Hopefully they can recover from their Europa game. Chelsea is a different team without Matic so that should help.
The one time City has to fall (didn't want a win, but wanted a collective point loss for sure). And Everton can't pull their weight either. Pfffft.
Come on you Spurs!
Come on you Spurs!
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Grannyknot
Well-Known Member
cringe
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Reno_eNVy
Well-Known Member
To be honest, I was panicking the last few days. I was refreshing the CBA threads on BigSoccer and /r/MLS, as well as refreshing twitter with #MLSCBA... over and over and over. When the news finally broke I almost jumped up and yelled in class. That would have been awkward.
Whatever, though. The season starts on time.
Nationally not much. Internationally, even less. Hard to go lower than the bottom.
In all seriousness, glad they got it worked out, and hopefully DC United has another great season and forgoes the Playoff Choke so rampant in DC sports.
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Reno_eNVy
Well-Known Member
However the NHL is better off than it was the year before the season long strike.
Eh maybe but I feel that mls is so fragile in the American mind right now that a long strike could have crippled they league. It took baseball sometime to get back to relevance and that took steroids. It just wouldn't have looked good for the league especially with what they were disagreeing with.
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.
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.
Coming for you Galaxy.....and Portland but really who worries about the timbers.
View attachment 1425667435546.jpg
View attachment 1425667435546.jpg
One of those days when a win sure feels like a loss. SMH. Almost lost to ourselves.
Vamos United!
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Reno_eNVy
Well-Known Member
Nice. Welcome! Are you in The Cauldron?
Bring it
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.
Unfortunately ol' Keano let his Irish show
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
Grannyknot
Well-Known Member
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.
That's why you buy man u players
<iframe src='http://streamable.com/e/3lf8' width='560' height='314' frameborder='0' allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen scrolling='no'></iframe>
hoppyhoppyhippo
Well-Known Member
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,
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.
Grannyknot
Well-Known Member
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Reno_eNVy
Well-Known Member
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.
hoppyhoppyhippo
Well-Known Member
LA is a very good squad. Keane is one of the best strikers in the league if not the best, Zardes is gonna be fast on his way to being a designated player, and Robbie Rogers to LB was pure brilliance. LA is strong, but when they put Gerrard behind Zardes and Keane lots of goals should happen.
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.
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Reno_eNVy
Well-Known Member
I think that'll be Seattle all year. Granted, the Revs have injury issues, but Seattle will dominate. Welcome to the West!
Edit: Also worth noting, MLS Live saved my SAP option from last week. It's the little things in life
Wort_fish
Member
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.
Out of character for me, QPR v Palace held no interest so I'm watching Bundesliga. St. Pauli v Frankfurt. My Deutsch is not good enough to understand the commentary. I can pick out the occasion "die" "der" and "aus" hahaha. And humming "I'm forever blowing bubbles".
