The [Horribly Unpopular] Soccer Thread

Soooo this past week I've been so busy and concerned with getting down to Vegas to interview for the beginning of my career, that I forgot there's a Friday match this week.... I didn't set my line-up and didn't realize as such until kick-off last night.

So now I have three LA Galaxy players who won't earn me any points this week due to a bye. F**king fantastic.

I need to get my priorities straight....

 

Exact same thing happened to me.

I'm used to the EPL fantasy league where I normally make changes on Friday night before I crash. Imagine my annoyance when I was flipping through the guide Friday evening and happened across the Seattle v. Houston game... so I've lost 4 players with no replacements....

 

Getting kind of confused by Kenny Cooper scoring all these goals for the Red Bulls when all he'd do for the Timbers was fall on his ass.

 

Real Salt Lake? More like Fake Salt Lake. Faking a head injury is as low as you can go...

 

RSL has been a bunch of diving fakers for as long as I remember. Even a couple friends of mine who are diehard fans admit it.

That was a heartbreaking loss for the Timbers... not even Seattle losing salves the pain.

 

seattle had enough good shots on goal. San Jose's keeper just had an all world saves game. Should have been 3-1 Seattle, but this guy made some great saves. Linhart fooled the ref into a PK. It wasn't that Seattle played bad, it was the SJ goalkeeper played that good.

 

Yes it was, to start down and then come back only to lose it in the closing minutes. The Timbers have a bad habit of going defensive when they get a lead and one point isn't enough to let the play stay at your end of the pitch for the last 20 min.

 

That PK was BULL. That ref made some pretty questionable calls throughout the game. I do agree though that the San Jose keeper was having a great game. He made some awesome saves. So far this season I've been pretty happy with the way the Sounders have come together. Montero seems to be working harder than he use to and has become more of a team player. Estrada is kicking ass. I think the defense still needs some work. They seem to fall asleep quickly and let guys drift into wide open spaces.

 

You want to talk about having a defense that falls asleep and lefts attackers drift into wide open spaces.... did you watch LA v NER?

Oh. My. Jebus. My team from when I was in highschool could play better than LA did.

 

Okay so after waiting a few weeks I've determined I need a big change.

WILDCARD!



11 of 15 players were switched.... Will it pay off? Who knows?

It looks pretty dang solid... but now I have the burden of too much choice

 

No Reno I didn't see that game. It was on I think at the same time as the Sounders. I did see a score update flash on the screen though that showed 2-0 at 17' in. I was shocked.

 

Yeah those first two were basically back-to-back. LA defense is dying without Gonzilla

 

Hard fought game today with the Sounders against DC.

I joined the Homebrew Classic fantasy league finally. Looking alright this week so far. Do you guys have those head slap moments when you realize you played someone who's team has a bye this week and the player that's benched happens to have a dream team week? Corrales why did I bench you when Chicago isn't playing?

 

Anyone watch La Liga this weekend? I'm a big Barca fan, and stoked with the fight between Madrid and Valencia - Barca now 4 pts back!

Also, EPL - Baloteli - WTF??

 

I'm not a Man City fan, but it would have been nice to see the Prem go down to the wire. Now it's pretty much over.

 

Yup. Even though people knock it quite a bit, I'm glad MLS has a playoff system. It makes the end of the season really exciting, as opposed to the oft lackluster wrap-ups across the pond.

 

Agree - the season's in Europe go out with a whimper. I like to have a mini tournament at the end of the season as in the MLS. It doesn't reward the consistency that the European model does, but it is fun.

 

Play offs are necessary if you have conferences, but to have play offs to determine the winner of a single league system would be insane and totally unfair.

My team are currently top of the English second tier level on points, but ahead on goal difference with the second placed team. Both teams play each other today with just 4 games to go in the season. (Top two get promoted auto, while next 4 play off for final promotion spot)

If there were a play off for top place, this would have made the final 6 or so games in the season pointless for the top 3 teams as it would all be down to a couple of games at the end. The league would effectively have died out a lot earlier as the top three rested the better players to avoid fatigue and injury, and generally didn't try too hard.

 

No playoffs can be great if it's a tight race. The core problem is actually that teams are so unbalanced at the top level. How many really have a shot at challenging for the Premiership title in the near future? Even Liverpool - one of the traditional Big 4 - seems unlikely to do so.

But if they tried to enforce some degree of parity, the EPL would lose it relative to the rest of Europe and many top players would leave for Barca, Bayern, etc.

 

LGI: Good luck to you and your boys today!

 

Well, it all depends on what you want your goal in a championship is. Are you trying to determine who the best team was that year? Then playoffs are stupid, because they absolutely do not do that.. Are you just trying to ensure an interesting end to the season? Then playoffs are great.

 

Thanks, we need it! I havn't been able to work at all today!

Regarding the play offs/league thing, it's truly a swings and roundabouts thing that will suit different people differently.

 

I wouldn't call 5 pts over, especially since City and United have each other to play in a couple weeks. Another dropped game by United like they did on Wednesday and the Manchester derby takes on a lot more meaning...

 

But I think playoffs are good for MLS if only because it's a part of the American sporting landscape. Hell, old NASL had playoffs.

I'd be all for pro/rel if American D2 and D3 had a bigger following. The problem is at this point now, relegation from MLS would destroy and a franchise. And promotion would bankrupt D2 franchises.

 

Agreed. A very young MLS is very different to established leagues in other countries at the moment, especially. The USA also has geographical issues that need to be catered for. I certainly wouldn't mess with something that is working in this country this time around!

 

Absolutely! The sheer size of the USA is one of the problems: that's why there is an unbalanced schedule this year, in order to address massive travel time as well as accommodate a 19th club.

And yes, MLS is still incredibly young in the World's eye... it even got really scary when they sacked the two Florida clubs. But since then everything has gone up: attendance, number of clubs, revenues, televised matches, and (very important) respect from other leagues.

 

If played right, the MLS has the potential in time to be the most exciting league in the world. There are just so many big cities that have yet to get on board if and when the following can be established......And big money is what the US does best.

All the MLS has to do is get past that childish hatred of a "Foreign sport"

 

Let's go, Timbers! Gonna rip up the Los Angeles Phallusy!!

 

Atta kid, Boyd!

Nothing like a homebrew and some soccer on a Saturday.

 

LANDY CAKES WITH THE EQUALIZER!

Turning out to be a good match.

 

Hearing John Spencer drop an F-bomb on the Timbers TV feed was pretty funny...

And yeah, pretty exciting game so far.

 

Mosquera just redeemed himself...

 

Wow... That's as close as they come...

 

And we thought it was exciting before...

 

Ugh...

 

I thought Boyd was a yard off on that goal, but watching replays I don't think so. He was one for sure on the second.

I told my sister before the game that Beckham had been ripping shots from 25-30 yards all season but hadn't scored yet. Who'd figure that this would be the game that Keane isn't selfish inside the 18 and Jr. isn't invisible?

 

VICTORY!! Well played match by both sides. Seriously, either could have won. But those Juni and Beckham goals were crazy and that's what those two do best.

Dude, seriously. By the middle of the second half I was f**king sick of hearing that guys name. He was all over the place. Every time LA brought the ball down it was "Mosquera with the clear" or "Great defending by Mosquera."



But ya know what bothered the crap out of me? The sound guy was terrible. I'm all for hearing the traveling supporters as well, but they were all I could hear. I guess the sound guy had one of the dishes pointed at TA and cranked that feed way up. It was to the point where you couldn't even hear the "LA" call and "GALAXY" call-backs, which are LOOOOOUD.

It's just unfortunate. I mean, I enjoy hearing other clubs' chants when I watch other matches.... but I'd like to hear the rise and call of the crowd, not just 200 individuals, many of whom you can clearly hear having conversations.

Also, who had those damn wooden clackers? I wanted to shove those down his/her throat.

 

Were you watching the Galaxy or the Timbers feed? The Timbers feed always focuses the sound on the Timbers Army traveling fans. I would much rather hear the home fans.

 

I was watching on MLS Live... so then I guess it was the Timbers feed.

 

Just snagged me two Timbers Army tickets for next week's game against Sporting KC. If they lose against teams they should beat, then they should win against teams they should lose to, right?