The [Horribly Unpopular] Soccer Thread

[FlyDoctor]

Because they had two and both tanked about 11 years ago.

My family lives in Florida and they are Cuban - Cubans in my experience are not soccer fans. Baseball and basketball are much hotter among the cubans i know.

 

[Reno_eNVy]

*le sigh*

Not a huge fan of using Hispanic populations as a reason to make a successful club. It doesn't hold water and it's ever so slightly racist

I'm sure Salt Lake is teeming with Hispanics... why else would their franchise be successful?


Heh, joking aside, what about Seattle, Portland, and Vancouver? Probably not the highest density of Hispanics.

 

[Obliviousbrew]

I´ve been in florida and yes of course cubans dominicans puerto ricans and venezuelan are more pron to baseball than soccer but there is also a big coummunity of argentinians, colombians, brazilians, etc etc etc. Besides of possible success in the league at least some support from fans can be expected but it seems both florida teams didn´t do so well in the league or with the fans... maybe a poorly managed franchise? or is just that florida is not a place for soccer?
Agreed it can sound a little racist but hey I´m hispanic!... now really I´m not saying that anybody should use hispanic population as a base to build a successful franchise, actually I think it´s better for the soccer to be spread trough people that haven´t been so exposed to the sport what it seems odd to me it is the failure of those franchises having a natural market around even if you don´t try to "recruit" them

 

[lgilmore]

"Heh, joking aside, what about Seattle, Portland, and Vancouver? Probably not the highest density of Hispanics."

Actually the puget sound (greater seattle area) has a spainish men's league with a lot of teams and Eastern Washington (where 95% of your beer hops are grown) has a large hispainic population. But you are correct about drawing hispanic fans in. They do come out en mass when mexican sides (even reserve sides) come up to play.

You could point to a reason for Seattle's soccer following today as Boeing's need for aerospace engineers back in the 60's. They shipped in a ton of people from the UK who stepped up the game in the minds of people here. I started playing youth in 1969 for a very English coach and manager, which pretty much was the same story around the sound. The amateur leagues in the Seattle area were really pretty good back then. If you look at the history of pro soccer in the states, Seattle has always drawn well. The youth programs has over 100,000 kids in it and from all appearances will continue to be a strong draw. While not a huge fan of Boeing, I think their need for engineers 50 years ago fueled what you see today. The crowd for the portland game was something like the 4th largest crowd in the world taking in a game that day. Not too shabby.

 

[Reno_eNVy]

Whew, glad the Yanks squeaked out a win in A&B. I'm also glad Jurgen's two odd-man choices in Eddie Johnson and Alan Gordon were the ones to make the big difference. But that match was kinda ugly... you could blame it on the pounding rain and crap-ass pitch (cricket stadium; hard packed and bumpy!)

FIFA breaks suck because I can't get my domestic fix, but the anticipation for the match on Tuesday is overwhelming. This one isn't exactly a must-win but we need to at the very least tie with Guatemala. If we lose and Jamaica beats A&B by 4 goals, we are out on goal-differential. I know it's a bit of a stretch but I don't want to even risk it. Also, a win against Guatemala would allow for better seeding in the hexagonal.

That's going to be one helluva match in front of a packed LiveStrong Sporting Park. I'm sure the Cauldron will be out in full force... at least I hope so, that way I get to hear them sing "SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS SHOTSSHOTSHOTS, EVERYBODY!!" at corner kicks

 

[FlyDoctor]

I'm getting a bit disappointed with the kinsman era - all low scoring nail biters. The optimist says its because the rest of concacaf has also improved with the rid of mls, the pessimist in me says usmnt us falling...

Agree though - conditions were crap, and they intentionally undersized the pitch (illegally?) to counteract he open style o the US. But I think this bodes poorly for US in the WC

 

[FlyDoctor]

And...international performance or not, the decision to not call-up Jozy was silly in my opinion.

 

[lgilmore]

Jozy wasn't called up because he needs to decide if being part of the US national team is something he wants to be a part of... He was left off because evidently he wasn't training all that hard in past National team camps. Too many choices to assume you're the man. Nothing against the guy, but maturity does make a difference.. just look at Eddie Johnson. If I were Jozy, I'd look at what Johnson went through and 99% of that was self inflicted. Learn from others mistakes.

 

[Reno_eNVy]

^ This

Jozy seems to either have an attitude or a big head... can't decide which. But you can tell from recent interviews that EJ has been humbled by his experiences.

 

[lgilmore]

When he starred at KC, Chris Henderson was on the coaching staff and was a big key in EJ back then. Henderson (local kid, former NT player) is now on the coaching staff at Seattle. He was a big reason Seattle gambled, and yea, gambled is the word on EJ. This season has seen him grow up. He's a different guy midseason, than he was at the start. Henderson knows the magic when it comes to Johnson.

I'm not a big fan of the guy (EJ), but I got to say he's winning me over. Same thing for Montero up here, he's having a great all around season. He's become a more complete player.

 

[soundsandsuds]

FIFA breaks suck because I can't get my domestic fix, but the anticipation for the match on Tuesday is overwhelming.

Agreed. I’ve got a serious MLS (and EPL) jones going on. We’re in the same boat up here. Whether we qualify for the hexagonal is down to the last match, the big difference being that the last time we went to a World Cup was in 1986 and we haven’t gone to the hexagonal in a while, either.

 

[Grannyknot]

Well, did anyone watch the USMNT last night?
Pretty good showing I thought.

 

[lgilmore]

Offensively I think he's got his frontrunners, johnson, Gomez and Dempsey combined really really well. He should ride those horses till somebody can shut them down. Especially with Donovan bitten by the injury bug and questioning himself about national team commitment.

What would make it perfect for me is for Ozzy Alonzo to get his FIFA OK to play for the United States. Combine Ozzy and Bradley and the middle is ours.

 

[Reno_eNVy]

Offensively I think he's got his frontrunners, johnson, Gomez and Dempsey combined really really well. He should ride those horses till somebody can shut them down. Especially with Donovan bitten by the injury bug and questioning himself about national team commitment.

What would make it perfect for me is for Ozzy Alonzo to get his FIFA OK to play for the United States. Combine Ozzy and Bradley and the middle is ours.

This all over.

Bradley was a beast, Zusi is making a great name for himself (going from 1st cap in January to a starter... wow), and Timmy Tim making another ridiculous save. Good night for the Yanks.

 

[Pappers_]

Lo Lo Lo Lo Lo Lo, Lo Lo Lo Lo Lo Lo Lo, Lo Lo Lo Lo Lo Lo Lo, Go Fire Go

 

[lgilmore]

Well Salazar just ruined another Seattle match. Couple minutes left in what will a tie. Salazar sent off a player in the 30th minute and turned the game to shoot. It never fails, he has yet to call a seattle game where he isn't embroiled in some contraversy. 0-0 tie. Seattle plays down a man for more than 60 minutes.

 

[Punity]

wow really i missed the whole game, I hope that salazar has a long walk off a short cliff i dont know what his deal is with calling our games but its borderline retarded. At least we didnt lose but i would like to have steal away this game.

 

[lgilmore]

Yea, I finally think Sigi's going to get fined for this one. And absolutely nobody is going to think Sigi's in the wrong. It was a hell of a game and people will go away proud of the tie as Seattle played their as ses off in this one. We had many chances even short handed. It's just a shame Salazar decision to give a very soft second yellow to zach scott kinda screwed the idea of a game for the fans. Turned what could have been a great game into a great game for different reasons.

 

[Grannyknot]

Offensively I think he's got his frontrunners, johnson, Gomez and Dempsey combined really really well. He should ride those horses till somebody can shut them down. Especially with Donovan bitten by the injury bug and questioning himself about national team commitment.

What would make it perfect for me is for Ozzy Alonzo to get his FIFA OK to play for the United States. Combine Ozzy and Bradley and the middle is ours.

I've pretty much written off Donovan as a national team member for the next WC. He had a great game in the friendly v. Scotland, but still didn't seem to enjoy himself. I think he's done.

I don't get to watch much MLS, although I do like to catch a red bulls game when I can, since Henry is my favorite all time player (sorry....I'm a huge Arsenal fan), but this Osvaldo Alonso guy you speak of has me curious. I'll try to watch the next Sounders game I see on tv. Is switching nationalities actually something in the works, or just a pipe dream?

 

[BainbridgeBrewer]

I don't get to watch much MLS, although I do like to catch a red bulls game when I can, since Henry is my favorite all time player (sorry....I'm a huge Arsenal fan), but this Osvaldo Alonso guy you speak of has me curious. I'll try to watch the next Sounders game I see on tv. Is switching nationalities actually something in the works, or just a pipe dream?

Alonso defected from Cuba in Texas I think when the Cuban National Team was there to play Honduras. He got his US citizenship this year and is waiting to hear if he is eligible to join the US National team. He's been a huge presence on the field for Seattle. Last night was a great example of his tenacity and stamina. He was all over the field both offensively and defensively.

I stopped by my parent's house on the way home from the store and my Dad had the game on just before kick off. We both saw Salazar and said "OH NO!" out loud. Its too bad that we've learned to know a game officiated by him is going to be poorly officiated even before the match begins. Last night was no exception. Seattle played harder than I've seen them play in a long time. We are really playing like a cohesive team and I think if we can hold it together have a good shot at going far in the playoffs. Salt Lake was very cautious the whole game and never tried to take advantage of Seattle being a man down until the final minutes of the game. It was interesting to see how slow they moved forward and then ultimately how sloppy and predictable their passes were.

 

[Pappers_]

Late last night
While we were all in bed
Miss O’Leary left a lantern in the shed
When the cow tipped it over
She winked her eye and said
“It will be a hot time
in the old town tonight”

FIRE! FIRE! FIRE!

 

[lgilmore]

"Salt Lake was very cautious the whole game and never tried to take advantage of Seattle being a man down until the final minutes of the game."

I think they had to keep 3 guys back to mark Montero. Although he didn't score, he was a constant threat to their defense. Also some of the debate is over him being pulled down by the last defender which has now become an automatic red. The guy got a yellow. It was away from goal but not that far away as Freddie has scored from distance many times.

Real didn't really start to press the attack until Montero came off in the 75th minute. They didn't have the same respect for David Estrada that they had for Freddie.

 

[Pappers_]

JUST CAN'T GET ENOUGH

When I see you FIRE
I go out of my head
I just can't get enough, I just can't get enough
All the things you do to me and everything you say
I just can't get enough
I just can't get enough
We slip and slide as we fall in love and I just can't seem to get enough of
Doo, Doo, Doo, Doo Doo Doo, Doo, Doo, Doo, Doo Doo Doo
Doo, Doo, Doo, Doo Doo Doo, Doo, Doo, Doo, Doo Doo Doo
Doo, Doo, Doo, da doo doo, Doo! Doo! Doo! Doo!

 

[Laughing_Gnome_Invisible]

Ohh! Pappers is a mod! When did that happen? Great choice!


Edit: I'm a huge fan of Pappers, I just wish I could say the same about his footy chants/songs.

 

[Punity]

Haha the fire as much flame as a match.

 

[Reno_eNVy]

I've pretty much written off Donovan as a national team member for the next WC. He had a great game in the friendly v. Scotland, but still didn't seem to enjoy himself. I think he's done.

What a lot of people don't realize is Landon doesn't show emotion... like, ever. Being an LA supporter, I've seen so many interviews with him. Here's what SWMBO and I say about him:

Dude is constantly having a day. And the whole "waning interest in the USMNT" I think is somebody taking a quote he had in an interview and spinning it to make a story.

Ohh! Pappers is a mod! When did that happen? Great choice!


Edit: I'm a huge fan of Pappers, I just wish I could say the same about his footy chants/songs.

OOOOO Campioneee!
The one and onlyyyy!
The Galaxyyyyy!

They say our days are numbered we won't be the champs no more
But LA rules the country like we've always done before!

OOOOO Campioneee!
The one and onlyyyy!
The Galaxyyyy!

 

[Pappers_]

 

[Grannyknot]

One thing I don't understand about MLS games is the drum.
Sometimes you can hardly hear the commentary over the drum.
And it usually sound like its being beaten by some drunk twenty something who hasn't played drums since middle school band.
Pretty sure it was the last Timbers v. Sounders game I watched where the entire stadium sound was dominated by:
DUM DUM......DUM DUM......DUM DUM DUM DUM.......DUM DUM.....DUM DUM.......DUM DUM DUM DUM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Same goes for soccer in Eastern Europe....did "Seven Nation Army" just now become popular over there??

 

[lgilmore]

The best drumming is Brazil. Years ago when the USWNT was pretty hot (yes, they were) we went down to Portland to watch a double header with the US, Canada, Brazil and somebody else. The entire Brazil match beautiful rythms and chants and dancing. Very cool.

I think the 20 somthing, never had a music lesson, should be at a man circle drumming is the norm for the MLS. Can't do that stuff at the No Fun League.


Sigi got suspended today for next match.... Sometimes the truth gets you suspended.

 

[Reno_eNVy]

With the exception of FC Dallas, who's supporters have an actual drumline, the drums are typically used to keep the beat for chants/songs as well as add some "boom" factor. Not to mention you can hear trumpets at a couple stadiums. Houston have a couple, you can hear one in Portland often (usually during the Tetris song), and Seattle have a band.