The [Horribly Unpopular] Soccer Thread

[lgilmore]

$50 for great seats, beer and food? $50 bucks gets you a couple buds at Sounders field. And I'm not kidding that much. That's the one downer about Clink field (Seattle), you have to take out a small loan to get a buzz. Budw $8 a pint. French fries $6 an order (roughly large size mc ds). A bottle of water $3. That said, you come early, eat and drink in one of the many nearby pubs and then go to the game. A Sounders home game is a great experience, the foodservice isn't.

 

[mrgstiffler]

Union needs to score a couple goals to keep the Timbers alive. Not going to happen though

 

[mrgstiffler]

 

[Reno_eNVy]

Sorry, PTFC. I was really rooting for you.... Philly have been stellar the last month while RBNY have looked like ass. Too bad they went for role-reversal last night.

For an expansion team your first season was thrilling. A bit sloppy in the first half but you guys made a serious run there at the end.

[Raising coffee mug] Here's to next season!

 

[Reno_eNVy]

On a brighter and more All-MLS note, LA are now the third domestic club to make it to the CCL knock-out stage. But I'm confused.... does anybody know the tie-breaker rules for CCL group stage? I ask because LA are being shown as the winners of Group A, but their goal differential is 2 less than The Mighty Monarchs of Morelia (man I love the Venture Brothers.) Is there some kind of "Well, we beat you by more when we played soooooo we win" clause?

But that's aside the point: we need at least two of our clubs to make it to the semi-finals this time. No more throwing up a prayer.... MLS needs to dominate this tournament.

 

[Reno_eNVy]

Anybody else watching the very last regular season match?

Houston vs LA Reserves

They're going to have to get a couple lucky breaks if they want to set the season points record at 70

 

[Joker]

Sorry, PTFC. I was really rooting for you.... Philly have been stellar the last month while RBNY have looked like ass. Too bad they went for role-reversal last night.

For an expansion team your first season was thrilling. A bit sloppy in the first half but you guys made a serious run there at the end.

[Raising coffee mug] Here's to next season!

Actually our early season was stellar, undefeated our first 5 home matches if I remember correctly. It was the middle third of the season that we stunk it up a bit. I renewed my season tickets, and look forward to chanting, singing, and dancing next year in the Army sections. :rockin::rockin:

 

[Reno_eNVy]

Official bracket is up if anybody knows enough MLS fans to do a bracket pool.

 

[BainbridgeBrewer]

Yeah Joker I thought the Timbers did a great job this year. Its awesome to have such a great rivalry going up here. Now if only the Whitecaps would show up to play.

 

[dwarven_stout]

Yeah Joker I thought the Timbers did a great job this year. Its awesome to have such a great rivalry going up here. Now if only the Whitecaps would show up to play.

Man, I just rewatched the youtube video of the tifo fail during Timbers vs. Caps.

Classic, hilarious and horrible all at the same time.

 

[Joker]

Any body watch any of the playoffs yesterday? Seen some pretty rough play already and the fight at the end of the NY and LA game was ridiculous.

 

[BainbridgeBrewer]

Ugh, I was in Alaska for work this weekend but I heard about the abismal performance by my Sounders. I'll watch the game tonight, but things went from hopeful for the playoffs to pretty far out of touch. Come on 4-0 shutout! Reno don't be putting out any good vibes towards Real SL.

 

[Reno_eNVy]

It's real unfortunate about Seattle... I thought they were going to be the biggest competition for LA.

The may still be... they just need to put on a great performance.

But I have just three words to say about LAvNY: Motherf**kin' Mike Magee.

 

[BainbridgeBrewer]

Well I better send the wifey an e-mail warning her of the game tonight. She may want to make plans due to a screaming fan downstairs.... e-mail sent.

 

[Reno_eNVy]

Well I better send the wifey an e-mail warning her of the game tonight. She may want to make plans due to a screaming fan downstairs.... e-mail sent.

Good move.

You win 50 man-points

 

[BainbridgeBrewer]

Should've had a few goals already. That was an amazing block of Jeff Parke's shot. Its too bad we've had to sub two players already in the first 20 minutes.

On the plus side, my Jubelale clone turned out great and I'm on my third mug of the keg!

 

[Reno_eNVy]

Disappointing result for Seattle considering how hard they played.

Well done, Rave Green. Throughout the entire regular season and tonight... great stuff.

On the plus side, they finally won a postseason match

 

[lgilmore]

They played with pride and were just a tad bit unlucky this last one.

What will be hard is waiting till the season starts up again. We'll see what they do in the offseason.

 

[Joker]

There was a lot of energy in last nights game. If they had made a better appearance in game one that would have been even more exciting last night.

Personally I think they looke that dominant because RSL knew all they had to do was hold them, they already had a 3 point lead, although even with that it was close.

 

[BainbridgeBrewer]

They played with pride and were just a tad bit unlucky this last one.

What will be hard is waiting till the season starts up again. We'll see what they do in the offseason.

Yeah I'm curious to see where they make changes. I feel like we need more speed in the wings. Zakuani was missed this season. Defense tends to make stupid mistakes too which was the cause for a lot of the goals against us this year. I'm also very concerned with the goalies. I haven't been very impressed with Boss the few times I watched him play before his concussion. The third string isn't that great either. Keller is going to be a tough act to follow I realize, but the guys we have right now worry me.

 

[cwyeary]

We're number 3! We're number 3!

MLS passed the NBA in average attendance to go #3 in the US.

 

[Reno_eNVy]

Haha! Suck it, other american sports markets

 

[Reno_eNVy]

I have three important things to state:

1) LA in the final, mofos!

2) So awesome that soccer is #3 in America (sorry for bringing it back up... just read an article about it)

3) Found a really interesting paper that shows, mathematically, next season can have a balanced schedule with 19 teams. The model reduces East-to-West and vice versa travel and takes CCL and FIFA dates into account.

It's written by a Vancouver Southsider. I like it. Good read, especially if you're in the sciences and can easily read journal articles. Check it out here.

 

[DregAddict]

Does anybody know why the MLS conference semifinals were a 2 game series with aggregate score winning, but the conference finals were just one game? It doesn't make much sense to me, especially since the MLS cup is two more weekends away. I'm a Galaxy fan, so I'm glad they're in the final already, but it would make more sense to me if the conference finals were also a 2 game aggregate score series. More games=more revenue.

 

[BrewKnurd]

Does anybody know why the MLS conference semifinals were a 2 game series with aggregate score winning, but the conference finals were just one game? It doesn't make much sense to me, especially since the MLS cup is two more weekends away. I'm a Galaxy fan, so I'm glad they're in the final already, but it would make more sense to me if the conference finals were also a 2 game aggregate score series. More games=more revenue.

I'm with you, I don't get it. But they do similar things with Champions League in Europe.... after group stages, everything is home and away series....... EXCEPT THE STINKING FINAL. And while I understand that the final is at an allegedly neutral site, it just seems goofy to me to have more games for every other round but the finals.

It seems especially goofy when you consider that, in theory, according to the seedings... you have far less need for multiple games early in the process. The matchups should be more lopsided, and you'd be less likely to have the "lesser" team win. Once you get to the finals, you should have two very well matched teams, and they should have to play multiple games to truly determine who is best.

 

[Reno_eNVy]

Yeah it's a weird concept and I'm not sure how to feel about it.

They should just do it CONCACAF Champions League style: home-and-home aggregate series for each stage, including the final.

 

[ThickHead]

I'm with you, I don't get it. But they do similar things with Champions League in Europe.... after group stages, everything is home and away series....... EXCEPT THE STINKING FINAL. And while I understand that the final is at an allegedly neutral site, it just seems goofy to me to have more games for every other round but the finals.

It seems especially goofy when you consider that, in theory, according to the seedings... you have far less need for multiple games early in the process. The matchups should be more lopsided, and you'd be less likely to have the "lesser" team win. Once you get to the finals, you should have two very well matched teams, and they should have to play multiple games to truly determine who is best.

The group stages in Europe are also home and away formats. Each team in the group plays each other twice. Once at home and once away. They just don't use the two-legged tie (aggregate) scoring system during the group stage. The reasons for the home and away (two-legged ties / home and away group stage matches) has everything to do with ratings (high profile matches) and putting butts in seats.

 

[BrewKnurd]

The group stages in Europe are also home and away formats. Each team in the group plays each other twice. Once at home and once away. They just don't use the two-legged tie (aggregate) scoring system during the group stage. The reasons for the home and away (two-legged ties / home and away group stage matches) has everything to do with ratings (high profile matches) and putting butts in seats.

Understood. I only said "after the group stage" because the group stage is a different format entirely, but I understand where the confusion could have come from there.

My point wasn't "why do they do home and away" for everything else, it was "why the heck do they only do one game for the finals if everything else merits two."

 

[ThickHead]

My point wasn't "why do they do home and away" for everything else, it was "why the heck do they only do one game for the finals if everything else merits two."

Honestly I think it is to do with fans being able to watch their teams in the tournament. Home and away fixtures add the element of home fans into the battle. In the end, all sports are entertainment businesses. As far as the final goes having a penultimate match in at a neutral location makes the single game more of a spectacle. More people watching means higher ratings I suppose. I love the format in Europe....but I also love the play-off format in the States. They both bring the home fans into the game differently. I don't see any issue with the way either of the formats work. I think they both achieve the same purpose.

 

[BainbridgeBrewer]

I went to the 2009 final here at Qwest between LA and RSL. It was a little strange to be watching two teams from the MLS play each other while the majority of the fans are wearing the local team's colors. It seemed like fans were cheering for, and talking trash to both sides equally. It became more about individual players, and our opinions of them instead of a true love for the team. The majority weren't chanting songs because the Sounders weren't there, the actual RSL and LA fans were in little pockets way up in the upper stands. I think a home and home situation would make more money for the league and the teams, and the actual fans would enjoy it much more. Its like every superbowl party I go to, except that one against the damn Steelers. The Seahawks aren't there so I'll usually just eat the food and drink the beer without caring who wins.