Jump to content

The MLS Thread


ClaretMahoney

Recommended Posts

Don't see one, did a search and nothing really dedicated to it.

Now I know that 99% of you think it's shit football, but noone makes you watch it and certainly noone makes you comment on it.

I would just like to say that living in Portland, and being part of the Timbers Army...it's really something special. We've had a pretty decent start to the season.

At the moment it's 0-0 against a good Philadelphia Union side.

Went to the US Open Cup game on Tuesday night and was gutted to lose in the 120th minute, 30 seconds before penalties.

Any of you support an MLS team? This is my first season actually paying attention to it with the same enthusiasm as the PL.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I kinda see it as the equivalent of the Irish and perhaps even the Australian leagues. Everyone is more interested in the Premier League more than their own country's league, so the development of the league is stifled, meaning that any decent player is poached by a European club, and any players that are in that league are sub-standard youth, players that haven't made it in Europe so move out half way through their careers and the players looking for their last paychecks.

Maybe I'm wrong, I dunno, but that's the way I see it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've seen a bit of MLS, going so far as to watch some form of final last year in it, one of the teams had the leading scorer in it, Polish sounding name beginning with a W, think he played for San Jose. It usually hilariously bad. The defending is just... off. Its like watching an early summer friendly, the ideas sorta there but it all a bit lax.

What somehow makes it worse is the US-ification of the coverage. Constantly little stat things would pop up on screen, but not the kind of stats you get in European coverage (possession, shots/on target etc). It would pop up with individual stats that were like an extrapolation from Baseball or American football. Stuff like 'Game winning goals' from one guy. The commentary was this curious mix of guys who had clearly heard European commentary (or more accurately, British), but were unused to it, coupled to the kind of commentary you get in traditional US sports.

It's a curious league. I'd rate it pretty poorly, it's a league were individuals with an edge (usually a modicum of natural talent from what I've seen) can make a team do markedly better it seems, which is why I suspect Angel went there and became the best player in the league over night. However from what I've heard from some Americans, it used to be far worse, so all power to em.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Problem with MLS is that they concentrate too much on signing expensive European players and rarely sign cheaper talented gems from Latin America which would then trigger an interest from the Hispanic communities of the US

Link to comment
Share on other sites

MLS is definitely improving by the year, but the format needs to change to a traditional association football system to really work and be taken more seriously, imo. Unfortunately, the different leagues which could/would potentially make up the various divisions are continually at odds with each other (mostly over money) and the MLS commissioner insists that their "studies" prove nobody would like it if it didn't have regional conferences and playoffs, rather than a unified league with a single table. Also, they won't give us team here in the Southeast, so there's nobody even semi-local to support. :^/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Problem with MLS is that they concentrate too much on signing expensive European players and rarely sign cheaper talented gems from Latin America which would then trigger an interest from the Hispanic communities of the US

I dunno, there's always been a large Hispanic complement at the Galaxy games I've been to.

I do keep an eye on the Galaxy - particularly after signing JPA - but I can't say I make a concerted effort to watch their games (or any other MLS games for that matter).

Everyone is more interested in the Premier League more than their own country's league

That is certainly true. Of the Americans I know over here who like football, not one of them supports an MLS team as their primary - it's Chelsea, Man Utd., Arsenal, etc. or a La Liga/Serie A team.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Problem with MLS is that they concentrate too much on signing expensive European players and rarely sign cheaper talented gems from Latin America which would then trigger an interest from the Hispanic communities of the US

I dunno, there's always been a large Hispanic complement at the Galaxy games I've been to.

I do keep an eye on the Galaxy - particularly after signing JPA - but I can't say I make a concerted effort to watch their games (or any other MLS games for that matter).

I had always assumed that Chivas USA were the side who most of the Hispanics in L.A./SoCal chose to support? Oversimplification on my part or do they get the majority?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A little OT but I really enjoyed the coverage of the Peace Cup which Villa won a couple of years back. The American commentary was so bad it was hilarious. It did give birth to the phrase's "Guzan says no goal for you", Marcy Marc Albrighton" and my personal favourite when the striker has a header on the edge of the 6 yard box (shouted with excitement) "Head shot from the top of the 6"

:lol:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As a Red Bulls season ticket holder for a number of years I can see constant improvement in the standard of the football not to mention the interest in the league but even as a fan who goes to a lot of games I find it hard to take the MLS seriously, it's a bit like watching women's football.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A little OT but I really enjoyed the coverage of the Peace Cup which Villa won a couple of years back. The American commentary was so bad it was hilarious. It did give birth to the phrase's "Guzan says no goal for you", Marcy Marc Albrighton" and my personal favourite when the striker has a header on the edge of the 6 yard box (shouted with excitement) "Head shot from the top of the 6"

:lol:

Some of the more surreal commentaries I've heard, throughout that tournament.

My personal favourites -

Marc Albrighton takes a volley from the edge of the box, catches it perfect and the ball arrows towards the net - 'Aaaaand he hits the LAAAAASSSEERRRR!!!!'

and

'Nigelle Reo-Cock-er'.

In a way it was more entertaining.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As a Red Bulls season ticket holder for a number of years I can see constant improvement in the standard of the football not to mention the interest in the league but even as a fan who goes to a lot of games I find it hard to take the MLS seriously, it's a bit like watching women's football.

I go to NY every year and always manage to catch a Red Bulls game. This year my trip falls when they play LA Galaxy, looking forward to it! Disappointed JPA swapped clubs though... :(

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The standard of play has been poor since the inception of the league. But as an American, I've always viewed it philosophically. It was important to use the momentum of World Cup 1994 and establish a viable league. Almost 20 years on, it's more than viable. It's been a massive success, really. Each club averages around 18K fans per match....I pulled that number out of my ass, but it's about right....many if not most of the clubs have their own stadiums, sponsorship, youth programs, scouting, etc., all the things that seemed impossible when I was growing up.

I did my part and went to see New England Revolution a few times over the first few seasons. But I was already hooked on Villa, and the quality of MLS was so poor in comparison, I just ended up staying away. It doesn't help that they play 40 minutes away from Boston. And trying to create atmosphere with 15,000 people in a 65,000 seat stadium is kind of a depressing pursuit.

If they built a small stadium in Boston or nearby, I'd be there every week.

Even so, the concentration of talent will always be in Europe, and MLS will always be either just a producer of the occasional player who can make it in Europe, or the playground of washed up superstars.

How excited can you get about a league where that is the reality?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Even so, the concentration of talent will always be in Europe, and MLS will always be either just a producer of the occasional player who can make it in Europe, or the playground of washed up superstars.

How excited can you get about a league where that is the reality?

Still better than the SPL though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Attendance-wise, MLS looks to be the twelfth best-attended (average game) football league in the world

Bundesliga 2009-10: 41,802

Premier League 2009-10: 34,150

La Liga 2009-10: 28,286

Mexican league 2006-07: 25,379 (no more recent figure per Wiki)

Serie A 2009-10: 24,957

Argentine league 2008: 20,886

Ligue 1 2009-10: 20,089

Eredivisie 2008-09: 19,827

J League 2009: 19,126

the Championship 2008-09: 17,891

Brazilian Serie A 2009: 17,601

MLS 2010: 16,675

On the format issue, I think that the best idea is to adapt the Latin American apertura/clausura system while retaining geographical conferences and the MLS Cup and also introducing a form of promotion & relegation (essentially a hybrid of the European, North American, and Latin American structures).

Calendar: apertura from August through November, then a 10 week winter break and a clausura from February through May, with the MLS Cup playoffs in June and the MLS Cup Final in either June or late July... New England, New York, Philadelphia, DC, Columbus, Toronto, and Chicago shouldn't play home games from December through February while Dallas, Houston and a large number of potential expansion cities in the south probably shouldn't be playing home games from mid-May through August. Given the alternatives of scheduling teams to have stretches of months where they only play away games and having both a summer and a winter break, the two-break format is probably better.

Differentiate the apertura and clausura by running each competition on a slightly different format. For the apertura, split the league into national Premier, First/Second, Second/Third, etc. Divisions of at most ten clubs each with promotion and relegation between them (since it took nearly a century for the Football League to implement automatic promotion to and relegation from the League...). Play it in single-table, double-round-robin format through up to 18 rounds. Winner of the Premier Division is awarded the Supporters' Shield and is guaranteed the second-priority berth in the CONCACAF Champions League. Promote and relegate between the divisions for next year's apertura based on those results.

Carry over the points from the apertura to the clausura (if a lower division plays with fewer rounds, then award 1.5 points per missing round to each club in that division) and use the Eastern/Western Conference format, again playing each conference single-table, double-round-robin. Winner of each conference qualifies for the CONCACAF Champions League if not already qualified; top 4 from each conference enters the MLS Cup Playoffs. Winner of the MLS Cup takes the first CONCACAF Champions League berth. If a club qualifies via multiple routes, then the next priority goes to US Open Cup champions, and then 2nd in the Premier Division (it's impossible for there to be more than 2 surplus berths).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...
Â