North American Pro Soccer 2016

[Gothamite]

That sure as hell isn't Long Island City today, wonder if the neighborhood border was that far to the East back then. 

[Nyk33]

I just found out that the Chicago Fire haven't won a road game in 2 years. 

 

Wow...

[Sport]

Had to sell my tickets to the FC Cincinnati-Crystal Palace friendly tomorrow because it landed on the same day as prior commitment and I didn't realize that when I bought the tickets. Bummer because it was going to be my first time seeing FC Cincinnati and I heard they've sold more than 30,000 tickets so the atmosphere should be pretty cool. 

 

[4_tattoos]

So I checked out the soccer logos on the main site for the first time. I was surprised to see there are actually more active soccer leagues in the US & Canada listed than MLS, NASL and USL.

 

Here is my understanding of the top 3 of the US/Canada soccer "pyramid". I'm aware that there is debate over 2 and 3

1. MLS
2. NASL
3. USL Pro Division

The other active leagues (according to the main site) are

• American Soccer League
• Canadian Soccer League
• National Premiere Soccer League
• Premier League of America
• USL Development League

Of those five leagues, how should they be ranked if we were to add 4-8 to the pyramid? All factors considered (player talent level, fan support, facilities, management, etc.)

 

[AnPheitseog]

3 hours ago, 4_tattoos said:

So I checked out the soccer logos on the main site for the first time. I was surprised to see there are actually more active soccer leagues in the US & Canada listed than MLS, NASL and USL.

 

Here is my understanding of the top 3 of the US/Canada soccer "pyramid". I'm aware that is debate over 2 and 3

1. MLS
2. NASL
3. USL Pro Division

The other active leagues (according to the main site) are

• American Soccer League
• Canadian Soccer League
• National Premiere Soccer League
• Premier League of America
• USL Development League

Of those five leagues, how should they be ranked if we were to add 4-8 to the pyramid? All factors considered (player talent level, fan support, facilities, management, etc.)

 

NPSL is fourth, without question.

 

Might all be fourth, but  

[crashcarson15]

19 hours ago, 4_tattoos said:

Here is my understanding of the top 3 of the US/Canada soccer "pyramid". I'm aware that there is debate over 2 and 3

Except there isn’t. USSF rules are pretty clear as to what level 2 and level 3 leagues are, and the NASL fits the former and the USL the latter.

 

Everything else is amateur fourth tier, where USSF doesn’t recognize differences between leagues.

[ninersdd]

Not something you see all that much. The Quakes were down 2 men most of the 2nd half, but we're able to score in that predicament and upend Toronto 2-1.

[twi]

Freddy Adu sighting last night. Came on as a sub for the second game in a row to take his season appearance total to... two. 

[Nyk33]

Jason Kreis is Orlando City's new manager. 

[4_tattoos]

I'm a DC United fan, but there's a part of me that wants to attend a Red Bulls vs NYCFC game for reasons unknown.

[Gothamite]

Well, RBA is a great stadium.  And everyone's always up for those derbys. 

[Nyk33]

38 minutes ago, Gothamite said:

everyone's always up for those derbys. 

 

Except for NYCFC most of the time. 

[Gothamite]

Ouch.  

 

Cant argue, though.  The one team we always look bad against. 

[Nyk33]

Well then...

 

[twi]

Had sideline seats for the Rowdies Cosmos match last night. That may been the most illogically officiated match I've been at in any sport ever.

 

Was also entertaining to see the big green and gold clad crowd milling about the stadium area overlapping with the equally huge PokemonGo crowd bar hopping through the same establishments. 

[B-Rich]

Attended my 3rd MLS game last weekend while on a Pacific Northwest vacation.  This one was in Portland, where we watched the Timbers lose to the LA Galaxy.

 

Game itself was alright-- LA scored two relatively easy goals within the first 10 minutes, then basically played defense for the remainder of the game. Timbers were able to get one back, and there was a handball call against LA which we all thought occurred in the box but which the refs ruled was just outside, so it wasn't a penalty kick.

 

Portland wore their red and black alts, which looked hideous.  I mean, the team colors are green and gold/yellow/neon yellow-green, and while they have worn a red alt in the past, pairing it with black puts your on-field color scheme about as far from your actual color scheme as possible. LA wore their typical all-white kits.

 

It was a full house, excellent sunny weather on a Saturday afternoon,  and a great, lively crowd.

 

Re: the stadium itself, I can best describe it as half-assed for a soccer stadium.  Providence Park's basis is an old, old  stadium (built 1926), which has been used for baseball, football and soccer. It has of course been renovated through the years, most recently to host the Timbers.  It's in a neat location downtown, adjacent to light rail and with views (from our side) of some of the skyline, and has a bit of historic charm:

But in my opinion, it is NOT up to MLS standards for a stadium:

 

• Seats under overhang on western side are old, maybe even ORIGINAL bleachers (with backs), to my opinion rather undersized in terms of seating width. I had to keep my legs together and clench my buttocks the whole game.  If you look at the picture below, you'll see we are ALL sitting in pretty tight:

• Overhang on west and north sides supported by columns which obstruct views.  Our view of the far goal was right in line with a support column.

 

• LACK OF SUFFICIENT EXIT CAPABILITIES.  God forbid there is ever a fire or such during a full house event.  Like everyone else, we waited until the final whistle in a close game before we left.  And it was a mess, at least for the old (western) side of the field. The walkways between the seating area and concourses are too small/narrow, and as the concourses are below street level, there were only exits at each end of the field (a larger set around what was the home plate area side, and a small exit with stairs 6-8 wide near what was the right foul pole area).  It was a crowded mess.

 

 

 

 

[Gothamite]

Hmm.   I can only presume that Portland has fire codes; wonder what the requirements are?

 

Great pitch view - I don't think I've ever seen a pic from that angle.  I went to baseball games in that park, but that was a long time ago and it's virtually unrecognizable now.

[MJWalker45]

16 hours ago, B-Rich said:

 

I've watched a game from that side of the field as well as the opposite side in the Key Bank VIP Section or whatever it's called now. I agree about the columns, but other than adding supports to the top of the roof or removing it entirely I think what they have works because the other option is to close off the street behind these seats to anchor the supports which would probably not happen in Portland. I'm actually glad they kept the older parts of the stadium but it can seem like you're in a totally different stadium depending on where in the stadium you are. Looking at this picture I didn't realize how much of the eastern side is not covered by the roofing on that side. The South end is completely open and it looks like they added bleachers specifically for that game because it was almost entirely open when I went there in 2011. 

[dfwabel]

MLS expansion fee just went up...WAY up.

 

 

[DG_ThenNowForever]

OK. Now add another DP slot or two. Maybe raise the minimum salary while you're at it.

 

China is going to kill off the MLS' ability to overpay aging Euro stars if they don't make some changes.