Rockstar Matt

Colors are great, the word marks and numbers are really nice, but literally nothing else? No striping of any kind? Not even on the collar, shoulders or waistband?  
 

These are not even glorified practice jerseys, but glorified men’s rec league uniforms. The word marks and numbers with no additional design look like something that belongs on a t-shirt sold in the team shop for the people who don’t want to wear the jerseys themselves. 
 

This is awful. 

Good road win for LAFC to take them back to top of the supporters’ shield.
 

Couple of thoughts though.

- Vela is no longer the outstanding player we saw a few years ago. His step is a bit slow, especially the first step, and can’t get the space he once could for that beautiful left-footed curler he terrorized the league with. He’s still a good player and a difference maker, but we won’t see him single handedly win game by himself anymore. 
 

- Chiellini looked really good, although you could clearly see that athletically he’s lost a lot. But he’s still an impressive technical player and is still savvy defensively. Had a couple really good defensive plays that seemed effortless for him. He’s going to massively improve this back line. 

- Still can’t believe Bale plays for LAFC and I had to pinch myself when he came onto the pitch for the first time. He looks like he’s playing in pre-season (which is completely understandable IMO). There’s no doubt he’ll be the team’s best player once he’s in game shape. 

- LAFC would be fools to transfer Chicho. Massive, massive fools. He’s on such good form and has made the loss of Diego Rossi almost negligible. Arguably the most in-form 9 in the league. 
 

All in all, this looks like an outstanding team and once Bale gets into form, this team will be scary. 

15 hours ago, DG_ThenNowForever said:

Friday night primetime MLS soccer on ESPN is pretty sweet, actually. Especially when it's LAFC/LA Galaxy. Too bad Bale wasn't ready yet.

Agreed. Was really hoping for Bale to play so they could return the favor to the Galaxy when Zlatan had that game. Would have been a perfect game for his first. 
 

Regardless, happy with the result. Still can’t believe Gareth Bale plays for LAFC. 

16 minutes ago, DG_ThenNowForever said:

Wow

 

Suarez better be incoming to the Sounders. And also on a TAM deal.

 

Because this otherwise feels like game over for the league.

I’m honestly just stunned. I cannot believe this. This has to be the biggest league signing since Beckham for the Galaxy. Instantly the best player in the league, and just for the TAM? An unreal signing. 
 

On a personal note, the timing couldn’t be better since I’m moving back to LA tomorrow and have been dying to go an LAFC game. Now I get to watch a world-class winger play in person? I’m still speechless. 
 

Incidentally, first game he’d be eligible to play would be against the Galaxy on July 8th. 

I’ve long thought the NBA desperately needs a black and yellow team, but not like this. These are awful. They’re not quite practice jersey but more a mixture of practice and summer league jerseys. 
 

One of the more tone deaf rebrands I’ve ever seen in the NBA. 

45 minutes ago, DG_ThenNowForever said:

 

They were health away from repeating. The Lakers were the best team in 20/21. They had the shortest turnaround (with Miami) in NBA history and it showed at the end of the season.

 

The 21/22 roster is unforgivable though.

I agree with that. 2021 I think a healthy Lakers team easily strolls to the Finals that year. 
 

But this season was so egregious, and even the years prior to LeBron joining the team, the Lakers were never even playoff threats let alone title contenders. 

Hopefully they’ll be better this next season. I’d love to see a true Lakers/Warriors playoff series next year, and not a stupid play-in game. 

26 minutes ago, DoctorWhom said:

For the record, I don't hate Curry. Really I only hated the talk about how he needed an Finals MVP. Like that would have changed any talk about him at all. 

 

Honestly the thing I hate most about the Warriors is that it's so hard to hate them. Aside from KD being a lazy bum and joining them for a few years, they really have done everything right. 

Real talk, this title from GS proves how much of a gutless, coward KD really is. This team now won titles before KD joined and after. Proving that they never needed him to win multiple titles. It was the most shameful and cowardice title chasing attempt from a great player that I’ve ever seen.
 

Steph is 100x the player KD ever was or will be.  
 

26 minutes ago, DoctorWhom said:

and  most importantly, didn't rely on a guy  like Lebron to carry them because they couldn't do it themselves. 

Lmaoooooo. Couldn’t help yourself, could you? At least we got a title out of it, something Celtics fans would love to have right now. 

Honestly tho, the Lakers ownership needs to sell the team. They are a disgrace to the franchise and the proud history of the Lakers. If it weren’t for LeBron saving them from themselves, this team would be looking at least another decade before they’d win another title. They had one season where they made good decisions, and resulted in a championship. Everything else in their tenure has been setting franchise worst records, in everything. 

5 minutes ago, who do you think said:

That was a pretty insufferable deluge of cheese even by Laker/Cowboy fan standards.

You right. You got me.
 

And why did you bring up the Cowboys? They’ve been as irrelevant and pathetic in the playoffs as the Celtics have been in these past 30+ years. 

Plus, how can anyone hate Curry? The dude is phenomenal. Easily one of my all-time favorite players to watch. I’m so happy for him, that he finally got that Finals MVP which he had been deserving of. 
 

IMO, he’s top 3 all-time in most helpless and devastating players to face when he’s going off (along with Kobe and LeBron; I wasn’t old enough to remember Jordan). 

1 hour ago, DoctorWhom said:

Lakers fans living vicariously through Warriors fans like they have been since 2015. 

.
 

Tough talk from a fan of a franchise that has won just a single title since the Reagan administration (and that title would not have happened had former 80’s Celtics players not been the GM’s who just so happened decided to trade their sole star players to Boston of all teams, for peanuts back). 

The current Golden State Warriors are still two titles away from reaching the amount of Lakers titles I’ve seen with my own eyes, FYI. No true Laker fan has been living vicariously through them. In fact, this was the first Finals I ever cheered for Golden State, like most Lakers fans. 

2 hours ago, DoctorWhom said:

The NBA was so much better when Lebron & the Warriors weren't winning every year. 

Didn’t the Bucks just win last year?  And then the Raptors two years before that?

Sounds like you’re not a big fan of the NBA then. This is what the NBA has always been about. Legendary players and dynastic teams winning multiple chips. If you can’t appreciate basketball greatness, even if it comes from a team you don’t like, this ain’t the sport for you man. 

Super happy SoFi is gonna host the World Cup! I’d imagine that SoFi along with JerryWorld and MetLife in New York, are the main candidates to host the opening match and the Final. 
 

Also, super thrilled for Seattle and Atlanta to get the opportunity to host. They are well deserving of it. 
 

I’m going to a game in SoFi for the World Cup no matter what. It should be an amazing experience. 

2 hours ago, MJWalker45 said:

Arriola is a good substitute, but I don't think he should ever start a World Cup match.  

You think so? Interesting. I don't think he provides any value coming off the bench. He's a turnover machine, provides zero attacking threat against good teams, struggles to link up with the overlapping RB's that Berhalter loves to play (also on a side note Cannon was awful last night; the US badly needs Dest to be healthy) and he was nonexistent against a quality team like Uruguay (and every team we play in the group stage is a quality team).

And for me, considering that Weah and Aaronson will be coming off the bench for either Pulisic or Reyna in the World Cup, there's no chance I'm putting Arriola out there on the wing when we have such quality ahead of him. 

After watching the games in this second to last window before the World Cup, I have a couple of observations:

- Musah is a lock-in starter until he retires, without a doubt. He provides something in the midfield that the US, quite frankly, has never had: a truly special game-breaking midfielder. And he's only 19. Ridiculous. 

- McKennie, Musah and Adams will be our starting midfield against Wales, unless they are injured. 

- Luca Del Torre and Aaronson have played their way onto roster spots. They both should be first options to come off the bench or even start if McKennie and Adams need a rest.

- Ferreria is probably going to start at the 9 for us in the WC because of his ability to link up with the other forwards and to put himself in good positions to score (his finishing needs to be better), but no striker has put themselves clearly in front. Anything can happen between now and November.

- Arriola and Morris are not World Cup quality players. They are barely quality players against the 2nd tier teams in CONCACAF. They shouldn't even be on the roster, let alone see any minutes in the WC.

- The US has a problem of both having too many starting quality players in certain positions and not enough quality in others. 

- Weah should be a starter on the RW, but unfortunately, Reyna is too important to be left off the field and will likely take that spot in November (and subbing Weah off for Paul freaking Arriola should be a federal crime).

-Steffan needs to get a loan to another club to get some consistent playing time, otherwise GK is a massive, massive issue with all of our top options being bench players in England. 

8 minutes ago, Sport said:

Christian Pulisic can eat a fart. Listen, it was a**holishly hot with a great chance of thunderstorms, a weeknight, and tickets were exorbitant all for a scrimmage against dang ass Morocco. I thought about going, but that was just too many ass-aches I needed to overcome and I can tell you that post-COVID my tolerance for ass-aches has dropped significantly. I can deal with two, maybe three ass-aches at this point. Any more effort required than that and I'm staying at home and last night was like a 9 ass-ache event. No thanks. Plus I live here and I didn't even know it was happening until a week before the game so I wasn't really planning for it.  

 

If he's got an issue with the number of fans in the building he should take it up with USSF for poor planning and stupidly priced tickets, don't go on ESPN and about the fans. That's not your job, rich boy.  

I read his complaint more as a criticism against the USSF, not against the people of Cincy. He has a point though.

The USMNT is the only top 20 footballing nation in the world who routinely has more opposing fans in their home games than their own fans, and the USSF is solely to blame for that. The USSF needs to stop exclusively scheduling matches in mid-west soccer-specific stadiums (the rest of country exists) and on top of that, charging NFL prices for those games even though the USMNT is not a NFL level draw. 

Right now, the USSF is charging nearly $100 per ticket for the game against Uruguay Sunday, which is ludicrous. I can buy tickets to see the LA Rams play for less than $80, in a much nicer stadium with a far better fan experience. Or I can buy LAFC tickets for 40 bucks. Anything approaching $100 for a single ticket for a USMNT exhibition game is absurd.

I'd love to see, and rather see, the USMNT play in sold-out, packed NFL-sized stadiums, rather than falling to fill out smaller soccer stadiums because they're overcharging ticket prices and afraid of playing in hostile stadiums in the States (which they already do). 

12 hours ago, FiddySicks said:

Suns fans got cocky and their Arizona started to really show after that whole Suns in 4 guy thing. It’s more everyone else saying sit down, Arizona sports. Know your place. 

Completely agree. It’s just funny to see everyone else had the same annoyed reaction to their trash talking as us Lakers fans did. 
 

They were cocky like Warriors fans (and Lakers fans too, if I’m being honest) were but without the championships to back it up. 

1 hour ago, GDAWG said:

So Golden State is winning the whole thing again aren't they?

As much as it pains me to say, it’s probably Boston. Tatum is taking that next step currently. 
 

Though it’s super wide open. Any of the remaining four legitimately have a good chance at the title. Dallas has the best player in Luka, Golden State has the best duo and coach combo, Miami has the best team without a superstar, and Boston has probably the deepest team paired with a superstar. 
 

I hope it’s Dallas and Luka, but I’ll take anyone in the West over the East, especially over Boston. 
 

EDIT: I’ve never seen the league’s fans and players so united over the demise of one team before. Seems like everyone hated the Suns. You have Lakers, Clippers and Celtics collectively joining forces in absolutely roasting and flaming the **** out of the Suns and their fans.

Y’all ever watch a player and just know he’s not only going to be an all-time great but legitimately one of the best players to ever do it? Giannis is that. He’s is going to be a top 10 all-time player when he retires. Maybe even top 5. The dude is unbelievable. 

He’s dominating the game in a manner that I’ve only seen in my lifetime from 3 other players: MJ, Shaq, and LeBron. 

So we all rooting for Seattle tonight? I want to finally see an American club win this competition. Seattle couldn’t be a better representation of our league. 

It’s been confirmed that every US group stage game will be at 2pm EST. Super happy about that. I was dreading the possibility of having 2am and 5am start times for some games. 

4 hours ago, DG_ThenNowForever said:

 

The Group of Death is clearly Mexico, Argentina, and Poland, isn't it? Saudi Arabia clearly doesn't have a chance, and I can't see Mexico having one either.

Don’t really think there is a group of death this year. The closest would be Canada’s group or Brazil’s, but even then Morocco and Cameroon brings the quality of both groups down. 
 

I wouldn’t count out México. Even in their current state, with a team that isn’t what it once was, they’re clearly the 2nd best team in that group. Poland is highly dependent on Lewandowski and doesn’t have a lot of quality elsewhere.
 

The Saudi’s are a well coached team, and play really well together. They topped their group with their one loss coming to Japan on the road. They probably finish last in the group, but they’ll be a tough out. 

3 hours ago, DG_ThenNowForever said:

England

Iran

USA

Ukraine/Scotland v Wales

 

Could be worse -- could be Mexico. Group A (Qatar, Ecuador, Senegal, Netherlands) would have been nice. If the USA makes the knockout round, they'll certainly have earned it.

I hope Ukraine or Scotland wins the playoff (prefer Scotland). Wales has a ton of quality. If Wales advances, the US’s group will be rather unfair IMO. All four would be ranked as one of the 21 teams in the world.
 

Wales and Iran would have both been Pot 3 teams, same with Ukraine, had they concluded their playoff before the draw. But oh well. 

Having said that, this is a good group for the US, or at least it’s a group we should advance from. Even if Wales or Ukraine advance to the World Cup, the US is better than both of those teams. If we can manage a result against England, we should advance no matter what. I’m confident the US will beat Iran and then just need a result against England or the UEFA playoff winner. 
 

It could have been a lot worse. I’m rather relieved. 
 

Canada also got probably the best group they could have hoped for. They knew going in they were going to have to face at least two of the world’s best teams, Belgium and Croatia are beatable, or at least Canada could get a result against one of them. They should be able to beat Morocco as well. 
 

Should be a good World Cup!

México is going to look gorgeous. That new crest looks sharp, but it’ll nice to see México back in their rightful colors. 

Steffan was the clear no. 1 for a few years and played like it too, but as of this past year or so, his level has dropped for some reason.  It could be the lack of playing time at City but even there he isn’t always impressive when he plays. Don’t know what happened to him.
 

The post game crew last night also mentioned that it is his intention to find a loan elsewhere to get playing time. He needs it because Ederson isn’t going anywhere for a long while at City. 
 

And Turner has certainly played himself into no. 1 contention too. But Steffan is a Berhalter guy. At this point, he has to be injured for Berhalter to not play him.  Berhalter will keep giving his guys more opportunities than deserved (which is why players like Zardes got way too many USMNT call-ups before GGG came to his senses)

53 minutes ago, officeglenn said:

 

You sure about this? There was a lot of talk in Canada about we needed to beat Panama tonight to get into Pot 3, and that didn't happen. The current pots according to SI.com have Tunisia in Pot 3 and Canada in Pot 4.

 

 He's using the current rankings which were last updated in Feb. 10th. In those, Canada is ranked ahead of Tunisia, but you're correct. Everyone has Canada in Pot 4 but we won't know for sure until tomorrow's rankings are released. 

39 minutes ago, DG_ThenNowForever said:

Two in ten minutes...

 

Surely they can do four more in 30... Right??

No sir. We are going back to the World Cup! 
 

Definitely have some thoughts on the game. The US could have won this game, but they lacked the energy and the clinical finishing in the final third…

But we’re back in the World Cup. That’s all that matters.