MJWalker45

13 hours ago, TacoCat83 said:

Heard Crew get mentioned for the last 3rd. Nashville does make sense but maybe for the next round of teams.

The Crew? I'm surprised by that. I'm a little scared of what they come up with after Toronto's shirt.

48 minutes ago, Digby said:

Five years of Zlatan or Chicharito for LA Galaxy and all it got them was two mediocre playoff runs that ended to their cool young crosstown rival in the semis. Their attendance has remained solid, though, so I wonder how much of that is thanks to having the box-office draws to paper over how deeply mid they've been on the field.

 

I don't know what to extrapolate from the Messi situation for the future of the league but I lean toward "nothing". Maybe a handful of other players can provide his on-field influence, but not many. Does anyone move the needle from a media/attention perspective? I doubt it. Maybe CR7 would've if he'd come here. Maybe Pulisic if for some reason he came back. I don't even know if Mbappe has that sort of draw in America. It's a generational situation, a la Beckham. 

I think Mbappe would be a great draw for MLS, but I wonder how many foreign papers will start talking about him negatively for coming to the United States before he turns 30?

10 hours ago, GDAWG said:

 

Garber is probably asking both LA Teams and both New York teams to make bids for him.  

I'd expect them to try moving him to the Galaxy, just to make up for losing Chicharito for the season. 

8 minutes ago, crashcarson15 said:

and at least you can fly direct or direct+bus to a lot of the league from SFO).

This is the biggest issue that is actually easiest to resolve. How many of the SEC schools have the ability to fly direct to wherever they need to go? Pretty much all of them. Same thing for the LA schools, Arizona schools, Big XII, and almost any Florida school. The ones that aren't so lucky are those that are in the Group of 5 and some of the smaller Power 5 schools. Baseball, basketball, and other sports already operate on the road for most of the season, so the only difference is how many more air miles these teams will earn. UCLA, USC, Washington, and Oregon baseball and softball will probably work the same way as minor baseball league teams do, with big blocks of home and away games to keep the costs down, while the rest of the Big Ten will rotate up and down the west coast when those teams are at home. 

For some reason United will wear black EPL numbers instead of red. But for cup competitions they will be wearing red numbers based on the shade of red being used on the third jerseys.

1 hour ago, Unocal said:

 

Sweden has never won when it mattered most because they are basically playing not to lose.

 

They play anti-soccer. They park the bus and just stall.

They play the style that suits them. Not going to like it, but they still counter attack pretty well when needed. They also score more from set plays than anyone else this tournament. 

4 hours ago, GDAWG said:

I heard someone mention that things would be different if Catarina Macario was on the team and I doubt that.  I think the outcome would still be the same if Macario was there.  

 

 

Macario and Mallory Pugh were the two biggest losses on this team. With those two on the team it changes how you can attack. Vlatko brought too many people that do the same things this time out. 

1 hour ago, Unocal said:

Whoever wins this year's WWC will win by default

 

Are there any good teams left?

1 minute ago, Digby said:

 

I'd say the teams that remain are good by virtue of continuing to win, yeah.

Sweden is #2 in the world, the Netherlands were runner-ups in 2019 and England won the Euros last year. These aren't teams that will only win because the United States wasn't there. England even beat the USA last year, as did Japan. 

19 minutes ago, VDizzle12 said:

The NFL needs to stand their ground. The rule is that teams can only wear alternates helmets with alternate jerseys. Shouldn't be any exceptions. Do we really want the Cardinals or Commanders wearing a black helmet with red jerseys, Bears orange helmets with navy jerseys, Browns wearing white helmets with brown jerseys, etc? If the Bengals are insistent on wearing white helmets, then either use the old white CR set or make a new alternate. 

Yes, because limiting those helmets to one set uniform is a bad idea. Denver would look better if they could go WBW/WOW/ or any other combo than WOO. 

This is a better look than this, any day of the week.

I'd prefer the orange lids, but for a change of pace vs Cincinnati, this wouldn't be a bad idea. The caveat being, they have to wear white pants as well. 

This is a better look than the all black uniform.

I would prefer the BEars not use an orange helmet at all, but if it were similar to these, just with a darker blue, would it be that bad? 

9 minutes ago, DCarp1231 said:

The issue is presumably the white uniform is demoted to alternate. Would that mean the orange jersey is promoted to away?

 

Or is this a situation where the Bengals want to use the regular white uniform as both away and alternate?

I think this is the case where they are choosing to use that white jersey in two roles, but wanting to keep the orange jersey as an option. 

3 minutes ago, HOOVER said:

The major issue with the current uniform is the number font.  Pants are good.  Change the charcoal in the numbers to Silver and the White in the pants to Silver and it would be a nice Bridge, but holds it back the most is the number font.

The fact it needs an outline to improve it's appearance is proof of this.

24 minutes ago, DCarp1231 said:

If they change their alt helmets after giving Cleveland hell for it, I'll laugh my backside off.

4 minutes ago, Chicageaux said:

This image was posted on Reddit. Sounds like the Bengals are trying to ditch the color rush jerseys in favor of their new away jerseys to pair with the white helmets.

 

I feel like the only way this improves the look is if there is some kind of orange dropshadow to the stripes on the helmet as well. 

1 minute ago, Digby said:

 

I do think there was an element of complacency from some of the older players here -- not in a "they care about their PERSONAL BRAND" complaint or whatever petty nonsense Carli Lloyd was saying -- but maybe an overconfidence that they'd still be world-beaters despite being older and, in many cases, out of form. Not so much in that final game at least, but earlier on. At least that's how I interpreted some of the desperation and imprecision we saw. 

 

Beyond that, yeah, I blame the coaching. That it took Lavelle's suspension to make a smart tactical switch is pretty unfortunate. I don't blame Vlatko + staff exclusively, but I do get the feeling that while a lot went wrong -- some bad decisions from players, some injuries, some plain outlier-level bad luck -- he wasn't getting the most out of this group.

 

Good news is that this seemed like a weirdly (relatively) fallow year for the USWNT talent-wise, and next World Cup will have this young core in their prime years and with a tournament of experience already. I'm also now extra-fascinated to see what the staff and roster will look like for the Olympics, just a year away now.

The reliance on Rapinoe, when after the first game her crosses weren't nearly crisp enough to damage even Vietnam, is something I can't understand. In 2019 she was the heart of the team. Going into this tournament she should have been used like Michelle Akers was in 1999. As sparingly as possible. Morgan should have worked more as a CAM than as the number 10. Set her up in the middle and feed Smith and Rodman into the box. 

5 minutes ago, Digby said:

Such a wild game. Good on FC Dallas for making it tough and, almost, winning. They seem to have lost their heads at the end, just more Messi Effect. 

 

The thing that really strikes me about watching Messi in MLS (besides his insane precision being more obvious against this sort of opposition) is that he is truly the type of guy who makes the people around you better. Not just because he attracts the attention and can be a god-level playmaker but also he seems to just have injected this whole team with such confidence. I guess it's the "We have Messi so we'll be fine" approach. It also helps that the worst team in the league was able to gut its roster and get a new coach seemingly overnight.

 

I don't know that it would reflect well on MLS for a bunch of 35+ guys to be able to just stroll in, hardly practice, and immediately win a trophy, though.

I think the Messi affect plays with the refs as well as the opposition. That Martinez flop that got them a PK to go ahead vs Orlando was pathetic, but it got them the PK. Messi just sitting off to the right of him pulled away a CB to keep that run from happening. 

On 8/6/2023 at 9:20 AM, burgundy said:

Notre Dame's uniforms for the Navy game in Ireland. Not bad for a one off, but the gold for the sleeve design looks a little too yellow. 

 

Navy looks pretty good as well. I was hoping to see the back of the jersey to see if they have any additional game specific designs like Notre Dame has with the year of the game. 

2 hours ago, Seadragon76 said:

What happened this early morning is basically a great example of the Women's team just mailing it in after that win over Vietnam.

 

You would think that the two time defending champions would be playing at a higher level now then ever before. With the talent gap shrinking minute by minute, you can't afford to half ass it against better teams.

 

Now, they have the next four years to lick their wounds and figure out how to get that winning mentality back.

I'd blame coaching more than the players. At some point you use your subs. And 1 minute before PKs isn't when you do that. 

2 hours ago, gosioux76 said:

This isn't a good look. It goes to show that, even under shared ownership, the MLS team will always be the second (or third) priority tenant in an NFL venue, no matter how much growth the league exhibits. 

That concert was also probably locked in two years ago. And Beyonce will bring in multiples more money.

The EFL is letting teams add their own sponsors on the left sleeve this year. Southampton has nothing on theirs at the moment. Wednesday also has ad space above the name, and Southampton is using the space below the numbers. It's hard to see with black on red and white stripes. 

https://www.triggerhub.org/

Leeds alternate shirt

For the Real Madrid/Juventus match the teams wore numbers with a pattern from Graffiti Artist Sen2.

https://www.soccerbible.com/news/2023/08/real-madrid-juventus-wear-numbers-designed-by-graffiti-artist-sen2/

Ajax Third kit

15 hours ago, Dilbert said:

Daddy Garber will find a way.

Cowboys play at home 6 days later and will want the grass removed at least a week before. 

13 hours ago, andregunts said:

All the adidas teams in the WWC wore a white zip hoodie for the anthem. Like how can I get more information  

They have one with the association badge on the sleeves, in women's sizes instead of on the front.

1 hour ago, JQK said:

The Rĕð§ƙïŋ§ logo was made by an indigenous artist as well... and they decided to throw that baby out with the bathwater...

It had to go with the rest of the identity. Because as long as it remained it'd still give a middle finger to the tribes that didn't want it to remain. Let's leave that logo out of the discussion here.

6 hours ago, Dilbert said:

Apparently the USL pro/rel vote is now on hold

 

https://theathletic.com/4747662/2023/08/03/usl-promotion-relegation-vote/

They probably realize there are a lot of owners who would need to spend massive amounts of money on upgrades just to the stadiums that they can't afford to do, or don't want to do, to meet Division 1 standards.

24 minutes ago, GDAWG said:

 

And his next game will be a 107 degree game in Frisco at night......so next time he plays FC Dallas after this, it will probably be at the Jerry Dome in Arlington, Texas, which recently sold out El Classico between Real Madrid and FC Barcelona.  

 

It'll probably stay at Toyota Stadium since those are the seats sold for the game. 

1 hour ago, Digby said:

Germany joins Canada and Brazil in going out in the group stage. Crazy tournament! Truly no idea who the favorite could be at this point.

England would have to be the favorite right now, yes? Whoever wins Sweden vs USA would be the other top choice. Germany blew the doors off Morocco to start the tournament and di nothing else afterwards. Good job of circling the wagons for Morocco who will now try to match the result their men had at last year's World Cup. 

Jamaica made the knockouts! Most people probably had two Concacaf teams in the Round of 16, but no one would have picked Jamaica. Concacaf need to get their act together, because this team is doing what the men haven't done in a long time, and with much less assistance from their own federation as well. 

14 hours ago, Digby said:

 

 

Funny (?) thing about that is that FIFA totally cooked the knockout rounds schedule with the assumption that the USA would win their group; how else do you explain the only remaining prime-time-in-the-Americas matches in the tournament to be on the 1E path. Well, guess we'll enjoy the Netherlands at beer-drinking hours and wake up at 4am for more USWNT (probably only one more time, but maybe twice).

I'm not surprised since Infantino can't be bothered to hang around the tournament. And reportedly, FIFA is looking to pull back on financial promises they made to the women's game prior to the tournament. 

https://www.cbssports.com/soccer/news/fifa-says-it-cant-guarantee-prize-money-goes-to-womens-world-cup-players/

https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/38032225/women-world-cup-countries-responsible-player-pay-not-fifa

France beats Panama, 6-3, after getting 2 PK's in the match. They still look pretty shaky on that back line, but they took care of business when they had to. Brazil couldn't get the job done and now they are out. People said the US losing to Portugal would have been the biggest upset in World Cup history, but I think Jamaica knocking out Brazil has to be up there as well. This team was not about Marta. Until today she hadn't even played more than 20 minutes in the tournament. They started her today and the gamble failed, just like what happened with Sinclair and Canada.

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/66377906

Bruce Arena is on admin leave pending an investigation over "inappropriate remarks". 

Anyone know what that little flag on the America jersey is?