North American Pro Soccer 2015

[Gothamite]

Ah, I get it. Although Yankee Stadium is a real non-factor, to everybody's surprise (including my own). They sure as hell belong.

I am curious to see how LAFC markets itself, the niche it carves out. NYCFC is easy - they're New York City's team. LAFC doesn't have that to work with, even if the Galaxy doesn't actually play within city limits; the story in LA is very different.

[bosrs1]

Ah, I get it. Although Yankee Stadium is a real non-factor, to everybody's surprise (including my own). They sure as hell belong.

I am curious to see how LAFC markets itself, the niche it carves out. NYCFC is easy - they're New York City's team. LAFC doesn't have that to work with, even if the Galaxy doesn't actually play within city limits; the story in LA is very different.

Actually I still think being "LA's" team is something LAFC can play to. In fact that may be what he's getting at. Both teams have reasons they can claim to be THE team of the city. LAFC will have the newer nicer digs inside the city limits and seem to be angling for big name players. LAG have their admittedly prestigious (and for me as a San Jose fan, annoying) history and existing status as LA's team and MLS' "superclub." It has the makings of an honest to God derby rivalry naturally like MLS tried to artificially create with Chivas USA to no avail.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

No link, but I read off-hand that Orlando SC supporters were shining a light in Galaxy's keeper's eyes yesterday, and this is the second such time they've been accused of laser pointer nonsense this season.

Orlando has a reputation, right? If they can prove this to be accurate, MLS needs to come down hard on the supporters group. There's no room in the game for fan sabotage.

[Nyk33]

I am curious to see how LAFC markets itself, the niche it carves out. NYCFC is easy - they're New York City's team. LAFC doesn't have that to work with, even if the Galaxy doesn't actually play within city limits; the story in LA is very different.

A few LAFC fans on reddit are already throwing the "Carson Galaxy" label and citing the same accusations NY fans made about the Red Bulls.

I don't know if their claims are valid or not but I just thought I would drop that little tidbit.

[Gothamite]

I don't see that as having anywhere near the staying power it does against Red Bull.

And yes, the Orlando supporters have a reputation. All their groups were de-certified after fights broke out, and they had to promise to improve their behavior. These stories are very bad news if true.

[Nyk33]

I don't see that as having anywhere near the staying power it does against Red Bull.

Agreed.

However something interesting I noticed that I think will stick is the fact that LAFC fans have complained about the Galaxy having too much of a "Disney" presence about it and want LAFC to go for something completely different from that.

[Gothamite]

I would guess that LAFC fans will want to push more of a global feel, as befits the name. I don't know enough about the Galaxy to know if there's any room for them to maneuver there. How is a Galaxy match like a Disney park?

[2001mark]

Yesterday I saw online for the first time the term 'Big 5'.

At a trivia site regarding franchise titles.

btw all this turf war stuff has me convinced I NEVER want to see another NHL team in Toronto lols. I mean, I do, but I really don't.

[4_tattoos]

Big five??? Not until MLS is internationally recognized as the number 1 soccer league in the world like MLB, NHL, NFL & NBA are recognized as the number 1 league for their respective sports. This is just the way I feel about it though. I can't would not put MLS in the "Big" category simply because it's a North American league

Honestly where does MLS rank amongst all the world's soccer leagues? Serious question, not being a dick. I know the premiere leagues in England & Spain are general considered the world's two top leagues. So what range is MLS in? Top 5? Top 10?

[Norva]

No link, but I read off-hand that Orlando SC supporters were shining a light in Galaxy's keeper's eyes yesterday, and this is the second such time they've been accused of laser pointer nonsense this season.

Orlando has a reputation, right? If they can prove this to be accurate, MLS needs to come down hard on the supporters group. There's no room in the game for fan sabotage.

This is the only incident involving a laser this year and it did NOT come from the supporters section. Everyone immediately blames them for any issue even though as far as I know there hasn't been a single problem with them. The only other incident I know of involving a Vancouver fan also had nothing to do with the supporters section but they still got blamed by the general public.

[rams80]

No link, but I read off-hand that Orlando SC supporters were shining a light in Galaxy's keeper's eyes yesterday, and this is the second such time they've been accused of laser pointer nonsense this season.

Orlando has a reputation, right? If they can prove this to be accurate, MLS needs to come down hard on the supporters group. There's no room in the game for fan sabotage.

This is the only incident involving a laser this year and it did NOT come from the supporters section. Everyone immediately blames them for any issue even though as far as I know there hasn't been a single problem with them. The only other incident I know of involving a Vancouver fan also had nothing to do with the supporters section but they still got blamed by the general public.

I'm sorry to all of the Orlando fan groups, but reputations tend to be earned and it seems like if you talk with any USL/NASL fan group, the general opinion is that Orlando's fan groups tend to err on the side of criminal behavior when it comes to displaying their fandom.

[Norva]

Yeah they certainly have earned it from past incidents but since the start of the MLS season they have actually been well behaved. Hell, even as an OCSC fan I have been vocal about my discontent with past problems with them.

[TBGKon]

Until proven otherwise, this sounds like typical OCSC hi jinks. Some (not all) of their supporters are ignorant boneheads.

[raysox]

Big five??? Not until MLS is internationally recognized as the number 1 soccer league in the world like MLB, NHL, NFL & NBA are recognized as the number 1 league for their respective sports. This is just the way I feel about it though. I can't would not put MLS in the "Big" category simply because it's a North American league

Honestly where does MLS rank amongst all the world's soccer leagues? Serious question, not being a dick. I know the premiere leagues in England & Spain are general considered the world's two top leagues. So what range is MLS in? Top 5? Top 10?

According to FIFA, MLS is generally about even with the 2nd tier in England. I'm sure a team like the Sounders could stay out of the relegation zone in the Premier League if there was ever an opportunity. But lets say that the English Championship is 10th best in Europe, throw in Brazil, Mexico, and Argentina. MLS is probably top 15 and growing. The best chance to move up would be success against Mexico. You can't be the best in the world without being the best in your confederation.

[Nyk33]

I would guess that LAFC fans will want to push more of a global feel, as befits the name. I don't know enough about the Galaxy to know if there's any room for them to maneuver there. How is a Galaxy match like a Disney park?

What they mean by "Disney" is that the match atmosphere is too "soccer mom" friendly, too "corporate", and not "authentic". They also hate the mascot.

I've been trying to get more specifics but so far its been those kinds of generalities.

[Gothamite]

Just in case the New York soccer scene hasn't had enough drama, the Cosmos are being sued by Eric Cantona, their former Director of Soccer.

http://www.newsday.com/news/region-state/cantona-sues-cosmos-alleging-breach-of-contract-1.10451696

Cantona sues Cosmos, alleging breach of contract

May 19, 2015 5:17 PM

By The Associated Press

NEW YORK - (AP) -- Former Manchester United forward Eric Cantona has sued the New York Cosmos, saying the team never delivered on promises to pay him and provide a share of equity in the club.

Cantona made the claims in a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Manhattan federal court. He asked for nearly a million dollars in salary that he says he is owed, along with a 4 percent equity interest. The Cosmos did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.

The Frenchman was hired in 2011 by the Cosmos as director of soccer. The lawsuit said the Cosmos fired Cantona after he was involved in a confrontation initiated by a paparazzi photographer in London. Cantona said the firing was unjustified.

Cantona won four Premier League titles with Manchester United in the 1990s.

There was always something funny about his departure. They made a huge deal when they signed him:

And then one day he was just gone. They took his name off the website and that was it. No press release, no formal acknowledgement that he had left the club. He just became an unperson. Months later, the club finally admitted to the press that he had been downgraded to "international ambassador".

https://mobile.twitter.com/GothamistDan/status/362005312208781314

And a year later, Cantona was saying in interviews that he wasn't sure if he was still employed at all.

http://m.tribalfootball.com/articles/4012659

And then nothing after that. It took months before the fans goaded them to acknowledging a final departure on Twitter. At the time, it seemed tied to the management change, but now they're claiming they fired him after an altercation? If this is the one, it happened a year after they had relieved him of his footballing duties.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2580130/Ex-footballer-Eric-Cantona-arrested-cautioned-assault-London.html

Odd.

[STL FANATIC]

MLS Commissioner Don Garber was in St. Louis today. He met with business leaders and the owners of the USL Pro team in St. Louis, toured various places, and then met with the press and addressed fans.

He cautioned everyone not to jump the gun, making sure they knew expansion wouldn't happen until after 2020, but spoke positively about the possibility of it happening should the MLS continue on a healthy track. Some around St. Louis seemed to take that timeline talk as a negative, but to me that part has been a given for a while. The fact that the MLS is thinking they'll expand beyond 24 and that they like the St. Louis market are positives. It's a given that we'll have to be patient with the time line.

The other really good news for St. Louis is that he sounds very amenable to the possibility of a team calling the proposed riverfront football stadium home. He notes that while they always prefer soccer specific stadia, the reality is it isn't always possible and that this stadium is designed with the MLS and soccer in mind.

While MLS has pushed for teams to play in soccer-specific stadiums (particularly downtown stadiums), he said he liked what he saw in HOK's stadium renderings, in which a curtain would come down from the stadium's roof to cover the upper deck and reduce the stadium capacity to about 38,000.

"The optimum environment for us is to play in a soccer-specific stadium," Garber said. "That will always be our goal, but it's not always achievable in every market. It's certainly much more attractive when a football stadium is built with MLS in mind, and that's the plan that these folks have done."

He implied that the most important thing St. Louis can do to prepare (other than actually building the stadium) is to get a strong potential ownership group in place.

If St. Louis could put together an ownership group, then certainly, he said, the riverfront arena “would be a viable stadium option, there’s no doubt about that.”

This article also has a note about squashing any hopes that the MLS would contribute to the funding of the stadium. I find that odd as I've never even heard that speculated. And again, it's been clear for a while that the next round of MLS expansion is set, so there was never a reason to believe MLS would be in a position to contribute. Not sure why the writer included that.

Anyways, there's more in there. Anyways, it's too far out to get super excited about—the commissioner made that clear. But it only seems like good news from St. Louis' perspective to me.

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/major-league-soccer-commissioner-calls-st-louis-a-great-soccer/article_904cb519-c8cd-5bf7-bde8-3de07fa37b36.html

[Gothamite]

Of course it does. When was the last time a commissioner went to a possible expansion city just starting to gauge interest and said "Nah, we don't want your money. Don't waste your time."

Right now it's all years away, and these assurances are vague at best. We'll see what happens when and if they actually get an expansion bid together.

[Nyk33]

Speaking of expansion, I bring you the dumbest piece of expansion ever.

The NASL has just announced that Miami FC will become their 12th club and it makes no sense.

http://www.nasl.com/news/2015/05/20/miami-fc-becomes-12th-nasl-club

1. They already have the Strikers in the area who had to move from Miami because it wasn't working out for them and there is no demand for another NASL team now. All they did was divide the South Florida market unnecessarily.

2. This doesn't address their need for a team in the West Coast in order to secure their 2nd division status.

3. What will come of this team if Beckham and MLS get their together and put together a team? How many people in Miami would root for Miami FC then?

Was it really necessary to create a team for the sake of trolling MLS?

[Needschat]

Speaking of expansion, I bring you the dumbest piece of expansion ever.

The NASL has just announced that Miami FC will become their 12th club and it makes no sense.

http://www.nasl.com/news/2015/05/20/miami-fc-becomes-12th-nasl-club

1. They already have the Strikers in the area who had to move from Miami because it wasn't working out for them and there is no demand for another NASL team now. All they did was divide the South Florida market unnecessarily.

2. This doesn't address their need for a team in the West Coast in order to secure their 2nd division status.

3. What will come of this team if Beckham and MLS get their together and put together a team? How many people in Miami would root for Miami FC then?

Was it really necessary to create a team for the sake of trolling MLS?

To answer it, I'll say:

Not so much to troll MLS, but to troll David Beckham.