North American Pro Soccer 2019

[MJWalker45]

1 hour ago, Ferdinand Cesarano said:

I will further disagree with the characterisation of the Leagues Cup as "meaningless" and "fake". If something is fake by virtue of being new, then every single competition was once fake. -1

 

And this tournament is far from meaningless. Pitting MLS clubs against clubs from another league is the best way to gauge the league's rapidly-increasing level of play. 

 

American soccer has an unhealthy fixation with Mexico. (And it also has a shameful hostility, as demonstrated by the openly racist tendencies of large segments of national team fans, as well as the appalling reaction to Landon Donovan's good-natured commercial during the last World Cup.) - 2

 

What would be a lot more interesting in terms of finding MLS's level relative to a comparable league would be a tournament matching MLS teams and teams from the English Championship. It's a pity that such an arrangement would be logistically impossible, owing mainly to distance. - 3

1 - The prevailing view of most anti-MLS/Liga MX peeps is that the tournament only exists to put money in those two leagues pockets, as shown by who from MLS was selected to participate this year. 

 

2 - I'd say this goes both ways. Mexican soccer fans have literally thrown multiple types of fluids at the national team and fans. Mexican fans have even come to the US and done that here which has given them a reputation that is supported by those idiots who can't come up with a better taunt than to insult a goalie kicking a soccer ball. 

 

3 - I think the only reason MLS won't do this is because it doesn't involve the top teams in England. It's pretty easy to build in a couple mini-tournaments in July/August of 2 or 3 games in multiple places to see where MLS is, but even if the MLS teams ran the Championship squads off the pitch, they'd hear, "Well it ain't the Prem, you should be beating them"!

 

 

 

[GDAWG]

 

[FiddySicks]

I wouldn't be too terribly alarmed at that. Those temporary facilities can be constructed pretty quickly. The biggest issue would be allowing the turf to properly set, but even that can be done in two to three months with little to no issue.

 

I'm assuming they'll have a facility setup that's similar to what Republic has at Cal Expo. It'll be a bit thrown together, but it'll suit their needs just fine in the meantime. Our stadium is basically a giant Erector Set, but I actually think it's a pretty great facility, and the temporary nature of it all lends itself to a bit of extra charm. 

[dfwabel]

22 minutes ago, GDAWG said:

 

 

4 minutes ago, Bucfan56 said:

I wouldn't be too terribly alarmed at that. Those temporary facilities can be constructed pretty quickly. The biggest issue would be allowing the turf to properly set, but even that can be done in two to three months with little to no issue.

 

I'm assuming they'll have a facility setup that's similar to what Republic has at Cal Expo. It'll be a bit thrown together, but it'll suit their needs just fine in the meantime. Our stadium is basically a giant Erector Set, but I actually think it's a pretty great facility, and the temporary nature of it all lends itself to a bit of extra charm. 

Exactly.

 

From Jorge Mas last week

Quote

“I’m very optimistic that we’ll start our 2022 season in Miami at Miami Freedom Park,” Mas said after his presentation. “That’s our target, and yes, I am very optimistic we’ll be ready for 2022.”

 

The Lockhart project is clearly up against a deadline, with the club planning to begin play in March 2020, which is just seven months away. But team officials say everything has been on schedule so far, and the team doesn’t expect any issues with the stadium being ready.

 

“Lockhart Stadium is up and running, we got foundations in the ground … we’re on schedule which is good,” Mas said. “We have our canopy and steel’s been ordered, should have it on site in the next three months, no later. Our seating is being built as we speak.”

The FAA still hasn't given the OK for the project as it is near an executive airport, but that's been expected and they still have poured the concrete and ordered the structural steel for the modular stadium. 

If there is no progress in 30 days, then worry.

[FiddySicks]

We've had more than one occasion where we have had to completely deconstruct our park (We're located a state-run facility which holds the yearly CA State Fair, and even though we're very high on the totem pole for the venue, the state of California still ultimately takes main priority). Our turnaround to get it all rebuilt can be as little as four days as long as we have the man power and the hours available. Don't get me wrong, those have led to some 18+ hour days here and there, but it's amazing how quickly you can get the entire thing built when you have the right foundations and infrastructure in place. 

[-kj]

It's hilarious to me that Slater posted that to make it look like nothing has been happening at the site.

 

3 hours ago, Digby said:

MLS clubs already struggle with lack of depth and schedule congestion, and the Concacaf (thank the lord I don't have to all-caps that anymore) league already takes care of international competition. From a sporting perspective, I don't think anything is added by making MLS clubs go through a second-tier Leagues Cup competition, or arbitrary one-offs against further leagues, or even all-star games against B-squads of elite squads.

 

 

MLS and LigaMX tried this before with SuperLiga.  It was dumb then and it's dumb now.

[Ferdinand Cesarano]

5 hours ago, Digby said:

5 hours ago, mr.negative15 said:

I'd be very interested to see and MLS/English Championship tournament as well. Even a 1-game champion vs champion game could be fun. 

 

 

Why, though? Why that and not Ligue 2 or the Eriedivisie or anything else?

 

England holds a special place in the minds of American soccer fans (including this one).  Even many fans within that goofball sector of MLS fans which denounces "Eurosnobs" had their introduction to the game by means of English teams.

 

 

3 hours ago, MJWalker45 said:

5 hours ago, Ferdinand Cesarano said:

What would be a lot more interesting in terms of finding MLS's level relative to a comparable league would be a tournament matching MLS teams and teams from the English Championship. It's a pity that such an arrangement would be logistically impossible, owing mainly to distance.

 

 

I think the only reason MLS won't do this is because it doesn't involve the top teams in England. It's pretty easy to build in a couple mini-tournaments in July/August of 2 or 3 games in multiple places to see where MLS is, but even if the MLS teams ran the Championship squads off the pitch, they'd hear, "Well it ain't the Prem, you should be beating them"!

 

Oh, I strongly doubt that that would be the reaction.  The quality in MLS has skyrocketed in the past decade; but no one claims that the league is on par with the Premier League (which is what someone who says that MLS teams "should" beat Championship clubs would in effect be saying).  Still, the level in MLS is most likely similar to that of any European top flight outside the big four leagues (England, Germany, Spain, Italy).  And the same can be said about the Championship.  For that reason, a competition between teams from these similarly-situated leagues would be most interesting to me.  To have evidence of MLS's parity with the Championship would be a point of pride.  And, if it turned out that MLS teams could not hang with Championship clubs, well, that would be motivation for the league to continue to improve (for example, by increasing player salaries).

 

 

3 hours ago, MJWalker45 said:

Mexican soccer fans have literally thrown multiple types of fluids at the national team and fans.

 

That is definitely true.  As a fan of club football only and one who detests nationalism, I can only say that this sort of awful behaviour is a natural outgrowth of competitions between national teams.  And it is by no means restricted to the U.S. and Mexico; whenever England play Gemany or whenever Germany play Poland, there is a sense of normalisation of comments that would otherwise be considered to be bigoted.  When Chelsea fans and Man United fans and Liverpool fans insult one another, that is banter.  But transposed to the context of national teams, this practice becomes highly problematic: when an England fan categorically denounces Germany fans, this constitutes an expression of ethnic hatred.  And likewise when a U.S. fan categorically denounces Mexico fans.  

And then there is the very real risk of violence, as you have alluded to with the throwing of bags of urine by Mexico fans.  In plenty of instances, games between national teams have been halted due to violence, or as a precaution due to rising tensions.  While violence sometimes occurs between fans of club teams (River vs. Boca being a prime example), one cannot honestly ignore the inherent connection between the phenomenon of ethnically-motivated violence and the ugly passions of nationalism that necessarily underlie the support of a national team.

The only remedy to this terrible trend (apart from abandoning national teams, which I would love to see, but which I know ain't happening) is to sow goodwill, as Donovan tried to do in his commercial.

[FiddySicks]

Oh, sweet. Congrats St. Louis. 

 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cbssports.com/soccer/news/mls-set-to-award-expansion-franchise-to-st-louis-announcement-may-come-next-week-per-report/amp/

 

 

I hate this :censored:ing league more every day. 

 

[DG_ThenNowForever]

This Campeones Cup is really fun!

[Digby]

3 minutes ago, DG_Now said:

This Campeones Cup is really fun!

 

I was talking all this about interleague tournaments this morning not even knowing this was a thing until I accidentally found it. It is a good match though! Herrera just got yellow carded!

[DG_ThenNowForever]

7 minutes ago, Digby said:

 

I was talking all this about interleague tournaments this morning not even knowing this was a thing until I accidentally found it. It is a good match though! Herrera just got yellow carded!

 

Yeah, pretty nuts. ATL is up, even with a blocked PK in the first half. It might not be the best for their regular season goals, but good on United for playing Pity and Josef Martinez.

[dfwabel]

I forgot that Club America has players in the most unstable numbers as Israel García Barreda entered wearing #187

[DG_ThenNowForever]

MLS is better than Liga MX! It's official!

 

Way to go Atlanta! Really fun game, and awesome showing for the Campeones Cup.

[AstroCree]

28 minutes ago, DG_Now said:

This Campeones Cup is really fun!

I forgot this was a thing until just now. Last year it got advertised but I didn't see anything this time. 

[Red Wolf]

14 minutes ago, DG_Now said:

MLS is better than Liga MX! It's official!

 

Way to go Atlanta! Really fun game, and awesome showing for the Campeones Cup.

 

We did it, guys! Wish I'd watched that instead of another uninspired SKC performance.

[alxy8s]

VAMOS VAMOS VAMOS ATL!

 

Been dreading a 3-0 embarrassment in front of a huge America crowd since the match was set and am thus extremely, extremely happy. They didn't bunker and wait for a fluke goal, so this feels very good. Either they're completely ignoring de Boer or he gave in on tactics. Pity has improved very rapidly, Barco's back, and this team is looking much more like their old form. Open Cup in 2 weeks!

[Dilbert]

10 hours ago, Bucfan56 said:

We've had more than one occasion where we have had to completely deconstruct our park (We're located a state-run facility which holds the yearly CA State Fair, and even though we're very high on the totem pole for the venue, the state of California still ultimately takes main priority). Our turnaround to get it all rebuilt can be as little as four days as long as we have the man power and the hours available. Don't get me wrong, those have led to some 18+ hour days here and there, but it's amazing how quickly you can get the entire thing built when you have the right foundations and infrastructure in place. 

What are your guys locker room facilities like? its gotta be better than what Bethlehem did when they hosted Nashville this season right?

 

[FiddySicks]

Portables. Similar to what you would see used as classrooms at schools, but custom built specifically as locker space. They’re nice enough. Everybody is about ready to move on by this point, though. 

[BC985]

Now that St. Louis is getting a MLS team, what are the rules about changing their logo? Does the USL have rights to it? I know Nashville is changing theirs, and I can’t remember what Cincinnati did. Would be a shame because I like the current STLFC badge. 

[Red Wolf]

10 minutes ago, Brandon9485 said:

Now that St. Louis is getting a MLS team, what are the rules about changing their logo? Does the USL have rights to it? I know Nashville is changing theirs, and I can’t remember what Cincinnati did. Would be a shame because I like the current STLFC badge. 

 

Cincinnati changed. Off the top of my head, Portland, Seattle, Vancouver, and Orlando also changed, so I fully expect a new logo.