North American Pro Soccer 2019

[Wings 1,994]

I'm still going with Atlanta & Seattle for the MLS Cup. 

[DG_Now 10,311]

10 minutes ago, Wings said:

I'm still going with Atlanta & Seattle for the MLS Cup. 

 

I'm not saying anything until this game is over.

 

Clearly, I'm rooting for Galaxy tonight though.

 

[DG_Now 10,311]

I don't know...it seems like the keeper being engulfed in smoke is kind of a disadvantage.

 

Right before LAFC scored 2, it looked like Galaxy was in control. Nope.

[Bucfan56 8,833]

12 minutes ago, DG_Now said:

I don't know...it seems like the keeper being engulfed in smoke is kind of a disadvantage.

 

Right before LAFC scored 2, it looked like Galaxy was in control. Nope.

 

Yeah I can’t believe that’s allowed. 

 

Edit: Wow, this is an even better match than I expected. Galaxy is overmatched as all hell and is still fighting to the absolute death. This is just what MLS needs. 

 

Edit II: Good lord, never mind. Galaxy’s D is HORRIBLE. 

[DG_Now 10,311]

My hope tonight is for extra time. It's really fun watching these two teams and I want as much of it as possible.

 

EDIT: LOL 5-3. I should shut my dumb mouth.

[Wings 1,994]

I love the single elimination format. Teams go all out. Do or die. 

[Rockstar Matt 1,208]

EFFING FINALLY!

[DG_Now 10,311]

Galaxy needed to be perfect and they weren't.
Shame.

 

Seattle's going to get its head stomped in

 

[Wings 1,994]

I'm happy for LAFC overcoming the Galaxy but I'm going to have to root for my Cascadia brother against them. 

[Bucfan56 8,833]

6 minutes ago, DG_Now said:

Galaxy needed to be perfect and they weren't.
Shame.

 

Seattle's going to get its head stomped in

 

 

Yeah, as much as I’d love to see my soon to be former favorite MLS steam pull it off, I just don’t see any way it happens. That LAFC counter is just unbelievable. 

[Rockstar Matt 1,208]

Not to down play the fact that LAFC won it’s first playoff game in club history, but I’m beyond thrilled to finally vanquish the Galaxy. 

 

The Galaxy were our boogeyman and Zlatan was LAFC’s daddy. No more. 

[DG_Now 10,311]

It likely wouldn't make a difference in the end, but LAFC's second goal was clearly offside. And they've got to do something about the smoke.

[Red Wolf 4,253]

13 hours ago, Wings said:

I love the single elimination format. Teams go all out. Do or die. 

 

It almost feels wrong to do it this way, since leagues (at least the ones people are familiar with) don't usually use single elimination playoffs to determine a champion. At the same time, the World Cup does it, so everybody else can suck it.

[Bucfan56 8,833]

So apparently Zlatan grabbed his nuts and made a few obscene comments to LAFC fans as he left the field last night. I say this with not even an ounce of sarcasm. Zlatan is an absolute gift to America, and I thank him every day for coming over here and gracing us with his godlike presence. Please stay, Zlatan, we're lost without you. 

[McCarthy 11,085]

35 minutes ago, Red Wolf said:

 

It almost feels wrong to do it this way, since leagues (at least the ones people are familiar with) don't usually use single elimination playoffs to determine a champion. At the same time, the World Cup does it, so everybody else can suck it.

I love it. I think MLS should put a lot of emphasis on Supporter's Shield, which is the true best team. I'm talking big bonuses to players, coverage of the race on TV and online, trophy presentations on a stage on the field. Make it a big deal. Then, hold the end of the year single elimination tournament to crown the season's champion. Then the rest of us need to get conditioned to understand that the best team and champion don't have to be, and often aren't, the same team. 

[DG_Now 10,311]

27 minutes ago, McCarthy said:

I love it. I think MLS should put a lot of emphasis on Supporter's Shield, which is the true best team. I'm talking big bonuses to players, coverage of the race on TV and online, trophy presentations on a stage on the field. Make it a big deal. Then, hold the end of the year single elimination tournament to crown the season's champion. Then the rest of us need to get conditioned to understand that the best team and champion don't have to be, and often aren't, the same team. 

 

In European soccer, the top of the table is the champion, and the Champions League is the true champion. We're not set up for that here.

 

The NHL has the President's Trophy and the Stanley Cup. The MLS has the exact same setup. So long as you have a tournament at the end, the winner of the regular season will always be seen as runner-up to the winner of the playoff tournament. It's a quirk of American sports that won't -- and shouldn't -- go away.

 

I think Supporters Shield could stand to be rebranded; I didn't realize it was the points leader until like 2012.

 

But that conditioning part is really, really difficult. We just need more emphasis on the end-of-season points champion, as you said.

[Mockba 1,862]

15 hours ago, Wings said:

I'm still going with Atlanta & Seattle for the MLS Cup. 

 

Can the planet survive a smug cloud of that size forming?

[Maroon 342]

32 minutes ago, McCarthy said:

I love it. I think MLS should put a lot of emphasis on Supporter's Shield, which is the true best team. I'm talking big bonuses to players, coverage of the race on TV and online, trophy presentations on a stage on the field. Make it a big deal. Then, hold the end of the year single elimination tournament to crown the season's champion. Then the rest of us need to get conditioned to understand that the best team and champion don't have to be, and often aren't, the same team. 

 

This is a really, really good post that I agree with.

 

I also think it's really, really unlikely that Americans will ever care about a team accomplishing anything other than a championship, regardless of whichever team is the "best."

[SFGiants58 9,421]

41 minutes ago, McCarthy said:

I love it. I think MLS should put a lot of emphasis on Supporter's Shield, which is the true best team. I'm talking big bonuses to players, coverage of the race on TV and online, trophy presentations on a stage on the field. Make it a big deal. Then, hold the end of the year single elimination tournament to crown the season's champion. Then the rest of us need to get conditioned to understand that the best team and champion don't have to be, and often aren't, the same team. 

I say scrap the Supporter’s Shield. This year’s Stanley Cup Playoffs is a perfect example for why the “best team” shouldn’t be champion. If they’re truly the best, prove it in the playoffs. Otherwise, you’re left hanging a useless banner and have the bitter taste of not winning when it mattered.

 

The 2006-07 Sharks weren’t the “best team.” The 73-win Warriors weren’t the “best team.” This year’s Lightning squad wasn’t the “best team.”

[Digby 3,362]

The other thing is, to my knowledge, most if not all the leagues where the table-toppers are the "true champion" also play a balanced schedule. Obviously that's not the case in MLS, where you don't even play the same fixture list as other teams in your conference, let alone the other one (and the unbalancedness is probably only going to get more prominent in the next couple years with expansion). So that's a confounding variable in the usual single-table-no-playoffs standard.