North American Pro Soccer 2021

[Jer15]

8 hours ago, GDAWG said:

 

If I wasn't watching MLS, I would not have known he was still playing.  Interesting to see where he goes.  

In fairness to you. He barely was playing. Injuries and being away from the team this year kept him off the field more often than not recently. 

[MJWalker45]

8 hours ago, GDAWG said:

 

If I wasn't watching MLS, I would not have known he was still playing.  Interesting to see where he goes.  

Well he wasn't playing too much this year, so no one else would have noticed. 

13 hours ago, Dilbert said:

Detroit City end their NISA run as they prepare to move to the highly more credible USL Championship. Their final game was at their NISA rival Michigan Stars. While Detroit easily won and outdrew fans of the home Stars. It was the Stars joke of an owner (one of the many jokes of NISA) who once again made headlines as he has done several times before.  As Detroit City supporters were exiting the gates, the Stars owner George Juncaj waited at the gate trying to start a fight against several supporters. His wife Shelley apparently knocked a phone out of a supporters hands trying to film the altercation.

 

Detroit City may not be the only club defecting from NISA for the USL. Rumors are going around that Chicago House will also be moving up.

If these were the type of people I was forced to play all the time, I'd leave too.  That league is a joke and the USSF would do well to pull their license, but they won't. 

On 11/18/2021 at 8:10 PM, Brian in Boston said:

LAFC and Bob Bradley have "mutually agreed to part ways".

I know Bob's probably going to end up with TFC, but I'd love for him to get another shot overseas. Swansea was a mess before, during and after his time there and not even getting to a first transfer window to build a team how you'd like to is an injustice. 

[Brian in Boston]

Rumors are circulating that LAFC is reportedly high on Argentine manager Antonio Mohamed  to replace Bob Bradley.

Mohamed's a journeyman (13 clubs in 13 years, including three separate tours of duty with Huracán and two stints at Monterrey), who has managed in Mexico, his native Argentina, and Spain (fired after just 12 matches at Celta Vigo in 2018). He won the 2019 Copa Sudamericana with Independente, led Monterrey to a third place finish at the 2019 FIFA Club World Cup, and won three Liga MX Apertura titles with Xolos, Club América, and Monterrey.

Apparently, the other candidates under consideration are LAFC assistants Ante Razov and Kenny Arena, plus Steve Cherundolo, Landon Donovan, and Jason Kreis.    

[DG_ThenNowForever]

Congratulations Nashville for a big playoff win!

[DoctorWhom]

Salt Lake knocks Sounders out of the playoffs on PKs. 

First time since joining MLS Seattle didn't make it to the Semis.

 

Crazy upset by RSL. 

[DG_ThenNowForever]

I'm not even mad. Seattle made 100 MLS Finals in a row (or feels that way) and couldn't get one in after a 20-0 shots on goal advantage during the game.

 

Might be time to say goodbye to Nico Lodiero, Jordan Morris and Fredy Montero (again). Sounders ran out of gas this season and couldn't make it happen tonight.

 

There's always Champions League!

[MJWalker45]

7 hours ago, DG_ThenNowForever said:

Might be time to say goodbye to Nico Lodiero, Jordan Morris and Fredy Montero (again). Sounders ran out of gas this season and couldn't make it happen tonight.

Morris will be staying, he's missed a good portion with injuries this year, otherwise he'd be mentioned in the USMNT pool. Montero might stay because he's cheaper but I don't know that letting Lodeiro go helps unless there's a DP that fits his mold available. 

 

[DG_ThenNowForever]

37 minutes ago, MJWalker45 said:

Morris will be staying, he's missed a good portion with injuries this year, otherwise he'd be mentioned in the USMNT pool. Montero might stay because he's cheaper but I don't know that letting Lodeiro go helps unless there's a DP that fits his mold available. 

 

 

Lodeiro barely played this season and I can't remember anything that he did.

 

I love Lodeiro and his direct effect of creating two titles for me team... But he can't stay on the field and JP seems to have replaced him.

 

One possiblity is they get him off the DP slot. That would be okay.

[Jer15]

Well, to no one’s surprise, Bob Bradley is with TFC now. 
 

despite the 3 MLS cups  in 4 years thing; I’m sad to see Seattle knocked out in PKs (or knocked out at all). I actually like the Sounders a lot and I hate when a game is decided via a skill competition. 

[Brian in Boston]

Bob Bradley's hiring in Toronto is about as anticlimactic a coaching reveal as a team in MLS has ever managed.

 

[DG_ThenNowForever]

49 minutes ago, Jer15 said:

Well, to no one’s surprise, Bob Bradley is with TFC now. 
 

despite the 3 MLS cups  in 4 years thing; I’m sad to see Seattle knocked out in PKs (or knocked out at all). I actually like the Sounders a lot and I hate when a game is decided via a skill competition. 

 

PKs are the worst thing in the world, but the Sounders outshot RSL 20-0 on the night. Seattle deserved to lose once it went to PKs.

[-kj]

The US will play their next two home qualifiers in Columbus and St. Paul.  The prevailing rumor is that the game against Canada sandwiched between those will be in Hamilton, which is why the US is going with those sites.  When the schedule was first announced, I was convinced (and I wasn't alone) that Canada would have that game in Vancouver, so we'd see the US play their games on the west coast.

[Jer15]

Last I heard Vancouver is out of the running for the World Cup games in Canada so I think Canada will be avoiding that stadium for a while. 

[Digby]

Still think it sucks to give Ohio THREE qualifiers in one cycle, and that this current USMNT squad of injury-prone talents is flirting with disaster to play so many games that are likely to be below freezing the whole time. Good luck with all that.

[DoctorWhom]

I'd like to meet the person that had Portland & Salt Lake in the Conference Finals. LOL

 

And it is stupid as hell that the team with the longest layoff (Revs) are also going to be the last Semi game played. Arena was right when he said they mistakenly got a bye week (more like month). They should have been playing on Thursday or Saturday. I get today because of the Patriots. For a team as hot as the Revs, that's probably the worst thing that could have happened to them. 

[DG_ThenNowForever]

I'm happy for Bobby Wood at least.

 

I'm rooting for Nashville the rest of the way.

[Digby]

1 hour ago, DoctorWhom said:

I'd like to meet the person that had Portland & Salt Lake in the Conference Finals. LOL

 

And it is stupid as hell that the team with the longest layoff (Revs) are also going to be the last Semi game played. Arena was right when he said they mistakenly got a bye week (more like month). They should have been playing on Thursday or Saturday. I get today because of the Patriots. For a team as hot as the Revs, that's probably the worst thing that could have happened to them. 

I’d argue the Revs weren’t that hot at the end, they’d leave it late against meh opposition throughout October and then even losing to Miami on the last day. So between that and the time for Buksa to rehab his injury I’m wondering if the mega-layoff isn’t SO bad for the Revs, though broadly I still agree that the first-round bye mixed with an international break is a poorly thought out disadvantage for the top seeds (hello, Colorado!). We’re halfway to next season’s opener at this point, come on!

 

I’m also kinda down on this single-elimination format. This RSL emergence is a fun story and today’s ending was very fun and exciting, but also, nobody is going to call this run 210 minutes of particularly compelling soccer. 

[Dilbert]

Orange County SC captured their first USL Championship title with a 3-1 win over the Tampa Bay Rowdies.

 

Philadelphia Union survive PKs against Nashville SC and advance to the Eastern Conference finals.

[BrySmalls]

On 11/17/2021 at 1:03 PM, BryanSmalls said:

Fun MLS Cup 2022 Predictions:

 

Round One

West:

2) Seattle over 7) Real Salt Lake

3) Sporting Kansas City over 6) Vancouver

4) Portland over 5) Minnesota

East:

3) Nashville over 6) Orlando

5) Atlanta over 4) NYCFC

7) NY Red Bulls over 2) Philadelphia

 

Conference Semifinals
West:

1) Colorado over 4) Portland

2) Seattle over 3) Sporting Kansas City

 

East:

5) Atlanta over 1) New England

3) Nashville over 7) NY Red Bulls

 

Conference Finals

West:

2) Seattle over 1) Colorado

East:

3) Nashville over 5) Atlanta

 

MLS Cup Final

2) Seattle over 3) Nashville

These predictions didn't even make it past the Semifinals. Oh well, better luck next season.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

15 hours ago, Dilbert said:

Orange County SC captured their first USL Championship title with a 3-1 win over the Tampa Bay Rowdies.

 

Philadelphia Union survive PKs against Nashville SC and advance to the Eastern Conference finals.

 

"Survive" isn't really the right word -- they dominated PKs. Not a single score by Nashville!