North American Pro Soccer 2023

[DG_ThenNowForever]

5 minutes ago, gosioux76 said:

 

Living in St. Louis, it's been really fun to follow this team. Super exciting for the city.

 

But part of me worries a bit about what it might say about the league that a new team can come in with a European-seasoned sporting director who has apparently unlocked the formula for success in MLS. Just as it seemed as if the MLS as a whole was upping its game, St. Louis comes in and makes it look subpar again.

 

This is just me thinking out loud. I'm sure things will even out to some degree as the season goes on. 

 

I haven't watched a ton of St Louis CITY games, but what I understand is that they've had some incredibly lucky bounces that they've capitalized on nearly 100 percent.

 

On the one hand, maybe they've been incredibly lucky.

 

On the other, you create your own luck in soccer and they've also punched in those lucky bounces. That's skill in itself.

 

St Louis being good is good for the league. We need new franchises to be exciting. 5-0-0 is the dream scenario, obviously.

[gosioux76]

6 minutes ago, MJWalker45 said:

I think the loss of revenue for not owning the stadium could be offset by not having to pay for upkeep, but if they  do need to build their own stadium this is a better option than what other teams have and are using now. 

 

I agree that, as a starting point until a franchise were to build its own venue, that Snapdragon offers a better situation than what most expansion markets might offer, at least in terms of a viable stopgap.

 

But I'm afraid not having to pay for upkeep isn't much of a tradeoff for having to pay rent and not reaping the revenue of a facility. 

[gosioux76]

11 minutes ago, DG_ThenNowForever said:

 

I haven't watched a ton of St Louis CITY games, but what I understand is that they've had some incredibly lucky bounces that they've capitalized on nearly 100 percent.

 

On the one hand, maybe they've been incredibly lucky.

 

On the other, you create your own luck in soccer and they've also punched in those lucky bounces. That's skill in itself.

 

St Louis being good is good for the league. We need new franchises to be exciting. 5-0-0 is the dream scenario, obviously.

 

I think that narrative of St. Louis being lucky was logical after their first couple of games where they did, indeed, get a few lucky bounces. But a 4-0 drubbing of RSL on the road -- a match in which RSL seemed outmatched from the opening kickoff -- will likely push the "lucky bounces" qualifiers out of the discussion.

 

And on that point, the claims that the team has been lucky were predicated largely on how St. Louis was gifted some terrible backpasses in front of goal. By my count, though, that's happened to them three times in 5 games. For a team that plays a pressing style, at some point you have to consider that luck has nothing to do with it. 

[Dilbert]

When it comes to rivals for Cincinnati in the USL we had Pittsburgh, Indy, Louisville, and Saint Louis. Although they werent in the USL yet, Detroit was also kind of a rival because of an Open Cup match. When Cincinnati moved up to MLS, Columbus became our regional rival. Chicago and New York Red Bulls became rivals because of the Open Cup (somehow Minnesota didnt stick). Charlotte isnt really a rival. Its been forced upon us because of the whole Queen City thing. As much as I would like St Louis City to become a rival, i dont think it will stick with St Louis being in the western conference. If we would play them every year then maybe it could stick.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

2 hours ago, gosioux76 said:

And on that point, the claims that the team has been lucky were predicated largely on how St. Louis was gifted some terrible backpasses in front of goal. By my count, though, that's happened to them three times in 5 games. For a team that plays a pressing style, at some point you have to consider that luck has nothing to do with it. 

 

Exactly. You don't get to be 5-0-0 solely because of luck. Eventually that luck is because you're creating it tactically.

 

If STL gets figured out, I don't know. But in the meantime, I'd rather my team have their record than the other way around.

[tBBP]

2 hours ago, GriffinM6 said:

Nashville is kind of in a weird spot in terms of having a true rival. Atlanta is only 4 hours away, but we already have a rivalry with Orlando, and Charlotte seems to be the number two now. Cincy is 4 hours from Nash too, but they obviously have an Ohio rivalry with Columbus. As mentioned earlier, it also doesn't help that they have bounced back and forth between conferences. Maybe a bitter playoff loss against some Northeast team will help cement a rivalry, but who knows?

 

This post just about sums up Nashville [the city/metro]for me in a nutshell: it keeps trying so hard to "make" itself happen, instead of just "letting" itself happen. (Kinda like how the powers that be kept trying to "make" Amy Schumer happen so many years back.) That was one of THE most annoying aspects I observed during my five-year sojourn there. And as for what @Dilbert and @Sport said about NSC's fans, I 100% believe it...and again, it gets back to trying to "make" something happen, instead of just letting it happen. (The killing thing is I bet probably only about four of those "fans" are actually native to Nashville or Tennessee...)

[Sport]

5 hours ago, Dilbert said:

Because Nashville has been bouncing between the Eastern and Western Conference, they dont really have an MLS rival. Nashville fans have been trying hard for it to be Cincinnati because of our past together in the USL, but a lot of Cincy fans want no part in having Nashville as a rival.  Its why Nashville supporters as well as the team itself were talking alot last week, but Cincy supporters and the team were very quiet.

 

Many of the supporters of other teams are constantly like, "Yall got three wooden spoons" and bringing up how bad we were in the past as if we are still bad today. We are a completely different team now and they all seem to be stuck in the past rather than the present.

 

I know it's like "I'm actually not mad. This is actually funny to me." but the "Cincinnati SUCKS wooden spoons!" t-shirt really doesn't bother me at all. The thing that bothered me was actually watching the three wooden spoon teams. Those guys paying for those shirts, wearing them, having them in their possession so they have to launder and store them is really just a joke on themselves. I'm not owned by you wearing a shirt that says Cincinnati Sucks because I'm not the one who has to live with that shirt. 

[DG_ThenNowForever]

Now you know I felt when Cincinnati was chanting :censored: SEATTLE against the Sounders a couple of weeks ago.

[Digby]

We've kind of evolved into a lot of natural primary-rival pairings, especially in the Eastern Conference. Especially with expansion seemingly West-focused, we'll have to start pairing Nashville and New England for Rivalry Week out of lack of better options for either. Start ginning up the fake grievances to get this one cookin'. 

[Rockstar Matt]

4 hours ago, DG_ThenNowForever said:

 

Exactly. You don't get to be 5-0-0 solely because of luck. Eventually that luck is because you're creating it tactically.

 

If STL gets figured out, I don't know. But in the meantime, I'd rather my team have their record than the other way around.

 

I don't think too much luck is involved in those easy giveaway goals STL has capitalized on, but more so it's an excellent example of how the MLS has generally poor defending across the league coupled with the opposite in that teams attacking ability is generally pretty good. Most teams in this league don't handle pressure along the back line well (it's something LAFC has done for years now to great affect). It's my sole big complaint with the MLS that the defending league wide isn't at the same quality as it's attacking play is.

 

I'm also in the boat that I want to see new expansion teams do well, namely because I want to see the league and the sport across the country as a whole do well. However, STL isn't doing anything crazy, they're just pressing teams really well and I think teams were/are not prepared for their quality in attack too. They seem to be an expansion team more along the lines of Atlanta FC and LAFC than the recent expansion teams which is great for the league. 

 

They have a stretch of games coming up which will tell us about their true quality, where they play Seattle at Lumen's and Cincy in back to back weeks. For what it's worth, 538's prediction model, and it's surprisingly accurate in terms of predicting the eventual champion (their SPI rating specifically), doesn't highly rate STL at this point in the season despite their stellar start and seems to suggest the team has been a little lucky or that their start isn't sustainable. 

 

I hope STL keeps it up because that part of the country has long been a soccer hotbed and have been arguably the best support/atmospheres for the NT's when they played there.

[Dilbert]

3 hours ago, DG_ThenNowForever said:

Now you know I felt when Cincinnati was chanting SEATTLE against the Sounders a couple of weeks ago.

Not really.  Cincy fans are laughing that some Nashville fans actually made the shirt.  We weren't hurt by the shirt or its message at all. Seattle however had a big tizzy when we told them to **** themselves.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

1 hour ago, Dilbert said:

Not really.  Cincy fans are laughing that some Nashville fans actually made the shirt.  We weren't hurt by the shirt or its message at all. Seattle however had a big tizzy when we told them to **** themselves.

 

I mean, it's kind of the same thing.

 

I'm a Seattle fan. I didn't have a "tizzy" Cincinnati was so aggro; I was confused. I'd imagine most Sounders fans were the same. 

 

Sounders fans hate Portland and the LA teams. Sometimes Vancouver and Dallas. And maybe Toronto.

 

But Cincinnati? 

[Dilbert]

2 hours ago, DG_ThenNowForever said:

Sounders fans hate Portland and the LA teams. Sometimes Vancouver and Dallas. And maybe Toronto.

 

But Cincinnati? 

Ive been told all MLS fanbases hate Seattle.

[MJWalker45]

https://theathletic.com/4356081/2023/03/28/borussia-dortmund-us-tst/

Dortmund is joining the TST now.

 

All TST teams announced:
Borussia Dortmund
Wolves
Wrexham
Club Nexaca
US Women: a team of former US women’s national team players headed by Heather O’Reilly
Team Dempsey: run by former Tottenham and Fulham attacker Clint Dempsey
Hashtag United: a popular eSports team and football club with a large online following
ZALA FFF: stacked with former MLS players including A. J. DeLaGarza, Lee Nguyen and Mikey Ambrose
Conrad & Beasley United: led by Jimmy Conrad and ex-Rangers man DaMarcus Beasley
Nati SC: a team of former FC Cincinnati players including former Jamaican International Omar Cummings
Gracie FC: led by Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt under Renzo Gracie
Newtown Pride: a successful US amateur team
Villita FC: a team managed by indoors football side San Diego Sockers head coach Phil Salvagio

[4_tattoos]

2 hours ago, MJWalker45 said:

https://theathletic.com/4356081/2023/03/28/borussia-dortmund-us-tst/

Dortmund is joining the TST now.

 

All TST teams announced:
Borussia Dortmund
Wolves
Wrexham
Club Nexaca
US Women: a team of former US women’s national team players headed by Heather O’Reilly
Team Dempsey: run by former Tottenham and Fulham attacker Clint Dempsey
Hashtag United: a popular eSports team and football club with a large online following
ZALA FFF: stacked with former MLS players including A. J. DeLaGarza, Lee Nguyen and Mikey Ambrose
Conrad & Beasley United: led by Jimmy Conrad and ex-Rangers man DaMarcus Beasley
Nati SC: a team of former FC Cincinnati players including former Jamaican International Omar Cummings
Gracie FC: led by Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt under Renzo Gracie
Newtown Pride: a successful US amateur team
Villita FC: a team managed by indoors football side San Diego Sockers head coach Phil Salvagio

 

Plus Charlotte FC from MLS and several other teams with less fanfare

Soccer Teams Archive - TBT & TST (thetournament.com)

 

[TrueYankee26]

1 hour ago, 4_tattoos said:

 

Plus Charlotte FC from MLS and several other teams with less fanfare

Soccer Teams Archive - TBT & TST (thetournament.com)

 

Team Dempsey's star/ball/Texas flag logo looks clever

[tp49]

Looks like Sacramento Republic's owner is buying Huddersfield Town in the EFL Championship.  My first thought was I didn't think he had the financial ability to do that.  Then my second thought was if you can't get your act together here I guess that's what you do.  I think at this point if there was even a glint of hope that Sacramento would successfully get into MLS this ends that discussion.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

It's a big sports (and sports entertainment) weekend, but this STL/MINN  game is excellent.

[Dilbert]

St Louis suffers their first defeat of the season at the hands of Minnesota. Minnesota, LAFC and Cincinnati remain unbeaten. With Cincinnatis win tonight, they are now in first place in the Eastern Conference, for the first time in MLS, and are one point behind St Louis in the Supporters Shield standings.

[MJWalker45]

https://www.espn.com/soccer/nwsl/story/4915904/uswnters-part-of-bay-area-nwsl-expansion-team-owners-group

NWSL approves the Bay Area for the 2024 season. Do we see the Cyber Rays come back or do they create a new identity?