Domestic Soccer 2009-10

[Brian in Boston]

I don't mean to threadjack here, but as someone who just started following the game (the EPL, not MLS) in earnest, I wanted to ask those CCSLC'ers who are soccer fans (i.e., those in this thread) a question: could indoor soccer rebound (pardon the pun) in popularity here in North America, and if so, what do you think it would take to do it?

I got hooked on the indoor game back when I was a kid, thanks to living essentially right between the Pittsburgh Spirit and Cleveland Force. The old Major Indoor Soccer League is long dead, having been replaced by not one but two versions attempting to restore its former popularity to no avail (MISL III is little more than a glorified regional league as I see it), and the PASL on the west coast is essentially the same.

Has the concept of a continent-wide league in the indoor game died? Can it ever be possible for the indoor game to return to popularity, putting 10,000 butts in the seats, etc., or is that gone for good? And if it can be brought back to the levels it had in the 1980's, what do you think it would take for that to be achieved?

Professional indoor soccer is in its death throes. The only things keeping even a handful of franchises that approximate professional status afloat are the nostalgia of a shrinking old-school fan-base, the desire of certain mid-tier arena operators to line-up tenants for their buildings and the need of certain local business-people to stroke their own egos by laying claim to owning a "pro sports team".

Bottom line? Indoor soccer is a niche sport of a niche sport in North America. As such, the numbers just don't add-up for it being a commercially viable venture - certainly not on a continent-wide scale. Maybe - MAYBE - a few middling circuits can make a go of it as regional leagues playing at a glorified semi-pro level. However, the chances that it will "rebound in popularity here in North America" are slim and none... and slim just left the building.

[BrySmalls]

Commissioner Garber wants the 20th club to be based in NYC for 2013.

I call bull that MLS will stay at 20 clubs in the future.

[jkrdevil]

A second NY team? Don't the Red Bulls need more support before think about putting a second team in?

[Corvus]

Vancouver draws well, Toronto draws extremely well and I'm sure the Impact will draw very well.

I look at this on the bigger scale, major cities around Canada will look to Vancouver, T.O and Montreal and see how well the sport is there, granted those three cities have possibly some of the biggest multicultural communities not just in North America but whole world but still wake up Calgary, Winnipeg, Quebec, Halifax make this sport crazy in Canada.

Hopefully this will encourage the CSA to get the national team better and better no more excuses, I think it will be a slap in the face to all the players and supporters if Canada can't qualify for Brazil in 2014.

Isn't the CSA basically run by a revolving group of idiots? My main hope with three Canadian MLS teams is that you're get more Canadian players able to play professionally and develop more, and I hope TFC and the Impact are or will create the same sort of academy system the Whitecaps have already established.

[NEW.ERA]

Vancouver draws well, Toronto draws extremely well and I'm sure the Impact will draw very well.

I look at this on the bigger scale, major cities around Canada will look to Vancouver, T.O and Montreal and see how well the sport is there, granted those three cities have possibly some of the biggest multicultural communities not just in North America but whole world but still wake up Calgary, Winnipeg, Quebec, Halifax make this sport crazy in Canada.

Hopefully this will encourage the CSA to get the national team better and better no more excuses, I think it will be a slap in the face to all the players and supporters if Canada can't qualify for Brazil in 2014.

Isn't the CSA basically run by a revolving group of idiots? My main hope with three Canadian MLS teams is that you're get more Canadian players able to play professionally and develop more, and I hope TFC and the Impact are or will create the same sort of academy system the Whitecaps have already established.

Owen Hargreaves is possibly the biggest example of somebody Canada developed then bails and goes to sit on the bench for England and Manchester United. He's a great player when healthy which isn't that often.

But I fully agree. Hockey will always be number one but we need another team sport we can be proud of and that can represent our country on the world stage.

[rams80]

Vancouver draws well, Toronto draws extremely well and I'm sure the Impact will draw very well.

I look at this on the bigger scale, major cities around Canada will look to Vancouver, T.O and Montreal and see how well the sport is there, granted those three cities have possibly some of the biggest multicultural communities not just in North America but whole world but still wake up Calgary, Winnipeg, Quebec, Halifax make this sport crazy in Canada.

Hopefully this will encourage the CSA to get the national team better and better no more excuses, I think it will be a slap in the face to all the players and supporters if Canada can't qualify for Brazil in 2014.

Isn't the CSA basically run by a revolving group of idiots? My main hope with three Canadian MLS teams is that you're get more Canadian players able to play professionally and develop more, and I hope TFC and the Impact are or will create the same sort of academy system the Whitecaps have already established.

Owen Hargreaves is possibly the biggest example of somebody Canada developed then bails and goes to sit on the bench for England and Manchester United. He's a great player when healthy which isn't that often.

But I fully agree. Hockey will always be number one but we need another team sport we can be proud of and that can represent our country on the world stage.

Lacrosse?

[Breakwood]

Vancouver draws well, Toronto draws extremely well and I'm sure the Impact will draw very well.

I look at this on the bigger scale, major cities around Canada will look to Vancouver, T.O and Montreal and see how well the sport is there, granted those three cities have possibly some of the biggest multicultural communities not just in North America but whole world but still wake up Calgary, Winnipeg, Quebec, Halifax make this sport crazy in Canada.

Hopefully this will encourage the CSA to get the national team better and better no more excuses, I think it will be a slap in the face to all the players and supporters if Canada can't qualify for Brazil in 2014.

Isn't the CSA basically run by a revolving group of idiots? My main hope with three Canadian MLS teams is that you're get more Canadian players able to play professionally and develop more, and I hope TFC and the Impact are or will create the same sort of academy system the Whitecaps have already established.

Owen Hargreaves is possibly the biggest example of somebody Canada developed then bails and goes to sit on the bench for England and Manchester United. He's a great player when healthy which isn't that often.

But I fully agree. Hockey will always be number one but we need another team sport we can be proud of and that can represent our country on the world stage.

Lacrosse?

We already have 2 national teams in that

[NEW.ERA]

Vancouver draws well, Toronto draws extremely well and I'm sure the Impact will draw very well.

I look at this on the bigger scale, major cities around Canada will look to Vancouver, T.O and Montreal and see how well the sport is there, granted those three cities have possibly some of the biggest multicultural communities not just in North America but whole world but still wake up Calgary, Winnipeg, Quebec, Halifax make this sport crazy in Canada.

Hopefully this will encourage the CSA to get the national team better and better no more excuses, I think it will be a slap in the face to all the players and supporters if Canada can't qualify for Brazil in 2014.

Isn't the CSA basically run by a revolving group of idiots? My main hope with three Canadian MLS teams is that you're get more Canadian players able to play professionally and develop more, and I hope TFC and the Impact are or will create the same sort of academy system the Whitecaps have already established.

Owen Hargreaves is possibly the biggest example of somebody Canada developed then bails and goes to sit on the bench for England and Manchester United. He's a great player when healthy which isn't that often.

But I fully agree. Hockey will always be number one but we need another team sport we can be proud of and that can represent our country on the world stage.

Lacrosse?

We already have 2 national teams in that

Ahh yes the Iroquois Nation. Depending on the Lacrosse - Box yes, Field no.

[Breakwood]

Vancouver draws well, Toronto draws extremely well and I'm sure the Impact will draw very well.

I look at this on the bigger scale, major cities around Canada will look to Vancouver, T.O and Montreal and see how well the sport is there, granted those three cities have possibly some of the biggest multicultural communities not just in North America but whole world but still wake up Calgary, Winnipeg, Quebec, Halifax make this sport crazy in Canada.

Hopefully this will encourage the CSA to get the national team better and better no more excuses, I think it will be a slap in the face to all the players and supporters if Canada can't qualify for Brazil in 2014.

Isn't the CSA basically run by a revolving group of idiots? My main hope with three Canadian MLS teams is that you're get more Canadian players able to play professionally and develop more, and I hope TFC and the Impact are or will create the same sort of academy system the Whitecaps have already established.

Owen Hargreaves is possibly the biggest example of somebody Canada developed then bails and goes to sit on the bench for England and Manchester United. He's a great player when healthy which isn't that often.

But I fully agree. Hockey will always be number one but we need another team sport we can be proud of and that can represent our country on the world stage.

Lacrosse?

We already have 2 national teams in that

Ahh yes the Iroquois Nation. Depending on the Lacrosse - Box yes, Field no.

I'm fairly certain the Iroquois Nationals play in the Field Lacrosse World Championships as well.

Back to soccer. Toronto dismantled Chicago today 4-1. Chad Barrett scored twice, and O'Brien White had a goal and an assist in 45 minutes. Now to travel to Montreal on Wednesday for the best road trip of the year.

[Don]

Vancouver draws well, Toronto draws extremely well and I'm sure the Impact will draw very well.

I look at this on the bigger scale, major cities around Canada will look to Vancouver, T.O and Montreal and see how well the sport is there, granted those three cities have possibly some of the biggest multicultural communities not just in North America but whole world but still wake up Calgary, Winnipeg, Quebec, Halifax make this sport crazy in Canada.

Hopefully this will encourage the CSA to get the national team better and better no more excuses, I think it will be a slap in the face to all the players and supporters if Canada can't qualify for Brazil in 2014.

Isn't the CSA basically run by a revolving group of idiots? My main hope with three Canadian MLS teams is that you're get more Canadian players able to play professionally and develop more, and I hope TFC and the Impact are or will create the same sort of academy system the Whitecaps have already established.

Owen Hargreaves is possibly the biggest example of somebody Canada developed then bails and goes to sit on the bench for England and Manchester United. He's a great player when healthy which isn't that often.

But I fully agree. Hockey will always be number one but we need another team sport we can be proud of and that can represent our country on the world stage.

Lacrosse?

We already have 2 national teams in that

Ahh yes the Iroquois Nation. Depending on the Lacrosse - Box yes, Field no.

I'm fairly certain the Iroquois Nationals play in the Field Lacrosse World Championships as well.

Back to soccer. Toronto dismantled Chicago today 4-1. Chad Barrett scored twice, and O'Brien White had a goal and an assist in 45 minutes. Now to travel to Montreal on Wednesday for the best road trip of the year.

And a pretty damn awesome wind aided goal by Nick LaBrocca.

[TFoA]

The following people scored today for the Galaxy in their road game against the Sounders:

Jovan Kirovski

Todd Dunivant

Omar Gonzalez

Landon Donovan

The following people scored for Seattle:

Nobody.

The Galaxy finally have people other than Buddle scoring goals, and they've still only allowed 2 goals all season, which means that LA has entered into "scary-good" territory. Looks like they're gonna be right back in the race for the Shield & MLS Cup as well. This is an incredibly nice start.

Also extremely impressed at the fact that they went into Qwest Field and stomped the Sounders, which rarely ever happens to them in Seattle. That was, in fact, the worst home loss that they've had in their short existence.

[crashcarson15]

Onalfo's seat is RED HOT right now. If there's one organization & fanbase in the MLS that doesn't tolerate losing, it's DC United's. He's probably on borrowed time right now, they can't be pleased with an 0-4-0 start.

Buddle has been red hot too, but in a good way. Those 7 goals have also been all the goals that LA Galaxy have scored. I had a feeling that if Buddle had a healthy season this year then the Galaxy's offense would be MUCH better off (last year their finishing without Buddle was awful, & he had trouble coming off of that injury), but this is ridiculous. There's no way that this continues, but it's great to see that Donovan's gonna have a great striker to push it forward to. Last year it was either Donovan making a break or Beckham pulling a Beckham from a free kick, now they know that they've got Buddle up top finishing things. This could be a very good year for the G's.

The Red Bulls are impressive. They really did a great job of quickly flipping things around up there, huh? I kinda figured from the Santos game that this was going to be a completely different Red Bulls team compared to the debacle that was last year's squad. Idk if they're gonna pull off the worst-to-first, but they're gonna be way better than they were last season, that's for sure.

Also, Grant Wahl said it best about the Colorado-Toronto game today: Toronto on 2 days rest at Colorado is about as sure of a bet in Colorado's favor as you can get.

Found this while rolling around the net:

Are you a Real Madrid Fan?

-Yes

Do you know what the Real means?

-Yes

Los Angeles Galaxy

That or all the FC Dallas stuff is great.

[Lee.]

I don't mean to threadjack here, but as someone who just started following the game (the EPL, not MLS) in earnest, I wanted to ask those CCSLC'ers who are soccer fans (i.e., those in this thread) a question: could indoor soccer rebound (pardon the pun) in popularity here in North America, and if so, what do you think it would take to do it?

I got hooked on the indoor game back when I was a kid, thanks to living essentially right between the Pittsburgh Spirit and Cleveland Force. The old Major Indoor Soccer League is long dead, having been replaced by not one but two versions attempting to restore its former popularity to no avail (MISL III is little more than a glorified regional league as I see it), and the PASL on the west coast is essentially the same.

Has the concept of a continent-wide league in the indoor game died? Can it ever be possible for the indoor game to return to popularity, putting 10,000 butts in the seats, etc., or is that gone for good? And if it can be brought back to the levels it had in the 1980's, what do you think it would take for that to be achieved?

Coming soon to Raleigh-Durham: Temple of Indoor Pro Soccer.

[Jimmy!]

The following people scored today for the Galaxy in their road game against the Sounders:

Jovan Kirovski

Todd Dunivant

Omar Gonzalez

Landon Donovan

The following people scored for Seattle:

Nobody.

The Galaxy finally have people other than Buddle scoring goals, and they've still only allowed 2 goals all season, which means that LA has entered into "scary-good" territory. Looks like they're gonna be right back in the race for the Shield & MLS Cup as well. This is an incredibly nice start.

Also extremely impressed at the fact that they went into Qwest Field and stomped the Sounders, which rarely ever happens to them in Seattle. That was, in fact, the worst home loss that they've had in their short existence.

Thanks for the recap, bub. For my first MLS game, I was hoping for a better outcome. But, except for the horrible loss, everything about the experience was awesome. Can't wait to go again.

[BrySmalls]

France's Thierry Henry will join Red Bull New York after the World Cup.

[NEW.ERA]

France's Thierry Henry will join Red Bull New York after the World Cup.

Sorry Red Bull supporters The Hand of Gaul himself denies it.

[TFoA]

The MLS represented themselves well in international friendlies yesterday, as the LA Galaxy defeated Boca Juniors (who didn't bring ANY of their stars) 1-0, & the Red Bulls beat Juventus (who DID bring their stars) 3-1. Even though the teams only played their first team for a half, Juventus fans are not pleased.

However, the Revs got railroaded by Portuguese champs Benfica's B-team by a score of 4-0. I listened to that game on the radio, it was over like 15 minutes before halftime.

[-kj]

What, Juve didn't this this game was important enough to pay off the refs?

[Don]

DCU beats AC Milan 3-2! I know Milan didnt care and trotted out a mostly reserve lineup, but DCU came out with a mostly reserve lineup in the 2nd half and lost Barklage to a knee injury so they played most of the 2nd half with 10 men and still pulled it out. Gutsy win by United.

[Breakwood]

Toronto FC has won the Voyageurs Cup for the 2nd year in a row, after Montreal and Vanouver drew 1-1 last night. That means Toronto FC has earned the Canadian spot in the Champions League.

Toronto FC is now going to play Motagua of Honduras.

Better start saving now