They're playing a shite team though
Champions League quarters
- Thread starter rurikbird
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I know it's EUrope, I know it's away but Mourinho does love to put 9 men behind the ball ... As long as teams don't do it at Old Trafford, it's kosher I guess
As I type, great header from Anderlecht.
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Same deal in Canada here. No one cares about MLS or any homegrown or North American players. It's all Premier League and Real, Barca, June, Bayern, etc.
I've gotten into MLS over the last year with the rise of Toronto FC and Giovinco and even attended a match - but it generally doesn't register with the general public.
We're actually talking about different things – I said Yao popularized NBA in China, I didn't say he made the Chinese basketball league stronger. I agree with you that one doesn't follow from another. Personally, I don't care about MLS one bit, there is just too much wrong with that league for my taste to take it seriously and I don't recon a star player (who is NOT playing in that league, obviously) would change anything. However he could popularize "soccer" as a whole in the US and a European team with the first genuine American-born star will surely reap huge financial benefit.
I've been drumming up Dybala for eons. Way before his name was even mentioned in mainstream media and on these boards. But nobody listened to me. Sigh.
I remembered having to deal with names such as Bony and Kramaric being thrown about as better comparisons.
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To be honest, and I probably shouldn't admit this, but when the MLS started, I actually enjoyed watching Donadoni, Valderamma etc ... I'm sure Liverpool fans there enjoyed watching Stevie G etc
There should be a market for fans to speculate on the value of players. So you can buy stock in dybala, get dividends as a small % of his market value, and if he. Nevermind, it just occurred to me that I'd have lost all my money shorting Lucas for 15 years.
No, Stevie G was rather shit for the Galaxy. He was injured a lot and needed a babysitter to do the midfield work for him. Largely seen as a bust after a promising start with a nice goal on his debut. It made me a bit sad.
That's how the Neymar deal actually happened. Minus the Lucas bit (probably)
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Just curious as to why you think. It has its issues - quality of football is not that great, no great tactics and all that. For a nascent league, it is actually very decent. The atmosphere is also very very good in certain locations:
I think in general the US does sports well, with the salary caps and drafts. Maintains a semblance of fairness more than other countries. Given the market and the competition, I think the MLS is doing decently well.
It was horrible. The MLS is very athletic and physical and not sure why the Galaxy coach played Stevie in the midfield given he was on his last legs as a player. Whenever he was moved closer to the goal, he showed his class but he struggled otherwise.
While sitting in Hershey PA eating lunch before a quick round of golf, I can't agree more. This generation of young Americans are more open to soccer than their parents and the level of exposure to young players like Pulisic is light years ahead of when Donovan and Reyna were coming through. Kids know who he is and see all his highlights. My kid's team just played against a team of 12 year olds in complete BVB uniforms with Pulisic in the back. A bit over the top but you can bet that wasn't the coaches choice.
Do you live in Hershey PA? It is a very underrated place. I had a nice small vacation there four years ago with my friends and their families.
About 25 minutes south. Spend a fair amount of time here though. Lots of corporate outings at Hershey CC.
I used to live in Morgantown WV. So we lived close by at some point. Have driven along the I 81 corridor a number of times when I lived in Morgantown.
Agree. And th quality of play in MLS has definitely improved over the past several years. Quality players are beginning to stay in or join the league through the primes of their careers and, though there is still a long way to go, it is definitely a league on the rise. May not ever get to the level of the other main American sports but it's not a sideshow or completely off the map either.
That said, interest is still lagging compares to the interest in the major European leagues and the Champions League.
Quality of football is one thing - yeah, it's been improving lately, but I remember trying to watch one of Andrea Pirlo's games (probably my favorite player of all time) and feeling disappointed about how his teammates were so many levels below in terms of their understanding of the game and technique. Honestly I couldn't watch it because it just made me sad. Like watching an aging great singer backed up by a high school band who don't even realize how bad they are. Same with Gerrard at Galaxy - I don't think I've managed to watch a single full game while he was here.
Another thing is that I personally strongly dislike the whole closed league "franchise" system with teams moving from one city to another and salary caps and drafts - this all seems very artificial to me. Maybe European system is more chaotic and unequal, but it's the chaos and inequality that is reflective of history, of local mentality and has deep roots. There is a reason why a club like LFC has a certain working-class ethos, why Real Madrid is so entitled, why Italians' understanding of the game is very different from the Brits, why Celtic and Rangers or Roma vs Lazio derbies mean so much to their fans, why Germans always win and French only when they feel like it...
None of this depth is present in the MLS and I think it will not even be given a chance to develop in time because of this overbearing system that's designed to "equalize" everything. There is no identity, teams are interchangeable and don't stand for anything and represent anything other than entertainment. For me MLS is like a football version of a strip mall in American suburbia - efficient, uniform and boring. I think the only truly vibrant part of it is the Mexican and Latin American element - the clubs that have a large "Hispanic" fanbase do have better atmosphere and even some beginnings of an identity.
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I think in a decade or so, MLS will move away from being a retirement venue to attracting decent level talent. I don't think they will ever manage to pull a Suarez or Gerrard at the peak of their talent. But I can see them getting to the level of English Championship or some of the lesser European leagues soon.
The other two aspects of equalizing everything and franchise moving. I love the equalizing aspect. I love the salary caps and drafts. The more I understand US sports, I think the way they give everyone a chance is brilliant. We have to agree to disagree on that. Better than Madrid + Barca + Bayern winning 95% of the trophies.
I really don't like the franchise moving part. But that is not restricted to MLS alone. We have seen it happen in the NFL and NBA. I think that is the only aspect of US sports which I hate. But that shouldn't prevent the formation of identities and rivalries. Give it time and there will be a section of teams which will develop identities. NFL teams have moved but that has not prevented the Pittsburgh Steelers from having a working class identity and ethos. The Cubs, Lakers, Celtics, Spurs, Red Sox, Yankees - we have storied franchises with adequate rivalries too. Maybe not as rabid as the European ones.
I am not particularly a fan of the MLS but after moving to Oregon, I have been enjoying them more. The atmosphere here is great.
Atmosphere has never been a problem (and I bet it's very much aided by the many fans who've made their way to America from the RoW).
The league is what, 20 years old already? I just don't think it will push on if major things don't happen ... If you're a top top American footy talent at 14-16, do you go abroad or do you stay and develop with the league? That's also a big problem imo ...
As for your closing statement, I agree ... it is doing 'decent' but if you compare it to the money making leagues in the US, it's not doing great ... How is the WNBA doing comparatively? Younger league, but all the best players in the world.
MLS was practically bankrupt about a dozen years ago before new ownership groups came in and turned it around. Consider the league as though it were just ten years old - from that perspective I'd consider it a smashing success thus far.
WNBA was able to tap on to the existing NBA and basketball infrastructure in the US. I maybe wrong here but I think most WNBA teams have an NBA counterpart which helps them a lot in operations and management.
MLS and US soccer federation had a much harder task, growing the grassroots as well as selling a new game to a market where there is cut throat competition. Anyway, while the progress has been slow in MLS, I genuinely think it is going to reach a critical speed in a few years. I have lived away from the coasts quite a bit of my time in US and have friends there. Purely anecdotal but I have noticed a significant change in their attitudes towards "soccer" in this decade compared to previous. Previously for many of them, soccer was a peculiar past time. Now they have mini leagues all over the place, parents are serious about the sport.
It will never be close to big european leagues or NBA, NFL, MLB. But I think by the beginning of the next decade I can see the quality reaching slightly above Championship level or bettering some of the minor European leagues.
Real-Bayern absolutely breathless, end-to-end stuff. Somehow it's still 0:0 despite some good chances for both teams. Bayern started better, but Real have swung the momentum in their favor in the last 20 minutes. They had better chances on balance of play, but some desperate blocks and goal-line clearances are keeping Bayern alive.
Fucking brilliant game. Last gasp excellent defending for both sides
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