Steve Tasker
Footballguy
Donovan converts the penalty to make it 2-0....
/game
/game
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***Official Soccer Discussion Thread*** (4 Viewers)
- Thread starter jpeace121
- Start date
editor47
Footballguy
i really hate the MLS playoff setup. can you imagine the world series being a one game championship after going best of 7, then best of 5? its all about TV, of course.
frankly, the whole setup stinks. play the regular season for what? home-field advantage for potential OT in the first round? farce.
frankly, the whole setup stinks. play the regular season for what? home-field advantage for potential OT in the first round? farce.
andy_b
Footballguy
??Adu was continually dogged by team mates and coaches through out his years in MLS. I think it got so bad that Novak was ready to simply toss him off the team at one point. Just recently his Portuguese coach was quoted as saying ""sick of Adu's all night partying lifestyle."
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andy_b
Footballguy
LA in the finals is pretty good for the league. If Chicago can win tonight, a Becks vs Blanco story line could help move more tickets in Seattle. Supposedly they are going to open up more seats. I think the original plan was around 35k but they had already sold very close to that before LA made it.
kblitz
Footballguy
[hijack]for the interested which might be very few
It comes down to opportunity, germans don´t have to much access to fireweapons and Skyscraper aren´t that common, so over half of the suicides are by hanging. Followed by jumping, medication and then fourth by throwing oneself in front of a vehicle. Link to german statistics
Firearms, suffocation, and poison are by far the most common methods of suicide overall in the US.
US stats. Given the ammount of weapons circulation in the US, it is not very surprising.
Interestingly suffocation is 10th in the Germany but second in the US.[/hijack]
Senor Schmutzig
Footballguy
Bump for the USA-SVK friendly on right now - FSC.
0-0 10th minute
0-0 10th minute
SmoovySmoov
The Way of the Samurai
Got Man of the Match yesterday with 2 goals and an assist on the GW goal. 
scoobygang
Footballguy
Eddie Johnson sighting.
JMon348
Footballguy
Doubtful but is anyone watching the Egypt/Algeria match. This game is to qualify for the World Cup, Egypt has to win by 3 goals to advance, 2 goals to force a playoff Wednesday.
Egypt scored 2mins into the game, but nothing after and are up 1-0 at halftime. So if anyone wants to watch a highly intense game check out the second half on JustinTV. These countries hate each other and there was a threat of the game getting canceled due to possible violence during the game. Algeria accused Egyptian fans of throwing rocks at their team bus and other threats and complained to FIFA, so that just added to the game. The crowd is crazy in Cairo, should be a great 2nd half.
Egypt scored 2mins into the game, but nothing after and are up 1-0 at halftime. So if anyone wants to watch a highly intense game check out the second half on JustinTV. These countries hate each other and there was a threat of the game getting canceled due to possible violence during the game. Algeria accused Egyptian fans of throwing rocks at their team bus and other threats and complained to FIFA, so that just added to the game. The crowd is crazy in Cairo, should be a great 2nd half.
Steve Tasker
Footballguy
New Zealand beats Bahrain to qualify for the World Cup...
Moe.
Footballguy
Grant Wahl posted a link on his twitter feed to a video taken from the inside of the Algerian bus. Those accusations were definitely true.
The whole conference/playoff format should never have been adopted. MLS should have gone with the same format as other soccer leagues and played everyone home and away and crowned the champ.
Steve Tasker
Footballguy
I agree with you, but most of my casual soccer fan friends think that European leagues are stupid in that they don't have playoffs. Raises the question - who is the target audience of MLS? Die-hard fans or casual fans?
I have no doubt it's the casual fan. The die-hards are along for the ride anyway.That being said, I really did enjoy that Hou/LA game last night. But I think it had more to do with the blackouts than the fact it was a conference final.
JMon348
Footballguy
UN FREAKING REAL ENDING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Didnt look good for Egypt, Algeria, rightly so were playing everyone back the whole 2nd half and even though Egypt had oppurtunities, couldnt pull through. Then when it looked most bleak in the 95th minute, right after a great save by the keeper, Emad Metaab scored on a great header sending the crowd into hysteria. It was a crazy crazy scene. Egypt almost scored again, which would have put them in the World Cup, but the striker whiffed. So on to Wednesday in Sudan to determine a place in the World Cup.
Didnt look good for Egypt, Algeria, rightly so were playing everyone back the whole 2nd half and even though Egypt had oppurtunities, couldnt pull through. Then when it looked most bleak in the 95th minute, right after a great save by the keeper, Emad Metaab scored on a great header sending the crowd into hysteria. It was a crazy crazy scene. Egypt almost scored again, which would have put them in the World Cup, but the striker whiffed. So on to Wednesday in Sudan to determine a place in the World Cup.
Moe.
Footballguy
JMon348
Footballguy
I know my Dad and everyone in Egypt is biased but they are convinced that it was Algerians that were throwing the rocks setting up Egypt for a possible venue change or a forfeit. Like I said they hate each other.Here is the goal!!
My Dad had tickets to the game, went there at 3pm(kickoff 730) and the doors to the stadium were already locked because the stadium was already full. He's kinda pissed he missed the game live, but too happy to be that mad. People there are going nuts.
Awesome. That's going to be fun watching those guys go.
editor47
Footballguy
See, if they did it for the casual fan, they really screwed up. Because the casual American is used to playoffs going a certain way: Either you have the NFL style setup of one game, one round; or the NBA/NHL/MLB best of 5, best of 7. To have best of 2 (even though that is common around the world) followed by a one-game semifinal and a one-game final should actually drive away casual fans.Christo said:
El Floppo
Footballguy
incredible!
El Floppo
Footballguy
Exciting that they got in, but those are both pretty bad teams (New Zealand were completely outclassed at the Confed Cup this summer)I've always been a fan of these smaller teams getting a shot in the WC- but this time I couldn't but help think of teams like Sweden, Croatia, Czech Republic and whichever of the 4 Euro teams that get eliminated this round.Steve Tasker said:
((Morpheus))
Footballguy
Native
Footballguy
Awesome scene in Egypt. What an ending..
prefontaine
Footballguy
I tivo'd and watched that LA-Houston game. I don't watch a lot of MLS so I would be the casual fan. I think the playoff system is atrocious. It's not so much the playoff itself as I'm pretty indifferent, but why on earth do they have 3 different formats for 3 different rounds? Talk about making it hard for the casual fan to follow. I also agree that they should do away with the conferences. I'd just do a CL type playoff with home and home ties among the best 8 using random draws with a neutral site final. Then have two champions - Season and MLS Cup champ. As far as that game, Stuart Holden was the best player on the pitch. He seems to be really coming into his own and I hope he can end up in the right spot to continue his development next month. Anyone know where he is looking? I think he could go to a mid tier EPL team and get meaningful playing time.
prefontaine
Footballguy
CR 0, Uruguay 1Right now, looking like all the favorites are going thru.
Steve Tasker
Footballguy
Interesting to note that Portugal only won by 1 at home and have a trip to crazy (I'm assuming here - eastern European games are always crazy) Bosnia.Not saying Bosnia will come back, of course, but it's always tough to play in eastern Europe.
scoobygang
Footballguy
Terrible news for Arsenal, with Van Persie out for 3 months. Maybe Bendtner can step up, but he's not healthy either.
Steve Tasker
Footballguy
Derek>remember during our Pack draft 2 months ago that we never finished, you drafted van Persie real early and I called him "Mr. Glass" and told you he'd miss a few months of the year? And then you said "oh ####, is he hurt?", to which I replied "no, but he will be soon enough."This is what I was talking about.scoobygang said:
derek245583
Footballguy
Yes, I do. First thing I thought about when I read scooby's post.
El Floppo
Footballguy
:(
I wrote up a full review of the US game and lost it to my ####### wireless router crapping out. ####!
Basic idea-
Boca, Bradley, Benny were fantastic through the middle. US controlled the back 2/3 all game- even Bornstein (minus the PK and getting beat once). Jozy was terrible. Casey- I just threw up in my mouth having to type his name.
A game that LD would likely have dominated, and Jozy plays better when there's a slasher type running off him- so I feel less worried about the offense. But we need to see who's really going to be paired with Jozy up front. We all think it's going to be Dempsey- so let's see it already.
Holden and Rogers give the US decent depth on the flanks to allow Desmpsey to go up top, with LD staying on the left. I even think a Cunningham needs some more minutes up there, as he's the type of guy who will help Jozy play better (pacey, slasher)- he was the only forward yesterday with a first touch.
I wrote up a full review of the US game and lost it to my ####### wireless router crapping out. ####!
Basic idea-
Boca, Bradley, Benny were fantastic through the middle. US controlled the back 2/3 all game- even Bornstein (minus the PK and getting beat once). Jozy was terrible. Casey- I just threw up in my mouth having to type his name.
A game that LD would likely have dominated, and Jozy plays better when there's a slasher type running off him- so I feel less worried about the offense. But we need to see who's really going to be paired with Jozy up front. We all think it's going to be Dempsey- so let's see it already.
Holden and Rogers give the US decent depth on the flanks to allow Desmpsey to go up top, with LD staying on the left. I even think a Cunningham needs some more minutes up there, as he's the type of guy who will help Jozy play better (pacey, slasher)- he was the only forward yesterday with a first touch.
El Floppo
Footballguy
Also- add another guy who's 
by the MLS playoff system.
Whoever- Steve or Pre- just wrote about getting rid of the 2 leagues within MLS and going to league winner, cup-winner situation is dead on IMO.
But- been some entertaining stuff out of the playoffs so far. Glad to see RSL move forward- they've been playing some pretty soccer and deserve it.
I'm still serious about getting some sort of season tickets for the BullMEtros next year... if there are packages available.
by the MLS playoff system.Whoever- Steve or Pre- just wrote about getting rid of the 2 leagues within MLS and going to league winner, cup-winner situation is dead on IMO.
But- been some entertaining stuff out of the playoffs so far. Glad to see RSL move forward- they've been playing some pretty soccer and deserve it.
I'm still serious about getting some sort of season tickets for the BullMEtros next year... if there are packages available.
andy_b
Footballguy
The matrix for fans for MLS is incredibly complicated in terms of the muliple groups they try and reach which leads them to weird decisions concerning the league.1) Hard core soccer fans who watch MLS no matter what2) Soccer fans who won't give MLS time of the day3) Casual soccer fans who will watch big events like the world cup4) The youth soccer crowd5) Hard core sports fans who have not yet taken to soccerTo MLS's credit, in the early days number 5 above was the most important. In the last handful of years they have correctly given up on this group.#2 above has been by far the hardest group to reach over the years and have picked up the moniker Euro Snobs, but in reality its just a group of sports fans who are used to watch the highest quality league.It is a terrible catch 22 for MLS. They will never reach group 2 with out significantly upgrading the talent in the league. They won't be able to upgrade the talent in the league with out the revenue that group 2 could provide.prefontaine said:
prefontaine
Footballguy
I forgot this game was on and only caught some of the 2nd half yesterday but from the little I watched, Bradley was straight up dominant. He had his struggles in the early club season and his lack of playing time really showed in a couple of qualifiers but based on the last couple of games for the Nats, he is turning into a young Ballack. I'm really excited about what that guy can be if he continues improving at this rate. Benny was a little quieter in the part I watched but you can tell he and Bradley are really starting to understand each other and make runs through the middle off of each other. I also like what I saw from Rogers. I thought both forwards in the game (EJ and Jozy) were useless though.
I wrote up a full review of the US game and lost it to my ####### wireless router crapping out. ####!
Basic idea-
Boca, Bradley, Benny were fantastic through the middle. US controlled the back 2/3 all game- even Bornstein (minus the PK and getting beat once). Jozy was terrible. Casey- I just threw up in my mouth having to type his name.
A game that LD would likely have dominated, and Jozy plays better when there's a slasher type running off him- so I feel less worried about the offense. But we need to see who's really going to be paired with Jozy up front. We all think it's going to be Dempsey- so let's see it already.
Holden and Rogers give the US decent depth on the flanks to allow Desmpsey to go up top, with LD staying on the left. I even think a Cunningham needs some more minutes up there, as he's the type of guy who will help Jozy play better (pacey, slasher)- he was the only forward yesterday with a first touch.
prefontaine
Footballguy
I can see this. I watched a bit of the Chi-RSL game last night (OT and kicks) and they mentioned that the sport was taking off so much in the US that some of the new stadiums were built too small. I can't ever tell if this is true though. I play in a couple of leagues and so a lot of the people I hang out with are big fans so while it is obvious there is more soccer on tv, I don't know if it is taking off among the average sports fan. Anyway, if it is and if MLS gets higher attendance, then they may be able to make that leap.
andy_b
Footballguy
I am absolutely convinced there are more soccer fans in the US than there were 10 years ago.I am equally convinced that those new fans have not translated to MLS.MLS is in a signficantly better financial situation than they were 10 years ago but that is not due to a significant growth in their fan base, it is due to a cadre of owners who figured out how to manage the business side of the game via building stadiums.The stadiums being built are smallish, but they are also being built realistically.Coming this off season for MLS should be some interesting and potentially scary moments not only for the league but perhaps for the future of the sport in the US. The collective bargaining agreement is expiring and there are already rumors of the players striking if the salary cap and player movement restriction is not significantly improved.Many people who have in depth knowledge of the league believe that the real fight will not be between the players and the owners but between the owners themselves as there seem to be set of owners who are ready to open their wallets and another set of owners (led by Kraft and Kronkee) who don't want to lose any financial control.
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prefontaine
Footballguy
This seems odd to me. Dempsey/Dolo - both club teams play Saturday. Denmark is just a short flight from England and walking distance to Germany so there shouldn't be jet lag issues. In fact, this is a pretty normal schedule for a player that has European midweek games.
Marshall - plays in MLS and their season is over isn't it? Are there other non-league competitions?
Basically it sounds like Bradley told them they weren't playing bc either he knows what they can do or he wants to see other people. Pretty odd to me for 3 guys that I think are still fighting for their particular role come June.
El Floppo
Footballguy
Another thing- Dolo and Dempsey are both playing for their respective clubs. My understanding is that federations will often bow to Clubs over friendlies and teams' regulars (was kind of suprised to hear Milan #####ing and moaning about Gooch considering he wasn't playing for them). I[m guessing Bradley doesn't want to get in the way of the few players he has getting quality european PT, getting that PT.But I don't think Dempsey is fighting for anything at this point- he's been playing quite well for Fulham and has proven himself obviously capable and deserving of the spot on the US squad (when he's deciding to play). Cherundolo might be more of a toss-up, especially with Spector heavily in the mix. but now that he's healthy again and put in a couple of typical quality performances (including yesterday), I think his presence isn't required.
Can't WAIT to see how Castillo looks- other than the media buildup over his jumping back over the border, I know nothing about how he plays.
Also really hoping Torres is out of Bradley's dog-house (I can only guess that he did something Bradley didn't like- in training or otherwise) and gets to play 90 for the team- we need to see what this kid can do for a full game. If he really has what he's shown in flashes during his limited minutes, he's the type of guy who can stamp his presence on and influence a game with his control, game-sense and vision.
I also hope Holden can build on his recent performances for club and country and solidify Dempsey's spot on the flank so Dempsey can move up front without any drama.
Native
Footballguy
Can you flush this out Moe? What do you mean?
Ted Lange as your Bartender
Footballguy
FIFA tries to group confederations together in WC draws. If Costa Rica loses, Pot 4 (the lowest ranked pot) will most likely contain the 3 CONCACAF teams (US, MEX, HON), the 4 AFC (Asian) teams (JPN, KOR, PRK, AUS) and New Zealand. If Costa Rica wins, giving CONCACAF 4 teams, the pot math gets messed up and there was speculation earlier in the thread about what this would mean for the US, i.e. could they get bumped to a higher draw pot and lessen the chance of seeing a Group of Death
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Native
Footballguy
Gotcha, thanks.
Ted Lange as your Bartender
Footballguy
Speaking of which, since the African qualifiers look to be extremely strong this time around (except for possibly the winner of Egypt/Algeria), assuming CRC lose to URU, it's possible that the only way the US DOESN'T draw a Group of Death is if they get South Africa's group, which would then also give them a non-seed Euro team (think Denmark, Slovakia, hopefully not the Netherlands), and one of Paraguay, Uruguay or Chile. That would still be a challenging group, but much better than something like Brazil/Russia/Ivory Coast.Gotcha, thanks.
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