What's new
Fantasy Football - Footballguys Forums

This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

***Official Soccer Discussion Thread*** (3 Viewers)

Robert Kraft doesn't know how to cheat in soccer yet.  :scared:
While not quite cheating, he clearly manipulated the league back in the day which helped launch the good years for the team in which they went to 4 MLS Cups (all during a time when no teams were spending any money so Karft was on equal footing).

Back when the league was about to fold in the early 2000's, Kraft appears to have made a deal with Hunt and Anschutz where the Revs some how ended up with the lions share of the talent from the two contracted teams (Miami and Tampa) instead of the talent being evenly distributed to the remaining teams.  The Revs were granted 3 of the top 6 picks in the allocation draft by some really shady "rules" which no one was privy to at the time.

 
While not quite cheating, he clearly manipulated the league back in the day which helped launch the good years for the team in which they went to 4 MLS Cups (all during a time when no teams were spending any money so Karft was on equal footing).

Back when the league was about to fold in the early 2000's, Kraft appears to have made a deal with Hunt and Anschutz where the Revs some how ended up with the lions share of the talent from the two contracted teams (Miami and Tampa) instead of the talent being evenly distributed to the remaining teams.  The Revs were granted 3 of the top 6 picks in the allocation draft by some really shady "rules" which no one was privy to at the time.
Dude you are going way back.I didn't start following MLS until David Beckham arrived and adopted LA Galaxy considering Beckham was there until Philly got their team. I'm guessing it's not as easy for Kraft to manipulate rules these days? 

 
Dude you are going way back.I didn't start following MLS until David Beckham arrived and adopted LA Galaxy considering Beckham was there until Philly got their team. I'm guessing it's not as easy for Kraft to manipulate rules these days? 
when you are one of three owners in the entire league, you can manipulate at will.  When he is one of many now, he has almost no power left in league.

The Galaxy have always been at the forefront of rule manipulation but it was always in a positive sense, forcing the league to grow.

 
Amazing and Twitter kinds blew up too. Nice to see a fairly large audience was tuned in for the end here.

I was surprised to see him captain already; however, after a play like that, he's setting that kind of example.
If the Orlando player had any confidence in his left foot, they could have won that game. 

What a fantastic turn of events.  It was one of those you can't script it moments in time that every one in the stadium is going to remember for a long long time.

 
Bayern looked in mid-season form beating Entracht Frankfurt 5-0 for the DFL Supercup.

Lewandowski with a hat trick.  The bad news, hopefully not too bad, is Alaba took a hit to his knee with 10 minutes left in the match and had to be helped off.  Last report was the he was schedule for an MRI Sunday night.  According to one report I read, he was "devastated in the locker room, and had to be consoled." 

 
Yeah I was at the D.C. United game last night, incredible finish.  Was wondering if you soccer nerds were talking about it and you did not disappoint.  Carry on.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Lol at Rooney being too gassed to even celebrate. Raised a hand barely above his shoulder height and gave up out of sheer exhaustion.

 
Lol at Rooney being too gassed to even celebrate. Raised a hand barely above his shoulder height and gave up out of sheer exhaustion.
And yet the trolls online trying to slight him for not celebrating with his team.  You want him to run another 50 yards just to celebrate?  :no:

 
And yet the trolls online trying to slight him for not celebrating with his team.  You want him to run another 50 yards just to celebrate?  :no:
one needs to really look in the mirror and ask what kind of bias you have if you find any problems with what he did. 

I don't think some people understand just how rare it is to simultaneously save your team from losing and then turn it into a win.   

That is a play that happens maybe once a season per league.  And to have the same player involved in both the saving from loss and the game winner seconds later is even more rare.

 
I actually saw Rooney on the street in DC last week.  He was walking past where I turned in to pick up my kids from daycare in the West End.  I stopped and motioned for him to go and said "go ahead, Wazza!", but he obviously couldn't hear me.  He's been lots of places in town, including some not trendy restaurants where I'd never have guessed he'd go.  By all accounts, he is loving being just a little bit famous here in DC.  Gets a little love but can go out and eat or walk around in peace.  

 
ESPN+ has also picked up the English FA Cup rights.

Here is the rough list of soccer properties it holds now:

MLS out of market games

Championship from England

FA Cup from England

Serie A

A League from Australia

Chinese Super League

UEFA Nations League

Holland First Division

 
Last edited by a moderator:
of no shock is what happened on the other end of the DC Orlando game

========

Steven Goff‏Verified account @SoccerInsider

Orlando City frustration boils over in locker room area with shouting, pushing, face to face confrontation, witnessed by several people. No other details immediately available

 
score is tied 2-2.  Extremely late in game and your team has a corner.

How upset do you get at your coach if he sends the keeper up for the corner and then the opposing team breaks and scores the winner while your keeper is caught up field in a non must win match?

I ask since this is what should have happened to Ben Olsen last night.....

 
score is tied 2-2.  Extremely late in game and your team has a corner.

How upset do you get at your coach if he sends the keeper up for the corner and then the opposing team breaks and scores the winner while your keeper is caught up field in a non must win match?

I ask since this is what should have happened to Ben Olsen last night.....
I was thinking about that when I watched that clip.  No way I'm sending the GK down there unless I NEED a win or I'm down.

 
Bayern looked in mid-season form beating Entracht Frankfurt 5-0 for the DFL Supercup.

Lewandowski with a hat trick.  The bad news, hopefully not too bad, is Alaba took a hit to his knee with 10 minutes left in the match and had to be helped off.  Last report was the he was schedule for an MRI Sunday night.  According to one report I read, he was "devastated in the locker room, and had to be consoled." 
Alaba looks like he is going to be ok

No ligament damage, just a severe bruise.  He is on a day to day watch now.

 
score is tied 2-2.  Extremely late in game and your team has a corner.

How upset do you get at your coach if he sends the keeper up for the corner and then the opposing team breaks and scores the winner while your keeper is caught up field in a non must win match?

I ask since this is what should have happened to Ben Olsen last night.....
Rooney sure was not pleased about it.  Does anyone have hs quotes?

 
I was thinking about that when I watched that clip.  No way I'm sending the GK down there unless I NEED a win or I'm down.
normally I think I say the same thing but DC is in desperate need of points if they want to make the playoffs.   I guess this was a high risk high reward thing that turned out so much differently than anyone might have first expected.

 
normally I think I say the same thing but DC is in desperate need of points if they want to make the playoffs.   I guess this was a high risk high reward thing that turned out so much differently than anyone might have first expected.
Yep, so in that situation, I think it's fine.

 
Rooney sure was not pleased about it.  Does anyone have hs quotes?
I saw this.  Is he hinting that Ousted went up field on his own?

“I spoke to David, I don’t know why he went up at 2-2, a point is better than no points. Thankfully their guy took a touch and I played the ball in the channel and he [Acosta] got his hat trick. Bit of a long wait to see if it was onside or not but delighted to have it go in.”

 
MLS fans

Are you happy with the format. 

Divisions/playoffs or would you rather have Euro style even if there were no relegation?
I would prefer a balanced schedule but the league is too big for both a balanced schedule and to have playoffs.  There would be too many games.  One has to give and I don't see the playoffs ever going away so I think we will always have an unbalanced schedule.

 
I would prefer a balanced schedule but the league is too big for both a balanced schedule and to have playoffs.  There would be too many games.  One has to give and I don't see the playoffs ever going away so I think we will always have an unbalanced schedule.
We'll never see relegation in MLS, right?

 
We'll never see relegation in MLS, right?
In my lifetime?  I would be shocked.  The owners are buying into the league for the expressed reason of no relegation.

If the league grows to 36 teams some day, maybe (decades from now) we might see a reorganization into MLS 1 and MLS 2 with some form of promotion and relegation.

I honestly expect to see a MLS team playing in the UEFA Champions League before I see promotion relegation.

 
In my lifetime?  I would be shocked.  The owners are buying into the league for the expressed reason of no relegation.

If the league grows to 36 teams some day, maybe (decades from now) we might see a reorganization into MLS 1 and MLS 2 with some form of promotion and relegation.

I honestly expect to see a MLS team playing in the UEFA Champions League before I see promotion relegation.
The MLS owners can want whatever they want but at some point in time the game's popularity here won't allow them their exclusivity.

 
Clear view of the intentional trip by Acosta in this vid, 8 seconds in at the top of the box. @rustycolts
Yep for whatever reason Orlando just cannot get any calls that go their way.  Dom (affectionately  known as Dom Diver) could be in the penalty box and the opposing player could pull out a 44 magnum and pistol whip Dom into submission and he still would not get a penalty called for him.  Of course Dom brings on a lot of that himself.  Yotun gets a two game suspension for a supposed punch(if it was a punch then Yotun better stay out of bar fights)and yet he can get grabbed by the throat and thrown to the ground and nothing happens to opposing player.  Then Higueta gets suspended for running by a player with his elbows too high.  I mean some of the fans on Reddit are saying that Pro and MLS has it in for us,I know it isn't true but damn we never seem to get any calls.  As a matter of fact when other teams get screwed by the refs people are saying man we really got Orlandoed.

Well on the bright side I have picked the teams I am going to follow in Championship and Premier leagues.  I am not going to publicly say who because it is not fair for those teams and their supporters for me to put the VOO DOO on them.  I will say I decided against Stoke.  I get enough misery being an OCSC fan.

 
The MLS owners can want whatever they want but at some point in time the game's popularity here won't allow them their exclusivity.
I don't understand your point.  We have 4 other sports that do it with no problems and there is no way MLS will ever get to 1/2 the popularity of the modern NFL even in the most insane projections, so popularity growth will never have that effect imo.

The only way we get promotion relegation is to get 75% of businessmen (MLS owners) to agree to take on the financial risk.  I don't see that happening no matter how popular MLS gets.

 
I don't understand your point.  We have 4 other sports that do it with no problems and there is no way MLS will ever get to 1/2 the popularity of the modern NFL even in the most insane projections, so popularity growth will never have that effect imo.

The only way we get promotion relegation is to get 75% of businessmen (MLS owners) to agree to take on the financial risk.  I don't see that happening no matter how popular MLS gets.
It's not gonna be their call, Andy. Some deep pockets and lots of public support for a truly national league is gonna wreck the MLS structure. Our other sports are too far gone but this one isn't.

 
Yep for whatever reason Orlando just cannot get any calls that go their way.  Dom (affectionately  known as Dom Diver) could be in the penalty box and the opposing player could pull out a 44 magnum and pistol whip Dom into submission and he still would not get a penalty called for him.  Of course Dom brings on a lot of that himself.  Yotun gets a two game suspension for a supposed punch(if it was a punch then Yotun better stay out of bar fights)and yet he can get grabbed by the throat and thrown to the ground and nothing happens to opposing player.  Then Higueta gets suspended for running by a player with his elbows too high.  I mean some of the fans on Reddit are saying that Pro and MLS has it in for us,I know it isn't true but damn we never seem to get any calls.  As a matter of fact when other teams get screwed by the refs people are saying man we really got Orlandoed.

Well on the bright side I have picked the teams I am going to follow in Championship and Premier leagues.  I am not going to publicly say who because it is not fair for those teams and their supporters for me to put the VOO DOO on them.  I will say I decided against Stoke.  I get enough misery being an OCSC fan.
I think the other posters' comments are correct though, even if the referee or sidejudge see the trip, they're going to play advantage and let it proceed.  At the point Rooney wins the ball back, they're not going to stop play.  At most, Acosta would get a retrospective punishment (if MLS even does that?). The one thing @NewlyRetired correctly pointed out, if the Orlando runner is not tripped, he's probably going to give Johnson another option.  Especially true if Johnson can do this: Marcello

 
It's not gonna be their call, Andy. Some deep pockets and lots of public support for a tuly national league is gonna wreck the MLS structure. Our other sports are too far gone but this one isn't.
I guess I don't understand how its not going to be their call.  US Soccer is never going to sanction another Div 1 league so the competition will never emerge.  No court in the land will ever be able to force them to do it since the contracts they signed as owners are pretty clear.

Any team that grows big enough in a lower league (like Orlando, or Cincy) will simply be pulled up into MLS as it continues to expand.  

The only way this changes IMO is if MLS feels like it is going to go out of business unless they make the change, and I am unsure how closely you follow the business metrics in MLS but they are healthier now they they have ever been.

 
I think the other posters' comments are correct though, even if the referee or sidejudge see the trip, they're going to play advantage and let it proceed.  At the point Rooney wins the ball back, they're not going to stop play.  At most, Acosta would get a retrospective punishment (if MLS even does that?). The one thing @NewlyRetired correctly pointed out, if the Orlando runner is not tripped, he's probably going to give Johnson another option.  Especially true if Johnson can do this: Marcello
MLS does have after game video review.  I don't think they give retroactive yellow's (which is what that play calls for) so I am unsure when the committee will find on this play.

I agree that even if the ref does see it happen, he lets the advantage play.  As an Orlando fan, I would have been very angry if the ref called the play dead at the trip.

 
In my lifetime?  I would be shocked.  The owners are buying into the league for the expressed reason of no relegation.

If the league grows to 36 teams some day, maybe (decades from now) we might see a reorganization into MLS 1 and MLS 2 with some form of promotion and relegation.

I honestly expect to see a MLS team playing in the UEFA Champions League before I see promotion relegation.
I would think this would be the only way it happens.  The league grows enough  for 36-40 teams all with enough support to handle teams being in "MLS 2". I don't think you can have pro/rel to NASL or USL or whatever is the 2nd or 3rd division as it is now.

BUT, where I believe in the benefit of pro/rel, American sports fans love their playoffs.  Just like I don't want the non fans to tell me how to change soccer for more appeal, I'm not going to tell them to change an American system.

 
I think the other posters' comments are correct though, even if the referee or sidejudge see the trip, they're going to play advantage and let it proceed.  At the point Rooney wins the ball back, they're not going to stop play.  At most, Acosta would get a retrospective punishment (if MLS even does that?). The one thing @NewlyRetired correctly pointed out, if the Orlando runner is not tripped, he's probably going to give Johnson another option.  Especially true if Johnson can do this: Marcello
What will probably happen is later this week Pinho will get suspended for getting in the way of Acostas foot.

 
The MLS owners can want whatever they want but at some point in time the game's popularity here won't allow them their exclusivity.
You mean a competing league?  Seems that every other professional sports league in the United States has managed without Pro/Rel.  It hardly seems inevitable.  I think it's exactly the opposite.  A historical anachronism unique to the European leagues that owners over there would never choose to implement if starting a league today.

 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top