21 replies to this topic

[Lose Remerswaal]

Yeah, I know, it's Soccer. And not really good soccer. But for 4 seasons in a row, your New England Revolution have made it to the Eastern Conference finals, and for the 2nd time in those 4 seasons, they won that game and are going to the Championship match next week with a chance to avenge that prior Final loss to Los Angeles.

Info on today's One to Nil victory over the Chicago Fire in front of 18K fans

[Nuf Ced]

Reaction of excited fans

[biollante]

Revolution win and all is well in the world !

[Smiling Joe Hesketh]

This win got front page treatment in the Globe's sports section today. I'm impressed.

[Lose Remerswaal]

This win got front page treatment in the Globe's sports section today. I'm impressed.

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I'm sure the Boston Globe Company owns %X of the team through some bizarre combination of acquisitions and therefore must cover these things.

[leithbones]

Revolution win and all is well in the world !

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How much longer must this region wait for SOME sort of professional sports Champion!?!?! We are the national laughingstock of the sports world.

[Gambler7]

Flipping through and came accross this game. They are now in OT, 0-0 score

[redsoxjamie]

Flipping through and came accross this game. They are now in OT, 0-0 score

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Damn, soccer's an exciting game.

[Rasputin]

I think soccer is a lot like hockey and baseball in that if you get it there's a lot of excitement where those who don't get it see none.

Me, I don't get it.

[Gambler7]

Annd they lose, and for fun Bob Saget is shown in the stands cheering

[Nick Kaufman]

I saw the OT. Weird feeling.

Two things.

1. The fans don't behave as you expect from soccer fans.

2. The players are one or two clicks slower than players of a mediocre european league.

Did a search on the salaries .The highest paid makes 500,000$. That's money dished out on really bad leagues in Europe...

MLS has a lot of ways to go.

[epraz]

Soccer is 10x better in real life than TV--TV just can't show enough to get what's going on, how plays develop, etc. Maybe widescreen HD helps.

[Marbleheader]

I guess now we'll never know if the Rev's faithful would have had another Rollin' Rally, a City Hall Plaza celebration, or a trip to Chuck E. Cheese's.

[HoyaSoxa]

Bob Kraft was at the Revs game, apparently only the second Pats game he has missed since purchasing the team. The other time he was in the 'pital, I believe.

No sense defending soccer here, people in the international football thread know what's up. MLS is definitely a weak version of the game, but it would be silly to pay declining international talent more just to have a better domestic league. Let MLS stay as it is, keep building soccer-only parks to seat 24,000, and let the best US players play the prime of their career in Europe against the best competition. South America seems to do ok in worldwide competition even though their domestic players go to Europe. Likewise, countries like Holland, France, and the Czech Republic do not have top-tier pro leagues, but their national sides do not struggle as a result.

[Spacemans Bong]

MLS has done a good job shoring up the competency of the National Team. MLS produces a lot of very competent defenders, centre-halves and goalkeepers. As a result, the US team has very little holes - there are no world-class players, but there are also no utterly incompetent players in a given US team either (compare to, say, Phillip Neville and his fifty England caps).

The problem is MLS isn't that great with creativity. It wouldn't be the worst idea to spend judiciously on importing talented European playmakers to teach the Americans a thing or two about creating goals.

[biollante]

Very choppy game. Cobi Jones was given superstar treatment, every time he was touched the other player received a foul. L.A. deserved to win. New England didn't play well. When you go to a live game, you realize how fast these players really are, MLS or otherwise. Cancela tried to take too many dives.
MLS will stay a notch below most European leagues primarily in accuracy of kicks and ball contol. Too much out of control booting in the MLS. After watching some of the Bundeliga games, I'm not sure how much below. The Bundesliga looks pretty weak in general. Stuttgart v. M'gladbach made the MLS look good.

[Vinho Tinto]

It wouldn't be the worst idea to spend judiciously on importing talented European playmakers to teach the Americans a thing or two about creating goals.

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That's a fallacy. It didn't happen in NASL or early MLS days, no reason to think it would happen now. Skill is developed at a young age. Not through osmosis.

It was a poor game. Nothing happend for the first 80 minutes, then LA came close to scoring a few times.

The Revs really didn't do anything on offense. The few crosses they attempted were for the most part poor.

The better team won.

[Maalox]

Soccer is 10x better in real life than TV--TV just can't show enough to get what's going on, how plays develop, etc.  Maybe widescreen HD helps.

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Isn't this true of all sports, though?

[Lose Remerswaal]

Isn't this true of all sports, though?

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Not most long distance events -- running, biking, America's Cup (is that a sport?), where you can't see what's going on from one location. Even Golf, unless it's a small enough event where you can follow your favorite golfer through all 18 holes.

TV is also better for sports like bowling where you can just turn the damn thing off.

[Nick Kaufman]

I bet NFL is more boring up close. On TV you get to see all the replays and don't get any sense of the really long periods of dead time between plays.

[Vinho Tinto]

I bet NFL is more boring up close. On TV you get to see all the replays and don't get any sense of the really long periods of dead time between plays.

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I agree.

You can also make a case that baseball is better on television.

[HoyaSoxa]

I agree.

You can also make a case that baseball is better on television.

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There are very few seats in the ballpark that allow you to get a sense of pitching like you can at home. That said, there are also all kinds of things the camera almost never shows you in terms of defensive positioning and other aspects of the game that you can pick up from almost anywhere in the ballpark. Beer is cheaper at home.