MLS 2021: On a scale of 1-10, my baby's 26

ThePrideofShiner

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Titans Bastard

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Still 0-0 in Atlanta at 70 minutes. They're up on aggregate but you'd like to see them put it away.
 

Titans Bastard

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Iced it in stoppage time. Barco beats the trap, and then Jurgen Damm (who has mostly been bad) sorta-kinda stole the goal from him.
 

Titans Bastard

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Yimmi Chara has a brace in the first half, which puts the Timbers up 4-2 on aggregate.
 

Titans Bastard

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Another goal for TFC! An ugly one, but nice cushion to have.
 

Titans Bastard

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Toronto holds on. This is a really good result against the reigning Liga MX champions for a team that is (a) in preseason mode and (b) missing half their starters.
 

Titans Bastard

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Philly squandered some chances early, but are stomping Saprissa in the second half. It's 3-0 (4-0 on aggregate) and the Union are cruising to the QF.
 

Senator Donut

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Apr 21, 2010
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America advances on away goals, 2-2 on aggregate, and will face the Timbers. I hadn’t realized theyd hired Santiago Solari to replace Herrera, who was canned after blowing his last champions league match to 10-men LAFC. That’s a pretty good pedigree for a Liga MX manager.
 

Titans Bastard

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Aidan Morris got stretchered off tonight's CCL game and the hope at this point is that he didn't do his ACL.
 

Senator Donut

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View: https://twitter.com/opencup/status/1383133336932122625

The 2021 Open Cup is in jeopardy. They haven’t ruled out a fall edition, but that doesn’t appear to be likely. I kind of liked the idea of using the first three matches as qualification, I though that added some extra stakes to those cold early season matchups.

I assume USSF will end the charade and award Atlanta United a permanent spot in Champions League.
 

Titans Bastard

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The season is kicking off right now on ESPN+ with Houston & San Jose.

San Jose's man-child Cade Cowell, who looks literally ten years older than he actually is (17), is starting at forward after reportedly having a hot preseason. He's a physical freak who has already shown that his athleticism will hold up against men. The rest of his game is TBD, but there's some breakout potential here.

Houston are missing so many CBs that Boniek Garcia(!!!!!!) is starting there.
 

Titans Bastard

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Vela has to come out of the game after 22 minutes. Hope it isn’t serious.
LAFC are claiming that Vela was calling for a trainer and his signal was misinterpreted as calling for a sub.

We'll see if this is actually true, which I hope it is for multiple reasons.
 

Titans Bastard

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RBNY officially announced the Amaya deal earlier this week, and have just signed Patryk Klimala from Celtic. They're really hoping that this guy, Fabio, or maybe Brian White breaks out and gives them a solid forward option this year. Klimala is a Polish youth international, but he was a bench player for Celtic. They seem to like him a lot, but he has a middling resume on paper, so it's a good test of their scouting and player evaluation.

https://www.newyorkredbulls.com/news/new-york-red-bulls-sign-polish-youth-international-striker-patryk-klimala
 

Titans Bastard

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Just tuned in to whatever games are on. Nashville looking surprisingly vivacious in the attack as they've come back from 2-0 down and are threatening to take the lead. On the other hand, it's only Montreal.


NYCFC apparently beat Cincinnati 5-0 with ALL FIVE goals coming from set pieces. Yikes.
 

67YAZ

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Just tuned in to whatever games are on. Nashville looking surprisingly vivacious in the attack as they've come back from 2-0 down and are threatening to take the lead. On the other hand, it's only Montreal.


NYCFC apparently beat Cincinnati 5-0 with ALL FIVE goals coming from set pieces. Yikes.
Montreal came back to draw? And how did Kizza look? I’m eager to see him play.
 

Titans Bastard

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Those who watched Olympic qualifiers learned that David Ochoa is a rising king of shithousery and trash talking. He started RSL's season debut last night and has already started irritating the crap out of Minnesota. Among other things, after the final whistle he booted the ball into MNU's supporters section to celebrate the road win.

View: https://twitter.com/MattDoyle76/status/1386142491804676096


Unhappiness:

View: https://twitter.com/andygreder/status/1386142121489489922


View: https://twitter.com/BrianSciaretta/status/1386165358051176449
 

Jimy Hendrix

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If Ochoa made Adrian Heath’s Minnesota feel disrespected, that just means he’s a person connected to MLS who said or did something. That team keeps a full plywood sheet’s worth of chips on their shoulders.
 

67YAZ

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I got my 2nd dose on Friday & coached my 6yo twins’ match yesterday, so I was asleep by the time Chicago kicked off. Good thing. This squad as serious defensive problems so far - not athletic enough and make some bad decisions. I hope Navarro is ready to take LB and Pineda comes in for Calvo. No more of this.

 

Titans Bastard

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San Jose's man-child Cade Cowell, who looks literally ten years older than he actually is (17), is starting at forward after reportedly having a hot preseason. He's a physical freak who has already shown that his athleticism will hold up against men. The rest of his game is TBD, but there's some breakout potential here.
Cowell wasn't that good in the opener, but he had a goal and a NICE assist yesterday. One to watch. I still wonder whether he's more of a high floor player than a high ceiling player for the reasons above, but the larger perspective is also that he doesn't turn 18 until October and it looks like he's going to get a lot of reps this year.

View: https://twitter.com/BrianSciaretta/status/1386066021920952321
 

Titans Bastard

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CCL's back this week.

Philly just traveled to Atlanta, got dominated in the first half, then torched Atlanta on the counterattack in the second half. It finished as a crushing 3-0 road win for Philly, who seem all but certain to advance.

Now the hard stuff: Toronto takes on Cruz Azul. Still no Alejandro Pozuelo, but they have gotten a few guys back from injury. Cruz Azul are atop the Liga MX standings. And as I type, they score...
 

Senator Donut

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I said after the DC-New England match that if that were someone’s first MLS game, they would never watch another one. However, the Atlanta-Philadelphia match was far more entertaining than that other "champions league." There is something about this tournament that beings out fireworks.
 

Titans Bastard

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1-1! Osorio.

Too bad there is a 0% chance I will stay up for the whole game.
 

OCST

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No particular link, because I've seen it dozens of places. Angry fans in England and elsewhere have blamed the Super League fiasco on the American PL owners, Henry, Kroenke, and Glazer, all of whom own/have owned American sports franchises. The criticism is that the SL is an "American model" of a "closed shop," with franchises awarded by the league, and not clubs which have grown organically and which are part of the pro/rel pyramid (as romantic and outdated as those notions might be).

MLS of course is the object of derision among English fans as a "retirement league," although in chatting with Everton fans, those who have followed MLS say that the quality of play and of the players have improved. But they're blasting MLS now for being of the same model - closed shop, no pro/rel. Of course the weird MLS setup exacerbates this.

American financiers and cities are unfamiliar with the pro/rel model and would be leery of financing new stadiums, "what do you mean this could be a minor league team if we don't win?" I still think that American footy needs to implement pro/rel. There is case by case de facto promotion as in the case of Cincinnati, where a second-tier club shows enough on-field and market success to warrant an MLS spot. It's the relegation that no one wants to talk about. But without it, you can have franchises languish for years with apathetic owners (I'm looking at you, Revs). Threat of relegation forces clubs to compete, puts MLS in accord with the world footy structure, and (if the league realizes it) creates compelling storylines at the end of the season that drive eyeballs - a PL six-pointer between the 17th and 18th sides in April or May is appointment TV.
 

Titans Bastard

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MLS of course is the object of derision among English fans as a "retirement league," although in chatting with Everton fans, those who have followed MLS say that the quality of play and of the players have improved. But they're blasting MLS now for being of the same model - closed shop, no pro/rel. Of course the weird MLS setup exacerbates this.
Knowing nothing about the sport outside of the EPL and the Champions League is a weird point of pride for so many English fans. "Retirement league" is the dumbest narrative.

American financiers and cities are unfamiliar with the pro/rel model and would be leery of financing new stadiums, "what do you mean this could be a minor league team if we don't win?" I still think that American footy needs to implement pro/rel. There is case by case de facto promotion as in the case of Cincinnati, where a second-tier club shows enough on-field and market success to warrant an MLS spot. It's the relegation that no one wants to talk about. But without it, you can have franchises languish for years with apathetic owners (I'm looking at you, Revs). Threat of relegation forces clubs to compete, puts MLS in accord with the world footy structure, and (if the league realizes it) creates compelling storylines at the end of the season that drive eyeballs - a PL six-pointer between the 17th and 18th sides in April or May is appointment TV.
I'd like to see promotion and relegation as a fan. I haven't seen a compelling theory of change for how to get us there, though.

I've always imagined that the best route is the J.League model, which is another league that started in the 1990s. The J.League eventually spawned a second division, and then a third. I can't see promotion and relegation between MLS and USL or any other separate legal entity. Perhaps one day MLS would create a second division that they administer. There are a lot of entanglements that would complicate movements between MLS and other leagues, including the MLS single entity ownership model and the stake that MLS owners have with SUM.

MLS is still in expansion mode and I think they'll probably continue until they get to 32 teams like the other big US leagues. When MLS is deemed "full" by league leadership, we'll see what happens. But it just seems so hard to convince these owners to take any steps toward pro/rel.
 

Vinho Tinto

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Knowing nothing about the sport outside of the EPL and the Champions League is a weird point of pride for so many English fans.
The entire pro/rel discussion regarding MLS is dominated from an EPL perspective. A majority of leagues don’t have breathless following of the end of season matches involving clubs on the brink. I don’t see a carrot that gets the MLS owners to gamble on their investment not tanking during a relegation period
 

Kliq

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I've never really understood the fascination with needing to add pro/rel into American sports. Yeah, it does create the dynamic at the end of the season when teams need to stay up and so otherwise meaningless games gain some importance, but it also has some cons. One super greedy owner, or terrible coaching hire, or dumb transfer move and teams are launched on a downward spiral out of the league and will take years to return. Is what happened to Sunderland, Portsmouth, Leeds, Hull City, etc. good for soccer?

To OCST point, the relegation system would prevent a team from languishing for a while like the Revs because the owners would be afraid about being relegated, but in other leagues the fear of being relegated isn't necessarily sparking them into action. How has Newcastle been doing with the threat of relegation hanging over them? I think the reality is that even without relegation being a threat, teams in general are still interested in being competitive for financial reasons to the point that there are not many teams that are just happy to be collecting a check and never care about winning.

I think so many people are tied into the idea that since pro/rel is what they do in Europe, it must be the "proper" way to run a soccer league, even if it doesn't make any real sense in the way MLS is structured. If anything, the last two weeks have taught us that the European soccer model is a complete mess. Realistically, I think any league in Europe would be better off if it had the competitive parity of MLS.
 

Senator Donut

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All indications seem to point to Real’s Perez and Juve’s Angelli as the main forces behind the super league, with the American owners just behind them, so to me it doesn’t feel like them importing their own sporting ideology from the United States.

To OCST point, the relegation system would prevent a team from languishing for a while like the Revs because the owners would be afraid about being relegated, but in other leagues the fear of being relegated isn't necessarily sparking them into action. How has Newcastle been doing with the threat of relegation hanging over them? I think the reality is that even without relegation being a threat, teams in general are still interested in being competitive for financial reasons to the point that there are not many teams that are just happy to be collecting a check and never care about winning.
I would also add that relegation is not a rational threat to any of the 12 super league clubs, due to their extreme financial advantages. Only Juventus and Atletico have played in the second division during my lifetime, and both were primarily driven by off the field scandals.
 

dirtynine

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Closed two-tier pro/rel is the way to go and I predict it will happen within the next 15 years or so. The key is that no team can fall too far in that model. That reduces the “downward spiral” worry. Then the only concern is if fans will support a tier 2 team. I think the concerns that they won’t are *incredibly* overwrought. To their credit, MLS has developed fan bases that will follow their clubs anywhere. And it’s not like families looking for a night out at the soccer game will care. Promotion battles will be catnip for fans. Team values won’t be affected by going up or down. Yes, a pro/rel system that allows a team to fall down the pyramid into obscurity will never happen. But a closed system is a no-brainer.
 

Senator Donut

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Another two entertaining matches tonight, including a 97’ equalizer for Portland, wow! The three MLS teams who earned their spots are in good positions for the second leg, while the two clubs who were gifted berths have a lot of work left to do.