MLS and Sporting KC - Official Thread

[hhcscott]

While way off-topic for this NUBB board, I LOVE That there is a passionate discussion about soccer here.

 

I think the the next wave of MLS  is starting right now with Omaha Union and my  local  FC Tucson building a true local tier of the soccer pyramid with their own supporters groups and with players like Tucson's Long and Toia, moving up to MLS. I know promotion and relegation are Euro traditions that the economics of MLS are not prepared for, but I suspect that when USL 2, USL 1, and USL Championship mature, they may move to having some form of it the only questions are will there be space in MLS someday to add teams, it's already slated to be one of the largest (by number of teams) leagues in the world when the current expansions finish.

 

I wonder about a two league system like the old MLB structure where Eastern and Western Conferences are separate until; the playoffs, or a seasonal system where winter region teams play the current MLS schedule and warmer weather teams play a schedule like the rest of the world.

 

One last note,Tucson hosts the (Sponsor) Cup every spring and brings multiple MLS clubs and some USL clubs together for days of preseason matches...

 

"A total of six Visit Tucson Sun Cup matches will be played from April 3 through April 10 at Kino North Stadium, including Major League Soccer (MLS) clubs Colorado Rapids, LA Galaxy, Real Salt Lake, and Sporting Kansas City. This will be the 11th consecutive season that MLS teams will have been hosted and played preseason games in Tucson. The MLS matchups will be streamed on FCtucson.com."

 

It is a ton of fun to just watch back-to-back-to-back soccer for a week in Tucson in March. (avg March high 75, low 49)

[Keenan9595]

3 hours ago, hhcscott said:

While way off-topic for this NUBB board, I LOVE That there is a passionate discussion about soccer here.

 

I think the the next wave of MLS  is starting right now with Omaha Union and my  local  FC Tucson building a true local tier of the soccer pyramid with their own supporters groups and with players like Tucson's Long and Toia, moving up to MLS. I know promotion and relegation are Euro traditions that the economics of MLS are not prepared for, but I suspect that when USL 2, USL 1, and USL Championship mature, they may move to having some form of it the only questions are will there be space in MLS someday to add teams, it's already slated to be one of the largest (by number of teams) leagues in the world when the current expansions finish.

 

I wonder about a two league system like the old MLB structure where Eastern and Western Conferences are separate until; the playoffs, or a seasonal system where winter region teams play the current MLS schedule and warmer weather teams play a schedule like the rest of the world.

 

One last note,Tucson hosts the (Sponsor) Cup every spring and brings multiple MLS clubs and some USL clubs together for days of preseason matches...

 

"A total of six Visit Tucson Sun Cup matches will be played from April 3 through April 10 at Kino North Stadium, including Major League Soccer (MLS) clubs Colorado Rapids, LA Galaxy, Real Salt Lake, and Sporting Kansas City. This will be the 11th consecutive season that MLS teams will have been hosted and played preseason games in Tucson. The MLS matchups will be streamed on FCtucson.com."

 

It is a ton of fun to just watch back-to-back-to-back soccer for a week in Tucson in March. (avg March high 75, low 49)

Greenville as well has a great support system and a fun fan base.

[hskr4life]

23 hours ago, hhcscott said:

While way off-topic for this NUBB board, I LOVE That there is a passionate discussion about soccer here.

 

I think the the next wave of MLS  is starting right now with Omaha Union and my  local  FC Tucson building a true local tier of the soccer pyramid with their own supporters groups and with players like Tucson's Long and Toia, moving up to MLS. I know promotion and relegation are Euro traditions that the economics of MLS are not prepared for, but I suspect that when USL 2, USL 1, and USL Championship mature, they may move to having some form of it the only questions are will there be space in MLS someday to add teams, it's already slated to be one of the largest (by number of teams) leagues in the world when the current expansions finish.

 

I wonder about a two league system like the old MLB structure where Eastern and Western Conferences are separate until; the playoffs, or a seasonal system where winter region teams play the current MLS schedule and warmer weather teams play a schedule like the rest of the world.

 

One last note,Tucson hosts the (Sponsor) Cup every spring and brings multiple MLS clubs and some USL clubs together for days of preseason matches...

 

"A total of six Visit Tucson Sun Cup matches will be played from April 3 through April 10 at Kino North Stadium, including Major League Soccer (MLS) clubs Colorado Rapids, LA Galaxy, Real Salt Lake, and Sporting Kansas City. This will be the 11th consecutive season that MLS teams will have been hosted and played preseason games in Tucson. The MLS matchups will be streamed on FCtucson.com."

 

It is a ton of fun to just watch back-to-back-to-back soccer for a week in Tucson in March. (avg March high 75, low 49)

While it’ll never happen...

 

I think the year before the first promotion/relegation year could be just a relegation year with no promotion.  This could reduce the size of our top tier league while also leaving some teams hungry for wins.

 

I would love to see prom/releg in the US.  I know some are worried about what that would do to the average fan... but let’s face it... if the average fan is watching MLS, they are probably following soccer elsewhere as well in the world.

 

Money... well that’s a whole nother story.

[49r]

Pro/Rel within USL is a stated goal of the league (heard an interview with one of the executives a year or two ago on this) and it makes sense because there is quite a bit of inequity at the Championship level.  Some of the USL 1 teams (Omaha, Greenville, North Texas, Madison) are easily better than more than a few Championship teams (like SKC2, Tacoma, Portland 2, Los Dos, etc)  

 

Probably won't happen in MLS though unless the owners want to expand to about 40 teams then split the league in to two tiers, but that's probably a long shot at this point.

[Keenan9595]

36 minutes ago, 49r said:

Pro/Rel within USL is a stated goal of the league (heard an interview with one of the executives a year or two ago on this) and it makes sense because there is quite a bit of inequity at the Championship level.  Some of the USL 1 teams (Omaha, Greenville, North Texas, Madison) are easily better than more than a few Championship teams (like SKC2, Tacoma, Portland 2, Los Dos, etc)  

 

Probably won't happen in MLS though unless the owners want to expand to about 40 teams then split the league in to two tiers, but that's probably a long shot at this point.

The trickiest thing I see getting in the way of pro/rel here in the US is money.  Owners aren’t going to want to make less by going down, losing interest or fans and the stuff that comes with that.  Many of these clubs down have the 100 year histories of European clubs.  It’s a large hill to climb and losing any revenue or fan support by being relegated would cripple smaller clubs.  I totally agree with what you are saying about inequity in the second and third tier.

[aphilso1]

The Boys in Blue looked good again this weekend.  I'm surprised how much productivity we are getting up top from Pulido + the Island of Misfit Toys.  Pulido is making everyone around him look like superstars, which is much-needed with Johnny on the shelf.  Also, shoutout to Ilie for being a rock the past couple matches while playing out of position at CB.

[HuskerFever]

The Forward Madison/Union Omaha match that's going on right now (ESPN+) is nearly unwatchable. Sad that the camera angles are so bad in this Madison venue.

[49r]

It looks like the camera is hanging out over the sideline it's so close.  Here is the stadium in Google Maps:  https://goo.gl/maps/Q1wJvMt5Xtt2xxaf8

[hskr4life]

Pile it on here baby!!!

[49r]

 

[Keenan9595]

9 hours ago, 49r said:

 

I saw this, sucks for my owls...probably not a huge loss for our side.

[Keenan9595]

Anyone watching the nations league game tonight?

[49r]

Anyone watching the nations league game tonight?

Yes


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[Keenan9595]

50 minutes ago, 49r said:

Yes


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Very little midfield creativity...and we sub a left back, a striker and our most active midfielder.  There is no reason munsah shouldn’t be on the field right now.  I also know Adam’s is hurt, but sub off yueill and try to get some creativity going.  It’s like we are playing a friendly in a game that has to have a winner.

[49r]

Yeah midfield is mushy at best. I hate to say it but I miss Bradley. And that says a lot.


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[TheNovice]

way, way, way too many unforced errors

 

[TheNovice]

that's better

 

[Keenan9595]

When we don’t have Adam’s as that defensive 6 it shows.  But good god, we need some creativity on our runs.  I still don’t get the push for cannon or Lledget

[49r]

Phew. We better get a whole lot better on Sunday


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[Dean Smith]

We created a bunch of chances early. I like that Reyna came out post game and said he should had two (1 for sure), if that early goal goes in it’s a whole different game. Honduras can’t sit 10 guys behind the ball or have guys calling for the stretcher ever 5 minutes. The game opens up and we get three or four goals. Not finishing when we had opportunities was the biggest problem.

 

And yes, Musah should have started and so should the goal scorer who I am not going to try to spell his name. Sargent made a huge contribution with the back header off the line to save a goal but did not do near enough on the other end of the field. 

 

Mexico struggled tonight vs Costa Rica - 0-0 shoot o on out victory. Make those two changes to the team plus Tyler Adams if he’s healthy and we got a team. 

[Keenan9595]

First competitive game in almost 600 days says something and it showed for all teams tonight.  We have to make some tweaks for the final for sure.  Overall I actually liked the play of our back 4, also I was shocked at how little we tried to get pulisic the ball, let the guy create some space with the ball at his feet.  A W is a W and we move on.  Let’s get a trophy!!!

[Keenan9595]

5 hours ago, Dean Smith said:

We created a bunch of chances early. I like that Reyna came out post game and said he should had two (1 for sure), if that early goal goes in it’s a whole different game. Honduras can’t sit 10 guys behind the ball or have guys calling for the stretcher ever 5 minutes. The game opens up and we get three or four goals. Not finishing when we had opportunities was the biggest problem.

 

And yes, Musah should have started and so should the goal scorer who I am not going to try to spell his name. Sargent made a huge contribution with the back header off the line to save a goal but did not do near enough on the other end of the field. 

 

Mexico struggled tonight vs Costa Rica - 0-0 shoot o on out victory. Make those two changes to the team plus Tyler Adams if he’s healthy and we got a team. 

As much as I love Sargent I think having to play at weirder Bremen all year hurt his development a lot.  I don’t know how much you watched of them but he did a great job of tracking back to defend and held up the ball well but had little service or midfield help in scoring.  I hope he transfers somewhere this year where he’ll get a better opportunity to score and create.  But for not being 21 yet the kid has a ton of potential.  Along with Dike, sibeachue (goal scorer that I’m sure I spelled his name wrong) and tim weah we have a young striker group that could turn out pretty good in 2-3 years.   

[hskr4life]

I do think you saw the product of a team that, unfortunately, just hasn’t gotten a lot of competitive time together in the past year and a half.  Sure, we’ve had some friendlies, but they just aren’t the same.

 

Unfortunately, I didn’t see the game as I was on the road driving.  I did see some highlights and it looks like we pressured quite a bit.  Had some good chances.

 

I agree with the post above about missing Bradley.  For as much slack as he took, he was a good, sound, and most times creative midfielder.  For a team that’s pretty young at the front and back... having that vet presence in the midfield would be so beneficial.

[HuskerFever]

As much as some might have hoped Costa Rica would pull out the win, it's not only great for the sport but it's great for the narrative that this comes down to USMNT and Mexico.

[hskr4life]

39 minutes ago, HuskerFever said:

As much as some might have hoped Costa Rica would pull out the win, it's not only great for the sport but it's great for the narrative that this comes down to USMNT and Mexico.

 

The two "big kids on the block" going to duke it out is exactly what we needed.