Any REAL football fans here? (Page 9)

Don't know if you guys heard or not, but the Thursday night MLS game on ESPN has been dropped. 

It is kind of a good thing/bad thing.  Bad because it is a potential loss of exposure during the week.  It is a good thing because it allows more flexibility to the teams to do more games AND they don't have to worry about selling out on a weekday night which is very hard.

We are season ticket holders to the Fire and it is hard for us to get there for the Thursday night games.  We won't miss them, but it isn't easy.  Friday, Saturday, and Sunday's are much easier.

Have you all heard about that? 

Did you guys see this?

 http://msn.foxsports.com/soccer/story/9180526/L.A.-star-Beckham-wants-to-stay-at-AC-Milan

What do you think?

smells like regret to me....he may have thought that he was over playing international football and high level competitive club football.....but once he had to play ( or more often not play) in the MLS with poorer players the novelty wore pretty thin very quickly.

There is a lot of heavy lifting to do to get US soccer into the same reality as the Euro/South american games....not just the level of play but the overall embracing of the game by public, press etc...

He still has the fire ( no pun intended Crowny)inside him to compete and until he is satisfied I think Europe is where he will be happy.....

Just another case of $$ cant buy happiness 

Agreed with both of you.

That transfer fee would be quite impressive should it happen.  If I remember correctly, of the $250m he was to get, only about $15-$20m was actual salary, the rest was endorsements.  So do the endorsements go with him?

Like I said, I both want him to stay and want him to leave.

The MLS has a good start.  But they have a LONG way to go.  I think what is helping the league is the true international diversity that is making up the teams.  Players from Central and South America.  From Europe.  From Africa (those guys are really fun to watch).  Basically from everywhere.  I hope we can continue to get some higher profile players from elsewhere to come here to "retire" while at the same time provide home grown players the opportunity to play in the big leagues elsewhere. 

In my mind, I see MLS hitting a strong stride by 2015 but that is all relative.  It will never, EVER be on par with EPL, Serie A, La Ligue, etc.  But I think it can be on par with smaller countries (Belgium, Norway, etc) leagues.  And if and when that happens, I will be happy.  But that is an entirely different discussion. 

There is a potential game changer too....if ESPN bids for EPL coverage...which is a rumour - then the exposure goes through the roof for the game...I think the ESPN execs realise that there is no stopping the popularity of the game and it may be in their best interest to hop on board.

Fox Soccer channel and GOL TV - plus the other random coverage of the game get decent ratings...with HD, better commentators and coverage I think you'll see more progress.

MLS is a tough sell - the salary cap is fiscally the right thing to do, BUT it lessens the talent on the field ....the answer would be home growing talent but the NCAA chokes that by limiting the coaching of the best players 18-21...so until these type of problems are addressed and resolved..the domestic league cannot flourish in my opinion 

Good points.

Couple of things off of that.

1.  Did you see the article on Sasha Kleijstan (sp?) and that he was at trials with Celtic for a week before the US v Sweden match?  Celtic turned him down not because he wasn't good enough but because he wanted too much $.  $35million is the rumor.  IF that is true and IF he can continue to perform the way he has been performing, he has some good potential to be picked up by a pretty decent team come mid-summer transfer window.  I would LOVE to see a home grown finally go to a really big name team and actually MAKE an impact.  That will only be known with time though.

2.  There was an EXCELLENT article that I read on ESPN Soccer mobile this last weekend about the changes that are going on with the Soccer Academy's across the US.  And it was very, VERY encouraging.  Try to find it because if what they say is true, in this article, you might change you mind a bit about how well the US players will develop coming up through the ranks.

I'll look for it.  I've been in the Youth coaching system in the US since '87 - coached Olympic Development in Illinois/Texas etc  - college and high level club soccer....I have huge belief in the youth players in the US..in fact I have taken groups to Europe and we have beaten good Pro youth teams in the past...unfortunately - the youth success never seems to translate into large numbers of quality players for the Pro level.

There are exceptions but with the massive base of players at Youth level - there should be a steady pipeline for the senior ranks...I'm not sure why it fails...it just does...

I like College soccer - but it restricts the access to players when they are in their most developmental stage...and that is not good

The Academy idea for MLS teams is intriguing - I know some of the coaches locally ( and they are not good) - hopefully that system can help - BUT playing your peers 3 weekends a year is not enough....

If I were a Euro scout I would spend significant time here - there are many players that are capable of being at that next level with the right exposure - athletically the players are on par, the gap is in overall awareness, tactical knowledge and the "toughness" factor

Sorry for the ramble!

Here is a link to the whole series

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story?id=614395&sec=us&root=us&cc=5901

Some good points - especially the training / game ratio - and the push for results and elitism in teams..thats a culture thing...tough to overcome

Awesome points.  And thanks for the link.

You know, if they are making these implementations now, I'm thinking we should see the fruits of the labor in the 2014 WC and definitely in the 2018 WC.  I've said for the last 4+ years that 2014 could be our year to make a big splash and go deep into the tournament.  What do you think?

Couldn't agree more.  It doesn't help that we are in one of the weakest, if not the weakest, conference in the world when it comes to WC football.  Mexico has been our only true test for quite a while, although T&T are starting to show some life.  But nothing to the likes of the rest of the world.

I was heartened by the stretch of tough matches we played last year.  Don't care if we won, but that we actually played them.  Brazil (I was at that one).  Germany (I think).  The tournamet in South America (even though we were bounced out early, which was expected).  I would LOVE to see us play more SA teams.  Really test us.  Test the team.  Test the strategy and tactics.  We need to see those tests more often, and not just those in our conference.

I continue to be hopeful that we can start to deserve the higher FIFA rankings that we have been given in past years.  I want us to consistantly get past opening round play and into the Quarters and then Semi's.  I know we have the athletic talent, and am looking forward to having the skill and abillity to really put the rest of the world on notice.

The day is coming, it is just going to take a while to get here.

Interesting discussion guys, thanks.

El Nino saves the day  again!! Kuyt's goal was sweet too. It was looking very bleak around the 80 minute mark. What do you think about the decision to start the game without Torres and Kuyt, among others? The commentators questioned it.

Also, don't know if you've heard that Chelsea fired Scolari? Interesting that they're in fourth position in the table and I thought they were having a good season. Not good enough, obviously.

Manager firings are always a knee jerk reaction to bigger issues....did Scolari miss that chance in the first minute of the Hull game....or was that Terry? How about the Kalou shot or the Lampard effort that squirmed wide!....you see, if your players underperform you are ona slippery slope and I think there is not enough blame given to the players for poor results..

That said...Adams has failed before - and the impatience of an Oligarch for an owner can be measured in microseconds....so not a real shock these changes were made 

Portsmouth's manager is gone too after the loss to LFC.  And it is a knee jerk reaction, but it isn't limited to football.  Heck, NBA here (Which I DO NOT WATCH) seems to be even worse. 

Yes, there was much yelling at the telly at my house on Saturday.  Almost went hoarse when Kuyt's went in.  Still don't know how he squeezed that one in.  The angle was just unreal.

I was talking to the wife about the decision to go with Ngog up front.  He needs the experience.  Badly.  And I think Rafa was expecting the others (even though that starting front line up has only scored a total of 5 goals this season) to pull through against a side that has not done well this year at all.  Looks like it backfired.  However, if Babel had hit his sitter in the 1st half, the pressure might have been different and possibly made Rafa look like a genious.

But he made up for it by bringing in Xabi, Kuyt and Torres at the end.  And talk about a funky pentalty kick for the first equalizer.  Don't know if I've seen one like that, in the box, loaded like that.  Started to chuckle with even the Reds with their hands covering their .... well.... you know, waiting for the kick.

All in all, quite an exciting second half.  Fortunately, we came out on top.

BTW, just saw that Freddy Adu has not been called up for the USA/Mexico match tomorrow.  Doesn't help that he is getting little to no time on his current team, and when he is in, he isn't producing.

I've always thought he was brought up too far too fast.  Overhyped?  Looks like he could be.  Altidore is much better, IMO.

USA 2 - 0 Mexico!!!!!

Both goals by Bradley's kid.  Second one was a thing of beauty.

Didnt see the game but the weather looked pretty bad.

Was that field turf? I thought FIFA required grass...but seem to remember a game in Russia on turf...weird..

The field did hold up VERY well.  Props to the ground crew.

As to the US play.  They won, but I won't say it was a good game.  It just so happened that Mexico is terrible right now.  Any good team would have ripped us to shreds last night.  I still see some major holes in our defense and it could have easily been 1-0 Mexico at the 10 minute mark, and with the flash across the net corner kick, it could have possibly been a 2-2 match at the end. 

As  much as I like Gooch, he was exposed last night.  Too many missed clearances and getting beat to the ball.

All that said, our offense looked quite good.  Dempsey was nice the first half but seemed to lose steam the second.  Beasley, even though he didn't score, made Mexico crazy with his speed.  Of course Landycakes always gets under their skin.  And I liked seeing the combos of Beasley, and then Altidore and Clark up front.  Speed and size could make for some nice scoring opportunities in the future.  Only time will tell.

Oh, and last but not least, Mexico is going to have to play MUCH better than that if they are going to qualify for the WC.  If they do qualify, they will just squeek in like they did to this round of qualifiers.  They are looking quite bad. 

'Pool is 7 back with 12 games (36 points) to go.  At this point, it seems like it would take a miracle for them to regain the lead.

*sigh*

Won't stop me from watching em though. 

And the good thing is that as the EPL season is winding to a close, MLS will be getting into full swing.  Year round footy!!!!

Not yet.  Although I did catch just about every WC match when they won here in the States (yes, the Chastain victory).  We were late to a party because of that match.  Never regretted a minute.