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American Soccer |OT| Life, liberty and the pursuit of the beautiful game

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E

Esch

Banned
i wish the CONCACAF champions league had better availability. I mean i have the cable package necessary to see it sometimes, but most people don't. Seems like it's not really a point of interest, even for a lot of big MLS fans.
 
C

Cornballer

Member
C

Cornballer

Member
Cornballer said:
- US Soccer: The Younger Yanks Are Coming
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Klinsmann often says one thing and does another, but here's a bit of tactical discussion from him at the end of the interview:
ussoccer.com: You have said that tournaments like the Champions League and the World Cup set the trends in tactics and style of play. What are the trends you are seeing in terms of how the top teams around the world are playing?

JK: “It’s interesting to see that some teams are going back to old systems like the 3-5-2. You see it with Holland and Mexico, and also on the club level with Van Gaal and Manchester United. A lot of teams are becoming a little more conservative. The trend overall is that everybody attacks and defends as a unit. No matter what system you play, at the end the day you have to have strikers that are able to high pressure. You need to have defenders that step it high up and shift the game into the opponent’s half. You need to have goalkeepers being able to play out of the back and be technically gifted and not just bang the ball long and cause turnover after turnover. Those overall trends have been happening for the last few years. It makes the systems look more and more irrelevant, because at the end of the day it matters how a team plays as a whole unit. No matter what the system, it’s really interesting to see that every coach at the highest level wants to see his team connected. It’s getting more and more difficult for so called “star players” if they don’t have the willingness to work both ways. If your number 10 or your forward doesn’t want to put people under pressure or doesn’t want to work defensively, it will be more difficult for them because you can’t afford just to have eight or nine guys work and have one or two guys not doing all that work. That approach doesn’t work anymore.”
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X

xbhaskarx

Member
SI: Seattle set to become latest MLS franchise to set up own USL Pro team

The Seattle Sounders have all but finalized a new USL Pro franchise to play at their Starfire training base. The organization will delay an official announcement until final paperwork is signed, but the USL affiliate is starting to take shape.

“We’re being pretty methodical,” Andrew Opatkiewicz, who will be the USL team’s general manager, told SI.com at Sounders training on Wednesday. “I don’t personally see any realistic chance we’re not going to do it [at Starfire in 2015].”

Starfire, located 20 minutes south of downtown Seattle, houses the Sounders’ training fields and academy. The facility includes fenced-off grass and artificial turf fields, a private locker room and offices and a 4,000-seat stadium where the first team plays its home games in the U.S. Open Cup.
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I was hoping they'd put the team in another city, like maybe Boise or Spokane...

Portland:
Liviu Bird ‏@liviubird

Hearing that Timbers' Portland-based USL team is also all but done. They likely won't be playing at Providence Park.
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J

Judderman

drawer by drawer
Osorio said:
Catharsis. I was depressed at minute 80. Elated by minute 90. My fucking god what a feeling
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What a feeling that was. I was in 101 and was running around and hugging people after that goal. My throat still hurts from the singing and screaming.
 
O

Osorio

Member
Judderman said:
What a feeling that was. I was in 101 and was running around and hugging people after that goal. My throat still hurts from the singing and screaming.
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Same. I'm getting frustrated with the section's politics but it's still the best place to watch the game in the stadium.
 
J

Judderman

drawer by drawer
Osorio said:
Same. I'm getting frustrated with the section's politics but it's still the best place to watch the game in the stadium.
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This GSU shit is so dumb. Just put them on the other side of the stadium if they are going to be little shits about things.
 
N

Nesotenso

Member
Askani said:
Thad ‏@TheBackpost 3h
Vermes confirmed #SportingKC will not have their own #USLPRO team next year, still have affiliate​
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I first read that as will have.... :(

This affiliate business is going nowhere. I know Heineman says a lot of the right things but no one seems to be doing anything.
 
X

xbhaskarx

Member
MLS commissioner Don Garber signs contract extension through 2018

MLS commissioner Don Garber has signed a new five-year contract that will keep him in his position through the end of 2018, Garber told SI.com in an interview on Thursday.

The deal means Garber, 56, will have served 20 years as MLS commissioner by the end of the contract.

“It’s the first five-year deal I’ve signed in 15 years. Every other deal was a three-year deal,” said Garber, who took the job in 1999 after spending 16 years as an NFL executive. “I had always been of the mind that you sign three-year deals so you can give everybody the flexibility to determine what you want to do. The league was younger and less mature. Now we’re teeing up a long-term commitment to each other.”

Garber signed the new contract in January, he said. The Queens, N.Y., native has presided over all but the first three-and-a-half years of MLS’s history as a league. After MLS nearly folded in early 2002 (when the number of teams went down to 10), it began a long period of growth that will see 21 teams in the U.S. top flight next season (with the additions of New York City FC and Orlando).

Meanwhile, Garber received good news on another front last Tuesday: He is now cancer-free and needs no further treatment after undergoing surgery for prostate cancer in July.

“I’m feeling good,” Garber said. “I took a break during the month of August that allowed me to effectively recover. Now I’m back in the saddle and energized.”
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Great news.
 
X

xbhaskarx

Member
Deal gives Rowdies owner control of Al Lang

Al Lang Stadium, this city’s link with its historic past as the home of Spring Training, may have seen its last baseball game.

In a deal brokered by Mayor Rick Kriseman, local businessman Bill Edwards appears set to take over control of the waterfront baseball stadium where his Tampa Bay Rowdies soccer franchise play, possibly ending its almost four-decade history as a Spring Training and international baseball venue. The proposal is intended to resolve Edwards’ legal dust-up with the St. Petersburg Baseball Commission, the non-profit that runs the city-owned stadium.

Under the proposed deal, Edwards’ Big 3 Entertainment management company, already in charge of the city-owned Mahaffey Theater, would run the 1977 stadium for a four-year term beginning as soon as the end of September if the City Council approves the deal. Edwards would invest $1.5 million of his own money in stadium improvements.

The deal is likely to be a game changer for the Rowdies’ bottom-line, allowing the team to keep the proceeds from concession sales at the stadium, which previously went to the baseball commission. It would also mean the field, which up until now was routinely dug up after every season to accommodate baseball mounds and bases, will stay configured for soccer.
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X

xbhaskarx

Member
Israeli-American Attacker Kenny Saief Lands at Gent

Saief is well aware that by being born in Florida, he has options internationally. He has never returned to the U.S. since he left but has followed the progress of the sport in the United States and still harbors hope that the U.S. will show interest if he is able to carry his success over to the Belgium league.

“It’d be a big honor to play for the USA national team,” Saief said. “I had good games with Israel but to play with the USA is a big honor. It’s not like playing for a small country. It’s a big country and they play every four years in the World Cup. I supported the USA at the World Cup. They did well. They played really good, hard, and fast soccer. The last game, I think they deserved to win. In the last minute they could have scored.”
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Age eligible for the Rio Olympics, could be worth poaching if he does well in Belgium...
 
O

Osorio

Member
Judderman said:
This GSU shit is so dumb. Just put them on the other side of the stadium if they are going to be little shits about things.
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It's not just them but everybody. All three groups have forgotten that we're there to bring noise and atmosphere for the players, to make it a tough place to play for opposing teams and especially opposing goalkeepers. Instead it's fucking babies getting mad over who "controls" the sections, and who deserves to. I don't sing anymore because there's two songs going on almost all the time and we sound terrible. Our bass drummer for the last few games has been atrocious, and GSU brings their own bass drum to make us sound even more rhythmically challenged.

I'm considering making my own group on the north side of the stadium next year. Red and black, Metro-only, English and Spanish songs, verticals going through the section, and bomb tifo. Even if we can't go crazy like before at least I'll be watching the game with adults again, who are there to cheer on the team.
 
C

Cornballer

Member
- Sporting Intelligence: ‘The data’s clear: soccer is becoming more significant in the US sporting landscape’

uooRpSH.jpg
 
O

Osorio

Member
Cornballer said:
- Sporting Intelligence: ‘The data’s clear: soccer is becoming more significant in the US sporting landscape’

uooRpSH.jpg
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The decline of baseball is also telling. When I went to a Giants doubleheader last year I was surprised at how many teenagers/young adults I saw. Mets/Yankee games have very few and the children who are there usually have their backs to the game, finagling with some souvenir they got.

Whereas at soccer games the kids are usually more involved than the parents.
 
C

Cornballer

Member
Osorio said:
The decline of baseball is also telling. When I went to a Giants doubleheader last year I was surprised at how many teenagers/young adults I saw. Mets/Yankee games have very few and the children who are there usually have their backs to the game, finagling with some souvenir they got.

Whereas at soccer games the kids are usually more involved than the parents.
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Definitely. It meshes with the conventional wisdom/anecdotal evidence: basketball, baseball, and hockey in a little bit of a decline with american football staying strong and soccer on the upswing. It'd be interesting to see these numbers plotted against other metrics over the years such as tv contracts, attendance, youth participation, etc...
 
X

xbhaskarx

Member
Looks like NASL's Virginia Cavalry FC, delayed for one year and then delayed again, may actually be dead this time:

EXCLUSIVE: One Loudoun seeks to terminate stadium lease; looks for new baseball and soccer owners
The developers of One Loudoun are seeking to terminate a lease with VIP Sports and Entertainment to build a stadium on the expansive residential, commercial and entertainment development in Ashburn.

In a complaint filed in Loudoun County Circuit Court One Loudoun, LLC. is seeking the determination that VIP no longer has any right to a ground lease the two groups signed in 2012.

"We have taken legal action to terminate the ground lease," said Bill May, the Vice Presdient of Miller and Smith Developers for the One Loudoun Development.

According to the documents, the complaint was filed in an "attempt to revive the public's dream of bringing professional baseball and soccer to Loudoun County."

The documents site the inability of VIP to deliver a stadium at Route 7 and Loudoun County Parkway by April 2014. They state that VIP has " no hope of obtaining the bona fide funds for the stadium project, now refuses to acknowledge the loss of its tenancy interest in the stadium property."

Plans are in place to find new owners to lead the effort to bring two professional sports teams to Loudoun, according to May.

VIP had struck deals to bring a minor league baseball team called the Loudoun Hounds to the stadium, as well as a North American Soccer League team named the Virginia Cavalry FC.
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Between this cluster**** and Oklahoma City where USL is outmaneuvering NASL consistently, things are not looking great for NASL these days...

Rafa=FedKilla said:
Yep, I fear for the future of the NASL.
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NASL could have partnered with MLS but chose not to (before that deal, USL was the league that was floundering aimlessly: three Puerto Rico teams, Antigua Barracuda, VSI Tampa Bay). Just like the Cosmos could have joined MLS but chose not to.
 
M

Meier

Member
Yeah, there's really no reason for NASL to be the 2nd tier. It's an entirely arbitrary distinction and they've clearly been eclipsed. With so many clubs now having B teams in USL, it makes more sense to swap the two leagues in terms of the pyramid.
 
N

NobleGreenBeast

Member
Hello, I have an extra code for the Smash demo. I do not know if there are any fans in here, but let me know if you want it. Just thought I would try here first before the gaming side. The only think I ask is that you say something positive about the LA Galaxy.

edit: I am going to go give it away at the gaming side.
 
X

xbhaskarx

Member
I think that would be a bummer, even if the academy keeps going in the meantime. What happens to homegrown players who are young SoCal area kids like Marky Delgado? What happens to Wilmer Cabrera and the rest of the coaching staff?

On the other hand...
It would be cool to have two expansion drafts, one where NYC and Orlando go back and forth selecting Chivas players, and then the regular expansion draft.

Ninja Scooter said:
He's still property of Chivas I think they will try and ship him to Europe somewhere.
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MLS puts an option to buy in most loan deals, and we know Cubo's has one. Not sure how much it's for, maybe it was set really high to prevent MLS from exercising it, but they can definitely buy him if they want.
 
X

xbhaskarx

Member
Notrollious said:
Are there any other potential expansion places that could be ready to go for 2016? could be kinda cool to have LA2 and another team enter for 22 by 2016.
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Sacramento if they expand their current stadium (Bonnie) from 8k to Buck Shaw size while waiting for their downtown stadium to be built.
 
X

xbhaskarx

Member
The new Charlotte USL Pro team will be the Charlotte Independence:

It’s been confirmed to me that the name of the the team will be “Charlotte Independence”. I don’t think there will be a suffix like FC, SC, etc.

A supporter group will be announced on 9/17. If you want season tickets with the supporter’s group, I would show up on 9/17 with cash or check.

The current renovations on Memorial Stadium do not include widening the field, but the current plans are to have the field expanded to (hopefully) 75 yards with room for benches and hospitality tents. From what I understand, the name of the stadium will become “Charlotte Memorial Stadium”, dropping “American Legion” from the name.

On 8/15 a Facebook page was created at facebook.com/charlotteindependence. The only two pages to like that page? USLPRO and Colorado Rapids. This bumps my confidence level in the Rapids as the official MLS Affiliate of the Independence to 95%.
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S

smokeandmirrors

Banned
xbhaskarx said:
Sacramento if they expand their current stadium (Bonnie) from 8k to Buck Shaw size while waiting for their downtown stadium to be built.
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That wouldn't be the worst of ideas, plus you could potentially offset any "the league contracted again" pr with "we're adding LA2 back AND another team".

Osorio said:
This also means two teams would have to head West next season.

Houston and KC?

Yow.
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Yeah I assumed Houston or KC was going to move for next season.

Does this make the east easier? only time will tell.
 
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