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American Soccer |OT| Life, liberty and the pursuit of the beautiful game
- Thread starter Askani
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Cornballer
Member
Huh? He's not up for any awards this year.
There were just too many good candidates this year, people shouldn't compare it to previous years. Remember when Brek Shea was an MVP finalist just a few years ago? Ethan Finlay had comparable goal/assist numbers this season and he's probably not in the top 20.
Shea 2011: 11 goals 4 assists 2650 minutes
Finlay 2014: 11 goals 7 assists 1900 minutes
The problem isn't with any of the three finalists (they're all deserving) or with the people who voted, the problem is there can only be three finalists in a year when like seven players had legitimate MVP caliber seasons.
Keane 19/14
Martins 17/13
Nguyen 18/5
Phillips 27/2
Dempsey 15/10
Donovan 10/19
Valeri 11/14
honorable mention
Henry 10/14
P Morales 10/12
Dwyer 22/1
J Morales 9/12
Espindola 11/9
Shea 2011: 11 goals 4 assists 2650 minutes
Finlay 2014: 11 goals 7 assists 1900 minutes
The problem isn't with any of the three finalists (they're all deserving) or with the people who voted, the problem is there can only be three finalists in a year when like seven players had legitimate MVP caliber seasons.
Keane 19/14
Martins 17/13
Nguyen 18/5
Phillips 27/2
Dempsey 15/10
Donovan 10/19
Valeri 11/14
honorable mention
Henry 10/14
P Morales 10/12
Dwyer 22/1
J Morales 9/12
Espindola 11/9
Rafa=FedKilla
Banned
Was hoping Vancouver would affiliate with the Highlanders and bump them to USLPro......
What is your pre-game protocol?
We're on friendly terms with Revs supporters groups, but I doubt you guys have the autonomy to tailgate with us given the size of the crowd.
ActStriker
Member
I don't know where exactly we're tailgating; they haven't told us yet.
They're planning on rolling out from Boston around 6, with a pickup spot in Hartford around 7:30, so odds are we'll be there by 10
Damn. You guys are gonna be lit by the time you get to Jersey. With drinking time to spare.
ActStriker
Member
I am going to be hammered or close to it. There's no escaping it
They're just writing us off before we even play. No respect, we're the Rodney Dangerfield of the league. We get no respect.
Cornballer
Member
I was looking at the MLS Cup odds that Castrol put together:
LAG: 52%
SEA: 23%
NE: 12%
NY: 13%
Eastern Conference not getting much respect, but I suppose they'll be playing on the road in MLS Cup.
LAG: 52%
SEA: 23%
NE: 12%
NY: 13%
Eastern Conference not getting much respect, but I suppose they'll be playing on the road in MLS Cup.
The most in-form team is the least likely to win.
Cornballer
Member
Well, that's what the Castrol Index or whatever is predicting.
One place in Vegas has:
LA Galaxy - 7/4
New England Revolution - 3/1
New York Red Bulls - 3/1
Seattle Sounders FC - 10/3
EDIT: For the sake of amusement, here's what they looked like in January before the season started:
This is 2014 not 2012?
Again by that logic Ethan Finlay should have been a finalist based on how his stats compared favorably to 2011 Brek Shea.
Also you're comparing Thierry Henry and Marvin Chavez? I watched every Earthquakes game that year and Chavez would have been fourth choice for team MVP at best, after Wondo, Bernardez, and Dawkins, maybe just edging out Gordon. Chavez has had three goals in one assist in the two seasons since then.
BWP had the most goals since Wondo two years ago, whereas Donovan had the most assists since Valderrama 14 years ago. Isn't he the biggest MVP finalist snub then? And if you're including playoff goals, Donovan had only the third playoff hat trick in league history, and the first since Stern John in 1999. So most assists and most playoff hat tricks in this millennium, clearly Donovan gets no respect. The league is biased against small market teams like NY and LA...
Getting back to 2014, let's look at that list I posted:
The two guys who stand out are Phillips and Dwyer. The key to success in MLS currently is that other type of player that represents pretty much everyone else on that list (plus others like Higuain), dynamic guys who can create as well as finish. Nguyen didn't have many assists but that's because aside from Mullins for a couple weeks in the middle of the season and Davies for a couple weeks at the end of the season, the Revs didn't have decent forwards, otherwise he should have had 8-10 assists. Matt Doyle may be a Klinsmann-bashing meanie but he had a good article on that subject a couple months ago....
You didn't. I'm not saying Donovan is a snub, neither one is. They're two guys who had great seasons in a year when many did.
That's fair. I honestly think Henry was a bigger snub than BWP. His impact this team has been nothing short of incredible, including many things that don't show up on the scoresheet.
Guess it was just a phenomenal season.
Armchair Analyst: DP theory, a new attendance record for MLS & other Week 33 thoughts
After talking about Donovan and Henry and nine year high in average goals per game...
2. What do they spend on?
There's no doubt that DPs, to one extent or another, drove the bus on the goal-scoring exploits of 2014. Martins and Robbie Keane are probably co-favorites to win MVP; Dempsey lived up to all reasonable expectations; Cubo Torres exceded those for both Chivas and Mexico; and Chris Wondolowski, even on an absolutely dire attacking team, still found a way to bundle home 14 goals. That's his fifth straight season in double-digits; he's Mr. Reliable even when he doesn't get service.
But the area where DP spending is truly shown is in the build-up play:
There were 12 guys who finished the season with double-digit assists, and 10 of them are DPs. The other two are Brad Davis, who's fourth in all-time assists, and Marcelo Sarvas, who's a vital attacking cog for one of the all-time great attacking teams (LA actually outscored Seattle 69-65 this year, which makes this the first time since 2011 that the highest-scoring team didn't also win the Shield).
As the league becomes more sophisticated, MLS teams are putting more of their coin in players who create the special moments, rather than those who finish them. Informing that idea is that you can find a Wondolowski or a Bradley Wright-Phillips on the scrap-heap or, failing that, you can build an approximation from the usual channels Dom Dwyer and Gyasi Zardes combined for 38 goals this year, after all.
As great as those guys are, all four are pretty much specialists, and you're really only going to ask them to do one thing. More to the point: If you don't have enough quality out there in the midfield, they're never going to get a chance to do it.
So "the guy behind the guy" is where teams have invested, and they're right to. Yeah, there will still be big-name goal-scorers coming into MLS, but the bigger names will be either in the midfield, or in the lines between midfield and forward guys like Diego Valeri, Pedro Morales and, yes, Keane and Henry.
ActStriker
Member
ActStriker
Member
Tim Howard won Male Athlete of the Year
smokeandmirrors
Banned
Well deserved
Cornballer
Member
platypotamus
Member
Well, that's what the Castrol Index or whatever is predicting.
One place in Vegas has:
LA Galaxy - 7/4
New England Revolution - 3/1
New York Red Bulls - 3/1
Seattle Sounders FC - 10/3
EDIT: For the sake of amusement, here's what they looked like in January before the season started:
Are you okay Dartastic? Post if you're okay
Well, that's what the Castrol Index or whatever is predicting.
One place in Vegas has:
LA Galaxy - 7/4
New England Revolution - 3/1
New York Red Bulls - 3/1
Seattle Sounders FC - 10/3
EDIT: For the sake of amusement, here's what they looked like in January before the season started:
Wow, Chivas had better odds than I would have given them.
The obvious winner, even without his heroics against Belgium he would deserve it.
ActStriker
Member
You can't give odds of infinity/1
Jurgen Klinsmann Needs to Turn Things Around for U.S.
What went wrong in Dublin, you ask? Pretty much everything. ASN's Brian Sciaretta takes a hard look at the U.S. national team's last five games and doesn't like what he sees.
I hope so but I have a feeling we'll be seeing plenty of those veteran guys and not enough fresh blood...
What went wrong in Dublin, you ask? Pretty much everything. ASN's Brian Sciaretta takes a hard look at the U.S. national team's last five games and doesn't like what he sees.
I hope so but I have a feeling we'll be seeing plenty of those veteran guys and not enough fresh blood...
No way Tim Howard was not winning that. He had a stellar year and deserved it. I personally think Dempsey should've won it, if not for that Belgium game.
SPEAKING OF THAT BELGIUM GAME: Earlier I mistook that image with Wondo's apparently old votes for MVP as something his club was pushing for this year.
I am not sure if I will get over this.
SPEAKING OF THAT BELGIUM GAME: Earlier I mistook that image with Wondo's apparently old votes for MVP as something his club was pushing for this year.
I am not sure if I will get over this.
There is a poll going on over at NBCSports.com asking people who they would rather see join the league.
Final round for Goal of the Year is up for voting as well.
Oba or Will for me. I am leaning towards the Timbers on this one as both the assist and goal itself were amazing.
It's Henry or Oba for me. That assist on Will's goal is award worthy though, I mean goddamn you don't see shit like that very often.
smokeandmirrors
Banned
yeah same. Oba's is just regoddamneddiculous and Henry's goal is the type of goal you know he can pull off at any time and are afraid that he's going to do it every time he has the ball and yet it's still surprises you with the speed, accuracy and the ability to get it past a million people in the box to score.
If the Revs didn't have Jones I would be much less worried about this next set of games, Red Bull beat the Revs without him a few times this season but they haven't faced the Revs with him yet.
I can't separate Oba's goal from just being kinda lucky, tbh. I'm going for Will's, all the way. Not just because he's a Timber, but because everything in that play was incredible.
jamesinclair
Banned
How can they do that?
I think that's the number of seats but because of fire code they cap it at 25,189 or whatever
If they ask permission from the fire marshal they can raise it.
I know that the USA vs. Turkey game had an attendance of 26,500 or so.
smokeandmirrors
Banned
Idk I think taking chances and getting lucky is part of what can make a goal great because of the likelihood it doesn't work.
jamesinclair
Banned
Does that mean using the obstructed view tarp seats?
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