MLS 2022

[TimHowardsBeardJuice]

It’s this one guy who somehow ended up with the Cosmos IP and just insists on having his own club in these crap unstable leagues instead of accepting a very large pile of cash.

 

[mmmmsnouts]

The legendary name is, if you remember, Cosmos, which in the predecessor NASL in the 70's sold out stadiums with names like Pele, Beckenbauer, Chignalia. The logo was class and the merchandise is still often seen around the city. Unfortunately some knob owns the rights to the name and colors and he has attached them to a team in something called the National Independent Soccer Association, which Wikipedia tells me is third-tier and which even the players' mothers have never heard of. The team is on hiatus at that, having not played since before the pandemic.

When MLS started and Tampa was given one of the original teams, they ended up naming them the Mutiny and it never caught on. I believe if they had been named the Rowdies like they were in the NASL, that team would still be playing in MLS today and Orlando would have never been given one.

As it is, Tampa is the only city to lose an MLS team and not eventually get a replacement. Even Miami got a new one ffs!

 

[RFCbluenose]

Who are your favourite teams to watch mate?

Kansas City and Vancouver Whitecaps. Just because they both have Scottish players (I'm Scottish). I don't have any other affiliations really. What about yourself?

 

[Billy Dean]

Kansas City and Vancouver Whitecaps. Just because they both have Scottish players (I'm Scottish). I don't have any other affiliations really. What about yourself?

Not sure yet mate, I haven't seen enough yet. I enjoyed watching Atlanta the other night, especially in the 2nd half when they brought on Martinez and Almada. I like the way City play but I couldn't bring myself to root for them or anything like that. I'll try to catch some more this weekend although kick offs are a bit later so it might be difficult.

 

[Billy Dean]

Ravel Morrison signs for DC United

 

[Billy Dean]

Caught up with yesterday's highlights. Goal on debut for Bale. Good win for Inchy's boys at Houston. Defeat for Rooney despite a spirited effort to come back in the second half.

Defeat for the ferret Phil Neville too which is always good

 

[RFCbluenose]

Not sure yet mate, I haven't seen enough yet. I enjoyed watching Atlanta the other night, especially in the 2nd half when they brought on Martinez and Almada. I like the way City play but I couldn't bring myself to root for them or anything like that. I'll try to catch some more this weekend although kick offs are a bit later so it might be difficult.

Have you seen the Scottish player Ryan Gauld play for Vancouver? It's difficult to properly judge against MLS standard, but he looks a good player. He never gets a sniff of a place in the national team, which is mad considering Scotland doesn't exactly have a wealth of attacking players at our disposal.

 

[Billy Dean]

Have you seen the Scottish player Ryan Gauld play for Vancouver? It's difficult to properly judge against MLS standard, but he looks a good player. He never gets a sniff of a place in the national team, which is mad considering Scotland doesn't exactly have a wealth of attacking players at our disposal.

I've seen some highlights, but yeah it is weird that he's never involved.

 

[Martin Alvito]

I hate to say it, but it's a farmer's league.

I took my son to see an MLS game (in another city) as a birthday present a few years ago, because his two favorite players on the entire planet were involved. Good choices of players, too. The seats were literally in the front row right by a corner flag.

The thing that blew my mind was the warmup, where one of the two players involved put on a clinic which demonstrated just how vast the skill gap was between a world class player and a MLS roster player. It was similar to watching Teller do absolutely absurd things with a balloon on a wire (that I could not see, but which had to have been there) in Vegas, except that there was no wire that tethered ball to player.

The opposing team won, because the opposition's superstar is a physical god in human raiment and beat the opposing global superstar exactly once. Said superstar collapsed to the turf in utter anguish in response to the goal. He played absolutely filthy and cagey defense for eighty nine minutes and fifty seconds, experienced one tiny mental lapse that led to a goal, and knew that he was completely culpable. His (reasonable?) expectation was that he would lock down one of the best players on the globe, physical twilight of both or no, for exactly ninety minutes. He failed, knew it, and unambiguously showed that he recognized the failure.

What I learned is that the gulf between MLS and 'real' footy at the top level remains massive, both in terms of skill level and mentality. I have seen a young Salah utterly dominate a pitch. These two, ague or no, were far better players. They went well beyond justifying their reputations, and in the process gave the lie to the notion that they were surrounded with players that belonged on the same pitch.

As a side note, my son learned more or less every Spanish expletive in common use in the Western hemisphere, so you might want to consider that one before taking your kid to a game if you care about that sort of thing.

 

[Billy Dean]

Think I might stick Minnesota-Portland on tonight. Cheer on Inchy's boys

 

[Billy Dean]

 

[Billy Dean]

Minnesota 3-1 at HT. Went 1 down after 13 seconds but came back well. Entertaining game so far.

 

[Billy Dean]

Bonkers game. Portland brought it back to 3-3 then went ahead. Inchy’s boys salvaged an equaliser but they’ll be annoyed to not get the 3 points

 

[wm02]

Nice first game in charge for Rooney.
Two late goals to beat Orlando 2-1.

 

[Billy Dean]