L. Marcus Posted November 14, 2017 Report Share Posted November 14, 2017 Bah, the cheating divas doesn't deserve the World Cup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted November 14, 2017 Report Share Posted November 14, 2017 Is "diva" there used in the mainstream sense of the word, or as a transliteration of a corrupted New Jerseyesque pronunciation of "divers"? FWIW, I had just heard about the SWE-ITA result when our power went out, stifling further comment from me at the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jagged Posted November 14, 2017 Report Share Posted November 14, 2017 On 11/10/2017 at 5:22 PM, Michael Hopcroft said: The only way this would be worse for Rupert Murdoch's companies is if England doesn't qualify either. Will anyone in America watch a World Cup with the USA absent? This is also a PR disaster for American soccer. Now I am hoping England fails to qualify. Which feels terribly unpatriotic, even though I am not a footy fan :-( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted November 14, 2017 Report Share Posted November 14, 2017 Modestly amusing little shot Pariah 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted November 14, 2017 Report Share Posted November 14, 2017 20 minutes ago, Cancer said: Is "diva" there used in the mainstream sense of the word, or as a transliteration of a corrupted New Jerseyesque pronunciation of "divers"? I say nothing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted November 14, 2017 Report Share Posted November 14, 2017 Here I was expecting a simple "Yes." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted November 14, 2017 Report Share Posted November 14, 2017 I don't do simple. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted November 17, 2017 Report Share Posted November 17, 2017 Hm. The Portland Timbers head coach has left the organization, for no obvious reason; he was not forced out as far as anyone can tell. Strange. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Hopcroft Posted November 18, 2017 Author Report Share Posted November 18, 2017 In the aftermath of a devastating 2-1 loss on aggregate to Houston im the MLS Westyern Conference quarterfinals, Caleb Porter has left as head coach of the Portland Timbers. His five years included two conference top finishes and the 2015 MLS Cup championship. He will be sorely missed. Perhaps he might wind up coaching the USMNT for a while -- he can;t be worse than most of the other alternatives. The question, of course, is where Portland goes fro, here. Soccer teams cannot afford to rest -- they are in constant flux and continual rebuild. Stars like Diego Valeri and Darlington Nagbe are apparently happy in Portland, but are in the prime of their careers -- and if they're ever going to hit the really big stage in the sport, their time is now. I would hate to see Nagbe go -- he's been the soul of this team for years, and does so many things that don't show up on stat sheets but help you win that you can;t begin to estimate his value. But are the Timbers holding him back from earning what he is truly worth in the global game? With Porter, who had coached him through his days at the University of Akron through his best years as a pro, gone, will he have a compelling reason to stay in Portland if the club gets an offer in the January transfer window? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted November 18, 2017 Report Share Posted November 18, 2017 Frankly, for the sake of USMNT as well as Nagbe's game, I think he should get at least a trial in Europe. I have seen several speculations about Porter for USMNT, but nothing definite, and some comments that suggest he may well be not the right guy for that role. There isn't an obvious candidate for that AFAICT. Until Porter, I think more or less everyone was resigned to another non-USer for that role. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Hopcroft Posted November 18, 2017 Author Report Share Posted November 18, 2017 10 hours ago, Cancer said: Frankly, for the sake of USMNT as well as Nagbe's game, I think he should get at least a trial in Europe. But how much would he gain if a club in Germany or France buys his rights in the January window -- and buries him on the depth chart? He would need to play, against top-flight competition, for his game to grow. I was thinking about a loan, but that might not be such a good idea. Nagbe had a brutal season in terms of the demands placed on his body, and needs a real off-season to recover. Jetting off the Europe in January would deprive him of that. That said, under his current contract he makes less than half a million dollars a year from his Timbers salary (not counting endorsements). A player of his ability and international experience could command four to six times that in Europe. MLS's weird salary structure means he literally can't get the payday he deserves from the Timbers or another American club. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Hopcroft Posted March 4, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 4, 2018 The Italian top league has postponed their weekend match schedule following the sudden death of Fiorentina captain Davide Astori. Astori did not score many goals in his top=flight and international careers, but that wasn't his job -- which was preventing opponents from getting in good positions to score. Apparently Astori suddenly took ill and then died. In better news, the Major League Soccer season in North America is starting this weekend, with Portland on the road to play LA Galaxy. The Timbers' stadium, Providence Park, is being renovated and expanded so they are playing their first five matches on the road. Their schedule in their inaugural season was even more brutal -- it was two months before they played a home match. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted March 4, 2018 Report Share Posted March 4, 2018 The Sounders' Jordan Morris will miss all season after an ACL injury. The new Los Angeles FC team plays its MLS franchise debut match against Seattle in the Clink this afternoon. Still unknown who'll be the next USMNT coach. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spence Posted March 4, 2018 Report Share Posted March 4, 2018 Watching the WNT play France. 1-1 at the half. Will be going to the Sounders vs LAFC game this afternoon. Sounders pulled a 4-0 win over Santa Tecla FC on Thursday without Morris, so I hope that will push over into today's game with a solid win. As for MLS being the premier soccer league in the US. Well it is. Now the question of how well it compares to the other US sports, or even internationally is a different question. For the 2017 season MLS had 8,267,534 while Liga MX (Mexico) had 8,126,558 and Serie A (Italy) had 8,422,378. Not anywhere near NFL, Premier League or Bundesliga I know. But MLS is a pretty young league and while the official date in 1993, the first teams actually joined in 1996. Between 96 and 04 the league hovered around 10-12 teams and looked like they would never actually take off. It wasn't till around 2006/7 that the league got noticed by the general public, and in that next 10/12 years the league has took off and we are up to 23 teams. I go to a lot of the Sounders games and all of the regular season games are well attended. Non-MLS games (CONCACAF) or games on a weekday show a dip because we don't seem to be as interested in the opponent or because people have jobs and trying to travel to downtown Seattle from anywhere not-Seattle is a nightmare. All in all for me, Sounders games have replaced NFL for me. Mostly because going to a NFL game is a rich mans sport while Soccer is still a sport that your can attend at a reasonable price. Not to mention they actually play rather than stand around while committees decide if some obscure subsection and clause of a page 175264 in appendix AAD of volume 67 of the rule book was violated. When I watch soccer the game actually plays. There is continuous action. The last few times I watched NFL, I lost interest, wandered off and forgot I was watching For gridiron I prefer college ball. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pariah Posted March 5, 2018 Report Share Posted March 5, 2018 Real Salt Lake began the season by snatching a draw from the jaws of victory with an own goal in the closing minutes vs. FC Dallas. Spence 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted March 10, 2018 Report Share Posted March 10, 2018 Wild running-up-and-down game in Utah as I type this, and it's 1-3 for visitors LAFC in the 55th minute. And RSL's left back is humiliating himself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spence Posted March 10, 2018 Report Share Posted March 10, 2018 And LAFC scores again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted March 10, 2018 Report Share Posted March 10, 2018 ... and again. Yeeeeeeesh. Spence 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spence Posted March 10, 2018 Report Share Posted March 10, 2018 9 minutes ago, Cancer said: ... and again. Yeeeeeeesh. Brutal end. 1:5 LAFC. At least they got one... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Hopcroft Posted March 11, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 11, 2018 In England, the coronation is underway as Manchester City has built up a nigh-insurmountable lead in the Premier League. They have also made it to the next stage of the Champions League by defeatingb Swiss club FC Basel 5-3 on aggregate. Once again the real excitement is at the bottom of the table, where five teams are fighting for two safe spots. Say what you will about MLS, you must admit it's competitive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Hopcroft Posted March 11, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 11, 2018 Fans of London club West Ham United rioted during their 3-0 defeat to Burnley, running onto the pitch, assaulting players, and openly threatening club management. The club is only three points above the "drop zone" and have a serious chance of being demoted to the second division after this season. They recently moved their home field from Upton Park to the former Olympics stadium in London (which was not originally designed with soccer in mind), and that move is viewed as a disaster. So there is a lot of fan anger. But invading the pitch is hardly the best approach to make their point.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted March 11, 2018 Report Share Posted March 11, 2018 Perhaps you fine folks here haven't heard about it, but the tiny football club Östersund beat Arsenal on Arsenal's home turf. 1-2 in the second match in R32 in the Europa League. Too bad Östersund lost 4-2 on aggregate, but one can't have everything. Spence, Michael Hopcroft and Cancer 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Hopcroft Posted March 24, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 24, 2018 I'd settle for any kind of a win right now. Not only is Portland 0-2-0, but they have given up six goals in those two games. A 3.0 GAA for the team is simply terrible. The Timbers have the talent to be a lot better than that. Under Caleb Porter, the Timbers typically got off to poor starts then rallied and got better results as the season progress. But this year there is no Caleb Porter, no Darlington Nagbe, and a new defensive system. They still have a lot of time to right the ship. Part of their current problem is that Providence Park is being expanded and the Timbers won't have a home match until April 14 against Orlando. The same thing happened to the club in their inaugural top-flight season in 2011, Somehow in my memory the wait until the home opener is longer than it actually was. The odd thing is that I doubt the new seats will make the Timbers any easier a ticket to get. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pariah Posted March 24, 2018 Report Share Posted March 24, 2018 I've heard that Providence Park is being expanded in anticipation of major league baseball expansion in the next couple of years. The front-runners, according to one article I read, seem to be Portland and Montreal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Hopcroft Posted March 24, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 24, 2018 1 hour ago, Pariah said: I've heard that Providence Park is being expanded in anticipation of major league baseball expansion in the next couple of years. The front-runners, according to one article I read, seem to be Portland and Montreal. I have heard nothing about that. Besides, Providence Park's layout is customized for soccer and for FCS football. It also can;t get any bigger. If Portland wants major league baseball they would have to build a brand new stadium, probably in East Portland or the suburbs. And major league quality stadiums are truly expensive and would require a degree of public funding with which Oregonians would not be comfortable. Getting back to soccer, Zlatan Ibrahimovic has signed with LA Galaxy. The legendary striker is coming to the US after two forgettable seasons at Manchester United, which had developed much better options at forward (I still think Marcus Rashford could be a superstar if given the chance), and his best years are clearly behind him, but he'll definitely sell tickets. He will also carry controversy with him wherever he goes, because that's just what he does, (Once he had scissors thrown at him by an enraged teammate!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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