All-Purpose, Never-Ending Soccer Thread

Really?

I just think it's hard to say Italians dive based on Italian club teams, since a lot of times the majority of players are not Italian.

I remember when Aresenal played Real Madrid last year and there were more Englishmen (Beckham and Woodgate) playing for the Spanish club team than the English club team, which had more Spaniards (Fabregas, Reyes) starting than the Spanish club team.

 

Quality LA Times story on the state of MLS:

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-mls6apr06,1,2142991.story?coll=la-headlines-sports

 

good story but heard it all before, nothing really original or groundbreaking

 

It's depressing to see the MLS still has epic troubles beating Mexican club teams on Mexican soil.

:'(

 

A season preview for people who neither know nor care about MLS. There were positive remarks about MLS, though, so Jones must've clearly been holding his nose when he was writing this.

------------

NOLU,

Considering MLS clubs had trouble getting past Costa Rican runner-ups and the Guatemalan Telephone Company not too long ago, a 2-1 loss in Guadalajara and overtime in Mexico City looks like progress to me.

The SuperLiga will make for interesting viewing, that's for sure....

 

FSC is showing a Liverpool game this weekend! What is that like only the third or fourth time this year? If that?

vs. Reading, 10 a.m. EST I believe.

 

They've split the EPL package with Setanta this season. I think it'd be quite difficult to follow EPL with only FSC.

Does anyone know if there's any other ways to get Sky Sports News? I TiVo the one that runs on FSC, but it usually a little out of date by the time I get to it.

 

I feel so good about my MLSnet fantasy team.

So who've we got in the League this season? I'll take New England for the the East regular season, L.A. Galaxy in the west regular season, with D.C. United and Dallas reaching the cup final.

Dallas and my new favorite player Kenny Cooper win the title. He's almost as fun as Peter Crouch!

 

The pregame to the Colorado-DC game didn't fill me with hope. The commercials they ran and Rob stone's initial intro were all about "how soccer is on the cusp!"

Just stop. Cusp of what? Why can they not advertise it and announce it like any sport? Why must the ABC intro say "If you're watching, you're an original! You were here when it began!" Why must the ESPN ads say "You like soccer because it has defense, just like baseball!!!!!!!!!"

When will the ad people and the TV people stop this constant attempt to tell everyone why they should be soccer fans? Just treat it like a normal sport, like it already belongs. And those who wish to care will care. Those who do not wish to care, oh well. But don't beat them over the head with why they should be fans.

And . . . . playing seasons on FIFA 2000 for the PlayStation drove home just how mediocre Ms. Foudy's color commentary is (that was the year EA sports decided to go to an American announcing pair; her best line was "Dear me! He's gonna need the Magic Sponge!" whnever a guy went down. Yes, I know the video game people write these remarks, but I've never been impressed with her commentary).

Of course, I might be the only one here watching this MLS season opener. Because while I have supported MLS since before team names existed and through some pretty bad soccer at times, that new ESPN ad campaign and today's runup to the game nearly pushed me away.

 

I'm watching, and I'm enjoying. The Colorado kits look excellent, and they're getting up and down the field well. There's goals in this game.

 

I watched what I could of the ABC opener and I've certainly have seen worse from MLS.

In other observations, I couldn't help but focus on the thousands of empty seats in the AP wire Crew-Red Bull pictures. Fuck me that shit is dire. And yes I know it was cold, but it's god-damned soccer. It only takes 2 hours to play.

 

But who do you pick to win the Open Cup?