Topic: Soccer Discussion: 1.67% Chance of Being the Best Thread on the NWR Forums

[NWR_insanolord]

The U.S. national team away kits for this year that had been leaked a while ago were finally confirmed today.



I don't like them as much as last year's, but they're still way better than the home kits, and with my birthday coming up next month I'll probably end up getting one. I just have to decide which player to get. Since I got Dempsey last year I want to do something different, and I kind of want to hold off for a better one for Yedlin, so I'm thinking either Jozy or Mix.

[Soren]

If this leads to the death of MLS, so be it. I hear the NASL season might be crackin' though...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/soccer-insider/wp/2015/03/03/is-mls-on-the-verge-of-a-work-stoppage/

Owners are also concerned free agency would lead to escalating salaries. Teams are, however, constrained by a salary cap.
One source said the league’s only free agency proposal involved players age 32 or older with 10 years of experience with the same club. Both sides have declined to discuss specifics of the negotiations.

Asked Monday about the league’s reluctance to grant free agency, United union rep Bobby Boswell said:  “They say philosophically that is not what the owners bought into. They bought into a system of single entity and that they make the deals and control the deals, and that is what they want to continue to do.”

[NWR_insanolord]

They're down to 28 years old/8 years, not necessarily with the same club. It seems like some progress is being made.

[NWR_insanolord]

There seems to be real progress now, with it being reported that the union is getting together to vote on the latest proposal, meaning the owners have offered one that isn't insulting and is actually worth considering.

[NWR_insanolord]

WE HAVE A CBA!!! THE SEASON STARTS ON TIME!!! WOO!!!

[NWR_insanolord]

Now that the season is nearly upon us, I'm really excited. There are 10 games this weekend, with all 20 teams in action, and I'm probably going to be watching 7 of them.

Tonight there's just the one, LA-Chicago. They finished near opposite ends of the league last year, but the Fire got a lot better this offseason while LA lost some pretty key pieces. This game is nationally televised on a channel I don't get, so I'm going to have to use my VPN to trick MLS Live into thinking I'm in Canada.

Saturday, the game I really want to see is Toronto-Vancouver. TFC went out and spent a ton of money this offseason, and between that and a now-healthy Michael Bradley I'm interested to see the team in motion. I'm also looking forward to seeing Houston-Columbus, with the Crew being my pick to win the East this year, as well as Portland taking on RSL.

Then Sunday I'll be there for all three games. The two expansion teams get their first real action in Orlando-NYC, then the other, original New York team takes on a Kansas City team hoping to bounce back from a disappointing finish to 2014. And then of course, saving the best for last, Seattle vs. New England, a matchup that was very nearly the MLS Cup final last year.

So basically, I intend to spend 14 of the next 40 hours watching soccer, and that's not even counting whatever English matches I may end up tuning in for.

[Soren]

Yay! The league once again won CBA negotiations with a dumb, twisted version of free agency that allows them to keep running its single-entity scheme. 5 more years of mediocrity!

[NWR_insanolord]

If you thought there was any chance of single-entity ending with this you were delusional. The players got a decent deal, though they probably should have held out for a bit more. Regardless of the limitations, the pandora's box of free agency was opened, the league minimum got a pretty good bump, and the players got the length of deal they wanted, so they can go further in 5 years instead of 8.

This is always what the deal was going to look like. A bigger increase to the cap would have been nice, as would a few other things, but this is a solid deal. Would going from 28/8 to 26/6 have been worth a huge work stoppage?

[Anti-Kһushrenada]

Now that the season is nearly upon us, I'm really excited. There are 10 games this weekend, with all 20 teams in action, and I'm probably going to be watching 7 of them.

Tonight there's just the one, LA-Chicago. They finished near opposite ends of the league last year, but the Fire got a lot better this offseason while LA lost some pretty key pieces. This game is nationally televised on a channel I don't get, so I'm going to have to use my VPN to trick MLS Live into thinking I'm in Canada.

Saturday, the game I really want to see is Toronto-Vancouver. TFC went out and spent a ton of money this offseason, and between that and a now-healthy Michael Bradley I'm interested to see the team in motion. I'm also looking forward to seeing Houston-Columbus, with the Crew being my pick to win the East this year, as well as Portland taking on RSL.

Then Sunday I'll be there for all three games. The two expansion teams get their first real action in Orlando-NYC, then the other, original New York team takes on a Kansas City team hoping to bounce back from a disappointing finish to 2014. And then of course, saving the best for last, Seattle vs. New England, a matchup that was very nearly the MLS Cup final last year.

So basically, I intend to spend 14 of the next 40 hours watching soccer, and that's not even counting whatever English matches I may end up tuning in for.

Oh wow! That sounds like an awesome weekend. I should look into doing the same. I agree that the Toronto-Vancouver game piques my interest as well. It does make things exciting when a team goes out and spends a lot of money to bring in some good talent even if it does make me root against them a bit for it. 

I am curious about how well LA does. I think they'll still be decent enough but I don't think they are top tier contenders right now. Seattle - New England should be good because it's the SOUNDERS!!!!!

After watching World Cup last year, I really wished I could have been there to see the games live. I decided to make it my goal to attend all the games in Russia in the 2018 World Cup. I've started a savings account to slowly put in a little bit of cash each month in order to save up for it. I'm really hoping I can do it. I just think that would be a great life experience. I thought I'd mention it and perhaps spark someone else's imagination to do the same.

Wish it was Sunday already! 

[Soren]

If you thought there was any chance of single-entity ending with this you were delusional. The players got a decent deal, though they probably should have held out for a bit more. Regardless of the limitations, the pandora's box of free agency was opened, the league minimum got a pretty good bump, and the players got the length of deal they wanted, so they can go further in 5 years instead of 8.

This is always what the deal was going to look like. A bigger increase to the cap would have been nice, as would a few other things, but this is a solid deal. Would going from 28/8 to 26/6 have been worth a huge work stoppage?

The players at the bottom end got a pretty decent deal now that the salary floor has been raised, and that pretty much splintered the union. It's hard to stay together when you're looking at a pretty hefty raise, even if it's 40k->60k which is still a pittance.


At this point MLS' goals and their actions don't line up. And it generally boils down to single-entity. The sooner we stop treating the league as the summer beachhouse series for NFL/NBA/MLB owners then maybe the sport can actually grow some more.

[Soren]

In other news:

The New York Cosmos will play the Cuban national team in June in Havana, becoming the first American professional team to play on the island in a generation and the first since the United States government restored full diplomatic relations with Cuba in December.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/09/sports/soccer/new-york-cosmos-will-play-in-cuba-in-june-ending-pro-sports-embargo.html

[NWR_insanolord]

It's got nothing to do with the single-entity structure; everything that's an issue now would be an issue with or without that. People act like getting rid of that is something that would magically fix everything, when in reality it wouldn't really change anything. The union could have gotten everything it wanted in its wildest dreams with single entity intact, or they could have moved to individually owned teams and still have all the problems from before.

[Soren]

Now way Josh Saunders didn't suffer a concussion on that play. But no worries, he's good enough to keep playing. What a joke.

[NWR_insanolord]

Yeah, that was ridiculous. He absolutely should have been taken out, and I'm surprised Taylor Twellman's said more than two words about anything else since that.

[NWR_insanolord]

THREE yellow cards for diving in this game. That's something I could get used to seeing more often.

[NWR_insanolord]

Mix Diskerud is to scoring goals what he is to hair: flawless.

Orlando City fans are impressively already the worst in the league.

Bradley Wright-Philips is on pace to score zero goals this season now that he doesn't have Thierry Henry there.

Matt Besler ruined my fantasy team with his reckless tackles.

[NWR_insanolord]

Clint Dempsey and Obafemi Martins picked up right where they left off.

New England had damn well better hope the problem today was not having Nguyen and Jones, or else they're in bad shape.

If the season ended today, the Seattle Sounders would win the Supporters Shield.

[Soren]

By the way, did you hear the announcers take a shot a Yedlin after the Martins goal? Seemed out of nowhere.

[NWR_insanolord]

The Montreal Impact finished dead last in MLS last year. They're currently up 2-0 after one leg, 90 minutes away from the Champions League final. Gotta love that parity.

[NWR_insanolord]

The USL's YouTube streaming works great, so I got to watch tonight's Sounders 2 game easily for free, and they opened their existence great by making Sacramento Republic FC's week even worse. Victor Mansaray is the next Messi.

[Manthony Chopkins]

Call-up roster for the upcoming friendlies was released today. I wonder why Miguel Ibarra is getting looks? I'm not saying he is a bad player. He does play in the NASL though. Also I am assuming Howard is still on hiatus. The Julian Green call-up is surprising, seeing as how he is in the doghouse at Hamburg.

[NWR_insanolord]

Klinsmann kept calling up Jozy despite his awful performances at Sunderland, so I don't think Green being there is that surprising. Granted, he was a lot more proven with the national team at that point.

[Soren]

Great Howler investigative piece on Marcelo Claure/Beckham's Miami MLS bid that also offers a look behind the curtain at MLS.

http://reprints.longform.org/howler-miami-marcelo-claure

TL;DR - Claure/Beckham's Miami bid is going just as good as you'd expect a franchise bid from people who don't live in Miami/want free handouts from the city would go. Kansas City Wizards owner Robb Heineman made a comment about the replaceability of the players should they strike, and Claure mentioned that he loves MLS because "it's communist". MLS is pissed because water is wet.

[NWR_insanolord]

Jurgen Klinsmann: Hamstring Annihilator.

[NWR_insanolord]

Minnesota United to MLS is now official, to enter in 2018, which was surprising. Looking at the very real possibility of four expansion teams in two years between Atlanta/LA Formerly Chivas in 2017 and Minnesota plus either Miami or Sacramento the next year.

It'll be interesting to see what happens with the NASL going forward. They're set to most likely lose three teams over the next few years, between Minnesota going up to MLS and Atlanta and Ft. Lauderdale being pushed out by new MLS teams. Between that and their continuing inability to gain any kind of footprint on the west coast they're looking at a drop to division 3 status, assuming they can stay alive at all.