Major League Soccer

Also I may as well spill the beans about that transfer target: N3ry C@still0

All-Star first XI to take on Man Utd

Goalkeeper- Donovan Ricketts (Los Angeles Galaxy)

Defenders- Chad Marshall (Columbus Crew), Omar Gonzalez (Los Angeles Galaxy), Jamison Olave (Real Salt Lake)

Midfielders- Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake), Marco Pappa (Chicago Fire), Javier Morales (Real Salt Lake), Dwayne De Rosario (Toronto FC), Guillermo Barros Schelotto (Columbus Crew)

Forwards- Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy), Edson Buddle (Los Angeles Galaxy)

lol 3-5-2

Giggs wants to finish his career in the MLS.

What is he like 39?

36 I think.

Hm, I don't want to say "too old" but this league is harder than many people realize.

giggs is 37 or very close to it i think.

thierry henry, then

Laurel, what do you think of Henry moving to the Red Bulls?

Since he's been saying he wanted to come to New York for at least the last few years, I think it's an excellent vote of confidence in the league and excuse me while I buff my nails on this here lapel but a bit of a coup for the club too. Yes, he's old. Yes, he's looking for somewhere to end his career that will pay him a pretty penny anyway. I don't care. He's Thierry Henry for god's sake. Sure, maybe he just wanted to live in NYC but if this club hadn't pulled itself out of the root cellar to where it is now, he wouldn't be considering it for ANY amount of money.

Exactly how he'll fit into the team I don't know, and I haven't been reading all the strategical posturing from fans and commentators.

I'll be curious as to how and where he's played.

Some people will obv have to be moved aside, interested to see who and how exactly. About time JPA felt some extra heat imo. He's not the youngest anymore either but he's got nothing on at least one of the incoming DPs, who will still run circles around him.

I haven't seen him much at Barca (nor has anybody else) but for Arsenal and France he's been a forward who can get a little petulant if he doesn't get service. Tactically and formationally you can argue at length as to whether a forward, esp a lone forward, should come back for the ball or not and try to make his own chances but I tend to think that sometimes, even in a lone striker formation, the forward may be there not just to strike but to hold the ball up, to get past the defense et cetera and help create chances for other advancing players.

I'm interested to see how much he's lost since leaving Arsenal. He never really sparked at Barca for me, but I can't believe he's still not a great player.

NY has at least one quality midfielder now though, right? The Estonian guy, Lindpere? I'd be very surprised if Henry isn't played alongside Angel, personally.

Dunno if any of you MLSers watched the Superliga last night, but we got owned 5-1 by Morelia. The Fire are a joke this year. Pic related.

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs063.snc4/34511_447047242501_671107501_5975054_4358403_n.jpg

Also I may as well spill the beans about that transfer target: N3ry C@still0

― it's time for revenge, let's attack aggresively (dan m), Tuesday, July 13, 2010 2:07 PM (4 days ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I'd just like to point out I was OTM in this thread.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMJ2s_s6tz4

Honestly, I think even if this guy wasn't playing for the team I support I'd still think it was good for the league

He's only 26. Where is your "Retirement League" now?

it IS good for the league. next couple years it's gonna be shown that u can't get by and be old in mls anymore

in planning for my first pdl game i came across this

http://i27.tinypic.com/20su1op.jpg

badass

Rumour has it that Pirès and Ljungberg may join Titi at the NY Red Bulls.

At the moment, everything I've read is pointing toward Rafael Marquez being their third designated player. This is not to say that Pires or Ljungberg couldn't join, it would just have to be for less money than they'd probably require.

Call me crazy, but I actually kind of like the Arms Race that is going on in MLS right now. The rule changes made in the off season mean that teams can hire big guns for less money against the salary cap, and doing so in the summer transfer window means they only have to pay 1/2 that money for this year. Getting guys like Henry is not really surprising -- he had been rumored to be coming to NY for like 2 years. But the signings of Castillo, Omar Bravo, the Uruguayan WC midfielder in Seattle (forgetting his name atm) and all the rumors on top of that is making for the silliest silly season since I started following the league.

Of course it's all probably planned to coincide with the end of the WC, since the entire league is run by marketers.

"It's just tough to argue against the empirical data -- TV ratings, website traffic, bar tabs. They're all going up during and around soccer games. That seems to indicate that however annoying or casual the fans are, or however annoying they are to each other, they are still watching. Yes, the World Cup more than anything else. But U.S. interest in the English Premier League and Champions League and the ratings and website traffic surrounding those leagues is growing significantly too. There are even people who watch Major League Soccer. And that may be the biggest miracle of all. And the biggest proof that soccer must be going somewhere here. It's like Daniel Kellison's [former executive producer of 'The Man Show' and 'Jimmy Kimmel Live'] heterosexuality test -- any man can have sex with a model. But only the most heterosexual of men can bring himself to have sex with a truly unattractive woman. The fact that American soccer fans can sit through 90 minutes of MLS is proof of a love of soccer beyond anything the rest of the world can possibly fathom."

Wheres that taken from?

U.S. interest in the English Premier League ... growing significantly too

The fact that American soccer fans can sit through 90 minutes of MLS is proof of a love of soccer beyond anything the rest of the world can possibly fathom.

I don't see why it's so hard to believe that people would rather go to a match, live, in a modern stadium, for as little as $15-20 instead of getting up at 6 AM to watch Bolton v. Wigan or Hull v. Burnley?

sorry michael, it's from here: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/100722/mailbag1

just posting 4 the lols, i love mls

Me too, which is why it irks me when people assume it is automatically terrible.

This is a few days old now, but in case anyone missed it...the most awkward interview ever with Thierry Henry about coming to NY

http://www.myfoxny.com/dpp/good_day_ny/new-york-red-bull-thierry-henry-20100719

Haha yeah, the official MLS blog had that listed as "worst soccer interview ever".

it was awful i loved every second

The cherry on top is the explanation of "Bronx Cheer", and the backpedalling that comes with it, LOL

ESPN had their own Henry interview the same day that proved not everyone over here is a clueless fool. That interview was conducted by Derek Rae and Shaka Hislop, of course. It also included a bonus Henry/Hislop head-to-head goals and results segment for the lolz.

lol, apparently Kansas City sold 700 season ticket packages for next year the day after they defeated Man Utd 2-1 in a friendly.

what it's all about tbf

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs211.snc4/38890_443902914788_20210009788_6206455_1862304_n.jpg

booyah

All-Star game on ESPN atm. :D

ok dan m or anyone else in the know, what the hell was going on with the coin toss before the game there?

I guess it determined which of the new teams picks first in the draft next year, Portland or Vancouver. Vancouver won I guess? Whatevs.

Team MLS proved tonight why this game is dumb. At least no-one got injured for no reason.

Kind of a downer, yeah.

lolstars

All "stars"

"All" stars

The list of Designated Players grew by one more in MLS Thursday, as the Seattle Sounders announced the signing of Uruguay World Cup veteran Alvaro Fernandez.

A 24-year-old midfielder, Fernandez joins Seattle after last playing for Universidad de Chile in Chile's Primera Division. He made four appearances for Uruguay at the World Cup in South Africa, starting the quarterfinal against Ghana and coming off the bench in three other matches.

I don't see why it's so hard to believe that people would rather go to a match, live, in a modern stadium, for as little as $15-20 instead of getting up at 6 AM to watch Bolton v. Wigan or Hull v. Burnley?

Where is loujagz to defend lower-league play when I need him

p ridiculous to suggest there are a lot of americans getting up to watch burnley, hull, wigan or bolton.

Bascially, yeah, it's not "the best play" which is kind of subjective anyway. At the highest levels like Champions League etc you often get stifling defensive play which is antithetical to what most Americans would probably consider "the best".

As for fading stars... Did you read the thing about the 24-year-old Uruguayan WC team player coming to Seattle? Or the 26-year-old Mexican who tore it up for their nat'l team and in Greece before pissing off some Ukrainian oil billionaires and getting blacklisted? Thierry Henry is sort of old but he is not finished by a long shot. There is also a bumper crop of young American talent that is just starting to rise to the surface, and instead of immediately lighting out to Europe they're staying home and developing into great players in front of us.

The tide is changing in MLS, it's too fast and physical to be considered a retirement home much longer. The tactical sensibility is low across the board, true, but it's rising steadily every season. And, above it all: It's our league. It will never rise to be anything near "the best" without the support of the people who care about the game in this country.

xp I wasn't suggesting that they were! I was saying it's silly to think that fans of the game in this country would prefer watching those teams to seeing a match in person.

The young MLS stars will (or at least should) move up to higher ranks - that's kind of what makes it a minor league. And if MLS refuses to let them move up to the bigger money in Europe, it won't have access to those players for long.

Fading stars - the Beckhams and Henrys - will continue to come over here for easier play and the American market. MLS will never have a level of play close to that of the top Euro leagues and I hope the league and its fans aren't pinning their hopes on that case. There's simply not enough money in the game.