Major League Soccer

<3 Henry!

Not only is that guy an RB fan, he's an ESC member! Don't know him, it's the scarf.

So this is kind of huge, adidas has re-upped with the league until 2018 for an assload of money. Sure, each team will continue to be in somewhat boring kits, but the return of the reserve league is huuuuuge.

http://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/article/66565

HUGE, I tell you.

CHICAGO, IL (Sept. 3, 2010) – Chicago Fire forward and U.S. Soccer star Brian McBride will announce today at noon CT at TOYOTA PARK, that he is retiring after the conclusion of the 2010 MLS season.

The MLS All-Time Best XI forward and three-time U.S. World Cup star will end his illustrious 17-year playing career following the Fire’s 2010 season. McBride, the number one selection in the 1996 MLS inaugural player draft, has appeared in 211 games, scoring 78 goals and adding 51 assists over the course of his 11-year MLS career with the Chicago Fire and Columbus Crew. One of the most decorated players in United States soccer history, the renowned striker appeared in three FIFA World Cups, scoring 30 goals in 95 appearances for the U.S. Men’s National Team from 1993-2006.

:(

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fq4vKQWCWeY

Legend.

http://sports.yahoo.com/soccer/blog/dirty-tackle/post/Philly-fans-mock-coach-s-DUI-with-99-Bottles-of?urn=sow-267985

Philadelphia sports fans have long been known as some of the harshest in the U.S. From throwing ice balls at a drunk Santa Claus to booing anything that moves, they can rarely be mistaken for library patrons and now, they're sharing their charms with MLS.

When the Kansas City Wizards visited the Union last Saturday, their coach, Peter Vermes, should have expected to hear a shout or two from the crowd about his recent drunk-driving arrest. The Union's Sons of Ben supporters club went a little beyond that, however, and sang "99 Bottles of Beer." The. Whole. Song.

From The 700 Level:

This consumed much of the first half, though there were interruptions for other game-action chants and one celebration. Then, right back to the bottles of beer. About midway through, some fans started holding up their keys, and soon everyone was doing it.

As you can hear in the video above, they modified the song to include the phrase "Peter Vermes, give us your keys" and ended with a chant of the popular billboard slogan "over the limit, under arrest."

Good thing their fans are entertaining b/c the team is dogshit.

Sweet, Bob Bradley will be at the Fire game tonight.

This is interesting -- A FIFA-sponsored study on the development (or non-development) of the game in the USA

http://www.examiner.com/pro-soccer-in-boston/fifa-sponsored-scholar-researches-the-history-of-soccer-massachusetts

okay now it's on. just down the street from qwest field, in seattle:

http://i54.tinypic.com/2gucbjo.jpg

I loled.

Good thing their fans are entertaining b/c the team is dogshit.

FT
Collapse -
Union Field
Philadelphia Union 1 - 0 Chicago
36' Sébastien Le Toux 1 - 0

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Nice to see Richards growing up in his play. Also, the Henry-to-Lindpere-to-Henry play was a ballet.

xp I never said the Fire weren't dogshit, that game was so so painful :(

watching the highlights now confirms a pretty clear handball led to Philly's goal too, oh well

TFC firing Preki and Mo Johnston.

*Pos +/- GP W D L PTS PPG GPG GF GA GD LAST 5
*1 Los Angeles Galaxy (W1) Clinched MLS Cup berth 25 15 5 5 50 2.0 1.5 38 19 19 L L D W W
*2 Real Salt Lake (W2) 25 13 8 4 47 1.9 1.5 38 16 22 W D W D W
*3 Columbus Crew (E1) 25 13 5 7 44 1.8 1.3 33 27 6 W D W L L
*4 FC Dallas 24 10 12 2 42 1.8 1.3 31 19 12 W D W D D
*5 Red Bull New York (E2) 25 12 5 8 41 1.6 1.3 32 27 5 W W L W D
*6 Colorado Rapids 24 10 7 7 37 1.5 1.3 32 24 8 L W W L W
*7 San Jose Earthquakes 23 10 6 7 36 1.6 1.1 25 23 2 W L W D W
*8 Seattle Sounders FC 25 10 6 9 36 1.4 1.2 30 29 1 D W L D W
*9 Toronto FC 1 25 8 7 10 31 1.2 1.0 24 28 -4 D L D L W
*10 Kansas City Wizards 23 8 6 9 30 1.3 1.0 24 24 0 L W W D W
*11 Chicago Fire 23 6 8 9 26 1.1 1.2 28 31 -3 L D D L L
*12 Chivas USA 24 7 4 13 25 1.0 1.0 25 31 -6 L W L W L
*13 Philadelphia Union 24 6 6 12 24 1.0 1.1 27 39 -12 L W D W L
*14 New England Revolution 24 7 3 14 24 1.0 1.0 24 41 -17 L L W L L
*15 Houston Dynamo 24 6 5 13 23 0.9 1.2 29 40 -11 L W L L L
*16 DC United 25 5 3 17 18 0.7 0.7 17 39 -22 W L L W L

srsly sick of these fuckin threads clogign up SNA tbh fwiw?

Top 8 go to playoffs, btw. Not looking so hot for my Fire, tho with the Sounders in town this weekend they can maybe make a big jump. Excellent job pasting Cbus by the way, guys.

xp lol

should've used the fuckin code tag on that table maybe

anyway it's here if you haven't seen it: http://www.settingthetable.info/home.asp

Setanta Sports showed the Fire v RSL game on sunday night

god it was awful

yeah i didnt watch it myself but i saw the highlights. conde looked not in the least bit bothered at getting sent off.

GAME OF THE CENTURY
LA VS NY
EPIC SHOWDOWN
BATTLE OF ALL PLAYERS THAT ARE DESIGNATED
EXCEPT HENRY BECAUSE HE KICKED THAT GUY
THIS FRIDAY FRIDAY FRIDAY

seriously the promo for this shit is getting silly

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4154/5012599400_2770b602ce.jpg

great piece on rising ticket prices in MLS, something that troubles yours truly just a bit

http://pitchinvasion.net/blog/2010/09/22/ticket-pricing-love-and-alienation-in-toronto/

xp Needs a snappier title, the GG series all have what I'm pretty sure are well-known song lyrics as titles, so someone is going to have to do better than "OMFG".

Anyone watching the Houston vs. KS Wizards game?

I love the Wizards!

and I hate all Houston/Dallas professional sports teams.

i am a teal bunburry fan

A Dynamo win would've been good for the Fire. Crazy match tho.

And how about the Sounders blowing a 2-0 lead in champions league? I didn't realize Humberto Suazo was back with Monterrey.

LAvNY is also going to be on ESPN3 streaming, in case you're like me and don't have a television that is connected to cable.

I was wrong and now I can't find a stream!

starts in 40 minutes i thought?

yeah uh... ignore me its up on espn3...

typical MLS-big-game energetic start

Galolaxy looked like Bangladesh playing a man down.

I have heard through the grapevine there are a bunch of Seattle fans in Chicago for the game today. Hope they're enjoying being in a real city.

...and Toronto is def. out of the playoffs. Now all of my hopes and dreams are focused on the Wizards.

Fire are prolly out too, caving to Seattle in the final 2 minutes just like they've done over and over all season.

http://i56.tinypic.com/elbtrp.jpg

http://i53.tinypic.com/smx955.jpg

1st pic is so perfectly composed, gonna paint it on my wall

It's no excuse as the Fire have been disgraceful most of the season, but this was at least like the 26th different defensive line-up all year, with a midfielder playing on the right and two rookies. It's become pretty blatant that coach doesn't really know what he's doing. smh

The one thing that didn't suck:

http://i52.tinypic.com/nwzsie.jpg

(fireball held by yours truly)

The Sounders had 3 wins, 9 losses, and 2 draws with Ljunberg as a starter (including losses to cellar dwellers Philadelphia, and D.C. United).  That's 11 points in 14 matches.

Without Ljunberg the Sounders have 8 wins, 1 loss, and 4 draws.  That's 28 points in 13 matches. 

With Ljunberg as a starter, the Fire have 1 win, 5 losses, and 2 draws.  That is 5 points in 8 matches. 

Without Ljunberg the Fire had 5 wins, 5 losses, and 6 draws.   That's 21 points in 16 matches. 

I know all Seattle fans are glad to be rid of the dude, but the Fire's problems go much, much deeper than that.