Major League Soccer

11 reasons this is the Chicago Fire's US World Cup team

^^^:)

let's talk rookies

i'm drunk so let's go team!by team

ne: schiliwaski can score huh
red bulls: ream got early accolades but he's had some howlers? didnt see his OG. garcia agudelo chinn, liked watchung them in usoc
philly: mwanga did u see that scorcher. macinerney hasn't looked out of place in few
few minutes
dc: hamid starting, najar w/ a tight 1 tonight
chcago ?
tor ?
hous ?
chivas ?
dallas that blonde guy
galaxy bowen and stephens filling in tightly
sj opara was big but then he had finals and is sitting. lol us soccer
kc that british guy has had moments
sea gahh this team. besides being unwatchable
they have no one young to root for. 1st rounder's played like 20 mins, 2nd rounder showed up today. montano's contribution seems to be lookinng like ronaldo, the announcers never fail to mention

i forgot a team or two

col ?
colombus ?
slc wanna see gil and warner(?)

chcago ?

Haven't really played the rooks much. Kwame Watson-Siriboe has potential in the central d, Corben Bone looked good in friendlies and (might?) be the playmaker the team really needs. lolbackupgoalie got to play against PSG and AC Milan.

KC's Teal Bunbury looked good in a few mins against the Fire.

dallas that blonde guy

Brek Shea? He has played for them for a couple years, though this might be his first season as a regular first-teamer.

cross post : Austin Texas RFI

nice uniforms for vancouver
http://www.theprovince.com/technology/Smart+phone+deal+rings+Vancouver+Whitecaps+look/3138243/story.html

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k82/nowak10/9d0d4562.jpg

look who's likely coming back

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k82/nowak10/blanco.gif

lols. i will boo him lustily.

rumor is LJUNBERG OUT. hope hope hope, fingers crossed.

Henry in?

That's the story. The other rumor is that they're (NY) getting Rafa Marquez too.

what's the deal with ljungberg? has he been consistenly rubbish or just constantly injured?

consistently unlikebale, consistently complaining. i dunno, it's mostly me being sick of watching him week in week out. people are saying he might go to serie a or to another mls team.

There is one other really interesting Chicago transfer target rumor...

...

I don't know if I should talk about it!

Dude is Mexican also, played in the prem for a minute but has bounced around a few other euro leagues since.

Oh man I didn't notice until today that the Revs beat the Galaxy, that fuckin rules. <3 this league sometimes.

Um what else? Superliga is starting tomorrow, that should be good for at least one unnecessary injury while getting beat down by Mexican clubs.

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".