Major League Soccer

favorite part of this impressive seattle goal is the half-hearted appeal for off side
http://gfycat.com/RewardingAccurateHoiho

weekend update: The Fire are still terrible, though a little less terrible than week 1. I still don't think the coach has what it takes to field a team in the league at this point. They're still talking about the new players needing time to 'gel' even though two teams who didn't exist this time last year have been playing away successfully for 2 weeks now.

Also: http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/2015/03/16/mls-confirms-advanced-discussions-minnesota-expansion-will-evaluate-going-be

About 24k tickets sold for today's Orlando City. Insane considering how the Magic couldn't do those numbers during the season they went to the Finals.

Whitecaps will be tough. I saw them play the Fire in Chicago last year. 0-0 draw...

not often the only and game-winning goal comes in in the 96th minute!

so whitecaps got soundly beaten by toronto first game of the season, they were arguably the better team in the first half but then were just dross in the second and were totally bossed. they've have won 1-0 twice in a row now away from home, and deservedly so in both cases imo.

all 3 goals this season scored by new boy octavio rivero who is very talented at link-up play and seems to have finishing down p good too. he's 23 and from uruguay, he was playing in chile last year where he scored 10 in 16 making him one of the top scorers that season - chilean football like a lot of latin america has two mini seasons a year so 16 games was one whole mini-season.

too early to get too hopeful but id guess the playoffs are a distinct possibility again this year. home games against timbers, galaxy, and columbus coming up, looking forward to them #stokedonmls

also was nice to see ricky kaka. still has his class, although he's physically past his prime.

bleh, gutted by that goal. Orlando squandered a lot of scoring opportunities and their offensive capability is still very sloppy overall. Vancouver was able to force a lot of turnovers in inopportune places and almost made us pay about three times for it.

It's not surprising, Orlando was a successful minor league soccer team that had to jettison much of its lineup and they're just not there yet. solid effort, but man....deflating goal. congrats jim!

supposedly there's gonna be an announcement re MN United this week?

not the first person to say it but its' tru, there is something to the red eye
http://stmedia.startribune.com/images/jmarthaler_1362513554_Minnesota_United_Logo_small.jpg

on grass, in city/good city, legit team. lets goooooooo

Avaya stadium was pretty nice, too bad Fire lost again

Love MN coming in but sad I have to hate them now

its true, we are enemies

Watching the San Jose v. Chicago game because I wanted to check out the crowd in the new stadium. I think Chicago looks worse than they did the first week. Do they practice? Or travel together? Seems like a team with some talent but zero structure or plan or belief in themselves. Utterly random when things work out for them.

Also, the white uniforms look like little kids summer pajamas.

where do I begin

honestly I do like the unis though

I like the dark unis but not the whites. The chest stripes don't work for me.

Do you think it's really about coaching? Or do you need player continuity before coaching?

I look at my local team - Dallas - and they've played so many minutes together that they're almost better when everything breaks down. Helps to have Blas Perez who is a goal poacher with few peers.

fwiw the shirt design is a takeoff of one of their old shirts + the colors from the city flag

http://www.oldfootballshirts.com/img/shirts/426/chicago-fire-away-football-shirt-2000-2002-s_710_1.jpg
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-oPKFLzZk4Cg/VPSAml2uQWI/AAAAAAAAfFY/pjjiTAuUgHM/s1600/Chicago-Fire-2015-Away-Kit%2B%286%29.jpg

See, I like (and remember) the old shirt! The sleeve stripes and the light blue Quaker stripes together just screams "early 80s pajamas" to me.

Do you think it's really about coaching? Or do you need player continuity before coaching?

I look at my local team - Dallas - and they've played so many minutes together that they're almost better when everything breaks down. Helps to have Blas Perez who is a goal poacher with few peers.

― EZ Snappin, Tuesday, March 24, 2015 8:40 PM (23 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I and most other long-time fans blame ownership before the coach. Don't get me wrong, I think Yallop is a terrible coach, but I think Guus Hiddink or Pep Guardiola or Bruce Arena or really any of the 'best coaches' in the world or just the USA would struggle mightily here. Ownership provides the bare minimum of investment and is widely seen as sitting on the franchise while other owners and expansion cause team values to rise and rise. (He bought in for $40m I think, and NYCFC went for $100m+ ... Chicago is a big market.)

I also realize almost all supporters of every club in the world hate ownership, so it's not a unique situation.

xp I also haaaate the current home shirt with a passion. The removal of the iconic white chest stripe is a crime.

I could go on about ownership for a while. There are a couple of 10k+ post threads on bigsoccer about the topic if you're interested in finding out more.

I might just to torture myself. Hopefully things turn around for you Dan.

Fire acquire Victor Perez on loan from Valladolid, v interested in this signing especially if they can figure out a way to keep him.

whitecaps were terrible today but snuck a 2-1 victory over the timbers at the death with a goal from zambian-born welsh journeyman robert earnshaw on his whitecaps debut. 3 wins in a row, but not impressing so much.

have we got a thread for the copa america centenario? venues will be announced in may. im for sure going to a game. won't be too hard on the west coast, though ideally for me Seattle will be chosen as a venue. legitimately excited by the prospect.

Definitely gonna need a thread for the Centenario. I'll probably make one for the Gold Cup this summer, too.

Fire (somehow) win! vs Philly, though obv Philly is more on the Fire's "likely to be relegated if such a thing were possible" level than any of their previous competition. I saw some of Colorado's game this weekend, too, and they are also garbage.

It makes it even tougher to deal with when Harry Shipp does this

http://streamable.com/6jkk?t=0.0

and there is no one to finish. Should have kept Robert Earnshaw on after last year!

A few players are coming back from injury/internationals so things will likely get a little better. Also liking the looks of the new guy (one of the many), Joevin Jones.

Orlando plays its best on the road when I can't watch them. fucking figures.

http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd118/embarchie/michel.jpg

serna w/ a cracker tonight
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0x1_7fwsOA

still really enjoying the MLS season, even with Orlando kinda returning to the expected expansion pratfalls. Still winless (0-3-1) at home, and in fact haven't scored there since Kaka's opening day stoppage goal, but they've had 30k+ there at every match. for Orlando, that's kind of insane. shame the new stadium (assuming it gets built) will only hold 19,500.

tonight is an exhibition against Ponte Prieta, looking forward to it.

figures they'd get their 3 goal explosion and home win when it doesn't count. though I'm not naive, as with all friendlies, both sides mostly featured younger reserves and the match was fairly passive for 20+ minutes.

Still, two goals off of set pieces is pretty inspiring. now to do it when it counts.

also was frustrated last night to arrive and find the seats next to mine occupied by young children, especially since I knew their tickets weren't there and their parents just told them they could sit there as they were unoccupied. The young girl wasn't a problem, but the boy kept walking back and forth across my line of vision, and then someone gave him a ball and he kept kicking it across the aisle, parents nowhere to be found.

I kidnapped him and sold him for a hefty profit, last laugh mine.

lol I am in the highlight video again, due to where my seat is located....

http://www.orlandocitysc.com/post/2015/05/02/highlights-orlando-city-sc-3-ponte-preta-2?autoplay=true

1:08 - 1:13 mark, lowly guy sitting in the last seat of the first row, hunched over, watching the corner.

A bunch of my friends decided to rent a van and drive to KC for the Fire game there today, feeling p jelly I couldn't ditch life and go along.

cringetastic

https://scontent-mad.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpf1/v/t1.0-9/10996137_1594099980860505_1168501228938001988_n.jpg?oh=1cd1f9373bbbab2362bf3a974db64cda&oe=55C5720E

New York's alright if you like saxophones

we don't give a "crud"

did Fred Savage write this fight song when he was 11

embarrassing on multiple levels

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tiLB5sfVoE

oh my god the lolz

The red card means Dempsey will be automatically suspended by the US Soccer Federation for Seattle’s next Open Cup game in 2016, but given the aggravating circumstances – his actions appear to constitute an assault under the federation’s own rulebook – Dempsey could face as much as a three-month ban from the national team, ruling him out of the forthcoming Gold Cup.

http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2015/jun/17/will-us-soccer-dare-make-an-example-of-clint-dempsey

it's sad:

It's 5am, I've got my Dark Green 3rd,

and I’m ready for some football.

Is there a Timbers’ Army division in southern Russia? Should I start one? I’m here for another month.
by JD SoOR on Jun 24, 2015 | 6:58 PM reply

Gio dos Santos rumored to LA
Marko Marin rumored to KC
Bag of deflated NATIVO soccer balls rumored to CHI

Chicharito rumoured to Orlando

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EyUWH0LNrs

Fire finally beat Seattle and I was out of the country lol

Fire and Montreal dicing on who gets to sign 37 year old Drogba, be still my beating heart.

looks like we'll be enemies for the Open Cup! wonder who of my squad will get horseshit red carded this week!

nice match. Chicago was real disruptive to our timing in the first half and the speed was too much to overcome.

hope we don't lay an egg against NYCFC tomorrow.

Classic MLS. Fire send Drogba's "rights" to Montreal for league funny money, then turn around and sign another teams castoff designated player in Gilberto.

Also yeah, the Open Cup match was a little bit of payback for the league game a few weeks ago. Doesn't mean Fire aren't halfass incarnate.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CLeZxUsWgAAZWey.jpg

fuuuck I hate Giovinco. he does three things - score, flop, and bitch.

also nice Keystone Kop impersonation Orlando City, dafuq was that.