Major League Soccer

I was just talking about that with my buddies! I think the fact that they signed a lot of players early so they had a full off-season to practice helped. But to be 5-0-0 with a +11 goal differential is nuts for an expansion team even in this weird league.

our leading goal scorer from last year is there now, sam adenarin. he was here on loan from seattle and was a major reason why sa won the usl championship last year. he's gotten some playing time off the bench as a striker in stl so i kinda root for them.

always happy to talk about other leagues in here, rename as necessary

https://i.ibb.co/ZmDzYTn/Fs-Qh-JBYXo-AEyf-DG.jpg

The place is gonna pop off when Dike takes the field. Best striker Orlando City ever had, he's a hero here

That was one boring half. Got more beer

Don Garber at the USSF board meeting, expresses MLS' disappointment in the setup of the the US Open Cup (streams, fields, etc): "They are not games that we would want our product to be shown to a large audience so frankly I'm not all that disappointed that the audience is small."

— Jeff Kassouf (@JeffKassouf) May 5, 2023

DonG Arber rapidly approaching Gary Bettman levels of booooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Lol this fuckin league

All my friends with season tickets are putting the Inter Miami game on the resale market with huge markup, lol

hahaha.

shit, when do they come to Orlando.

Messi experiment is gonna be kinda hilarious as he's going to a real shit squad and gonna get frustrated with how terrible they are at setting him up but he'll spike attendance everywhere he goes.

but if he comes in the summer window, how many matches is he gonna start after already playing an entire full season with PSG

This sounds like a retirement move (haven't read anything about it though. Been out of the loop)

oh totally is.

I'm gonna keep my ticket so I can maybe see him play but let's be real if they do it in the summer window it's more for next year anyway

also he's going to get angry real fast when he sees what MLS soccer is like lol....

lots of European studs have slotted in nicely in MLS, like Zlatan, Beckham, etc, but Messi strikes me as someone who's gonna be like "JESUS FUCK can anybody here play?" real fast.

I remember Pirlo having a disastrous stint in MLS and saying "everybody runs too much here"

Lol now debating flipping my ticket for profit vs getting to MAYBE see Messi play which isn't guaranteed

Be hilarious if Miamis attendance, which has slightly improved this year, goes back to dead last when nobody can afford them

also presume loan back to barca for off season maybe?

So people in MY section are unloading their Tix for $600.

I'm in the upper deck lol and the game is in Sept. Who TF knows if he'll be playing.

I listed mine for 5k as a joke

(mind you I haven't seen anyone PAY more than $200-250 for any yet)

messi shouldve gone to miami fc in the usl, wouldve been legendary

Lol otm

Inter Miami just punched their ticket to the Open Cup semifinal, will Messi be available in time to take on his old rivals from Real (Salt Lake)?

Not an MLS match but being played in our stadium - The Beautiful Game all star charity match featuring Ronaldinho.

Early reports are that dozens of pitch invaders keep running onto the field and it's gotten so bad the players left the field.

They just abandoned the match

There were pitch invasions galore when Ronaldinho and AC Milan played a friendly against the Fire in Chicago.

Seedorf scored the winner iirc

At Exploria stadium ready to play y'all dan m

Very Fire type game, that

BREAKING: The #USL is set for a milestone vote on the adoption of a promotion and relegation system, per sources.

• Plan for 3 pro tiers
• Potential restructure in 2024, pro/rel in 2025
• Sources optimistic, but vote may have opposition

w/ @tombogert: https://t.co/rZK1Ein6cu

— Jeff Rueter (@jeffrueter) July 11, 2023

lets gooooooooo

Plz relegate the Fire asap

haha mls is unfortunately not under consideration at this time

usl is in a really interesting spot with this. there's pressure from above since mls seems hellbent on scooping up hundreds of millions in expansion fees in markets where usl teams exist, san diego being the most recent (and las vegas and maybe phoenix likely coming up soon). theres pressure from below bc mls is trying to scoop up markets for its mls next pro which is stupid for independent teams bc no one goes to those games but whatever cleveland is gonna cleveland i guess. so they likely see this as a way to generate more interest in the league, to differentiate itself from mls.

lol I got free tix once to MLS Next Pro match (Orlando City B) as part of my season tix and I thought to maybe make dinner money from it and I literally could not sell them for any price, even $4.

MLS should just go like full BASEketball and have each team play two regular season games, then the top 12 teams in each conference make the playoffs, which last 9 months

promotion and relegation is interesting in USL because it could probably work there, as it's much more small scale, and it would definitely make things more fun for them and the surrounding leagues. and the dropoff wouldn't be as significant for demoted teams like in leagues in Europe.

and yeah, MLS, as you mentioned upthread, will never be a part of it because then owners couldn't merely buy their wee little franchise and watch it increase in value no matter what little effort they put into it or how shit they were on the field and sell it years later for a mad profit. if Atlant United took a tumble, Arthur Blank would shit a brick at the idea of Mercedes Benz Field suddenly hosting USL matches instead of MLS, he'd probably make them play at some kids field or something.

usl doesnt make any meaningful tv money so gate receipts, season tickets, merch and whatnot is p much it as far as revenue streams. i dont have any data to support this, but i suspect a team in usl championship getting relegated to usl league one wouldnt necessarily impact revenue all that much. its not like we go to usl games bc theres a big star on the other team we want to see. we go bc its OUR team.

i still dont know how they'd plan to do it with the current setup. theres 24 teams in the uslc, and just 12 in usl1. theres another handful of teams allegedly coming down the pike in the next couple of years. this report indicates they want to wedge another league in between uslc and 1. seems like that would necessitate a good 45 teams at minimum, at least 50 to be more realistic.

watching the Crew Portland match, Columbus had a good look at goal but the shooter went wide and hit the side netting, which the announcers acknowledged, but despite everybody headed back downfield for a goal kick, someone on the production crew added a goal to the scoreboard, thinking Columbus had scored.

Somehow the Fire have won 5 of their last 6 games. I am not letting myself feel optimism but it has been fun to watch.

Feeling really mixed about this Leagues Cup.

Three team groups is a terrible idea because of the uneven scheduling. For example, my OCSC boys have a bit of an unfair advantage. We played at home yesterday against Houston, don't play again until next Saturday against Santos Laguna (also at home).

Houston has to fly back home and play Santos on Tuesday, whereas Santos hasn't played yet. Then Santos has to fly here on short rest and play us on Saturday.

And the MLS NextPro "we go to PKs, winner gets a bonus point" rule for group stage is beyond dumb. It is practically rewarding overmatched teams playing for PKs. Houston pretty much did that against us last night after we tied the game, but we stole the second point.

I'll probably enjoy it more during the knockout round but...meh. I hate that this is bringing our good regular season momentum to a halt.

jesus fucking christ

https://hudsonriverblue.com/atlas-fc-quote-nazi-reichsminister-joseph-goebbels-in-support-of-offside-var-call/

another dumb thing about League's Cup. penalty shootouts are usually high-drama and come with all of the stakes.

since they're doing this bullshit in the group stage, San Luis and Red Bulls are tied 1-1, and if it holds, they'll go to a penalty shootout that's absolutely meaningless, as NYRB will be through and will have no ability to advance, and San Luis will be eliminated.

https://www.theonion.com/mls-parents-complain-leo-messi-too-advanced-for-sons-l-1850749255

it's been a joke. Inter Miami fans gifted a championship team without having to do any work for it and basically colluding w/ the league.

their fans are insufferable. went from one of the worst in attendance to selling out every match (at hideous prices).

juuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuust a mile offside lol

i am glad messi is in the us and his run of play has been deliriously fun, but yeah miami is one of the worst teams/cities for him to come to

I really feel like his impact would have lesser if Busquets hadn't come with him. MLS can be a hard adaptation due to the slower pace and more physical, less finesse-y play, esp if your teammates suck but when you come over with a teammate you already have amazing chemistry with,that is less of a problem .

Naturally he'd have still run circles around everyone but Busquets-Messi is linkup play no cheapo MLS backline or midfield can defend.

I'm kinda bummed I ain't gonna get to see him play but I needed money and flipping my ticket for a 400% profit was a no brainer

yeah getting a lil barca reunion (jordia alba too!) while theyre still effective is just (theoretically) unfair for everyone else

Cincy were one minute away from dispatching Inter Miami in the Open Cup.

and then conceded.

an assist from Messi.

how does this keep happening.