Soccer Thread 2016-17

[PilotMan]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

Wait... what?!! The red and blue Waldos are the best jersey that the US has ever worn. They literally sold them out of the US store because they were so popular. There is a clamor to have them continue onwards through the World Cup.

I cannot disagree any stronger with that sentiment.

Look up 2 posts. The warm up jersey's. Looked like that's what they were wearing when they walked out.

[ISiddiqui]

Ahhhh... ok. Warm up jerseys are always generally crappy looking.

[CrescentMoonie]

Yeah, but those warmups made Bradley look like a bearded soccer mom who just went through chemo.

[PilotMan]

Originally Posted by CrescentMoonie

Yeah, but those warmups made Bradley look like a bearded soccer mom who just went through chemo.

[CrescentMoonie]

LAFC hires Bob Bradley as their first coach and LA Galaxy fire Curt Onolfo and replace him with Sigi Schmid on the same day. This could be really fun out west.

[MrBug708]

Surprised it didn't work out the other way, but Sigi had much success in LA

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by CrescentMoonie

LAFC hires Bob Bradley as their first coach and LA Galaxy fire Curt Onolfo and replace him with Sigi Schmid on the same day. This could be really fun out west.

And then the Galaxy sign Jonathan Dos Santos for $5mil transfer fee. And LigaMX fans are not happy .

[CrescentMoonie]

Another reason why I don't think MLS has anything to worry about is a company like Target. They signed on as a league sponsor this year, in addition to Minnesota United and US Youth Soccer, and today they announced they're pulling out of NASCAR at the end of the season to focus on soccer. Their reasoning had to do with increased sales of soccer gear and a customer base that is increasingly young, urban, Hispanic, and digitally connected.

I doubt they'll be the last to make a major shift in advertising dollars.

[CrescentMoonie]

As bullish as I am on the league, there's no way that even 5 years ago I would have believed Orlando and Atlanta would be on TV back to back weekends with these kinds of crowds.

[miked]

From Twitter: Guzan collecting the ball from the back of the net. It's what he's best at. #ATLvORL

[Vince, Pt. II]

That own goal in the Inter-Chelsea match was incredible.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by CrescentMoonie

Another reason why I don't think MLS has anything to worry about is a company like Target. They signed on as a league sponsor this year, in addition to Minnesota United and US Youth Soccer, and today they announced they're pulling out of NASCAR at the end of the season to focus on soccer. Their reasoning had to do with increased sales of soccer gear and a customer base that is increasingly young, urban, Hispanic, and digitally connected.

I doubt they'll be the last to make a major shift in advertising dollars.

I also have to imagine we're going to see less and less parents throwing their kids into youth football as more concussion studies are done.

[CrescentMoonie]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

I also have to imagine we're going to see less and less parents throwing their kids into youth football as more concussion studies are done.

Youth football numbers have been in steady decline for a decade.

[Warhammer]

So Miami FC gets the next MLS expansion slot? I am not happy about this at all.

[ISiddiqui]

You mean Beckham United? Why not? They've been placeholder expansion for a few years anyways.

[HomerSimpson98]

Any thoughts on the $222 million?

[sovereignstar v2]

It's 222 Euros and Barcelona are hypocritical twats for trying to reneg on the buyout clause.

[cartman]

Barca finally took the 220 million Euro. Jeebus that's a lot of cash. Throw on top the 5 year/150 million Euro contract they signed Neymar to, and that's nearly half a billion Euro for one player.

[Warhammer]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

You mean Beckham United? Why not? They've been placeholder expansion for a few years anyways.

Watching the US Cup game, their announcers were going on about how great of a turnout they had for the game, 10,000 fans. Which is approx. 33% higher than their average of 6,500 or so fans per game.

Now granted, I am a biased FC Cincinnati fan, but we average roughly 3 times what they do in attendance.

My issue stems from the fact that sports that put fans in the seats (and not corporate fans, but Average Joe Fan) tend to be healthier than the sports that do not. I get that Miami has a huge Latin population, and that soccer is appealing to that demographic. However, we have blown away attendance records since day 1 here. We have a rabid fan base, that actually travels for a second tier team. Go back and watch some of the game from last night's US Cup game, all the chants you hear are FC Cincinnati's chants.

I get that Beckham owns the club, but just because the owner is Beckham does not mean they should be the one to get a MLS slot. To me, there are more deserving clubs out there.

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by Warhammer

Watching the US Cup game, their announcers were going on about how great of a turnout they had for the game, 10,000 fans. Which is approx. 33% higher than their average of 6,500 or so fans per game.

That's... not the same team. Miami FC is not associated with Beckham's bid in the slightest.

[CrescentMoonie]

Originally Posted by Warhammer

I get that Beckham owns the club, but just because the owner is Beckham does not mean they should be the one to get a MLS slot. To me, there are more deserving clubs out there.

It was literally in his contract that he could get a club, when he wanted, at a discount. This, however, isn't that bid. Also, 8th biggest metro that is an international destination city vs 28th biggest metro with a much smaller economy and 33% of the population.

Cincinnati is a virtual lock for one of the next 4 spots.

[MIJB#19]

Originally Posted by HomerSimpson98

Any thoughts on the $222 million?

From what I understand it's €222M, but with the current exchange rates and the complete absurdness of the numbers, the currency is a minor detail.

The ludicrousness is the owners of Paris SG represent the 2022 Qatar World Cup organization to pay Neymar €300M (blood money) to make the €222M buyout possible. Makes one wonder what the drubbing of Paris SG in Barcelona a couple of months ago has to do with all of this.

The best thing would be FIFA or UEFA stepping and drawing a line here and now to stop further polluting the reputation of soccer in general. But they have so little credibility left, I doubt they can be bothered. This has got to be in violation of UEFA's financial fair play or FIFA's guidelines on transfers somewhere...

[ISiddiqui]

Well, technically, PSG can spread out the transfer fee over 5 years. So that's 44.5 mil Euros a year, which increased sponsorship as a result of the Neymar signing and increased merchandise sales can probably cover (of course they'd likely have to sell a player or two).

[sovereignstar v2]

Rock on PSG.

[sovereignstar v2]

Hope Barca raid pool for Coutinho now.

#freecoutinho

[Warhammer]

Originally Posted by CrescentMoonie

This, however, isn't that bid.

As Roseanne Roseannadanna would say, "Nevermind!"

[Ryche]

Originally Posted by sovereignstar v2

Hope Barca raid pool for Coutinho now.

#freecoutinho

Coutinho to Barcelona and Pulisic to Liverpool would make me happy.

[CrescentMoonie]

Originally Posted by Ryche

Coutinho to Barcelona and Pulisic to Liverpool would make me happy.

Leave Pulisic on the better team in the better league.

[Ryche]

Originally Posted by CrescentMoonie

Leave Pulisic on the better team in the better league.

Easier to see Liverpool games here though.

[CrescentMoonie]

Originally Posted by Ryche

Easier to see Liverpool games here though.

Fox Sports shows all the Bundesliga games either on TV or streaming.

[whomario]

Originally Posted by Ryche

Coutinho to Barcelona and Pulisic to Liverpool would make me happy.

[EagleFan]

Originally Posted by CrescentMoonie

Leave Couthino on the better team in the better league.

Fixed it for ya.