2007 MLS Thread

[Easy Mac]

Can we just ban the sky cam from all sporting events?

[Critch]

Soft penalty for the team that are playing LA. The team that are playing LA looking pretty good. Another one for the team that are playing LA.

Not sure who they are though, cos the commentators have spent so much time talking about LA, Landon and Becks that they've not really mentioned the other team

[Easy Mac]

LA is getting some crazy pressure in the first 8 of the second half. Dallas is doing its best to shorten the game by rolling around

[Easy Mac]

Brilliant header by Findley after muffing a wide open one earlier and somehow missing from about a yard out earlier. Galaxy still look to lose with only 6 minutes left.

[Easy Mac]

Can they please suspend Ruiz?

[GoldenEagle]

I thought they SkyCam was pretty cool. Why ban Ruiz? He is just a man out there making an earning I thought FC Dallas looked very good. Until the Galaxy get some wing play, they are screwed. Randolph looked better than Martino, Cobi, and Albright. It amazes me how Albright has made appearances for the US National Team.

[SirFozzie]

There's a very good reason they call Ruiz "El Pescadito".. the little fish.

Flop. Flop. Flop. Flop.

[bulletsponge]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

There's a very good reason they call Ruiz "El Pescadito".. the little fish.

Flop. Flop. Flop. Flop.

agreed. how is he not playing in Italy or Portugal?


dola i just realized why he isnt playing there. he might flop a lot, but he doesnt act like hes had his leg hacked by a lead pipe. therefore hes not good enough for those 2 countries

[Easy Mac]

Foz must be happy right now, with Twellman dropping a deuce in 18 minutes.

[MrBug708]

Originally Posted by bulletsponge

agreed. how is he not playing in Italy or Portugal?


dola i just realized why he isnt playing there. he might flop a lot, but he doesnt act like hes had his leg hacked by a lead pipe. therefore hes not good enough for those 2 countries

That and he's about 5'5

[Easy Mac]

Originally Posted by bulletsponge

agreed. how is he not playing in Italy or Portugal?


dola i just realized why he isnt playing there. he might flop a lot, but he doesnt act like hes had his leg hacked by a lead pipe. therefore hes not good enough for those 2 countries

You must have missed the play I posted my response about. He had the ball stolen, was not even touched, then grabbed his legs and yelled and rolled around in pain for a good 2 minutes. He was never touched, not by a foot, leg, ball, nothing touched him at all.

[bulletsponge]

Originally Posted by Easy Mac

You must have missed the play I posted my response about. He had the ball stolen, was not even touched, then grabbed his legs and yelled and rolled around in pain for a good 2 minutes. He was never touched, not by a foot, leg, ball, nothing touched him at all.

yea i missed that

[SirFozzie]

4-nil.. to the boys in blue

Just got home, great atmosphere. I really feel sorry for the 100 or so Toronto fans who were on the road 11 hours to see their team play like that.

[cthomer5000]

Juan Pablo Angel to Red Bull New York is official... Woot! Definitely needed someone to pair up with Altidore (who is for real), and now this makes me pretty excited about their overall hopes for the season. They've looked vastly improved in 3 of their 4 halves of play this year (2nd half @ Columbus was shit).

Is it me or does the overall level of play seem up this year? I watched Kansas City-DC and that was one hell of a game.

[Mr. Wednesday]

The level of play should be rising — they're bringing some serious foreign talent into the league, and more importantly, every new rookie class is going to benefit from the rising skill level in the American player pool (that is, according to a sampling of youth soccer followers on BigSoccer, the skill and level of play at the age-group levels is growing by leaps and bounds).

[SirFozzie]

I hope my Tivo is fixed by Thursday night so I can see the Crew-Revs game

[Easy Mac]

I thought the opener (Colorado - DC) was borderline unwatchable, and Columbus-RSL was just horrendous.

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by cthomer5000

Juan Pablo Angel to Red Bull New York is official... Woot! Definitely needed someone to pair up with Altidore (who is for real), and now this makes me pretty excited about their overall hopes for the season. They've looked vastly improved in 3 of their 4 halves of play this year (2nd half @ Columbus was shit).

Wow... that's a nice signing. Should make the Red Bulls more formidable in the attack. Add Mathis to the mix (need to get him some playing time even on the off times Reyna is healthy ) and it looks pretty nice indeed.

[astrosfan64]

Redbulls fan here living in Houston.

Anyway, Redbulls looked great the other day. Altidore looked fantastic, he is just what US Soccer has been missing.

Slightly Off Topic, my friend and I are running an MLS Football Manager game. He is using the Dynamo and I'm using the Red Bulls. It has been a blast.

I'm currently in 2nd place with the Red Bulls, he is first with the Dynamo. If anyone has FM, you should really try the MLS in a multiplayer game.

[cthomer5000]

Doh... side effect of the Juan Pablo Angel signing was needing to clear out a roster spot... RBNY just traded Marvell Wynne to Toroton for a 2nd round draft pick. I'm really fond of Wynne and he and Altidore are my favorite players on the team.

I hope Bruce knows what he's doing.

Definite good move for Toronto in my opinion.

[Butter]

Originally Posted by Easy Mac

I thought the opener (Colorado - DC) was borderline unwatchable, and Columbus-RSL was just horrendous.

Columbus has now played in two 0-0 games, and having watched one of them along with parts of 3 other games, I just have to say... if the league is supposed to have raised its level of play, it's not showing on the field. The Galaxy/Dallas match last week wasn't too bad, but the others I've seen have just not been very good.

[cthomer5000]

Originally Posted by Butter_of_69

Columbus has now played in two 0-0 games, and having watched one of them along with parts of 3 other games, I just have to say... if the league is supposed to have raised its level of play, it's not showing on the field. The Galaxy/Dallas match last week wasn't too bad, but the others I've seen have just not been very good.

Might just be a matter of what teams people are seeing. New York is definitely looking way better than last year. DC has consistently played at a higher level than most the league. Houston is a solid team. Outside of that unfortunately, you may catch a turd of a game. I will say though that Kansas City looked fantastic against DC, and the pace of that game was probably the single best I've seen in any MLS game to date.

The games *I've* seen have looked a full level better than the games I was watching last year. We'll see 10 weeks from now though... might be a whole different story.

[Butter]

Part of the problem might be that I've watched a few of the supposedly worst teams in the league... Chivas v. Toronto... and Columbus had no attack last year and it continues.

[cthomer5000]

Originally Posted by Butter_of_69

Part of the problem might be that I've watched a few of the supposedly worst teams in the league... Chivas v. Toronto... and Columbus had no attack last year and it continues.

Yeah, I have to admit there are only a select number of teams I will attempt to watch. All the Red Bulls games, but then DC, Houston, and probably New England. I'm sure i'll add LA to the list when Beckham arrives. I remember watching a Colorado- Real Salt Lake game last year that was probably the worst game i've ever seen in any league.

[Easy Mac]

Originally Posted by cthomer5000

Might just be a matter of what teams people are seeing. New York is definitely looking way better than last year. DC has consistently played at a higher level than most the league. Houston is a solid team. Outside of that unfortunately, you may catch a turd of a game. I will say though that Kansas City looked fantastic against DC, and the pace of that game was probably the single best I've seen in any MLS game to date.

The games *I've* seen have looked a full level better than the games I was watching last year. We'll see 10 weeks from now though... might be a whole different story.

I'd say its about 60% of the games are better, 40% is about the same/worse. New York has looked much better than last year, but they were a complete mess towards the end of the year. DC has been solid attacking, but their defense is amazingly horrible. Their wings on the backline arejust laughable. New England is also going to be exposed defensively sooner rather than later.

I'd say on the attacking front, MLS has generally gotten better, but I actually think the defenses have become disproportionately worse, or at the very least, a lot of teams are very much either good offense/bad defense or vice versa. I think when things settle, Houston and KC may be the two teams that stand out as having the best overall balance in the league.

[Easy Mac]

Reminder for the Foz, Crew-Revs on Espen dos

[Easy Mac]

I think I jinxed ya Foz.

And what the hell is Tommy Smith's job on the telecast, like the Paul Maguire on college football random color part? He needs to be part of the main broadcast, not some random voice.

[Easy Mac]

I don't hate the Jews, but Andy Gruenebaum is an absolutely horrible keeper.

[cthomer5000]

They need to place the main camera higher so we're looking down on the pitch a little more. I really feel i'm not seeing enough of the game. I ofen can't even tell where some offensive outlets are, and that's not a good thing.

[cthomer5000]

Originally Posted by Easy Mac

I think I jinxed ya Foz.

And what the hell is Tommy Smith's job on the telecast, like the Paul Maguire on college football random color part? He needs to be part of the main broadcast, not some random voice.

Yeah, drop Wynalda please and let Tommy speak.

[Easy Mac]

I love how ESPN doesn't cut away from the soccer players dropping the F bomb. You can't hear them, but Hejduk told Wells Thompson to go F himself at least 10 times in the span of 5 seconds.

[Easy Mac]

Why Andy Herron will probably be suspended a little while

[cthomer5000]

Ouchie.

[cthomer5000]

I was happy to be at the Red Bulls - Houston game today. Absolutely PERFECT weather, decent crowd, good game. The Clint Mathis PK miss was painful, and i thought the straight red on him was very harsh. I was focused on the challenge during the play, and my gut feeling was that it was a clear yellow, but the red seemed a bit much. I did record the game on TV so i'll check it out at some point just to satisfy my own curiosity.

Hard not to be elated with a win over the defending champs while down a man for 55 minutes.

Jozy Altidore is the real deal, a couple fantastic runs and one great goal that was the eventual winner. I don't think he's long for this league - he's gonna be too good. He turns 18 in November and he clearly has loads of potential. I'm not sure what type of eligibility hurdles need to be cleared, but i think he's in Europe for the 2008/2009 season at latest, if not moving at season's end (mid-season transfer window in Europe). Whether he's here or not though, the US just might have an actual striker on the 2010 World Cup team.

[Mr. Wednesday]

Once he turns 18, the main eligibility hurdle is the WP rules for the UK, he'd be able to go to any other country immediately subject only to any sort of salary/roster requirements.

[Easy Mac]

Mls.tv starts the CHivas - RSL game at the 25th minute. What, did they forget to turn on their direct tv subscription until then? The game is already 2-0, just pathetic. And in case you don't believe me, there was a game last week where for about 10 minutes, the picture would stutter and a message would pop up saying there is intereference with their sattelite and to call a direct tv number. I mean seriously, that's what the league is doing, streaming their direct tv?

[RPI-Fan]

Originally Posted by cthomer5000

I was happy to be at the Red Bulls - Houston game today. Absolutely PERFECT weather, decent crowd, good game. The Clint Mathis PK miss was painful, and i thought the straight red on him was very harsh. I was focused on the challenge during the play, and my gut feeling was that it was a clear yellow, but the red seemed a bit much. I did record the game on TV so i'll check it out at some point just to satisfy my own curiosity.

Hard not to be elated with a win over the defending champs while down a man for 55 minutes.

Jozy Altidore is the real deal, a couple fantastic runs and one great goal that was the eventual winner. I don't think he's long for this league - he's gonna be too good. He turns 18 in November and he clearly has loads of potential. I'm not sure what type of eligibility hurdles need to be cleared, but i think he's in Europe for the 2008/2009 season at latest, if not moving at season's end (mid-season transfer window in Europe). Whether he's here or not though, the US just might have an actual striker on the 2010 World Cup team.

Altidore was awesome yesterday. That goal was very, very well taken (in addition to really showing Onstad's age). And although the FSC announcers might have been harping on it a bit much, I definitely noticed Wattereus' techincal ability and it made a huge difference for 10-man Red Bull (compared to Onstad who cannot distribute the ball whatsoever).

[Easy Mac]

Stats I've compiled so far for absolutely no reason

Date

Home

Away
Ref
1st Time
1st Fouls
1st Y
1st R
1st Goals
2nd Time
2nd Fouls
2nd Y
2nd R
2nd Goals
Total Time
Total Fouls
YEL
RED
Total Goals

4/7/2007
2
COL
1
DC
Michael Kennedy
61
14
3
0
2
207
24
2
0
1
268
38
5
0
3

4/7/2007
2
RSL
2
DAL
Jair Marrufo
66
15
2
0
2
278
11
2
0
2
344
26
4
0
4

4/7/2007
0
CLB
0
NY
Kevin Stott
65
14
1
0
0
127
10
0
0
0
192
24
1
0
0

4/7/2007
1
CHI
0
NE
Baldomero Toledo
131
9
1
0
1
246
13
3
0
0
377
22
4
0
1

4/7/2007
2
USA
0
TOR
Terry Vaughn
58
15
0
0
1
116
12
3
0
1
174
27
3
0
2

4/8/2007
0
HOU
0
LA
Abiodun Okulaja
45
16
0
0
0
188
13
1
1
0
233
29
1
1
0

4/12/2007
1
LA
2
DAL
Terry Vaughn
116
17
1
0
2
248
16
3
0
1
364
33
4
0
3

4/14/2007
0
RSL
0
CLB
Tim Weyland
79
12
1
0
0
139
10
4
0
0
218
22
5
0
0

4/14/2007
2
DC
4
KC
Jozef Batko
120
14
2
0
5
112
17
2
0
1
232
31
4
0
6

4/14/2007
4
NE
0
TOR
Mark Geiger
62
14
2
0
2
32
17
3
0
2
94
31
5
0
4

4/14/2007
1
HOU
0
USA
Kevin Stott
31
24
3
0
0
174
15
1
0
1
205
39
4
0
1

4/15/2007
1
COL
1
CHI
Jair Marrufo
118
13
2
1
0
239
8
2
0
2
357
21
4
1
2

4/15/2007
3
NY
0
DAL
Andrew Chapin
129
11
1
0
2
185
13
1
0
1
314
24
2
0
3

4/19/2007
2
CLB
2
NE
Ricardo Salazar
109
10
1
0
3
248
14
4
0
1
357
24
5
0
4

4/21/2007
1
NY
0
HOU
Baldomero Toledo
80
18
1
1
0
189
12
2
0
1
269
30
3
1
1

4/21/2007
2
CHI
1
KC
Kevin Stott
11
13
2
0
1
250
19
0
0
2
261
32
2
0
3

4/21/2007
4
USA
0
RSL
Hilario Grajeda
135
15
1
0
3
65
4
2
0
1
200
19
3
0
4

4/22/2007
3
DAL
1
COL
Ricardo Salazar
128
17
2
0
2
219
21
4
0
2
347
38
6
0
4


31

14


1544
261
26
2
26
3262
249
39
1
19
4806
510
65
3
45

[Easy Mac]

Watching the KC-Chi game from the 21st. I love soccer, because rarely in any other sports do you hear "Would you fucking cover somebody" being yelled out (let alone having the announcers comment on it). I honestly think broadcasters don't care, they're just like, the people who watch soccer just don't care, and no one who would care watches

[Easy Mac]

In case people are wondering, there are around 300-400 people in Kansas City watching KC and Toronto play. Its pretty nasty wind and rain, but there's literally no one on the left side of the stands.

[SirFozzie]

Herron got four games suspension for his elbow, btw

[Easy Mac]

Since the feed doesn't cut from the game at the half, I hear Kid Rock - Cowboy playing on the loudspeaker. This speaks to the low attendance.

[cthomer5000]

I'm pumped for the Dallas -RBNY game tonight (ESPN2, 8PM). Red Bull is promising to actually keep me entertained over the course of the summer if they keep playing this well. They're off to such a good start.

[marshall881]

Yeah, tonight should be a very entertaining match!
Altidore is worth watching by himself.

[bulletsponge]

i know ill be watching (since the Rockets game wont be on tv ) even if it was id be switching back and forth. the rockets game has to be on the local stations its normally on

[cthomer5000]

Well, bit of a letdown from an entertainment perspective, but I'll take the 3 points. woot!

[marshall881]

Red Bull's organization in the back is impressive.

[Cringer]

I will be at the Chicago-Houston game tomorrow.

I was here in Houston last year to watch those bastards from Chicago win, I don't want it to happen again. Especially with Dallas losing Thursday, got to take advantage of their loses even this early on.

[SirFozzie]

If you're in with the Dynamo supporters groups, do a few "Piss on the Fire" chants for us, would ya?


One of our favorite chants to use when the Chitcago boys are in town..

"If I had the wings of a sparrow....
If I had the ass of a crow....
I'd fly over Chicago, tomorrow...
And Shit on those bastards below!

Shit on, Shit On, Shit On those Bastards, belooooww!
Shit On, Shit On, Shit On those bastards below!"

[cthomer5000]

WTF is going on in DC? (not that i mind)