1. jumpkutz

    jumpkutz Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Sep 24, 2011
    Location:
    Louisville, KY
    Is under way. A couple of random thoughts while watching the first half of the final match of opening weekend between LAFC and Sporting Kansas City:
    1). How the heck is Brek Shea a) still making a living playing professional soccer and, b) STARTING FOR THE DEFENDING CHAMPIONS!!!
    2). How many matches will new boys (and our former USL arch-rival) FC Cincinnati lose?
    3). What the heck is Zulily? The Sounders and XBOX have apparently parted ways as shirt sponsor, so.... Zulily. Yeah.
    Hoping the level of play keeps improving.
     
    #1
  2. sacffc

    sacffc Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Mar 19, 2010
    Location:
    Sacramento, California
    A very good question -- I had the same thought.
     
    #2
  3. SoCalJoe

    SoCalJoe Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Sep 5, 2006
    Location:
    Walnut, CA
    Lol, about Brek Shea.

    I know it was against an expansion team, but Jordan Morris is only 24. So it was nice to see him snag a brace coming off his injury. Maybe he gets back on the Nats radar.

    LAFC just started their 2nd season, but they were out in the pubs and soccer communities from the second they were awarded a franchise (I got a slick looking business card at the CL Final in Long Beach 3 years ago, I have an ManUre friend that got stuff at a pub a couple years ago). They adopted a grass roots campaign, not just a ‘build it and they will come’ approach with the awesome stadium they constructed. The 3252 rooting section is off the chain, Carlos Vela is beloved, and when Bob Bradley is the manager, there is a never say die attitude. I was completely wrong that SoCal wouldn’t support another team.

    https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2019...orting-kansas-city-march-3-2019?autoplay=true
     
    #3
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  4. tim

    tim Active Member

    Joined:
    Nov 13, 2007
    Location:
    Los Angeles
    @SoCalJoe You best be careful with that LAFC nonsense. We can revisit that in 20+ years or when they’ve won 5 cups. Or when they actually manage to beat the Galaxy

    Speaking of, the G’s bought our Gio’s contract and sent him on his way. I’m reminded of a quote from Brad Pitt’s Billy Beane in Moneyball...”If he’s a good hitter, why doesn’t he hit good?” Seems to fit Gio pretty well. He’ll show a flash of brilliance and have people raving about his skill, but with a top-five-in-the-league salary, I don’t care who you are, you need to produce. And he hasn’t. So he’s on his way, with a $6 million parting gift.
     
    #4
    Last edited: Mar 4, 2019
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  5. SoCalJoe

    SoCalJoe Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Sep 5, 2006
    Location:
    Walnut, CA
    A name we better pay attention to is Sporting KC’s Gianluca Busio. Just 16 he’s a product of the KC Academy, but born and raised in Greensboro, NC. His Dad is Italian, so he also has an Italian passport. The kid just finished scoring in his third straight game over the weekend.
     
    #5
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  6. BarryWhite

    BarryWhite Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Sep 24, 2011
    Location:
    Newburgh, IN
    Speak of: https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2019/04/17/wiebe-five-mls-teenagers-leading-playyourkids-charge

    For the past couple of years I've picked an MLS team to watch other than Columbus who I have rooted for from a distance for a while. This year I picked Dallas to watch their youngsters. This week they started Reggie Cannon (20) and three teenagers including Pomykal and had a sixteen year old on the bench. Not one of the four that played looked out of place. Jesus Ferreira tallied the goal and the rest were influential and not just along for the ride.
     
    #6
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  7. stlouisbrad

    stlouisbrad Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Nov 24, 2007
    Just read that MLS is expanding again and St. Louis and Sacramento are practically assured teams. St. Louis finally has a a strong ownership group. The Taylor Family of Enterprise rent a car fame is the big money we have been waiting for. Pretty pumped.
     
    #7
  8. astroevan

    astroevan Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Aug 5, 2013
    Location:
    Virginia Beach
  9. sacffc

    sacffc Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Mar 19, 2010
    Location:
    Sacramento, California
    I'm waiting to see what falls out. Sacramento thought they had a team 3 or 4 years ago, until the league found they could get more money and pulled the rug out from under us. They were supposedly going to select one team between Sacramento and St. Louis last Thursday. Now, it sounds like they're going to add 3 teams because they have enough cities interested, with enough money. Read the deadspin article.

    This looks like what they're developing is like the Prem, with a big divide between the haves and the have nots. Teams like the Earthquakes will be at a huge disadvantage. Other than the occasional Leicester City, it will be the same teams at the top year after year. I'm already a Sacramento Kings fan; I have a limit on supporting teams that are not playing on a level playing field. I won't have any trouble switching allegiance from the Earthquakes to Sacramento Republic, but it's going to take more than just getting a team for me to get excited.
     
    #9
  10. stlouisbrad

    stlouisbrad Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Nov 24, 2007
    We don't have much public money going into our stadium plan, so that's why I'm happy about it. It will be going into a section of downtown that needs a boost. This coupled with our new aquarium in the old union station should be huge for the area. Plus the future owners all have been very good to the community with many philanthropic gestures. Plus one of them owns the USL team.
     
    #10
  11. HatterDon

    HatterDon Moderator

    Joined:
    Mar 18, 2006
    Location:
    Peoples Republic of South Texas
    One thing you can guarantee: the nation's 7th largest city in the United States won't get the slightest consideration. [I think we're too Mexican].

    And this is why I haven't watched an MLS match this season. I prefer football in England and Germany.
     
    #11
  12. BarryWhite

    BarryWhite Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Sep 24, 2011
    Location:
    Newburgh, IN
    I’m curious Don, does San Antonio not have suburbs or large surrounding cities? I’ve never been able to understand how a city like Atlanta on the census ratings can be somewhere inside the top 40 largest cities but in TV market share are in the top 10 while the reverse is true for San Antonio.

    I get Atlanta because the city proper is not that large but it is surrounded by areas of dense population. So I’m curious what San Antonio is like.
     
    #12
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  13. HatterDon

    HatterDon Moderator

    Joined:
    Mar 18, 2006
    Location:
    Peoples Republic of South Texas
    San Antonio doesn't have a large Metropolitan Statistical area. Having said that, they have a larger one than several cities already having MLS sides.

    I believe that there are two "givens" that have harmed SA getting a franchise. 1. San Antonians who like soccer are primarily Mexicans and 2. Mexicans don't have enough disposable income to support a club, or to purchase the products that are promoted on television..

    It is true that SA is more Mexican than is Austin, Dallas [Frisco], or Houston, but it's NOT more Mexican than Los Angeles. LA, however, is like NYC. It gets what it gets because that's where the media is.

    Me? I rejoice in our Mexican-ness. I often refer to SA as the largest city in Northern Mexico. But, here's what I've gotten from our minor league soccer sides -- there is a large, passionate, and loyal band of soccer supporters here -- plenty large enough to provide sustainable support. We also have a soccer-specific stadium that was built in such a way that its capacity could easily be increased significantly.

    But SA keeps getting overlooked -- first when we lost to LA's Mexican minor league squad and most recently to Austin. Yes, Austin has a buttload of tech millionaires, but I don't think that tech millionaires have a footy possee of any size.

    In any event, MLS knows what it wants and it gets what it wants. Us? We're too Mexican. The good news? The food and the music more than makes up for it. And I've got English fitba and German fitba enough to make me ignore MLS just like they ignore the Peoples Republic of South Texas.
     
    #13
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  14. BarryWhite

    BarryWhite Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Sep 24, 2011
    Location:
    Newburgh, IN
    Thanks Don
     
    #14
  15. HatterDon

    HatterDon Moderator

    Joined:
    Mar 18, 2006
    Location:
    Peoples Republic of South Texas
    oh, and yes, there are tons of incorporated communities in the greater San Antonio area -- not to mention incorporated cities going north on I35. Most of them are considered "Greater Austin" for some reason.
     
    #15
  16. SoCalJoe

    SoCalJoe Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Sep 5, 2006
    Location:
    Walnut, CA
    Really interesting topic. Let me put my 2 cents in and opine that the word hurting San Antonio has an ‘X’ but that word isn’t Mexican but is Texan (I’ll get to that). HD, San Antonio was/is a victim of backroom dealing between MLS and that fella Precourt and wanting to save the Columbus Crew. If Precourt had wanted to move the Crew to SA instead of Austin you would have a team guaranteed. MLS not only wanted to save one of the original clubs, but don’t underestimate US Soccer pushing to keep a team in the MNT’s ‘home’. Unfortunately for SA, Precourt purchasing the Crew with the sole purpose of eventually moving it to Austin set off a chain of events that had nothing to do with demographics.

    Now as far as Texas is concerned, without a doubt it can’t help SA that both Dallas and Houston don’t support their teams. Forget about ‘tickets sold’ in which those 2 are already in the bottom 5 in attendance, but watch a game and it’s a good thing Houston put orange seats to match their kits because it doesn’t look like more then 8-10K are ever there. Dallas has a great academy, plays an exciting brand of footy, but even in a playoff game the place was half empty last season vs Portland. Will Austin support the team better then SA? I’m guessing No. Would SA support a team better then those other 2 cities in Texas? A resounding Yes. It’s just doesn’t help SA’s cause when the other cities don’t appear to give a damn.

    As far as being too Mexican, the MLS is the one league that markets to that segment of our population. The Chicago Fire only enjoyed good attendance when Blanco was playing there in spite of the worst stadium location imaginable. They are trying to get out of that lease, move temporarily to Soldier Field, and back up the Brinks Truck for Chicharo. Large Mexican populations love to watch their El Tri stars play in person, and the league knows that.

    The MLS went so far as giving an expansion team with the Chivas USA title. It was the most ill-conceived concept on multiple levels. It was supposed to be built for SoCal’s Mexican population. However, a major problem was every Mexican Primera fan that hates Chivas would rather walk on hot coals then support a team associated with the Goats (they became Galaxy fans instead, an indirect benefit for the league).

    I get the hostility and reasoning of ‘LA had 2 teams, and failed. Why should they get another shot?’ Can’t say LA deserved it, but the ownership group they put together are HEAVY hitters, and the fact they replaced the obsolete LA Sports Arena with a state of the art stadium in the heart of LA, and combined it with enough political clout to get the improved infra-structure (trains, parking, etc) proved too much for the MLS to ignore.
     
    #16
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  17. astroevan

    astroevan Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Aug 5, 2013
    Location:
    Virginia Beach
    Got an email today regarding fan voting for the All-Star game. Not sure how I feel that none of the five players in the email are American. Is it good that none of the top US players are in the MLS? Is it bad that the MLS is growing (in size and popularity) because of foreign players?
     
    #17
  18. SoCalJoe

    SoCalJoe Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Sep 5, 2006
    Location:
    Walnut, CA
    Went to my first ever LAFC game, what an awesome experience. Sat next to the 3252 (the supporters that stand and sing the entire match). Bob Bradley in person has serious presence, and Carlos Vela and Diego Rossi tore Montreal to shreds.
     
    #18
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  19. SoCalJoe

    SoCalJoe Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Sep 5, 2006
    Location:
    Walnut, CA
    #19
    Last edited: Jul 20, 2019
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  20. stlouisbrad

    stlouisbrad Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Nov 24, 2007
    Local reports have St. Louis officially getting a team in the coming days. So glad I don't have to trek out to the soccer park anymore beginning in 2022.
     
    #20
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