Concacaf Champion's League

Well, it's not looking good for MLS teams...again. Seattle played well at Santos in a 1-1 draw, but lost 2-1 on Agg. The Galaxy are on thin ice tomorrow night as they blew a 1-0 lead at home to Monterey by giving up 2 goals in the final 10 minutes, and must find a way to win in Mexico or it's curtains for another season.

 

I don't understand your rationale. It certainly looked like the MLS sides took the tournament seriously to me. Why do you think they don't value the Champions League matches?

 

It'd help if they played relevant CCL matches when the MLS clubs were in season. That's a hard row to hoe. Given the slip ups in the later rounds after the season has commenced, that's another story.

 

I do wish the tournament received better coverage but stating the MLS doesn't perform well and won't because of a lack of TV coverage does not seem to be representative of recent results. Putting three teams into the quarter's and two into the semi's isn't chopped liver and the Mexican teams aren't able to throw out their second teams without getting punished for it. Let's give the teams who have participated the last few seasons some credit for their efforts.

MLS TV coverage being awful in general is a subject unto itself. The fact that on most weeks I can't view a match on my cable provider is something the MLS should be fixing.

 

Real Salt Lake had that great opportunity with a chance to win it at home (I remember the raucous sellout atmosphere there, so at least the local media played it up), but couldn't get it done. The Galaxy lost 1-0 last night, so yet again it's going to be an all Mexican Primera Final. As Nev stated, It's going to happen at some point where an MLS team wins it, but when the Primera only takes a real break in the summer they are always in mid-season form when the CCL has it's most important games. The MLS teams are fighting an uphill battle even if they were at their peak form.

 

I guess I am missing the obvious. When the MLS gives both Seattle and LA a bye week to prep for their Champion's league match it looks to me like they value the event but I may just be seeing what I want to see.

 

Until MLS changes their season to coincide with most everyone else, I think the success will be limited to what we've seen of late. As for the hype, I put that down to the networks more than the league. The reality is that soccer gets pretty decent numbers here...when it's the Prem, Champs League & the Nats. Easy to see why they'd push those summer friendlies when a Prem team or another big club from La Liga, Seria A, etc brings more eyeballs. Using Oldham Athletic as an example isn't a fair reflection (likely owing to the grumpy old man theory ).