MLS 2016-17

A stunner if true...

 

China buying ALL OF THE TALENT.

 

Doesn't quite sound like a done deal, but def a possibility...

http://www.soundersfc.com/post/2016...i-martins-courted-chinese-super-league-future

 

A short, interesting read regarding Pirlo and NYC.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/06/t-magazine/soccer-andrea-pirlo-new-york-city-fc.html

 

We hit up opening day for the Quakes yesterday and despite my concerns over a wet and windy affair, it barely sprinkled and was a great day out - Wondo with the winning header (110th MLS goal - but his own supporters even still cannot forgive him for the miss against Belgium, and it's probably SJ specific, but it comes up in conversations to this day with me and others). But if you love the Quakes like we do, I can't say anything negative about that guy's heart, play and dedication to the club.

And hello, Mike Magee, Mr. Galaxy. SKC steals one in Seattle. Toronto FC will be tough, and that win was achieved absent a certain Mr. Altidore. Dallas will be strong again with an opening win....I'm happy MLS returned to action. And those Timbers...

COYQ!

 

And I was at the Galaxy match. They looked sluggish and out of sorts in their 4-5-1 in the first half. But everything changed at the half when Magee came on for Gio dos Santos and went up top with Keane. So now what does Bruce Arena do?

 

Good for you nev. The denver paper wasn't too friendly to the Rapids with the loss. basically just a "here we go again" piece.

 

dtown, thanks, and i have to say the rapids did not look bad at all - they defended well and had a couple of chances. Add Jones and Howard and they could be on the upswing.

 

As an Union fan:
Blake looked good although there were a few times I questioned why he kept kicking into the wind when the ball clearly wasn't getting passed midfield. I thought Rosenberry played a decent game although he was outmatched by Castillo. I don't know why Gaddis was left on the bench. Ilsinho looked good all day and Alberg looked good when he finally came on. Nice to see the Union finding good players from outside the US finally.

 

Timbers fan here:

Thought we opened really well against Columbus. We looked great on the counter-attack, just the kind of play that won us the Cup last year. I remember one sequence in the second half when we cleared a Columbus corner and played 3 or 4 passes all the way into the opposing box in a matter of seconds before missing a great chance. If our finishing was a little better, we might have scored 4 or 5. Asprilla especially missed a bunch of chances.

Overall I'm optimistic about the season for the Timbers. We all know how difficult it is to repeat in a salary-cap league, but it seems possible with this squad. We lost some depth with Urutti and Rodney Wallace leaving, but Jack-Mac was a nice pick-up. Losing Villafana to Liga MX was a blow, but fingers crossed that Jermaine Taylor can fill that spot next to a great CB duo of Borchers and Ridgewell.

 

All I can say is even though it's a long season, it's gonna be hard to top this goal by Federico Higuain. Wow!

 

Bonus points for still making it look so good in that ugly jersey.

 

That is awesome. And waiting to hear from 'fog re the jersey scheme...

 

@dtowndough Based entirely on the highlights, it looked like the Rapids had 3 times as many chances than the Quakes.

What did you think of the new stadium, @nevzter ?

 

The Rapids did not look bad in the match. And This is the 2nd season for the Quakes in that stadium and it is awesome. It's only 18K seating (it's not Old Trafford or Camp Nou), but there's many open spaces for people not in seats. It has a huge open end (facing the hills and airport - yeah Southwest and Alaska always flying in) with food trucks and bars where many folks congregate. It's pretty loud on the west/south end b/c that's the SJ Ultras and they are in voice throughout the match (we sit nearby). I can say SJQ did a good job with that stadium.

 

Timbers Army with the great prematch celebration.

To follow up Lax's comment, I thought the Crew jersey was inspired by mall corndog kiosks at the food court.

 

Funny stuff. I'll take a lemonade and a hot dog on a...

 

Highlights from the Timbers Army. Skip ahead to 2:30 for the National Anthem and banner raising, great stuff;

 

Good lord I miss the Timbers Army. Was able to sit with them a few times when I lived out there. Never experienced anything like it, and I've been to CC, Emirates, Nou Camp, Old Trafford, etc. Nothing like the TA.