The Middle School League

I mean MLS is so difficult to watch with its bloated Latin American retirees and mostly slower and unable to lock up a ticket to Europe U.S. players. The FC Dallas v. Chicago match earlier today was a mess. Terrible keeper work by Sala. And when the high scorere is a Tica, yikes!

As I have said before, and will continue to say for the forseeable future, the MLS and many of its disillusional fans should quit trying to pretend that they can compete with the European leagues and just focus on being a training ground for youngsters, providing reasonably sized stadiums that don't overwhelm its number of fans, and marketing an entertaining option to those adults and children who understand that Footy is an exciting game in the yard, on the playground, on the school football field, and in a 15,000 person stadium, and a reasonably priced, enjoyable option to our other overpriced and overhyped sports.

[As I jump off my soap box and walk away].

 

Well, you aint been watching DC on a good day... or mid-lower level Prem teams on a bad day.

Read my DC thread

y the way.. Freddy's almost ready... next year

 

Adu should be fun to watch. One English Daily said he may be interested in a move to Celtic...?

As an aside, wouldn't it be nice to have Rossi on our MNT to go along with Adu (assuming he progresses as many hope). Hope our next coach has a plan for those two.

 

You've got me going. I'm sorry this is just ridiculous. Which bloated Latin American super stars are you referring to?

So in your book we should just give up trying to build a competitive soccer league? Just pack it in, don't bother trying to attract talent and just be a league for college kids. Sorry call me delusional if you like but most Bundes Liga and Seri A games shown on FSC feature play just as sloppy as the Fire-Dallas game today.

Yeah I'm sure Adu would fit in fine at Celtic considering he just smacked em 4 - nil. I don't care if it is preseason; if MLS were the rec league you make it out to be then DC would have no business beating the Scottish Champions 4-0 with a second string line up. If were that bad, a Champions league contender should have no issues, much less 4-0 issues, with a MLS side regardless of the time of year or conditions.

 

It's more of a "which bloated Latin American former superstar would that statment not apply to" question. I'm not saying the MLS should pack it in. If you re-read what I posted, I am saying the Middle School League and its fans need to get real about what is being provided and what is marketable. I've been watching and playing way too much Footy these days (just ask my significant other), and watching the MSL after watching European Football is a bit like watching the J.V. team play Saturday morning after a well fought battle by the Varsity under the lights on Friday night. If the MSL would focus on being the league of some up and coming US players, who are fighting to make the jump to Europe and the USMNT, and providing a competitive product to a limited number of fans in limited size stadiums, then the MSL and its fans can be more reasonable about their expectations and more realistic about where the MSL fits into the order of world Footy. There is nothing wrong with European Football being the highest level of competition, and I wish all the twisted MSL freaks would realize that. This is one area of sports where Americans must come to grips with the fact that the U.S. does not have the best players, teams or league, nor does it have to, and it won't for the foreseeable future. A lot of the respect that is not given to the MSL and its fans is based on the fact that they cannot see or compute that.

I am going to stick with the EPL and Fulham in the meantime.

 

As far as I can see you dont really have a point and you're certainly not making it.

It seems to me it's you that has the unreal expectations... and as that goes, why should some US fans be any different than others around the world?

There will be some, but how is that different than someone who follows some UK second division side?

If you dont believe me try reading the Scottish papers and their unbelievable drooling over Adu mentioning he might like to play for Celtic..
NOTE: Perhaps I need to point out, here , that all Adu actually said is that he knows who Celtic is and that they play in CL.. and he 'could see himself playing for them'. Well.. he won't; EVER!!!! and that makes my point on 'unreal expectations'.
But most of us arent tricked into the "MLS is crap and I aint going to watch them, let alone buy tickets, until they are close to World Class" paradigm.

As I said, I suggest you switch your followership to DCU if you want to see where MLS wants to be... and WATCH how Nowak has them playing.

Because at the core of your view is the mindset that led to The Cosmos and ultimate failure of NASL... which is the LAST thing we want.
What's next... going to claim that MLS isnt even Championship caliber?

 

Nope. You are wrong. I don't advocate people not watching, attending or following the Middle School League. I advocate that they come out of the fog, petty fog perhaps, and realize that the professional game offered here is substantially different and inferior to what is provided by the European leagues. I think that realization alone will help make the MSL and Footy a much more marketable sport here. You can't create a world class league just by calling it one. The reality of savvy fans and players is that the highest level of attainment in Footy is across the pond.

 

Then I suggest you lay off the MIDDLE SCHOOL LEAGUE crap; if you want to be reasonable , call MLS the US 1st/2nd Division calibre league.

You aint impressing me.

I pointed out on WC forum, why I think this World Cup opened a lot of eyes in the US and that the mindset of the casual fan drawn in by it, that we need to win it all to be successful, is changing.

Might I remind you that the inclusion of MLS players is NOT what sunk the US... that many of the MLS players showed form as good as or better than their international team-mates?

Still not good enough but not bad consider that soccer players are the 'leavings' in the US athletic scheme of things.

 

I agree that their is talent to be mined from the U.S. 2nd Division (jeez, where's the fun in that?), but last I checked, no one posting here has the job of trying to impress you, or any other member for that matter. And while your crazy professor avatar may impress yourself, I'm confident I'm not the only one considers your rambling about anything but Fulham a bit tedious.

I hear it is hot in Columbus these days. I'd say all the hot air coming from that direction confirms it.

 

Yes I know the MLS is not the highest level of soccer in the world! I have no issue accepting that fact. That is why I watch the EPL, to see the highest level of club soccer in the world. To not aspire to be the best is plain stupid.

I believe MLS is on par with third tier Euro leagues such as Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Switzerland, ect. But we have way more potential to grow bigger than those leagues.

 

Off to the pitch.

As my send off let's just say I recognize and appreciate fans following and supporting whatever sport at whatever level, but I think I have just as much of a right to be frustrated and disappointed with it.

 

Lets go over your Bloated Latin American player assesment. Since you had such a problem with the Dallas Chicago game we can start there.

Chicago
Andy Heron- 28 years old, Costa Rican, decent scorer in MLS, inconsistent, could play in any of the third tier euro leagues I pointed out above, defiantly not bloated

Diego Gutierez- 34 y.o., American, workman midfielder, not a superstar and not bloated, not much diffrent then Simion Elliot type

Thiago- small, skilled, 24 y.o., Brazillan, to small to play in an eliete leauge, probably tons of his type in Brazil, could easily play in Scandinavia, thin as a stick

Ivan Guerro- 29 y.o., lasted played in Urugay, Honduran, decent game, not a superstar and not bloated

Dallas

Ramon Nunez- 19 y.o., good skill and potential, American, not bloated, could one day play in a big leauge(have to wait and see), not bloated

Dario Sala- 31 y.o., long career in Argentina, sucked yesterday, not a superstar, not bloated, but he did suck, probably why FCD just signed Shaka Hislop

None bloated, none old

 

Anyone want a list of Euro second division players who came into MLS and and slunk right back home because they couldnt cut it?

I can give you three from the Crew, alone, and that was 3-5 years ago when standards were lower.

I ALSO think a lot of the misperception is due to the MLS defensive paradigm... defense is the easiest thing to play for those with athletic quick-twitch talents, and nothing breaks up 'Beautiful Game' form like a "Just get the ball" attitude.

 

Thanks, Heather.. and if the moaners would open their eyes and agree to follow 'the best of the middlin' ' then they would surely appreciate Nowak and DC. And reward that club.

Whie we're on the subject... let's analyse Beasley's success at Eindhoven. Not a PREMIERE League club.. but let's face it, Beasley isnt Prem material either.

And never will be.

Let's look at what happened when ChivasG assumed CUSA might be a good farm club for the Parent.
they were crap and they were still crap when they brought in an 'International Manager'

Whatever happened to Lothar Matteus.. couldnt he 'show us how it's done', even on crutches?

Why are/were Stoitchkov and Valderrama successes here.. and John Spencer, for that matter?
Or Pietr Nowak, the player?

 

I don't deny anyone their enjoyment of any game at any level, but I have an extremely hard time listening to others compare the best in the world to a keeper getting nutmegged twice, one a very weak shot, for two goals.

Talked with a fellah on the pitch today who also was so hard up for fitba that he watched the same match. He also was disgusted at the level of play. So for all you koolaid drinkers, put it down and walk away. Be honest about the level of play in professional soccer in the U.S., be honest about the level of interest in a domestic league, and be honest about the fact that for now and the forseeable future, the best thing the MLS can be is a developmental and feeder league. Once you get past the denial we can all better come to grips on what is needed to make U.S. professional soccer successful, because it is detrimental to our children and the future of U.S. soccer not to be honest.

It is O.K. that Europe have better leagues. No different than Europeans coming to the NBA or Latino/Asians coming the MLB. It is O.K., really.

 

Maybe they just looked bloated, and slow, and not as good as European League players. Maybe it was all a mirage. Oh and 31 and 34 means you are getting a little long in the tooth in most professional leagues these days.

 

Maybe its because the thermometer on the field read 125 degrees. When was the last time you watched an EPL match in that heat? Hell England couldn't handle the 85 degrees temps in Germany.

How do Hatter and you look at the same game and come up with completely different conclusions about that game? Obviously you were looking for flaws. If you look for them you could find flaws anywhere. I could go on and on about that B'ham Sunderland game with unproven unknowns and over the hill has beens in front of a half full stadium, but I don't.

Yes, I know this is a feeder league for the foreseeable future. That does not make it unwatchable and that does not mean I’m going to nit pick it every time its on. It does mean I will support it so it can continue to grow.

Lastly, you said you maintain the right to be disappointed with the league. Sure of course you do, the question is why are you? Did you expect a league to start from scratch in a non-soccer watching country with zero of their own venues and pretty limited money and in ten years be a world class league? If so, and it sure sounds like you did, then I'm afraid you were the one drinking the Kool-Aid.

 

Lastly, you said you maintain the right to be disappointed with the league. Sure of course you do, the question is why are you? Did you expect a league to start from scratch in a non-soccer watching country with zero of their own venues and pretty limited money and in ten years be a world class league? If so, and it sure sounds like you did, then I'm afraid you were the one drinking the Kool-Aid.[/quote]

Couldnt agree with this last bit more, now at first i was a big advocate of MLS w/ Tampa being my team...I really put forth a belief that it was going to be good, after coming to my senses and growing out of just seeing Champions League on ESPN, I realized what passion, skill, and precision and so much more make EPL and other european leagues head and shoulders above....and i also began to get angry at MLS, but it is what it is now....a 11 year old league that has and will continue to go through growing pains that the prem, la liga, serie a (cough cough) had never had to go through..especially going against a country that has leagues that have been around ALOT longer than MLS...heck even the USL (2nd div.) has been around 20 years! Both leagues are helping build soccer in America, and sorry that MLS doesnt just act like the EPL right away...it does take time.

And who is preaching MLS to be on the level with EPL and other european leagues??? Yes I'm sure MLS exec's would LOVE MLS to grow to make the money and bring the attention, but I gotta believe they just want MLS to keep growing, and maybe bring in a fan or two that occassionally enjoys the 15,000 seat atmosphere.

Are all..and i mean ALL Prem games pretty???? are ALL Championship, League 1 and 2 games pretty and have some nutmegs on the keepers??? I'm willing to bet yes to these....while I get your angst w/ Major League Soccer.......give it some time before you totally bash it to death....i mean i'm thankful for the league and glad to see it progress from what it was...i would hate to know what you though of MLS in 1996?? yikes!!!!

All in all, its your opinion and we all have our own and its good to get in a topic like this....lets send this energy to the whites so they can beat their next Conference side :wink:

You gotta admit though, IF and it is a BIG IF the MLS All Star squad can beat Chelzski.....that may make you watch a highlight of MLS again!!!!