Major League Soccer (MLS) Thread

[Scuba Steve]

I tend to agree with Ives, who does not think that a promotion/relegation system will ever work here.

I would rather have a regionalized system anyways, but that won't happen either.

[dena]

I've given up on the idea of promotion/relegation, we cannot be 100% identical to other leauges in the world, and I'm finally coming to that conclusion.

I think the salary cap should be raised ASAP though, I think the CBA is running out soon, and that's a perfect chance to raise it, the best way to raise the quality of the teams quickly is to raise the salary cap, so we can offer a competitive salary to top class draft picks, to expand rosters and help MLS clubs compete abroad, and domestically.

[DeacsWF]

Originally Posted by hokiegooner

I tend to agree with Ives, who does not think that a promotion/relegation system will ever work here.

I would rather have a regionalized system anyways, but that won't happen either.

I'm not sure this is what you were talking about, but it sparked an idea that could be a possibility.

In like 30 or 40 years, if soccer has become a widely supported sport in the USA, then we could have regions like: Northeast, Northwest, Southwest, etc. and we could make it a lot more localized so rivalries could develop and that sort. It would be easier to get to away games as well. Also, we could have a USA champions league (or maybe just playoffs).

Is that at all what you were talking about?

[Scuba Steve]

That is exactly what I am talking about. I could imagine 5 leagues or so of 16-20 teams. Its extremely optimistic, and way down the road -- but thats what I hope eventually happens.

[dena]

Why? I would totally hate having a region based leauge, reminds me too much of college sports, which is great for college because you don't want student athletes from a school in Michigan traveling to UCLA twice a year. But for the MLS I think the way we are doing it now is great, get about 20/24/26 teams, make them into a single table and proceed from there.

[Doc]

Off topic guys, but do any MLS teams have any plans to tour England or Europe?

[ed31]

Originally Posted by Doc

Off topic guys, but do any MLS teams have any plans to tour England or Europe?

not sure but i heard that Chelsea and Barcelona is going to play the seattle sounders in a friendly.

[DeacsWF]

Originally Posted by Doc

Off topic guys, but do any MLS teams have any plans to tour England or Europe?

If they toured England then I don't think it would be too beneficial. What English fan would want to see an MLS team when they have the premier league? It's different if a team like Barcelona comes to the USA.

[Scuba Steve]

Originally Posted by denapro

Why? I would totally hate having a region based leauge, reminds me too much of college sports, which is great for college because you don't want student athletes from a school in Michigan traveling to UCLA twice a year. But for the MLS I think the way we are doing it now is great, get about 20/24/26 teams, make them into a single table and proceed from there.

But with college sports (at least college football) you actually get traveling supporters. Now a days, you would just get fans that happen to live in that city.

Plus, regional rivalries are much better in my opinion. They create more interest, and also allow for smaller cities to have their own place.

A big game like New York and LA then would mean much more, since it would be a big tournament game, as opposed to just a MLS match.

Originally Posted by Doc

Off topic guys, but do any MLS teams have any plans to tour England or Europe?

Sometimes we have teams going abroad to play a couple of games, but that is usually in March. DC United went to Spain a couple of seasons ago. But that won't happen at this point of our season.

[Doc]

Originally Posted by FIFAL3G3ND

If they toured England then I don't think it would be too beneficial. What English fan would want to see an MLS team when they have the premier league? It's different if a team like Barcelona comes to the USA.

I meant to play Championship teams, maybes even setting up a mini-tourney like the Emirates Cup for example?

[BMxJoga]

I would love the league to go to 22 players with one table with 28-32 players and a reserve division, but that is pushing it. I also believe that a rule should be that each team should have 2 USA/Canada players under the age of 20 to help boost our Youth Nats and have an all pro team when we go to U20 world cups and such.

[ed31]

Originally Posted by JogaCB912

I would love the league to go to 22 players with one table with 28-32 players and a reserve division, but that is pushing it. I also believe that a rule should be that each team should have 2 USA/Canada players under the age of 20 to help boost our Youth Nats and have an all pro team when we go to U20 world cups and such.

that is an excellent idea! that should be implemented.

[BMxJoga]

Originally Posted by ed31

that is an excellent idea! that should be implemented.

Yeah but MLS won't hire me! Oh well off to replace Decio DeMaria

[ed31]

Originally Posted by JogaCB912

Yeah but MLS won't hire me! Oh well off to replace Decio DeMaria

haha ya man

[dena]

Osorio falsely accused of implying MLS refs are racially biased


Photo by ISIphotos.com
Red Bulls head coach Juan Carlos Osorio had his issues with Saturday night's match vs. Houston, and his issues with referee Baldomero Toledo, but none of those issues had to do with race and whether Toledo and other MLS referees are targeting Hispanic players.
Contrary to this report from the New York Post soccer blog, which stated that Osorio accused MLS referees of being racially biased, Osorio never made a comment relating to referees and their perceived mistreatment of Hispanic players.
What Osorio did do was make a comment about all four of the Red Bulls players receiving red cards this year being Hispanic, but he did so in acknowledgment of a trend he wasn't necessarily happy with. Jorge Rojas, who drew a red card for an arm to the face of Brian Mullan, fell into the stereotype of the hot-tempered Latino player, something Osorio wasn't happy about.


"Right, I know, all Hispanic players, eh," Osorio said when asked about his team's four red cards this season. "Today I told my team what I thought coming into this game and unfortunately we were too quick to react a couple of times."
Osorio believed that Rojas allowed himself to get caught up in the Dynamo's physical game, then pointed out Seth Stammler's own reaction to a rough challenge as evidence that being upset with the Dynamo's play wasn't something limited to Hispanic players.
"To be fair to everybody, I don't know if you guys saw what happened just prior to their goal. There's an incident, there's a bad tackle to Seth (Stammler), and Seth is not Hispanic, and he reacted, and that's all my comments. I'm not going to say anything else."
The incident in question with Stammler occurred in the second half when Stuart Holden came in hard with a studs-up challenge that Stammler had to jump to avoid. Stammler responded by grabbing Holden's jersey as the players ran up field. Holden's challenge was one of a handful of harsh challenges throughout the night, including the first-half tackle that led to Carlos Johnson suffering a broken left foot, a tackle that failed to draw a card from Toledo.
Holden's challenges, along with the Dynamo's overall physical approach to the match (Houston out-fouled the Red Bulls 17- didn't surprise Osorio, but the Red Bulls coach did sound disappointed with Toledo's failure to issue any yellow cards to Houston for its physical play (aside from one to forward Ade Akinbiyi)_.
"All I can say is I saw it coming," Osorio said. "Not the red card, but something, and not necessarily with Jorge, but it's just the nature of the game when you play against Houston."
So why the confusion in Osorio's statement? His "all Hispanic players" comment was clearly misunderstood by some, especially since Osorio was trying hard not to be critical of the referee. The comment was also misunderstood even though Osorios follow-up comment about Seth Stammler's reaction to a Stuart Holden tackle provided some context.
Osorio accusing MLS refs of being racist against Hispanics because of Rojas' red card wouldn't exactly make sense consider A) Baldomero Toledo is Hispanic and B) Hispanic referees have issued three of the four red cards the Red Bulls have received this year.
------------------------------------------------------------------------


I read this in the Post today, but was waiting for Ives' to post it in a condensed form (look how well that turned out), I don't believe at all that the refs have been racially biased to us, I just feel we have had a lock of concentration, and that starts on the training field.

[DeacsWF]

^wow

[Tio Nicci]

Originally Posted by denapro

Osorio falsely accused of implying MLS refs are racially biased


Photo by ISIphotos.com
Red Bulls head coach Juan Carlos Osorio had his issues with Saturday night's match vs. Houston, and his issues with referee Baldomero Toledo, but none of those issues had to do with race and whether Toledo and other MLS referees are targeting Hispanic players.
Contrary to this report from the New York Post soccer blog, which stated that Osorio accused MLS referees of being racially biased, Osorio never made a comment relating to referees and their perceived mistreatment of Hispanic players.
What Osorio did do was make a comment about all four of the Red Bulls players receiving red cards this year being Hispanic, but he did so in acknowledgment of a trend he wasn't necessarily happy with. Jorge Rojas, who drew a red card for an arm to the face of Brian Mullan, fell into the stereotype of the hot-tempered Latino player, something Osorio wasn't happy about.


"Right, I know, all Hispanic players, eh," Osorio said when asked about his team's four red cards this season. "Today I told my team what I thought coming into this game and unfortunately we were too quick to react a couple of times."
Osorio believed that Rojas allowed himself to get caught up in the Dynamo's physical game, then pointed out Seth Stammler's own reaction to a rough challenge as evidence that being upset with the Dynamo's play wasn't something limited to Hispanic players.
"To be fair to everybody, I don't know if you guys saw what happened just prior to their goal. There's an incident, there's a bad tackle to Seth (Stammler), and Seth is not Hispanic, and he reacted, and that's all my comments. I'm not going to say anything else."
The incident in question with Stammler occurred in the second half when Stuart Holden came in hard with a studs-up challenge that Stammler had to jump to avoid. Stammler responded by grabbing Holden's jersey as the players ran up field. Holden's challenge was one of a handful of harsh challenges throughout the night, including the first-half tackle that led to Carlos Johnson suffering a broken left foot, a tackle that failed to draw a card from Toledo.
Holden's challenges, along with the Dynamo's overall physical approach to the match (Houston out-fouled the Red Bulls 17- didn't surprise Osorio, but the Red Bulls coach did sound disappointed with Toledo's failure to issue any yellow cards to Houston for its physical play (aside from one to forward Ade Akinbiyi)_.
"All I can say is I saw it coming," Osorio said. "Not the red card, but something, and not necessarily with Jorge, but it's just the nature of the game when you play against Houston."
So why the confusion in Osorio's statement? His "all Hispanic players" comment was clearly misunderstood by some, especially since Osorio was trying hard not to be critical of the referee. The comment was also misunderstood even though Osorios follow-up comment about Seth Stammler's reaction to a Stuart Holden tackle provided some context.
Osorio accusing MLS refs of being racist against Hispanics because of Rojas' red card wouldn't exactly make sense consider A) Baldomero Toledo is Hispanic and B) Hispanic referees have issued three of the four red cards the Red Bulls have received this year.
------------------------------------------------------------------------


I read this in the Post today, but was waiting for Ives' to post it in a condensed form (look how well that turned out), I don't believe at all that the refs have been racially biased to us, I just feel we have had a lock of concentration, and that starts on the training field.

he does bring up valid points though. The fact that Hispanic's are stereotyped as hot tempered players. This may be true but I wouldn't just say hispanic either. This happens a lot in my sunday games.

[M1ZZ0U]

Aside from the Osorio-speculation of did or did he not imply/state racial profiling by refs', I will say Baldomero Toledo has been a hot-head in several of the matches I've watched. Though, I think that's directly attributed to his passion & temper rather than his ethnicity.

I apologize for not directly citing examples, photo's or videos but distinctly recall him as being an overly passionate bordering on hot-tempered player.

Regarding his red-card, I'd need to see the video once again but when I saw the highlights I thought the red was justified at first glance.

[dena]

Rojas' red card was clear, even I could see that from about 70 yards away, he flung his elbow at the defender and tried to follow through with his leg, JCO is speaking of the other red cards by our Hispanic players, the Johnson one @ KC was supposedly last man so then it wouldn't be debatable, Johnson's other red was also pretty clear because he did a two-footed tackle from behind.

EDIT: He has a point (somewhat), the foul on Stammler was not called, when Stuart Holden broke Johnson's foot last night a yellow was not given, even though Holden was involved in various fouls up to that point.

[Scuba Steve]

Hm, well, Moreno was sent off for us this season..... I don't see much in it though.

[ed31]

ya latino's get stereotyped as hot tempered players but i think it was mentioned above that the one who issued the cards at least the previous cards is a hispanic ref.

[HASSARD2004]

A very well done to Eddie Lewis last night!

[dena]

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I AGREE

Goal of the week candidates, you know who gets my vote.

And Ives' Power Rankings:

1. Chivas
2. DC United
3. Chicago
4. Seattle
5. Houston
6. Colorado
7. Toronto
8. Kansas City
9. Salt Lake
10. New England
11. Columbus
12. New York
13. Los Angeles
14. FC Dallas
15. San Jose

[BMxJoga]

Eddie Lewis' goal was better imo

[HASSARD2004]

Originally Posted by JogaCB912

Eddie Lewis' goal was better imo

Yeah, it was immense.
Not that i'm being biased or anything like that.