I was at the red bull game yesterday. It was meet the player promotion that living social put together. I don't know any of the players that were there no starters that I saw. There were not even in uniform there were not even on the field. I saw one that looked German. I had just come back from Germany. So I was going to talk about the big game I saw last week in Berlin. Turns out he was Norwegian so I mentioned Sporting Club Gjoa a Norwegian club here that I played and coached with when I first moved to Brooklyn. He knew the club so we had a frame of reference to talk about he was a nice kid. My son works for living social he was very disappointed in the way the Red Bulls handled the promotion. Henry played in this game but was not with the players that greeted people. The people were very disappointed about not meeting him. The stadium was well less then half full. On June 7 the argentina men's national team will be at red bull stadium our main man Messi is supposed to be there. They will run a practice session that will be open to the public. Have any of you heard about this before last night? Heard about it because I was at that game. I think a lot of soccer people would like to attend if they knew about it. But will they know about it? We don't know how to promote the sport right in the US. The us national team did a clinic in Brooklyn college in the early 1990's. Also Bilardo the winning coach of Argentinas WC champion team was there. The only reason I knew about it was because I trained the Brooklyn colleges D 1 team at that time. Plus I read a soccer paper for coaches and players in NYC puts out that nobody actually reads except me. I brought a Gjoa youth team to the clinic. We were the only team there. That was embarrassing but it was good for the team
I'm sorry if I fail to see how this relates to MLS and its atmosphere in the subforum "Soccer in the USA".
In basically every stadium in Europe there is a very clear separation between the sections where people might light flares and where they definitely won't. I prefer the 'European' atmosphere over the 'American' one at sport matches, but I don't mind that it is a bit different. Soccer is a global game but that doesn't mean it should take the same form everywhere. Nothing wrong with a bit of variation.
I completely agree. While there are certainly things we can take from European clubs we shouldn't try to become a mirror image. Take some things we like, leave what we don't, and most importantly make it our own. No need to sing You'll Never Walk Alone or Tiny Bubbles at every match. Very true. Too long I think people have relied on people on bigsoccer to find things out. If it wasn't for that I never would have even heard of AC St Louis, wonder why they folded.....
I watched my first full MLS game ever a couple of days ago. I think i got a bit lucky as it was the Timbers v Galaxy game (3-5). I have to admit i was very pleasantly surprised by the atmosphere. OK, it could be argued that it 'appears' manufactured (i might be mistaken) but nevertheless i think i would have got involved & enjoyed it if i had been there. I cant see an EPL team getting away with using a chainsaw at a game though! I agree with the poster on the Bundesliga though - the atmosphere there is usually amazing. The atmosphere at EPL games is vastly over-stated by the TV stations in order to try & get their armchair fans (who are part of the problem) to watch the match. Apart from matches between the top side or local rivals, EPL matches can be absolutely dire. There are only a few teams where there is an attempt to create something at all games with Stoke & my team, Spurs among them. Anyone that talks up the atompshere at EPL games has never watched AFC, CFC or Man U at home to a bottom half of the table team. Woeful. Their 'new breed' of fan is only interested in the big games. The increasingly prevalent middle-class type of fans see attending games as a theatre going experience, ie, they are their to be entertained rather than actually be part of the experience.
"I completely agree. While there are certainly things we can take from European clubs we shouldn't try to become a mirror image. Take some things we like, leave what we don't, and most importantly make it our own." We should do this with coaching as well. That should be the American style.
I think we have no style. Others think it is long ball and a possession game with athleticism. Our creating space idea is player movement and passing in a diamond shape and in a triangle shape. But there is much more movement then that to make a 20 yard pass look open when a few seconds before it was congested space. We don't have a inside game. Other countries have it. We don't attack space near the ball. We attack it far from the ball. Very few of our players can shoot from far outside. We don't make good runs that can lead to throw passes. We miss through pass opportunities left and right. Especially when we decide to switch the field. We hardly ever square pass inside the field. We should have a mix of at least some of that, and try to make that our game.
I do get tired of American fans trying to copy what they see on FSC. The supporters group I'm a part of started off trying to copy the Ultras, now we mostly just crack jokes at the opposition or the refs. Not everyone likes it, but it's what we are good at and we want to do our thing. Thankfully we've got some genuinely funny people in our group.
I saw the Portland vs LA game the other day, the first time I had ever seen an MLS match. I have to say the atmosphere looked OK to me - I rather enjoyed the game too. I have read a lot of negative comments on this site regarding MLS matches including a lot of negativity from US posters but it looks pretty entertaining to me and after all a football / soccer match doesnt have to have Messi or Robben to be entertaining and entertainment is the name of the game isnt it? If I ever find myself stateside and close to an MLS arena I would be very happy to go and watch a match.
No disrespect intended fella but lets be honest, you are never going to see a man using a massive chainsaw at a game in England! The announcers seen to get more involved in generating atmosphere as well (although that & the use of music is gradually creeping in to the EPL as well). It wasn't a criticism at all, indeed, i freely admitted i would have got involved if i had been at the game. Just different stokes for different folks (to coin a cliche).
No disrespect taken, just curious. The club's logging/chainsaw tradition started when a fan started bringing his chainsaw to a game (convincing the FO to let him in!) and cutting off a slice of wood after each goal. Fans generate all the atmosphere, it's been done for years, the original lumberjack even handed off the chainsaw to a new guy a couple years ago. Didn't realize it appeared like the club created it themselves/were doing it intentionally though, hmm.
TBH, many MLS fans don't care at all how it's done in England. No offense meant, but the US fans want to develop their own soccer culture (such as using the word soccer). Everyone knows you would never see a chainsaw in a stadium in England, but that is Portland's tradition and has been so for far longer than they have been in MLS. That's their thing.
Yeah the chainsaw thing started organically by the fans. You can read about it here. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timber_Jim
Of course, I understand. As someone that has never previously taken much interest in the MLS (most over here probably only know Galaxy & Red Bulls due to Beckham & Henry) i was interested to find out a bit more. Obviously it is very difficult for an outsider to make an accurate judgement call based on watching TV. I sort of kept half an eye out for the Quakes results due to some connection with my team - the Mighty Tottenham.
I agree with this post. I have been around U.S. soccer long enough to remember the NASL and MISL and the dark days of no professional league but we love the sport too here albeit not on the scale (fans vs. population) of the rest of the world. We do want our own culture and the league (MLS) isn't that old in the grand scheme of things to have developed a lot of long traditions. There are a few uniquely fun atmospheric happenings though, Portland being an EXCELLENT example of a purely American tradition organically growing in a very local manner regarding Timbers and Lumberjacks etc. Our domestic league is growing and the games are spirited, entertaining and though I am not sure how the rest of the league or world is in Chicago (as I imagine most MLS stadiums) we can "tailgate" which is also a very North American tradition to grill some hotdogs and hamburgers in the parking lot and drink some ice cold beers before going into the match to cheer your team on. There is a great atmosphere outside the stadium as well as in it. I don't think this is at all tolerated in many other countries.
Tailgating is almost uniquely American, though Canadians probably do it too. The thing is, it's not huge in other countries because people don't drive to teh games on the scale they do here. They take public transportation and/or walk, and thus can't really tailgate, as they would have to bring grills on the trains or buses.
Disagree. For the most part, the atmosphere generated by the TA is about as uniquely American as every other Supporters Group in the US. I would put the SKC Cauldron as the one section/group that is most like a "traditional American" style. They have more of a College Basketball Student section feel to them that is mixed into a generic Supporters Culture pulled from places around the world. I enjoy it. I find most groups pull from content you would typically find on Ultras-tifo.net Or are creating songs that you wouldn't be surprised to be sung somewhere in continental Europe. The Dynamo have more of a latin feel to them. Its great, I like their style very much. But most groups tend to stay away from the "English" style of support and lean more towards an "Ultras" style, Barra Brava and Hinchada style or a blend of them. Which is my preferred style.
Posting a ton of videos... enjoy the video spam... I will just pimp my own team and its main Supporters Group which I am a member. Follow this link for pics of our pregame displays http://www.weareecs.com/media/tifo/displays/ The ECS is an independent group and we fund all of our activities ourselves. ECS youtube channel http://www.youtube.com/feed/UCwF_W3UrsO_lWYzPfERaFQA Pregame tradition for when players walk out onto the field. This video is from the Seattle @ Portland in 2011. Winning goal for 2011 US Open Cup just random ECS and Sounders related videos
