Yep. I thought I'd entered an alternate reality when the MLS Match Day app reported that both TFC and Chivas had won in the same weekend.
Hmh. It'd be interesting to see how it develops, though. There's definately some lower-tierd sides that could sometime see the upgrade... And if its about cities, there's still the case of London or Buenos Aires with an effload of clubs in the same metropolitan area. Or I mean, a Canadian Premier League could maybe let open opportunity for expansion! I mean, in the end, the sport (and concacaf) would benefit from a country like Canada having their own league. Rich, culturally diverse, great landmass, wonderful cities, infrastructure, population, love for sport... The whole 'sharing a league' goes great for stuff like the NBA and MLB, sure. The same way England kinda includes Wales and would go great if they'd include Scotland as well... But for these two places, honestly, it'd just go over wonderfully if at some point that happened. (...And if its cos of the level of play or some small football grounds in the lower tier, you just gotta look at the rest of concacaf cos I mean come on.)
It would be cool, but I don't see it happening anytime soon. The problem with comparing Canada to England or Argentina is that their population density is so much less. Canada has about half as many people in 77 times the landmass of England. So, getting enough support to keep teams going across the country would be really tough. Sure, some of the great cities like Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal can support a team (or maybe even 2 or 3 in Toronto), but where else are you going to put a team? Maybe Calgary or Edmonton, but then you're about out of spots because most of Canada is empty. I think you'd end up with a small league of maybe 10 teams at most, all of which are really close to the U.S. geographically, so what's the point?
Well, if soccer magically became as popular in Canada as it is Europe you could have teams in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Saskatoon (maybe...if the soccer-mad fans in Regina adopt the team as their own), Ottowa, Toronto, Hamilton, Quebec and Montreal. Double up in some of the bigger cities, and you've got a 14-15 team league. But such a think won't happen for at least the next two or three generations, if ever. But it's not (completely) impossible, and if it did happen, it'd probably be better than the SPL.
Seattle plays Tigres in the CCL tonight. Seattle is down 1-0, but The Daily on mlssoccer.com is reporting that Tigres is sending a B team that has a combined 4 starts among 16 players in the current Liga MX season. Unless if Sigi trots out a B team, there's no reason Seattle shouldn't be able to pick up a win at the Clink and move on. If Houston is able to pull of a win tomorrow against Santos (currently lead 1-0), there will potentially be an all MLS semi-final (they would play Seattle). If that happens, would both teams take it seriously, or would they trot out reserve teams?
1. Tigres is a damn good team. Their "reserves" aren't going to just bend over and let Seattle have their way. A road goal from them and that thing is a huge uphill battle. 2. Montreal went into Seattle just a few weeks ago and laid the blueprint for how to beat them. 3. Houston is up 1-0, great, but playing at Santos while trying to defend a lead isn't something that I would want to do. Seattle was up on them last year 2--0, weren't they? We all saw how that ended... Honestly, I have money on just the oppostite - an All Mexican semi. LA will likely get past Herediano (though not going to be easy) and then they get Monterrey. Put me down for a rematch of last years final
I don't disagree with you on your points, but I think the outcomes could go either way. I think a Santos v Monterrey final is the sure bet. But the potential is there for any of the MLS teams to advance. 1) Seattle held Tigres scoreless until the 74th minute. They fell asleep on a play similar to how DC scored on us last week. Playing at home, I see Seattle taking the lead and at least taking the game to overtime. 2) No disagreement here. 3) Seattle had a 2-1 lead. If I remember right, they didn't send their A team down to Santos. I don't see Kinnear doing the same. Santos was lucky to not have a 2nd goal scored on them. Houston is playing on a week's worth of rest, so they're A team should be ready to go. I see Houston going down with the same game plan and attacking the goal. Kinnear's gotta know he's not going to be able to defend a 1-0 lead for 90 minutes in Mexico.
Beat me to it. Eddie Johnson is terrible. He's missed 3 shots that should've been goals. Ochoa missed an open header as well. Seattle is showing just how much Montero did for them.
Scrum in the box, keeper down, and Seattle still can't put it in. This is going to be like RSL losing to Monterrey.
Viniegra gets a second yellow and Tigres is now down to 10 men. Maybe Seattle has a chance to come back now.
And like that Hurtado scores a rocket volley from about 30 yards out! That's goal of the week in MLS play. Seattle trails 3-2 on aggregate due to away goals.