Orlando would get crushed in MLS. Not every single game, but they'd make the 2005 Chivas USA expansion team or the 2001 Tampa Mutiny look like FC ********ing Barcelona. Even my high flying Carolina RailHawks would have their asses handed to them week in and week out if they were playing in MLS. I just don't understand how people who watch the games can't tell the difference. The RailHawks are a D2 juggernaut. One with gaping problems that your generic MLS team would drive a convoy through. Sure, they wouldn't go 0-fer, but they wouldn't need to bother selling any playoff tickets, either.
It's not like Brad Rusin ever made that run against Fort Lauderdale or Edmonton. I like the big guy, as a RailHawks partisan, but let's not get crazy here.
The Red Bulls, a MLS team, just won the Emirates Cup over world class clubs like Arsenal, PSG, and Boca Juniors. Even with jet lag and strung thin in the middle over their season, they won a great victory for MLS. What does it mean? What does it tell us about the level of MLS compared to Europe? Absolutely nothing!!!!!! It's as meaningless as every other friendly. Only a total moron would try to judge the quality of anything based on a meaningless friendly. NASL teams cannot compete in MLS because they have no depth and small budgets. The gap between D1 and D2 has never been greater. The old A League teams actually had decent rosters compared to MLS of the late 90s. And Tampa compete in MLS? My god you are a delusional homer. They are only a mid table NASL team for Pete's sake! They would get laughed out of MLS. Worry about your dropping attendance first. This is even a stretch for you. And quite sad. What are you even talking about?
100% my observation. The gap between D1 and D2 in the U.S. is as big as it has ever been, and it's growing every year - even as MLS expands, which would normally slow that process. And you know what? I'm okay with that. Go RailHawks! My sense of pride and feeling of being a fan of the RailHawks is not limited because they're not a D1 team.
Just wait until next, year we will see how things work out in the 2012 US Open cup. No need to read anything into this year (other than the UCC games, but that was a smal sample).
+1 and well said Andy. This is what ultimately will make D2 sustainable. Will we ever reach a point where enough fans care about their team, even if it's not D1? Beats me. But you can come up with all the scenarios you want about how other forces can help D2 survive. In the end all that matters is fan support. BTW, I'm with you 100%. Even if the Strikers never move to MLS, I'll still be a season ticket holder, and will be at Lockhart for every game. The clubs need to find a way to connect with and engage their fans at that level.
Emirates Cup<CCL. Emirates Cup has better teams yes, but the teams in it are in it for pre-season purposes. When PR beat LA in the CCL it was up to LA if they were taking it seriously or not. I don't know the line-up LA fielded but am told they don't take CCL seriously. That being said, CCL>Em Cup because CCL is a competitive fixture resulting in WCC.
And yet WSW still loves to use friendlies to prove his point. He's only switching now because it doesn't work as well for his point now. It also doesn't change the fact that MLS has treated the lower leagues like a red-headed step child in the USOC.
I just laugh at any of you who still let WSW send you into a frenzy. I want to believe he's sitting back and laughing too, but honestly, based on his posts, I'm not sure that's true..... LOL
Yup. Let's focus on the one game and ignore the 8 games where MLS teams defeated D2/D3 teams with their B teams.
And the Nutrilite Canadian Championship. A USL/NASL team has only qualified for the CONCACAF Champions League at the expense of an MLS team once -- when the Montreal Impact took Canada's spot for the 2008-09 tournament. That said, the Islanders have been pretty impressive in two of their three CCL appearances. Looks like they might get bounced in the prelims this year since they're down 2-0 after the first leg of their tie. Ironically, I just wrote something about this a couple of days ago: http://mlsdebris.blogspot.com/2011/07/concacaf-champions-league-mls-vs.html
Heh. But, according to WSW, previous years don't count because NASL is a completely different league than USL and is, somehow, infinitely better. Supposedly replacing the U with a NA has somehow made the various owners of NASL teams better at assessing and acquiring talent.
NASL is different, or at least trying to be. NASL teams are not different. The difference that matters is on the league level, where they're trying to avoid the revolving door of teams paying a franchise fee and being gone the next year that plagued USL. So the WSW perspective is full of shit even though NASL really is a totally new league, different from USL-1.
Sadly, WSW was talking from a team perspective. although, is it NASL trying to stop the recolving door, or is it USSF?
It's NASL. In one respect, that's why they formed the break-away league. USSF issued the D2 standards in reaction to this situation. The USSF wouldn't have acted (their usual MO) if the NASL & USL folks brokered a truce on their own. The Fed hasn't done a good job IMO of imagining the possibilities of the professional soccer pyramid because they're a body populated by soccer moms and dads, not former professional players, coaches, administrators, etc. Chuck Blazer is a prime example. He never played the game but came into it only as a parent. Our national federation must have more ex-pros involved. It's a maturation process. It's slow in coming, but it is coming along.