NGR: I'm proud of MLS

Discussion in 'LA Galaxy' started by skydog, Jul 26, 2010.

  1. skydog

    skydog Member+

    Aug 1, 1999
    Durham, NC
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    VERY impressive performances by MLS teams yesterday against the Man City and Man U. And yes I know they are in pre-season, left some of their best players home, etc. Even so they are bringing over some high quality players who are fighting for spots on the team or in the starting line-up.

    First the NYRB- Man City game. Two great RB goals, neither involving Henry. Kandji is a beast, and Richards was schooling the Man City left back and scored a world class goal. I realize that Dane couldn't hit that shot again in a thousand years, but still for that one moment an MLS'er scored a goal that would have been impressive by WC standards.

    But what was most impressive (and scary) was that even after the RB's had subbed in 9 (!) players in the second half they were easily outplaying Man City! In fact for stretches after getting the lead NY looked like Barcelona as they toyed with Man City who were running all over the field trying to get a smidgen of possession. And I thought we had depth. :eek:

    And who would have thunk that Kansas City (??!!) would beat Man U playing with 10 men for 50 minutes? KC looked really good and Kamara and this new guy Craig Rocastle (new to me at least) in particular stood out for me.

    Significantly neither of these games were cases of an MLS team winning because the gk played out of his mind and the team getting lucky scoring goals against the run of play. Both NY and KC got off more shots and put more shots on goal than their opponents. In fact for significant stretches in both games an observer who didn't know their jerseys but just went by quality of play, passing and possession would likely have pegged NY and KC as the EPL teams.

    And it speaks well for our league's growing depth of quality when our bottom feeder teams like KC are able to pull this off and when NYRB's can control possession after putting in almost a complete second team.

    I know NYRB and KC are the bad guys when it comes to league play, but when it is MLS against the world I am MLS all the way. Nice representation for MLS!
     
  2. jscott23

    jscott23 Member

    Manchester United
    United States
    Jan 24, 2003
    Poway, CA
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I've been a United fan for 35 years and loved the KC win yesterday. It makes me feel so good about the continued growth of our league. I know these are meaningless friendlies against B-teamers but it was so incredible to watch a kid from my high school (Kei Kamara of Leuzinger HS) have a wonderful performance against one of the biggest clubs in the world.
     
  3. ssanchez

    ssanchez Member

    Oct 15, 2000
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Good job to DC also on destroying portsmouth. Wasn't even close from what I can tell.
     
  4. iride_mybike

    iride_mybike Member

    Mar 31, 2004
    DFW
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    MLS teams showing well in the CCL will impress me a helluva lot more than these meaningless friendlies.
     
  5. barroldinho

    barroldinho Member+

    Man Utd and LA Galaxy
    England
    Aug 13, 2007
    US/UK dual citizen in HB, CA
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    Nat'l Team:
    England
    This thread needs an [R] in the title and perhaps a better indication of what it's about. I recorded the Man U game and planned to see it this evening. Luckily you lead with the Citeh result so I stopped reading.
     
  6. ssanchez

    ssanchez Member

    Oct 15, 2000
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    [​IMG]
     
  7. skydog

    skydog Member+

    Aug 1, 1999
    Durham, NC
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    As someone who hates it when others put results in a thread without warning I apologize barroldinho for making that mistake myself. It simply slipped my mind.

    Any mod out there - please put an [R] in the thread title and feel free to change the title to something more neutral.
     
  8. galaxy500

    galaxy500 Member

    Jan 21, 2010
    LA
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I love our club and league. Nuff said.
     
  9. skydog

    skydog Member+

    Aug 1, 1999
    Durham, NC
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    You are right that showing well in CCL means more in some ways since those are real, hard fought competitions with hardware at the end. OTOH these "meaningless" wins over the big names like Man U and Man City probably play better in the media and do more for public perception of MLS than CCL wins. The casual US fan and even more knowledgeable overseas fans probably won't even register an MLS win over Toluca or Saprissa.
     
  10. jscott23

    jscott23 Member

    Manchester United
    United States
    Jan 24, 2003
    Poway, CA
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I know that there are many here who only care about "games that count" but the reality is that teams like Manchester United and Real Madrid ARE relative in the global context, and the CCL is not. Now you can blame Jack Warner and CONCACAF or whatever you want, but these Euro-friendly games do help our league and our LAG team indirectly. Perception is reality, and when an American company willing to spend a hundred million for a MUFC jersey sponsorship sees games like these they notice. When top world talent sees results like these they might not consider MLS a retirement league any more and all of that helps. Long-term I see more investment and more talent as a result and that ain't a bad thing!
     
  11. jmaestro

    jmaestro Member+

    Mar 27, 2008
    Bakersfield
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Meh. This would be true if anyone even vaguely thought both teams were taking friendlies seriously....which they are seriously NOT particularly when it's preseason for one, and an in-season distraction for the other. It's easy to say hundred million dollar shirt sponsors are taking notice....really, though? Are they? How do we know? And the results of a friendly are going to make Messi want to come to play here? No, $$ is what will make people want to play here. That and the relaxed lifestyle.

    If we're not good enough to do some damage against our regional competition, friendlies aren't going to suddenly make us good. Win the CCL, though, and there is a reward---a decent tournament where we'd play champion teams in games that do count. (Although I'm not trying to overblow a competition that isn't considered a truly marquee event.)

    There's no other league in the world that would say, "Hey, let's go make ourselves a reputation by beating teams from other, bigger leagues in friendlies! In the middle of our season!" That just says, "oh, shucks, it's not like our season was important anyway. We're just a little feeder league, we'd totally love to play you guys in the middle of our season!"

    We need to just be honest about this. It's about the $$. There are lots of people in the States who want to see big teams, and they don't care who is playing them, they just want to see Real Madrid and ManU and the will pay big $$ to do so. So why make our teams take time out of the season to play them? Let them play each other on their tours (like they already do on quite a few tours) and leave it at that.
     
  12. salvikicks

    salvikicks Member+

    Mar 6, 2006
    Los Angeles
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    kamara is from leuzinger ?? i didnt know gardena had players like that
     
  13. The Cadaver

    The Cadaver It's very quiet here.

    Oct 24, 2000
    La Cañada, CA
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    True, but not necessarily a big problem. If we can build up our league, make money to pay for better players, reward investors for taking risks and bring in expansion clubs, I say, "Fleece the suckers!" Take them for all their worth. Build our league on their backs, rather than MINE.
     
  14. jscott23

    jscott23 Member

    Manchester United
    United States
    Jan 24, 2003
    Poway, CA
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    The only reason United is here is because their $100M shirt sponsor is in Chicago. Their shirt sponsor before was an American company. They don't do this because they like United. They do it because United attracts eyeballs. If they begin to think there are enough eyeballs here they will spend money in MLS.

    When it comes to selling tickets on at least four continents no one cares that United is playing its B and C teamers in friendlies. 50,000 people show up and pay good coin because of the brand. That makes them relevant regardless of what you or I personally think. Tens of millions of fans look for these results in their news outlets regardless of who they are playing and when.

    That kind of attention will attract investors and lower tier shirt sponsors to MLS. That kind of attention will attract guys like Henry, Marquez and others and will make our league better. Using Messi is a silly argument. No team or league in the world can get Messi to leave Barca. So what! These friendlies will be watched overseas and seen by top players everywhere. CCL games will matter to no one for quite some time, and we won't seriously compete without bigger rosters, bigger talents and solid youth and reserve development programs. To be the best you have to play the best, whenever and wherever you can. If these euro giants asked Mexico (or any other CONCACAF league) to suspend its games for a couple weeks to play friendlies vs. Barca, RM or Chelsea they would do it in a heartbeat, and yes because of the money! And secondly because of the money. But the reality is those teams don't want to go to Mexico or Honduras or T&T because the opportunity for growth and branding is here. So let's embrace it, leverage it and use it to grow our domestic game.
     
  15. skydog

    skydog Member+

    Aug 1, 1999
    Durham, NC
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    A few minutes ago I was just talking to a guy I play poker with (not an MLS fan at all - all he knows is that some people have told him that US soccer sucks) and he piped in with "I heard NY beat Man U". He was clearly impressed even though he knew that Man U was in preseason. Maybe it doesn't mean a whole lot, but I like to think positive stories like this help the MLS brand a tiny bit and in the long run.

    But beyond all the PR stuff I was just impressed with how well our teams played. Believe it or not, KC looked quite sharp and skillful - especially for the last 1/3 of the game. You can argue about the strength and motivation of the Man U squad but in the past that alone wasn't enough to make the typical MLS team look like a real team. There is definite improvement in the league. And I hope it shows up somewhere in the CCL results as well.
     
  16. skydog

    skydog Member+

    Aug 1, 1999
    Durham, NC
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Actually forget my assessment. Below is what Nani said. Now its obvious that Man U players are going to go out of their way to be complimentary when asked for quotes, but there are compliments of varying kinds. Check this one out:

    MANCHESTER UNITED MIDFIELDER NANI
    On Kansas City’s style of play
    “Their entire team played very well today. They played with a lot of motivation because they played Manchester United. It's difficult to compare them directly to Barcelona because they're one of the best teams in the world to play that kind of football, but they play very nice and quick and they passed the ball well like a quality Spanish club. Their style was good.”


    http://www.kansascity.com/2010/07/26/2108719/quotes-on-a-very-surprising-result.html#ixzz0upeTtCvl
     
  17. jmaestro

    jmaestro Member+

    Mar 27, 2008
    Bakersfield
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    jscott, your opinions are always thoughtful, and you do have some valid points. (I also like Cadaver's comment about fleecing the Eurosnobs to finance MLS...heh heh.) I do disagree with you on a couple of points still, though---Henry didn't come here because he saw a Chelsea v. New England friendly a few years ago and thought MLS was good....he came here because he freakin' loves NYC. I also just really don't buy the shirt sponsorship thing. If ManU is only here because of a Sponsorship, then why is Man City here? Why is Tottenham? It doesn't make sense for a sponsor to decide to sponsor MLS because they see a huge turnout for ManU. If you see a huge turnout for ManU you want to do something related to ManU. It'd be like someone seeing that the NFL is really, really popular here when a team is over in England, and deciding to invest in a minor league football team in London. It doesn't transfer. Marketing folks are not dumb enough to ignore the numbers and know what they are investing in.

    I also take issue with the "tens of millions of people are following these results." I say, really?? The only people in Europe who give a rip about Tottenham v. NYRB is Tottenham fans who want to see who is going to make the squad for next year. They are not televising these games across the world---they're barely on HERE, where they're being played. The only thing the friendlies are doing is reinforcing the idea that Euro = Good Soccer and Big Teams, while MLS = We Don't Care.
     
  18. jscott23

    jscott23 Member

    Manchester United
    United States
    Jan 24, 2003
    Poway, CA
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    To be clear there is only one team drawing tens of millions of fans attention and that is United. I guess I just disagree that these friendlies "mean" euro is good and MLS is bad. With the exception of Portsmouth (btw that's the game we got in San Diego, thank you very much) these European teams ARE better than our MLS teams. So what! Look at KC's announcement today that they have sold 700 new STH packages in the last 24 hrs. Tell me some of that isn't the bump from Sunday's game vs. MUFC. Yes, they have a stadium opening next year but beating United in a meaningless friendly in no way hurt. I guess it boils down to whether you believe it will help or not. I think it will. Many here think it won't. I respect that. I hope you're wrong. Not for personal vindication but because I want this league to thrive throughout my children's lifetime, which I guess means we all want the same thing.

    See you all at the HDC tomorrow night!
     
  19. VBOutLaw

    VBOutLaw New Member

    Jun 25, 2010
    Brigade Section 121
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Agreed,Now MLS need to show the Mexican league
    but The English fan sure have a new respect for
    American soccer after this summer
     
  20. GalaxyKoa

    GalaxyKoa Member+

    Jul 18, 2007
    North County
    Club:
    Los Angeles
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I'm certainly happy that MLS is winning games against other leagues, regardless of the competition.

    That being said, I don't need to justify my love for this league by saying how good it is. We could be the most horrible league in the world and I'd still love MLS.
     
  21. galaxy500

    galaxy500 Member

    Jan 21, 2010
    LA
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    bingo!
     
  22. skydog

    skydog Member+

    Aug 1, 1999
    Durham, NC
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Well I'm an MLS fan but I am a fan of skillful play as well. Sunday was great because I saw a lot of that skill exhibited by our very own.
     
  23. barroldinho

    barroldinho Member+

    Man Utd and LA Galaxy
    England
    Aug 13, 2007
    US/UK dual citizen in HB, CA
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    Nat'l Team:
    England
    Quick point worth making about the CCL vs these friendlies...

    If we WIN the CCL, we get to the Club World Cup. That's a healthy payday and a bonafide opportunity to compete with the each continents champion.

    If an MLS team beats a Man Utd or Real Madrid there, then that's a statement. If we aren't at least competing with the Mexican teams in CONCACAF, then that's a much bigger measuring stick than KC winning a friendly against United back 4 and GK that are second string and in the process of building match-fitness.

    These are money-spinners, good to watch, arguably a way of giving our league a little more exposure, but competition is where you prove your worth.
     

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