[janner]

Hey an american soccer forum , excellent.
Im a limey but im not here to bash US soccer , far from it.
Ive been following your countries progress for about 3 years , not as a supporter as such unless your playing another european nation of course but out of idle curiosity.
After spending a good 2hrs reading through threads what strikes me most is how negative some of you seem to be when it comes to your fledgling MLS or your mens national team , Crowd attendance and T.V slots seem to be the main grumbles.
Personally i think it will be this way for at least another 5+ years but you shouldn't complain , we didnt create the premier league overnight.
Your country has made more progress than any other footballing nation recently and seeing as america is a multi sports country that can only be a good thing.
The long term sponsorship deals will come eventually and so to will the soccer only stadiums and the fat cats from the media(bet you all love disney now) , 20 teams in the league and maybe even the the soccer link on the usa today site will sneak up a bit.
People are taking notice thats all that im saying. A sign of this was during the world cup when some of your journalists really did bash soccer liked ive never read before , everyday someone seemed to be sticking the knife in.This to me was a sign of panic and resignation that soccer had truely arrived , the further you progressed in the compitition the more they moaned , fantastic stuff!
I saw that some poor commenator had made a fatal mistake by uttering on what must have been an emotional night "my eyes have seen the glory" which was given coverage in the UK. The next day after reading some of your press it was if the man had murdered his family.
In 94-98 i could probably name one of your team , lalas , 2002 i can name at least 5.
Now if you could somehow get your soon to be built soccer stadiums within 300 miles of each other you would really have a product , you need home and away fans for a football match.
Anyway hope to see ENG V USA soon , we'll let you have the 1-0 from 850BC.
Dont be so negative be patient have fun the good times will come.

Janner

[BrianCappellieri]

Welcome to BigSoccer! Thanks for the words of optimism, we could use some of that around here.

And now to bring down the mood with US soccer realities...

and seeing as america is a multi sports country that can only be a good thing.

I fail to see this has a positive thing. It seems it's the other sports that are keeping us down if anything.

Now if you could somehow get your soon to be built soccer stadiums within 300 miles of each other you would really have a product , you need home and away fans for a football match.

With the size of the country I can never see this happening as much as I'd love to.

Even the closer matches (which have even been referred to as "derbies" by some) don't have any away fans. It's really pathetic. Outside of the very small group of fanatics you travel sometimes we are a very long way off from that.

[lion]

Originally posted by janner
Ive been following your countries progress for about 3 years , not as a supporter as such unless your playing another european nation of course but out of idle curiosity.
Janner

You make me so optimistic about the prospects of true European unity.

Way to go, model European Union citizen!



P.S. By the way, I did get a lot of pleasure seeing Brazil eliminate your country in the Q-finals.

[UncleSam527]

Calling MLS a fledgling league is not the way to make friends on these boards.

[NoSix]

Welcome to Big Soccer, Janner! Patience seems to be in short supply on this site; perhaps it's a cultural thing...

[Casper]

Originally posted by UncleSam527
Calling MLS a fledgling league is not the way to make friends on these boards.

MLS is a fledgling league. So is AFL, WUSA, WNBA, Conference USA in college sports ... that's just the way it goes.

There are characteristics of the "fledgling period" of any league, where things about the league are somewhat comical, like playing in front of 9,000 fans in a 90,000 person stadium. Like single-entity management. Like being a summertime marketing tool of the NBA. Like broadcasting "fun facts" about players' personal lives at the bottom of the screen. Like trying to get people to watch using X-rated cheerleaders. All these things can happen when you don't yet have pervasive fan support.

Can I still be your friend?

[appoo]

Originally posted by janner
Hey an american soccer forum , excellent.
Im a limey but im not here to bash US soccer , far from it.
Ive been following your countries progress for about 3 years , not as a supporter as such unless your playing another european nation of course but out of idle curiosity.
After spending a good 2hrs reading through threads what strikes me most is how negative some of you seem to be when it comes to your fledgling MLS or your mens national team , Crowd attendance and T.V slots seem to be the main grumbles.
Personally i think it will be this way for at least another 5+ years but you shouldn't complain , we didnt create the premier league overnight.
Your country has made more progress than any other footballing nation recently and seeing as america is a multi sports country that can only be a good thing.
The long term sponsorship deals will come eventually and so to will the soccer only stadiums and the fat cats from the media(bet you all love disney now) , 20 teams in the league and maybe even the the soccer link on the usa today site will sneak up a bit.
People are taking notice thats all that im saying. A sign of this was during the world cup when some of your journalists really did bash soccer liked ive never read before , everyday someone seemed to be sticking the knife in.This to me was a sign of panic and resignation that soccer had truely arrived , the further you progressed in the compitition the more they moaned , fantastic stuff!
I saw that some poor commenator had made a fatal mistake by uttering on what must have been an emotional night "my eyes have seen the glory" which was given coverage in the UK. The next day after reading some of your press it was if the man had murdered his family.
In 94-98 i could probably name one of your team , lalas , 2002 i can name at least 5.
Now if you could somehow get your soon to be built soccer stadiums within 300 miles of each other you would really have a product , you need home and away fans for a football match.
Anyway hope to see ENG V USA soon , we'll let you have the 1-0 from 850BC.
Dont be so negative be patient have fun the good times will come.

Janner

nice post. But be warned. Logic on this site is frowned upon and you will get yelled at for it.

[JMoney418]

Yes..good post. Funny though...cause theres a pizza shop down by where I work, and me and the pizza guy Joe (from Naples) constantly talk soccer. Yesterday we began talking about MLS and he stated how much he liked it. He said how soccer was soccer and how he appreciated it because it was different from the European game. And its true...while we all love watching ManU and Arsenal going at it in a highly technical affair....MLS is so american in that its quicker, and sometimes, the play is even better. I guess it all depends on what you like, but MLS is a direct result of the way our kids play soccer...fast and attacking.

[BrianCappellieri]

Joe (from Naples) seems like a great guy but you really think MLS is a faster pace than the Premiership?!?

It's known worldwide as the fastest league in the world...

[cbsmith]

Who are we to argue with Joe (from Naples)?