Noted MLS coaching genius Giovanni Savarese is watching his team be shredded by an expansion team as they've currently allowed ten goals so far through just under three games...
I told my buddy at work, who is a Cincy casual, that they would have a good chance to win this week. Chara suspended left a giant hole in midfield for them. After getting smashed by LAFC last week, flying almost cross-country, no home games until June, no real signings in the offseason and an aging team.... yeah. Portland got hot at the right time last year, but looking at the entire season, they were never the best team in the west. For Cincy, who knew, playing your best players from the start, and in their best positions, and giving them actual tactics, helps!! Koch did none of that vs Seattle, and they got rightly smashed. His wised up and changed his lineup and tactics vs (tactical genius) Frank de Boer's Snoozelanta, and got a decent result. Playing at home vs a Portland B Team (they made 5 changes from last week), they should've won. They are looking decent, but have only played one team playing well so far this year, which was Seattle. Atlanta has been trash so far, so has Portland.
38th minute, and even counting the Josef shot that just hit the crossbar, Philly has out shot Atlanta 4-3 so far. Train wreck Philly has out shot Atlanta at home, after 40 minutes. De Boer..... And Josef just took some studs in the shin from Andre Blake.
Just saw on Twitter, Portland is only the second team in league history (along with 1998's San Jose Clash!!) to allow three or more goals in each of their first three games to start a season. Yikes.
I went to the cincy game. A lot of casuals that cheered when it was clear portland was going to snuff out that attack. Also so many people were explaining offsides. But a general good atmosphere. The most shocking thing was the lack of any tactics or even general motivation for portland. Players would not defend overlapping runs, and only played long balls. Valeri was getting so angry. I honestly have never seen an mls side play that badly in an mls league game. Even when crew lost 5-0 up a man they've played better.
I understand that I may just be old and cranky. But am I the only one who finds watching Atlanta United home games on TV viscerally unpleasant? The effing noise reminds me of a hockey game during a timeout. The horrible turf. Just the whole damned visual and aural experience is unpleasant to me. Feels engineered. More of a sound and light show performance than a soccer game. I tried watching last night and had to turn it off after 5 minutes.
Protip: Mute every sports broadcast and put on your favorite Roy Orbison album. But, yeah, the turf is bad, bad, not good. I was thinking the same thing watching the Cincy match. Shame, because I think Nippert is interesting from an architectural standpoint.
Chr1st and Minnman: EXACTLY. I watched a minute each of Tide Pod FC’s last two games, before the fake turf made me change the channel... and this was with the iPod going hard providing the soundtrack. Atlanta’s turf is especially egregious. MLS holds a similar status as the NFL in my heart. F over my team and our well-being? Great, then I will only watch the Browns and Crew. Plastic grass. Plastic league. Plastic new fan smell?
I have actually shot around and played pickup on Nippert's turf. It is actually quite nice. The broadcast definitely made it look so much worse than it feels being out there.
I watched some of ATL this weekend too but the one that made me change the channel was NYCFC in Yankee Stadium. I guess I've never watched them but holy shit that looks terrible. I was embarassed for their players and even their fans.
If I recall correctly, the reason their field looked pretty bad is they just installed new turf and they're playing on it sooner than teams normally would.
Reggie Canon is looking like a beast for Dallas today. He'll be off to Europe in the next year or two for sure.
It's the 75th minute of the LAFC game and Guillermo (Jimmy Kimmel Live) just showed up and is doing some PbP.
Florida sheriff whose office arrested Kraft now says he can't show there was any human trafficking involved. It also turns out that while the investigators asked for permission to record inside the massage parlors, the judge didn't authorize it. Seems likely Kraft and the others in Martin county will walk scot free. https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.c...rida-sheriff-he-lied-about-human-trafficking/
He is streaker than my underwear after some skyline. He will score a few more and then go blank the rest of the season.
Looks like FCC is getting their orange glow back. They're also changing architects. https://www.cincinnati.com/story/sp...n-its-major-league-soccer-stadium/3300642002/
Hmmm, well, Populous (formerly HOK) does design some amazing stadiums, and has a great track record in MLS, specifically. But swapping out your design architect a few months before you're supposed to break ground does seem a bit... odd.