Interestingly, one of the main reasons DDR created the Other Teams ** Everyone Else ** thread in February 20013, was to mostly post and talk about MLS. That is why he listed the league in his initial post..... Feb 19, 2013
Don't ever ban @Calcio Pauly again! We need ya! Long Live MLS! Long live Serie A! Viva L'italia! Via l'America! MLS Soccer Italia Long Live @Calcio Pauly!
You got it Falvo! "For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" What extent will people go to, to win?
I hate the LA Galaxy with a passion but out of all of the superstars who came over to MLS , Robbie Keane deserves all the credit he could get for scoring, producing and winning. He made Beckham and his $250 million salary look average. Zlatan Ibrahimović scored 52 goals in 56 games in two seasons but his team failed to make the playoffs last year and got eliminated in the second round this year. He also complained about the league and the team every chance he got while earning a salary of $7.2 million while everyone else makes on average of $140k a season. If the goal on why he was signed to win an MLS CUP, he didn’t produce one and in my book, that’s a failure. Maybe he will do well at Milan and I wish him well there but as far as MLS is concerned, good riddance!
Pretty sure you've committed some sort of gender insensitivity crime with that one. Erase it while you have the time, before you get reported.
Anyone besides @falvo and @Falc seen Riva and Rivera live? I remember my Dad ranting about how Rivera was possibly as talented as the Divine one. I did see Chinaglia live as a kid. Still have an autographed ball of his. Another genius like Best. @falvo you remember what he told Pele?
I saw Riva and Rivera on film only as they were before my time. I saw Pelé once as a little kid when the Cosmos came to San Jose and Earthquakes as did most of the old NASL had a lot of old school third division English league midfielders and defenders and they completely marked him out of the game. I just remember him how he kept losing the ball and getting tackled and hacked. As for Chinaglia , he was a complete jerk but he was also the greatest goal scorer I even saw live. Supposedly , he and Pelé didn’t get along at one point because Giorgio was in the middle and Pelé kept coming inside alongside him so they had a falling out. Then it ended but Pelé told him “you shoot from no ****** angle”! Then Chinaglia said, “I am Chinaglia! If I shoot the ball , it’s because I know I can score from anywhere”! He drove him to tears and left the room. Pelé was already starting to lose it at 36 and Chinaglia was 29 and in his prime so it’s understandable. At that time, Italy could have still used him in their national team but they pointed to Paolo Rossi and Alessandro Altobelli and Francesco Graziani. I guess it worked as they came in 4th in 1978 and won it all in 1982. Those players though couldn’t score like Chinaglia though. My cousins in NY knew him well and I’ve spoken to his kids on Facebook. They are really nice. Chinaglia ran the show at the Cosmos as he and principal owner Steve Ross were best friends. Giorgio hired Eddie Firmani away from the Tampa Bay Rowdies and then in a game when Firmani took him out, Giorgio pointed to Eddie like he was shooting him and a few days later Firmani was fired as coach of the Cosmos.
As kids, we had a great time during the NASL days from 1974-1984. I don't think we realized at the time how privileged we were to see such world class all stars. Harry Redknapp wen e came to town to play the Quakes with the Spurs in 2012 was asked what was the difference between the old NASL and the new MLS, he said it was like night and day and very different. He said that league had the best players in the world dispersed throughout he league. It was lightning in a bottle but wat a time we had!
In my opinion, Roberto Baggio was the greatest Italian attacking player to play the game post 1980. I'll never forgive the way the managers , Lippi (twice) , Capello, Ulivieri and Sacchi treated him. Even though they all praised him at the end, they had no business doing what they did. If Argentina had Maradona, Brazil with Pele and Italy starring Baggio, you just don't mess with players like that. Roberto Baggio - Life in Italy THE REDEMPTION OF ROBERTO BAGGIO — IBWM He missed the final pk at USA 1994 in Pasadena and he never really got over it but no one remembers how both Massaro and Baresi missed. That isn't right because Baggio got us to the final at the Rose Bowl.... and I was there among the 94,194 fans in attendance on Sunday, July 17th, 1994!
Thank fcuk for this thread. Best idea I've seen in a while @La Magica Next tell me how a boozed up George Best would win a Ballon D'or next season.