And we get Adrian Heath's take... Something to Believe In https://www.mnufc.com/post/2018/02/20/something-believe There were moments on the pitch last season when that kind of belief seized the team. You saw it when they played with a bit of an edge, when they felt dangerous. You saw it when they handled Sporting KC 2-0 at home, when they edged the mighty Portland Timbers 3-2 and, of course, the aforementioned road victory against Atlanta. But you saw it even in the Loons’ 3-0 loss to New York Red Bulls in late July. Soccer is a cruel game, and in that match, Heath saw opportunities barely missed that could have drawn them level. The same goes for a tough 2-1 loss in stoppage time to eventual Western Conference champs Seattle Sounders FC at CenturyLink Field a month later. “If you can take really good teams to their limit to beat you, you’re on the right road,” said Heath. ... There’s no overnight path to this, though. The team is not going to magically come upon this belief, but they’re putting the pieces in place. And as Lester Freamon said, when you’re building something, all the pieces matter.
One day later: This is a weird one: Koffie "was bizarrely excluded from the match day squad at the last minute; with club's sporting director claiming that the MLS side did not confirm the end of his loan stint, hence was not registered to take part in the game" https://t.co/nKbH8POqPU #NERevs— Sean Donahue (@SeanLDonahue) February 21, 2018 Via Google Translate: ""The reason is that the American club did not do its part in the administrative necessary to make him playable."When do you hope to have him playable? "Yesterday. That's how it works. But they (#NERevs) have in any way just ignored it. It is not OK.""— Sean Donahue (@SeanLDonahue) February 21, 2018
That's our boy, Mikey-Mike! 4-5 steps ahead of everyone else, he's playing checkers when everyone else is playing chess. Or 3-D chess. He would love to elaborate on this, but Mistah Kraft needs his dry cleaning to be picked up.
"San Jose Earthquakes Training Report: 10 days until the MLS season opener" (Center Line Soccer - Wednesday, 2/21/18) San Jose Earthquakes head coach Mikael Stahre looks over his team during preseason training | Lyndsay Radnedge | Center Line Soccer -G
Coach Giovanni Savarese's language skills key to Portland Timbers international roster Portland Timbers coach Giovanni Savarese yelled out instructions to his team in English during a recent practice session at the Timbers training facility in Beaverton. He then turned to Paraguayan midfielder Cristhian Paredes and Peruvian winger Andy Polo and carefully repeated those same instructions in Spanish. "It's really helpful," said Paredes through an interpreter. "Having a Spanish-speaking coach is just really going to be helpful when it comes to communicating and getting things done." Savarese, who speaks English, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese, is the first multilingual coach to lead the Timbers during the club's MLS era. And his ability to communicate in multiple languages has been a major asset over the last month as he has strived to win over a very diverse locker room.
That reminds me of the joke about the old baseball player Moe Berg, who was said to be able to speak 5 languages, but couldn't hit any of them.
In some positive news about a relatively competent coach, Jesse Marsch is now the longest tenured coach in Red Bulls history as he starts his fourth season: When tonight’s #SCCL2018 match kicks off, Jesse Marsch will become the first New York Head Coach to begin a fourth season with the club. #RBNY #MLS pic.twitter.com/bFrqCAtIzX— Mark Fishkin #🟦 (@MarkFishkin) February 22, 2018
I mean if you are going to be a professional soccer coach in this county and you can't also speak Spanish, are you even serious about the job?
Yeah, you'd think so, but it would be interesting to see what percent of MLS coaches are fluent in another language. Sure, the foreign coaches like Friedel are bilingual, but how many American born coaches? I remember back in the day, Steve Sampson would go on Univision all the time. Then again, there have been countless foreign National Team managers who didn't speak the language but had a native assistant.
Out of curiosity, does anyone have a rough estimate how much of the $1.2 billion it cost to build Mercedes-Benz Stadium came out of Arthur Blank's own pocket? Might help shed a bit of light on the possibility of why the Loons are looking for low-risk, high-reward players again this year... (Vadim Demidov is still inexcuseable, however...)
You must have missed his comments at the presser introducing him as the Revs' new gaffer: "I'm absolutely chuffed to join such a great organiSation ! This is a great club with a great tradition, and everyone has been top-notch, from the chairman down to the tea lady. We've got a great group of lads here who will play for the jersey. And the supporters ? What can you say about them ? They've been through thick and thin, and they deserve nothing less than for us to bring the MLS Cup to er.... Washington Street !" That was in November. Last week before they left for Arizona, he was at the stadium and saw someone pull up to the curb: "Whaddaya, ree-TAAAAAAH-did?! Ya caaan't paaahk ya caaaah heeeyah, yuh gutta pahk ovah theyah in tha paaahkin lawt!"
That's hard to say. The loans have to be paid back but that will surely come from revenue generated by events at the stadium. The numbers given here add up to $1.25 billion so there is $250 million missing. They admit that PSLs are a yet to be determined amount. There may be other funding sources. It is not clear Blank himself is responsible for any of that money. Out of Blank's pocket? Maybe nothing.
Or, basically, as was said about the Wilf's outlay for U.S. Bank Stadium, "the cost of a Happy Meal and a chocolate shake..." When you're not paying anything for the house, it's easier to buy the fancier furnishings.
@MattDoyle76 as a Galaxy fan im a little surprised that Ciani is preferred over Hillard-Arce considering the preseason Hillard-Arce has had, thoughts?— CC (@trancepants121) February 25, 2018 I think it's a mistake from Sigi, and I don't understand it.https://t.co/EkK0bxgz1L— Matthew Doyle (@MattDoyle76) February 25, 2018 Ciani is maybe not the set-piece threat the Galaxy need. pic.twitter.com/3LULgcJkeW— Matthew Doyle (@MattDoyle76) February 25, 2018 lol
When your big offseason signing is Tyrone Mears... Armchair Analyst: Frontrunners, the Pack & all 23 MLS teams by tier Minnesota United FC I'm struggling with how to be gentle here, so I've decided to just go ahead and rip the bandaid off instead of easing into it. So here goes: I think there's a decent chance Minnesota United will be worse in Year 2 than they were in Year 1. ... So I'm just not sure that the things that worked in 2017 will be improved upon in 2018, and so in a lot of ways that makes this feel like a second straight expansion year. Obviously the scattershot way the front office has gone about collecting talent hasn't helped even a little, but I think it's fair to worry some about Adrian Heath's decisions on the sideline as well. ... WEEK 1 LINEUP
Impact signs midfielder Ken Krolicki Didn't Remi Garde say the draft wasn't really of interest to Montreal because they had higher quality players in their academy than they were seeing at the combine? Now they're signing their third round pick to be their starting central midfielder (with the competition being between Ken Krolicki and last year's draft pick Shamit Shome)? https://www.impactmontreal.com/en/post/2018/01/19/mission-accomplished-superdraft The message from head coach Rémi Garde is therefore quite clear: confidence in young players from the Academy already in the first team is high. “There are opportunities for our young players. I’ve seen some of them in person playing with the Canadian youth team. In the Academy, there are young players who are very close to making the jump to the first team. It’s a message, but also a sporting policy for the club.” https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2018...l-superdraft-picks-promise-taider-coming-soon He said he wants those players, especially the ones in the Impact’s academy set-up, to view that as a message. “I believe there are quite a few young players who can break the line to go through to the first team,” Garde said. “They have to receive it like a message that I believe they have the ability to come to the first team.”
Goal.com MLS GM survey: Toronto FC, Atlanta United tipped for standout 2018 Coaches: Which MLS coach is the best tactician? 1. Gregg Berhalter — 7 T-2. Gerardo "Tata" Martino, Greg Vanney — 2 T-4. Jesse Marsch, Peter Vermes, Patrick Vieira — 1 Which current MLS player could you see being a great head coach one day? 1. Michael Bradley — 7 2. Dax McCarty — 2 T-3. Jeff Larentowicz, Michael Parkhurst, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Wil Trapp, Diego Valeri — 1 GMs: Which MLS general manager or technical director is the best to negotiate with? T-1. Garth Lagerwey, Nelson Rodriguez — 3 3. Niki Budalic — 2 T-4. Gregg Berhalter, Tim Bezbatchenko, Brian Bliss, Manny Lagos, John Thorrington, Gavin Wilkinson — 1 Which MLS general manager or technical director is the worst to negotiate with? 1. Mike Burns — 6 T-2. Matt Jordan, Garth Lagerwey, Nelson Rodriguez, Peter Vermes — 1 Obligatory #MNUFC & #NERevs will not succeed while Manny Lagos & Michael Burns, respectively, are in positions of power at the clubs. #MINvSEA #CHIvNE— Ron Waxman 🏳️🌈🇺🇦 (@RonWaxman) August 6, 2017