I have been reading up on the proposal to move Columbus Crew to Austin Texas. I don’t quite get the connection. Out of all the cities in the US competing for an MLS franchise, Austin never seemed to enter into the conversation. In addition, I have attended MLS games in both Houston and Frisco Texas and have never seen their stadiums more than 3/4 full and sometimes a lot less than that. I really like Texas, but it just does not look like a good fit for another MLS franchise. Precourt Sports Ventures is the owner of the Crew and is determined to move the team, but it seems like a very costly move for an established team with an established soccer specific stadium. The report published for the Austin stadium site suggests that if the owners of the Columbus Crew want to relocate from Ohio, they will need to invest their own money in upgrading the infrastructure on the city-owned lot. The report says utility upgrades alone could cost up to $30 million. And that is before they start construction on the stadium. The city will retain ownership of the land and PSV will have to maintain the land and use its own funds to build the proposed 20,000 seat stadium (estimated cost of $250-$300 million dollars). Their USL team, the Austin Aztex couldn’t sustain a team bringing in about 1000-2000 in average attendance. I assume that one of the fastest growing cities in the country with no other pro sports franchises would embrace MLS soccer. In addition, San Antonio and its million plus population is just a 45 minute drive away and could generate a lot of fan interest for an MLS team in close proximity. Who knows, PSV may be able to pull this off, but it seems like a very expensive move to a city with not very much soccer history or support. I’m sad for the fans in Columbus who put a lot of years and cheers in for the Crew and are now on the verge of losing their team. Poaching teams from other cities is not new for other pro sports, but it looks to have arrived in MLS. But it seems especially sad to see one of the original MLS teams vanish from Major League Soccer.
My All-Star picks would kick so much butt. (If I could pick the right wing, I would have put Russell up there.)
Mine contains 0 SKC players, and as many Houston (play KC 3 days after the ASG) players as possible. ******** the all star game.
I get the sentiment, and I agree that it's nice for our players to get rest when they can. The game itself is a useless farce. But I also know that most of them consider it a big honor to be selected, they have a good time when they go, and I believe some of them also have financial incentives in their contract if they get picked. So I have to set my selfish desires aside and vote for them if I think they deserve it. I mean, come on: https://soccer.nbcsports.com/2015/0...ar-selection-11-months-after-tearing-his-acl/
okay, that's pretty cool. I still think Buzz has a point, though. I really wish if this were going to be a big deal, they'd just give it a weekend with a full break before and after. Or at least push the following weekend to an all Sunday schedule (an extra day helps) This is the time of year when we start our fade, and I hate adding to the tired legs.
Darwin Jr. had a pretty nice hattrick against Toronto yesterday. All three goals were perfectly weighted chip shots. First one off the outside of the boot. Damn impressive. https://www.mnufc.com/post/2018/07/...d-fc-4-3-toronto-fc-july-4-2018?autoplay=true EDIT: That third goal is incredible. He wins it at midfield, his defender doesn't put any pressure on him, allowing him to look up and see exactly where he's at, then he delivers a perfectly weighted chip into the back of the net. So intentional.
I have this problem where I always root a bit for new arrivals. So while I should be happy in general that Minnesota is not a huge threat to our season, I am a little happy to see their fans get some fun at least.
I watched the Orlando vs Atlanta game last night. Other than the beautiful 39th minute strike by Scott Sutter, Orlando looked completely pathetic. The night for Orlando was characterized by bad passes, unorganized attempts at attacking, and bunkering in their own end. Most of the time, they couldn’t string three passes together without losing the ball. I’m not quite sure if the problem is the overall quality of their roster, poor preparation by the coaching staff or both. They dumped Jason Kreis in favor of new coach James O’Connor, but things have seemed to have gotten worse. O’Connor has not had enough time to really effect much change, but the early indications show he has a big mountain to climb. Atlanta is an excellent team and can put pressure on any team in the league, but Orlando looked like they played scared and bunkered most of the night. Not a good look for a team and not a good experience for their fans, especially on their own turf.
Yeah, they're a mess and I don't really know what their core problems actually are. Players are reasonably talented, just completely disorganized. Dom liked actually really good though. Solid passing, even dribbling around and through defenders. I wish him the best.
So the new name of the mythical future MLS team is........ Inter Miami CF. Now they have their logo and name, how many more years before they actually have a team?
their logo is instantly one of the best, if not the best, in the league. and while i'm glad i don't have to wear it, the pink and black (i'm assuming their other color is black) is gonna be great in the league. to my terribly preconceived notions about miami, it's the perfect choice for that locale.
oh, i was thinking they'd be primarily pink with black shorts or something like that. black primary would be stupid in miami.
I'm far more envious that Antoine Griezmann (for my money still as fun a player to watch as there is globally ) brings up a desire to move to MLS without prompting, and lists as yet not a team Inter Miami as one of the two destinations he's thinking about (the other being LA, so either club). I'm not saying SKC needs Griezmann, but FFS how can we be lower profile than clubs that don't exist or have existed for less than a full season (LAFC)?
I went to college on the east coast and generally Missouri was "one of those square states in the middle." It would be like asking me to do a good job of locating more than three of the "stans" in the middle east.
Because it's less about the club profile and more about the location. Most European players it seems know about basically 3 places, LA, NYC, and Miami.
I fell asleep on the Seattle match. Nice to see them lose in extra time on a bit of lazy play. Good win by Philadelphia, but a red for one of their defenders.
A defender I would think would be rested vs us anyway ahead of the USOC final. Philly played pretty much their best 11 last night minus Dockal.
It looks like the Crew will stay in Columbus with a new ownership group. Precourt Sports Ventures will sell the franchise and pursue an expansion team in Austin. Good news for Columbus.
It seems like a weird situation, one rumor making the rounds is that Columbus will be the "expansion team" but will keep the players, history, etc. while Precourt's "team" moves to Austin.
Not sure where to put this acknowledgement so I will opt for this thread. Thank you, KC fans for your support when we made the trip out over Memorial Weekend. Crew have been saved, which I think we can hopefully all agree is the best thing for this league and the soccer heart in the United States.