OT USMNT Wine and Cheese Thread

I support the JV tournament if and only if all players get a participation trophy.

Seriously...everyone will send younger players to get them some action. But would you want to send Glad and Acosta so they could get a 30 minute run out when we have league games going on they'd miss (when they'd feature for 90)?

 

1. you assume the league won't take time off. I think that will go hand in hand with any possible US based friendlies.

2. Any chance Acosta and Glad get with the full national team is a good thing.

 

I could be wrong (it has been known to happen) but I would think FIFA likely has a moratorium on such events during World Cup (at least if I were Fox spending 1bn on broadcasting rights and was trying to sell advertisers to recoup my costs, I would be very upset if FIFA didn't protect me...)

So assuming that happens, I doubt MLS would create another window for the NIT...

 

This is assuming the MLS even takes time off. Considering it's most likely time taken off with the USMNT in mind, it's entirely possible that they'll just play a normal season without any kind of break.

Even still, I'm not even sure making up a fake tournament would force teams to release players. (If someone knows one way or another I'd really love to know). But when it comes to the risk of injury, there's a HUUUUUUGE difference between sending off players to the WC, vs sending off players to a friendly/meaningless tournament. The MLS might say otherwise since we're a lesser federation, but do you honestly believe that Italian clubs would love to send off their players into a meaningless set of friendlies when they could instead be resting and/or preparing with their club? I feel like you're looking at this from a US perspective, which is fine, but when you're talking about the world stage, where players are worth millions, no owner in their right mind wants to send off their players to risk injury in a bullshit friendly. As I've said before, there's already been clubs expressing their upset about sending players off to friendlies, having them get injured, and receiving no compensation from the federation now that they've lost a player(s) to a chunk, or all of the season.

And I guess whether it helps or not, I've always been club over country. FIFA doesn't give a shit about the players, or clubs in the long run. Over time, they've slowly increased the number of games these players are forced to compete in, and depending on the year, some of these guys barely get 2-3 weeks of rest before the next season. I get that they're professionals, blah, blah, blah, but the fact remains, that forcing these guys to play for almost 2 years straight in some instances, really increases the wear and tear on them, and can dilute the overall level of play that we've come to expect over the years.

Seriously. This tournament would be meaningless fluff, that would barely do anything for the players being forced to play in them. Worst case they get injured, best case they get about the same level of play as they would've had playing for their club. FIFA gets a chunk of cash, the clubs get ********ed over.

 

Fox spent 1 billion to broadcast the World Cup. They did so to hopefully sell advertising for the world's biggest sporting event. Now suppose another tournament is going on which competes head to head. That diminishes their chances to recoup their costs because advertisers say, "You know, I think we'll go advertise on Italy/Holland instead." This in turn then would diminish future bids to FIFA for broadcasting rights.

So I think FIFA would prohibit competition. They might not, but would be surprised if they didn't. When you get to these big events, like the World Cup and Olympics, they put mondo restrictions to preserve the brand. (Look at hockey...NHL decided not to release players for the coming Olympics, so NBC which broadcasts both Olympics and NHL said, ok no hockey broadcasts during the Olympics)

Now, the moratorium would likely be for the window of the World Cup. So yes, MLS might take a break during the first few weeks....but I doubt they'd extend that to accommodate another tournament/series of friendlies..

 

Leaked USA away WC jersey. Guess this will be given to developing workd clothing charity.

Leaked, unofficial kit, but Footy Headlines has a good track record.

This would've been the #USMNT's away kit for the World Cup. Now it's just... a kit in 2018. pic.twitter.com/fTx8W06Gts

— Caitlin Murray (@caitlinmurr) November 16, 2017

 

Ugh. That's a kit I would've loved to buy too. Maybe it'll still see some use. I really like it.

Edit: I guess if they still use it going forward, it's something I can still buy.

 

Maybe. The US and Canada aren't a part of the World Cup, so there is no reason to take 2-3 weeks off. They just might do it anyway, but I don't think that they will be obligated.