I think it's the most competitive because the level of play is a lot closer in the top half of the table compared to Italy or Germany where the quality gap is massive between 1st and 10th. 10th place Southampton for example could take points off any of the top teams in England on any given day. Where as 10th place Torino always just rolls over every time they play Juve. The smaller teams in general just play with less fear than in other countries when facing the bigger teams. But quality wise, I still think La Liga is king considering how dominant they have been in CL and EL. Hard to tell how good Napoli or Roma would do. I don't think either have the depth to compete in such a congested schedule, but after seeing Leicester win it, who knows.
Chapecoense's president said that Roma and Barça were the only clubs to offer to play a match but they couldn't fit us in due to scheduling problems
Have a feeling Leicester are going to be blown out this round. I think Atletico was probably the worst draw for them as they don't give much space for the counter like other bigger sides allow. But overall this might be one of the best quarterfinals. Just about every draw could go either way.
Its no surprise he cant make it as a manager in today's soft cock world of football. The players would need counselling after he tells them a few truths. He's 100% correct and the Mourinho charm wore of about 10 years ago at this point.
Football has passed Mourinho by. They have spent enough money to field a separate team for every competition their in.
I agree with you completly. If you speak about level LA Liga is the best, because they got best results in europe and dominate european coefficient.But if you speak excitment and competition, think its EPL as well. I remember here the juve fan or it was la magica, said that Lecter winning epl means epl is weak not that its good.Well Since 2012 - 13 season, 5 years of CL Zero Serie A teams outisde of juventus made it past last 16 in CL. Lecter made it to last 8 this year.Lecter did more in one year, then we, milan and napoli did in multiple tries time and time again since 12 - 13.
I was there. What a shit game. Sorry @falvo but the quality of this league is not getting better. In the first few years of the league, it was OK. Now it is definitely deplorable. I could not believe how many unforced bad passes that were made by both sides. These players are athletic but that is it. No intelligence, no idea how the game is to be played.
I saw Atlanta today and they seemed exciting. Just finished watching the KC vs. Quakes (2-0) and San Jose played bad on all levels. KC wasn't any better. Benny Feilhaber had a nice goal for KC but its only because recently capped national team GK David Bingham watched the ball go over his head and even made another blunder on the second goa when the ball went between his hands and legs. Al in all the quality doesn't seem consistent on a weekley basis. I call the level of MLS on par with a Lega Pro (or old Serie C1) and maybe mid table Serie B. The stadiums are all new and look packed on TV. At least the fans are loud and really get into it and seem enthusiastic which is a rarity in most lower level leagues. I hope the league rethinks its priorities and stops signing 38 year old players like Didier Drogba and Frank Lampard for $3,000,000 and $6,000,000 respectively. I can just imagine what kind of players would turn up if that money was used towards scouting and signing and playing younger and better players...
I am not seeing any improvement overall in the American players. I saw Ian Harkes for the first time. He is not anything close to his father and I watched his dad play at the University of Virginia. A lot was made about the younger Harkes getting his first start last week, being a Development Academy product of DC United. The Central & South Americans that the league is bringing in are not much to brag about either.
John Harkes was very fast and ran forever. That is what helped him excel at Sheffield Wednesday. Ian Harkes turned pro only because of his dad. Although it's still too early to compare them , for now anyway, he is not even close to the player Harkes Sr. was.... I for one think he should have completed college to gain more experience. I saw Nick Lima on the Quakes and he was electric his first two games and he is a rookie but attended Cal Berkley for 4 years and was a teammate of GK Jonathan Klinsmann son of Jurgen. I heard Jurgen coached him very well while he was at CAL. The main reasons the league brings in Caribbean and Central American players is because they come fairly cheap. The same goes for the South Americans. The top players from Latin America will always go to Europe before they go to MLS. If I were Don Garber, I would rather the league start making clubs employ and start regular younger American born players and let them develop rather than wasting money on those low rate foreigners.
I am comparing him to his father at a similar age. John was an extraordinary player as a freshman at Virginia. I watched him several times during his college days. Ian should turn out to be a good player but he does not have his father's touch and lacks his vision right now. John was taught by old school guys. Ian was drilled by this new coaching design of US Soccer. My words have specific meaning in those two sentences.
Absence makes the heart grow fonder. Outside of a handful of guys, the early MLS was a pub league. Some scrubs from Bolivia came in and lit that league up.
That match was a weird one lmao. Lahm playing mid, second string GK started, Boateng gave away a pk ( prob his worst performance this season) Carlo was still in his experimental phase lol
Philipp Lahm already announced his retirement at the end of the season. He has rejected an offer from Bayern to become their sporting director.Wonder if he will head to Chicago to play with his buddy Bastian Schweinsteiger?
Yeah Lahm and Alonso are retiring this season, It would be nice to see him link up with Basti again. Although he could also take a year off from football and just relax its up in the air lol. One things for sure is he'll always have a job at Bayern waiting for him.
Alonso is too old but Lahm on defense could easily still play in MLS. If I had to choose between signing a 33 year old Philipp Lahm and a 38 year old Didier Drogba or Frank Lampard, I'd choose Lahm in a heartbeat. Watched Seattle -NYRB 3-1. The crowd noise the Sounders fans generate is deafening and the fans created a lot of enthusiasm the entire match. The quality of play wasn't all that great but not bad either.....The players on both sides seemed to be running forever but there wasn't much technique although I did like Jordan Morris. He definitely makes an impact and that is pretty good for a players who is only 14 months out of college .... .
Yeah id def go to some galaxy games or la fc just to see Lahm play if that was the case of him coming to MLS