In Southampton's next 10 games they have Man City (H) Arsenal (A) Man United (H) Everton (H) Chelsea (H) Arsenal (H) Man United (A) Right now to me they remind me of Charlton back when they were in the Premiership. Where they'd start the season off gangbusters and have themselves in the top 4 or so. Then they'd hit the Christmas fixture congestion, the start of the FA Cup, etc and they'd fall back to earth. Charlton's issue is the same Southampton will likely have, squad depth.
Arsenal has been sketchy, as has Everton. Chelsea is a loss, but Chelsea has to slip up somewhere. And Man City is far from an automatic loss. Man U, who knows. They are really suspect in the back.
The distance has been closing in the last few years. But that is primarily not because all these mid-table teams are catching up. It's because the teams at the top have been getting worse. Just look at the last few years in the UCL. England keeps getting its ass kicked internationally, and often badly. This scenario has more in common with the structure of MLS than you think, then. It's becoming more exciting because the top teams are not as many miles ahead of the rest of the pack at the moment. Of course, it's not due to money but to mismanagement and, frankly, restrictions on how many international players they can play. The problems they have right now is that there is a serious dearth of absolutely top tier defenders right now, and just very few of those around are playing in England. So the top teams like Man City and Man U and Arsenal too will keep struggling because they're spending all their money on some bright attacking players but leaving their defense as shit. And then when they play teams who have 9 defenders and a fast-break forward, they will keep finding it hard to stop that little one or two attempt goal spree every bunkerball team has.
Some of that has to do with FFP. Some of it has to do with the fact the competition in league play is taking precedence over UCL. Fans would prefer to see their team play QPR than play Galatasaray. Since EPL teams ar being built to win the league they just seem to be less prepared to playing Continental teams that play with more finesse and who also play in softer leagues. CSKA Moscow plays lesser competition on a weekly basis than Man City. Also Dortmund is undefeated in UCL but they are in the relegation zone in the Bundesliga, so I would be careful about drawing conclusions about league strength based on dodgy Transitive Theory borne out UCL results.
Who didn't see this (or something similar) coming from FIFA http://www.si.com/soccer/planet-fut...report-2022-world-cup-qatar-russia-corruption
Maryland DA club. (Despite appearances, not a Sporting KC affiliate) RT @DMVsoccer96: Bethesda Olney's New Club Logo! pic.twitter.com/752rWwK7MI— Charles Boehm (@cboehm) November 15, 2014 They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery
I guess this thread is as good of a place as any for this. Since Sporting's now in off-season and MLS only has 5 games left, I'm starting to go through soccer withdraws. Also since MLS's schedule is weird (or the rest of the world is weird, depending on how you look at it), we at least get to watch the rest of world play. But the question is... Who should I watch play? I'm looking for a second team to casually support. A team to root for, but not die hard like I am for Sporting. I've come up with a problem with every other league in the world not named MLS (besides not being located in KC) whether it's, for example, because I don't speak Portuguese or because Barclays is just... too overly popular. Do any of you have another team that you think is worth setting your alarm to make sure you don't miss their games?
I could never get a second team to stick. I tried following several clubs around Europe in several different leagues and I just don't care enough. Not going to games, having no real connection to any club, it makes it a lot harder. I eventually just gave up. I just follow the leagues (to an extent) as a whole now.
I'm with Vividox. I don't care who wins, really, in England or Spain or anything. So I really just watch the most famous and rich teams because why not? Real Madrid is a very solid bet because pretty much every game they play is open. They always score a few goals and always allow at least one. But I don't care for them at all. I pretty much watch anything that airs, except I keep finding myself bored to death with Serie A.
I treat Saturday morning EPL games as a pleasant diversion while I have some coffee, and midweek CL games as something good to have on TV while I'm working. Hopefully, I'll see a fantastic goal or a major upset. Why? Because I tried being a Spurs fan (due to Dempsey) and saw all of Bale's amazingness, but it ended in tears. Since I'm already emotionally invested in enough teams, screw that.
I love watching a little EPL. But I think the EPL is sort of like SEC football. It's just marketed and packaged incredibly well. They do a great job in bringing out the personality clashes with Mourinho and Wenger. Also, it's a competitive league where there is more unpredictability. I've tried to root for several English clubs but I have no emotional connection and I am not into Cosplay. I lived in Germany for three years. I lived within an hour of the Frankfurt clubs, Mainz and FC Kaiserslautern. But I had more fun watching third division matches in Wiesbaden.
Right. I got myself fairly excited when Kamara went over to Norwich, thinking he might get singed on and become a fairly regular starter. That obviously was a bit premature. I might start watching a few EPL games and Championship games to see if there's a team I can get a little excited about. Either way, it'll be enough to ease my twitching from soccer withdraws... Or maybe I'll give the Comets a try, since they stream for free and 3-0 isn't a bad start
If you get beIN Sports, try to watch La Liga. Most matches in Spain kick off around 9-11PM, so alarm setting won't be a huge issue. Best football on the planet.
El 27 de marzo será el debut de Ramón Díaz como DT de Paraguay vs #CostaRica,Luego el 31 ante #México en Kansas.— Raza Deportiva (@RazaESPN) December 11, 2014 Paraguay vs Mexico in Kansas? (Probably Arrowhead, in Missouri, but it's foreign media, we're all Kansas).
http://globoesporte.globo.com/blogs..._content=Esporte&utm_campaign=globoesportecom Copa America Centenario, KC is apparently a candidate to host.
Based on attendance numbers for this tournament (and which round or stage), would games be held at Sporting Park or Arrowhead?
if the game includes any of usa, mexico, brazil, or argentina, it should be held at arrowhead. any other would likely be alright at sporting park. i think we could still do 30k+ for just about any matchup in that tournament though... given the right promotion for it (and the right pricing).
I sitting here watching the NCAA College Cup match between Providence and UCLA. This is a much more enjoyable game than the LA vs NE MLS Cup game.
Providence was unlucky on 2 UCLA goals (the deflected-cross to Ndjock's head for the equalizer, and of course the extra time golden goal that the Providence captain own-goaled). Exciting game though.