I'm rooting for Seattle tonight for multiple reasons. If Seattle wins, both them and Chivas will have at least 1 loss before the Semifinals, and the Red Bulls would host the Semifinal second leg if they win their game hosting Tijuana. Furthermore, I don't stay up for 10:00 P.M. starts. When the Red Bulls host the second leg, I can watch it live. Before Tijuana, I wonder when was the last time a Mexican club played consecutive home games against non-Mexican clubs without winning either game.
I may watch MLS and root for it's progress, but I'm far from a shill for the league and yet still, MLS has performed better than any other league overall outside of Mexico. The only league that is around the same level CR. I think, perhaps, that CR should get more representation in the CCL. Perhaps an additional spot as well as an automatic KO spot or two. Maybe bump MLS' auto spots from 5 to 3, but that has more to do with marketing and money. There is a coefficient being used now, but those coefficients can be affected by increased opportunity. I don't think, however, that MLS competing with Caribbean teams will change much since they'll likely go thru for the most part anyway. It would just put MLS back in the position that they were before with the fixture congestion problems, albeit against less stiff competition.
CONCACAF is still a bit of a mess as far as promotion and running of their products go. Look at the Gold Cup for instance... I mean, how can you have a CCL, a tournament that has enough of an issue drawing fans, and not find a meaningful way in which to get it English-language coverage? It's a joke.
TJ's performance last night was embarrassing and unacceptable. LMX has to start to take this competition seriously. They treat it like it's preseason. They just don't care. If TJ cared, they would have won, but they couldn't be bothered.
GTFOH with that garbage man. They just got beat, lets not make excuses they have been in poor form it happens. Red Bulls were lethal with their chances, that's what good teams do they take your shots wait for you to slip up and dagger you. STOP Quit with the lame ass excuses, MOST Liga MX guys always get on MLS fans for making excuses don't do it here. Xolos just got beat deal with it.
Don't do that. Xolos were trying but couldn't finish. Liga MX teams do care and have taken this tournament seriously for years.
MLS has certainly given Mexico a wake-up call, but I'm not sure I'd call it a full "scare". I kinda doubt Seattle's and Toronto's victories at home are enough to carry them through to the SFs. Seattle might, since they didn't let in an away goal, but I'd really only bet money on NYRB. That said, it really does strike me at how quick the MLS detractors were to jump on the first week of the R16 and have been essentially silent now. Both their reactions and MLS's results overall are nothing new. MLS generally sucks playing away, more so in Central American than in Mexico. Combine that with the R16 1st legs being MLS's first competitive games of the season, all away in Central America, and it makes sense that MLS went 0-1-2 against non-MLS teams, but has gone 6-0-0 since, including a very impressive away win in Mexico - which was in fact MLS's first away in during the CCL knockout phase ever, if I've understood correctly. In the previous four years of knockout phases, MLS went 5-6-2 at home, 0-3-7 in Mexico, and 0-0-3 in Central America; through the first three weeks of this year, those records all improved: 10-6-2 at home, 1-3-7 in Mexico, and 0-1-5 in Central America. One home game and two away games in Mexico in next week's knockout matches.
They'll be back if any MLS teams loses away to a Liga MX in Mexico. To boast about how good Liga MX is and how bad MMLS is trust me. That hatred runs deep. I give mad props to the BS MX soccer guys that can talk the game with out such strong bias and always covering it up with statements of how bad 99% percent of US fans are. Liga MX has been slightly better IMHO for the last decade and any honest MLS fan will acknowledge that. Shit gets ********ed up when Liga MX fans greatly dismiss MLS as way below Liga MX and sau stupid stuff like how MLS players are just better than Liga Ascencio players. They drink with too much pride. They can't give a compliment or acknowledge what they believe could be wrong. Either way the games have been fun to watch if you like passionate soccer. It will be fun to see if what MLS has done with their roster structuring can work. They unofficially doubled the salary budget for each team. So on top of DP's teams can add TAM players (500k-1.5mil) along with your regular roster players making under the TAM threshhold. The move has added depth and it gives those star DPs a actual chance to impact the game instead of being relied on so heavily and worn down by Liga MX teams depth in years past.
I am sure you see comments on FB, YouTube and other sources LOL. The comments they make most Liga MX fans think that it is God's gift to humanity. I have always watched Liga MX since I can remember and barely started to pay attention to MLS this last season in the playoffs, so I am barely catching up. And I can see that most Liga MX games are better than MLS. But it's simple and nothing to be bragging about. Liga MX has a budget way above MLS. More money better players. They also have being around longer, meaning more history and more fans. I don't expect MLS to be better than Liga MX at the moment but it will catch up soon as the MLS budget ceiling keeps on increasing. It is bound to happen. And as far as competitive wise, that is what I want to see in this type of tournaments. Tigres, the most expensive MX team is worth almost 3 times more than Toronto, the MLS most expensive team. That should give you an idea why Liga MX have dominated the area. But regardless of who wins, what I saw last night and the night before were some damn good games! Very equally matched!
Personally...I'm here for the aggro. Makes these games that much more interesting - not quite all-out brawls like you see in the Copa Libertadores, but I need this spice in-between the milquetoast early-season matches in MLS.
At least 1 mls team if not 2 will advance. I don't remember the last time an mls team advanced over a Mexican team that wasn't that last kick of the ball in the 94th minute in Montreal.
Roster Players that year Major League Soccer team are limited to seven players without U.S. citizenship, a permanent resident (green card holder), or the holder of other special status (e.g., refugee or asylum status). Where a player has not declared an international allegiance, nation is determined by place of birth. Squad correct as of November 19, 2013.[1] No. Position Player Nation 1 Goalkeeper Michael Gspurning Austria 2 Forward Clint Dempsey (DP) United States 3 Midfielder Brad Evans United States 4 Defender Patrick Ianni United States 6 Midfielder Osvaldo Alonso Cuba 7 Forward Eddie Johnson United States 8 Defender Marc Burch United States 9 Forward Obafemi Martins (DP) Nigeria 10 Midfielder Mauro Rosales (DP / Captain) Argentina 11 Midfielder Steve Zakuani Democratic Republic of the Congo 12 Defender Leonardo González Costa Rica 14 Midfielder Alex Caskey United States 15 Midfielder Blair Gavin United States 16 Forward David Estrada United States 17 Defender DeAndre Yedlin (HGP) United States 19 Defender Djimi Traoré Mali 20 Defender Zach Scott United States 21 Midfielder Shalrie Joseph Grenada 22 Forward Eriq Zavaleta (GA) United States 24 Goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann United States 25 Midfielder Andy Rose England 26 Midfielder Adam Moffat Scotland 27 Midfielder Lamar Neagle United States 28 Forward Will Bates United States 29 Goalkeeper Josh Ford United States 32 Midfielder Philip Lund Denmark 33 Defender Dylan Remick United States 34 Defender Jhon Kennedy Hurtado Colombia
It's not a guarantee, leagues do hit plateaus, your league might, and LMX may improve depending on Mexico's WC showing, which can increase LMX's already high popularity. Don't count your chickens. Aren't you Mexican btw?
"Your league?" I didn't even know I owned a league! Bad ass! Not Mexican. Mexican American. But I dont know what nationality has to do anything with soccer for you. Liga MX is improving, no doubt. But MLS is also improving, no one can deny that. It is just common sense. The more money, the better a league becomes. Both leagues are dumping money by signing good players. It just so happens that at the moment the Mexican teams have bought the better most expensive players. It's all changing and soon this CONCACHAMPIONS is finally going to get interesting.
Jajaja, mire este acomplejado. Este torneo ya es interesante. Es interesante ver a la Liga MX dominar.