Just another rant. I've had enough lately of Euro crap. Fine, change the playoffs to home and home series. Change the team names. Change the team uniforms to look better. Get rid of the gridiron lines! Do what you think is right, but NEVER do it because "that's how they do it in Europe".
I"ve been called a Eurosnob and soccer purest on here and other forums, but I hafta agree with US here. I have no problems with the current playoff format (well, except that they should keep the format through the final as well....but I understand the reasons behind it) Just because its the way the rest of the world have things, doesn't mean its the best solution for here. Honestly, I keep hearing that the 2 leg playoffs are better, but no one has ever convinced me that there is any home field advantage. the 2 leg format was created so there wasn't any home field advantage!!!
God I love you guys! I don't live in Europe and I want my league to reflect AMERICA, we have playoffs and divisions in America. If I want a table or fixture I'll go the the home store! Kevin metroadultsoccer.com
Hey, there's nothing wrong with molding our league to be more like the higher profile leagues. If people want a single table so they can keep track of the fixtures played on the pitch and whatnot, fine. But, in general, we should be doing whatever is best to grow the game. In the US, some basic American sporting tenents should be followed if we're trying to attract more US fans. So, I agree, a little less Euro-izing would be good. Keep the Conferences/Divisions because that's what the casual US fan knows and wants. It also promotes local rivalries. NEVER ever use vertical stripes on a uniform (or kit for the Euro-centric crowd). We're probably the only country in the world that does this, but we associate vertical stripes with the officials/referees, and it's bad to have that as a team's uniform. Yeah, we're the outliers, but we shouldn't buck the US traditions. Use the format [City/State] [Nickname] for team names. We're not A C DC or NYC F C, we're DC United and NY/NJ Metros ... ok, well maybe those aren't good examples, but you get my point. Generally, use American sports terminology, like field, uniform, sideline, speed, injury, and avoid overusing terms like "on form" so much that the casual observer starts thinking "what the heck are these guys talking about, I'm bored, I'm gonna turn the channel." So basically, I agree with ya. -Tron
If you are referring to the homosexual, spandex-pants-wearing "game" played with a brown piece of poop, then I'll pass on this comment. If you're telling me to stop defeating good footballing nations at the World Cup, then you can forget it.
yeah, lets make our own brand of american soccer. we'll have no draws, only shootouts. the ball will be a multicolored gimmick. we can keep time on a scoreboard too... hmmm. sounds like i've that before. i am not a "eurosnob," but do you remember what the uniforms looked like that first year?! jesus. i kid. there are rules and standards in the game. we will follow them. but as far as the divisional league set-up and the play-off format, i could care less. its american as apple pie as long as there is a winner and a large group of losers at the end of the season.
This never gets old: Even Doug Logan realized that the uniform designs were bad. He told Wegerle and Harkes to stay at his sides so he didn't have to stand next to the mulleted day-glo guy in the Clash jersey.
Overtime is, I believe, one specifically American contribution to the rules of the game in MLS that is mostly positive. I personally do not understand the push for two-legged playoffs, as it would completely eliminate the difference between finishing 1-8 in the league during the regular season. As someone already noted, the whole reason two-legged playoffs are used in Europe is so that there is no home-field advantage. The idea posted a while back about going to a group stage playoff format seemed positive. With two groups of four and the top two in each group advancing to the knockout semifinals and finals, the playoffs would take exactly as long as a home-away format (five weeks). Further, home field advantage could still be doled out so that regular season finish means a whole lot (the top seed in each group playing every game at home, the second seed getting two games, the third seed one game, and the fourth seed zero games). I would perfer this system over home-away anyday.
looking back at those now, they look like someone made real uniforms and then gave a 4 year old a picture of them and some crayons and told the kid to draw them....just my opinion though
If I'm not mistaken, the sport we love was invented in Europe. It is the most perfect game and thats why we love it. So if the casual American fan will not pay attention to it unless it is more American I say to Hell with them. We are not trying to Euroize people, we are trying to keep MLS from nose diving into the ground which is what was happening with the Shootout and with the game clock counting down. Now that we are getting the game more to where it should be things are getting better.
You are mistaken. Soccer was invented in colonial America. The English took the American invention back home and claimed credit for it. Typical English Imperialism.
ben, i have never heard that. i was always under the impression that it was english (as in england) bred. can you give me a link to some history?
Sounds like a fair and objective opinion to me. There's not a thing wrong with playing the game American-style. So what if we don't play only in SSS stadiums? So what if our uniforms emphasize the team name rather than the sponsor? It's about the level at which you play the game. The rest is just details. And we've showed that our level is on par with the Euro teams. That's all we need to prove to them.
I always thought the game originated in China, and was brought overseas in different forms before the Brits finally standardized it around the mid-19th century under the FA. That was the point at which the sport really took off. Other rules existed as well, which laid the foundations for rugby and American football.
But they didn't talk with those cool accents...and come up with such 'real' footballer names like the english......face it, we will never be a true soccer country until we take the tea back out of the harbor and start doing everything like the brits again. F-Europe.....
Hosting the second leg of the tie is usually benefial to the home team. All of last year's Champions League Quarters and Semis were won by the team who hosted the second leg. You can still have 1 play 8, 2 play 7, etc. I agree with the two leg system because with soccer it makes the most sense. The only other thing i can suggest having no draws in any games and doing extra time and penalties and keeping the traditional two out of three. But a scenario where Columbus has to win the next game and then win the mini tiebreaker game is very akward. The final should always be one game.
I take exception to the people who think soccer in this country is on par with Europe. I dream of being able to honestly say something like that, but so much work still has to be done that I can't even to begin to list all the things American soccer needs before we can honestly make a statement like that. I am immensely proud of our accomplishments in the World Cup, but in all honesty, a World Cup success is just that- a great showing by our national team in one World Cup. While it is a positive reflection on our league that players from MLS contributed in a big way, let's not kid ourselves. Our league has a long way to go, and our national team needs to keep proving itself on the field. Back to the topic at hand, I agree that we can run our league any way we want to. I don't think our playoff format is detrimental to the game of soccer. Nor do I think that playing 10 minutes of overtime is bad, even though they don't do it in Europe. However, when we have silly things like the old MLS "5 second shot clock shootout", we are not really playing the game properly.
From what I know, soccer is British. Their imperialism spread development of it around the world, which is partly where it gets a lot of it's global appeal. I think the Chinese had a "football" game similar to soccer, but I didn't know that it had an influence on soccer. That would be intersting to learn about!