Eh, injuries or regular illnesses is not the same as the pandemic sweeping through your team in my mind. I'm not saying we should do anything different mind you. Once the league and players decided to return to play, the risk has always been there. Just sucks to happen at this stage.
Portland defeated RSL. Looks like Portland vs NYC in Portland for MLS Cup. Maybe a combined total of 2 American field players will start.
I was definitely cheering for RSL. They have a strong Yank presence but Herrara didn't have a good night along others. Ochoa probably could have saved one or both of those.
All teams could have a bus crash too, it doesn't make it not ruinous to the competition on the field.
A bummer, but nothing can be done. Do people expect the league to delay the match two weeks until the players are out of quarantine? Delay MLS Cup? Not going to happen. Philly still has enough talent to win this game. Great chance for some good young Americans (other than Sullivan). Brandon Craig and Anton Sorenson, two more homegrowns, have been brought in. Ranjitsingh is an MLS Pool goalkeeper. ⚡Ready to rep Philly⚡Greg Ranjitsingh, Brandan Craig, and Anton Sorenson have been added to our roster ahead of tomorrow's match.📝👉https://t.co/txVnSrmLri pic.twitter.com/493ZxDEmgI— Philadelphia Union (@PhilaUnion) December 4, 2021
Not really. I would consider match-fixing or peds to be ruinous to competition. Carelessness or acts of god, not so much.
That's a careless analysis out of the typical contrarianism. A random chance event leading to your team's personnel being dramatically different at the most crucial time in the season does not determine the best team. It is what it is.
Who da buck criticized MLS for this? You have to always be ready to go into defense mode for leadership though, even when nobody's questioning them.
great atmosphere for this Phili-NYCFC game. A bit calmer without the back and forth breakneck speed of the New England game. Still , a well organized game by both teams.
As a Knick fan, it is clear he refused to coach the team BECAUSE they did not have the best talent in the league. So to me, it is all the same. The guy could have had the Knick job back in 1999, but they weren't good enough -- but on the strength of Michael Jordan and those results, he was offered the Lakers job just as their talent was coming to the fore. Then he left the Lakers when he saw they were losing talent. And then campaigned for the job again as soon as they got talent back. Then left again when they started to deteriorate. And then begged to return (and was denied) when they picked up a few more talented players that put them at the high end of the talent pool again. Not sure how I can call him an outright fraud with 11 titles, but he is as overrated as they come. Wasn't Pep at least part of the coaching staff who built up the youth at Barcelona that ended up dominating? I may be wrong about that, but let's talk about it.
As far as I can recall, he coached Barca B for one year and got promoted to the first team as manager immediately after. He promoted Busquets and Pedro to the first team from Barca B but the core of that side was already there- Puyol, Messi, Iniesta, Valdez, Abidal, Toure and Xavi were all established first team players. Pique came back from United that year. He did clear out Eto’o and a couple others but it’s hard for me to see how he gets credit for building a team that was basically built when he took over. Pedro was a role player and I’m sure he could have found someone else to tactically foul in the midfield like Busquets. As near as I can see, at Barca, Bayern and City he took over the most talented teams in the league who all had significant financial advantages over everyone else in their league. Only at Barca did he consistently beat peer-level opposition and that happened to coincide with Iniesta and Messi reaching their peaks.
I suppose Phil Jackson is overrated, just in the sense every really successful coach is somewhat overrated in that they get attributed a ton of credit. Jackson is a really great coach for talented teams. He is a good motivator and understands how to long term motivate guys, especially top talent. He gets the pace and ebb and flow of a season, and a lot of coaches don't get that. He was never a great Xs and Os guy, but he recognized something in Tex Winter's triangle and convinced players to fully commit; including Michael Jordan, a player who you might have expected to balk. Or Kobe. Or Shaq. or Rodman. And it's not just the stars. He consistently got good performances out of role players and less talented guys. Would Jackson be a great coach for a less talented team? Someone that needed moment to moment instruction and a bog-you down defense? Someone like Thibs or Larry Brown fit that mold better -- but they come with negatives. They burn players out. There's a short lifespan. And none have had success with better teams. Honestly, I think Guardiola is a great coach. I don't think most coaches would have had the success he's had with his talent. Unlike Jackson, I think he's got the tactical chops for the high level players -- unless he has his own Tex Winter. But I also think that he probably isn't a particularly good coach for a less talented team. Does anyone think Guardiola can adjust? Soccer allows for more extreme gameplanning based on talent, and the coaches all seem very dependent on being able to implement their style. Take that where you will with the USMNT.
I think when you have certain expectations of players it's probably difficult to adjust to a lower standard. You see that in MLS with older DPs like Rooney and Higuain.
That MLS teams only exist to play young Americans, at all times, for the glory of the National team. Yo see, in Europe teams plays young local teenagers all of the time no matter what, at all times. Stupid Mericans. BTW. 3 Yanks started for NYC today. Why should that matter?
Saucy Sands was a steady hand in spite of being diminished by injury these playoffs (said it was bothering him even more last match): James Sands, coming in hot! 😅A quick word with the @NYCFC midfielder after claiming the Eastern Conference title. // @Audi #MLSCupPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/zZCPBs9PUN— Major League Soccer (@MLS) December 6, 2021 Could use some of this fire/urgency on the NT. That applies to Hoppe when he gets back from his injury too.
A word for Phil. He won at the CBA level too. I think Phil could have coached up lesser talented team but didn’t feel compelled to do so after hitting the heights. Pep’s never had to do it. I’d like to see him try. One of the positives of US sports outside of baseball is that you can’t just buy an all star team. There’s always going to be some coaching involved. Even the best teams have “just a guys.” Pep never has to coach the equivalent of a Tyronn Lue.