I watched last night SKC-Vancouver. DC United does not play the same sport (let alone at the same level)
So the Marlins have 12 positive cases and the players who were positive played against the Phillies anyway. Is the Florida the universe's blackhole that sucks in all stupidity past, present and future? DeSantis and the other enablers of this catastrophe should be dragged from office and made bed pan orderlies in the covid ward. PPE is optional if they believe it interferes with their "rights."
Hooters is an important place to be. Perhaps an emergency sometimes even. I'd have to know the full story before passing judgment (of course any ride with the police is a bad ride, so severe lack of judgement there already). I once gave an NIH patient in some experimental trial a ride back to NIH from the Hooters in Rockville - they had sent him in a cab to watch the NASCAR race because he made the other patients too nervous/anxious while watching the race the previous weekend. I could understand, I make people around me feel that way when I am watching NASCAR or DC United. A lot of yelling at the screen, both bad and good. Best to be done around other fans. He assured me the blood-letting tubes attached to him were nothing to be worried about
I like Philly, fun team to watch with a young and promising coach... I do not have Espn / Espn2 (Fubo should add them sometimes in August) but I was able to watch their game on DAZN Italia (via VPN)
Watched the last 15 minutes of the Orlando-LAFC match. What impressed me the most was that Nani was on the field the entire match and took the last PK and then ran off celebrating. This is a guy that has enjoyed success at the highest levels and here he was, at the end of his career, playing before no fans on a rec league field, just running around like a kid who had scored his first goal. I wish DCU could find some type of veteran, quality leadership like that........ The closest we've had to that was Rooney in 2018 before he took the piss and scooted off to England. Before that, maybe Earnie Stewart was the last example.
Listened to the latest edition of "Allocation Disorder" with Tenorio and Stejskal today. One of the topics discussed was how MLS teams overvalue young players when it comes to selling them on. They were discussing how Philly would deal with their two youngsters who are getting Euro attention. One the examples given of how not sell on players was Acosta. They said DCU was offered $8M for him and tried to squeeze out more when he probably was overvalued at $8M. Instead, they lost him on a free to Atlas. They also discussed the issue of newer owners like Blank and Tepper wanting to spend more and that MLS should move forward on that. Of course that means DCU either has get smart or find richer owners. In other words, lack of pro/rel will keep the Leviens of the world in MLS because there is no real downside unless revenue sharing is reduced dramatically.
They are not only wrong on the facts with Lucho, they are engaging in a bit of revisionist history that is offered with the clarity of hindsight (which clearly they still lack on this player). DC was clear in the market they were asking in the neighborhood of $15m which most conventional wisdom (reported and commented in many outlets) at the time said was reasonable considering his performance with Rooney and considering other recent deals of MLS players. But something's value is what a buyer is willing to pay. So what were folks actually willing to pay? Well, let's see: DC had offered him a new contact at $8m - plus incentives. And PSG actually offered more than $9M for him - almost 14% more than this "overvalued" amount of $8M. So saying he was overvalued at $8m at the time is simply wrong - even in hindsight. More to the point - even after his disastrous performance in the 2019 "cam-pain" with all of the roller-coaster, soap-opera emotion and petulance, he STILL sold for $6.6M. Whether DC mishandled the trade is a different question. Perhaps they did and certainly Lucho thinks so (but many commentators at the time said DC was right to hold out). But Lucho's case is far from a good example of MLS "overvaluing" young players.
I'm not sure I understand. If PSG offered more than $9m, we rejected it, and ended up getting nothing, I'd say that's the definition of "overvalued." Whatever it is that we thought he was worth, no other team stepped up to offer it. "$8M' isn't the overvalued amount--it's whatever we were actually hoping to get from PSG.
I was responding specifically to the assertion he was overvalued at $8m: ("They said DCU was offered $8M for him and tried to squeeze out more when he probably was overvalued at $8M.") He might have been overvalued at $15m but he was not overvalued at $8m; all sides were willing at $8m. (Even after his 2019 performance he still got brought almost $7m.) However, the deal was not as simple as that. Some reports indicated that Tuchel vetoed Acosta in preference for bringing back Rabiot, a player he was already familiar with. Still other reports indicated the primary reason was over whose end commissions would be paid from. DC wanted a NET figure and PSG was apparently not willing to pay the points for DC to get its net figure. I think its kinda like a car dealer but in reverse: you think you have a deal with the sales-slug to pay an out-the-door total of X but then you get to the finance maggot and find out its gonna cost X+.
Listened to the Pitch Pass podcast with Pablo Herman Iglesias Maurer today. Interesting on many levels. Pablo says Ben is an underrated coach, has turned garbage into at least a buffet on a number of occasions. He also agreed that DCU was almost unwatchable.
Pablo is 100% right about Ben. His record is poor, but since 2010, our FO's spending levels are considerably worse. Ben has had one single half-season (2018 Pt. 2) where the team spent at a median level, and we did spectacularly well and played some beautiful football. Even since Audi Field opened, we've likely spent less than any team except Houston and Dallas, which relies on its academy more than other teams and spends (limited) money there. The guy from France, Dibassy, who was supposed to be our one major defensive signing this year--he just got signed by Minnesota. We aren't adding anyone else this year; even the stingy Red Bulls are signing Europeans. If you do a head-to-head of what Chicago and Orlando have spent over the last four years, it's kind of shocking that we've consistently placed ahead of them and consistently beaten them. That said, I'd rather go down with full guns blazing like Houston than the way we've played over the last year, and obviously the eight years before LuchaRoo. Playing with DMs as your lone attacker and your #10 is chicken-shit, even if your only options are Sorga and Asad. We Are West Brom, in a league without relegation. Not sure why so many people expect us to compete with the big boys.
If Ben Olsen were a good coach he’d have left this dump years ago. Ben Olsen isn’t a good coach and is only a MLS coach because we don’t have standards. If Ben Olsen got fired tomorrow and every MLS club needed a coach Ben wouldn’t even get an interview.
I completely agree. I can't think of a single MLS club which would hire him, let alone somewhere else around the world. The thing that pisses me off the most about Olsen is him accepting to lose dignity in keeping coaching a team that obviously doesn't follow him and in keeping serving a club that doesn't really care about success, let alone about him either. It's his rolling comfortably in mediocrity that makes me crazy.
The thing that drives me crazy in these defenses of Ben is that they act like DC cant both have terrible ownership AND terrible coaching. That's exactly what they have. Anybody who's watched this team and has any real knowledge of coaching knows that Ben can only succeed when 1) He has every desired starter healthy and happy and 2)
Oops hit the wrong button...meant to say OR, he coaches in the most defensive negative way which takes little tactical acumen. He has no ability to adapt to difficult or changing conditions. He's a bad coach with bad ownership