Tv announcers at the 73 minute were congratulating Tab Ramos on his first win as Houstons coach. Have they never seen a MLS match before. They tie and both teams go home. Gals were a joke tonight +. GBS looked a little pale at the end.
I've been on record for like 8 years saying I don't want him to coach here. Glad he's proving me right.
The last few minutes looked like a pick up game after playing for about 2 1/2 hours in the heat. After a few players had to go home .
Athletes have skill but the saying is that quite a few were not compensated with the brains to match it. That PK was a clear "WTF" moment. I think I'm just going to grab the guy, pull him to the ground, and do so in front of the ref. They didn't even need VAR to call that one. And that was just after the ref and the VAR decided not to take a very close look at a potential handball call in the box.
Definitely dodged a bullet there. He looks completely disinterested on the sidelines. However I'd also argue that the Galaxy have been really poor for years. A lot of average to below average players in the starting XI because nearly the entire payroll is sunk into DPs that are way past their primes and aren't starting quality. Zlatan's greatness covered it up similar to Josef Martinez with Atlanta. I fully expect Chicarito to be another expensive bust too.
They all look like potentially decent games... ...except that last one. And you just watch--I'll probably get surprised by the result there.
it looks like MLS made a change. We are now in the bottom bracket w/Orlando and LAFC and FCC’s group is now in the top bracket. https://www.mlssoccer.com/mls-is-back-tournament/bracket
I don't know why I'm surprised about things like this anymore. MLS has no thought leadership and can't plan beyond a month. They insist on being single entity and having a unified brand, yet their marketing strategy is to promote individual franchises over their own brand. I don't know what they're going to do when cities balk at paying $400M to be treated like a redheaded stepchild. They have the ability to control just about everything and prevent looking like idiots, yet nearly everything they do is lazy and reactionary. It's like Precourt on a larger scale. If Garber wanted to protect the big name teams in this tournament or evenly distribute them, why make a bracket at all? Just have your group stage qualifying and then do another "random draw" after the group stage to seed the knockout rounds how you want them. It'd be blatantly transparent that it's going to be rigged but at least that's known and understood upfront. Instead, he sets up a bracket, then changes it overnight with no announcement because he doesn't like the results of what he created. I guess it's fortunate that nobody outside of the same core audience that MLS has had for 25 years is watching or cares.
They had the original "Bracket" page so convoluted it took quite a bit of time to figure out who went where. They probably did that so that they could flip things around if the felt balance was needed. But I agree a draw would have been a better way to do it.
I am going to nitpick here... but this bracket calendar... First, my Crew bias.... we better enjoy this extra day of rest now because, if we keep advancing, we will always be the team playing with one day less than our competitor all they way through the Final. And we aren't one of the team that gets screwed the worse... Portland/Food Lion advancing requires them to beat teams who have 2 more days rest twice (Round of 8, Final 4).
I don't think any big tournament in any sport does that except for soccer in Cup tournaments. The bracket was done ahead of the tournament and should have stayed as such. The last minute tinkering is minor league stuff, or Calvin Ball as someone else said.
I agree it's Mickey Mouse as hell. As dumb as a draw would have been, it would be better than changing it because you didn't like one half being stacked with all your favored teams. I just go back to the fact that it's your tournament and you can set the rules and agenda. If you want to determine how the bracket is set up for certain teams, don't release a bracket before the tournament with a convoluted set of rules of which third-place team goes where.
We're in complete agreement. Once they said "no draw", then don't mess with the bracket that should be set in stone and make it a draw by moving games around.
Let's not kid ourselves. It has to do with the fact that all of Don's favorite teams were in one half of the bracket. Seattle, Portland, LAFC, NYC, Orlando and Toronto were all going to be playing each other with only one of them making the final. Meanwhile the other half of the bracket was full of teams they hate putting on TV and promoting. 50 national TV appearances on one side versus 17 on the other, pre-pandemic. They didn't like the idea that a team like SKC or Columbus could make a deeper run than most of their favored children, and Garber wants to maximize the chances of getting a final between two of those teams. It's just more shortsightedness in not marketing the overall product. There are no crowds to film with this and the ratings continue to be as poor as ever. They should want to use this to showcase the league in whole rather than the same teams they've always shown. That strategy has proven to not work. They're not bringing in new fans or growing the brand by continuing to pimp the same franchises.
I deleted this because after looking at the before/after the split is the same, so it was an incorrect inference.
It’s a fake tournament, made up on the fly, essentially to try to get anyone in the country outside of a few supporters groups to notice MLS exists on television. So they want to ensure the sexiest matchups. It’s not a mystery and I’m fine with it. To be the best you gotta beat the best.