I know, a lot of tired legs, too many games, injuries, etc., but... THREE teams losing to the A-League. Not a good night. Yeah, it happens in England too, but the MLS's credibility is not really secure yet. This hurts.
If a player calls himself a professional, then he takes pride in his efforts. And you don't want to lose to a weaker team or league. Granted, the stakes are not very high, only $100,000 to the winning (why shouldn't the Fed get better funding and call it the $1 million U.S. Open Cup-then we'd have some excitement-but that's a whole other thread) team, but still, this tournament has been around since the year of the flood.
Many teams don't field a full strength lineup, for this reason. It's a legitimate Cup tournament, and should be taken more seriously, but if a team doesn't want to win, then they don't have to put the effort forward. It's really their choice. Personally, I think it's embarrassing for the teams that lost last night, especially the Gals. Shutout, ouch.
I was at a game (US Open Cup) a couple of years ago where the Riverhounds (Then of the A League) slapped around Colorado and beat them 2-0. Colorado thought they'd get a walkover and got their butts kicked. They didn't start playing with some conviction until it was too late.
I've been saying all along that too many MLS teams are in the Open Cup. It should be cut down to eight, making the tournament a much bigger deal for MLS. This tournament is, or should be, too important to gain automatic births in.
Would sweeping the A-League sides secure the league's credibility? The thing is, the rank-and-file of the A-League are nearly as good as the rank-and-file of MLS. It's really only the stars that make a significant differentiation. So, if a MLS team sits three or so stars and plays on the road against a team that cares more, their chances of winning a one-off game fall from 80-90% to 50% or maybe less. If this generates some interest in those A-League cities, it's not necessarily a bad thing for MLS, even if it makes people wonder how much the league is actually better than the A-League. For instance, if Minnesota's fan base is a little energized by beating the (sort of) first-place Galaxy, that might be a good thing for soccer in Minnesota, which ultimately could be good for the league.
Yes. It is absolutely appalling, isn't it. What sort of half-baked league are you people running there. 'Major League', my arse... If you want to see how real QUALITY teams perform against their lowly brethren have a look at how the mighty Chelsea (player cost approx. $300m) did against Scarborough (player cost £1.38 and a strawberry-flavoured individual fruit-pie), a team from some 5 leagues down. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/fa_cup/3403723.stm THAT's the sort of thing you should be expecting from a GOOD team - a comprehensive 1-0 thrashing. Man, did we pummel them into submission in that game.
I think that's a good understanding of the situation. It's part of the fun of a domestic cup that the leagues get mixed.
For what it's worth, the Wizards thrashed the Atlanta Silverbacks, 4-1. It wasn't that close. Atlanta kept up with K.C. for about 20 minutes in the first half. In the second half it was target practice. Atlanta is in second place in the A-League and coming off a 10-game winning streak. Go figure.
That would kind of defeat the purpose of having an Open Cup. By definition an Open is open to any team that wants to enter and qualifies.
Metros started about six-seven "starters" - a pretty strong squad. No Guevara, Clark, or Walker, and Seth Stammler, who has yet to see MLS minutes, played a good portion of the game. Revs, given that they continue to be the walking wounded - we don't even know who their first choice starters are. But they did play Twellman and Dempsey, and were at least trying to win. Although if any team had the right to tank the Open Cup and try to get healthier, it would be the Revs. Galaxy did not play Hartman, and did not start Ruiz, at least. Don't remember the rest of their line-up.
From the lineups that I saw on mlsnet.com, it looks like the Revs and Mutts pretty much fielded the starters with one or two exceptions. The Gals had a good mix of starters and scrubs....most notably absent was Ruiz.
I think your phrase 'kept up' pretty much says it all. A team which is properly motivated, (for instance because they're playing against, allegedly, stronger opposition), WILL work hard to close people down and make life difficult for them. The point is that it becomes harder to do that as you tired. Also, when you lose the ball you have to work very hard to get it back again and when you have it the other team knows that you'll slip up quite quickly and give it back to them. They, unfortunately, won't reciprocate. If a team is well drilled and well trained they can make life hard for ANY team, even if they can barely kick the ball. That's part of the beauty of the game. It doesn't matter how good you think you are or how big your 'name - You have to WORK for your victory.
This was the lineup for Los Angeles: Dan Popik - Ricky Lewis, Ryan Suarez (46: Marcelo Saragosa), Chris Aloisi - Arturo Torres, Ned Grabavoy (79: Guillermo Gonzalez), Sasha Victorine, Paul Broome (46: Josh Gardner), Jovan Kirovski - Joseph Ngwenya (57: Carlos Ruiz), Alejandro Moreno. A mostly scrub lineup that never quite gelled. Looks like we played a 3-5-2, something we haven't done in a long time.
For the first half at least, it was a 4-4-2 with Aloisi, Suarez, Lewis and Broome across the back. After half time when Suarez came out, then it looked like you guys switched to a 3-5-2 with Victorine as the central defender with Lewis and Aloisi.
Can we relabel this thread, "Calling All MLS Apologists, Excuse-spewers and Spinners: POST HERE"? MLS needs search long and far for some pride. Without hearty play in USOC, MLS will only continue to gain recognition as a faux D1 league since there is no pro/rel in the US system. MLS fans are delusional if they think the USOC and cup play does not matter. The rest of the world is watching...suck it up and play hard for heaven's sake. You have reputation to earn.
It's all a matter of perspective... People who are strictly fans of MLS (as opposed to just being fans of American soccer in general) will be upset whenever MLS teams lose to A-League teams. Their interest is for MLS to outshine the A-League. People who are fans of American soccer in general, on the other hand, are more interested in having American soccer outshine soccer played in other countries. This latter group is less concerned when MLS teams lose to A-League teams because both leagues are American. If MLS teams lose to second-tier teams in other countries, that's when they get concerned. I'm in the second camp, myself, so these recent MLS/A-League results don't really bother me.