I felt like this deserved its own special thread. Coronacation is still on for now, but in July we get real soccer. I think Auria asked in the Coronacation thread what MLS gains by restarting (the possible losses being health-related, but also turnstile $$ and related revenue). I'll tell you what they gain: eyeballs. MLS has TV contracts to fulfill, and while Major League Baseball fiddles, the NBA waits until August, and NFL doesn't start until the fall, MLS is set to be the only major American professional league playing actual sports on your television for the month of July. I guess NASCAR also restarted (with actual fans!). If you're the average American male in the ESPN demographic, you're much more likely to watch live sports (that you don't necessarily care about) instead of the 1993 Fiesta Bowl or whatever. Concerning our draw: We got FC Cinci, who should be the worst team in the group, and RBNY and Columbus, both of whom are similar to us talent-wise. The games should be good. I think we can get out of the group, but after that it'll depend on who we match up against. A shortened season is good for us with 6 points in the bag and Josef on the mend.
Well, I don't get paid to crunch those numbers, but somebody does, so I'll roll with their decision as being the financially best one. I thought about that, but I'm not convinced that the average non-MLS fan cares enough to watch our league even if it's the only thing currently going on. The only guys I know who would pay attention to soccer are hardcore sports fanalysts, and even they tend to favor UEFAball. All of them would watch some old SEC game before they'd watch an MLS tourney. For non-footy, I just watched (all highlights) the "Run, Lindsay, run!" play from Georgia's 1980 title season, G-Town's 1984 NCAA title win over Houston, Kentucky's 1998 NCAA title win over Utah, USC's 1970 win at Bama, their 55-19 B(C)S win Oklahoma in 2004, and UNLV mashing Duke in the 1990 NCAA Finals and Arkansas beating Duke in 1995. Footywise, I watched Brazil's 1994 PSO win v. Italy, the 2002 win v. Germany, the 2005 Confeds Cup final v. Argentina and USA's gritty performance in the 2009 Confederations Cup Final. I'll say here what I said in the Corona thread: If we get some production out of what's left of our offense, we can at least get out of the group. I say "can" instead of "will" because Columbus has Nagbe now. Hoping he doesn't do to us what he used to do for us. We should be fine in back- Miles and Bello are healthy, and that hasn't been the case dating back to 2019. No Josef, and Tito's gone- Time for Jahn to make a name for himself... The finalists in this tournament will play the most games (7). everyone will play at least three. I wonder how MLS is going to address making up the difference, but that's on them.
I'm just hoping the trophy looks like the Sir-Mix-A-Lot album cover, and that Atlanta United becomes the first (and only EVER!) winner of it.
https://www.atlutd.com/post/2020/06...Ncec7Ffivzo4gHZCjWyT-aTAaBzsSMeEiHPMz6xE1XRnc Best of luck to the infected player.
Indeed. That they were asymptomatic at least suggests the odds for him are positive he shouldn't have major issues, but since this thing has been evolving... Now to hope he hasn't shared it with anyone.
Schedule is up. ATL vs. RB:NY Sat. 7/11, 8 PM Fox? ATL vs FCC Thu. 7/16. 9. AM ESPN ATL vs Crew FC Tue. 7/21. 8 PM TUDN
Of course I have a court hearing at the exact same time as the morning game. I wonder if I can get the judge to make it a virtual hearing so I can dual-monitor it? "Yes, your honor, my client was there the whole time -- gogoGoGoGOGO SHOOT! YES! GOAAAAAAL PITYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!! -- I'm sorry, judge, what were we talking about? Um... I'll move to strike that last bit."
FC Dallas officially out of the tournament due to COVID infections. What does that do to the other teams in FCD's group? Do they get a "bye" for the tournament? How does that work for the regular season points that were supposed to count from the group stage? Will FCD have to make up those games somehow? My suggestion -- if the health and safety aspect makes sense -- is to play those games in Orlando during the knockout phase of the tournament with whichever teams from the group didn't advance. That'll give FCD a few weeks to quarantine and get better, plus it will even out the calendar a bit.
If they're going through with this (and it seems they are), they should move one of the teams out of group A to Group B. Then only one more team needs to drop out to have a balanced bracket...
Anyone watching tonight? Care about who wins? Me? For once I hope Orlando kicks ass, but Orlando is Orlando.
We had soccer practice for the boy-child and tee ball for the girl-child, so I watched the highlights this morning. I'm currently watching the Philly/NYC game, though. Pretty boring; not the most exciting way to start the day.
My MiB XI (no Josef) ———Pity——Jahn———- Barco——-Emo——Lennon ——-Remedi—-Matheus—- ——Miles—Meza—Franco—- —————Guzan————— Bench: Kann, Walkes, Castillo, Damm, Mulraney, Larentowicz, Williams
Are they going to play the whole tournament on that one field? If so, it's going to be a disaster by the end. All the hype by ESPN and Twellman and Disney about the on-field microphones and extra cameras, etc., had me expecting great production value from this tournament. I have thus far been... underwhelmed. The main midfield camera is too close to the pitch. When you're watching a game from Craven Cottage, and they have nowhere else to put the camera, that's fine. When you literally can place the camera anywhere you want because there's no stadium to worry about, why choose an angle that cannot film the near touchline at all? And despite all the extra alleged microphones, I've not heard anything novel from the pitch. Weren't they supposed to have miked up the refs?
Three fields have been used. One is being used jus for morning matches due to the directional layout.
I'm not sure I'm prepared to read about Nagbe doing his thing for another team. He's bossing the Crew midfield, and that's going to hurt more than the loss. How much money does his wife make that they couldn't have made home in the ATL?
Methinks the move was more.about family connections and the chance to be with Caleb Porter again. In a day and age where most players simply seek the biggest markets and/or the be purely on winning teams I appreciate someone pursuing a move for more humble motives.
First 3rd place team done with their tourney play is CFG:NY - 3 points and -2 goal differential. This means if Atlanta beats Columbus they'll at least have a better tally than that, IF they finish 3rd. A Montreal victory over DC by one goal would also be favorable to Atlanta. FWIW
So, Rafa Benitez is available. I mean, technically he has a job in China, but I'm sure we can buy that out.
I don't think Frank's going anywhere unless he gets a better offer from somewhere in UEFAland. This is only the second year of his contracted four.