Congradulations Crew I'm just an MLS fan because I have no team to follow where I'm from, but I just wanted to say congradulations the Crew for advancing to the next round in the Champions Cup. I just wish these matches were broadcasted on some tv station like Fox Sports World. I wish all four MLS teams would have advanced (looks like the Revs won't and the Earthquakes are in a bit of trouble), but it's good to see your boys and the Galaxy represent the MLS in the final 8...I'm hoping for an all-MLS final. It's good to see Bake back in Black and Gold. Good luck to the Crew in the next round.
The only hope for your all-mls final is SJ Earthquakes. By The way... (Score down) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Monarcas won his game today 4-0 and will be playing the Crew on next round.
Well, you are at the same college as one of our mods (Plow) ... and he's a Crew fan The elite MLS squads are showing their mettle in the Champions Cup. The pretenders are being exposed
Chicago Fire and Monarcas Morelia have a partnership. That alone should be enough reason for a number of Crew fans to dislike that team.
ANOTHER reason to dislike the Fahr. Thugs in the stands and on the field and a highly suspect International relationship! It never stops with those people....
who cares? this is a treble winning side. I hope our team doesn't encounter trouble at the away leg. Maybe we should have another hotel operation.
The away leg could be worse. We could be the LA Galaxy and have Cobi Jones traveling to Mexico City to play Nacaxa. If I was Sigi I wouldn't play him down there. If the Mexican players don't break his legs, the ref is sure to send him packing.
I'm not too worried about these guys. I know we felt the same about Panama, but I think we learned our lesson, and damn did we have it together on Sunday. I would love to win the away match, but I would be happy with a tie and have another thrashing at Crew stadium. I do have several concerns though. We're playing a lot of matches at the beginning of the season, including midweek games for the CCC around league matches. I hope we don't wear out from this. It also sucks that the home game would be a Wednesday, cuz I would not be able to attend that... damn it! I am however looking forward to having a series against LA to move on to the finals... that would be awesome. I would love to have us playing LA for the USOC and MLS titles this year as well. It would become a huge East/West rivalry.
Also want to say that if I can commute 4 hours to Crew games, then I don't see why being at Penn State is any worse. Might as well start following the Crew... honestly your only other option is DCU... the Thugball team.
I would be a little worried if I was you KK. Morelia is a team that could beat the Crew. They are consistently at the top of the Mexican league year in and out, just lost out to Toluca in the Apertura in December, and was the runner up to the CCC last year. They are dangerous and the Crew will have to be on the top of their game to win this series. Like you I'm concerned about the matches being so close together. If the querterfinal dates stay as they are the Crew will play LA on April 5, Morelia April 9, Metros April 12, Morelia again April 16, and finally NE April 19. That's 5 games in two weeks. Not to mention they really need to get off to a good start in MLS his year because June/July is going to hit the Crew like a ton of bricks with Nat duty. It may play a role in what type of offense Andrulis employs to start the season. Andrulis might want to start McBride, Buddle, and Cunningham together, but he may not have that choice because he has to keep them all fresh for all these games together. It's going to be very interesting to see how Andrulis and the players handle this situation. If they win everything, us fans can really expect the Crew to have one hell of season.
Good points. Morelia vs. Crew has some serious implications on the MLS - Mexican League parity question. Can't we retain Dante on a CCC contract only! We'll need him during this stretch! Should be a good crowd on the 16th.
That's an interesting question Raoul. Does a player have to be officially on the team, or can we have "guest players" on the CCC squads? I know we used the guest player thing a lot during the offseason, but those games really didn't mean a thing. If we could keep Dante for the next few weeks as a guest player, that would be tremendous. However, I fear that he has to be a contracted player of the Crew to be in CCC. In order for that to happen, Dante would have to take up a full roster spot. I wonder if there is a loop-hole that management could find for us. Get on it boys!
"Also want to say that if I can commute 4 hours to Crew games, then I don't see why being at Penn State is any worse. Might as well start following the Crew... honestly your only other option is DCU... the Thugball team." I'm assuming that was directed towards me. Columbus would be about a five hour drive from here (by the way, I hate Ohio State)...haha. I'm very regionalistic and the only way I'd become a fanatic of one single MLS team would probably be if Philly got an expansion club. When it comes to the nearest MLS teams closest to me...I don't mind DCU, I saw a match at RFK last summer, but it was the MLS All-Star game with the make-shift USMNT. And when it comes to the MetroStars, I can't come to be a fan of any NY team ('cause I'm from Philly). But honestly, I love just being a fan of the whole league and not having to worry about having the team I root for only to see them fail when it comes to the playoffs (because I'm a Philly sports fan and I'm ALL TOO USED TO FALIURE, haha). So I like surveying all MLS clubs and just being a spectator. Some day I hope to make it out to your stadium for a game, the original soccer-specific MLS stadium.
your fears are well-founded. it is simple for CCC play: you are eligible to play if you are on the MLS roster. i don't know about being cup-tied, say, if dante were traded to los angeles. but i am sure that as long as you are on the official _league_ roster, on the day of a given match, you can play in the CCC match. Dante was on the MLS roster through March. the league made an exception and allowed the crew a 19th man because of mcbride's loan to everton. now he's back, therefore... no more dante for the Crew -- even in the CCC.
You sound a bit like me man, though I couldn't bring myself to like any team from DC....I think it was the fault of Dale Hunter and the caps in the 87 playoffs that made me hate everything DC so much so that I eventually just decided that Cbus would be my MLS team, then DCU just really irritated me when they kept knocking the crew outta the playoffs. So ************ them and ************ RFK. If you get on board I think you;ll find throughout the season they offer many of the same frustrations as a philly team, only 10 fold since its actually soccer. But with the frustrations come all the good ************ too.
Actually DC United has more than a few fans from the Philly area and other points in Pennsylvania. Obviously Bobby Convey is from Philly, as is former United and current Galaxy player Chris Albright. Ben Olsen is also from Pennsylvania. Hershey used to be one of our affiliates. We're not too big on New York either. But seriously, if you want to hit another game at RFK, I think you can probably find someone with which to carpool. If you do make it, be sure to come to Lot 8 before the game, we have a big tailgate of all of the various supporters groups there before the game. Regardless of whether you become a fan of any specific MLS team, it's very cool that you're a fan of MLS. If you are planning on heading down, PM Bryan Elon 95, he's always making the trip from Philly, and he should be able to help you out. -Digital
Wow, with 2 midweek games interspersed between 3 weekend MLS games, that's going to be a rough stretch. I'm guessing Andrulis would use McBride/Buddle for the first CCC game, see who the ref decides to red card on the away leg, and play the other with Cunningham for the home leg. I think you might be able to get Diego Walsh some playing time during that stretch too, he's a pretty talented kid. Best of luck in the CCC. I'm pulling for you guys to win it all in the CCC. I only wish the Crew and Galaxy were in opposite sides of the bracket, as an all MLS final would be very cool. -Digital