So having shit defense is better for the league for the sake of numbers? ok..... DC Uniteds defense tonight was lacking and Real's was non-existant. I don't think anyone wants that in the league for the sake of turning over the odometer with NBA scoring.
No one wants teams to play lousy defense to increase scoring. But it would be nice to see teams pushing more players forward rather than play conservative, 10 men behind the ball, soccer.
you must live in another country or something... tell me what one of the major complaints about soccer in this country? it's low scoring. I even have to admit that i find 0-0 games very boring. And if you want the league to grow in this country than you are going to have to persuade those people that soccer isn't all about 1-0 games.
No I live in America and I don't really care what someone who isn't a fan of the sport thinks any more than a NASCAR fan cares whether or not I think driving a car around in circles all day is boring. If you had a choice between having the top league in the USA (MLS) be a league with defense like that of DC United and Real Salt Lake tonight and having high scores like tonight OR being a league with average or above average defending but more realistic scorelines what would you choose? Keep in mind.... This is the same league that must: a) send players to the National Team b) send clubs against mexican ones in the Interliga starting next year c) send clubs to Copa Sudamericana d) send clubs to the Concacaf Champions Cup or League This is not NASL.
Just as a Non-NASCAR fans insistance that it should be more like Formula-1 would be met with either some polite education as to why it isn't at best and laughter at worst I'd expect nothing more, nothing less here. The key to gaining fans of MLS (and i already know you disagree so save it) is not by artificially changing it into some hybrid of the NBA and MLS but rather : a) having a meaningful season b) playing meaningful international matches c) beating Chivas Guad. and Club America in Mexico. You want to gain a lot of new fans? You will do that more by making going to see your local MLS club or watching them on TV something worth watching. There are also a TON of mexican football fans who would like to support MLS but until MLS clubs like United or the Galaxy start playing in Mexico and beating the likes of Puma or America they are on the fence or not sure what to think about the league. Wait until most of that 13% of the USA population really starts watching MLS.... I watch FMF on Univision on Sundays. I watch MLS during the week and on Saturdays. The gap is narrowing so it will happen, just not tomorrow. Soccer is not a game that's about having scores bordering on the teens and anyone who thinks that it should be needs an education in the game rather than any honest input into changing the league. Soccer is also a game where the clubs result should matter more than the score itself (and that is where MLS comes up short and where I disagree with them) they need to make people want to invest their time watching . Having winning clubs also go abroad and win meaningful matches also is a good thing and makes the average american want to support their club for nothing more than patriotism. You give them a compelling reason to watch, a club with a pedigree and you will get them in the seats and on the channel on match night. DC United does this and that is why without any promotion, fireworks, buck a brats, or pop stars they managed to draw nearly 25,000 to RFK Saturday night even under the threat of rain. People who get soccer, "get it" people who don't get soccer need to be educated. You don't educate people by changing the rules or making soccer into something that it is not. You educate people by showing them what it is and why they should care. PS: DC Uniteds Under 17's were invited to and are currently in a knock out tourney in Spain and drew with Feyenoord and lost to Boca Juniors, on Monday they play Real Madrids U17s, if they win they countinue on. http://www.mundialitosub17.es/ I don't know anyone who would say that 1-1 result wasn't good for the United under 17's....even though it is a tie.
you're 100% correct Jade, i totally agree with you. but everyone like more goals that defense, for this reason ronaldo gain more than cannavarro or dida.
I want more goals too! I want to see more attacking like Chivas and DC United prior to their slump or Donovan when he cares. That should be the standard across the league but it should not come at expense of good solid defending. Bonuses for goals and all that may help but i really think if they made the play off spots more scarce you'd see more goals almost instanly. i am not convinced the club i support played so poorly because they screwed up as much as I want to believe that. i believe its just that at this stage they have enough points to make the playoffs and needed a break from going at full steam all season. So they can sleep a little. If there were less spots in the playoffs maybe they would have played more like it mattered. But yea. More goals. More argentinians too! hehe
A bad defense is better than a bad offense. I rather lose 4-3 than 1-0. I mean it's America. We like goals, we like to have a reason to get up and cheer for our team. Nobody likes a 0-0 game. That's not just in America. I'm sure Europeans although they can take a 0-0 tie. Would rather see there team beat the living crap out of the opponent 5-0. I think that goes for anyone who supports a club. Or anyone as a casual observer. Liverpool Vs AC Milan was a classic with all the goals. It wouldn't of been a better game at 1-0. Or 0-0 and then going to penalty kicks.
i agree ... i like games tha hav alot of scoring i would like to see the NYRB last night 6 goals ... when i first saw it i thought it was a typo ... I just wish the DC game was the other way around .
When the standard of play rises to the point that you can have both great defending and lots of goals then yes I am all for more goals. I don't think having more goals for the sake of it is the best thing for US Soccer. Getting more goals due to bad defending like last night does not do one thing to advance the game here and will bite us in the ass in the end. You have to see the bigger picture. MLS is not a league in isolation. Nor should it be.
And just what's wrong with somebody making a run towards the end? Some teams suck at the beginning, peak at the end. Others peak at the beginning, suck at the end. What's the difference? Everybody's got to play the games.
The problem is someone cruising along in last place, getting hot with about 2 months to go, making the playoffs as the 9th- or 10th-best team in the league, and then streaking to the MLS Cup. Now it's the fault of the format, not the teams. It just kind of makes winning the Supporter's Shield pointless to an extent. If you're going to have playoffs, you have to make them an exclusive club. There was no good reason I can think of for MLS to start with 80% of the teams making the playoffs. Why they didn't start with half that I'll never understand.
They had it coming in general. Only NY and the Crew had allowed more shots this year. They had the fewest shutouts in the league. And in that game, once Ellinger too Medhi off in the 20th they were doomed. They couldn't hold on to the ball and string together passes. This team could loose a lot of confidence fast. NOt just from this game but they face LA this wednesday. If LA plays RSL like they did league-best DC at RFK last night, we could see another 4-0 or 5-0 loss and an RSL feeling stung hard becasue they though they had turned the corner and didn't.
I hear ya, that must really suck. To lose to a 6th place team. At home. By three goals. After the 6th place team gave you an autogol. Its the kind of loss that sticks in the back of the mind of the losing team for a really long time.
i'm not trying to turn this into a circus. I just like attacking soccer. I can't even stand to watch teams like Italy that just behind the ball for 90 minutes and hope for one scoring chance to score the game winning goal. now, that's boring. And just because you play attacking soccer doesn't mean you can't compete internationally. What i'm trying to get at is i like teams that are willing to go for the win...not teams like NYRB when they were playing Barcelona and they were down a goal and only put one guy in the box on a corner.
I agree with you about not trying to change the game. But that doesn't mean to exclude attacking soccer. The things that should be avoided are things like the shootout. now that was just retarded.
I think expansion will help with this format. when they go to 18 teams and they only take 4 or 8 teams in the playoffs, teams will have to try harder.
What I think MLS has been trying to do the past few years is keeping a consistent playoff schedule. They are trying to set it up a la NFL so that playoff games will fall on the same weekend every year. When the league expands, a reliable playoff schedule will already be set, which I am guessing would save the teams a lot of hassle.