Lionel Messi to MLS?.. The Saga Starts Part 1 [R]

And the average age of the big 4 (Messi, Suarez, Alba, Busquets) will be 37.25. No spring chickens there. 3 of 4 would still be top MLS players though.

 

Exactly and reading what Martino said, they seem to be on the way out.

 

Jordi Alba suggests a new MLS playoff format after being eliminated in the first round.

 

Welcome to the USA, Jordi Alba. Now that he's lost, he doesn't like the rules. Hint to Jordi - It's not about "fairness". It's about generating revenue. He's lucky that it's now a 3-game playoff and the higher seed gets 2 games at home. In the past it's been just home and home or single game in the 1st round. They had 3 chances to show that they're the better team than Atlanta and couldn't do it.

Anyway, Great Man Theory™ took a big hit last night. Remember, "the cream always rises to the top"? The great players always come thru in the big moments!! Messi, not just a great player, but possibly the greatest ever player, scored the 2nd goal but couldn't spur his team to a victory over the lowest seeded playoff team in the Eastern Conference. Womp womp.

 

Lionel Messi’s shock playoff defeat was great for drama but a problem for MLS

 

The Premier League leaned into its competitiveness to position itself as The Best League In The World, focusing on the product as a whole over a single player or team. MLS, however, has taken a different approach, intertwining itself with Messi and Inter Miami so tightly that Saturday’s shock result has to be viewed through a different prism.

Just as I mentioned the other day. MLS put all its marbles into the Messi bag, and now that Miami is out in the 1st round, their plan for a Messi MLS Cup championship is ruined and they have egg on their face. The Premier League did it a different way and that's what MLS needs to do. The whole leauge cannot be about one guy, one Great Man™. Besides even if the "Messi League Soccer" thing lasts for another year he may be gone after that and then what?

Meanwhile, there is sudden hand-wringing about the MLS Cup competition format.

 

Yeah, but, what's that NFL saying, "on any given three Sundays in a row"?

 

A playoff format should prove whichever team is better.

Just because you have a team of overaged superstars doesn’t mean they are an overall better team.

If Miami were the better team, they will have proven it after three games and not have lost their last two in a row.

 

Supporter's Shield is actually the closest thing we have to awarding the championship to the best team. So Alba is right that a top east - top west team playoff would actually make the most sense if we really want "the champion" to be the best team in the best way that we can measure it in practice. But that's not how we do it in the US. It's all about the benjamins, and also people like the excitement that you get from these many short playoff series. As I wrote before, "Welcome to America, Jordi Alba".

Miami won Supporter's Shield and set a record in points. They're going to have to live with that as their accomplishment for this year - and it's significant. But they failed in Leagues Cup, MLS Cup, CONCACAF, and USOC. Essentially they failed in all of the playoff format championships this year. Womp womp.

 

i just finished watching the MIA v ATL game. Guzan was amazing in this series. However, ATL's 3rd goal was a bad call by the referee. A player lies down in the penalty area in front of the goal for no apparent reason, and Lukas Szpala lets play continue?

It was a bit unfair. MIA dominated the last 30 mins of the game but couldn't score thanks to Guzan. But that 3rd ATL goal should not have counted. Kind of too bad, but also the fault of the playoff format. Too many games.

 

Miami had 3 chances against Atlanta and couldn't put them away. People complain about one and done series because they are too subject to crap shootiness, and now it's a 3-game series and people are saying it's too long? Not only that, Miami had the significant advantage of playing 2 of the 3 games at home. Bottom line is, Miami failed. They're going to have to live with it. As for Atlanta's 3rd goal, Miami's players need to know - you have to play thru the whistle. They were waddling around in their box with their hands up like spoiled children waiting for a whistle while the run was made and the goal was easily scored.

 

Ref made the right call. No indication of a head injury so let play go. If he gets in the way of a play, call indirect kick and then stop the game (or if it goes out).

 

Tata Martino out at Inter Miami... personal reasons

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Garber next?

 

The personal reasons being “someone else can f-ing deal with the expectation that we win every game and every tournament with this lousy superclub”.

 

Nah but he's coached around the world some of the best teams. He knows that short of winning championships he failed as a coach. It's the right move. Happens in any serious league around the world.
Thing is since MLS doesn't have relegation there's really not much pressure to win. Hell we're the champs of mediocrity that most definitely wouldn't fly in any other league. We'd be playing in 3rd/4th division by now anywhere else.
Also, he normally doesn't stay past 2-3 seasons anywhere he's coached.

 

I was being mostly facetious. It probably is for personal reasons, and I think he deserves the benefit of the doubt. I don't think he has anything to be ashamed of. Supporter's Shield and best ever MLS points. Messi missed a lot of games and I don't think their performance suffered much if at all (which makes me wonder about MVP). The reality is that these one and done or close to that kinds of tournaments are crap shoots, even for great teams, and you're gonna probably fail some of the time if not much of the time.

 

Didn't Miami win the Supporters Shield and set a record for points in the regular season?

Isn't that what coaches "around the world" consider success? Indeed, FIFA crowned Miami the champs for club world cup purposes, I believe.

This isn't a tacit admission of failure, it's a recognition that the aged-superstar thing is going to implode soon. In related news, the Jets fired Aaron Rodgers' GM today.

 

Sure but not in MLS, its MLS Cup or nothing.

Not sure about the second part of your post.

As long as Beckham is there it'll be a mixture of world stars (because of his connections, on the older side) mixed with academy and MLS journey men. Don't see the "aged superstar thing imploding" anytime soon.
If they could they'd be bringing in Neymar for next season.

 

If Tata or a close family member is not ill, i really can’t understand why he would leave Miami.

 

Sounds kind of fishy to me that Martino would leave.

Maybe he has other offers elsewhere in MLS or even abroad?

 

I dunno, my guess is that he or someone is ill.

 

He’s 62, looks more like 72, and could probably stand to lose 50 pounds or so. If he is taking time to look after his own health it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. Sigi left the Gals in 2018 and passed away in Dec of that year from heart failure. He was 65.