I just finished watching the AC Milan - Inter Milan, and frankly, it was a pretty dreadful match. Did anyone else see it and think to themselves "hell, LA - Revs was a better match with higher quality soccer (at least the second half)"? or am I just looney? or both? G.
That's a tough one, but I'd go with the Crew-Quake match. The CL match is awsome- no doubt, but I just have more personal interest in the MLS match up. Don't get me wrong, I would love to see AC Milan and Inter Milan play, it's just that MLS wins by a hair.
You're just looney. I love MLS, but the intensity, atmosphere and quality of Inter Milan - AC Milan was enough to make it far far more entertaining than any MLS match I've ever seen. And in terms of quality, shaky goalkeeping notwithstanding, those teams could've kept any MLS team from scoring for 500 minutes if they had to. And either team would've broken down the top MLS defenses before too long. Of course in one respect the comparison isn't fair to MLS. In no MLS match in history have the 2 teams played for a trophy with even a fraction of the prestige of the Champions League trophy. There will never be as much on the line in any MLS match as there was today in Milan.
But the game was played bad. I watched the first half lots of bad passing. At times it looked like a bad MLS game.
shoe's on the other foot! EXACTLY. Sure others can make fun of us, but it was sure nice to be in a bar filled with Europeans poking fun at how Emre, alone, unpressured, couldn't put his cross within 15 yards of the two forwards in the center of the box something like three times in a row. Frankly, the way these teams played, Dallas could keep them off the board for 500 minutes, too. It took 20 minutes before either team managed to string together 3 passes in the offensive half, even with minimal pressure. Atmosphere, maybe. I saw lots of photos of bored guys in suits. A lot of hype here, not much quality I think. Maybe I'm just pissed I wasted an hour of my time to watch hyped, bad football (no, I didn't bother to watch the hackfest continue.) G.
true quality of tactics and play might outweigh MLS but dammit 'catenaccio' is boring. I despite Italy for it.
An MLS team could beat Inter or Milan if either of those two played badly (as they did tonight). An MLS team would probably even beat Real Madrid if Real played badly. Shrewsbury Town (who finished 92nd and last in the entire football league) deservedly beat Everton in the FA Cup because Everton played badly. Chelsea then played average against them in the next round and won easily 4-0. I'm certain the gap between MLS and Europe's best is a heck of a lot narrower than the gap between Shrewsbury and the top end of the premier league, but unless you believe both Milan teams always play like that it isn't a very meaningful comparison.
Re: shoe's on the other foot! Forgive me for saying, but this has to be the least intelligent thread ever started since the creation of the earth. In a European semi-final between two teams that know each other as well as Inter and Milan. . . it was inevitable the game was going to be more a battle than a ballet. Do some research, read some match reports of the derbies this season between the two, for the love of God read anything at all. Yikes. . .
Re: shoe's on the other foot! So am I the only one who noticed any world class defending in the match? The first half was not exactly beautiful attacking soccer, but the second half, particularly the finish, was extremely exciting. I really question how anyone can be a soccer fan and think that this match was so horrible. Unless you just had absolutely no interest whatsoever in the outcome of the match, I don't understand the complaints.
Re: Re: shoe's on the other foot! He said he only watched the first half. I only watched the first half (the 2nd half is awaiting me on tape though I already know the final score). It was more or less a misery, though of course it was "high quality" misery. Recoba and Crespo were pitiful (they looked like they were playing with really bad hangovers). I did see some great defense. Cordoba, and then the centreback for Inter were fantastic, though ultimately they gave away the late 1st half goal. I always enjoy the CL. But the 1st half was a "high quality" snooze. (Wasn't the first leg attacked even by the Italian press for basically the same thing?)
woud have been a lot more exciting if AJAX instead of milan were playing today - stupid jon dahl tomasson!!
Maybe MLS isn't so far behind... lol whats up with you americans??? are you phucking serious or just THAT lame and stoopid??? my god... the things one encounters in these boards
Ok, let's use our imaginations Let's assume that the LAvNE game was sold out and the atmosphere for that game was ala MLS Cup. Now let's compare the two games, and i bet that people would view the MLS game in a different light. an excellent atmosphere makes poorly played games tolerable like the ACvInter game, transversly a crappy atmosphere makes the games look bad. Personally IMO i thought the LAvNE second half was a much better played game than ACvInter.
the game was ************ in many ways (zanetti, for one was terrible) neither team had ANY creativity in midfield. it was just boot the ball up to the forward for AC and run really fast up the wing and then either (a) cross (b) dive (c) scoot it into martins for Inter. i'd rather see brazilian/ecuadorean/colombian/argentine/mexican soccer than that crap. that being said (and i HATE defensive soccer) it was STILL way more exciting than a MLS game in which both teams have a 4/5 chance of making it to the playoffs. it was even fun watching inter screw up (inter fan.. i know. that makes NO sense for someone who hates catenaccio)
Re: Re: shoe's on the other foot! yes and no. there were one or two world class moves by defenders. but for the most part it was NO OFFENSE not GOOD DEFENSE. don't be confused by imitations. YOU DO UNDERSTAND THE COMPLAINTS... because MOST OF THESE PEOPLE HAD NO INTEREST WHATSOEVER IN THE OUTCOME OF THE MATCH. don't mean to be rude but you just answered your own question. there was NO flair in midfield. you would EXPECT just a little with players of that calibre, but italian soccer, and hector cuper especially has turned them into boring robots. like i said... it was all the same thing. no one-two passes no crazy dribbling, just haphazard bouncing the ball around. it was an MLS match with atmosphere.
*phew* For a second there I was so afraid more people were going to pick the Champions League fixture...
Nonsense. I've seen much better played matches in MLS than that stuff, barring the last 20 minutes because that's when I finally shut it off. I'm not saying an MLS team could actually beat either of these teams. Far from it. I agree with you it was boring as hell. Catenaccio is only exciting if you support the team playing it, and even then it can put you to sleep. No wonder people don't like watching soccer. It's easy to see some of the reason if they just happen to turn on the TV and see crap like this being played. It did look like an U-15 game, with better first touches and trapping.
It's all perception, people.... perception!. And remember: "Perception is in the mind of the beholder!"