Regardless of who these two mls teams are they should get every mls fan's support. We have a pretty good league with teams that can challege anyother teams from our region. The oonly ones that mihght give us a hard time might be the mex teams but if we can get through them then I dont see why we cant rep. our region in the club championship.
absolutely 99! i don't think anyone is arguing that. If NE beats DC tomorrow, I will still be rooting like hell for them to do well in the CCC. we're just arguing how best the teams should be determined. I just find it very ironic that so many people here go bonkers about going single table to determine the "real" champion, blah blah blah blah blah, but then some of those same people would shut out the team that would have been that champion this very year. we all seem to believe that not enough respect is given the team with the best record in the league ......... well folks, its the Columbus Crew. here's everyones chance to feel sorry for them not getting a reward, and it seems that quite the opposite is happening. but again, you are right. in the end, i would hope that we would all root like hell for whoever our representatives are.
Nobody is talking about not supporting teams. I think they are basically disregarding the entire season yet again....and that sucks...
Oh EFF that. Hey, I just want the Shield winner to actually get something, and this was (for all its flaws) a nice prize for winning the regular season. MLS always seemed to reward regular season placing over playoff placing when it came to competition matters. If that is changing, then that sucks. But god help you if you think Chicago fans will support anyone but Chicago in CONCACAF play. I hope everyone else gets stomped, myself.
Well, in theory anyway. Hey, they didn't finish last. Actually the two CCC entrants will both be champions, conference champions, so they'll have won something. No I don't buy that either but it is true. You could argue MLS does that already, so why not go the whole way with it.
come on fellas, the supporters shield is nice and (even the crew f'd it up this year) its cool how its past between the supporters of the teams, etc...but its the regular season, it doesn't mean anything...we aren't the NFL, NBA, MLB or whatever, but this IS america and we HAVE playoffs to determine the champion, so yes, the MLS CUP Champion deserves one of the spots and the other should go to our other DOMESTIC CHAMPION which would be the US OPEN CUP CHAMPION...think about it...
Placement in the tournament should be a reward for the previous season’s accomplishments. The two teams that had the best seasons should go. Take the MLS Cup champ and USOC champ or SS winner, I don't really care. But to send the two MLS Cup finalists is stupid. All that does is guarantee that one team from the east and one team from the west gets in.
"Always" isn't right -- at least not as far as Champions Cup places go. DC & LA were in it in '97, not Tampa (best record). DC & Colorado were in it in '98. DC & Chicago were in it in '99, not LA (best record). DC & LA again in 2000. So, before 2001, when the event wasn't held, and 2002 & 2003, when MLS participation was expanded, the participants had nothing to do with regular season. It was East Champs & West Champs -- MLS Cup Finalists.
I think that's plenty (in a field of 8 teams) Should the MLS teams once again fail miserably next year (as they have since 2000), one has to question whether two direct spots are justified. Costa Rica for example has a very good argument for a fix spot... Yeah, yeah I know - the preseason form. MLS teams are just going to have to deal with that disadvantage. Most of CONCACAF has a different schedule and the current window is the best time to hold the competition.
Having the best record in the regular season DOES NOT make you a champion, I don't care how good your regular season record is!! If you can't step it up in the playoffs, then your team wasn't all that great to begin with! I'm glad to see that Columbus "overrated" Crew aren't in the CCC this year. Here's how it needs to be done: The two teams that go to the CCC are the MLS cup champion and the US Open Cup champion. If the MLS Cup champion happens to ALSO be the US Open Cup Champion, than it should be the MLS champion and the winner of the Supporter's Shield. If the MLS Cup champion, US Open Cup champion, AND the winner of the Supporter's shield are all the same team, then the MLS champion and the 1st runner-up in MLS cup should be going to CCC. That's the best way it should be done. Hell even if an MLS team wins the USOC but does terrible in the playoffs, at least that team won this country's second biggest footballl competition. THAT deserves an award.
My preference is for the Sheild Winner to go to the CCC, but it doesn't bother me that much they've gone back to an earlier precedent (although I'd piss mucho pissed were I a Crew fan). What sucks about this is MLS' revisionist history, considering that here: http://www.mlsnet.com/content/04/datastore/chi0114ccc.html they mention that the Fire qualified for the 2004 CCC by winning the Shield. Just say that you guys changed your mind, again, OK? Don't make it look like your hiding your rationale for the change by denying there is a change in the first place!
Yeah, that's very weird. I think many of us Fire supporters were under the impression that our CCC place last year was due to the Shield. I think inconsistencies like this erode the perception of the League's seriousness.
What the headline should have said was: "MLS Declares Regular Season Superflous." "MLS headquarters today has announced that henceforth the regular MLS season shall have no importance. In line with this new policy, the winners of the Supporter's Shield (the team garnering the best record during the regular season) will no longer be rewarded. The spot previously awarded to the Supporter's Shield winner in the CONCACAF Champions Cup will instead be given to the loser of the MLS Cup match. "A league spokesman said, 'It's quite clear that the regular season has no importance. Virtually every team in the league gets into the playoffs, making the regular season merely a series of exhibition games. We have merely decided to formalize that reality by eliminating the sole tangible incentive for teams to attempt to excel during the regular season.' "
Isn't the sole tangible incentive for teams to attempt to excel during the regular season trying to qualify for the playoffs??? oh ya, it is, its not trying to win the supporters shield, its get into the playoffs... ::Warning:: example using other sports: i don't think it'll happen but what if a NFL team goes 16-0 undefeated in the regular season then loses their first playoff game and are eliminated, will their fans and fans around the league be whining and saying they are "Champions" cuz they had the best record during the regular season... its the REGULAR season, just regular, meaning no CHAMPION... and at least KC is in the Cup now and they get their CCC spot cuz they deserved it for winning the USOC....
I suppose that would by a reasonable arguement....if it wasn't for the fact that it IS harder NOT to make the playoffs than to make them...
I'm trying not to sound like a rose-colored glasses United fan, but what benefit does the league get from fixing it so Freddy can play in a tournament that doesn't have any television revenue and non-existant attendance? I can certainly see why the theory is there, but this is a tournament where teams openly say there is no financial benefit to participating. Maybe SUM has something up their sleeve, but the past doesn't indicate any windfall from this event. I think the Crew got screwed, but I don't think the Freddy thing had that much to do with it because the dollars simply aren't there to be had.
If they qualify and if they win. I can see that, but that's a HUGE leap for the league to make. I had forgotten about that. Moronic.