Play resumes July 8!!!! https://www.mlssoccer.com/mls-is-back-tournament Of course, (putting on my @markmcf8 hat) I expect us to get smoked since we've had less time to prepare than any other franchise, but I plan on watching every painful moment I can.
Of course I’ll watch, I’ll root for our guys, I’ll yell at the refs, and we’ll get crushed. Our owner doesn’t give a flip about our team. He has no intention of spending enough money to be competitive. He’s shit, and our team sucks canal water as a result. Why do I care when Fisher doesn’t? Must be an addiction. Go Quakes!! Go Quakesfans!! Fisher OUT!!!!!! - Mark
The draw for the "MLS is Back" tournament just happened. We got drawn in a group with Seattle, FC Dallas and Vancouver.
Figure we should start a thread about the tournament in general before it actually starts next month and actual pre/during/post-game threads for specific games start up. We are in Group B: Seattle FC Dallas Vancouver San Jose Top 2 teams guaranteed to knockout stage, 3rd place depending compared to other 3rd place teams. Every single game also counts towards regular season standings in terms of points and stats. Tournament winner gets entry to CONCACAF Champions League Request thread stickiness for a bit?
MLS is Back Tournament: What we know about player testing, groups, schedule https://www.espn.com/soccer/major-l...at-we-know-about-player-testinggroupsschedule Good read if you want to learn more about the tournament and whether Wondo can still do his pre-game water spitting ritual.
I think that we can take Vancouver, and maybe Dallass, on a good day. So there’s a narrow chance that we don’t get squished like bugs. And Shittle hate us, we get under their skin, with a good bounce we can beat them too. Nah, we’re going to lose all three games. Who am I kidding? GO Quakes!! Fisher OUT!! - Mark
I gotta be honest. I could almost not care less about MLS' return this year. A gimmick tournament thing to make up for all the games they couldn't play during the regular season just isn't interesting to me. Nobody is going to care about the results from this season given the circumstances, so it's really hard to put any effort into it. My only hope is that nobody playing gets hurt, and that it's over as quickly as possible. And I think this situation particularly hurts teams like the Quakes. Without the experience of actually going to the stadium to watch the team play, I think we're looking at a few teams that hit a rock bottom from which they may never recover. There's a faint smell of contraction in the air.
Like who? Most teams own/operate/control their own venues. Most owners have the resources to weather a year like this. In the long run, if fans don't return in the same numbers, there could be problems. But likely would be something we see happen over several years.
Anybody know how and how much $$$ it will be to be able to watch these games? I've done just a bit of searching, but y'know - job and all...
I think that Don Garber said (or at least implied) that every game in the tournament will be televised live with the league's current national broadcast partners, but I suppose we'll find out for sure sometime next week. GO SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES!!! -G
I agree with this. Florida cases are increasing, the highest they have every seen. Does not seem like a great place to play games IMO
Correct. I didn't mean to make it sound like contraction would begin in 2021. I just have a feeling teams like Colorado and the Quakes will never get their crowds back. It's not as if we were really seeing a sea change prior to this, and it may cement their permanent status as bottom of the table teams. I don't know that MLS is popular enough across the country to support the equivalent of the Cleveland Browns and Miami Dolphins. The TV revenue just isn't there and probably never will be. Sure, the owners can weather this storm fairly easily. I've long said that Fisher could operate the team pretty much indefinitely on no profits if he wanted to. But If the rest of the league is hurting as a result of this, we might see more pressure from the owners and that could result in either more investment into "struggling" teams, which I think is unlikely. And instead, I think we see buyouts of those owners and ceasing of operations for those teams. But again, I said a faint smell for a reason. Not that it's imminent or even that it will certainly happen. There's just a sense I'm getting that the league is about to face some serious economic challenges before too long.
As a die-hard Quakes fan since the 70's, I'm sad to say, I agree with you. We've become friends with some of the season ticket holders in our section and just last night we were saying that the only reason we are looking forward to this Florida tournament is because we can get together for a watch party (socially distanced, of course!). Tried to watch a Bundesliga game with no fans, I lasted 10 minutes. Unless there are live games at Earthquakes Stadium this season, not seeing myself caring much about MLS this year.
Oh, see, that's interesting. It isn't the lack of crowds or even not being able to go to the stadium that is an issue for me. I just think the idea of this season having any meaning to it given the situation teams and players were forced into is a bit of a joke. I want the players to get paid, of course, but the results of these games mean absolutely nothing. They won't be reflective of the team's true abilities. I also can't really imagine many, if any, players putting in their best performances. I think we're going to be looking at very tepid, out of shape, uncoordinated soccer. The product is going to look poor compared to your average MLS season. So you have games that have no real meaning, teams very likely not looking their best. That's a hard sell for me. I don't really care all that much for tournaments as a general rule, and a tournament to substitute for a regular season is about the worst substitute I could think of. You combine all that with how much of a jerk Fisher has been with both of his teams. I am very close to walking away from watching pro sports entirely.
I get that the games won't have any meaning, and that's depressing. But, adding insult to injury, half the teams will only play 3 to 5 games. That's just ridiculous. They ought to have arranged for every team to play at least ten games, or better yet more and the team with the best record is crowned the "champs." The "World Cup" style tournament is really about making sure that the "best" teams get a fair number of games and get some glory and the league is all about them, and the rest of the teams, and their fans, can suck it. So not just meaningless, but really freaking terrible too. Go Quakes!! F@#@$ MLS!! - Mark
+1 I'm in my middle 50s and have been on a slowly moving towards walking away from pro sports. Money is a big part of it. FIFA scandals, Quakes lackluster commitment after building a stadium, and Raider's moving...again...don't get me started on US Soocer and SUM. It's all about the dollars. Fan's. Hah...We will add betting to make it better for you. Wink..Wink..
I don't have such negativity towards the tournament. If you read the information, it is not a replacement of the season. The 3 group stage games will be counted in the regular season standing. After the tournament, there may be more on how the rest of the season may play out. It may work and it may not. I see it as a step to find out how we can safely reopen. Some may complain the tournament is too short to be meaningful from a result perspective. Some may say it is too long for the players and staff to be away from home. Some may say it won't be competitive. Some may say it may be too much to get the players injured without the required physical fitness. I don't know if all of us like outdoor dinning which is allowed in most of the Bay Area now. It works for some customers and some restaurants or certain cuisines. It may not work for everyone and every kind of food. But it is a step to reopen cautiously.
I love this from the group descriptions on MLSsucks.fu Love that toss off line at the end. "And the minnows of this group are the Quakes, who should be an easy three points for the rest of the teams. Wow! Bitchin'. Kind of feeds into my view that that the league doesn't give a squat about some teams. Of course, it's hard to blame them given that our owner doesn't care about us at all. Grrrrrrrr. Go Quakesfans!! FU MLS!! - Mark
Why the heck can't we get a 10 to 20 minute video of practice? Why does everything have to be a stylized video. I want to see them interact, take sone shots, have a duel.
Pre-COVID, I was under the impression that the Quakes would leverage their preseason training and conditioning to be able to play a physically-demanding Almeyda style. This would be the way to compensate for other factors they may lack compared to other teams. However, being the last to return to team training in addition to not playing for months (just like other teams), would seem to negate their "advantage" when it comes to the upcoming tournament. I don't know if any teams have a roster or tactics which would give them an advantage (physical, mental, skill, "game-changer" player or personality) in a tournament over other teams. I don't think the Quakes have it. I'm not saying they would be worse than other teams, I am just saying the "Cancun" advantage is now just a memory.