why did mls have some german teams come to crew stadium to play the crew when nobody cares?more mls vs mfl games! friendlies we actually care about! this are the things that piss me off about the people running mls. Instead of having mls play mfl teams that will draw in the hispanic crowd and they can get to know mls teams better you pay to have some german team come play a friendly that nobody cares about. mls needs to play better quality competition and more games since the mls season is not long enough so have mls teams play mfl teams more often. The FC cup is not enough. This will help mls teams get better by playing mfl teams and american coaches can learn a lot from their mexican counterparts. Now that the mls is getting coverage in radio unica lots of hispanics are learning about mls and the kc vs morelia game got some good minutes in their radio show so DO THIS MORE OFTEN! more mls vs mfl games! friendlies we actually care about!
a few months ago they had a 4 team tournament in mexico between 2 mexican teams and 2 argentinian teams. Mls should do something to be included or organize their own tournament. everytime mls teams play mfl teams it gets them some exposure, tv, radio etc. this are ideas that can help mls, i will have to email the mls guys hopefully they read it (they wont)
A lot of fans want to see all sorts of teams come in for friendlies - German, English, Colombian, etc. - not just Mexican. MLS coaches and players can learn a lot from good teams from anywhere. As far as bringing in some new fans who may be impressed by what they see and want to come back for more, I agree that more games against Mexican teams may help. But that's also true for various immigrant groups in various MLS markets - Central Americans (Salvadorans, Guatemalans, Hondurans) in a lot of places, Brazilians and Portuguese in Mass and NY-NJ, Poles in Chicago, etc. IIRC, Concacaf made some noise about making next year's CC a league-format competition with 16 teams (four each from MLS and Mexico). Anyone else recall if they saw something about that or seen any updates? If that happens and MLS at least wins at home against Mexican clubs and can advance to the elimination rounds, that'll go a long way to what you want to see. MLS may also be pondering the possibility of taking breaks in the league schedule during next year's Gold Cup and/or Confederations Cup. If so, those would be good oppotunities for MLS clubs to host "quadrangulares" with Mexican and other clubs. Unfortunately, it's hard to convince people who grew up following a club that they can still follow with minimal effort now to start following a local club. If you grew up following the Galaxy or Fire and later moved to Guadalajara would you spend much effort following Chivas, Atlas, or Tecos? Some of us would - I think I would, but I would still root for my original team whenever they played my new local team. And if I could catch MLS games on tv and follow MLS easily for free on the radio or internet, I'm not so sure. It would just depend on time and disposable income, which I think is also part of the calculation for many immigrant families in this country.
careful what you ask for On the other hand, some tournament being played in the SF Bay Area next week has lost one of its invited South American teams, and invited the 2001 MLS Champion Earthquakes in to substitute, to play the 2001 MFL Champion Americas. Great, huh? Well, no. The game is scheduled for next Wednesday, 9/18. That's in between our away-and-home series against LA for the Division title, the Supporter's Shield, and the number 1 playoff seed. We Earthquakes fans are Very Concerned about the "business needs of the Club" (our GM's stated justification for the decision to accept the invite, at a Q&A event last Sunday) sabotaging the play of the club on the field in the games that matter. I love the idea of MLS Champions playing MFL Champions, but the match should have been arranged at some *slightly* less critical time, tyvm. DougO
DougO, IIRC, that’s a one-off friendly against America at 3COM Park, yes? Have you heard whether SJ intends to play its starters? Most fans will probably come to see America, so I doubt anyone would care much if SJ sent a second-string team to pick up its check. The only drawback would be if America blows out the SJ back-ups. That wouldn't help in trying to convince some of those folks to try out the Quakes at Spartan. Playing well against America would be a huge benefit to the Quakes’ street cred in that market, but the timing of this game may just not allow it. Ironic, eh? Mike, personally, I’d rather watch an MLS team play a Bundesliga team too, but who do you think would draw a bigger crowd in most MLS stadiums - 1860 Munich or Chivas? I’m not sure Atlas could outdraw anyone. I think there are only two scenarios in which a Euro team playing an MLS team would outdraw Chivas, America, or Cruz Azul (or maybe even Toluca or Morelia) playing that MLS team: 1. It’s a really big-name, like Real Madrid, Man Utd, Barca, Liverpool, Arsenal, Juve, Inter Milan, AC Milan, or Bayern. And maybe, if heavily promoted, also Rangers, Celtic, Ajax, Roma, Lazio, Newcastle, Leeds? Anyone else who could outdraw Chivas or America? or 2. It’s also got a local immigrant draw in a specific market, like Sporting or Benfica in New England or NY/NJ. Same logic may apply to a few - very few - non-Euro, but also non-Mexican teams, like Atletico Mineiro or Cruzeiro in New England. Otherwise, if your goals include getting as many people as possible into the stadium, you’re better off with the big Mexican clubs. In any event, you’re also more likely to afford Mexican clubs' rates for a friendly than whatever Real Madrid or Man Utd charges. You can fill Giants Stadium for Real v. Roma, but Metros v. Perugia is a different world. If MLS really does set up some tourneys next year, it would be great to see a Bundesliga or EPL team, but unless they get one of the mega-clubs, they’ll also need to bring in one of the big Mexican clubs to ensure good attendance. If MLS could set up cuadrangulares like Galaxy/ Chivas/ Comunicaciones/ anyone, Quakes/ America/ Alianza/ anyone, or Revs/ Atletico Mineiro/ Benfica/ anyone - then we’re probably looking at some hugely successful events.
The US and Mexico are the biggest soccer powers--by far--for thousands of miles, so we ought to develop the rivalry at the club level as well as the national level. Why not institute a home-and-home, all ten MLS clubs v. top ten MFL clubs series? Give it a name like the Rio Grande Cup (or Copo de Rio Bravo) and donate half the proceeds to charity.
"If MLS really does set up some tourneys next year, it would be great to see a Bundesliga or EPL team, but unless they get" mls is trying to get hispanics to watch the league so why do they keep bringing euro teams to play mls sides? if you are going to bring a euro team bring in big name euro teams so that not only will americans go but hispanics as well and they might like what they see in the mls team.
If MLS is going to bring in foreign teams for some well-planned and organized tournaments, they can do both. In a one week, four-team tournament, for example, they can have both a big Mexican club and a Euro team that'll add some interest for a lot of fans who follow Euro soccer more closely. But if MLS is going to bring in just one team for a one-off friendly at some random time, then, yes, it should be either a big Euro mega-club or a popular Mexican club.
Bring ‘em on: "Europe, South America Soccer Teams Seek Place in U.S." http://quote.bloomberg.com/fgcgi.cg...s_storypage99.ht&ad=uktop&s=APX_PYhVFRXVyb3Bl
Nyuk nyuk nyuk. But seriously, I don't know enough about the borderlands region to suggest anything specific, but I imagine there must be some sort of worthy cause. Maybe providing clean water to residents of the manufacturing shanytowns that have popped up on the Mexico side of the border. (What are they called? Maquiadoras?)
Maquiladoras are the facilities operated on the Mexican side. Colonias are shantytowns that have actually popped up on the US side. They exist all across the border, but the Texas state gov't estimates that there are over 400,000 people living in colonias in Texas alone. And yeah, they're desperately short of clean water, electricity, pavement, sanitary housing, medical care, etc. An annual Community Shield sort of thing between MLS and Mexican clubs in Houston or Dallas - or El Paso, if you really want to draw some attention to the colonias - would be a very good thing in many ways.