MLS Preseaon Guide

Good stuff.

Thanks for the links.

 

How is it possible to get excited about the worst MLS season ever?

Two positives--Victoria Street and season ticket sales.

Otherwise? On the field, it's gonna be abysmal.

--Three teams playing on turf, one in a 7500 (!) seat stadium that's now refusing to add more.

--One of the league's top scorers in Graziani simply dumped.

--No Peter Nowak.

--Mathis hurting, again.

--Season broken up by Gold Cup (now moved in part to Mexico City) and Confed. Cup.

--No World Cup spots to be fought over, zero national team excitement.

--Revs bow out of the CCC for free food and hotel. Kraft, who made bundles more than he thought he would in the Final because of his team, can't reward same team by opening the Razor for one ***************ing night. Weather my ass.

--Late or non-existent key signings handicap Metros and Dallas.

I've seen every season and watched every game I could from SJ-DC till now, but to even a non-passionate fan, this season looks like a stinker. To people who love the game, I'm afraid it's destined to be disappointing.

I'd love someone to help me convince myself that I'm wrong and give me many more on-field positives. But I can't think of any.

 

1. If you only find two positives out of the entire offseason there isn't much help.

2. Turf does suck. I agree.
Solution for Dallas: less TV games to punish Southlake for lack of seating

3. There will be plenty more to replace Graziani.

4. Don't tell me Peter Nowak is/was all that MLS is.

5. Mathis will be fine. He is only hurting now.

6. There is life beyond the Gold Cup. Perhaps new players will emerge with the amount of time that Nats will be gone.

7. No national team excitement? Please. How can a Confed. Cup group with Brazil, Turkey, and Cameroon not be exciting (regardless of TV coverage)?

8. I'll agree with you on the Revs situation.

9. The "non-existant" signings with Dallas and the Mets do not bother me. I think both sides will be fully capable of doing quite well in the league.

 

Autogolazo,

You're a glass-is-half-empty kinda person, aren't you?

 

I think that this is going to be a pretty strong season in my eyes. I think that all teams have promise except for the Earthquakes ( but hopefully they will ). With recent trades and additions to rosters, there will be an interesting mix put out on the field. Hopefully if attendance can increase over last years mark that would be a plus as well. Although I do agree that the Galaxy, stadium and team wise will be fantastic and yes the turf will suck.

 

This is the 8th season.

Hope springs eternal.

 

Hate to go all Polyanna on you, but cheer up.

As a Fire fan, there is a bunch to lament this season. But things are also looking up. Nowak gets to retire in Red; Armas is back; the best defender in the league is on our team; Beasley gets to be a leader; we might get back into Soldier Field --and back on grass--this year. And Dallas, whom we love to hate, has to play at a high school. That almost makes up for the horrid covetous feeling we'll all have for the new LA digs.

As an MLS fan, with McBride, Donovan, Pope, Mastroeni, etc. in the league there's a lot of reasons to attend a lot of games. Also, the East is going to be much stronger this year. The newly revamped playoffs are going to be awesome. Every team is in the Open Cup, that new ball is going to look sweet, and the new uniforms are great improvements.

As a US soccer fan, Victoria Street is gonna be so cool, it'll make up for all the NASL games played on astro-turf! And that Confed Cup in France is going to be awesome. And we'll win the Gold Cup again, even if they have to move it to Antarctica for security purposes.

 

This season will be as good as any, if not better. Besides for one last hurrah for the debacle which is Naperville, plus a brand new debacle in Dallas to look forward too. I am not to worried about Giants Stadium. What is important is that you have international dimensions and no football lines.

No Dallas signings? Hopefully Tyson Nunex can remedy that.

 

I'm just excited the season is ready to start again and I will once again be a part of the action at Cardinal Stadium to watch the rebuilding of the Fire.

-Earnie Stewart
-The rest of New Look DC
-Rebuilding of Chicago
-Bradley's Metrostars
-Depot Center
-Mathis, Wolff, Armas are healthy

 

I think I just need the expansion cities announced and for WC qualifying to start. Context. The bigger picture. New stars bursting into the league. And I just don't see it. Are Gilles Grimandi and Earnie Stewart really the biggest new names that are going to grace these shores? That's nice, but this hardly seems the follow-up to a WC quarterfinal spot and a sold-out 62K MLS-cup type of year.

I'm not really "glass half empty", but I'm the type that roots for the whole league as much as any team, and it's the league that isn't thrilling me this year. At all.

If I were strictly a Galaxy fan, on the other hand, I would be very optimistic.

 

How about Brian McBride's triumphant return after conquering the EPL.

 

Freddy Adu's first official link with MLS on page six. Many more to come in the future, Im sure.

CONCACAF Champ Cup games are treated as "pre-season friendlies." I was under the assumptions that these were competitive game, guess I was wrong.

 

I love that fact that noone in their right mind can have any real idea of how the Eastern Conference will end up, especially now that Saverese may be Metro's big foreign signing. Columbus is probably still the strongest on paper, but if last year was any indication, not on grass. Or FieldTurf. And New England demonstrated the effectiveness of the late-season run, which I'm sorta counting on for the Fire.

Later,
COZ

 

Frankie Hejduk will be bigger than Gilles and Earie combined.

 

Has Hedjuk been officially announced as a signing by MLS? He is not listed on their roster. What is the holdup?

 

Frankie Hejduk stinks. He will not be starting for the Crew by mid-season. Earnie and Gilles are far superior.

 

On the upside, according to the MLS pre-season guide, Colorado keeper Scott Vallow will be born in three months. Hopefully, in order to draw fans, he will be born on the field.

 

The guide says that Peter Vagenas plays "geometrically." WTF does that mean? Or did they really mean "stature"?

Later,
COZ

 

Who would you rather have in MLS, Landon Donovan or Paul Gascoigne?

 

I can't wait to see Frankie again. I've missed him.

We can gripe about the particulars (and there's plenty to gripe about), but the big picture is that we have a local outlet to watch US players....quality keeps getting better...and slowly (very slowly) the stadium situation is getting resolved.

In many ways, my support for MLS is not about me - my job is to keep buying tickets, watching games, and nudging the league in the right direction. Given enough time, maybe my kids will be able to focus all of their attention on the game and not the survival of the league.

Personally, I think our chances get better as each year goes by. We just need to catch a break and get on the right side of the Tipping Point.

 

This has been the most active and exciting offseason in league history, some good and some bad. The buzz created around the draft was immense. The league has had more press coverage than ever before since the end of last season. The teams have changed and look to all be competitive. All these things will contribute to making this MLS season fantastic, despite what perceived negatives there are. None of this speculation will matter when the ball rolls out April 5 in C-Bus, and the long and twisty soap opera that is the MLS gets it on! Enjoy it, and support it!

 

This is the best MLS season ever ....

for press.

Its amazing how far MLS & soccer have come in terms of mainstream press acceptance.

I am hugely excited about players like Heyduk & Stewart coming back. Though I root for the Quakes, these two for Cannon, Barrett & Jordan (Jordan???) is a pretty fair trade.

Who's not excited about LD & McBride this year?

 

he uses a protractor and a compass on the field apparently. or maybe pythagorean theorem?