The Minnesota keeper just conned a Portland player into stretching for a ball and got knocked in the head. MLS and VAR today: yellow card. MLS and VAR a few weeks ago; red card Kevin Cabral. ********ing ridiculous.
I actually thought contact on both those plays were exaggerated by the Goalkeepers and no cards should have been given, maybe just a warning but I'm just a clueless fan with an opinion
I agree that the goalie was a con artist on both plays. I think yellow or nothing is the right call. But there was contact on both and we suffered a red card because allegedly there is “no discretion”. Then today it’s something else from the league. Just frustrating that we got hosed and then the same idea is not applied consistently.
This. As long as things are consistent, I'm fine. If any contact regardless of intent is a red, then so be it, even if I think that's a silly rule. But these kinds of things drive me crazy when they claim it's a rule but then it turns out it really isn't...
Quite the win for DC today. Could be a one-off for DC and there’s a long road ahead, but that’s the mix of determination and fortune you need sometimes to snap out of the malaise.
Where is our backend money for SL. https://www.bigdsoccer.com/2022/8/3...rade-sebastian-lletget-new-england-revolution
in other news LAFC keeps rolling on and Bale's goal was all talent, it looked like a FIFA 22 goal, run past everyone as everyone is slow to react or standing around dumbfounded
Watched the all-star game for bleeps and giggles. It was fun. One thing to note: Julian did NOT look good. I know it's an exhibition, but yurgh. On the heels of his bad back pass, he needs to leave the bad juju in Minnesota.
I watched the last 60 minutes and it was indeed more fun than I expected. Was nice to see some of MLS’s other stars playing. In the old days there were fewer teams and I watched a lot of games so I got to see all of the greats play - these days not so much. Really impressed with Nashville’s Hany Muhktar. He was exactly the kind of DP the Galaxy should have found by now. Lots of other players on the field last night that were better than anyone on the current Galaxy team. Shouldn’t be that way. But yes, a fun game. Wished it had been Dos y Cero though.
Muhktar is rapidly becoming my favorite player. If I could select any player to start my MLS team, it would be Hany... hands down!
Although I hate the League's Cup idea, I think this All-Star format is really fun. Especially like the "Skills challenge" leading up to it -- really cool stuff.
Agreed. Stopping the season for a month for a stupid money grab is really lame. I enjoy the one off all star game and skills challenge event in its current format.
watching the tail end of Nashville/Minnesota and Zubak gets into the match and it is noted that he is a LA Galaxy Homegrown, he makes a run with the ball has a teammate wide open all he has to do is center it over for the goal and he never picks his head up and the ball goes out at the end-line and all I can think is yep that is a LA Galaxy trained homegrown player.
Goats sign Cristian Tello from Betis. I enjoyed him at Barcelona, and was glad to see him succeed in Seville. Sucks that I’ll have to cheer against him.
You would think the goats don't need any more players but at the moment Austin is mopping the floor with them. At the 58 minute Austin is ahead 4-0. LOL Yeah, Vela, Bale, Arango, all there. Wolff and Co. put all this together from scratch in less than two years. Less than two years.
Competent management focused on the pitch is certainly preferable to a management team focused on the bottom line. That being said, it's also easier to build on a clean slate, with plenty of money, then a slag pit of bad contracts, a plethora of hiring compromises, and less money.
Portland comes back on Seattle to win 2-1 and that puts Galaxy, temporarily I hope, out of the playoffs. Yeah but the coach has alot of say on who it is that is being signed up and in our case, our coach is directly responsible of guys like Cabral and to a lesser extent perhaps also Costa. These are not existing contracts as say the one with Chicharito which is a hefty 6 million per year. But yeah I get it that Austin's FO seems much sharper and on the ball then our own and that does not help Galaxy. Now this idea that starting from scratch is somehow easier is something I have heard but never bought. If this was so then there would be more successful startups than not. And that is not the case when you look around the league in the last ten years or so. Teams like LAFC, Atlanta and now Austin are not the norm. I also think it is dismissive of the work that coaches like Tata Martino and Josh Wolff have done. Even Bradly, at least for that first year to be sure. These guys are not coming in with a few good apples and have to cut and replace a few guys. They have to populate the entire starting team and the bench also. Not to mention that in the organization, nobody has any history working with anybody else. To top it off you have to do it with alot more teams already in the league. I just don't buy that it's somehow easier. Starting from scratch carries it's own problems. Even in the money side of things. Galaxy is the second most expensive team in MLS with 20+ mil salary-wise. With Chicha as our top dog in the cost dept. at 6 mil. Austin is thirteenth with 13+ mil and Driussi at about 2.3 million cost. we are spending much more with less effect on the pitch. I could go on but my point is nothing washes anything Vanney and FO have done in comparison with other teams and other coaches. Not at the corporate level nor on the field product.
Your statement that teams like LAFC, Austin and Atlanta are not the norm is debatable at best and leaning to be wrong. Of the top 5 teams in the Western conference, 4 are new teams. Only Dallas is an old team. In the East, 3 of the top 6 and 4 of the top 8 are new. In fact only first year Charlotte is the only ."new" team not in the running to make the playoffs. Meanwhile the bottom of the standings are filled with original or old expansion teams. I am fairly sure you're money argument is wrong. The league provides each team with the same money for the basic player pool, and under the current CBA, all TAM funds. The only difference is the amounts the teams can spend on their DPs, the acquistion costs of their U22s and what the pay for plyers who are not on the Senior roster includding homegrowns. What is completely glossed over is the amount of GAM funds each team gets and how long they have to spend those funds. In particular as the expansion draft was diminished for the latest expansion teams , these teams were granted unspecified and increasing amounts of GAM to build their rosters. Meanwhile, the restrictions on the amount of GAM that teams could get for selling players changed and I believe that the restrictions on the use of those funds lessened.
Well, I was talking more of new teams that perform at a high level from the get go. Not also-rans that make the playoffs. Half the teams in each conference make the playoffs. Hell, as bad as we have played, Galaxy may make the playoffs. Making the playoffs is no kind of accomplishment. For some teams it's the time to win prizes and for others to be cannon fodder and have a last chance. I was talking about Austin and how well it has been put together and coached by Wolff and staff in comparison to our very own Vanney. Take Cherundolo, that guy was messing around with La Vegas Lights this time last year. You see where I'm going with this? I am talking about the wherewithal to take a team and make it shine no matter new or old, little money or a ton of money. There are guys that can do that and guys that play around at it. Vanney seems the latter. The TAM, GAM, DP monies are neither here nor there for me tho my numbers are correct. The proof is in results on the pitch and on the scoreboard.
This is not Europe. What counts is making the playoffs and winning the MLS cup. Finishing first in the conference or supports shield race means nada (just ask Bruce Arena or any of the last several supports shield winning coaches). Before slamming the also rans, you might consider that the 2 teams in the MLS Cup for 2021 were both 4th place finishers in their respective conferences. In 2020 they were the 3rd and 2nd place finishers, ditto 2019 where they were in 4th and 2nd place respectively, and 2018 where they were 2nd and 5th. Or look back at 2012, when the 4th place Galaxy beat the 5th place Dynamo for the cup. As for TAM, GAM and DP monies and your claim that your numbers are correct, well that's more or less true if you are looking at the numbers that the MLS Players Association publishes twice a year. However, to the best of my knowledge, those numbers don't include any acquisition costs (e.g., transfer fees) and which are not always reported publicly. However, these costs are included in the MLS team salary budget and must be paid out of either the base salary budget, GAM, TAM or club revenues for U22 and DPs. Thus, a player, might be available to new clubs with large reserves of GAM but unavailable to older clubs with minimal amounts of GAM. This creates inequities in roster composition that older clubs must deal with (assuming they are equally as competent which is not a given). My theory is that as these GAM reserves are used up, clubs will return to the mean (possibly explaining Atlanta's fall from grace) unless they can replenish them by player sales (which LAFC seems to be good at).
There used to be a member who really knew the ins and outs of the MLS roster rules and the intricacies of how to get close to the MLS salary cap numbers, but I haven't seen a post from him in years. I'd love to get his take on this issue.