Should the OT stand or should it go the way of the shoot-out? http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/Base/3833/mls/Week29OTAffect.gif A look at the standings shows that DC United is most negatively affected by the OT and the Metros most positively affected. Is this the affect of having a depleted team? United would certainly say yes. With a team that plays close so often they are being killed by the extra time. If this extra time was a 90 minute game it would be equivalent to DC giving up 3-4 goals and getting none of their own. SJ, DC, and Dallas have not won an OT game; however, SJ has lost one either.
I have a feeling that the OT will not last more then another two or three years. However, I have no real passionate feelings either way. If it goes, that's cool. If it stays, I"m fine with that also. As a United fan, it would have been nice to have no OT yesterday. However, I think any of those people who tuned in for the Ironman show at 6 pm EST saw a pretty exciting end to regulation and OT. Basically, until I see one solid argument against it, I see no reason to ditch it.
Personally, I enjoy OT. One thing they should do however is have both teams play the entire ten minutes and not have the play stop to switch sides. I think that in a way the "switching sides" affects the flow of the game. Have the team who wins the toss have a choice of which side to play,or the ball.
> One thing they should do however is have both > teams play the entire ten minutes and not have > the play stop to switch sides. Can't do that. FIFA rules clearly state that any overtime play has to be split into equal periods with play going different directions. And MLS has always followed FIFA rules.
LOL! Why not just make it a poll so we don't have to waste time talking about it. I don't like OT, but it's at it's most harmless right now. If you aren't DC, that is.
personally, world soccer rules suck. the play doesn't, but the rules do. bring back the shootout and the clock counting down. those were the good ole' days.
It's not the EPL Get rid of the overtime, go to one table, have no playoffs, play from fall to spring, promote and relegate. . . Look, jackasses, MLS IS NOT THE EPL!! Certainly not the level of play, but in time MLS will be better (which isn't saying much) But now, and forever MLS is the American version of a soccer premier division. Overtime, multiple divisions, playoffs, no promotion/relegation, spring to fall season, these are the things that make sense, here in the US. They make no sense in Bugger on the Thames, UK, but they work just fine in the ol US of A. So get over it. Overtime is something we Americans expect. Even if it results in a tie, at least there was an effort to find a winner and a loser. Now that may seem unsporting to the bad teeth crowd, but they used to think punking Irish boys was a jolly good thing to do.
Re: Re: ^ ??? You're right, yesterday the whole match was ugly. You're just confused because it was also exciting, near the end. I mean, I was a basically neutral observer, so it may not have been quite as enthralling for me, but it was certainly never good-looking soccer. And I thought the Petke goal was a great climax (like Rob Stone, etc), and then realized I had to deal with 10 more minutes. Boo. Hey, but while we're at it, let's put commercial breaks in the match, too! All that constant action, it's just un-Amrican. Call Tailgunner Joe! Star$ and $tripes forever!
People saying we need to keep OT remind me of back when people were saying we need to keep the shootout...idiots... somehow i was labled a eurosnob a while back cuz i said that i'de rather have a single table... but people here know nothing of me or my soccer watching past which is first time i ever watched the game, 94 world cup, followed MLS since i heard there was going to be a MLS, watched MLS since game 1, ordered ESPN2 in 96 (when it wasn't just a normal channel) just so i could watch MLS all season...I've never followed any other leagues, I watch the EPL just cuz I'll fallen in love with the sport and its of great quality... the only thing that i didn't like about MLS when it started rules/regulations wise was the shootout, i was like what the hell is this, i thought soccer went 90 and was done...i hated the shootout, i hate OT, I don't understand having 2 divisions then all of a sudden 3 divisions then back to 2 when the most teams we've had is 12 and now 10... Soccer is played all over the world, it goes 90 minutes...thats what i'm saying on that... and my reason for liking single table is cuz everyone plays everyone else the same amount of times, fair and i just like how thats done, plus we have a real Regular Season Champion (supports shield) cuz its FAIR...plus it also means that the TOP EIGHT teams regardless of what city you play in or where your located in the US make the playoffs...
Saves me the trouble of having to hand out labels that have already been handed out. Soccer is the world's sport. But MLS belongs to us. Eurosnobs should take my advice and avoid binding themselves to meaningless abstractions just because they are "worldly."
I'm not joking. MLS has always followed the FIFA rules. In fact, they asked to do some things outside the rules (like a 35-yard offside line and bigger goals) but were turned down. They even had to erase the large "MLS" grass art at the center of the field for the first game at Spartan, as it is prohibited. There are no rules prohibiting after-game actions to determine point standings. There are no rules prohibiting making the official's clock public.
Re: Re: Re: ^ ??? Why not stop the action at 70 minutes and have some tenor come out and sing "God Bless America" to show how American soccer is?
Re: Re: Re: Re: ^ ??? Interesting, interesting. I was thinking halftime, but if you're all for it, we can stop play. See, this is good. This is very good. I'm glad all of you are starting to come around. It took a while, but better late than never, I always say.
FIFA did not allow MLS to have its logo displayed at the center of the field? So right now, it would be 'against the rules' if MLS put the MLS logo on the center of the field? The other day at Giants stadium the match on FSW (the game before USOC final) the NFL logo was on the field plainly visible. Just how idiotic is FIFA? if they do not allow a league to display its logo?
Yep, the logo thing is against the rules. The only place you can advertise in any way on the field of play is on the players themselves. Can you imagine what it would look like if they allowed adverts on the field? You'd have game's played on giant billboards, basically. Ugh! I thought we started off with a 45-min, counting-down-to-the-buzzer, official game-clock? I don't think that complies with FIFA regs. But yeah, we haven't done so badly. I guess shootout was better than penalty kicks for an often-used situation. But having it decide games was annoying. I also remember the Fire were pretty bad at it--I think I liked that about the team, though...kinda like SJ not winning or losing in OT this year. If you want American soccer, go watch indoor--they even have three-point goals! Yay! Seriously, apart from my personal preferences, I think that MLS has to really win over the soccer audience in this country rather than try to convert fans from other sports. There are lots of people in this country who watch soccer, but not MLS, because they still don't think it's worth watching. I think most of them were turned off by shoutouts and all the rest of the early stuff and never gave it a second chance. If the soccer people don't want to watch it, how can we get anybody else to? I don't think overtime is going to win us that many fans, but it does put some people off. But maybe I've got the wrong impression. (Hence why I'd like to see a poll.)
I work with many many MFL fans and i asked around today (cuz i already know they don't follow MLS, asked before...but i've become friends with a few of these guys so they "let" me talk MLS) why they didn't follow MLS... Most common answer was they have different rules, NFL markings everywhere and the officiating... i then was asking about divisions, quality of play, uniforms, team names, etc... and they were fine with all of that, even saying quality of play is watchable and they would watch many games except for rules and NFL markings, they say its not really "presentable" <--my word... said some team names were stupid, crew and burn... they did like how sponsors aren't all over and on the front of the jerseys, but they also don't like the team "nicknames" were on the front, they said city would be cool for all of them or just stay plain, or with DC keep the 3 stripes... {I actually really like that idea of putting the city names across the front, all i ever do is watch sports everyday either by myself or with a lot of friends cuz thats what they do also and while watching the world series we all agreed that the Florida Marlins black jersey would be a lot cooler if it said Florida instead of Marlins...back to my point i do think it would look cool, and its kinda classy, just to have the city on the front, instead of city and nickname or just nickname... an example of each team's Home Kits... DC United - Same as always (man i love DC's Kits) Chicago - Same as now except Chicago in Red across the middle instead of the blue Fire... Los Angeles - Same except Los Angeles in Green across the middle (and move the badge to left or right chest) Kansas City - Keep the Same San Jose - Just San Jose across the chest in Silver or White Columbus - Go back to all yellow nothing across the chest or have Columbus in black... Dallas - Dallas in Black Colorado - Colorado in White or maybe even Green? New England - New England in White or Red MetroStars - Same as now, no city or nickname, just the MetroStars, i kinda like how they did that (should have been like that since the beginning...) but I think this should be the only time like that, kinda their thing and original...
OT is great and should spread to other leagues. No, MISL is a one point per goal league. Presumably because of change adverse, shortsighted, math-deficient whiners like yourself; MISL re-adopted the scoring system of its' origin. As a sidenote, the powers that be also decided that basketball was a better game without the 3 and secretly condemned it as well. Forgotten was the reason they added the 3 originally. Indoor had become a hackfest with teams becoming expert in camping down low, blocking shots, and fouling on the break and up top. Read: comparitively uninteresting defensive games. Not coincidently exactly why basketball adopted the 3 so long ago. The only thing annoying about the shootout was the total awarding of a singular point to both teams combined. Rediculous. That said, OT is still better and should stay. OT isn't perfect. I'm not certain any method of decision beyond :90 is perfect, including allowing ties to stand. I'm all for anything that gives fans 10 more minutes of soccer at the very real excitement level of sudden death. Even a poor game is redeemed momentarilly by the immediate prospect of a game winner. To that there is no reasonable counter argument. Justice you might say? In soccer? Please. Even if only one 0-0 scorline each season is forever changed to 1-0 by MLS' OT then that is more than enough reason for OT to keep its' glorious place in MLS.