Soccer, sports and politics (R)

Nah, no hate. He's showed he gets results and is playing the NIL/transfer portal game to a tee. I need to see more Power 5 results before he's crowned as Saban II

 

I think right now, at least Manchester United should be interested.

— Rad_vann (@RadRickVann) September 22, 2023

 

You have been here too long not to know that BS posters and people in general were saying that 5-10 years ago. And well before that too.

 

And the quality today definitely exceeds the quality 5-10 years ago.

 

I know it is an anecdote, and not really applicable to overall standards, but RSL probably has only 2-3guys who would start over the players on the great team we had a decade ago.

 

Highlights on youtube.



France wearing red, which is unusual.

 

Is there any real evidence of that?

But anyway, the discussion was more about good players choosing MLS over a top UEFA league during the best years of their career than about overall league quality (which is really difficult to prove one way or the other).

 

Payrolls, national team players (not just Caribbean nations), the eye-test, etc. Having this conversation with someone who doesn't watch MLS is pointless. You simply don't know what you are talking about.

 

Improving the quality on the pitch is something of a band-aid on a bullet wound anyhow, as long as you have playoffs. I keep reading the complaints about who hasn't won the league in this amount of time, and I keep thinking, "Geez, IF that's such an issue, then everybody else step it up and look for an owner who cares enough to invest in the roster". I mean, I get it, already. American sports have always been organized to penalize greatness during the regular season by adding a tournament at the end which determines the winner of the whole competition.

It would have been nice to get away from the American sports obsession with equality/equity between teams for w while, but I guess it's not gonna happen.

 

Y'all had the league's top overall scorer Wondo back then, and some other serious talent, as MLS goes, anyway.

 

No we didn't.

 

I'm not sure this is quite the argument you think it is.

 

My bad. I was confusing you with Quakes for some reason. I know where Wondo played, brain fart was misreading your post...

 

It wasn't, but not for the reason you think it wasn't

 

I wasn't discussing what you are now discussing.

 

RSL lucked out back in 2008/2009 by going around and recruiting a bunch of "forgotten" US internationals that weren't getting call ups. Lagerway did a great job identifying and signing these guys, along with nabbing a few overlooked internationals (Javier Morales and Álvaro Saborío being the most important, maybe Jamison Olave too). There is so much more competition these days, that those finds are more difficult to come by, and definitely much more expensive.

 

Wow. Lagerwey has done good deeds for TWO clubs in the past. We have him now, and he remade us over the Transfer window.

 

And it’s still true. You’re comparing it to leagues that have been around multiple decades featuring clubs that grew organically in countries where it was the most popular sport. MLS is a prefab league trying to squeeze its way in to a sporting landscape where the old guard was originally hostile and is now, with a few exceptions, largely indifferent. It was always going to be a challenge for any league to succeed in this country long term.

 

Not sure about MLS but has the USMNT made any progress since '02?

 

Sabo rep.

He recently came out of retirement (at 41 ) to do a last hurrah with San Carlos FC, the club from his hometown. And, he scored just last weekend, becoming the oldest player to ever score in CR's first division

 

What do you expect when they have a second tier league!

 

The one where two CONCACAF sides squared off in the R16 because Portugal didn't show up for GS1 and basically fouled the Koreans in GS3 while down a man until they decided to just go forward?

A R8 showing for a CONCACAF team is wonderful, but it doesn't mean that team is better than the ones that lost their R16 match in previous or later Cups.

 

The best hooper ever by the banks of the ol' Raritan, Phil Sellers, has passed at 69. RIP

Rest in Peace to the G.O.A.T. of Rutgers men's basketball Phil Sellers. We send our deepest condolences to his family and loved ones.

Sellers is the all-time leader in points scored and rebounds at RU and was the captain of the best team in Rutgers history in 1975-76 that… pic.twitter.com/ngL8TEr0Qm

— Rutgers Men’s Basketball 🏀 (@RutgersMBB) September 20, 2023