I'm in Charleston WV so I was hoping we'd play Columbus in the knockout round. I would have definitely made that trip. Toronto is a bit of a trip lol. Not sure I'd wanna go all that way to watch them lose. There is no way they are turning this around. Toronto is really good this season
MLS isn't as bad as people make it out to be. Granted it'll never be on the level of Serie A, EPL, La Liga etc etc........it's still not awful lol
Well the defending is awful though. Maybe not the whole league, but literally players are defending like they are scared to touch the ball. That is why Giovinco is getting so much praise. Their is no defense at all.
The league is terrible but he scores most of his goals on free kicks. Defense or not he's still going to score those. Italy has nobody who can take a proper free kick, he's worth the call up.
How is defending in the EPL ? MLS is based around the EPL style. Would love to see TFC play a mid Seria A team to prove all of you wrong. Like I said before , we can't beat Costa Rica where most play in MLS. Take your heads out of your asses.
Exactly. The lack of defense is a weak argument when you are scoring the goals from free kicks. The MLS argument is way overblown. The only thing that should matter is whether he is better than the guys who are currently on the team. And sure you can factor the strength of the leagues into that but I think way too much weight is being given to it.
FWIW while we will probably never know the answer to that, this site contains rankings for the main leagues around the world. https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/soccer-predictions/serie-a/ Toronto is at 175. They have a rating of 48.1. Looking at Serie A, that would suggest that if Toronto played in Serie A, they would be fighting relegation. So there is a gap and it is massive. But just because there's a gap in the teams, doesn't mean that one player from that league couldn't be better than our existing crop of forwards.
For the free kicks alone I would call Giovinco up. One goal could make or break us. 1998 was no slam dunk either with a playoff with Russia. had to sweat it out late into the 2nd half of the 2nd leg.
Well EPL teams defending is quite questionable as well honestly but still better than MLS. Actually though Spurs are the only good defensive team in the EPL. The rest really struggle.
Speaking of horrible defending, it makes you wonder if Genoa, Verona and Benevento could win a game in MLS?
Yes they should look for all the free agents they can come December. I just don't' think they can afford a Cassano, Gilardino and Pirlo. Even if those guys are not playing, i doubt they would play for them..
Poor Gila. He was always a top goal scorer too bad he is finishing his career with the lower level teams.
You can't really compare the leagues for many reasons. Looking at the difference between the higher level Serie A teams and the bottom half of the league, there are worlds of difference. Even though the Serie B is tough, teams like one year wonders in Carpi, Novara, Benevento, Frosinone and Cesena couldn't survive physically, financially or for a longer period of time in MLS. Nor do they have the same revenues or stadia abd probably couldn't even come up with the cash to put forth a team. If anything, they would probably end up folding or not able to field a team from year to year. The teams near you in the Pacific Northwest in Vancouver or Seattle, could hold their own in Serie A. Maybe not the top half, but they could easily compete against the bottom placed clubs.
The one thing I like right now about Serie B is how competitive it is. Through 12 games only 8 points separates the 2nd place team and the 21st place team. If that kept up the entire season, that would have to be one of the most balanced leagues ever lol
Yeah there is zero doubt in my mind a team like Toronto could compete with the bottom half of Serie A
Looking at the difference between the Serie A & B. Palermo was in 19th place in the Serie A last year and 1st in the Serie B this season. The main problem is these teams can't compete for more than a season or two at a higher level.