I think New Zealand has several MLS players, some on Latin American teams. A number of the prominent Americans have played MLS at some point or another, but it obviously doesn't offer the competition and development we want for our players game in/game out. Really it is evolving as more of a developmental league and a place for global stars to come towards the end of their careers. Now that the clubs are establishing training/development programs it is improving at developing stars (even if they have to go overseas to develop further).

6/23/2010 10:03:31 PM

Yeah, MLS financial structure isn't really comparable to any other league in the world

Maybe Australia, they have a very non-European setup in the A-Leauge

6/23/2010 10:06:15 PM

It's just a vicious cycle.

No one wants to watch it unless there is big name talent.

Big name talent won't come unless there are dollars to pay their salaries.

Dollars to pay their salaries won't come unless people watch it.

And around and around we go.

6/23/2010 10:06:17 PM

y'all dont know how it works
does MLS have the $$ now to draw many european stars? No
all they need is enough to draw a few major stars. which will lead to many new TV contracts around the world, which means $$
this process will not be a net negative on their balance sheet but a net positive up to a certain point

take Real Madrid & Barcelona, the spanish La liga aside from those two teams is no better than MLS, if that
besides, MLS has one major advantage, which is that its in the USA and many players want to live here for various reasons
some include beckham, henry, jose mourinho, jergen klinsman, and the list goes on and on

i thought they had a big opportunity when the italian 1st division was suspended for 2 years, all the players were transfered out
when an opportunity like that comes around again they will not blink

also remember in europe there is mad racism, unruly fans, and socialism, its only a matter of time...

6/23/2010 10:22:11 PM

^you are an idiot

6/23/2010 10:23:47 PM

remember my post for it shall come to pass

6/23/2010 10:25:02 PM

For any non fans, if you want to really understand the landscape of world soccer read each lafta post VERY carefully. The exact opposite of everything he says is true.

6/23/2010 10:25:25 PM

Speaking of "jergen klinsman"

Watching him on ESPN gives me the impression that he is the nicest dude ever

Anyway

6/23/2010 10:26:52 PM

hahaha, you people have superficial knowledge of soccer
you cannot dispute anything i have said

6/23/2010 10:28:33 PM

we just don't have the time to point out all your errors every post.

6/23/2010 10:31:33 PM

American Soccer : European Soccer ::
European Basketball : American Basketball

Get over it. I wonder if there's some euro basketball league thread out there complaining that it's not as strong as the NBA.

6/23/2010 10:34:39 PM

Who's coming plain?

6/23/2010 10:35:30 PM

Quote :

"you cannot dispute anything i have said"

LOL, you called La Liga on par with the MLS outside of Barca and Real... Do I really need to list the rosters of Valencia, Villarreal, Atletico, Sevilla, etc...

6/23/2010 10:37:42 PM

5^ Na dude I'm right there with you.

I think once people lose interest in college football, the NBA, MLB, Nascar, and the NHL(obviously bound to happen in the next year or two) the MLS is going to slide right in to a solid number 2 spot right behind the NFL. A 1-0 win over Algeria was just the spark the league and sport needed in this country.

[Edited on June 23, 2010 at 10:38 PM. Reason : .]

6/23/2010 10:38:11 PM

Quote :

"Both teams combined for 41 shots and 14 shots on goal! Just because they didn't put a number on a sheet of paper didn't make it any less exciting. And the fact that we didn't score until 90' made that score that much more exciting and dramatic. We went from refs waiving away winning goals in the previous match, and then waiving away a potential winner in this match, getting bloodied, knocked down, trampled on, to getting the best group finish our team has seen in 80 years. If you don't find that exciting, either you didn't actually watch any World Cup and you're a god-damned troll, or you're a communist robot."

well said...i was pissed as shit I missed it.

6/23/2010 10:40:03 PM

just watched the game in its entirety again.

Jozy had a monster game (aside from that miss in the first half). That 7 rating should definitely be higher

6/23/2010 10:41:31 PM

Quote :

""its virtually indistinguishable from certain fourth tier European leagues""

i know this was somewhat in jest, but i will say this. i think if you took some of the best teams in the MLS, they would avoid relegation in the EPL or la Liga. those leagues are incredibly strong, but teams like Real Sociedad and Athletic Bilbao suck. I've watched their games. they're not good. the MLS teams would get stomped out by the likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Sevilla, Villareal, Atletico Madrid, etc, but they could hang with the low to low-mid range teams.

[Edited on June 23, 2010 at 10:45 PM. Reason : ]

6/23/2010 10:43:58 PM

i don't think americans would watch shitty european leagues either

6/23/2010 10:45:11 PM

I know we have these arguments from time to time on here but I would put MLS, at this point, on par with the League One in England in terms of overall quality of play and depth of the league.

[Edited on June 23, 2010 at 10:49 PM. Reason : to clarify, the league BELOW the Championship (third tier)]

6/23/2010 10:48:05 PM

^that's harsh. maybe on average, yes. but some of the relegation struggling teams could be beat by stronger MLS teams (or, i should clarify. the top two or three MLS teams)



honestly, i can't help but think that the english regard their domestic leagues the same way as their national team. that is to say, higher than they should

[Edited on June 23, 2010 at 11:03 PM. Reason : ]

6/23/2010 10:50:43 PM

Quote :

"MLS has one major advantage, which is that its in the USA and many players want to live here for various reasons some include beckham, henry, jose mourinho, jergen klinsman, and the list goes on and on"

Not everyone from Europe, or South America wants to live here. MLS has more major disadvantages. Soccer is always going to take a back seat to most US sports even if it continues to grow. Lots of people I know enjoy watching soccer when the NFL, or some other American sport isn't on. Hockey has been around for a really long time too and it is still a niche sport.

6/23/2010 10:59:21 PM

I'll be back tomorrow when games are on or pending for on topic discussion. I apologize in advance to any native Ghanaians for anything I say about your country leading up to and during the match on Saturday.

Yes, I Wikipedia'd the demonym for Ghana. It's Ghanaian.

6/23/2010 11:15:09 PM

I know Ghana is a better match up but I was hoping we'd play Germany merely for Nazi jokes

6/23/2010 11:33:19 PM

why is the world cup thread being littered with mls talk. get the crap out of here please

6/24/2010 12:30:27 AM

because there are a grand total of six MLS players in the World Cup

[Edited on June 24, 2010 at 1:07 AM. Reason : slightly more than the Mongolian Premier League]

6/24/2010 1:02:55 AM

^^usually when the games are over, the thread degenerates into a discussion of how soccer is for pussies and little gay-homo-faggot-queers. i'd say that talking about the mls is an improvement.

Quote :

"The U.S. also set a World Cup record for the fewest total minutes that a World Cup group winner had been leading in its first three games: a grand total of two minutes."

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/soccer/world-cup-2010/writers/grant_wahl/06/23/us.algeria/index.html?hpt=C1

[Edited on June 24, 2010 at 1:15 AM. Reason : ]

6/24/2010 1:04:44 AM

back on topic

http://outofbounds.nbcsports.com/2010/06/-algerian-player-rafik.html.php

6/24/2010 1:10:16 AM

late to the party, but I think this sums it up:

There'll be a few drinks, and why not? - Ian Darke

6/24/2010 1:22:53 AM

i have probably seen Demerit front flip onto the pile 20 times now....


USA! USA! USA!

6/24/2010 4:04:08 AM

USA! USA! USA!

some decent games today. i think Paraguay knocks off NZ. I don't think NZ has another above average game in them right now. i hope Italy gets crushed, but they'll probably be a man up for most of the match because of dumb refereeing, not be able to score, and win off a free kick goal earned from a dive...

Netherlands should take care of business against Cameroon who hasn't looked very good this tournament. and who knows what will happen with the Japan/Denmark game. Denmark played very well against Cameroon, but Bendtner is listed as doubtful (though he'll probably play). i'm predicting a 1-1 draw there.


[Edited on June 24, 2010 at 6:28 AM. Reason : k]

6/24/2010 6:16:25 AM

Cameroon only has one good player

I'm AstralAdvent and i approved this message.

6/24/2010 6:27:49 AM

JOZZZYYYYYYYYY

6/24/2010 7:43:20 AM

^HAHA nice!

Quote :

"does MLS have the $$ now to draw many european stars? No"

Maybe they should start financing it with drug money....

[Edited on June 24, 2010 at 7:44 AM. Reason : /]

6/24/2010 7:43:43 AM

haha, i love this comment on a news article I read:

Quote :

" Hi everybody, my name is Carlos, and I´m from Brazil. And I do not live in USA. First, to answer your questions, Korea will face Uruguay, in june 26 (well, in Brazil the game will be at 11:00 am, I don´t know the time it will pass in USA) with is playing so much this cup. And since I´m south american, Ill be hoping for the victory of Uruguay. Also, the winner of Uruguay x Korea will face the winner of USA and Ghana (game that will occur a few hours later), so you guys should worry about it lolololol... Well, the reason I´m here is to congratulate your team, that won a very well deserved victory, and to say that I love the victory of USA... The players were real warriors in the match, I think all of you should be proud of the team... As you must know, Brazil is the better country in soccer, and we won 5 time the world´s cup, but the team of USA really made me say: "that was great!"... They had lost the victory against slovenia because of a mistake of the referee, in a game the team fought until the last minute, and reversed the defeat that slovenia was imposing in the beginning, with was also amazing, but the game of total was totally surreal... And I´m very happy that your people is learning to enjoy this great party that is the soccer game, so you can join the rest of the world in this celebration, even so you are not the best, with in my opnion only make this victory even greater... Congratulation USA! You have been a valiant warrior, and I can give you all this congratulations, from a citizen who lives in the country with the best soccer in the world, that what you got today was bigger than the cup itself... You showed courage and inspiration... I hope the USA team can win even more in this cup (well, except when it came the time to face Brazil, when I hope you guys lose by 3x1 lololol excuse me, but to me Brazil is first, because, of curse, its my country) Congratulations USA!!! "

Congratulations USA! You have been a valiant warrior!

6/24/2010 7:53:13 AM

Quote :

"when I hope you guys lose by 3x1 lololol "

LOLOLOL


why would he want us to get a goal?

6/24/2010 7:58:38 AM

That picture doesn't do Jozy's leap justice

I watched the last five minutes probably 10 times last night, Jozy fuckin elevates on that pile

6/24/2010 8:11:40 AM

^^ I don't know lol

6/24/2010 8:12:35 AM

Interesting note, the only team that mathematically can not advance out of group play at this point is North Korea. (of teams that haven't finished their Group of course)

Honduras and Ivory Coast are fucked on goal differential though. Especially Ivory Coast.

6/24/2010 9:15:32 AM

Is there a website that has all the World Cup goals with different broadcasts throughout the world? Specifically I'm looking for either the BBC or ITV calls from England...

^ Cameroon can't either. They have 0 points. Japan and Denmark play and one has to win or they both get a point. Dutch have 6.

** I'm pulling for the Kiwi's obviously. That would be one hell of a story. Really just ABI here. The later game I'm pulling for the Danes.

[Edited on June 24, 2010 at 9:24 AM. Reason : x]

6/24/2010 9:18:44 AM

Yeah you're right. Didn't realize their opponent had 6 points. They're boned too.

6/24/2010 9:40:58 AM

hahaha, I stumbled across Golovko's profile on facebook, and his profile pic is the italian national team logo

it figures that guy's favorite team would be the cuntiest bunch of cunts that ever cunted.

6/24/2010 9:44:41 AM

Sunday is going to be an awesome day - Germany/England and Argentina/Mexico AND we don't have to worry about playing any of them (if we win Saturday /jinx) in the next round

6/24/2010 9:45:28 AM

Oh and before anyone asks about points:



and

6/24/2010 9:47:23 AM

World Cup 2010: Thank the MLS for the rise of USA and Landon Donovan

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2010/jun/24/world-cup-2010-mls-usa

Quote :

"MLS has a lot of work to do. It's much better at developing talent rather than spectacle, the officiating is frequently controversial, and the question of bringing in weathered stars from overseas still lingers. However, the foundation for success has been laid – the same foundation that led to Donovan's one shot, and the celebrations it begat."

just an article I saw today

6/24/2010 9:58:09 AM

ahah holy shit

the fourth official in PAR / NZL

is komen coulibaly

6/24/2010 10:00:39 AM

He was the 4th in another game too.... not really a big deal besides the fact that they have relegated him to being a 4th official the rest of the cup. Hold that sign up high!

6/24/2010 10:06:44 AM

Chiellini first to be hit with what appeared to be a sniper bullet in the knee.

Who is going to be the one to take a dive in the box and be rewarded with a PK in the 87th minute? I'm going De Rossi.

[Edited on June 24, 2010 at 10:13 AM. Reason : x]

6/24/2010 10:10:09 AM

didnt you know that the SA stadiums are surrounded by grassy knolls

6/24/2010 10:12:26 AM

Quote :

"CELEBRATIONS IT BEGAT"

6/24/2010 10:13:46 AM

What is the best online resource for clear and concise scenario information please?

6/24/2010 10:19:53 AM