Football (or call it soccer if you must) redux.

Let's see here. First the decor. Life-sized Pele poster, check. Cristiano Ronaldo dartboard, check. Autographed game-worn Lionel Messi kit, I wish.

Next the really important stuff. The data. Charts showing standing in MLS, Liga MX all the major top leagues in Europe and South America, Regional club competitions like the UEFA Champions League, CONCACAF Champions League, Europa League, International competitions, monitors with news feeds from Sky Sports, ESPN FC. Al Jazeera Sports, regarding scores, injury reports, deals and dealing rumors.... Yup. All set.

Things are revving up for the World Cup in Russia, the field is in place, minus Italy, The Netherlands, and *gasp* the US. But there's still a lot going on at club level. For starts, MLS sides are making history in the CONCACAF Champions League. Last night two teams eliminated LIGA MX sides in quarterfinals play. Current MLS champions Toronto FC, who qualified as Canada Cup Champions in 2016 eliminated UANL Tigres (That's Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon...the professional team originated from a college squad, it's complicated, don't ask) 4 - 4 on aggregate, 3 - 2 on away goals. Both sides won their home legs, the first in Toronto finished 2-1, the second, in Monterrey, was 3-1 in stoppage time, a line which would have seen Tigres through to the semis, but Sebastian Giiovinco placed a free kick from 25 yards out over thw defensive wall and past the keeper to send the Red-and-Grey through to the next round and a probable meeting with Mexico City powerhouse Club America. In the other game last night, in Harrison, New Jersey, Red Bull New York put the icing on their demolition of Club Tijuana, 4-1, to achieve a 6-1 aggregate.

Tonight my homeboys Seattle Sounders have the chance to make it a threesome, facing CD Guadalajara at Estadio Akron. SSFC are current league runners-up and qualified as League Champions in 2016. Sounders won the first leg 1 - 0 at Century Link as Chivas struggled to carve out attacking chances.

Over in Europe it was a bad gameday for England in UEFA Champions League as Manchester United were eliminated by Sevilla and Chelsea were flat humiliated by Barcelona. Also, Bayern Munich made short work of Turkish side Besiktas.

TBC, our family friend follows Millwall and West Ham via live reporting from The Guardian on Saturdays, and he told us about the big fight between West Ham and Burnley this past Saturday, involving the fans invading the pitch. Various players fought with various fans, and it got so bad that the West Ham owners were evacuated from their box.

I'm not certain we got the full story on this, because our friend presented it as a victory for the working man over the inbred aristocracy, but I see from The Guardian that one W Ham owner was struck on his glasses by a coin. [The important part was that Burnley won, 3-0, which got everything going.]

As a fan of basebrawls, I feel that MLB has a lot of work to do on how to present a truly good fight, and (obv) on how to support the working man over the aristocracy.

I'm still bummed the United left Manchester.

Messi.. lol

https://www.foxsports.com/soccer/video/1257546307830

Au revoir, Deutschland, land of my vaters. Thinking of rooting for Mexico, although they'll need to pull it together.

That totally blew my mind but there have been some pretty big surprises this Cup. I'm going for Uruguay.

We have friends who moved here from Argentina, and we watched their dog on the weekend of their son's wedding, which was also the weekend of the Iceland-Argentina draw. It turns out that Argentines are not so wrapped up in the romance of Iceland essentially upsetting Argentina, which I realized halfway through burbling to her about it. :p And she said all the visiting Argentines wanted to know what they were thinking by scheduling a wedding during the Mondiale.

(That may be a mishear on my part, but I think she just used the single word. It was cool to hear and feel sort of connected with everybody everywhere.)

What WERE they thinking? This is Messi's last WC!

Most Spanish speakers simply refer to it as the Mundial. It's technically Copa Mundial. To refer to it as the Copa would just be confusing. They've got the Copa America too.

I got the impression that the bride, who is not from Argentina, set the date. And that the groom's side spent the reception discussing the scheduling. Thankfully, the reception was the night *before* the match, because if the party had come afterward, half the reception would have been trying to drown theirselves in the punch bowl.

I love watching the crowds during the matches. I've been to two baseball postseason games and the crowd electricity is so fun, but you can see that it's a whole other universe of intensity at the World Cup.

Uruguay scores again!

Dear me, T. There are some very handsome players for Uruguay.


ETA: Also, damn you, T. I'm dying a thousand deaths watching this. I would have been somewhat neutral but now I'm all sworn to defend Uruguay.

<3 <3

I do not like the VW ad that runs around the stadium perimeter. Everytime that car goes by it looks to me like there's a car on the field!

Maturin wrote:

Uruguay scores again!

Dear me, T. There are some very handsome players for Uruguay.


ETA: Also, damn you, T. I'm dying a thousand deaths watching this. I would have been somewhat neutral but now I'm all sworn to defend Uruguay.

 <3 <3

They fought the good fight but France is one helluva team. I'm ok w/ them being taken out by such a worthy adversary.

Zaphod wrote:

I do not like the VW ad that runs around the stadium perimeter. Everytime that car goes by it looks to me like there's a car on the field!

It caught me by surprise too.

That's what you get for shooting Richard III in the back.

Vive la France.

lol. happy that i looked up where Croatia is - we Americans are sadly so not taught about geography and half the time what is going on on the rest of the planet. I am trying to rectify that personally by looking stuff up.

Zaphod wrote:

lol. happy that i looked up where Croatia is - we Americans are sadly so not taught about geography and half the time what is going on on the rest of the planet. I am trying to rectify that personally by looking stuff up.

dont we well know that up here in the GWN
I was gassing up in Redding Calif. and the pump jockey
looked at my license plate and asked what state was British Columbia

ExpletiveDeleted wrote:

Zaphod wrote:

lol. happy that i looked up where Croatia is - we Americans are sadly so not taught about geography and half the time what is going on on the rest of the planet. I am trying to rectify that personally by looking stuff up.

dont we well know that up here in the GWN
I was gassing up in Redding Calif. and the pump jockey
looked at my license plate and asked what state was British Columbia

OMG apologize on behalf of the american educational system. it realllllly needs to be revamped in terms of world view of things.

i myself look stuff up if i don't know where a country is or if i see an unfamiliar reference. watching the NHK channel on my PBS channel has been really enlightening to things happening beyond the local/national news sites. re the Thai kids vs 200 died in Japan due to flooding. OK I get kids trapped is great drama and yes should be rescued, but barely a blip is 200 Japanese dying due to flooding as that is not nearly as dramatic. it's this kind of attention by news that totally skews what is important vs what is just blahblah. is your message adults dying is blah vs kids dying is way more important? because that is how it is reading.

eta: you found a gas station that actually has pump jockeys??? full service stations disappeared wayyyyyyyyyyyyy back when for me, what late 70s.

was back in 1975

I learned geography in school but major geopolitical boundaries have changed significantly since then.

However, i've since spent considerable time poring over more recent maps (and more ancient ones, too) in an effort to gain a greater understanding of how physical geography influences political geography.

Woot.

That was a fun final to watch. Loved that fans of Croatia were celebrating after the match (street parties in Croatia and elsewhere). Also loved that the French and Croatian leaders stood in the rain and each hugged all the players.

Well, second place in the World Cup is still pretty big stuff. Definitely a bigger deal than winning a Super Bowl. I mean, there's a reason there's a third-place game. Just making the round of 16 is pretty elite-level stuff. A lot of countries (*cough*cough*cough*) don't even make it TO the Cup on any given four-year period.

proud of all the semifinals and later teams, yay. lots of exciting parts to watch.

Maturin wrote:

That's what you get for shooting Richard III in the back.

Vive la France.

Zaphod wrote:

lol. happy that i looked up where Croatia is - we Americans are sadly so not taught about geography and half the time what is going on on the rest of the planet. I am trying to rectify that personally by looking stuff up.

Croatia was almost certainly still part of Yugoslavia when you learned geography.  It was until the early 90's.  In the US news of the time, the war was usually referred to as the the Yugoslav Wars or the Serbia/Bosnia-Herzegovina Conflict.  Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro & Macedonia weren't mentioned all that often.  I can't remember why now but that might explain why it wasn't immediately recognizable to you.

Jesush... it's not that hard. I have always known exactly where Croatia is located.

Zaphod wrote:

lol. happy that i looked up where Croatia is - we Americans are sadly so not taught about geography and half the time what is going on on the rest of the planet. I am trying to rectify that personally by looking stuff up.

The Hrivati are partially responsible for the singularly most useless article of attire in human history. I say "partially" because the rest of the blame goes to the French, who popularized it. Shortly after the marriage between the Austrian royal family, Hapsburg, and the Magyar royal family Hohenzollern, (note: no red squiggle underline from spell check...got it on the first try, pats on the back accepted) created the Austria-Hungarian Empire the civilized world (Western Europe) started to wonder what was going on in the backwater of the continent. They discovered that in the Balkans some of the men had taken the habit of tying lengths of ribbon around their necks in a loose knot. This was actually a practical matter, not unlike the fringe on western clothing. Visitors from France saw this, and being as the French are always on the look for a chic new style, started wearing ribbon ties around Paris, referring to it as a "Cravat", named after the Hrivati. This soon developed into the oxygen-depriving sine qua non of men's fashion we all know and loathe today.

TBC, I was watching Manchester United vs. Juventus the other day and I had a question.
How much is General Motors, and particularly Chevrolet paying for the honor of having their logo on the players jersey's?

Kit sponsorship is big bux. Man Utd are one of the biggest teams so that spot in the center of their players chests is one of the most expensive pieces of ad space in the world based on area covered, total. I don't feel like looking it up, so let's just say "A lot".

The off thing is that unlike Ford, which is an international branding, Chevrolet is hardly sold outside North America. GM's international strategy has been to acquire foreign automakers, Opel in Germany, Vauxhall in Britain, Holden in Australia, a stake in the automotive line of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Japan, and let them keep their distinct marques. Sometimes funny things happen. Opel made a small sedan called the Kadet. GM imported it as the Buick Opel in the early '70s as the gas crunch was hitting. At about the same time Japanese automaker Isuzu was looking to expand their passenger car line and started making the Kadet under license, marketing it as the I-Mark. After one year Isuzu made some sheet metal changes, but at the same time, despite what Lee Iacocca told you on TV about the "American way to beat the pump", Chrysler bought a stake in Isuzu and started importing the modified Opel Kadet, now Isuzu I-Mark, calling it the Dodge Colt. If you had parked a Dodge Colt and a Buick Opel side by side you would not initially see the similarities, likely, thanks to the changes done in Japan, but under the skin they were very much the same car.

On topic, the MLS regular season has concluded and Mike Petke and his entire team in Salt Lake City will be sending fruit baskets to Oscar Pareja and the Houston Dynamo. Thanks to scheduling, and there being an odd number of teams Real Salt Lake were idle, clinging to the final playoff position in the Western Conference, hoping Dynamo, already eliminated, could earn a result at LA Galaxy and did they ever. Down 2-0 the Dynamo rebounded for a 2-3 victory sending RSL to a Thursday night first-round date with 3rd place finishers expansion side Los Angeles FC. In the Eastern Conference Red Bull New York claimed the top seed and the Community Shield for best overall record, plus the automatic slot in the CONCACAF Champions League that goes with it, by beating hapless Orlando City 1-0 while Atlanta Utd lost in Toronto 4-1, the champs from last season making a final statement on an injury riddled term by playing spoiler.

Only giving the standing 1-6 each conference, the rest are losers.

Eastern:

RBNY
Atl Utd
NCYFC
DC Utd
Columbus Crew
Philadelphia Union

Western:

Sporting Kansas City
Seattle Sounders FC
LAFC
FC Dallas
Portland Timbers
Real Salt Lake

One-game playoffs are in the mid-week, third seeds v sixth and fourth v fifth. Conference semis start next weekend with two-legged affairs, top seed gets the lowest remaning seed from the knock-out games, first match of the home-and-home is at the stadium of the lower seed. Stay tuned for more updates.

Chevy has been paying $47Million/yr since 2014-15. I believe this is the last year of that deal.

His Royal Dorkness wrote:

Chevy has been paying $47Million/yr since 2014-15. I believe this is the last year of that deal.

Thanks for providing the figures where I was too lazy. And when you consider that ever since Sir Alex retired Man U. have been....well, let's take a close look. David Moyes for one season, 7th place. Louis van Gaal, fresh from leading the Oranje to a respectable finish in the WC in Brasil (remember van Persie's "Superman" diving headed goal?) 4th place, then 5th place, then fired, replaced by the *ahem* special one. Cue Dana Carvey. 6th place, last year managed to wrangle a 2nd place finish, but currently nearly a third the way into the season they are mired in 8th. This has fit a pattern which has followed Mourinho everywhere he's managed since leaving Porto a decade and a half ago...two good seasons and then a collapse in the third one.

Paul Scholes, who played his entire career for Man Utd starting as a youth trainee, recently remarked regarding Liverpool and Man City "They are laughing at us the way we used to laugh at them." Have some salt with your prawn sandwich, Scholsie. Man U are just not an elite team any more.

I was curious, so I looked up those numbers too. $600Mil, over the life of the contract (2014-2021).
And, right after the ink was dry on the deal, Chevrolet pulled out of Europe.  

Hodgepodge wrote:

I was curious, so I looked up those numbers too. $600Mil, over the life of the contract (2014-2021).
And, right after the ink was dry on the deal, Chevrolet pulled out of Europe.  

I know, right. Sense...this makes none. So here's bunny with a pancake on his head. It's one of those sorts of things.

OMG there's still years left on the contract?

Thanks for doing more homework than i, Hodge. Good on ya.

First round of the MLS playoffs are done. NYCFC 3-1 Philly, FC Dallas 1-2 Portland, DC United 2-2 AET (2-3 PK) Columbus, LAFC 2-3 RSL.

So, here's the match-ups for the second round games and the Sounders owe the NFL schedule makers a nod of thanks. Of course the Sounders worked hard to get the #2 finish and first round bye in order to take advantage of that scheduling glitch... The second round and conference finals match-ups are two-legged, the first game at the home of the lower seed. The schedule dates for the second round games this season are the 4th and 11th of November. However, the Seahawks have a home game on that day so the Sounders match vs...whoever...was pushed forwards to the 8th. Taking into account that team would have played "Decision Day", the final regular season game on Sunday, Oct. 28, and a midweek first round game, the first leg will be their third game played in eight days. Only the Sounders get the advantage of having their second round opponents playing the crucial deciding match of the series as a fourth game in twelve days, and in one of the most raucous, intimidating venues in for any visiting team, the CLink. And thanks to the results we know the identity of "whoever"...the Sounders most reviled rival, the Portland Timbers. This is just too delicious.

Of course that match-up would not have happened if RSL hadn't beaten LAFC, so thanks to Mike Petke and his lads, and good luck vs SKC.

The full list of second round games...

West:

SSFC - PTFC: @ PTFC 11/4, @ SSFC 11/8
SKC-RSL: @RSL 11/4, @ SKC 11/11

East:

ATL UTD - NYCFC: @NYCFC 11/4, @ ATL UTD 11/11
RBNY - CBUS: @CBUS 11/4, @RBNY 11/11.

Following the second round games there is a two week break for International Fixtures. The playoffs will resume with the Conference Finals on the 25th and 29th of this month, MLS Cup is scheduled for December 9th.

Some misery right now, but between the new stadium, Wayne Rooney, and a run to the finish, the media take seems to be that D.C. United has locked in a broader fan base here. They've always had a solid core of support, but now have made the same leap that the Nats did after six or seven (truly unspeakable) years.

[Off topic: TBC, are the hockey names officially down to the Totems or Sockeyes? No love for the Kraken?]

Couldn't tell you about the hockey team. Not following that news at all. Can tell you that Totems was the name of a minor league team, I think AHL, for about 20 years, and Sockeye is a salmon that's not dead yet.

When the news of Rooney's eminent signing started hitting the wire my thought was that it was a "butts in seats" for the new stadium move. DCU have been a miserable side for the past several years, I am sure that playing at RFK has had a lot to do with that. Most of that "broader fanbase", I am sure, are folks who were looking for a reason to come back. For the first decade of MLS DCU was one of the top teams in the league and RFK was a rocking place for soccer. Of course there is also a deep resentment in DCU fans for the Sounders, goes to the first bit of shiny in the SSFC trophy case being won in the team's inaugural 2009 season, the US Open Cup title game at RFK.

TBC wrote:

When the news of Rooney's eminent signing started hitting the wire my thought was that it was a "butts in seats" for the new stadium move. DCU have been a miserable side for the past several years, I am sure that playing at RFK has had a lot to do with that. Most of that "broader fanbase", I am sure, are folks who were looking for a reason to come back. For the first decade of MLS DCU was one of the top teams in the league and RFK was a rocking place for soccer.  

Nothing wrong with butts in seats. In fairness, there's always been love for RFK, where approximately 85,000 different teams have played at one time or another. The theorized broader United base does include prodigal fans, but also the essential "these guys are cool and maybe could actually win unlike some other DC teams we could name."

TBC wrote:

Of course there is also a deep resentment in DCU fans for the Sounders, goes to the first bit of shiny in the SSFC trophy case being won in the team's inaugural 2009 season, the US Open Cup title game at RFK.

Go Portland.

Ya know....back in the early '70s when powers that be started building multi-purpose sporting venues out in the 'burbs because that's where land was cheapest Seattle was one of the cities that broke with that mold. Then-King County Executive, and later Washington Governor John Spellman, led the push for citing the domed stadium which would be the basis for proposed MLB and NFL franchise pitches on land just south of the central downtown core. Didn't even have a team to play there yet but the were going to build that stadium.

For the record, Pittsburgh also was a notable exception. Three Rivers Stadium, home to the Steelers and the Pirates, sat in the heart of the city, where the Allegheny and Monongahela converge to birth the mighty Ohio.

When Paul Allen was approached to buy the Seahawks in order to keep the team from being moved to Anaheim one of his conditions was a new stadium to replace the Kingdome, the county putting up $200M, he would put up $150M plus cost overruns. The Mariners new stadium on adjacent property to the south already had the funding approved, it was a bit of a sell pushing for another...but if you want to know why the Sonics left, the county had just spent a lot of money transforming the Seattle Center Colosseum into "Key Arena" and had bungled the job by not making it a venue where an NBA team could be a money maker in the 21st Century, see "Luxury Boxes".

I mention all of this to go into the story of why the Sounders are one of the most hated teams in the league...and why it doesn't bother me. Hate all you want. We are not the Patriots of MLS...that would be the LA Galaxy.

When Sounders were a second tier team (originally known as A League, later as USL-1) Adrian Hanauer was the owner. In casting about for partners for a pitch for MLS expansion he attracted producer/director/studio exec Joe Roth to become the majority owner, Allen bought in a minority stake linking it, temporarily to the Seahawks organization via Vulcan although the teams have been completely separate entities for about three years, Hanauer stayed as minority owner and GM, and Drew Carey for some mysterious reason...like what the heck...this ain't Cleveland, Drew. Now if you are wondering which team is the primary tenant of the stadium, the answer is "both". This means the teams and leagues need to work around scheduling conflicts within the rules of all entities concerned, which is why the Timbers will be playing their fourth game in 12 days at the CLink on the 11th.

So, strike one in the eyes of most people in MLS: The Sounders came in to the league playing in a new NFL stadium and flat refused to move into a Lamar Hunt hatbox soccer-specific facility.

Strike two: Hanauer hired Sigi Schmit away from the defending MLS champions Columbus Crew.

Strike three: The team immediately took advantage of the new Designated Player rule, signing former Arsenal MF Freddy Ljungberg.

Strike four: The team refused to be a hapless expansion team, winning it's first three games, including a 3-0 thrashing of RBNY in it's debut game.

Strike five: The team took the US Open Cup as a serious competition, winning in it's first three seasons in the league and losing the championship match at Kansas City in a very controversial series of calls in an attempt for an unprecedented fourth straight win 100 year history of the USOC.

Strike six: The arrival of natural foes Timbers and Whitecaps, the Cascadia Rivalry, jointly in 2011 has given some people the misguided belief that they have the right to intrude. This is a "family war" which has been going on since 1975, the old NASL. Please do not stick your nose in where it's not welcome, especially if your team just started playing in the league within the last two seasons. (yes, Atlanta fans...they are all wind and no substance)

Strike seven: Continued success. The team just qualified for the playoffs for a record-equalling tenth consecutive season. Mostly this irks fans of the Galaxy, the team whose record they tied, given that the Galaxy just missed the line for the second straight year, in embarrassing fashion.

I could probably keep going, but that's enough for now.

When I started reading this, I thought "They're like the Patriots of soccer," and then hit the "We are not the Patriots of MLS."

Was not expecting Drew Carey to show up, altho I guess by now we should always be prepared.  I don't know enough about the rivalries and history to know who all hates who (in D.C., the New York Red Bulls would top the list). But I was not being Atlanta and sticking my schnozz in the Cascadia family fight when I said "Go Portland." I was instead lashing out in grief and rage over the "first bit of shiny" shade on United, as any right-thinking person would do. ;)

Seattle was proven morally and strategically right on stadium location. It matters. RFK was a journey; the new stadium is downtown, very near Nats Park, on the river near a couple subway stops. I think soccer is becoming big here in the way hockey has (going beyond a diehard, informed fan base; sell-out crowds; plus my friends play in rec leagues [men/women/mixed] and they say rink fees have gone up bc the Caps made everybody want to play hockey :p).

DC were a mediocre team for a long time, casting no shade on Ben Olson who has done a great job with mid-level talent in a crumbling facility. Audi Field is a great venue, well located, and this bodes well for the future of the club.

So here's how the second round of the playoffs worked out:

The tightest battles were in the Western Conference. Sounders and Timbers went to added time after the second leg with the aggregate a 3 each and both sides having an away goal. In MLS away goals in added time don't give an advantage, each side scored once, so it went to the dreaded shootout after the half hour of play. Jeff Attinella turned back Osvaldo Alonso's effort and Will Bruin hit the post while Stefan Frei could only manage to stop Liam Ridgewell's tepid attempt through four rounds, for Timbers' fifth Dairon Asprilla buried the winner top right, Portland 4-4 AET(4-2 pk) Seattle. RSL and SKC played a one-all draw in the first leg at Rio Tinto, the second, at Children's Mercy Park was more offensive firepower than I expected Sporting winning 4-2, including a brace by Daniel Salloi (He's Hungarian, so pronounce that "Shallow E") with the sealing goal coming in the 97th minute for a final of Real Salt Lake 3-5 Sporting Kansas City.

In the east both top seeds easily handled their opponents. RBNY rebounded from a 1-0 defeat at Columbus to win 3-0 at home, Columbus Crew 1-3 RBNY, and Atlanta United followed a 0-1 win at Yankee Stadium by completing the rout at home 3-1, NYCFC 1-4 Atl Utd.

Two week break for Internationals, the USMNT play at England on Thursday (Expect Wayne Rooney to suit up for that one for the first time in two years) and Italy next Tuesday in friendlies...I suspect the Azzurri will be looking for payback from the defeat in Genoa three years ago. Meanwhile Canada host St Kitts and Nevis in a CONCACAF Nations League qualifier on Sunday. Not sure whether TSN will be showing the game or something more exciting like the PEI Provincial Curling Finals.

First legs of the Conference Finals are Sunday, the 25, Atlanta at RBNY at 11 AM Eastern Time, Sporting at Portland 4:30 PM Pacific, reverse legs will be the following Thursday. MLS Cup will be Saturday, December 8th at 2PM Eastern time at either Red Bull Arena, Harrison, New Jersey, or Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta.

TBC, I was watching soccer highlights the other night when I heard the commentator refer to a player as a Midfielder. What's that, and does that relate to a position in "normal" football?

Don't laugh, Mo. It's a legit question. In a "standard" formation, though I am not sure the term applies any more because tactics have changed so much, the outfield players, that is everyone besides the goalkeeper, are arranged in three rows. Closest to the goal are the defenders, next out are the midfielders, after that are the forwards.

After that the terms get specialized. the two defenders lined up in the middles of the row are called centerbacks, which I sometimes spell centrebacks, note the "re" or centre halves. The two on the outside are called outside backs or fullbacks. The difference between them is that centerbacks tend to be tall and strong while fullbacks tend towards quickness and ball skill, but both need to have excellent reflexes because they are the last line of defense in front of the goalkeeper.

Midfielders are even more specialized than that. Start off with the defensive or "holding" mid, sometime called a "6", dating to the days when players were not assigned their own jersey numbers but only wore the number for the game, 1-11. The keeper was #1, the defenders wore nos. 2-5, and then it got complicated after that because teams would assign 6-11 based on what formation they were playing. The D-mid is one of the most versatile, hard working players on the field. At the professional level, over the course of 90 minutes, with a 15 minute break to nosh a couple of oranges, he will probably cover 12 miles or more in a succession of short sprints. When the team is in possession of the ball in the opponent's end he has to be aware of his own teammates' positioning. If one of the fullbacks is making a run forward he needs to move to that side to cover in defense against a possible counterattack down that flank.

Next is the attacking central midfielder, sort of like a point guard in basketball. He's the one pulling the strings on the attack, although "central" is misleading, because he can usually roam from side to side as the team probes for weaknesses in the defense. Also called the 8 because of the old system.

The outside mids are called wingers, just like the outside forwards in hockey, and they serve basically the same purpose. Their job generally is to take the ball low into the corner and cross it into the box. Normally a left-footed player will be on the left side and a right-footed player will be in the right side so they can have their dominant foot on the outside, ready to knock in a quick cross off of a darting run. A right-footer playing on the left, or rarely vice-versa, is called a reverse winger. Their forte is stopping and cutting back to make the cross, or maybe they will fake the cross and juke the defender, cut down low and get past them, run inside and cross the ball from short range...or shoot into the short corner. Or dive like Greg Louganis the instant they are in the penalty box....wait...sorry, that's Cristiano Ronaldo.

And then there are the forwards, or strikers, whose job is essentially to score goals. Get them the ball in a dangerous position, they put it in the net.

It is with a heavy heart that I must announce the passing of a coaching legend in American soccer. Sigi Schmit, former head coach of the UCLA Bruins Men's team at the collegiate level, USMNT U-20 at the International Level, and Los Angeles Galaxy, Columbus Crew, and Seattle Sounders FC at the professional level, passed away on Christmas Day from natural causes.

It's difficult to write this because of what Sigi meant to the Sounders and to all of the fans. He arrived in Seattle already a coaching legend, being the only person to have led two different teams to the "double" of Supporter's Shield and MLS Cup in the same season. All the pundits expected a typical expansion team, finishing bottom of the table, but instead the Sounders just missed out on the Supporter's Shield, lost out to RSL in the Conference Semifinals, and nabbed the first of three straight, and so far four overall, US Open Cup Titles, defeating DC United at RFK Stadium in the Championship Match. That the Sounders have made the post-season every year of their existence is largely on Sigi. The MLS Cup eluded him with the team, although it did come in the season in which he was fired which left a bitter taste in his mouth. His bench coach Brian Schmetzer took over and guided the side to an astonishing second half run, but when viewed in context, between injured players and the mid-season arrival of playmaker Nicolas Lodiero, the poor first half form was not his fault at all and the decision to fire him has been generally viewed as hasty.

The Sounders will be playing the upcoming season with two memorial patches on their kits. Have to wait and see what the Seahawks do on Sunday as a memorial.

MLS is BAAAAACK! Sign that spring is here...well, sorta. Colorado Rapids hosted Portland Timbers in a snowstorm at DSG, last night. The game was played with a high-visibility orange ball. Game-time temperature was 12 degrees Fahrenheit.

Around the league, Minnesota United will be opening their new stadium, Allianz Field, in downtown Minneapolis after playing the first two seasons of the franchise at the U of Minnesota's football stadium. For the record the Loons' grey and light blue colors clashed severely with the maroon and gold surroundings.

Expansion team this year is FC Cincinnati, and the schedule makers have been unkind to them. First three games are @Seattle, @Atlanta, before their home debut against the defending Western Conference champs Portland.

In their first match they looked good for about...two minutes in the middle of the first half. But facing a Sounders team eager to avoid the slow starts of the past three seasons, mostly due to injuries to key players, meant that they were never really in the game, even when they went up 0-1 on a wonder volley from Leonardo Bertone, marking his MLS debut after playing the last several seasons with Swiss side Young Boys. The game was one-way traffic to the Rave Green, Jordan Morris marked his return to full fitness with a brace. The 2016 RotY was hampered in 2017 by a hamstring injury and missed all of 2018 with a torn ACL. Morris's goals were bookended by a tying goal from RB Kelvin Leerdam, only his second with the club and first since his debut match in mid 2016 and Raul Ruidiaz who scored his 13th in 16 games with the team, including the post-season.

Oh wow. Have I really let this go for the entire MLS season?

In a nutshell, then. Los Angeles Football Club set a new record for most points in a season, Carlos Vela of LAFC set a new record for most goals scored in a season, eclipsing the amount scored by Josef Martinez of Atlanta Utd last season. Runner up in the Golden Boot race was Zlatan Ibrahimovich of L.A. Galaxy but the 38-year old Swede was second to none in the category of thuggery and douchebaggishness.

Minnesota United moved out of their rented accommodations, the Golden Gophers' football stadium, and into a new soccer specific venue in downtown St. Paul. It beautiful. They also added some defensive spine with D-Mid Ozzie Alonso coming in from the Sounders, CB Ike Opara from Sporting Kansas City, and veteran EPL Keeper Vito Mannone coming in on a season's loan from Sunderland. In the year-end awards Opara was named MLS Defender of the Year and Mannone MLS Goalkeeper of the Year. On a related note the Chicago Fire announced that they would be breaking their 40 year lease with the City of Bridgeview, leaving the soccer specific facility in that suburb, and resuming play in Soldier Field next season. Anyone in the Windy City wanna throw a party outdoors, just you and a couple thousand of your closest friends? I know somewhere you can book the occasion for cheap. ;)

They instituted a new play-off format this year. It's quicker and easier. Seven teams from each conference, top seed gets a first round bye. No more two-legged affairs, it's one game at the stadium of the team with the better regular season record. And it's all done very quickly. First round games were Oct 19th and 20th, Conference Semis were Oct 23rd and 24th, and the Conference Finals were Oct 29th and 30 with MLS Cup set for Nov 10th.

So here's the run through on that.

First the top seven spots in the Western Conference: LAFC, Seattle Sounders, Real Salt Lake, Minnesota Utd, L.A Galaxy, Portland Timbers, FC Dallas.

Top seven spots in the East: NYCFC, Atlanta United, Philadelphia Union, Toronto FC, DC United, NY Red Bulls, New England Revolution.

First round matches(home team listed first in all games): In the West it was Loons 1 - 2 Galaxy, RSL 2 - 1 Timbers, Sounders 4 - 3 (aet) Dallas, and in the East it was Toronto 5 - 1 (aet) DC, Philly 4 - 2 (aet) NYRB, and Atl Utd 1 - 0 Revs.

Second round: LAFC 5 - 3 Galaxy, Sounders 2 - 0 RSL, NYCFC 1 - 2 Toronto, Atl Utd 2 - 0 Philly.

Notes here going into the conference finals. The "expert" pundits unanimously handed both LAFC and Atlanta their respective matches against Sounders and Toronto. This in complete denial of certain things...like post-season experience. Or just plain experience. LAFC is in it's second year as a club, Atlanta in it's third. On the other hand, Sounders won MLS Cup three years ago, over Toronto, and Toronto won MLS Cup two years ago, over Seattle. Conference Finals scores: LAFC 1 - 3 Seattle, Atlanta 1 - 2 Toronto.

So, MLS Cup is Sunday, Nov 10th at 3 PM Eastern, Noon Pacific, Seattle Sounders v Toronto FC at CenturyLink Field. Calling this the "rubber match", it's the third MLS Cup in four years between the teams and the first with the Sounders having the home pitch. The previous two were played at BMO Field in Toronto. Minutes after his charges finished ushering of Atl Utd at the MB the reporter for FSN asked his thoughts on playing for MLS Cup in Seattle, TFC head coach Greg Vanney replied with no hesitation "We owe them a game in their stadium."

TBC wrote:

Oh wow. Have I really let this go for the entire MLS season?

In a nutshell, then. Los Angeles Football Club set a new record for most points in a season, Carlos Vela of LAFC set a new record for most goals scored in a season...

I drove pass their stadium the other day.

Hodgepodge wrote:

TBC wrote:

Oh wow. Have I really let this go for the entire MLS season?

In a nutshell, then. Los Angeles Football Club set a new record for most points in a season, Carlos Vela of LAFC set a new record for most goals scored in a season...

I drove pass their stadium the other day.

Banc of California Stadium. One of the posters on MLSSoccer dot com called it Blue Oyster Cult Stadium, umlaut included. I guess Sounders played Godzilla on Wednesday night, LAFC were too busy looking for more cowbell.

Things have changed in the threads on MLSSoccer. There was a certain amount of vitriol between the SSFC and TFC fanbases but now we are all positively chummy. I suppose history has a lot to do with that.

Sounders have been generally hated around the league for the last eleven years. Water off a duck. It started even before the league awarded a franchise to the city. "No, we won't build a soccer-specific stadium. We intend to keep playing right here because it's conveniently located just south of the downtown with great access to public transportation." Even tarping off most of the upper deck they still manage well over 40,000 fans per game. Most teams in the English Premier League can't top that. 2009, the expansion season, was supposed to be a horror show. But ahead of that they hired Sigi Schmit away from MLS Cup winners Columbus Crew, matched Galaxy's signing of David Beckham with former Arsenal winger Freddy Ljungberg, won the first of three consecutive Lamar Hunt US Open Cup trophies, made the playoffs for the first year of what has stretched now to eleven consecutive, and barely missed the Supporters Shield for best record in the regular season...oh, and the team won it's first three games.

It has been interesting to watch Atlanta United for the past three years. They have been ground-sharing with the Falcons for the whole time, first at Georgia Dome, and now at M-B. (Side note, Russell Wilson is now part of the ownership group for the Sounders. The Seahawks play at Atlanta this Sunday. He'd probably get fined by the NFL but it would still be an epic troll if he wore some Sounders swag in warm ups.) Atl Utd have been even more successful in their first three seasons than the Sounders were, and the front office quite plainly state that they are "following the Seattle model" for building a soccer team in MLS. The difference is that the establishment loves them while all we got was resistance for not doing things the "correct way". But it's okay, because their fan base has become the most detested group on the boards. New head coach Frank de Boer, hired to replace Tata Martino who left to take over as coach of the Mexico Men's National Team, called the team's fans "spoiled".

D'oh! Just realized earlier this morning that Seahawks played at Atlanta (and won) last week. By brains was about completely on round football and not on pointy football when I was typing that up. Tomorrow's Seahawks game is home against the Buccs, lead by our old pal Brice Ariens.

TBC wrote:

Banc of California Stadium. One of the posters on MLSSoccer dot com called it Blue Oyster Cult Stadium, umlaut included...

Its on the same location as the old L.A. Sports Arena. Right next door to the L.A. Coliseum where the Rams play.

Well, LAFC seems to inherited the fan base of Chivas USA, which is no surprise. To explain there, someone had the "brilliant" idea of affiliating a franchise with a major Mexican team and they chose CD Guadalajara, colloquially known as Chivas, which means "Goats" in Spanish with a new franchise to groundshare with LA Galaxy at the stadium in Carson. That was a bad choice because the Chivas is undergoing some ownership issues. Like, the guy is an apathetic bastard who seems content with the team finishing mid-table while he and his wife live it up, and he refuses to sell. He paid even less attention to the JV squad up north, after about 8 years of bottom-table finishes MLS Commissioner Don Garber cried "Foul", tore up the paperwork, and announced that the franchise would be put in a box until a new, locally-ownership could be assembled.

And boy was one. Nothing says "Los Angeles" like lots of celebrities. Magic Johnson. Mia Hamm and Nomar Garciaparra. And a lot more. But the fans seem to be the mainly the Mexican demographic that MLS was targeting with Chivas USA. The problem is that many seem to have brought the unruly fan behavior once endemic in Mexico north with them. It was never a problem when Chivas USA were playing in Carson because the team was so bad that they could get an enthusiastic crowd for games. Half-full stadium and there are some guys banging on drums to no avail. But LAFC have been winning and selling out BoC, it's been loud, it's been raucous, all you want from your fans because you are giving them what they want. However, some few have been crossing that line. Last season when LAFC fell out of the playoffs to Real Salt Lake some of the fans started throwing debris, including half-full beer cans, onto the pitch. Last week when the team lost 1-3 to Sounders the scene was repeated, only worse. Beer cans continued to rain down from the upper deck for at least 10 minutes after the final whistle.

There is pressure being place upon MLS to punish LAFC for this, up to and including a stadium ban, basically forcing them to play a home game in an empty house. There is precedence for this. Several years ago a Milan Derby, AC Milan v Inter, was played at an empty San Siro.

TBC wrote:

...MLS Commissioner Don Garber cried "Foul", tore up the paperwork, and announced that the franchise would be put in a box until a new, locally-ownership could be assembled.

And boy was one. Nothing says "Los Angeles" like lots of celebrities. Magic Johnson. Mia Hamm and Nomar Garciaparra. And a lot more. But the fans seem to be the mainly the Mexican demographic that MLS was targeting with Chivas USA. The problem is that many seem to have brought the unruly fan behavior once endemic in Mexico north with them. It was never a problem when Chivas USA were playing in Carson because the team was so bad that they could get an enthusiastic crowd for games. Half-full stadium and there are some guys banging on drums to no avail. But LAFC have been winning and selling out BoC, it's been loud, it's been raucous, all you want from your fans because you are giving them what they want. However, some few have been crossing that line. Last season when LAFC  fell out of the playoffs to Real Salt Lake some of the fans started throwing debris, including half-full beer cans, onto the pitch. Last week when the team lost 1-3 to Sounders the scene was repeated, only worse. Beer cans continued to rain down from the upper deck for at least 10 minutes after the final whistle.

There is pressure being place upon MLS to punish LAFC for this, up to and including a stadium ban, basically forcing them to play a home game in an empty house. There is precedence for this. Several years ago a Milan Derby, AC Milan v Inter, was played at an empty San Siro.  

Magic has his hands in a lot of franchises here in L.A. Makes perfect sense to have Mia and Nomar as part owners.

TPTB and I made a bad choice and went downtown one Sunday. We decided to park the car and take the train. Man was that a bad idea.
There was an LAFC game being played and we were on a train full of fans. Man-o-man, there was screaming and hollering throughout the ride. Needless to say, if things got rough, I was going to feed Kriss to the masses and make a break for it.