What's new
By:
USCHO Fan Forum

This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

  • The USCHO Fan Forum has migrated to a new plaform, xenForo. Most of the function of the forum should work in familiar ways. Please note that you can switch between light and dark modes by clicking on the gear icon in the upper right of the main menu bar. We are hoping that this new platform will prove to be faster and more reliable. Please feel free to explore its features.

World Soccer XII: South Africa Awaits

Status
Not open for further replies.
Re: World Soccer XII: South Africa Awaits

WeWantMore said:
I'm not really a fan of any specific MLS team, just more of an interested observer.

It's not necessarily Onalfo that I dislike, it's the mindset behind his hire. DC ran with their We Win Trophies campaign last season, and likes to sell themselves as a big time MLS club, a club with history. And to some extent, they are correct.

Now then, why would a club that wins trophies, has history, and so on decide to bring in an MLS retread like Onalfo? I just think if they could have gone bigger with their hire. (The Red Bulls getting Backe for example.)

I want to see DCU do well, their fans deserves loads of credit for continuing to come to that dump of a stadium, I just don't think Onalfo is the man to get them there. Although if he goes, Payne shouldn't be far behind.
Click to expand...

Well, I'm still rather skeptical of the power of a coach to really change things on a team. Coaches make small changes on the margins, the core of players matters more.

And yeah, I would have liked to have seen a bigger name, too - at the same time, coaches don't play. DC's one of the few MLS teams without either a revenue-controlled stadium or one in the works. They can't afford to spend money on coaches that won't actually play.

I'm concerned about the direction of the team, to be sure. However, the bigger issues are all a lot more important than the coaching hire, and the coaching hire alone doesn't explain all the losses (for a while there, the entire starting back line from pre-season was on the shelf).

Fun fact about Bill Hamid - his win at age 19 makes him the youngest goaltender to record a W in MLS - beating Tim Howard by 4 days.
 
Re: World Soccer XII: South Africa Awaits

Ajax wins the KNVB (Dutch) Cup! Smoked Feyenoord 4-1 today at de Kuip in the second leg for a 6-1 aggregate win.
 
Re: World Soccer XII: South Africa Awaits

HumRsky said:
Ajax wins the KNVB (Dutch) Cup!
Click to expand...

Honest question, don't they always? Outside of IT, FR, SP and GB, the only teams I can remember are them, Bayern, and the guys who always win in Turkey (Feyerbach?).
 
Re: World Soccer XII: South Africa Awaits

FC Twente won the league for the first time this season and AZ Alkmaar won their second league title last season. PSV has been better in the Netherlands and Europe than Ajax the past 10-15 years and did win a European Cup in the '80s. Feyenoord is the third of the big 3 and they are the more bitter rival to Ajax. The cup final was changed from a single game at de Kuip to two legs with no away fans due to threats of violence. They haven't been as successful of late, but did win a European Cup in 1970.
 
Last edited:
Re: World Soccer XII: South Africa Awaits

BoomGoestheDynamite said:
In one of the least surprising moves of the year, MLS has decided to continue the conquest of Canada:

http://tsn.ca/soccer/story/?id=320776

The real question is, who gives MLS the nice round number of 20 (and potentially the place where expansion stops for a while)?
Click to expand...

There's buzz about a 2nd NYC team, but the one they currently have can't fill the stadium as is. Garber has also said he wants a team in the Southeast, so maybe Atlanta or Miami?
 
Re: World Soccer XII: South Africa Awaits

WeWantMore said:
There's buzz about a 2nd NYC team, but the one they currently have can't fill the stadium as is. Garber has also said he wants a team in the Southeast, so maybe Atlanta or Miami?
Click to expand...
I would think St Louis, St Paul and Atlanta have to be front runners. I'm sorry but Florida isn't going to work.
 
Re: World Soccer XII: South Africa Awaits

Shirtless Guy said:
I would think St Louis, St Paul and Atlanta have to be front runners. I'm sorry but Florida isn't going to work.
Click to expand...

Minnesota has the most youth soccer, but we didn't seem to support the Thunder very well. Other than the couple year run in A league where they were title contenders.
 
Re: World Soccer XII: South Africa Awaits

JF_Gophers said:
Minnesota has the most youth soccer, but we didn't seem to support the Thunder very well. Other than the couple year run in A league where they were title contenders.
Click to expand...
I would follow an MLS team...just don't give a crap about the Thunder, doesn't help that they are in Blaine and not St Paul. Personally I think St. Louis is the front runner.
 
Re: World Soccer XII: South Africa Awaits

Shirtless Guy said:
I would follow an MLS team...just don't give a crap about the Thunder, doesn't help that they are in Blaine and not St Paul. Personally I think St. Louis is the front runner.
Click to expand...

Thats the problem though. Had the Thunder been better supported they could of moved up to MLS instead of being disbanded.

I really enjoyed going to Striker and Kicks games back in the good old days of indoor soccer.
 
Re: World Soccer XII: South Africa Awaits

It'd be nice if someday Phoenix was at least in the discussion for an new MLS team. :(
 
Re: World Soccer XII: South Africa Awaits

Bob Gray said:
It'd be nice if someday Phoenix was at least in the discussion for an new MLS team. :(
Click to expand...

Given MLS's summer schedule, a Phoenix team would be brutal.

You'd pretty much have to play in Glendale, and the only teams that have been able to financially pull off the NFL stadium cohabitation are ones that share ownership between the NFL and MLS teams (New England, Seattle). However, in terms of fan support, atmosphere, etc, there are hardly two MLS teams more different than those two...
 
Re: World Soccer XII: South Africa Awaits

blockski said:
Given MLS's summer schedule, a Phoenix team would be brutal.

You'd pretty much have to play in Glendale, and the only teams that have been able to financially pull off the NFL stadium cohabitation are ones that share ownership between the NFL and MLS teams (New England, Seattle). However, in terms of fan support, atmosphere, etc, there are hardly two MLS teams more different than those two...
Click to expand...
I think you had the same problem with the southeast...so as much as MLS wants to have a team in southeast, Florida, Atlanta and Birmingham don't really seem like good ideas based on the MLS summer schedule.
 
Re: World Soccer XII: South Africa Awaits

Shirtless Guy said:
I think you had the same problem with the southeast...so as much as MLS wants to have a team in southeast, Florida, Atlanta and Birmingham don't really seem like good ideas based on the MLS summer schedule.
Click to expand...

I don't think those places would really be all that different from Houston.

It's all kinda academic anyway. MLS has rightly gone away from trying to pick markets where they think soccer will be successful and instead are focusing on markets with a strong and dedicated ownership group with a good stadium situation. Recent successes (Seattle, Toronto, and proven USL attendance successes in Montreal and Portland) show a shift towards urban audiences away from suburban soccer mom and team kinds of audiences.
 
Re: World Soccer XII: South Africa Awaits

BoomGoestheDynamite said:
In one of the least surprising moves of the year, MLS has decided to continue the conquest of Canada:

http://tsn.ca/soccer/story/?id=320776

The real question is, who gives MLS the nice round number of 20 (and potentially the place where expansion stops for a while)?
Click to expand...

If they change their name to the Expos then fans would have all the gear ready to go...Andre Dawson can play goalie.
 
Re: World Soccer XII: South Africa Awaits

blockski said:
I don't think those places would really be all that different from Houston.

It's all kinda academic anyway. MLS has rightly gone away from trying to pick markets where they think soccer will be successful and instead are focusing on markets with a strong and dedicated ownership group with a good stadium situation. Recent successes (Seattle, Toronto, and proven USL attendance successes in Montreal and Portland) show a shift towards urban audiences away from suburban soccer mom and team kinds of audiences.
Click to expand...

If a team can play outdoors in Houston, it could do so in Phoenix. And of course if the D-backs play a whole summer of baseball in Phoenix, then MLS certainly could also. I think a deal with the D-backs to use their retractable dome stadium makes more sense than Glendale. You play inside the dome, you don't worry about hot weather. Certainly summer weather is something that has to be dealt with, but it certainly could be.
 
Re: World Soccer XII: South Africa Awaits

It'll be St. Louis.

It's GOT to be St. Louis.

Phoenix... sorry, BG, but baseball in the heat isn't the same as soccer in the heat.

My true wish would be Milwaukee. But we don't have a stadium (and no real plans to get one). Frankly, I'd be happy if the Bavarian Soccer Club stumbled into some money, and tried to go for a USL/Whatever our D2 league is team.
 
Re: World Soccer XII: South Africa Awaits

I'd love Rochester, but it's a pipedream. I'm thinking St. Louis or somewhere in the Southeast.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top