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World Soccer XVIII: A New Season

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Re: World Soccer XVIII: A New Season

Craig P. said:
MLS splits by division and for most of its history has not had a balanced schedule.
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Yes, but this year they do have a balanced schedule, and yet they keep the same playoff rules. It doesn't make sense.

As for "splits by division" I was referring to the way the playoffs work. NBA, NHL, and MLB all keep the divisions separate, MLS mixes and matches.
 
Re: World Soccer XVIII: A New Season

In this day and age, conferences/divisions are really meaningless except in baseball, thanks to the DH. Truly, do people care about the Western Conference in the NBA or NHL? or the NFC/AFC distinctions in the NFL?

Frankly, they could all goto a single league format, take the top 12/16, and go from there. Keep the smaller divisions for scheduling purposes and playoff spots, if desired.
 
Re: World Soccer XVIII: A New Season

WeWantMore said:
Yes, but this year they do have a balanced schedule, and yet they keep the same playoff rules. It doesn't make sense.

As for "splits by division" I was referring to the way the playoffs work. NBA, NHL, and MLB all keep the divisions separate, MLS mixes and matches.
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Personally, I'd like a single division with no playoffs and the league champ is decided with the best record at the end like they do over there, but the playoffs make a boatload of money for MLS.
 
Re: World Soccer XVIII: A New Season

No matter how they take the top 1,2 or 3...once they do that..why not seed the remaining teams according to results?...LA outpointed RB to win the shield and gets the 4th team from the West while RB gets the 6th team from the west...it was completely possible to give LA the 6th team and RB the 5th/4th. Once they went to the 'next 4 teams' it isn't a stretch to give the worst of the 4 to the top seed, regardless of conference. That isn't the same as the NFC West getting a team in while the AFC East sends a team to play golf...in the NFL they never cross until the SB...if they cross seed then why throw out the traditional top-worst seeding?
 
Re: World Soccer XVIII: A New Season

MountieBoyOz said:
Personally, I'd like a single division with no playoffs and the league champ is decided with the best record at the end like they do over there, but the playoffs make a boatload of money for MLS.
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I have no problems with MLS having playoffs. I really enjoy watching knockout soccer, especially over two legs. Very entertaining.
 
Re: World Soccer XVIII: A New Season

MLS has kept the playoff structure pretty much the same for it's entire existence. They specifically chose that kind of structure and qualification format because they knew the league would be expanding and changing relatively rapidly.

Considering that this is the first season in a long time that's had a balanced schedule - and the fact that the divisions have not even been static - hell, there were 3 divisions for a little while there - it's not a bad format at all.

Basically, if they just called them Group A and Group B instead of the Eastern Conference and Western Conference, no one would have an issue with it.
 
Re: World Soccer XVIII: A New Season

blockski said:
Basically, if they just called them Group A and Group B instead of the Eastern Conference and Western Conference, no one would have an issue with it.
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I don't think that's true.
WeWantMore said:
I have no problems with MLS having playoffs. I really enjoy watching knockout soccer, especially over two legs. Very entertaining.
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I agree with this. This is North America, and on this continent we have playoffs at the end of our regular seasons to determine the champions.

Edit to add: Despite WCHA fans' protests to the contrary. :p
 
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Re: World Soccer XVIII: A New Season

blockski said:
Basically, if they just called them Group A and Group B instead of the Eastern Conference and Western Conference, no one would have an issue with it.
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Um, no. The Eastern-Western thing is funny because it gives the chance for Colorado or somebody to be champs of the East, but I don't think anyone really has "an issue" with it.

What people have "an issue" with is the fact that LA won the Supporters Shield, yet they get rewarded with a trip to Seattle, while New York finish behind LA, yet get the easier series with San Jose.
 
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Re: World Soccer XVIII: A New Season

WeWantMore said:
What people have "an issue" with is the fact that LA won the Supporters Shield, yet they get rewarded with a trip to Seattle, while New York finish behind LA, yet get the easier series with Colorado.
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Red Bull is playing San Jose, not Colorado. Just saying.
 
Re: World Soccer XVIII: A New Season

blockski said:
Basically, if they just called them Group A and Group B instead of the Eastern Conference and Western Conference, no one would have an issue with it.
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No, because it's the way the teams were seeded and placed that's the issue, not where they came from to get there.
 
Re: World Soccer XVIII: A New Season

Right, so LA has to go to Seattle, not San Jose. And if they can't beat Seattle in a home and home, then they don't deserve to advance. Seattle's not a great team, either. We're talking about 48 points instead of 46 - a team that's 14-10-6 instead of 13-10-7.

Point being, I don't think the seeding is all that important because it's not that precise. Seattle's not a very good team. And you will often have quite good teams that slip down in the standings because of poor play that doesn't reflect their talent - it happens all the time.

My personal proposal for the playoffs would be to keep the two 'conferences' as-is, but have a round of group play, with the top seed hosting all three games and the lowest seed traveling to all three. We'll see how that changes as the league evolves.

unofan said:
No, because it's the way the teams were seeded and placed that's the issue, not where they came from to get there.
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And in most seasons, "where they came from" matters a great deal for seeding because of the unbalanced schedule. I guess I'm not seeing the outrage here, or any real reason to change the playoff format for a league that's going to be changing even more over the next 2-3 years.
 
Re: World Soccer XVIII: A New Season

But in a two leg aggregate series, away games matter. You honestly don't think playing in front of 36,000+ Seattle fans is different from 10,000 or so San Jose fans? I understand the argument that to be the champ you have to beat everyone at some point, but seeing as earlier you proclaimed the benefits given to the MLS regular season champ greater than those given to any other regular season champ in American sports (or something similar I admit I forget the exact phrasing), I would say this is a significant blow to that argument.

I guess the point is, it isn't like fixing this would require some Herculean effort on the part of MLS. It would have just taken a tiny bit of foresight before the season started to say, "Hey, the schedule is balanced, we should eliminate the possibility of the SS winner getting shortchanged." Would have taken one meeting to sort it out.
 
Re: World Soccer XVIII: A New Season

WeWantMore said:
But in a two leg aggregate series, away games matter. You honestly don't think playing in front of 36,000+ Seattle fans is different from 10,000 or so San Jose fans? I understand the argument that to be the champ you have to beat everyone at some point, but seeing as earlier you proclaimed the benefits given to the MLS regular season champ greater than those given to any other regular season champ in American sports (or something similar I admit I forget the exact phrasing), I would say this is a significant blow to that argument.

I guess the point is, it isn't like fixing this would require some Herculean effort on the part of MLS. It would have just taken a tiny bit of foresight before the season started to say, "Hey, the schedule is balanced, we should eliminate the possibility of the SS winner getting shortchanged." Would have taken one meeting to sort it out.
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Yeah, but if Seattle ties one game and SJ wins one more and they seeded by straight record, then LA is still "screwed" by having to play in front of Seattle's crowd. Is it a disadvantage to LA? Sure, but that has everything to do with playing in Seattle rather than where Seattle is seeded.

I appreciate MLS's effort in not shifting their playoff structure every other season. If they're going to change it, then change it wholesale. Guess what - the Supporter's Shield winner has been getting shortchanged for a while now. If you want to really give the top seeds an advantage, then ditch first round home and away in favor of a 3 game group - a minor change like shifting one seed isn't much of a reward.

And when I said earlier that MLS regards their regular season champs better than any other league, that's in terms of prestige amongst fans - not playoff seeding. As I said, SS winners have been getting screwed by this system (which aims to get at least one home game for each playoff participant) for a long time. Nevertheless, fans regard a Supporter's Shield as a proud accomplishment for their team, while other North American leagues tend to view is as a noose around their neck (see the Washington Capitals, 2009 - or the Seattle Mariners, 2001).
 
Re: World Soccer XVIII: A New Season

Rest in Peace, Paul.

Paul-Octopus.jpg


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/26/AR2010102601405.html

BERLIN -- Sea Life Aquarium says that Paul the Octopus who gained worldwide fame with his perfect World Cup predictions has died. He was 2 1/2.

Aquarium spokeswoman Ariane Vieregge in Oberhausen said Tuesday that Paul seemed fine when checked on late Monday night but was found dead in his tank Tuesday morning.

She says that it was normal for an octopus of his type to die at that age and that he had died of natural causes.

Paul correctly predicted the outcome of all seven of Germany's games plus Spain's victory over the Netherlands in the final.
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Re: World Soccer XVIII: A New Season

Man U and Tottenham tomorrow at 12:30 on ESPN. Should be a good match.

Portsmouth goes for 4 straight wins, and 19 out of 21 points against Nottingham Forest tomorrow...Fratton Park is SOLD OUT. Guess if the club's on the brink of disappearing, people will come out to support!
 
Re: World Soccer XVIII: A New Season

I found a radio stream for Portsmouth games! :) :) :)

Pompey wins again! 2-1 over Nottingham Forest. 19 out of 21 points.
 
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Re: World Soccer XVIII: A New Season

That is the absolute WORST goal I have ever seen awarded. Nani grabbed the ball WITH TWO HANDS, Gomes picked it up, everyone ran up the field for the obvious free kick, Nani kicks it in the net, and it is allowed.

THAT IS AN ABSOLUTE JOKE.
 
Re: World Soccer XVIII: A New Season

AMC said:
That is the absolute WORST goal I have ever seen awarded. Nani grabbed the ball WITH TWO HANDS, Gomes picked it up, everyone ran up the field for the obvious free kick, Nani kicks it in the net, and it is allowed.

THAT IS AN ABSOLUTE JOKE.
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No less than you would expect from Mark Clattenburg.
 
Re: World Soccer XVIII: A New Season

AMC said:
That is the absolute WORST goal I have ever seen awarded. Nani grabbed the ball WITH TWO HANDS, Gomes picked it up, everyone ran up the field for the obvious free kick, Nani kicks it in the net, and it is allowed.

THAT IS AN ABSOLUTE JOKE.
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Was just going to come talk about that. I feel for you, however isn't a decent portion of the blame on Gomes?
Why assume you've been given a free kick?
 
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