World Soccer XXX: We Have Men Too!

[Jimjamesak]

So Messi > the entire rest of the MLS?

More like Messi > everyone else. He’d likely be doing this no matter where he was playing.

 

[Jimjamesak]

Spain takes the crown 1-0 and without Earps it could've been worse than that for England. What I didn't know until this morning was that many of Spain's older and/or more established players sat out this World Cup because they don't like the coach, which is why they came in as the youngest finalist since 1995. So by keeping him on they may have just fast tracked a generation up an entire cycle.

It’s a bit more than that. Most of the current players on the team can’t stand the coach either, they’re just playing because they got a few concessions from the federation. It’s probably a miracle they won without some drama so far in the tournament.

 

[Jimjamesak]

On Leagues Cup, the amount of copium going through Mexico and Liga MX right now is hilarious. Clearly they thought they were going to steamroll this competition, agreed to the format on that premise and are now upset that they got worked.

I think some format changes are going to happen, Mexico teams having home games will probably be one, but given the tv ratings and the corporate sponsorship response this competition isn’t going anywhere.

 

[SonofSouthie]

Spain captain Olga Carmona, who scored the lone goal in her country's 1-0 win over England in the World Cup final on Sunday morning, learned after the match that her father had died.

"We deeply regret that we must announce the death of Olga Carmona's father," the Royal Spanish Football Federation said in a statement on social media.

 

[Spartanforlife4]

It’s a bit more than that. Most of the current players on the team can’t stand the coach either, they’re just playing because they got a few concessions from the federation. It’s probably a miracle they won without some drama so far in the tournament.

Oh yeah, it sounds like no one really likes him. Just that younger players were more willing to deal with him than the older ones.

And in more great news of the Spanish FA, their president is now getting heat for grabbing a player and forcefully kissing her on the lips during the celebration.

 

[Spartanforlife4]

Went down a wiki rabbit hole this morning and ended up on the AFC Women’s Olympic qualifiers. It appears North Korea is going to enter the sporting world for the first time in three years. The funny thing is they got a bye to the second round based on their ranking (still best in Asia) in January, but then for the second round draw got put into the last pot because they were unranked because they got dropped in March for not being active for 48 months.

And they’re in a group with China and South Korea, so if North Korea is anywhere near their mark when they stopped playing, the group will have three top 20 teams in it.

 

[Jimjamesak]

The Messi effect is real: Leagues Cup Final had over 1.7 million viewers on Univision. No numbers from Apple of course but if even half of the subscribers tuned in that’d be pushing 3 million.

It’ll be interesting to see what the numbers will be for tomorrow’s US Open Cup semifinals on Telemundo/Peacock and CBS Sports/Paramount+.

Meanwhile the USL on ESPN2 had 55k viewers Wednesday night.

 

[Kepler]

N00b question. How owner are MLS owners? To an outsider, it seems the league is run like McDonalds, where a franchise is nominally yours but what is happening is the profit or loss is shared while you get a piece of the action for running a club. Owners seem like management with more cocaine.

Who is actually paying Messi, and who is getting the windfall from the Messi Effect?

 

[Slap Shot]

Is Messi's MLS dominance bad for the league? Alexi actually says no.

 

[Jimjamesak]

N00b question. How owner are MLS owners? To an outsider, it seems the league is run like McDonalds, where a franchise is nominally yours but what is happening is the profit or loss is shared while you get a piece of the action for running a club. Owners seem like management with more cocaine.

Who is actually paying Messi, and who is getting the windfall from the Messi Effect?

MLS “owners” aren’t really owners, the term the league uses is “investor-operator”. Basically, they’ve invested in MLS LLC and now operate one of the teams.

Most of the money that is shared is from things like merchandise, tv, and especially ticket sales. So if teams are able to charge significantly more for Messi games then everyone is making money. If the deal with Apple is providing more money as subscriptions increase, everyone is making money.

As for who’s actually paying Messi? To some extent it’s the league as that’s who technically owns the contract, though as a designated player the Inter Miami I/Os are responsible for most of it. Plus, Apple and Adidas are kicking in a huge chunk.

 

[Jimjamesak]

Is Messi's MLS dominance bad for the league? Alexi actually says no.

I mean, other teams are already talking about having to sign better players to keep up. I just hope it doesn’t end up in an old NASL style arms race.

It’ll be interesting to see how Miami does against Cincinnati tonight in the Open Cup. I wouldn’t say this is their first real test but Cincinnati is certainly the best team they’ll have played so far and it’ll be on the road. Granted, same thing was said about the Philly game and then the Union laid a dud.

 

[Jimjamesak]

CBS/Paramount going with Ray Hudson for the Miami-Cincinnati US Open Cup semifinal and he’s already got some quality Rayisms out:

”He’s got more twists and turns than a cheap garden hose.”

”Softer than a mothers kiss at bedtime…”

 

[Jimjamesak]

The Messi Show continues as Miami advances past Cincinnati on penalties in the Open Cup. Miami is still “winning” but they’re definitely not dominating and against the better teams like Dallas and Cincinnati they’ve needed penalties.

 

[JF_Gophers]

The Messi Show continues as Miami advances past Cincinnati on penalties in the Open Cup. Miami is still “winning” but they’re definitely not dominating and against the better teams like Dallas and Cincinnati they’ve needed penalties.

I saw cincy go up 2-0 at 53 min and decided it was over and didn't look again. Oops.

 

[Jimjamesak]

I saw cincy go up 2-0 at 53 min and decided it was over and didn't look again. Oops.

Missed a whole lot then! :-D

Basically “and then Messi happened” as Messi assisted on two goals from Campana. Miami went up 3-2 in ET before Cincinnati tied it up.

 

[Slap Shot]

A beginner's guide to MLS.

 

[Jimjamesak]

A beginner's guide to MLS.

Ugh, Zealand.

It’s not a bad video and it is somewhat informative. But, though he’s not the worst offender, he’s definitely part of the “I play a bunch of FM or FIFA so therefore I’m totally an expert on soccer and am therefore qualified to post YouTube videos explaining to you what is wrong with US Soccer. It all starts with Gregg Berhalter and MLS…” crowd.

I will say it has been funny to watch that group pivot to actually having to pay attention to MLS because their viewership has basically demanded it.

 

[Slap Shot]

Ugh, Zealand.

It’s not a bad video and it is somewhat informative. But, though he’s not the worst offender, he’s definitely part of the “I play a bunch of FM or FIFA so therefore I’m totally an expert on soccer and am therefore qualified to post YouTube videos explaining to you what is wrong with US Soccer. It all starts with Gregg Berhalter and MLS…” crowd.

I will say it has been funny to watch that group pivot to actually having to pay attention to MLS because their viewership has basically demanded it.

I had never heard of the guy but that video popped up since I've been watching a lot of MLS bits on YT lately and I thought this was somewhat relevant to recent posts here.

 

[Jimjamesak]

I had never heard of the guy but that video popped up since I've been watching a lot of MLS bits on YT lately and I thought this was somewhat relevant to recent posts here.

Sorry, it’s nothing on you. I’m mostly just ranting because that stuff pops on my YT feed a lot and I have to play whack-a-mole to get it off.

I loathe the lot of them because they all just b-h for clicks instead of actually doing something useful to improve things. Take a coaching course, become a referee, volunteer to administrate an amateur club or league. Use Twitch/YouTube money to run a scholarship program for needy kids to play at higher levels. F-king DO SOMETHING to help instead of posting another video and jerking off to your silver play button.

I have more respect for Phillip Anschutz and he’s an evil billionaire, earth raping, Christian nationalist POS. But, he spent hundreds of millions of dollars to keep professional soccer in this country going.

 

[SonofSouthie]

Spanish football federation (RFEF) president Luis Rubiales plans to resign Friday after FIFA opened disciplinary proceedings against him over his unsolicited kiss of player Jenni Hermoso.