MLS and USL Thread 2021

[METALMAN]

Sporting Kansas City is possibly the lamest name in all football.

Not to mention that a few of the more generic sounding English language ones are being misuded. The appendage "united" was originally used to denote teams that formed as a result of a merger of two or more teams. Hence "united". It's improper just to stick it after Atlanta, DC or Minnesota just because you feel like it.

But that's a minor quibble. It doesn't sound outright naff, whereas Sporting Kansas City most definitely does.

I get why these silly names are being used though. Following soccer is used as a calling card by a lot of Americans to basically say "hey, look at us! We are cultured and Europeanised and outward-looking which is why we like soccer!" and I guess silly team names taken from the British/Spanish/Portuguese/whatever tradition is an extension of that. Can't wait until the next expansion where we get Borussia Tuscaloosa and Spartak Oklahoma City.

[Szumi]

I think we can all agree that Philadelphia Union is the best name.

[Colly]

On 11/01/2021 at 14:24, OctoberRaven said:

also the obviously ripping off the UEFA Champions League star ball and the clip art gator.

Very late to the party, but the gradient fill on the shield just tops the whole thing off nicely.

[Hobo]

3 hours ago, It's Pronounced Zoom-E said:

I think we can all agree that Philadelphia Union is the best name.

Should be Philladelpia & Hove Albion, IMHO

[Szumi]

25 minutes ago, ...Hobo said:

Should be Philladelpia & Hove Albion, IMHO

Don't you talk shit on my home state club 😔 

[Hobo]

At least you have one! Zero teams from where I am from play in the top tiers of irish football.

 

[OctoberRaven]

7 hours ago, metalman said:

Sporting Kansas City is possibly the lamest name in all football.

Personally I dislike New York Red Bulls more, as it has the double whammy of being named after an energy drink and having a name lifted directly from a bigger club.

It also kind of bugs me that they're thriving but the New York Cosmos, a club who had a lot of promise and was a revival of a club that was super important to the history of US footy (friggin Pele played for the original Cosmos!) is on it's deathbed. 

One thing I will loathe about our inevitable cyberpunk future is that they won't be the last corporate-named team either. We're only a couple decades away from Hardee's Presents San Antonio Flaming Hot Cheetos.

 

Also Zoom-E is dead on Philadelphia Union is an excellent "American-Style" footy name. It's no Fort Lauderdale Strikers, but hey, nothing is.

[Adam]

See, I always thought the Red Bulls was quite an American-style name. All about branding and capitalism after all! It is a bit gross though. Wasn't the original team name "MetroStars" also because of some company/brand tie-in?

Which bigger club is the name lifted from though? New York's Red Bull affiliation pre-dates RB Leipzig.

[OctoberRaven]

7 minutes ago, Adam said:

Which bigger club is the name lifted from though? New York's Red Bull affiliation pre-dates RB Leipzig.

Huh. Thought it was the other way around. My point about the corporate branding still stands, though.

EDIT- RB Salzburg, that's who I was thinking of.

Also by "American-style" name I meant having what'd normally be a club's nickname as part of the official name, like the NFL teams. Which I guess NYRB kind of fits, but not in the way that Philly Union or the Strikers does. After all there's no NFL teams with a name like, say, Arizona Iced Teas. Yet, anyway.

[METALMAN]

Tbf Arizona Iced Teas would be a brilliant name for a team. I would support them 

Oh wait I didn’t realise Arizona was a US drinks company. It would still be quite funny though.

[GoGo Yubari]

45 minutes ago, Adam said:

See, I always thought the Red Bulls was quite an American-style name. All about branding and capitalism after all! It is a bit gross though. Wasn't the original team name "MetroStars" also because of some company/brand tie-in?

Yeah, the original owners had a company called Metromedia. The team name outlived the company by nearly a decade, though, I think.

[gunnar hendershow]

First, regarding CF Montreal. Olympique Montreal was sitting right there (I mean, in some ways literally since they play in Montreal's Parc Olympique). But Montreal Impact is, frankly, better because it ties nicely with American team naming conventions while not being awkward sounding nickname. When the league started it had a ton of 90s-tastic names, but fortunately the best one (Colorado Rapids) has lasted. Some expansion teams (Seattle Sounders, Portland Timbers, Vancouver Whitecaps) have excellent nicknames, but then you get to Real Salt Lake and then heap of generic FCs and it sounds pretty forced. Like they're trying to make the league sound more legitimate or something. I guess we're fortunate most of the incoming teams have gone with the generic FC instead of doing something as a "nod" to more successful clubs. Charlotte Juniors or AC St. Louis would sound pretty awkward.

[Szumi]

5 hours ago, ...Hobo said:

At least you have one! Zero teams from where I am from play in the top tiers of irish football.

 

It's a 3 hour drive to get there, in fairness. With turnpike tolls, gas, and parking, it's about $80 to go to a game and back, before you even add tickets and such. It's a real bitch.

[Colly]

One of the BBC continuity announcers does tips and exercises to show what the job involves. Imagine doing that replacement show justice in 15 seconds.

 

[gunnar hendershow]

13 hours ago, It's Pronounced Zoom-E said:

It's a 3 hour drive to get there, in fairness. With turnpike tolls, gas, and parking, it's about $80 to go to a game and back, before you even add tickets and such. It's a real bitch.

With DC United moving from RFK it probably takes less time for me to drive up to Chester for a Union game than going down to Audi Field. At least when I factor in probable traffic on the highways down around DC. Whereas Philadelphia traffic doesn't hit until like right after Subaru Park.

Yet I am firmly in "DC United's market" as the league sees it.

[Lowerdeck]

14 hours ago, damshow said:

Charlotte Juniors or AC St. Louis would sound pretty awkward.

St. Louis City SC is still kinda weird.  Don't care for "City" being added. And according to Wiki, apparently there was an AC St. Louis back in 2010.

 

13 hours ago, It's Pronounced Zoom-E said:

It's a 3 hour drive to get there, in fairness. With turnpike tolls, gas, and parking, it's about $80 to go to a game and back, before you even add tickets and such. It's a real bitch.

I take it you're not close to Pittsburgh either.

[OctoberRaven]

19 hours ago, ...Hobo said:

At least you have one! Zero teams from where I am from play in the top tiers of irish football.

 

 

14 hours ago, It's Pronounced Zoom-E said:

It's a 3 hour drive to get there, in fairness. With turnpike tolls, gas, and parking, it's about $80 to go to a game and back, before you even add tickets and such. It's a real bitch.

There's always local teams in the lower leagues, you could always give them some love.

[Szumi]

I'm in Central PA so Philly is 2.5-3.5 hours depending on where I'm going and the time of day because of how awful 76/95 is. Pittsburgh is 3.5-4 hours away and an even worse drive 🤣

@OctoberRaven I don't have any known lower league teams nearby anymore. I'm an hour away from Harrisburg, but the City Islanders folded, although the indoor Heat are still a thing 😛 The only other lower league sides that I know of are Reading and I believe another Lehigh Valley team, that are like 4th tier and still 2 hours away.

In summation, I'm driving a good distance if I want any kind of soccer 👎

[Hobo]

21 minutes ago, OctoberRaven said:

 

There's always local teams in the lower leagues, you could always give them some love.

pfft, literally played for my local team!

 

20 plus years ago

 

for the under 12s

 

I cleared the ball out for a corner once in a 10-1 defeat and never played again 

 

 

[OctoberRaven]

Oof, that sucks @It's Pronounced Zoom-E. Deciding on supporting Himmarshee FC is a no-brainer for me because the core membership were leaders of Flight 19, the Strikers official supporter group. It'd be about an hour drive to see the matches once the plague ends but I fully plan on doing so when it's safe to do so. There isn't any official tiers past 4 but the Gold Coast League would probably be like 6th tier or something, but it's a club I can easily identify with especially as the main raison d'etre is continuing the Strikers legacy.

If I were to choose a Miami team, well outside of Miami FC there's like... a lot of them. Basically the only names not taken are Miami Fusion and Miami Toros.