The MLS/USL/NWSL Thread

[Lineker]

Quote

The Orlando Pride apologized after a supporters’ group was told it could not display a banner that used the word “gay” at a match this weekend.

The Black Swans group’s banner was in reference to Florida’s recent legislation dubbed by critics as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. The supporters’ group said on Twitter that their sign was deemed to be political and removed.

In the fallout, the front office for the National Women’s Soccer League team said it would meet with the group to find out what happened.

“These conversations resulted in one ultimate and important conclusion: a mistake was made when the club asked the Black Swans to remove the banner that said ‘GAY,’” the team said on Tuesday in a statement.

The Pride’s statement said the team wrongly focused on policies and procedures surrounding signs and banners, rather than the meaning of the message. The team was playing the opening match of the NWSL’s Challenge Cup against the Washington Spirit on Saturday.

The Pride have long championed LGBTQ+ rights, and there are 49 rainbow-colored seats at their home stadium to honor those killed in the Pulse nightclub shooting in 2016.

Late last month, the Pride and Major League Soccer’s Orlando City issued a statement condemning the legislation, which is awaiting Governor Ron DeSantis’ signature.

“Our city is no stranger to the dangers that come from hateful rhetoric and intolerance. We oppose the Florida legislation which promotes ostracization and discrimination of LGBTQ+ students in our schools and their families,” the statement said.

The team said it is committed to communication with the fans going forward.

“It is a privilege and duty to create a safe, inclusive environment at Orlando Pride matches, and the club deeply apologizes for violating that trust through this incorrect decision. Moving forward, the Black Swans have approval to hang the banner at Pride home matches if they wish to do so,” the team said.

 

[GoGo Yubari]

Sounders Watch: Made it to the semifinals of CONCACAF Champions League, where we'll be facing defending MLS Cup Champs New York City FC. On the other side of the bracket it's Liga MX vs. Liga MX in Cruz Azul vs. Pumas, the latter of whom benefitted from the New England Revolution absolutely collapsing on the road after a 3-0 home leg win, giving up three goals in the away leg and then losing the PK shootout. We're doing mediocre in league play but that's very much the lower priority right now so that's fine.

Meanwhile my other local pro team in OL Reign have moved back up to Seattle after three years in Tacoma and are now playing in Lumen Field, same stadium as the Sounders and Seahawks, which is good and hopefully is where they play for a good long while. How's 2022 shaping up for the other people who follow teams over here?

[fourstarfizzle]

A new 'Kings of the South' fan cup has been developed by some of the SG's of Atlanta, Nashville, Charlotte and DC, their take on the Cascadia Cup, end of season whoever tops the mini league gets the belt. I got the honour of designing it and I'm really looking forward to seeing it in person in a few weeks when I fly to the US for the Charlotte/ATL road game.

Detail pics below

Spoiler

 

 

Edited March 24, 2022 by fourstarfizzle

[GoGo Yubari]

That's really cool. You have to be impressed with what the teams in the southeast are doing. Atlanta are facing some hardships now but they're one of the model expansion clubs in league history, it took Orlando City some time to figure it out but hiring one of the very best coaches in the league and letting him do his thing is never a bad idea and  they're on the right track, Nashville is an absolute pain in the ass to play against and not much fun to watch (Gary Smith, baby!) but they get results and a stout defense-first team will always be a contender if they can make the playoffs, and Charlotte drew a massive home crowd and that'll hopefully give them some leeway as they figure out what they're doing.

[gunnar hendershow]

That's really neat. Interesting after years of being rivals with New York and Philadelphia and New England that DC has sort of pivoted to being a southern team now. Very much in line with my experience living in Maryland.

I don't think the teams we follow in my house - DC and Montreal - have particularly rosy seasons ahead of them. Playoff berths and early exits feel the ceiling for both.

[Szumi]

It's funny that Nashville is involved in that since they are now in the Western Conference for the year 🤣

It is amazing though how much the SE region has embraced the game. Atlanta gets so many fans every week, and now Charlotte breaks their attendance record (although I question if that fanbase will stay in the high numbers with the astronomical ticket prices). Miami though continues to be a joke!

 

It's so frustrating that Bruce Arena yet again shit the bed in a big game in that CCL match. He has no plan B, and teams are able to just torch his diamond now. I am really intrigued by the Sounders/NaziFC match in the SF because I think both could win the CCL finally. Seattle is definitely the better side, but I think Taty and Maxi are now the better individual talents who can change a match on their own. I just want MLS to win dammit!

I am very excited about my Philadelphia Union this season. I think we are in with a huge chance of both theShield and MLS Cup. We are off to a great start, and that's with our record signing Mikael Uhre hardly on the pitch yet. I think Carranza is going to be a steal for us because of Miami's incompetent leadership. He fits our style well. As long as we have strikers who score goals, manage Bedoya's minutes this season better, and keep Kai Wagner and El Brujo this summer, I think we can finally do it.

Honestly, Ale Bedoya might be the most underrated player in MLS over the last decade. He is so good, and honestly could easily still be doing a job for the USMNT in midfield.

 

[GoGo Yubari]

1 hour ago, Szumi - A Polack said:

Miami though continues to be a joke!

Miami being so bad that they managed to convincingly lose to FC Cincinnati somehow might be more embarrassing than them breaking the roster rules to try and overload on star players and then all that got them was scraping into the playoffs and going out immediately. I hope Chris Henderson can right that ship, especially because Deandre Yedlin's there now (which sucks as a Sounders fan but honestly it wouldn't have made sense to break the bank for him as long as we still have Alex Roldan) but yeeeeeeesh.

[Szumi]

3 hours ago, GoGo Yubari said:

Miami being so bad that they managed to convincingly lose to FC Cincinnati somehow might be more embarrassing than them breaking the roster rules to try and overload on star players and then all that got them was scraping into the playoffs and going out immediately. I hope Chris Henderson can right that ship, especially because Deandre Yedlin's there now (which sucks as a Sounders fan but honestly it wouldn't have made sense to break the bank for him as long as we still have Alex Roldan) but yeeeeeeesh.

Cincy are going to turn it around now that they have Pat Noonan on the sideline, Chris Albright running things, and multiple Union players in the squad! 😑

[fourstarfizzle]

15 hours ago, damhausen said:

That's really neat. Interesting after years of being rivals with New York and Philadelphia and New England that DC has sort of pivoted to being a southern team now. Very much in line with my experience living in Maryland.

I don't think the teams we follow in my house - DC and Montreal - have particularly rosy seasons ahead of them. Playoff berths and early exits feel the ceiling for both.

I think DC were invited as more of an 'Original South' historical link for the US, plus they needed a 4th team and as many folks in the south say "Florida ain't the South".

Having lived in Atlanta for the first 5 years of the teams existence and being a season ticket holder, it's still a big rebuilding process there now and I often find the current lineup still so alien to me, having Bocanegra dismantle the MLS Cup winning team, I feel they really still need a general in the middle to do the amazing work Darlington Nagbe did just controlling the play and supporting the backline. Until they get that order it's still a bit messy in midfield and teams are exploiting it.

Edited March 25, 2022 by fourstarfizzle

[Szumi]

15 hours ago, fourstarfizzle said:

I think DC were invited as more of an 'Original South' historical link for the US, plus they needed a 4th team and as many folks in the south say "Florida ain't the South".

Having lived in Atlanta for the first 5 years of the teams existence and being a season ticket holder, it's still a big rebuilding process there now and I often find the current lineup still so alien to me, having Bocanegra dismantle the MLS Cup winning team, I feel they really still need a general in the middle to do the amazing work Darlington Nagbe did just controlling the play and supporting the backline. Until they get that order it's still a bit messy in midfield and teams are exploiting it.

It's truly scaring to think how good Atlanta would be if they had any proper person running the football side of things. I loved Boca as a player but he's clearly terrible at his job. Atlanta are mediocre in spite of him.

[fourstarfizzle]

9 hours ago, Szumi - A Polack said:

It's truly scaring to think how good Atlanta would be if they had any proper person running the football side of things. I loved Boca as a player but he's clearly terrible at his job. Atlanta are mediocre in spite of him.

They are the FO is fully behind him, Felipe Cardenas did a big article on him for The Athletic with ex players and how they didn't want to leave and whatnot and how he's been instrumental in the exodus of players. The the FO tried to smear campaign Felipe for the article. Really quite disappointing.

[OctoberRaven]

Meanwhile, in the USOC, Michigan Stars lost to Detroit FC.

Detroit's supporters group is one of the most passionate in the US, and one of their traditions is using smoke flares to celebrate goals.

Again, the smoke flares go off after a goal is confirmed.

Meanwhile, the good folks at Northern Guard Supporters (DCFC's SG) do what they do...

EDIT- And they're not the only ones mocking Michigan's bullshit:

 

[gunnar hendershow]

After another disastrous defeat to a terrible team I think it's time to accept that by ditching the greatest logo in MLS history, the New England Revolution are now cursed.

[GoGo Yubari]

Congrats to Leonardo Campana of Inter Miami on getting a hat trick and becoming the first Miami player to do so. The only MLS teams to never have a player get a hat trick now are relative MLS infants Charlotte and Austin, absolute trash fire FC Cincinnati, and somehow, hilariously, Portland Timbers.

[VerbalPuke]

On 07/04/2022 at 20:08, OctoberRaven said:

Meanwhile, in the USOC, Michigan Stars lost to Detroit FC.

Detroit's supporters group is one of the most passionate in the US, and one of their traditions is using smoke flares to celebrate goals.

Again, the smoke flares go off after a goal is confirmed.

Meanwhile, the good folks at Northern Guard Supporters (DCFC's SG) do what they do...

EDIT- And they're not the only ones mocking Michigan's bullshit:

 

Heh, yeah the Northern Guard can get pretty wild. Not like in a bad way, but they're rowdy. I've been wanting to go to a game, its in a cool part of Hamtramck. 

[OctoberRaven]

If I ever go to Detroit (I do have family there) I'd probably check out a match myself.

[Lineker]

Quote

The 20th anniversary of the film Bend It Like Beckham has been widely celebrated this month, but an unauthorized sequel of sorts is making waves in Miami.

The mini-documentary, crassly tag-lined ‘Don’t Bend Over For Beckham’, isn’t exactly canon. It’s less the seminal tale of female footballers that inspired a generation, and more a castigation of what critics call a “billion-dollar real estate heist” by the owners of Beckham’s Inter Miami soccer franchise – all under the guise of another stadium project involving public land and the taxpayer’s purse.

“Soccer is the shiny object, it’s the distraction here. It’s the loss leader for a land grab of the largest parcel of property owned by the people of the city of Miami,” the filmmaker and Miami native Billy Corben tells the Guardian.

City commissioners will vote next week on a pre-negotiated agreement to develop 131 acres of Melreese Park, near Miami International Airport. A ‘Yes’ vote would essentially green light the Miami Freedom Park and Soccer Village project.

The vision includes an office and retail complex, a 750-room hotel and, yes, a 25,000-seater stadium for the third-year MLS franchise. The team currently plays at a temporary (yet rather nice) arena 33 miles away in Fort Lauderdale.

“They could just build a stadium on the property they own in Overtown,” Corben says, referring to a previously preferred site near downtown Miami. “The problem is, it’s only sufficient for a stadium and some parking, and that’s not the plan here. It’s a real estate hustle.”

The team – fronted by Beckham, but backed mainly by local engineering tycoon Jorge Mas – points out the venture is 100% privately funded by the club’s ownership, unlike other high-profile stadium projects.

In a statement, Inter Miami told the Guardian: “The team is aware of a social media campaign aiming to disinform and confuse the public about the impact the Miami Freedom Park project will have on the City and its residents. We believe that everyone has the undeniable right to expect timely, truthful, and accurate information.”

The club goes on to say the deal will contribute $2.6bn in rent and $6.3bn in taxes over the 99-year lease, while generating $11bn for the local economy in the first 30 years. The team pledges over 15,000 jobs, paying at least $15 per hour, and vows to create the “single largest park in the City of Miami”. Inter Miami will foot the bill for decontaminating the land to make this so.

Yet that’s only half the picture, opponents say. The agreement with the city is for a no-bid lease, meaning other suitors couldn’t compete. Meanwhile, the proposed $3.5m annual rent is based upon an appraisal carried out in 2018 – before local rents soared exponentially. Rent payments also won’t be due in full until the stadium is complete. Once the lease is signed, future profits from the development will be overwhelmingly skewed in favor of the perpetual tenant. Opponents say the deal leaves hundreds of millions of dollars on the table, which could boost the tax coffers of one of the poorest cities in the nation, instead of billionaires like Mas.

The Scooby-Doo moment of Corben’s provocative short film reveals David P Samson as the scathing narrator. He’s the former baseball executive who negotiated the legendarily lopsided deal to build Marlins Park with public money.

“When Clarice Starling was going after Buffalo Bill, she went to Hannibal Lecter for help, so that’s what I did,” says Corben, who also directed the documentary Cocaine Cowboys and ESPN 30 for 30’s The U.

During his voiceover, Samson attests the Melreese Park deal is even worse than one he negotiated with the city. “Take it from me,” he says, “someone who actually negotiated with your politicians and almost single-handedly ended stadium public financing... Almost.”

In a follow-up interview Samson explained: “Marlins Park was a baseball stadium deal, Melreese Park is a real estate deal. I feel like people weren’t understanding that.

“There was not one dollar of money in the Marlins Park deal that could have been used for teachers, or police, or fire. It came from existing tax revenue from tourists. We didn’t take money from any other pot,” he claims. “With the Melreese deal there’s a tremendous amount of opportunity cost the city of Miami is leaving on the table because the value of the land for developers is so much greater.”

In this instance, the competitive bidding process – required by the city’s charter – was circumvented by a referendum of city residents, who granted permission for the local government to negotiate with Inter Miami. They have not approved the resulting agreement and won’t be asked to. Instead, it rests on four of the five city commissioners to sign-off, and Manolo Reyes is the only one openly against it.

He describes the stadium describes as “the bait for people to vote for developing that land” and says lawyers representing the city in negotiations reported a staggering 28 outstanding issues with the proposal.

“I don’t know how anyone can vote in favor of this contract when our own attorneys are saying the deal is not good,” he said in an interview. “This contract is extremely favorable to the Mas family; in the amount that they are paying and all the other benefits they are receiving.”

Reyes wants the deal torn up so the city can pursue better terms. Or, better still, keep Melreese Park as the green space and golf course that house’s the city’s First Tee program. It mentors underprivileged youths through golf and provides college scholarships.

Corben, though, isn’t on some crusade to save a golf course. For him, the film is about preventing the latest Miami sports “boondoggle”, from what he calls “oligarch” team owners. It’s a call to action for the city’s residents to demand a more transparent process.

“We are notorious in south Florida and throughout the United States for making some of the worst sports welfare deals in history,” he adds. “I believe David Beckham came here, to some extent, in good faith. I think he just wants soccer. He was looking for properties where he could just put a soccer stadium and some parking lots.

“When Jorge Mas intervened, he wanted to make it a real estate hustle and he recruited David Beckham into this boondoggle. I think it’s been incredibly embarrassing for them.”

The film, which has already amassed around 350,000 views, reserves the most ire for elected officials like the project’s key cheerleader, Miami mayor Francis Suarez, and city manager Arthur Noriega, who handled the negotiations. “These people are ill equipped to negotiate the biggest real estate deal in the history of Miami,” Corben says.

“I don’t begrudge them [Beckham and Mas] trying to negotiate the best deal they possibly can. That’s their job and responsibility to their team. But I want to know who is representing the taxpayers and residents who own that property.”

 

[OctoberRaven]

Meanwhile this week Detroit City, who is in their first season as a USL team, recorded the club's first win over an MLS team

Man if they end up winning the USOC it'd be glorious.

Meanwhile their SG have been calling out other USL sides for making shows of LBGTQ solidarity while having Chik-Fil-A as a sponsor:

 

[fourstarfizzle]

Honetly given up on Atlanta already this season, so many injuries, toothless in attack, nobody is worried about us in possession. We're just a husk of the team from 2018. Not really convinced by Pineda yet either, he's still tinkering and that's a worry he hasn't nailed down his preferred way to play yet.

[gunnar hendershow]

Sounders won the CONCACAF Champions League! First MLS team to win the tournament.