2013 Major League Soccer Thread (aka The Ancient Mystical Society of No Timbers)

[Rafael]

Bahia needs another pacy player after their star Gabriel left for Flamengo. Quite shocked that they went for Adu. Is he still good?

[HailtotheYo]

Bahia needs another pacy player after their star Gabriel left for Flamengo. Quite shocked that they went for Adu. Is he still good?

The talent is there, but something is seriously fudged in this kid's head. He needs a place he can be left alone and just play football for a while with no expectation and no worries. Just play. Unfortunately because he's Freddy Adu, that'll never happen.

[Rafael]

It's not like Bahia are pushing for the title, far from that. Players there have pressure, yes, but it doesn't take a lot to become a fan favourite there.

[Szumi]

Adu is not pacey though, nor is he really that much of a winger. He wants to go through the middle, all the time. He has some tricks in his game, some good dribbling, and has shown he can pick out a pass. But he won't beat you with speed, and far too often he opts not to take on a defender and try to force a pass instead. I don't see him ever amounting to anything, to be honest.

[HailtotheYo]

MLS Rivalry Week kicks off with the Atlantic Cup ! WAVE THE BLACK FLAG ! DCU over NYRB please, in a 5-4 goal fest ... with Henry getting 4, would be great.

Going to be a fantastic day for the league. The first match is on NBC proper also, which is freaking great.

[Sweet Holy Moses]

When I first heard about Rival Week, I passed it off as some cheap attempt by MLS to push the fabricated 'rivalries' (Trillium Cup, Brimstone Cup, Pioneer Cup) down our throats. But having TFC v MTL, NYRB v DCU, RSL v COL, SEA v POR, LAG v CHV, FCD v HOU and CHI v SKC is great. Too bad for Columbus and San Jose, though. They're missing out on what could become a staple of the MLS calender.

[GoGo Yubari]

Eh. If they do it again next year it could very easily be LA vs. San Jose. That's honestly a more heated rivalry than LA/Chivas anyway.

NYRB/DCU was good. NYRB the clear better team but couldn't get anything past Bill Hamid who was fantastic.

[OctoberRaven]

It's weird having the same name as a player in the match you're watching.

Also, Seattle's right defender has awesome hair.

[HailtotheYo]

How the blue fuck did Henry not score ? Holy shit, 10 shots ... 5 on goal. Motherfucker. That's one of the most fun 0-0 matches I've seen in a while.

TIIIIIIIMMMBBEEEERRRRs ! Wow that was crazy. The entire stadium just went dead flat after that goal. It was crazy. Seattle should have put at least two more in though. Piquionne is horrible on the ball, freaking horrible. Oh, and OOOOOBBBAAAAAAA ! Great cross he had like 2 minutes off the bench.

[GoGo Yubari]

90th-minute goals are sort of a gutpunch, yes. It wasn't a good game from Seattle on the whole, Timbers deserved the 1 point, though I felt they were better at maintaining possession than actually doing anything dangerous with it.

This is going to be a season where we start very slow due to injuries/national team call-ups/needing to get everything gelling together. It is what it is. Next week's game is going to be straight-up awful in that regard; no Martins, EJ, Martinez vs. fucking San Jose away.

[Sweet Holy Moses]

I don't know if anyone else watched the TFC-Montréal game, but I have a question for some neutral fans. The match was reffed by Baldomero Toledo. And, to me, it seemed like Toledo is a shit ref. But that assessment may be clouded by my favourtism for TFC, who lost 2-1.

So either, for those who saw it, was the reffing as bad as I thought? Or, for the general MLS fans, is Toldeo usually that bad?

I can't recall other matches of his that I saw, so I have nothing else to go by. I've had a hate-on for Salazar this whole time. Should I hate Toledo more?

[HailtotheYo]

don't know if anyone else watched the TFC-Montréal game, but I have a question for some neutral fans. The match was reffed by Baldomero Toledo. And, to me, it seemed like Toledo is a shit ref. But that assessment may be clouded by my favourtism for TFC, who lost 2-1.

So either, for those who saw it, was the reffing as bad as I thought? Or, for the general MLS fans, is Toldeo usually that bad?

I can't recall other matches of his that I saw, so I have nothing else to go by. I've had a hate-on for Salazar this whole time. Should I hate Toledo more?

Toledo is absolute shit. He's been involved in over half of the "FUCK YOU" calls in this league. He's terrible.

I'm being completely honest when I say that there's absolutely a handful of us here on EWB that can do a better job. He's the MPH of refs.

FCD ! FCD ! FCD ! COOOOOOP ! Hell yeah, 90th minute goal to steal back the match against Houston ! EL CAPITAN is back in DALLAS !

[HailtotheYo]

So, in the Adu to Bahia deal, apparently Kleber is coming over to Philly.

[GoGo Yubari]

Sounders have parted ways with Adam Johansson. Between Yedlin, Evans, and Scott, RB is probably sorted out well enough without Johansson's huge cap hit.

[HailtotheYo]

^ hope he gets on somewhere else, I think he could actually be a good RB in this league.

Bakary Soumare wants out of Philly.

Kevin Hartman is being looked at by Colorado due to Matt Pickens breaking his arm. How Hartman isn't in the league right now is beyond me.

[GoGo Yubari]

He's almost certainly going back to Sweden.

[HailtotheYo]

Ramon Nunez is back in Dallas. Should be a good pick up.

[GoGo Yubari]

Surprised you didn't post the Kevin Hartman to New York story.

Meanwhile, Ashani Fairclough and Philip Lund have been signed by Seattle, filling out the roster until Johansson can be waived. Only other signing I can see before the summer now is signing Will Bates and immediately putting him on injured reserve so he can spend the year healing up.

[HailtotheYo]

http://www.mlssoccer.com/ccl/news/article/2013/03/25/monterrey-goalkeeper-jonathan-orozco-out-champions-league-semifinal-against- ... Good news for LA, Orozco (Monterrey's starting GK) is out for the entirety of the CCL semis.

Kleberson officially joining Union as Philly/Adu "mutually terminate" their contract. Kleberson will be a DP loan.

http://www.coloradorapids.com/news/2013/03/arsenal-goalkeeper-james-shea-train-colorado ... Arsenal youth GK coming to Colorado (hey look the partnership did something)

[HailtotheYo]

Lots of dust being kicked up about a Soumare for Lindpere trade.