The Thread That's on Indefinite Loan to Manchester City (The 2015 Major League Soccer Thread)

[Lineker]

Huge head collision between two Orlando players just five minutes in. Really nasty.

[Szumi]

So Philly lose the US Open Cup Finals on their home soil, then finally give the fans what they want and get rid of Sac. A good thing comes out of a bad. The franchise is in real trouble right now, and fans are disgruntled. They couldn't sell the stadium out for the Cup Final. Fans are tired of the losing ways and terrible management. Really hoping the change in executive office will help us out.

[HailtotheYo]

I was pretty surprised that the cup final didn't sell out even with all the shit going on ... it was the once time the fans could have come out and gotten behind the team sans everything ... I mean, I get it, but just surprised they didn't take the opportunity to support the players.

 

FCD clinched a playoff spot joining LA, NYRB, and DCU as the clubs that have their playoff tickets punched.  NE, CLB, SKC, and VAN all really should get in barring a huge let down.  The only team in the West TRULY out of it is Colorado ... and in the East, PHI and CHI are the only two clubs with zero shot at getting in (ORL is hanging on and NYC has a thread left).

 

4 teams have a very real shot at the Supporter's Shield still (NYRB has the edge with FCD on their heels, LA right there if either slip up, and VAN still not going away).  DC and SKC have mathematical realities but I don't see it.

[Lineker]

Pretty good Guardian article on the prospects of American managers and possibility of going to successfully manage abroad:

The age when North American clubs look to England and the wider British Isles with a child’s embrace, beseeching input from the mother country’s coaching bosom to take the domestic game on, has long since passed. Or so some critics would argue. A new, forward-thinking generation of coaches not steeped in the 4-4-2 and an unadorned, direct style of football rule the waves in this epoch, they postulate. And this legion of coaches are increasingly young, fresh and, most importantly, American. While there might be some historical merit to the spirit of the argument against the British-style coach, it is perhaps itself a little outdated, not to say somewhat harsh on someone like Carl Robinson and his stylish Vancouver Whitecaps, for instance.

Some 20 years on from the birth of Major League Soccer, some of the men who as players helped mold the country’s top division into what it has become today now form an integral portion of the younger cohort of the domestic coaching ranks.

Broadly successful elder statesmen like Bruce Arena and Sigi Schmid are followed by a seemingly blossoming rank and file. Head coaches such as Sporting Kansas City’s Peter Vermes. DC United’s Ben Olsen. New England Revolution’s Jay Heaps. Columbus Crew’s Gregg Berhalter. New York Red Bulls’ Jesse Marsch. Behind them, too, are some well-thought-of assistants. Then there are the firmly rooted foreign coaches partly schooled in MLS ways after successful stints in the league. Robinson would be one. As would FC Dallas head coach Oscar Pareja.

Yet the country has yet to see a coach leave home shores and make a name with instant recognition. Amid the chattering classes of the global game’s chief draws in Europe, that is not always easy. It is legitimately argued that these are early days for American soccer. That would particularly be the case on the coaching front. American players are now a common presence in the Old World top divisions of England and Germany, for instance, though less so among its biggest clubs. Nowhere in that same equation, however, is there an American manager. That should probably come as no surprise. The approach to managerial appointments in Europe can often seem almost incestuous. An old boys’ mentality persists, a propensity for club kin sometimes predominant. If not kin, a visit to the known quantities of those who served the neighbors to a reasonable standard serves as a useful substitute.

The United States has long struggled for soccer acceptance. Strides have been made. Players of the quality of Clint Dempsey and Tim Howard have laid down a marker. Though suffering growing pains of another kind at present, the national team has improved, claiming some sizable scalps along the way. At this stage, it seems obvious Americans mean business. Still developing: yes. But they mean to be taken seriously. Still, barriers are difficult to break down. “In Europe, we are seen as non-experts in soccer,” says Joe Enochs, the newly installed head coach of Vfl Osnabruck in the German third division. Enochs, American born and raised, has been in Germany for 20 years. He arrived first at St Pauli, before beginning a long association with Osnabruck as both player and coach. So much so, at the club at least he is viewed less as a foreigner and more one of their own. In wider Germany, however, that is not necessarily a privilege extended. At the top level, he points to the stream of competent performers who have crossed the Atlantic and held their own. “Players come over but not coaches. Until Bob.”

Bob Bradley. A man Vancouver’s Robinson credits as US coaching’s leading light. The man who led the United States national team to an inspiring Confederations Cup final in 2009. Who coached the Egyptian national team amid trying circumstances to the brink of World Cup qualification. Granted, both national team stints ended sourly. The US job was curtailed after a familiar Gold Cup defeat to Mexico. In Egypt, a heavy defeat to Ghana loomed over his departure. But history has perhaps proven kind. His resume entries prior, across college at Princeton and in MLS, principally with Chicago Fire, are solid. Now Bradley is attracting glances for his work at unfancied Staebek in Norway’s top division. In his first season, he carried a newly promoted team tipped for the trap door to a mid-table finish and a semi-final appearance in the national cup. This year, his second, seems miraculous. By all accounts, over the course the 57-year-old lost some of his best players due to enforced sales. Reputedly operating one of the lowest budgets in the league, Staebek currently sit second in the table. As the season nears its close, a Europa League place next year looks likely.

For Bradley, getting to Europe was a long-held ambition. The stumbling block was opportunity. “Even though there have been players that have done well in Europe, it’s still a battle for respect whether you’re a player or a coach,” Bradley tells the Guardian. “On the playing side, there are certainly guys that did well enough that one might have thought there would have been bigger clubs interested but that didn’t always materialize. So I think overall, as much as the game has grown in the US, and again you can see it through MLS, you can see it through the different successes of the national team, still in Europe with all of the football that goes on, to earn respect as an American is a little harder.”

Opportunity again might dictate whether Bradley makes another leap up the ladder. Regardless, the narrative of his career seems to add up to a robust pitch for a bigger job. Yet the chatter has been limited. Molde, reigning Norwegian champions, were reportedly interested. Though a bigger job, they would surely amount to a sideways movement, the ostensible American flag carrier still lurking in the European shadows. David Wagner, the German-American head coach of Borussia Dortmund II, the Bundesliga giants’ second string, cautions patience. Wagner has a foot in both camps. Somewhat. He represented the United States at international level but spent his playing career in Germany, where he was born. His coaching pedigree, too, is German-rooted. He served as a Jurgen Klopp lieutenant until the now Liverpool manager left Dortmund last summer. There are many factors to snagging a European remit, Wagner notes, some more obvious than others. Language. The interpretation of success at MLS level. Is your national team in vogue, like world champions Germany or Spain before them? Perhaps the owners want a boss of the old school. Perhaps someone young. They may be attracted to a background in sports science. That type of academic background has served Wagner well aligned with a playing career with the likes of FSV Mainz and Schalke. “To get the first job in Europe, it is not so easy,” he says in fluent English underpinned by the dulcet tones of his German brogue. “If Bob Bradley does a good job in Norway, he will get a bigger club. Next step is maybe Sweden, Denmark, then Germany. Or the English Championship is very attractive.” But what about the Premier League? Bradley was recently linked with Sunderland. Speaking prior to Klopp’s appointment at Liverpool, Wagner was clear. “There is a long, long way to go to see an American coach in England at the highest level. England is an island. It is not easy to be a coach who is not British unless you are an outstanding coach like [Louis] van Gaal or [Jose] Mourinho. As I know there was never a German coach working in the Premier League, only Felix Magath for a couple of months at Fulham, and he won two or three titles in Germany.”

In Vancouver, Robinson, who might never have taken control of the Whitecaps had preferred option Bradley decided to return to MLS, is more pragmatic. “For young American managers, the key to development for them to going abroad, I keep saying, is Bob Bradley,” he recently told the Guardian. “For me he is probably the most high-profile US manager out there. You need him to be successful. You need him to maybe get a job at a top European club. He sets the standard for everyone else. If the biggest name manager can’t get a job in England or Scotland it might be difficult for other people to get a job. It depends on ownership. A lot of them have got American owners, which is only going to be a good thing for American managers.” The Scotland option is apt in Bradley’s particular set of circumstances. Norwegian manager Ronny Deila got the head coach’s job at perennial Scottish champions Glasgow Celtic on the back of success at Norwegian top-flight club Stromsgodset. And Scotland has proven a regular springboard to lower-level Premier League jobs and the Championship in the recent past.

Bradley garners a lot of praise. He also left a legacy stateside. The current crop of young, up-and-coming managers and coaches boasts a swell of his former charges, including Red Bulls head coach Marsch and Philadelphia’s Jim Curtin. And yet, the question might be is the American management ranks even reasonably deep enough to warrant higher-level interest? Some might argue there is less than there appears. Bradley is noted for how deeply he thinks about the game. His cerebral approach to football and how hard he works is not always present in others. But could more eyes be cast across the Atlantic in the wake of Bradley’s success?

Things didn’t work out quite so well in Europe for Columbus Crew’s Gregg Berhalter. Until July 2013, he was in charge of Swedish second division club Hammerby. It was his first managerial job. Despite a fourth-place finish in his maiden season then one of the strongest defenses in the league in his second, impatience over the club’s promotion hopes led to the former LA Galaxy and US international defender’s dismissal. His team were in fifth place at the time. Berhalter looks back on the experience as mostly positive. For one, he is among a small American contingent who have been given the opportunity at a European club. He thinks others are capable should the chance arise.

He is philosophical about the different challenge that awaits away from the U.S. game. The intense fan culture. The lofty expectations, even at a club like Hammerby. “I was there about a year and three quarters,” Berhalter explains. “I think in Hammerby that was wasn’t new. I was the eighth manager five years. I lasted pretty long by Hammerby standards. That’s the nature of the game in Europe, right? If you look at the English Championship and the second Bundesliga, you know the tenure of these coaches are very, very short. You know you’re in it, you have to make an impact right away and if you don’t they get the next guy. I think the fortunate thing for people in the system, where if you fail you get other chances. Whereas if it’s your first experience and you’re not successful, maybe you don’t get another chance, especially if you’re a foreign coach.” Mention of those already circulating in the system is a familiar one. That job tenuously linked to Bradley? Sunderland plumped for fully paid up member of the old boy network Sam Allardyce.

Speaking before his name was linked with the Sunderland job, Bradley was ponderous about whether he could prove the US manager who sparks keener interest in the American coaching stable. His contract is up at the end of the season. He may move on. He may not. “It’s very hard to know exactly what, when a club is looking for a manager, you never quite know exactly who’s making the decision, what are they looking for, have they done thorough research, are they guessing,” he considers. “There’s plenty, as much as I give credit before and say that there’s many good football men in Europe, if we’re really honest, there’s a lot of clubs that hire, well there’s a lot of managers in Europe that aren’t very good too.”

It may simply be a matter of time and the right circumstances. “Soccer has only become popular in the past 20 years perhaps,” says Berhalter, who has not given up ambitions of managing in Europe again at some point. “In the same way as it’s taken a way for players to get to the top level, it’s going to take a while to develop coaches.” Enochs lauds some unique US advantages: the ability to experiment as a coach at the college level in a way not possible in even European lower leagues, the ability to tap into high-level coaching techniques deployed in other sports like basketball, baseball and football.

Though a pessimist over how long it might be before an American makes the breakthrough, Wagner, who has ambitions of his own to manage at the top level one day, is certain of one thing: that the idea of the American novice is arcane. “For me that is nonsense. Football is your passion. It is not a job. You love this game. You are always thinking about this game,” he says. “I think, at the end, quality will have success, quality will go its way.”

For Bradley, there is a quiet confidence. “I’ll keep working. Somebody will figure it out.”

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/oct/15/will-an-american-ever-coach-in-one-of-europes-top-leagues 

[HailtotheYo]

So HOUSTON is out of the playoffs.  FCD clinched top spot in the west (and auto birth to 16/17 CCL).  MTL clinched their playoff spot.  In the East, only Orlando and NE are still alive for the final spot but it'll take a lopsided win by ORL and a lopsided loss by NE for the Lions to get in.  In the West, SKC/POR/SJ/SEA are all playing musical chairs to see who will be the odd man out and miss the playoffs.  SJ looks to be that team as are below the red line and their last match is against FCD on the road.  SKC has two matches left, POR plays COL in their last match, and SEA gets RSL at home. 

Only NYRB and FCD can with the Supporter's Shield ... NYRB has the upper hand with a +6 GD but if NYRB slips up at CHI or only wins by a goal, there's nothing to keep FCD from pressing at home against SJ to not only keep SJ out of the playoffs, but take the SS ....

 

 

[HailtotheYo]

Soooo possibility of Kries being ousted ... replaced by Vieira?

 

[HailtotheYo]

Thanks a ton BRUCE AND CO. !!!!!!  Soooo since LA shit the bed in their final CCL match last night, THIS is what we get for the knock out rounds:

First Leg (February 23-25)

• (8) Seattle Sounders vs. (1) Club América
• (7) Querétaro vs. (2) DC United
• (6) Tigres vs. (3) Real Salt Lake
• (5) LA Galaxy vs. (4) Santos Laguna

Second Leg (March 1-3)

• (1) Club América vs. (8) Seattle Sounders
• (2) DC United vs. (7) Querétaro
• (3) Real Salt Lake vs. (6) Tigres
• (4) Santos Laguna vs. (5) LA Galaxy

 

Yup, ALL FOUR MLS clubs go up against the four Mexican sides.  LA would have been the 1 seed had they not let in that goal last night.  That would have given us a Liga MX mini tourney and an MLS mini tourney to see who gets to play for it all.

 

 

 

[Szumi]

Aka, probably all of the MLS sides will be eliminated in the Quarterfinals

[HailtotheYo]

Aka, probably all of the MLS sides will be eliminated in the Quarterfinals

I can see 2 getting through ....

[HailtotheYo]

Really fun last day of the regular season ... GOALS EVERYWHERE !!!!  Only one match didn't have 3 or more goals (PHI/ORL) ...

 NYRB get their 2nd Supporter's Shield, Dallas is best in the West

HOLY BALLS THESE KNOCKOUT ROUND MATCH UPS:

Hot freaking damn ... LA fell all the way to 5th and has to go to Seattle?  SKC squeaks in and has to go to POR?  Canadian Derby and NE triangle derby?  FUCK YES.  Then we'll get FCD v SEA/LA/POR for one of the semis?  Possibly SEA/VA in the other?  NE/DC semi maybe?  

Soo much awesome going on ...

 

Giovinco wins the Golden Boot because his 16 assists breaks the tie of 22 goals he has with Kamara, who only had 8.  Giovinco also leads the league in assists.   

 

[GoGo Yubari]

Sigh, LA. We seem to get closer and closer to finally beating them each time we have to face them, so maybe this'll finally be the time. Maybe.

 

Maybe.

[HailtotheYo]

Yeah, I think your trophy case would look quite different if you'd not always had to bash heads with them.  That said, depending on which LA shows up, this could be a route either way.

[HailtotheYo]

Goal of the year voting has started

[GoGo Yubari]

oh my god.

oh my god.

We had to make our millionth fucking sacrifice to the Hamstring God, but we did it. The LA Galaxy are dead. As long as Portland doesn't win the MLS Cup, I don't even care how the rest of the postseason goes. I've been waiting to see that result in person for basically four years.

[HailtotheYo]

Holy hot damn!  It didn't even look like Friberg has his eye on goal when he hit that .... awesome match.  And I'm absolutely giddy that there'll be no LA going forward!  This loss really illustrated the idiotic move to bust up their Sarvas/Junhino midfield for Stevie Geriatrard.  I honestly feel without him, and still having Sarvas, that LA's midfield would be absolutely ridiculous. 

 

DC WON!!!!!  Sweetness. 

 

Hope tonight's other knock out matches are this fun.  Really wish POR/SKC didn't have to play each other though :/ 

[Szumi]

Congrats to Seattle for finally beating LA! The Galaxy are just like Liverpool now - they suck when Gerrard plays!

 

Accident surprised DC won. The Revs have such a good squad, I was anticipating them going deep.

 

I honestly think the Sounders will go to the MLS Cup. I think Dallas is too young for the playoffs, despite the season success, and I can see Vancouver slipping up. If Drogba stays healthy, don't bet against the Impact. The Red Bulls deserve it though. Great team and the club with the lowest salary too!

[GoGo Yubari]

Highly, highly doubt it will be us. Too many injured or dealing with injury and there will be potential fixture congestion due to World Cup qualifiers (especially now that Nigeria has finally realized that calling in Oba Martins is a good idea).

If we get Vancouver, though, I think we have a shot at the western conference final. They've mostly been slumping and we've wrecked them in their own stadium twice this year.

[HailtotheYo]

The SKC/POR match was wonderful ..... crazy PK's too with GK Kwarasey scoring the GW before saving the opposing GK Kempin's shot !!!!! 

MTL just crushed TFC ... Giovinco was the only threat for TFC and even with him playing well he still couldn't link up with Bradley or Altidore (who both played ok). 

 

SEMIS (two legs, first listed is home team for first leg):

DCU/NYRB  -  MTL/CLB

POR/VAN  -  SEA/FCD

 

These are GREAT match ups. 

[gunnar hendershow]

I think DC have a shot against NY.

Really starting to think Drogba just carries Montreal to win the whole thing though.  

[HailtotheYo]

1 hour ago, damshow said:

I think DC have a shot against NY.

Really starting to think Drogba just carries Montreal to win the whole thing though.  

I've got some friends feeling the same way about Drogba .... but there are still SEVERAL very good and COMPLETE teams.  SEA (all healthy), FCD, DCU, NYRB, POR, CLB .... honestly Vancouver is the only one I'd outright give MTL a win over.  Taking a look at who they beat and played since Drogba arrived, it seems a bit inflated.  Yes, they were 7-4-2 since his arrival ... however, 3 of those wins were against the two worst teams in the league (CHIx2 and COL) - they did beat NEx2, DC, and TFC ... the losses though?  PHI (third worst team in the league), TFC, ORL (14th of 20), NYRB ... they drew LA and SJ.   So taking a look at it, this club is all over the place but the 'who' that's attached to their record with Drogba really tells the story IMO.

To me, Ciman and Piatti are the keys for them.  THEY will drive this team in a playoff push as Drogba will either be out of this world, or non-existent.