MLS 2020: A Quarter Century of Soccer

Titans Bastard

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So I was gone for a few days and, uh, it seems RSL owner Dell Loy Hansen is melting down. He's always had the reputation of being a total asshole, but this is bad:

https://theathletic.com/2027796/2020/08/27/
“Waibel said, ‘Hey, Dell Loy, this is Kellyn Acosta, one of the guys who scored against us last night,’” recalled Williams. “Kellyn said hello, and the first comment that Dell Loy made was something like, ‘Hey Craig, when are we gonna lynch this guy?’ Kellyn was right there, he said this right in front of him. I just turned around and walked away, and left the conversation… I just walked away. I couldn’t even deal with it.”

“He runs up to (Harter), and is like ‘Hey, I have a beef with you. You can’t be doing this, you can’t be doing that,’ and all of a sudden, n-word drops,’” said Williams. “His wife was like, ‘Dell Loy, you can’t say that.’ And everybody looked at me, and I’m just like, ‘What? What did I just hear?” And then he said it again.”
and many more.

We'll see if DLH can ride out the storm, or whether he'll ultimately be pushed out as owner.
 

67YAZ

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The best thing about tonight’s Fire match is that they get to play Cincy again on Wednesday.
 

Titans Bastard

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Dell Loy Hansen is selling RSL, Real Monarchs (USL), and Utah Royals (NWSL)

 

ThePrideofShiner

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Sounders with another impressive win, taking down LAFC 3-1. I guess they just treated the tournament as a warm-up? Because they've played much better since then.
 

Titans Bastard

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Pity Martínez to Al-Nassr FC in Saudi Arabia for $18m! That’s a $4m profit after a mediocre season. Good business if you can get it.
Whoa.

I didn't think Atlanta would be able to essentially take a mulligan on such an expensive signing. Interesting times. They have some big decisions in their near future, from the next manager to replacing Martinez.
 

67YAZ

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Whoa.

I didn't think Atlanta would be able to essentially take a mulligan on such an expensive signing. Interesting times. They have some big decisions in their near future, from the next manager to replacing Martinez.
An open DP slot, Messi looking for a new team...
 

67YAZ

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This pic from twitter sums things up well.
33917

Edit - this ref has yet to issue a yellow tonight and just waved off a penalty shout that left Beric bleeding from the head.
 
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67YAZ

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In injury time! The ref finally pulls a yellow.

This was not a good match. Barely any sparks for the Fire. I guess Collier played hard and Djordje had some moments, but both came on as subs and couldn’t really inspire much from their teammates. Kind of a listlessness to the squad these days.
 

Titans Bastard

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OCST

Sunny von Bulow
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I've been watching Vancouver - Toronto and it's been bananas. 3-2 Whitecaps at 84'. They've been trading goals and Toronto alllmost just scored in a scramble in front of goal.
 

Titans Bastard

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Quite a slate of rivalry games tonight. It’s a shame that Portland-Seattle and El Trafico mostly overlap.

There was once a time when Chicago-NE was a big grudge match but since the Revs have mostly sucked for a decade and the Fire have been even worse, only old timers recognize it as a rivalry.
 

Pesky Pole

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Aaronson with an incredible strike to give the Union a 1-0 lead at halftime. There is no video of the goal that any team in Europe is allowed to see.
 

OCST

Sunny von Bulow
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Union won 3-0. RBNY were awful.

Been keeping half an eye on this Minnesota - RSL game. Also 3-0 to the Loons. I don't know their attackers but they have lots of nifty little give and go things going on.
 

OCST

Sunny von Bulow
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Chivas USA - there's a blast from the past. If you want to think on the current state of MLS, it's far beyond where it was when that pile of dog poop was supposedly a pillar of the league.
 

Awesome Fossum

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DC goes without a shot at home in 0-0 draw against NYCFC.

Ben Olsen: "That’s my job — to get results. We did that over the last two games. It’s not a lot of fun to play that way, but sometimes it’s a necessary evil.”
 

Jimy Hendrix

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DC goes without a shot at home in 0-0 draw against NYCFC.

Ben Olsen: "That’s my job — to get results. We did that over the last two games. It’s not a lot of fun to play that way, but sometimes it’s a necessary evil.”
In a league without relegation, is picking up joyless shotless points so much the job though?
 

Titans Bastard

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DC United were very bad in 2017, but finished 4th or 5th every other season since 2015 and are currently in 10th in the East.

Olsen has shown that he is capable of grinding out ugly results, but when will DCU's brass get sick of a ceiling of "we played very ugly soccer, then lost in the first round of the playoffs"? They went out and spent a solid chunk of change on a Peruvian international in the prime of his career...for what, exactly? At some point, you have to have a little more ambition and move on.

P.S. Anyone remember that Argentine playmaker Christian Gomez who was a big part of the successful DCU teams of the mid-00s? He was Best XI from 2005-07, MLS MVP in 2006, and left DCU (the first time) at age 33 after the 2007 season....and he retired LAST YEAR at age 44 after a long stint in the Argentine second division.
 

Titans Bastard

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Titans Bastard

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The Houston Dynamo, who have been a deeply mediocre organization on and off the field for a while now, are reportedly considering a "rebrand or brand refresh", as one of their major owners (Gabriel Brener) may be selling his share of the team.

I'm not in the ground in Houston, but is there really that much of a need to change the identity? Lots of clubs go through shitty periods. I think having a consistent identity helps build a long-term sense of history, rather than rebranding every time you've sucked for a while. Just sign good players and market the team well.

https://theathletic.com/2055205/2020/09/09/
 

Jimy Hendrix

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The Houston Dynamo, who have been a deeply mediocre organization on and off the field for a while now, are reportedly considering a "rebrand or brand refresh", as one of their major owners (Gabriel Brener) may be selling his share of the team.

I'm not in the ground in Houston, but is there really that much of a need to change the identity? Lots of clubs go through shitty periods. I think having a consistent identity helps build a long-term sense of history, rather than rebranding every time you've sucked for a while. Just sign good players and market the team well.

https://theathletic.com/2055205/2020/09/09/
You can see the headlights of the truck coming straight for us, there’s nothing we can do to stop it, and on the side of the truck there’s an extremely bland crest with the words HOUSTON UNITED FC.

I hope they at least keep the orange.
 

tmracht

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You can see the headlights of the truck coming straight for us, there’s nothing we can do to stop it, and on the side of the truck there’s an extremely bland crest with the words HOUSTON UNITED FC.

I hope they at least keep the orange.
Houston City Wanderers SC
 

Titans Bastard

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San Jose is embarrassing itself tonight. MLS can have dodgy defending, but this is just putrid. Almeyda rotated the squad and this group of mostly backups simply can't play his man-marking scheme.
 

Titans Bastard

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33' - Sounders make it 5-0.

In some places, this sort of effort would trigger a match-fixing investigation.
 

67YAZ

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Frickin Fire. Up 2-0 within 15 minutes, let up the tying goal in the last 10. Ugh.
 

Titans Bastard

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Atlanta United sure are terrible right now. Giving up four goals to the insipid attack of Nashville SC? Ouch. They are in danger of falling out of the playoffs in a season when fricking everyone makes the playoffs. LAFC have also been imploding lately. Weird times.

Gonzalo Higuain hasn't been officially announced by Miami, but he's been pictured in the airport with Inter Miami owner Jorge Mas, so.... The Miami Herald reports that he'll be paid in the range of $7m/yr. I mean, I expect Higuain to tear it up in MLS, but that's a LOT of money. With the Rube Goldberg budget rules of MLS, all DPs (erm, except for youth DPs, lol) are the same in terms of salary cap space, so if Miami owners want to fork over that kind of coin, it might hurt their bottom line but it doesn't handicap the team's ability to put together depth pieces any more than any other DP forward.


FC Dallas sold Zdenek "Kobra" Ondrasek to Viktoria Plzen. It sounds like he wanted to go back home. Ondrasek started off on the bench last year, but was hot down the stretch and even played his way into the Czech national team. Since FCD also signed Franco Jara in 2020, Kobra's departure will lessen the logjam at forward and ensure ample playing time for Jesus Ferreira and Ricardo Pepi. Especially Pepi, who like Kobra is a classic center forward.

https://www.fcdallas.com/post/2020/09/13/fc-dallas-transfers-zden-k-ondr-ek-fc-viktoria-plze
 

67YAZ

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On a warm, rainy night in Orlando...Beric hits the crossbar and then a slick ball slides through Medran's block. Ugh.

Oh, and Nacho hit the post just now. Not a pretty match, but entertaining so far.
 

67YAZ

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Hit the woodwork twice, have goal called back for a bad offside decision, and have a PK saved. I don't know when the Fire had time to let 2 in this first half. Jesus.

Edit: It was a mighty fine PK save.

 
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Titans Bastard

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Boy, the fall of Atlanta United has been swift and severe. Obviously their results are bad right now, but fundamentally the quality of their roster has declined a shocking amount from two years ago.
 

Titans Bastard

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Great finish on the volley from 17 year old Griffin Yow to equalize for DCU. First MLS goal for the kid.