DISQUS

The call in the Cuba v USA game yesterday was neither "debatable" nor "controversial". If you are going to make terrible arguments for your cause, at least get the facts straight.

Why do you hate USL?

re "Why do you hate MLS?"-- "Competitive" doesn't mean 12 different champions in 12 years. It means that week in and week out you don't have a great idea who will win or not, and it means that going into the last 4 or 5 or 6 or 7 rounds of the season, neither the champion or playoff seedings are even remotely clear. Just like this year, and the past several years

If anything, MLS is TOO competitive, meaning that since all teams are just about equal, it often makes for some very pedestrian soccer.

Competition wise, as a self contained league, MLS has little to worry about.
Now if you want to say the quality could (should?) be better, or the competition versus those outside of MLS, we can talk.

Why do you hate MLS?

Please lay off the hooch.

Great, suit him up on October 11 then. And I am NOT kidding, Bradley.

Hey!! Who is allowing drunk blogging around here??!!

Huh? You said that the US must change its soccer rules abot 12 times in your piece, but didn't offer even one suggestion.
Why did you waste your time and ours?

And frankly, I don't agree with your premise in the first place, I feel it has taken so long for soccer to catch on here in the US exactly because up until the very recent timeframe soccer did nothing but pander to people who barely gave two farts about the game.

I am not sure how having the Mexican NT play games in the US is hurting the US NT... Clue me in.
I mean its not as if Mexico stops, suddenly those fans will flock to the US games, its been well documented that they will not.
While I find it humbling a foreign team gets better support than our nations own, the fact of the matter is we're simply not a soccer country. And won't be in any of our lifeteimes.

Oh not to mention, especially in this day & age, sports is business. MLS & SUM have a more pressing issue than international dates to worry about right now: staying afloat. If that means an MLS kickoff time that that conflicts with a NT kickoff time, well thats business baby.

-Lee

1. One of the biggest criticisms of the tournament is fixture congestion. Adding more games (due to home & away) isn't going to help.

2. Agree. Also giving the FMF input onto securing referees wouldn't be a bad idea.

3. If Chivas didn't know the rules until right before their last match, they have no one to blame but themselves. The problem was clearly they assumed what the rules were, without actually taking the time to verify them nor communicate them to the players & coaches.

4. No. What makes this so attractive of a tournament is that its the regions two most powerful leagues going head to head. No one in Mexico or the USA gives a fark about the occasional Hondouran team. Thats what the Champions League will be for.

5. I don't know Spanish, so I don't know what the commentators are saying. But a little national pride doesn't hurt things, although I do wish there were English broadcasts (at least in the markets without Telefutura) to help balance things.

Overall I love SuperLiga. It provides the most compelling football that MLS clubs encounter at least until the MLS Cup playoffs (which in my opinion is in more need of an overhaul than SuperLiga).
As for the pay structure, the only reason its an issue this year (where were the howls from the players last year?) is because the players union is heading into its next CBA negotiations, plain & simple.

Thanks for the article!
Lee