ONTD FOOTBALL

sad about la liga. things like that is why mls operates with parity/all teams get the same budget, well i think. i know theres a salary cap for players. their DP money confuses me cause la galaxy, toronto, and nycfc have DPs making 3, 6, and 9 mil like way more than some other teams DPs

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eva

Includes Giroud being very much Giroud. And Per and Petr having a conversation one floor above everyone else. Also, Bellerin on a zebra.

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When Cech joined, I was hoping that he'd become pals with BFG and seeing both of them together like two elderly statesmen among a group of babies makes me very, very happy. Also, it seems that Bug Eyes' English has improved.

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Harry Kane's goal was a nice one!

Harry Kane, STOP IT. That isn't nice. http://t.co/dc3zvQMU6A (http://t.co/dc3zvQMU6A) https://t.co/uKK2v46H74 (https://t.co/uKK2v46H74)
— SB Nation Soccer (@SBNationSoccer) July 30, 2015 (https://twitter.com/SBNationSoccer/status/626575575801569280)

Europa League qualifying tonight! I hope BvB does well. We're playing Wolfsberger FC (from Austria). Fingers crossed for West Ham and the Saints too.

#MarioGomez (https://twitter.com/hashtag/MarioGomez?src=hash) joins #Beşiktaş (https://twitter.com/hashtag/Be%C5%9Fikta%C5%9F?src=hash) Welcome #MarioGomez (https://twitter.com/hashtag/MarioGomez?src=hash) #football (https://twitter.com/hashtag/football?src=hash) pic.twitter.com/sTjb8WqTSL (http://t.co/sTjb8WqTSL)
— Beşiktaş JK English (@BesiktasEnglish) July 30, 2015 (https://twitter.com/BesiktasEnglish/status/626657116141568000)

Rafa's response to Mou's remarks: "I am the coach of Real Madrid. I love football. I understand football and, therefore, only talk about football." (http://www.sport.es/es/noticias/real-madrid/rafa-benitez-responde-los-ataques-mourinho-4395683) (Link is in Spanish, sorry)

Some news about Platini: The Belgian Football Federation and the FA (http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/jul/29/fa-michel-platini-fifa-blatter-prince-ali) have pledged support for Platini.

Strong words from South Korean billionaire Chung Mong-Joon after officially declaring he too will run for the #FIFA (https://twitter.com/hashtag/FIFA?src=hash) presidency.
— DW Sports (@dw_sports) July 30, 2015 (https://twitter.com/dw_sports/status/626680373884387328)

Chung: "President Blatter is like a cannibal eating his parents and then crying he's an orphan. He tries to blame everybody except himself."
— DW Sports (@dw_sports) July 30, 2015 (https://twitter.com/dw_sports/status/626680475290075136)

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Word has it that the English FA is throwing their weight behind Platini because Dyke (I want to say Dyke, but I might be wrong) is eying the UEFA post.

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Yup, Greg Dyke.

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ananasonastick.livejournal.com

Jjfc, I don't want Nasri anywhere NEAR my precious team :<

also https://www.facebook.com/Juventus/posts/1190129641014263

Edited Date: 2015-07-30 11:17 am (UTC)

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Droopy's arm :D

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ananasonastick.livejournal.com

Do you follow him on Insta sis?

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Nope, I deleted my Instagram account like, 5 years ago but I know that he absolutely loves taking pictures of himself :D

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i didnt know that the baseball all-star winners determined the world series location. lol i dont pay attention to baseball. i wouldnt mind the mls all-star game being east v west again again at least both sides would be more so matched. first half of the game was great, kaka-villa-dempsey, like i wish all those players were on 1 team. second half was so disjointed you could really tell it was a team of dudes whove only practiced once lol. it was a nice win so ill take it. apparently yedlin wasnt that great ): i hope he gets loaned out to a premier league side so i can still watch him (still holding hope for norwich)

kaka was so adorable in this post game interviews. like he and villa looked so excited it was cute

they interviewed gerrard before the match even tho he wasnt playing and they asked whats shocked him the most in mls so far and it was the weather lol. he talked about basically almost dying in houston death heat and humidity ha. (its a high of 100 today :''''''( which might be why we wont plat at home for the next 3 matches)

and expansion teams are just teams added to the league
besides like the original teams from the beginning of mls

carli lloyd scored a screamer last night, just carli lloyd things :) and her team won :D

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I think he'll be loaned out to a Championship side. He's still new to the PL and usually most PL teams don't take players on loan unless they have prior experience (like Jenkinson at West Ham) or they're from Chelsea (Lukaku, Victor Moses, etc).

Edited Date: 2015-07-30 01:09 pm (UTC)

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yeah the only reason i said premier league side is cause norwich is there now lol, but talks about that move are dissipating :/ probably cause their in premier league now hah

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He's not as good as Americans think that he is. The lad has no positional sense, and tries to make it up with speed, but with the position that he plays, when his pace slows down, he'll get caught out like Lennon (Spurs) before him.

I think Yedlin should go out on loan, tbh.

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well i only look at reddit so idk what other americans think but over there theyre pretty much saying theres no way hes gonna stay/not be loaned out and they dont think he played that well, which is where i got my "apparently yedlin wasnt that great" lol i didnt really notice/pay attention to him oop. he'll end up back in the US is 3 years or will stay in championship

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Yedlin seems to take things on board, and he's been training with the team, but yeah, a loan might be good for him. He can't go to Europe with their disciplined positioning and ability to find spaces in English defense, he'll get caught out. I remember when he was in the U21s for Spurs, word had it that the U21 coach was frustrated with him, because he isn't where he should have been for his age (20/21). So there's been a lot of work devoted to his game, so to speak.

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"he isn't where he should have been for his age"

thanks a lot mls and more so NCAA/college sports >:(

Edited Date: 2015-07-30 02:04 pm (UTC)

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a lot of the lack of positional sense is that when he played for seattle & akron that they really didn't know where to place him. so that's why yedlin is shifted as a RB, wide midfielder, etc. he's really forced to play different positions based on who he is playing for - seattle would force him to play as a right back some matches and in others they made him play as a defensive midfielder. so his lack of sense is based on the fact that he's never had a true designated position TO play. klins is super guilty of reinforcing this in yedlin, bradley, zusi, etc. when they're called up for the mnt - he makes them rotate and tells them to do a good job & never gives them a formation to really stick to.

i'm so sensitive about yedlin because he is pretty remarkable with his speed, but it's obvious he really loves to come forward and press the attack. he shouldn't be a defender, but that's what coaches & co. play him as a lot of the time. he used to be a very offensive player, as his youth coaches said, but they gradually tried to shove him into that defending mold and it is not good for him.

yedlin does need to be loaned out, he def needs experience.

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So you think that he'd be suited to winger then, Gareth Bale style? I could see that happening, but yeah, the lad needs experience. He's trained with the U21s for the first half of the time he was here, and how he's spent the year in training with Spurs. According to an interview he did with Bleacher report, he seemed taken aback by how high the bar was. Like, yeah, he's speedy, but so is Kyle Walker (and Walker is kinda shaky right now).

But the thought is that his reading of the game (hence that positional sense) is supposedly lacking. I get the fact that Yedlin would be shifted around until he finds a place that 'clicks' but at his age, his place should have been identified and worked upon. John Stones, the Everton defender who is his age (21) already knows his place and is making a name for himself in that place. Yedlin is kinda behind.

Idek, but Pochettino seems open to Yedlin breaking into the first team, and like his Argentine compatriot, Simone, Pochettino is someone who doesn't seem wedded to the idea of a player. He tends to take a lot of convincing (Harry Kane being a case in point). Yedlin, to his credit seems to be keeping his head down and absorbing, and when he speaks with the press, he sounds cheerful and genuine.

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yedlin needs something that allows him to use his "explosive speed" and ability to move along the flanks while still being able to defend those spots if he absolutely has to. i think yedlin has potential, i really do, so i'm a bit more open to him getting playing time before he's criticized for not being consistent/good enough. i mean, he began playing for the sounders' senior team at the age of 20 and was still inexperienced and tossed in to whichever position was open and vacant... so no one has ever really given him a definite "you're X player" or "you need to ensure that you cover Y area at all times." idk, i really love him and i think he needs time doing more than just training.

i think his coaches have done him dirty in the past by forcing him to play a variety of positions without ever telling him what his weaknesses were as a defender & how to fine tune those abilities. i don't know much about tottenham, so i won't pretend to but the american system does not favor prospective soccer players because they spend their best/peak years in college rather than doing what other leagues do. usually players in other countries are playing for senior squads at, what, 18? 20? most of the players here are still in college, going to school, traveling with their team & playing against other colleges.

yedlin is gonna be behind because of a list of reasons, just like other us-based players. his place should have been identified from an earlier age but that wasn't the case. now he's just a mash of various abilities that don't translate well to one position that he's usually played in. and the inexperience comes at the fact that most yedlin's age are only being drafted right now into the mls. that's the problem, but it's another can of worms when discussing that, honestly.

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usually players in other countries are playing for senior squads at, what, 18? 20? most of the players here are still in college, going to school, traveling with their team & playing against other colleges.

Yeah, in England, by the time you're sixteen, you'll have finished secondary school. If you're an academy grad, the academy hires tutors to get you through your O levels. Some footballers do their A levels (Lampard comes to mind, he got good A levels, good enough to get into law school, but decided to stick with football) but by the time they're sixteen, they're on loan and working.

In the academies, you do get a 'salary' ranging on age, and by the time you break into the first team. Then move on from there. For instance, with Harry Kane, by the time he was eighteen, he was on one of his many loan spells (Leighton Orient, I think at the time), and by the time he came back to Tottenham and got on the first team last year, he'd have already been plying his trade as a forward for the past three/four years in a professional way.

Well, Yedlin seems to be getting a chance to find his feet. They've shadowed him with Kyle Walker, and Pochettino will help develop him. Here's hoping that he comes good.

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His style of play is a bit like Bellerin's, from what I've seen so far. Hector is also extremely fast, attacks a lot (see his goal against Liverpool) but he's able to track back quickly and tackle well. Although, in Hector's case, his situation is opposite of that of Yedlin's. Wenger converted him from a winger to right-back and it's turned out splendidly. I think Pochettino senses that he could do the same with Yedlin, with some loan experience first (Hector was loaned out to Watford and did quite well with them, I think).

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carli is fucking killing it in the nwsl. i am so super proud of her, i might need to start stanning houston (which would make sense in my head since i used to live there lmao)

the commentator was so excited, i LOVE when comms get stoked about the women

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yeah, the mls all-star game used to be a west vs. east kinda thing, except 1998's was unique in that they had mls usa players vs. mls abroad players - interesting stuff. i think the east/west mls all-star game would be pretty neat because there's more of a balance to everyone in the mls getting a shot, not just who is the top/popular group of players atm. inviting the guests from 2005 to now, i think was a pretty good business plan in that it really began to "grow" the game & interest here in the US. at first the matches were only 20K, but they were playing everton/west ham, and when they got united - it went up the next year straight to 70K.

idrc about baseball because it makes me want to fall asleep, but i know a lot of mls supporters would never like the idea of whoever of the east/west coast match to have the advantage of deciding where the mls cup is played. the biggest issue has to do with traveling within the us, which is a nightmare/pain in the butt because this country is so freakin' large. but i do feel like the way the mls cup is currently set up with the team having the highest points being able to host the cup on their home territory is kinda harsh, but then again i don't think we have enough supporters around random parts of the country for the mls to have a "neutral" venue when it comes to the cup. right now i think the format just needs to stay as it is because the mls is still a work in progress & we aren't at the level of the PL/Liga/Serie A/Bundesliga in regards to being able to convince fans to travel far to a neutral venue for both teams. dempsey is right that the west/east would be interesting, but i think we need a little more development in getting a better "balance" between the coasts (because lbr, the west conference easily beats out the east each season) before we start changing the setup.

and expansion teams is just a fancy term for teams that are created in entirely new areas because of the shifting demographics of that area & the rising popularity and potential that the location holds. atlanta united fc are the newest expansion team, as orlando were bc they were in areas that the mls analysts, marketing team, & etc. acknowledged as being "areas of interest" where soccer was beginning to take root and these cities/communities give them financial opportunities to capitalize on that.

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I don't understand the concept of geography (East vs West). When you say East vs West, I think of say, LA and Seattle vs New York. Is Toronto (North of the US) considered East? Or Florida (South) considered East too? Or the soon to be 'expansion' team Atlanta United FC - isn't that South?

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no problem! the mls has two conferences set up in the MLS. once again, an inheritance/reflection of other american sports - but the nba/nfl/ncaa are a lot more headache inducing so the mls is easier to understand. the west & east are basically the teams that make up each division of the conference, so

west: colorado rapids, real salt lake, fc dallas, san jose earthquakes, houston dynamo, seattle sounders, la galaxy, sporting kanas city, portland timbers, cancouver whitecaps

east: chicago fire, new york fc, columbus crew, new york red bulls, dc united, orlando city, montreal impact, philadelphia union, new england revolution, toronto fc

the expansion teams so far are: atlanta (2017), los angeles fc (2018), minnesota (2018, but will play in 2017 if la fc isn't ready) & miami (tba). florida is considered part of the eastern conference, as is the south.

but lol if you want to introduce "south" conference, northeast, midwest, etc.... i invite you to take a look at the various conferences in the nba, for example. the nba operates on a generic "west/east conference" but they also have the subsets of atlantic, central, southeast, northwest, pacific, & southwest. do you really want the mls to do that? D:

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To be honest with you, I don't know much about how MLS is structured, so it's nice to have someone to explain it. Due to the amount of retired PL stars in the MLS nowadays (Gerrard, Henry, Lampard and now Drogba) the newspapers (The Guardian and The Daily Mail) do carry articles and pictures, but the articles tend to throw up more questions than it answers. I can understand why the MLS teams prefer to recruit coaches inward, because I'm sure an outside coach will go, "But why?!"

How many teams will the MLS have before there's a cut off? Or doesn't it matter? Like, could there be 50 teams in the MLS, or is there an optimum number that the Commissioner wants?

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of course! no, the mls is really an amalgamation of the other american sports & that of european football so i can see where people outside the us would need to scratch their head and try to imagine why it is the way it is. but like i said, if people are really confused... i don't mind answering questions because i love the fact that people are taking an interest in our baby league. the league is the same age as me pretty much so i always feel bad that people make fun of it when it's only just a bit more than 20 years old.

lol i think an outsider coach would be hilaaaarious. when i think of it, i always remember the spoof video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KeG_i8CWE8) of the american coach in london with tottenham. we have a lot of rules & structural difference but i think it works because the us is an entirely different market & with fans who are already used to the "american way" with sports... it wouldn't work any other way. lol, regular american fans would probably blanch at the lack of playoffs and need to "earn" a spot to play to win the league title.

right now, don garber is really set on having 24 teams operating in the mls without going defunct or needing to be shut down/liquidated (like with chivas usa). as much as they're looking forward to atlanta being a part of the league, i think the team that will make/break the mls & the decision of expanding to more than 24 teams is gonna be miami. this is the expansion team that they're taking a risk on bc they feel like the miami demographic is really positive, but they also don't know if that's enough to keep the expansion team afloat - despite beckham's involvement.

i think the biggest issue atm for miami, beckham & co. is the location of a potential stadium. they want to build an entirely new stadium but the zoning issues are a mess. they might need to relocate home owners and this is has the potential to turn into a legal battle. which is why garber is really watching the miami franchise.

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That video is hilarious. "Two halves" and "No tie"

LOL. Who's this actor? He's quite good.

right now, don garber is really set on having 24 teams operating in the mls without going defunct or needing to be shut down/liquidated (like with chivas usa). as much as they're looking forward to atlanta being a part of the league, i think the team that will make/break the mls & the decision of expanding to more than 24 teams is gonna be miami. this is the expansion team that they're taking a risk on bc they feel like the miami demographic is really positive, but they also don't know if that's enough to keep the expansion team afloat - despite beckham's involvement.

Wait. Stop. Sorry (I should be studying my Spanish, but, let me finish this first). Doesn't Florida already have a team? If Miami has one, isn't that near enough to Orlando to overlap territories? Can a state have more than two top tier teams (rather like say, Manchester in England have Manchester City and Manchester United). How will that go?

Off to research what a 'play off' is. I really need to rent Draft Day I think.

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lol, i loved the video because they did that part where they compared premier league teams to nfl teams - especially the dallas cowboys - and it's pretty accurate. and the actor is jason sudeikis, he's a pretty decent comedian/actor, i like him.

florida does have orlando city, but miami is about three and a half hours away from orlando - at the very least; i'd say the location differences would be the same as newcastle to manchester. so they're kinda separate of their own. orlando has their own NBA team, as does miami - so i would see why it would make sense for them to want to open an expansion team in miami when lots of people support the dolphins & heat. like i said - here in the us, people are fiercely patriotic but they're also very attached to representing their "city" or region, so to speak. so miami and orlando are def not close enough to overlap that territory, a 3 hr drive on a regular basis to see a florida mls team is really excruciating - especially when traffic is horrendous & public transporation is really lacking here in the us.

and california has two mls teams, as do texas & now new york too. let me tell you that the california clasico is a real thing and the rivalry between the san jose earthquakes & la galaxy is INTENSE. not as intense as la's town rivalry between their college football teams of usc and ucla, but the "clasico" here in cali is a big friggin' deal. not sure about texas and ny, but i can see it happening. the game between san jose and la definitely bring out the fans who, like said, really love to represent their city.

california fans go hard for their teams during these rivalries. even though seattle and portland are in different states, their rivalry is really insane as well. seattle fans have always been the loudest of the mls bunch so we're catching up when it comes to having multiple teams. los angeles is getting their expansion team with LA FC and i know lots of people are excited about the potential for that to become a crazy rivalry & scene for southern california.

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and regarding playoffs, the MLS has a structure that doesn't let the team with the most points at the end of the season hoist the league title. to win the MLS Cup, the team has to make it through a series of games against 11 other teams.

basically there are 12 teams in the playoffs - 6 from the western conference and 6 from the eastern. they play in their own separate conference bracket first, so the western teams will go head to head with one another & the eastern teams will do the same. so the 6 teams from the west will try to beat one another to make it to the western conference final, and the 6 teams from the east will compete to make it to their own eastern conference final.

after a team has won their respective conference final, the western winner & eastern winner will go to the MLS Cup final against one another. and that's how they decide who really wins the league in the MLS. but lol, if you really need help visualizing this, i can draw up a mock playoff scenario with teams so you can see it work!

i kinda like the playoffs situation because it gives 6 teams from each conference to compete and earn the chance to win the league. so teams that sit "mid-table" in their own conference can actually come out and win the league despite not playing as consistent as the top mls teams.

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and i am so happy for drogba! montreal are a mid-table team atm (last season was atrocious for them, so being mid-table in the western conference is a good start right now!), but i know a big pull for drogba was the location & familiarity of being able to speak french. i know that has to be of comfort - finally being able to speak your mother tongue without feeling self-conscious about needing to speak perfect english or what have you. ngl, i'm super happy for montreal because i know they were really pulling through and hoping that drogba would come to play for them. they could use the publicity and popularity so i am sending him nothing but good vibes all the way.

and LOL, idk if anyone saw this (my mom heard this on the radio while she was helping a patient & called me about it), but las vegas has a mob museum. i don't gamble or smoke, so when i go to vegas - i am all about shopping & visiting their museums, collections and exhibits; they have some amazing ones and the mob museum is definitely one of them. but anyway, the museum is going to host a permanent display of FIFA's fuckery called "the beautiful game turns ugly (http://www.espnfc.us/blog/the-toe-poke/65/post/2540572/fifa-corruption-exhibition-set-to-open-in-las-vegas)" and it opens in september. so i am definitely going to be going back again later this year to check this out and see what they have to put in the collection.

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Lol, I saw an article about the FIFA display in the Guardian! Will you take pictures and share them with us? XD

Edited Date: 2015-07-30 03:41 pm (UTC)

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