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2008 Mls Thread

post #1 of 47
2/7/08 at 1:15pm
Thread Starter 
Well, I figure with schedules coming out today and the match last night between US & Mexico that it was time to launch this year's MLS thread.

This will be the first year we see if Beckham can truly do anything for the sport. Last night there were 70,000 people on hand in Houston at Reliant Stadium for the Mexico/US match.

There is the Pan Pacific championship coming up at the end of the month:

http://www.ppchampionship.net/

I think it would be much more exciting if we also had the Korea and Chinese leagues involved as well, but this should be a nice start for the tournament.

I find myself leaning more and more to cheering for the Houston Dynamo since they are closest to me; but I will always have a place for the Chicago Fire since that was my first MLS match.

So what's up? What are people looking forward to with the MLS and football/soccer in general this year?
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post #2 of 47
2/7/08 at 1:47pm
Sounded like that was a hell of a match last night.

With Beckham committed to the Galaxy, I think they'll be much better. But how will Gullitt deal with the MLS salary cap? That's going to be interesting.

As always, I root for the Red Bulls by default. Toronto's only got single seats left already, so odds of me making a game are slim.

Looking forward to WC qualifying starting up over the summer...
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post #3 of 47
2/8/08 at 12:10am
Thread Starter 
Well the schedules are out. Time to start planning my trip to Houston for a weekend. Hopefully I can squeeze in an Astros game as well.

I have to say, I am more excited for this season than last.
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post #4 of 47
2/12/08 at 9:36pm
Thread Starter 
So check out this tournament our minor league club has coming up:

New Orleans ShellShockers
US MNT
Honduras MNT
Club Deportivo Victoria

http://noshellshockers.com/en/pages/home.php

Not sure how I feel about the EPL possibly coming here. On one hand, I think it couldn't hurt to have the enthusiasm for the games; It could also overshadow our own league (not that that takes much sadly).

Dammit, just realized that tournament is the weekend I am spending all day Saturday watching the 5 best pic nominees. Already bought my tickets, so no wy I am not gonna make that. Sucks. Going to have to make it to Sunday's games.
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post #5 of 47
2/15/08 at 1:10am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Casey Moore View Post
So check out this tournament our minor league club has coming up:

New Orleans ShellShockers
US MNT
Honduras MNT
Club Deportivo Victoria

http://noshellshockers.com/en/pages/home.php

Not sure how I feel about the EPL possibly coming here. On one hand, I think it couldn't hurt to have the enthusiasm for the games; It could also overshadow our own league (not that that takes much sadly).

Dammit, just realized that tournament is the weekend I am spending all day Saturday watching the 5 best pic nominees. Already bought my tickets, so no wy I am not gonna make that. Sucks. Going to have to make it to Sunday's games.
Hm, interesting tourney.

To be honest, those games would be played in January, so unless MLS goes to a fall/spring schedule (don't think they ever will, even with every team in their own stadium), the EPL would be going head to head with the NFL playoffs. Which is a guaranteed way to make said game an anonymous blip on the sports radar, anyway.

Besides, I read somewhere that it's technically illegal to have a league game outside of your country, per FIFA rules. (I know that there was a Italian Super Cup game played at Giants Stadium a few years back, though...) So we'll see where it goes from there.
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post #6 of 47
2/15/08 at 8:02pm
Thread Starter 
It seems from what I have seen online and on FSC that most leagues aren't to keen on the EPL playing this global tournament. Really, if you are going to do something like this, do it with FIFA and make it a global Champions' League. Sort of the Winter Olympics to the World Cup.

Looks like I am going to miss most of that tournament for different things. Going to try and make the afternoon game, but sadly not looking like it.

Pan Pacific Tournament is coming up and will be on ESPN Classic. Thanks ESPN. Why won't they give us an ESPN soccer channel? Or English language world sports channel.
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post #7 of 47
2/17/08 at 1:38am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Casey Moore
It seems from what I have seen online and on FSC that most leagues aren't to keen on the EPL playing this global tournament. Really, if you are going to do something like this, do it with FIFA and make it a global Champions' League. Sort of the Winter Olympics to the World Cup.
...
Pan Pacific Tournament is coming up and will be on ESPN Classic. Thanks ESPN. Why won't they give us an ESPN soccer channel? Or English language world sports channel.
Sepp Blatter shot that down in a BBC interview, so I don't think this is going to happen. A global Champions' League is a good idea, though I suppose the World Club Cup is as close as we'll get. (But that's what the FIFA video games are for!)

I think between FSC and Setanta, most global sports are covered fairly well in the US. My brother follows rugby, and he's been raving about Setanta's Six Nations coverage, which is the Sky Sports feed I believe. Problem is, both are not standard channels, so they're hard to come by. I've got Dish Network at home, and neither are available on the package I have.
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post #8 of 47
2/17/08 at 2:40am
Thread Starter 
See, I don't get Setanta. I only get FSC. Its why I want more coverage. And ESPN gets soccer matches, but damn if they don't make it hard sometimes to know when they are coming on. We do get Gol, though with the English translation.
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post #9 of 47
2/27/08 at 6:50pm
Thread Starter 
Well the tournament here seemed to go well. From what I read and heard the crowd was predominantly Honduran fans.

Here is a piece on what the Coach/Owner of the ShellShockers wants to accomplish:

Quote:
Farrell's aspirations get big kick

Tourney's success makes him eager to build soccer industry

Monday, February 25, 2008
By Michael Arvites

Kenny Farrell said he is more than happy with the results of this past weekend's tournament featuring the United States and Honduran Under-20 national teams as well as Honduran club team Victoria.

But the Shell Shockers' owner/coach has far bigger aspirations for soccer in New Orleans.

"We know we can build a big soccer industry down here," Farrell said.

Bringing in competition the level of Honduras and Victoria, Farrell said, is the way to build interest in the area.

"To bring in very good opposition is huge," he said. "Victoria is one of the best teams on the continent. You add that with having a top-level international game between the U.S. and Honduran national teams and you have a great event."

All weekend, Honduran flags and jerseys were present at Tad Gormley Stadium. Farrell said inviting two teams from Honduras was simply looking at the growing Hispanic community in New Orleans.

"I don't know if you know this or not, but we have either the second- or third-largest Honduran community in the country," Farrell said. "Knowing that we have so many Hondurans in the area, it was easy to decide to bring their teams and the teams the people love."

While Farrell does enjoy putting on events like this, he said he has bigger dreams.

"What events like this do is show you the potential of the area," he said. "Our big dream is to have a facility that can host these games properly and have auxiliary fields where we can bring teams down and let them practice for a few weeks before."

Aside from just hosting miniature tournaments and events, Farrell has hopes for the area one day becoming the training ground for multiple professional teams.

He relates New Orleans' potential as a soccer training site to the way Major League Baseball uses Florida and Arizona during spring training.

"We want to bring teams in to train for two or three weeks in the offseason," Farrell said. "Whether they be from Central or South America, we can bring them here to train, and their fans will follow and come into the city and spend money boosting our economy."

Farrell looks at Florida for a base of comparison, saying New Orleans has the weather and the fans to support spring training.

He also looks to Major League Soccer as a potential participant in spring training.

"No one has MLS preseason right now," Farrell said. "MLS teams go all over the world for preseason, but we could have them here, we could have the games here, and we could bring teams in to play them.

"MLS has 14 teams that have to go to Bermuda, Mexico and Portugal; they go all over the place. . . . There are nine weeks of preseason training for MLS, and you look at Florida and the economic impact baseball has on it. We can have that with soccer."

But for now, Farrell is happy with hosting high-profile matches in the hopes that it leads to something more.
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post #10 of 47
3/25/08 at 4:39pm
Thread Starter 
Anybody watch Beckham on 60 minutes? I missed it since the wife wanted to watch cartoons with my son. I heard complaints that there was little MLS talk and too much Beckham "brand" talk.
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post #11 of 47
3/25/08 at 9:47pm
Because the Beckham brand is the most important thing to him. He only cares about growing American soccer as long as it makes him a major name in America like Tiger, Peyton, or Shaq.

I do not know what to think of the Rev's this year. Very young team. I hope they can hit their stride early, instead of fall behind like a lot of young teams do.
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post #12 of 47
3/25/08 at 11:52pm
Missed the interview, but I've been distracted by the possibility of there being no USL soccer in Rochester this year.

To make a long, long story short, the Rhinos were bought this past week less than two months before the season opener. The previous owners were bankrupt and the city took over Paetec Park, which is the half-finished SSS in a rough part of the city. Despite there being a huge amount of security there, the perception wasn't enough to keep (scared suburbanites) coming back.

Anyway, there's new ownership, the state money which is supposed to finish the stadium is on the way, new concessions and a new coach as well.

Hopefully when the Revs make their annual Open Cup trip up here, things will be going well.
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post #13 of 47
3/26/08 at 8:55am
Thread Starter 
Yeah, our PDL team is in disarray with the Coach/Owner fighting with the promoter/owner. Seriously, the Rev was here and I didn't find out about it until the Friday before since there was no promotion. My favorite was the promoter/owner saying since attendance was low at the international tournament he decided not to promote heavily the Revs match (Crew was supposed to be here as well, but he canceled them).

Thing is, they barely promoted the international match. No real newspaper ads. Maybe one appearance on a local morning news show. I heard one radio ad, and I listen to sports radio every morning driving in to work.

Looking forward to seeing if the Dynamo can make it three in a row. Hoping for MLS' sake the Galaxy does well this year. Going to be a good weekend of sports for me.
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post #14 of 47
3/30/08 at 6:10pm
Revs played great. Their two Nambians were all over the field. I like the speed at which this team plays. It will be a fun season if they can stay healthy.

The weather was miserable, though.
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post #15 of 47
4/2/08 at 9:19am
Thread Starter 
Is it just me or is MLS just struggling in international competitions so far this year? DC United's loss last night was just the latest.

Freakin Dynamo. Time to bounce back boys and go for the 3rd title.

Double header Thursday night on ESPN2:

New England Revolution vs Chicago Fire @ 8pm EST
San Jose Earthquakes vs LA Galaxy @ 10:30 pm EST
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post #16 of 47
4/4/08 at 10:34am
Thread Starter 
Well nice to have the double header last night. Good to see my Fire bounce back with a Revs smack down.

And I will say it, I think it is good for MLS that the Galaxy had such a good showing last night. And Beckham's goal was pretty sweet from start to finish.
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post #17 of 47
4/6/08 at 12:57am
I was more impressed by his one time pass to Donovan for the second goal. He put the ball into space and let Donovan run to it, but he did not hit the ball to far and let the goalie get to it. It was brilliant. Plus, most of his free kicks were on the money and the Galaxy could not put them away.

Give credit to Landon on the first pass and second goal. His pass was perfect, his shot/lob over the goalie was equally difficult.

The Rev's played poorly, but playing with ten men is always a problem. They were already down 1-0 by the time Lorentawitz was shown off, so they would have had an uphill battle either way.
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post #18 of 47
4/10/08 at 12:48pm
Thread Starter 
Houston looked fucking horrible last night. MLS continues its crappy play against other countries. Even DC United's win was tempered by the fact they don't advance.
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post #19 of 47
4/12/08 at 7:54pm
Just got our season's tickets. Fabulous package, and I'm really, really excited to start this season at home. It's just too damn bad we suck so damn bad.





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post #20 of 47
4/12/08 at 8:22pm
Thread Starter 
Well at least they know how to treat their fans well. Really, for all the fan support in Toronto, ya'll need to have a better team.
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post #21 of 47
4/12/08 at 8:25pm
Its gotta be the Canadian Content rules. We're shooting ourselves in the foot with some of these jackasses.
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post #22 of 47
4/13/08 at 1:22am
Captain, that's a helluva package. Wish the season wasn't sold out already, or else I'd head up there to catch a game.

Think Montreal would be a good fit as a natural rival? The scuttlebutt is that the USL is about to suffer a host of defections: Seattle's gone (yay for keeping the Sounders name), while Montreal, Vancouver, Miami and Portland are all apparently on the long-range MLS radar.

If this keeps up, FIFA's probably going to have to relax the rule that says a maximum of 20 teams for a nation's first division league. The NASL had 24 at its height, so it's not unprecedented.

Or MLS could set up their own second division, which would be... interesting.
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post #23 of 47
4/13/08 at 4:12pm
Is it really impossible to get single game tickets for Toronto games? I want to come up and see the Houston/Toronto game this fall but it seems like with so many season ticket holders that out-of-towners won't have a shot.

On the expansion issue, I'd like to see MLS slow down and have 14 extremely solid teams where the talent isn't so spread out, rather than a lot of teams that wind up thinning out the quality.
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post #24 of 47
4/15/08 at 12:06am
Quote:
Originally Posted by zeroplate View Post
Is it really impossible to get single game tickets for Toronto games? I want to come up and see the Houston/Toronto game this fall but it seems like with so many season ticket holders that out-of-towners won't have a shot.
Apparently, the single game seats went on sale today at 10 am. FWIW, I couldn't access the website.

Better to have a 20k seat stadium with a phenomenal atmosphere than that same crowd dispersed around, say, Rogers Centre/Skydome. Yeah, sucks for you and I, but good for the future of the league.
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post #25 of 47
4/15/08 at 12:57am
Very long days of work, so I wasn't around to answer for you, sorry. As for single tickets, I really have no idea. I sit about twenty rows down from the designated fan area of the stadium (Again, i'm not sure if thats an official thing or something I'm just picking up on as the gang of travelers always ends up there), and there's usually a few seats there at game time. Then of course, there are always the scalpers. Every game I went to a game last year there would always be the same group of pros looking for face value on the tickets. The most expensive ticket I saw in our package was $44 (two rows from the field), which, when given the price of a Leafs or Raptors game, is crazy cheap.

ETA: Great that we scored our first win yesterday, but from what I saw before work, Toronto was very lucky indeed.

ETA round 2: Montreal would be pretty fantastic as an expansion. Its just as multicultural as Toronto (what really made the TFC so quickly accepted here), and the fact thats its a scant 4 hours away would make it a great road trip.
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post #26 of 47
4/19/08 at 10:56pm
Really fun game today, really great weather in Toronto. Sadly, after such an intense winter, I forgot about sunburns. I'm about as red as my TFC home jersey.

ETA: oh yes, I forgot to add that we won. We actually won. We're at .500!
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post #27 of 47
4/28/08 at 9:27am
Thread Starter 
Someone check Landon Donovan and find out what he is on. Jesus, who lit a fire under his ass?
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post #28 of 47
5/21/08 at 12:35pm
Thread Starter 
Anyone watching the UEFA Champions League match today?
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post #29 of 47
5/21/08 at 6:44pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Casey Moore View Post
Anyone watching the UEFA Champions League match today?
I did.

So I'm guessing Didier Drogba's on his way out of Chelsea, thanks to that little pimp slap? I've got no great love for either side, but I'm glad Ronaldo got his comeuppance on that PK and feel terrible for John Terry. (Shanking the winning PK for the team you've been a lifelong fan of? Ouch.)
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post #30 of 47
5/21/08 at 9:14pm
Thread Starter 
Looks like it was one hell of a match. Wanted to watch it on ESPN360, but my bosses on this show are just not that cool. But kept up through Soccernet. Damn, nice to see a championship game come down to the end. I am sure Moscow is a fun town tonight.
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post #31 of 47
5/22/08 at 1:21am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Casey Moore View Post
Looks like it was one hell of a match. Wanted to watch it on ESPN360, but my bosses on this show are just not that cool. But kept up through Soccernet. Damn, nice to see a championship game come down to the end. I am sure Moscow is a fun town tonight.
More like this morning - didn't end til almost 2 am Moscow time.

Not bad for the first CL final I've been able to watch in four years.

I'm also looking forward to watching the Euro tournament for a change.
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post #32 of 47
5/22/08 at 10:03am
I watched it as well and being a Liverpool fan, had trouble keeping my bile from rising.

As much as I dislike Chelsea and everything they stand for (dirty, diving, sly but dangerous tackles, hounding the ref) I wish they'd won as my ingrained hatred for Man U is much worse.

Not a good night to be a Liverpool fan really.


However I will say it was a good game of football, most of the players seemed to be really putting their hearts into. Drogba stupid little bitch slap did sour the game though. Created a nice parralell with Zidane as well - getting sent off in extra time in the biggest game in football as well as it being their final game for each team.

It didn't compare to Liverpool's Final in Istanbul though...not a chance!

I think John Terry is probably still crying as well...
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post #33 of 47
5/22/08 at 10:35am
Thread Starter 
As bad and stereotypical as this sounds, I kept thinking we were going to read in the news of the Chelsea team being shot or disappeared to Siberia given their owner. ESPN had some pretty great online coverage yesterday. I was very happy to see it even if I couldn't fully keep up with it (stupid work thing).
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post #34 of 47
5/28/08 at 9:20am
Thread Starter 
I was tempted to skip work today and watch US vs England. I will just have to follow along online as best I can. Anyone else watching or following things today?
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post #35 of 47
5/28/08 at 6:26pm
Thread Starter 
Fuck. Fuck you England. Anyone watch the game? I had to keep up with it on the text updates on Soccernet. So can't actually tell if the US played well and lost a tough one, or if we just played lackluster?
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post #36 of 47
5/28/08 at 10:19pm
Thread Starter 
Sorry about the outburst. First thing's that came to mind. Anyone following the crap going on in Columbus? MLS Rumours has a pretty good long piece on it.
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post #37 of 47
6/20/08 at 2:00pm
They should hold an MLS vs. FIFA tournament.
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post #38 of 47
6/29/08 at 7:39pm
Thread Starter 
Is it bad I enjoyed watching the Galaxy get smacked down on national TV? And why during this dry season of sports isn't ABC doing an MLS game every Sunday or Saturday?
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post #39 of 47
7/1/08 at 10:36pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Casey Moore View Post
Is it bad I enjoyed watching the Galaxy get smacked down on national TV? And why during this dry season of sports isn't ABC doing an MLS game every Sunday or Saturday?
Nope, it's all good.

I'm gonna guess it's got something to do with the relatively stinky ratings when ABC did cover regular season weekend games in the past. (Though both the MLS game and the Euro game pulled strong numbers Sunday.)
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post #40 of 47
7/2/08 at 12:32am
Thread Starter 
I think I take a little too much glee in it since both of my teams are paying mediocre ball. What the hell happened to my Fire? They started strong, and now, not sure what is going on. And the Dynamo. Ugh.

Anyone following the US Open Cup? There is a fun tournament which deserves more coverage. I didn't realize it was the oldest football tournament in the country. Some upsets tonight it looks like.
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post #41 of 47
7/2/08 at 6:12pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Casey Moore View Post
Anyone following the US Open Cup? There is a fun tournament which deserves more coverage. I didn't realize it was the oldest football tournament in the country. Some upsets tonight it looks like.
Dammit, Casey, you got me all excited there for a second! I'd completely forgotten the Rhinos were playing DC United last night. Thanks...

The Rhinos winning the Open Cup in 1999 is arguably THE highlight for me as a Rhino fan. The final was on ESPN that year, and I believe I woke up my roommates when the clinching goal was scored.
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post #42 of 47
7/4/08 at 6:39pm
Thread Starter 
If you play Houston, you are more likely to wind up tied than with a win or loss. I am not sure what that says.

By the way, my wife and I were checking out at this neighborhood Wal Mart today (can't stand the place, but it is the closest grocery with Hebrew National Hot Dogs), and they had some decent US and Brazil soccer t shirts. Might be worth checking out. 5 bucks, for a t-shirt. Sporting my US shirt for the holiday.

And if someone besides the upcoming MLS champ wins the US Open Cup, I want to see a special match between the two.
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post #43 of 47
7/5/08 at 2:05pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Casey Moore View Post
If you play Houston, you are more likely to wind up tied than with a win or loss. I am not sure what that says.

By the way, my wife and I were checking out at this neighborhood Wal Mart today (can't stand the place, but it is the closest grocery with Hebrew National Hot Dogs), and they had some decent US and Brazil soccer t shirts. Might be worth checking out. 5 bucks, for a t-shirt. Sporting my US shirt for the holiday.

And if someone besides the upcoming MLS champ wins the US Open Cup, I want to see a special match between the two.
That's cool. I don't have any US or Rhino shirts, I'm more of a hat/jersey guy (though I think I probably won't buy anything more unless I get to London... then I'd buy a Charlton shirt).

Like what they do in England (I believe that's the Charity Shield match) and Italy (the Supercup)? Sign me up.
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post #44 of 47
7/7/08 at 1:41pm
Thread Starter 
Los Angeles has two first place teams. I want to see brutal fights between the East L.A. Chivas supporters and the Hollywood Galaxy supporters (yeah those are stereotypes, but oh well). Really, this has to make someone at MLS happy. Their "biggest" city with a tie for first place.
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post #45 of 47
7/7/08 at 8:38pm
Thread Starter 
The Red Card's top 20 soccer commercials. Nice way to get motivated before you head out to work out or to make you get up and go out and play some football.
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post #46 of 47
7/10/08 at 1:22pm
Thread Starter 
Small, but good piece on the MLS' actions towards the US Open Cup.
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post #47 of 47
7/12/08 at 12:13pm
Thread Starter 
Superliga starts today.
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