is anyone going to monterrey?
It's 2-1 Tauro leading on aggregate at Dallas. Urruti pulls one back for Dallas, but Dallas still needs 2 goals to advance
“Years have gone by and I’ve finally learned to accept myself for who I am: a beggar for good football.
I go about the world, hand outstretched, and in the stadiums I plead: ‘A pretty move, for the love of God.’
And when good football happens, I give thanks for the miracle and I don’t give a damn which team or country performs it.”
-Eduardo Galeano
"There are some people who might have better technique than me, and some may be fitter than me, but the main thing is tactics. With most players, tactics are missing. You can divide tactics into insight, trust, and daring." - Johan Cruyff
The US teams were chosen because of how they did in 2016.
If they used 2017, that would be NYC, Seattle, Portland & SKC.
Not sure about Portland & SKC, but I suspect that NYC would have taken this more seriously.
It really boggles the mind, after the big CCL rejig, incl. TFC having to qualify twice for this year's competition: We end up with US teams qualifying based on results from 1 1/2 years ago. Colorado also had no reason to be there this season. Is this the permanent plan from now on?
For 2019 the real fun begins:
The US has 4 spots once again but are giving them to:
US Open Cup Champs in 2017 (SKC) and 2018.
MLS Cup champs in 2017* and 2018
*one team from combined point totals of 2017 & 2018 (As we took MLS Cup in 2017). > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_M...and_2018_table
For TFC, we only need to win the Can Champ again to get in next year.
Toronto FC,#CMNT & #CWNT, Scotland, Heart of Midlothian FC, Tottenham Hotspur FC
"The Harder the Struggle, The Greater the Reward" - @OsoJ92AWAY DAYS - CHICAGO August 2017, MONTREAL March 2018
The good thing is the US soccer media has hammered Colorado for the "pre-season" comments and Dallas for not getting by a 6th place Panamanian team. The expectation now is MLS teams should be doing well and treating it seriously.
IIRC, the Voyageurs Cup was moved to better align with the way the tournament was run and allow more teams (Ottawa & Edmonton). We originally had the NCC/ACC in early spring, and it was moved into the summer months to avoid fixture congestion. Due to that move, the first year Vancouver qualified for CCL just on the basis of being the highest point total in MLS for a Canadian club.
Then CCL changed their format, which messed with the timing of the tournament, so the NCC/ACC had to come up with a fix and that's why we had the two year qualifying hoopla from last year. End result, VW one the CC once and qualified twice, we won it twice and qualified once. I think this is part of the growing pains of both these tournaments and all the regions trying to line up properly. Some of the CCL participants get in via league play, others via tournaments.
In their slight defence, the timing of this tournament is terrible and its not easy to fix.
There’s too much north-south distance being covered and the timing of domestic competitions is all over the map.
So we have to play a Mexican side in mid season form with barely a foot off the ground and like a 6 week offseason.
C'mon. Get serious. Even the worst MLS team is in a different universe than a Panamanian team. No team in this league should ever lose to them without feeling shame.
Most of these guys are so unknown that they don't even have wiki entries. Of the 7 of the Tauro players that have wiki entries. 4 are false links, ie they link to different people, they are mistake entries.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tauro_F.C.#Current_squad
"There are some people who might have better technique than me, and some may be fitter than me, but the main thing is tactics. With most players, tactics are missing. You can divide tactics into insight, trust, and daring." - Johan Cruyff
The better national teams of this region struggle in those countries. They aren't easy places to get points.
Also, lets slow down the MLS kool-aid because we absorb plenty of media trying to sell us on how great this league is. Teams like the Colorado Rapids aren't very good throughout that roster, despite them having their own wiki pages. The majority of that roster is MLS scrubs or players who played in lower leagues than MLS. Come on.
FWIW, found an actual CONCACAF Club ranking. Some questionable rankings.
Toronto is highest MLS based team at 17, Seattle highest US based team at 22.
http://footballdatabase.com/ranking/north-america/1
Very questionable, not a chance Saprissa is better than TFC. I'd put more stock into the ratings here, that said are missing many of these central american clubs. Though i'd say they probably dont deserve to be ranked anyways.
https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com...ccer-rankings/
If you click on TorontoFC you can see the world and national ranking. National ranking has FC Edmonton in 4th place - even though they don't exist anymore -and does not have Ottawa.
But back on topic - 8 of the top 10 teams in that ranking are from Mexico. I would think we have our work cut out for us...
Road Games:
2013 - Montréal , 2014 - Orlando (Disney Classic), Montréal
2015 - Columbus, New England, Montréal
2016 - NYCFC (Leg 2 Conference Semis), Montréal (Leg 1 Conference Final)
2017 - Ottawa (Leg 1 Canadian Championship Semi), DCU, Red Bulls (Leg 1 Conference Final), Columbus (Leg 2 Conference Final)
2019 - Montréal, NYCFC (Eastern Conference Semi @ Citi Field), Seattle (MLS Cup Final)
Having a background in lower leagues is not the same thing as actually being in a lower league.
People should just click on the links and decide for themselves. This is my last post on this, I have given up arguing with people who think the sky is green for lent.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colora...Current_roster
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FC_Dallas#Current_roster
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tauro_F.C.#Current_squad
"There are some people who might have better technique than me, and some may be fitter than me, but the main thing is tactics. With most players, tactics are missing. You can divide tactics into insight, trust, and daring." - Johan Cruyff
I thought Tauro wasn't good because when we played them years ago, the inflatable bull they brought deflated.
(Yes, I was with the 5K announced as 9K who attended that night - I bought a series pack for those CCL games)
"There are some people who might have better technique than me, and some may be fitter than me, but the main thing is tactics. With most players, tactics are missing. You can divide tactics into insight, trust, and daring." - Johan Cruyff
Any where we can get a feed to see the Seattle game this evening?
NYRB looking good tonight & going through. Admitedly, Olimpia was missing players who couldn't get a visa. NYRB's new guy Kaku is going to change how they play - man can pass.
This is getting silly. You are implying an accusation that no one is making. Which bothers me. So I guess I better come back in and point a couple of things out.
Panama produce excellent footballers - but none of them play club football in Panama. At least 5 or 6 of the Panama WC squad play in MLS, btw. Christ, we just had Cooper and Torres in two straight MLS finals. If anyone cares about reality in this discussion, then there's that.
Go look at Blas Perez' career, the guy has played for 15 clubs in 16 years or something, but none in Panama since he left as a teenager. Perez was on TV in Vancouver lamenting the situation in club football in Panama, talking about how he cannot go home like other players - there is no money, no ownership, nothing, he called Panama club football a hobby league for amateurs.
OK I'm out again. I don’t care enough to discuss further.
"There are some people who might have better technique than me, and some may be fitter than me, but the main thing is tactics. With most players, tactics are missing. You can divide tactics into insight, trust, and daring." - Johan Cruyff
I think the nice thing about this tournament going forward is that there is a chance for 1 or 2 cupsets in the first round. It is the closest thing we have to the FA Cup in terms of disparity between sides.
Not bad HEY?
TEAM "A" TEAM "B"
----------------Bono------------------- Irwin
vdW-----Moor----Mavinga----Morrow Xavaleta Hagglund Morgan
--------------Bradley------------------ Liam Chapman
Auro-----Vasquez------Aketxe Hasler Osorio Delgado
--------Altidore-----Giovinco--------- Ricketts Hamilton
Last edited by Luanda; 03-02-2018 at 10:09 AM. Reason: Formatting got screwed up.