MLS Cup 2011

Heath Pearce plays for FC Dallas. Conor Casey plays for the Rapids. You really can't go wrong with a Pilot on both teams. (Kelly Gray got one with Houston a while ago.)

Not the two teams you'd expect but with the styles they play this could be a nice back and forth game.

There's a free viewing party at the Bagdad Theater in Portland put on by 107ist, the Timbers supporters' trust.

2nd year in a row with 2 w. conference teams...

How long before the MLS is honest with itself and goes with 1 table and just seeds 1-8 like every other league in the soccer universe??

DaTruRochin wrote:2nd year in a row with 2 w. conference teams...

How long before the MLS is honest with itself and goes with 1 table and just seeds 1-8 like every other league in the soccer universe??

Garber had his state of MLS press conference today and basically said, "We'll look into it." Of course, I've also heard him say conference titles are something clubs and fans can take pride in, and playoff races make the end of the season interesting.

I was explaining the format to PilotDrummer and realized that I understood it in my head, but putting into words is tough. That may be a warning sign your playoff system needs work.

Maybe we can just go to a single table format and scrap the whole post-season tournament?

Yeah, I know, fat chance, but a guy can dream, right? It's not about determining the league champion by what's most fair, it's about determining the league champion by what's best televised.

Well, they do give out the Supporters Shield

VillaGorilla wrote:Maybe we can just go to a single table format and scrap the whole post-season tournament?

Yeah, I know, fat chance, but a guy can dream, right? It's not about determining the league champion by what's most fair, it's about determining the league champion by what's best televised.

Yeah, part of me would rather scrap the post season and make every game count as well. I would have rather seen some higher intensity games in the first part of the Sounders' season. On the other side, the low end MLS salaries can't hold a candle to Premier League salaries. So, there's still no guarantee that the players would come out and play harder. Paying players 40,000 per year (with very little guaranteed money) is what some players in the league is dealing with right now; players who don't make much and are one injury away from ending a career. But, recent changes (which averted the lockout) mean the league is slowly moving in the right direction...

Here's an example of salaries as of last June:

http://talksounders.com/archive/seattle-sounders-2010-salaries/

onetouchfutbol wrote:

VillaGorilla wrote:Maybe we can just go to a single table format and scrap the whole post-season tournament?

Yeah, I know, fat chance, but a guy can dream, right? It's not about determining the league champion by what's most fair, it's about determining the league champion by what's best televised.

Yeah, part of me would rather scrap the post season and make every game count as well.

Guess that's not going to happen:

"We will never do away with playoffs," [MLS Commissioner Don] Garber said. "There is absolutely no reason to do that."

http://espn.go.com/sports/soccer/news/_/id/5813700/mls-reserve-league-return-2011-season

Oh well.

Haha is that remotely surprising? Potential revenue from playoffs and whatnot alone, plus the general sporting American public just wouldn't get it since every other professional sport uses a playoff system ... And playoff success in the only real success, just ask the 2001 Mariners....

DaTruRochin wrote:Haha is that remotely surprising? Potential revenue from playoffs and whatnot alone, plus the general sporting American public just wouldn't get it since every other professional sport uses a playoff system ... And playoff success in the only real success, just ask the 2001 Mariners....

Not to mention the fact that Garber is a former NFL guy...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Garber

So that wasn't bad. In fact, as Finals in general go it was quite entertaining.

No Heath Pearce, which made choosing Colorado easy. Nice goal for Ferreira, the MVP, but Colorado went to sleep not marking him.

Colorado scored probably the two ugliest goals to win a trophy but Conor Casey figured in both. He scored the first lying on the ground, and in extra time he found Kandji on the goal line. Kandji's shot then bounced in off a defender for an own goal. Not really surprising a Pilot should step up and be the MVP in a Cup Final.

To be fair Casey was also a general nuisance to Dallas the whole game and should have been cautioned a long time before he actually was. But that's pretty much how he is. Guys were flying in everywhere and the referee was walking a fine line letting them play so much.

Yeah, nice effort and game for Conor Casey. He definitely should have been carded, but, the funny part of the game was when the player from Dallas acted like he wanted to pick a fight with Casey, one of the bigger guys in the league...

Funny part is George John (the guy who had the og and was charged with marking Conor much of the game) is a pretty damn big dude as well... I remember when he played for UW, he TOWERED over the UP field players he was up against (of course he also lost then too, so that seems to be a trend)

Also funny part was when Conor was handed the MVP trophy the guy kept calling him Casey Connor like 3 times until the ESPN dude corrected him... Oh the travails of having 2 first names...