MLS' Worst Nightmare - A Domestic Treble/Relocation Contender
As of today's MLS' worst nightmare is officially on the front burner. San Jose, who by all reports will no longer exist as soon as this season ends, now stands in first in the Supporter's Shield standings with Chicago and New England both losing and FC Dallas only managing a draw in the Pizza Hut Park grand opening.
With their win over Portland in the last round of the U.S. Open Cup, they're still alive and facing a heavily slumping Galaxy in San Jose in the quarters. Since the Galaxy can't even beat the (c)Rapids away from the Home Depot Center, San Jose can still make some noise there.
Meanwhile, having the first seed in the West would mean drawing said (c)Rapids in the first round of the playoffs and if there's one thing the Earthquakes know about right now, it's momentum.
Quite simply, the Bay Area boys are seemingly unstoppable right now.
Besides the Fire and FC Dallas, the Earthquakes are the only teams left with a chance at doing what no MLS team has ever done before - the domestic treble (Supporter's Shield, U.S. Open Cup, MLS Cup).
And they would follow it up by morphing into Club America Houston before our very eyes.
Some would say that would be a way of going out in style but I think that would be the biggest slap in the credibility face MLS has had since they still had penalty kicks for every match.
I wonder what Don Garber is thinking right now.
I forgot, he doesn't usually like to actually think.
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Meanwhile on things going right as far as the United States presence in Europe goes, something wonderful happened today (watches as plastic bag floats by). Claudio Reyna wore the captain's armband for Manchester City in their final pre-season friendly against Olympiacos, which they won 3-1.
The selection was due to regular skipper Sylvain Distin's groin injury.
But, more importantly it means that Claudio Reyna has now been captain on every team he has ever played for. Not that I wish ill will on Distin (since Manchester City's having enough problems going into their opener) but it would be amazing to see Reyna captain a Premiership side for an entire season.
I still stand behind my convictions that Claudio Reyna will be the first United States born manager in the Premiership.
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I know I was a little harsh in the first part of this post about MLS so I'll bring up the glory moment that happened today. Jamaican international Andy Williams scored MLS' 5000th regular season goal in the Real Salt Lake match against Chivas USA.
The crazy thing is, in the footcer mad town of Salt Lake City where they're averaging 20,738, only 14,163 showed up today.
Pehaps if it were somewhere like, I don't know, Chicago where the press coverage sucks, the fans might not have been aware they were witnessing a milestone. Not that 14,000+ is anything to sneeze at but it is a little odd that less Utahans showed up to see history than just a normal game against, say Columbus.
Though it must be said that league-wide, the fans seem to have forgotten about the MLS in the two weeks since they've played everywhere but Chicago and Colorado which somehow drew above their season averages.
I guess absence made the heart grow fonder in a couple of markets. And that may be the best news of the day in MLS that wasn't pre-planned.
With their win over Portland in the last round of the U.S. Open Cup, they're still alive and facing a heavily slumping Galaxy in San Jose in the quarters. Since the Galaxy can't even beat the (c)Rapids away from the Home Depot Center, San Jose can still make some noise there.
Meanwhile, having the first seed in the West would mean drawing said (c)Rapids in the first round of the playoffs and if there's one thing the Earthquakes know about right now, it's momentum.
Quite simply, the Bay Area boys are seemingly unstoppable right now.
Besides the Fire and FC Dallas, the Earthquakes are the only teams left with a chance at doing what no MLS team has ever done before - the domestic treble (Supporter's Shield, U.S. Open Cup, MLS Cup).
And they would follow it up by morphing into Club America Houston before our very eyes.
Some would say that would be a way of going out in style but I think that would be the biggest slap in the credibility face MLS has had since they still had penalty kicks for every match.
I wonder what Don Garber is thinking right now.
I forgot, he doesn't usually like to actually think.
---
Meanwhile on things going right as far as the United States presence in Europe goes, something wonderful happened today (watches as plastic bag floats by). Claudio Reyna wore the captain's armband for Manchester City in their final pre-season friendly against Olympiacos, which they won 3-1.
The selection was due to regular skipper Sylvain Distin's groin injury.
But, more importantly it means that Claudio Reyna has now been captain on every team he has ever played for. Not that I wish ill will on Distin (since Manchester City's having enough problems going into their opener) but it would be amazing to see Reyna captain a Premiership side for an entire season.
I still stand behind my convictions that Claudio Reyna will be the first United States born manager in the Premiership.
---
I know I was a little harsh in the first part of this post about MLS so I'll bring up the glory moment that happened today. Jamaican international Andy Williams scored MLS' 5000th regular season goal in the Real Salt Lake match against Chivas USA.
The crazy thing is, in the footcer mad town of Salt Lake City where they're averaging 20,738, only 14,163 showed up today.
Pehaps if it were somewhere like, I don't know, Chicago where the press coverage sucks, the fans might not have been aware they were witnessing a milestone. Not that 14,000+ is anything to sneeze at but it is a little odd that less Utahans showed up to see history than just a normal game against, say Columbus.
Though it must be said that league-wide, the fans seem to have forgotten about the MLS in the two weeks since they've played everywhere but Chicago and Colorado which somehow drew above their season averages.
I guess absence made the heart grow fonder in a couple of markets. And that may be the best news of the day in MLS that wasn't pre-planned.
posted by incendiarymind at 9:38 PM
4 Comments:
RSL-early start
CHI-Freddy Adu
I'm not sure about Freddy Adu here for the fire. When "he" came earlier this season, the Wednesday night attendance bump was about 500. Which translates into 1,000 in Saturday terms but not 3,000.
RSL's attendance oddity does makes sense.
We're in total agreement of Reyna's place in the footcer world. Over on BS, everyone is clamoring they want him to finish his career in MLS. I'd rather he finish out his career at Manchester City and then sign on as an assistant manager or go down to the Colaship and player/manage right from the start.
I would also love to see O'Brien playing for ROI (who are my second national team). But everything I've ever seen says he doesn't want anything to do with the Irish NT (he played with the U-20s and had a huge falling out).
I get the impression he's someone for whom international footcer doesn't mean much because he also hasn't petitioned FIFA for United States eligibility either.
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