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How does the American Major League Soccer competition rate amongst other American sports. Interested to know from a research point of view. Obviously it is nowhere near as popular but is it on the up? Do people care when Colorado beat New York or is it widely ignored? Are people aware that America is harbouring the most promising young talent the footballing world has seen in years? Do people care?
Sadly, soccer is still not in the top four, or even six most popular sports in America. I do believe golf and tennis generate more attention than soccer, and I haven't even counted NASCAR, which may or may not be a sport.
However, I myself am a huge soccer fan, having played all my life. I am excited beyond all comprehension to see what Adu can do. We may actually be witnessing the second coming of Pele, something I never thought would be possible.
Take care all.
I know stuff about the MLS, though I don't watch it. Adu could be great, and he has the intellect and humility to go along with it.
Is it as pathetic as the Australian Soccer League? In our last International match, only one member of the team played for an Australian club - and that's one more than usual!
No its not. MLS is well funded and attracts a lot of talent from all over America and Europe. Unfortunately The Australian League is not very well recognised because the national team never qualify for anything and all the best players play in England. If Australia picked players just from their league in international games, such as the game against South Africa, they would get murdered.
Its such a shame MLS is not even above NASCAR, that surprises me!!! I watched something on the BBC during the world cup before the U.S Germany quarter final, which the U.S definitely should have won, they went round before a baseball game in New York and only one in ten knew the U.S had reached the last 8 but they all wished the team well, which was nice.
Adu looks amazing. He got a nice goal the other day aswell, shame DC aren't really firing on all cylinders yet.
He's only 14, so perhaps they're wise not to start him yet, but when he gets the chance to play a full 90 minutes, watch out!
Take care all.
Yeah, which is why we're now playing most of our 'Home' matches in England. English club bosses don't want their players jetting across the world for friendlies. It's a pity - international football is ruined by all the money that's involved in the club game. In any other international sport, playing for your counrty comes first, and your club comes second. It soccer, it seems (and probably is) the other way around.Quote:
Originally Posted by Doc Sark
Sorry people, but here in Brazil, MLS is not even considered soccer. It's too weak for Brazilian players. I don't want to say that Brazil is THE Soccer Team but USA Soccer Team is really bad...Since I was four years old, I play soccer almost everyday, and everyone in Brazil do the same thing. In USA, Soccer is a second class sport. You prefer Golf, or Basketball, or Baseball, and Soccer is the last in the list...
Curiosity: Have you ever heard of Diego, Robinho, Ronaldo, Romário, Fábio Rochemback, Rivaldo, Gilberto Silva, Kléberson, or another Brazilian Soccer player?
"Curiosity: Have you ever heard of Diego, Robinho, Ronaldo, Romário, Fábio Rochemback, Rivaldo, Gilberto Silva, Kléberson, or another Brazilian Soccer player?"
But of course! All great players in their own right and time. However, my favorite Brazilian athlete is: Guga, Gustavo Kuerten.
Take care all.
I would say I have never watched a full non world cup soccer game in my life. *is a football player*
diego and robinho, i sure have brazilian wonderkids playing for santos i allways buy them in championship manager. as for the rest there all well known and i can't believe rivaldo has gone to bolton???????Quote:
Curiosity: Have you ever heard of Diego, Robinho, Ronaldo, Romário, Fábio Rochemback, Rivaldo, Gilberto Silva, Kléberson, or another Brazilian Soccer player?"
I knew Rivaldo would go there, I just had an inkling over Xmas when there was talk of him coming to England.
Also...concerning Australian Football....
You can't seriously expect major Premier League clubs to allow their Australian stars, your Kewells, your Vidukas, your Emertons, to leave their club straight after a match at the weekend, take a 14-15 hour flight to meet up with the International Team, play a match, and then get back on the plane and fly all the way back. They would be exhausted and miss vital games when you consider the mammoth schedule involved with the Premier League, especially when there are European tournaments to consider, and relegation battles. If the Aussies want to play friendlies, then being that most of their best 11 play in the English Premier League, they should work together with the F.A in order to make it happen. I do however agree that the club vs country debate still rages on and some clubs do seem to have a lot of "injured" players when countries of less significance in footballing terms even major footballing powers, such as England, call upon their services. We only have to look at the 11 put out by Sven Goran Eriksson in the recent friendly defeat to Denmark to see that.
Oh and this upset me a little bit too...
Sorry Dark Dragon but that is a very arrogant statement. I enjoy brasillian football very much but the Brasillian League is not really considered to be much more than an attractive retreat from the hard slog of the European Leagues (in europe that is) with lots of lovely skills and stunning goals with lots of bad defending and insane goalkeeping, this is why all the best players, and i noticed you did not mention Kaka, who is amazing for A.C. Milan, all leave Brazil to pursue their careers in Europe. Not to mention the Brasillian players playing in the U.S.A and China and Japan and all over the world. The U.S.A have a very competent international side I think, with a lot of upcoming talent. They played good, solid football throughout the World Cup and deserved to be in the 3rd/4th place playoff really. However, I don't deny that Brazil are World Champions and among the top teams in the world.Quote:
Sorry people, but here in Brazil, MLS is not even considered soccer. It's too weak for Brazilian players. I don't want to say that Brazil is THE Soccer Team but USA Soccer Team is really bad
Whew...I'm done.
I didn't want to be arrogant Doc Sark, but it's not just my opinion. It's the opinion of the entire country. And yes, the Brazilian League sucks, because all the great players, after one year playing here, go to Europe. Have you ever heard of Nilmar? No? Well, he's one of the greatest players in the Brazilian League. Next year, I am sure he will go to Europe, because BRAZILIAN TEAMS DON'T HAVE MONEY TO KEEP GOOD PLAYERS FOR MORE THAN TWO YEARS!
And the Brazilian League is one of the more irregular Leagues in the world, never, I said NEVER, the champion was the same for three years.
How many Brazilian Teams do you know? Do you know Internacional (my favorite team!!!!!!) Corinthians, Săo Paulo, Paysandu, Palmeiras, Gręmio, Flamengo, Vasco?
Hell I don't even know any american teams
I watched the US play Mexico today. It stopped airing at halftime, and gave way to Mexican soap operas. What was the final score?
Actually I have heard of Nilmar, because as you say it is likely he will come to Europe next season which unfortunately for Internacional would mean him joining smack bang in the middle of their league campaign. Well at least they will have him for the state championships. Chelsea are interested and trust me they will have absolutely no qualms with throwing 20 million pounds at Internacional to pry him away. Work Permit permitting.
Its a bit pointless asking me how many Brasilian teams I know becasue I have the internet at my disposal and could easily just look them up. Sufficed to say, championship manager has taught me well and I know a fair few. All the major ones you liseted above are pretty much givens. I wish the English Premier League was a bit more irregular you know, it would certainly make things interesting if there was a different championship every year, and I find the Brasilian State Championship competition intruiging, would I be correct in thinking that teams from across the National Divisions are thrown in to one group depending on their area, such as the Sao Paulo state championship? Also there are various programmes on English T.V that show highlights of games all over South America, from the Copa Liberatores etc. I like Farfan from Lima, what do you think of him?
Sorry Dark Dragon, I think arrogant was perhaps the wrong word to describe what you said. Confident would be better, being Brasilian you are in the prime position to criticise other teams, because your national side are 5 time world cup winners.
Hey Bert, do you live in the U.S, wheres your nearest big city?
Oh and King Bahamut, it was 1-0 to the USA, big Eddie Pope scored in the last minute.
Why? Cricketers do this all the time, and for significantly longer periods. If you choose to have top players play for your team, you have to accept the fact that they won't always be available to play.Quote:
Originally Posted by Doc Sark
Yes but the cricket season is nowhere near as busy the football season, also cricket is worth pittance comapared to football in terms of the economy. Also when England go and play cricket in australia and inevitably get beaten in your summer, it is englands winter, therefore its the cricket off season, like it still is in england at the moment so they have plenty of time to go off galavanting in Oz in between getting hammered at cricket. What I said was only concerning middle of season int. friendlies, of course there is no excuse for not joining the Australian Squad for a competetive match, if such a thing exists, qualifiers etc. It is accepted that top players may have to be away, take the African Nations for example. And did you happen to notice the 11 players Oz put out against S.A. Bresciano, Viduka, Cahill, Emerton, Schwarzer, Popovic, Kewell, Skoko etc all HAD been released by their respective and in some cases, Liverpool, Parma, Leeds, Basle, major clubs. Being the large Australian Population in London and the fact that Loftus Road was nearly sold out, its fair to say that this is not a bad thing for Australian Football. Australia need all the practice they can get if they are to have any hope of qualifying for World Cup 2006 after horribly screwing up the qualifier for 2002, and to get practice means to play friendlies and quite frankly that is never going to happen in Australia in the the middle of the European football calender, its just too busy, which is why England is the perfect place to play mid season Australian Friendlies.
Maybe the ASA should think about organising an Australian League Select XI (if they do not already I don't know) to showcase the talent there is in Australia. They could organise friendlies against other countries, Botswana and Chad are often available, and then you would have some matches to go to while the European season is still in effect. In the Euro off season there is no reason why the top players should not play their home friendlies in Australia.
Yeah, we have the Oceania Cup, where we fielded a roughly fifth XI and lost the final to New Zealand...Quote:
Originally Posted by Doc Sark
But seriously in cricket, there is no International 'off-season'. The time of year dictates where, not whether, matches are played. But seriously, when Hampshire signed Shane Warne, they deal with the fact that they will not have his services for half of the season.
And with regards to football, I agree that yes, playing in London is the best thing for Australian soccer. I just think it's a shame that Australians hardly ever get to see a full strength team play in Australia. The problem is with the way football works. Too much money ruins the game.
I meant the cricket clubs have off seasons. Which they do. I know what time of year dictates whether a game is played, sorry if I led you to believe I was ignorant of this. The international game as for most sports, does not rest, i know this.
As for too much money ruining the game, this is true to a certain extent I agree. I certainly don't think clubs like Madrid and Chelsea trying to get a monopoly on the worlds best players will do football any favours, but in turn I don't think it has a negative effect on the International game, especially for emerging football nations where FIFA are starting to inject more money into, eg, the U.S.A and Africa, where Sepp Blatter is intent on staging 2010 world cup.