The new season is about to begin, 2 new clubs making it a 20 team league....

 

 

New York City FC make their MLS debut, playing in front of more than 60,000 fans when they travel to Florida to take on Orlando, with coverage kicking off from 9pm on Sky Sports 3.

 

So I decided I'm going to follow Orlando, as New York are affiliated with citeh, so can't follow them, and Orlando is a short flight over if I decided to go over to watch a game.

I follow the Impact pretty regularly and go to a few games a year (2 hour drive from where I live). I have to say the league seems to be progressing nicely and I hope it gets more technical playing wise. Can't wait to see when Lamps is going to come over, hopefully New York will still have to play the Impact away.   

Well played frank...thought you were superb for New York City on debut...the Orlando players struggled to see you on the pitch all day...not the only ones to be fair

I live near Dallas. The league is definitely progressing, but unfortunately FC Dallas doesn't seem to be. FC Dallas feels like it's impersonating an MLS team more than being serious about contending.

I enjoyed the Orlando/NYC game though. Excited to watch Kaka, Diskerud, and Giovinco this season too.

Good game that.

 

Ref had an absolute shocker with the penalty incident though. Mourinho would have lost his sh*t.

I didn't realise Kaka was playing in the MLS.

 

He's still only 32 as well, bit like Ronaldinho with how quickly he faded. 

I didn't realise Kaka was playing in the MLS.

He's still only 32 as well, bit like Ronaldinho with how quickly he faded.

The Real Madrid move was the nail in the coffin. A lot blame Mourinho for his sudden decline.

The Real Madrid move was the nail in the coffin. A lot blame Mourinho for his sudden decline.

 

I just think some players fade earlier than others. 

 

I think Kaka had a few injury problems before and shortly after joining Madrid and he never quite got back to the brilliance he showed at Milan. 

 

Given Jose's history with attacking players such as Frank, Droga, Deco, Ronaldo, Sneijder and Ibrahimovic I think it's ridiculous to think he could ruin an attacking player of Kaka's caliber. 

I can see the MLS becoming huge eventually, Football (Soccer) is really becoming a bigger deal over there. I can see one day that players who are not only at the back ends of their careers but at their best may go there.

The Real Madrid move was the nail in the coffin. A lot blame Mourinho for his sudden decline.

He joined well before Mourinho came in and when Jose did come in Kaka had already severely declined as a player.

The NYCFC kit does look familiar.

 

 

 

 

I didn't realise Kaka was playing in the MLS.

 

He's still only 32 as well, bit like Ronaldinho with how quickly he faded. 

 

I was as surprised as you! His English was pretty good, btw.

I can see the MLS becoming huge eventually, Football (Soccer) is really becoming a bigger deal over there. I can see one day that players who are not only at the back ends of their careers but at their best may go there.

I really hope not. The last thing this sport needs is to be more Americanised and I mean that with the greatest of respect to any Americans.

Hopefully the league dies out and they can watch European football instead.

I was as surprised as you! His English was pretty good, btw.

 

Is it? That's surprising considering he's never played in an English speaking country. 

 

Remarkably talented that a lot of players are capable of speaking fluently in more than 2 languages. 

 

I really hope not. The last thing this sport needs is to be more Americanised and I mean that with the greatest of respect to any Americans.

Hopefully the league dies out and they can watch European football instead.

 

I don't think the sport will become Americanised, in fact, I think a lot of why it is growing as a sport in America is because it is distinctly un-American. 

 

There's not excessive stoppages, there isn't a lot of use of technology and the rules are pretty simple that even with the most basic knowledge of the sport it's easy to watch and comprehend what's happening. 

 

If the MLS continues to attract players like Lampard, Gerrard, Kaka, Villa and erm... Robbie Keane... Then even though they are in the twilight years of their careers it's still a big draw to watch them.

 

If it continues to grow how it has then I think in another 5 years it will surpass some of the European leagues in regards to attraction. 

20 years of 'soccer moms' pushing their kids into the sport have come to fruit.

 

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

Edited March 9, 201511 yr by coco

Is it? That's surprising considering he's never played in an English speaking country.

Remarkably talented that a lot of players are capable of speaking fluently in more than 2 languages.

I don't think the sport will become Americanised, in fact, I think a lot of why it is growing as a sport in America is because it is distinctly un-American.

There's not excessive stoppages, there isn't a lot of use of technology and the rules are pretty simple that even with the most basic knowledge of the sport it's easy to watch and comprehend what's happening.

If the MLS continues to attract players like Lampard, Gerrard, Kaka, Villa and erm... Robbie Keane... Then even though they are in the twilight years of their careers it's still a big draw to watch them.

If it continues to grow how it has then I think in another 5 years it will surpass some of the European leagues in regards to attraction.

We'll see, but I like the sport the way it is despite it being flawed.

Really don't want to see it Americanised, filled with more advertising and I don't really want a new league to challenge this one. How long before they want a bit of the champions league money?

I watched Toronto the other night, They look a decent side with Bradley, Giovinco & Altidore. Would expect them to be up the top.

We'll see, but I like the sport the way it is despite it being flawed.

Really don't want to see it Americanised, filled with more advertising and I don't really want a new league to challenge this one. How long before they want a bit of the champions league money?

 

Because it's governed by FIFA they're pretty restricted with what they can and cannot do. 

 

The American TV coverage of football is pants because it's distributed by excessive advertising and half time analysis being sponsored by Pizza Hut (what?) etc but the games themselves are fine. Matches move too quickly to be interrupted by additional advertising and there's already about as much pitch side adverts as you can get. 

 

They won't be able to get anywhere near Champions League money because they're not under UEFA's jurisdiction.

 

There's been talk of "Super Leagues" etc for donkeys years and much like the "Should Rangers and Celtic join the Premier League" debate it eventually dies down for one reason or another.

 

I just think think America is opening up to Football and after a strong showing at the last World Cup from their national team I think some are being a bit less closed minded about the sport and are finding it is really accessible.  

 

It will never be surpass or match European football, the lure and fan basses just aren't there but I think in a few more years some players won't be too dismissive of playing in the MLS if the quality of football continues to improve. 

We'll see, but I like the sport the way it is despite it being flawed.

Really don't want to see it Americanised, filled with more advertising and I don't really want a new league to challenge this one. How long before they want a bit of the champions league money?

 

They already have a Champions League setup with the CONCACAF. I think the sport is going in a good direction and honestly, they seem to try to reproduce the European sport atmosphere more than a regular American sport atmosphere. There are still things that need an improvement (the ref quality is horrible, the technical play is sub-standard, and the less we say about the tv commentary the better), but there are more and more people involved and following the sport. There is a great pool of youth being developped - for exemple in Canada, although hockey is the main sport, there is much more youth involved in football than there is in hockey.

 

Also, they are not going to have any opposing league any time soon. There is already the USL and the NASL, but both leagues are sub-standard. The NASL is considered the MLS div-2 (without the teams being able to get promoted) and the quality on the pitch really leaves to be desired (my local team is the Ottawa Fury and a good portion of the team is composed of Toronto and Impact youth players). The USL is a falling league that is not competitive enough and most of the teams left for the NASL (or MLS) due to management issues.

Edited March 9, 201511 yr by Plavi26

Because it's governed by FIFA they're pretty restricted with what they can and cannot do.

The American TV coverage of football is pants because it's distributed by excessive advertising and half time analysis being sponsored by Pizza Hut (what?) etc but the games themselves are fine. Matches move too quickly to be interrupted by additional advertising and there's already about as much pitch side adverts as you can get.

They won't be able to get anywhere near Champions League money because they're not under UEFA's jurisdiction.

There's been talk of "Super Leagues" etc for donkeys years and much like the "Should Rangers and Celtic join the Premier League" debate it eventually dies down for one reason or another.

I just think think America is opening up to Football and after a strong showing at the last World Cup from their national team I think some are being a bit less closed minded about the sport and are finding it is really accessible.

It will never be surpass or match European football, the lure and fan basses just aren't there but I think in a few more years some players won't be too dismissive of playing in the MLS if the quality of football continues to improve.

Let's just hope the people running the game aren't open to being influenced by money.

The NYCFC kit does look familiar.

This is too bad. Why don't they at least try to create a separate identity?

Anyone got a list of MLS teams? I need to pick one to 'look out for'.

Anyone got a list of MLS teams? I need to pick one to 'look out for'.

Gotcha. Also, I think Atlanta and another LA franchise will be added in 2017.

Thank you sweetie, very kind of you to find that. The only link I have to America is Nevada... and seeing as they don't have a team I can pick any random one. I like Kansas... but the state, not the city in Missouri.

Go Seattle, I love Frasier.

It will be interesting how the NYCFC fan base turns out. First of all, no one who supports any English club other than Man City will take to them outside New York (and Man U, Arsenal, us and Liverpool will no doubt be more supported). In New York, they will have to split the fan base with Red Bulls who have a headstart. This is where marquee players come in but I'd like to compare the fan bases of the two NY clubs someday in the future.