MLS Playoffs

MLS since its inception has implemented rules to try to 'Americanize" soccer. During the early years, MLS used a descending clock rather than the traditional ascending one. MLS regular season games used to go to penalties*, but they did away with that. Then they just had a golden goal period after regulation to determine a winner, but that was done away with as well. Draws may be irrationally loathed by an Americans who are unfamiliar with Soccer and used to American Football and Basketball, but they are an important part of soccer and MLS realized that in 2004. Over the years MLS has also made its rules more lax in regards to roster slots for Foreign Internationals.

MLS has moved away from trying to make the game more palatable for the vaunted, largely mythical "American" sports audience and it has improved the quality of the league incredibly. If one could somehow put any MLS team from 1996 onto a pitch with any of today's teams, a 2011 MLS team would do better than what the Sounders did to my beloved Crew yesterday. However there is still something that rather bothers me about MLS. It's that there are playoffs.

Virtually every American sports league has a regular season that is used to determine the positioning for the teams that qualify for the post season. Playoffs by nature always have the risk of being inequitable. In one off scenarios, strange things happen and the better team doesn't advance. I feel that it is particularly unfair to have the league champion in MLS determined by playoffs rather than regular season results.

MLS has the most fair regular season in all of American sports. It is, as in Europe, a complete round-robin in which every team plays every other team at home and away. At the end of the MLS season there is little doubt that the team at the top of the overall table has had the best season. Having a post-season to determine which team gets MLS Cup is unfair to the team that showed itself to be the best in the grueling 6-month schedule.

If the playoffs were to start today, the Columbus Crew would start off the plays in the same standing as the LA Galaxy despite the Galaxy being top of the table and Seattle, Dallas and Colorado having more points, because of the conference alignment used to determine playoff seeding. Given the nature of the MLS schedule the Crew shouldn't be given a fresh start with equal chance at the Cup in late October.

Playoff soccer, while very exciting, is also a problem in determining which team truly is best. Goals can be hard to come by in soccer. An inferior team can "pack it in" for an entire game and, with luck, prevent a superior team from scoring. It is very common to see that style adopted during important games and playoff matches. A team who is playing entirely defensively only need to be able to spring a single counter-attack that results in a goal and they could advance knocking out perhaps a team that is more deserving of the Cup. Playoff soccer is in essence a crapshoot and it is no way to determine which team gets the MLS Cup.

I'm not opposed to all playoff soccer. It's exciting and there are competitions already established that use that format. The U.S. Open Cup and CONCACAF Champions League each use playoffs at least to some degree and MLS teams participate.

MLS does deserve credit for having a trophy for the regular season champion, the "Supporter's Shield," which also gives a place to the winning side in the Champions League. Also, while I don't think any playoff system should be used, the system adopted by MLS is unique and more fair than in most sports. It places importance on both conference and overall point total.

Perhaps the primary issue is that teams simply play to get into the playoffs and will take their chances in the tournament. The system makes games in October more important than the ones in April. The champion of the league should reflect which team has been the best through the long season not the team that gets hot late. MLS could still have a playoff to determine a Champions League spot at the end of the season to reward a team that is coming into form late, but it shouldn't determine who gets the trophy.

Thanks for reading and please comment

-Michael
*MLS penalties were not the traditional penalties either. They were much more akin to Hockey.

Me Chewing Out an Imaginary Bob Bradley

Why did you turn to a 4-5-1 formation? I know Jozy getting injured against Jamaica took out our best striker, by a wide margin, but why does that mean putting someone out top alone. If anything, Agudelo or Wondolowski need a partner in attack. They're not the type of strikers to play alone. The only U.S. striker who has the capabilities to play alone successfully is Altidore. So why in his absence did you not replace him with a midfielder and not a striker? Another problem was you didn't call the best inform striker we have. Charlie Davies is recovered and scoring goals like mad for DC. He should've been on the roster.

Then there's the starting line-up against Mexico in the final. Not only did you not even bother to start an actual striker, none of the six midfielders you started actually played the role. Dempsey is definitely capable of playing that role, but he was never the most forward midfielder. It really seemed as though there was a lot of confusion as to who should fill what role. Bedoya and Adu both were playing RM. Donovan seemed to be playing CAM, which is a role he's capable of playing, but he really belongs out wide. Dempsey was on the Left. Bradley and Jones played a central holding role. It was really just a cluster fuck in midfield.

There is a reason why no one's ever used a 4-6-0 formation. It's because it doesn't work and no one with even a rudimentary understanding of Soccer strategy would ever try it. It's surprising that we even managed any goals yesterday. It was lucky that for the first time in this tournament our guys actually finished efficiently.

What made it most evident that this team is not progressing is the failings in defense that have been a signature of tenure as manager. It is either lack of talent or poor coaching. If it's that the players aren't good enough, why have failed to bring in new defenders to try to improve this problem? There are plenty of good defenders eligible defenders who haven't gotten a real look under your regime. However you've stuck with roughly the same group of defenders. I don't think that's the case though. I think those are the best defenders that our nation has produced an they are more than good enough.

It is clear that good defending is not the priority of the coaching staff. There is an absolute lack of discipline. There isn't any understanding of who should have which responsibility. The frequency of defensive errors by this team is unacceptable.

It's unfortunate that our Soccer Federation felt that you getting the team into the knockout rounds was good enough to give you another stint. If it were up to me, you'd have been let go then. We can't afford another wasted four years. I hope the painful underachievement since The World Cup by this team will be enough to open their eyes and bring someone new in. Our window is closing. This cycle will be our last/best chance and you have become a hindrance to greater achievement.

-Michael

U.S. Soccer Needs a Hub

I've been ranting on Twitter about the terrible locations the U.S. Soccer Federation has chosen for the important matches of the Gold Cup. The Semi-Finals were in Houston were U.S. fan support was at a minimum the support the other teams was high. Green was the dominant color because the overwhelming majority of fans that were there were supporting the Mexican team against Honduras. The atmosphere around that match was so much more energetic than the U.S. match. It seems like if we're going to host the tournament we ought to at least give our team the home-field advantage. I'm certain the final tonight at the Rose Bowl in Los Angeles will be much of the same with Mexican support greatly outnumbering U.S. support.

I think the United States Soccer Federation needs to stop treating our National team like a touring team. I understand that the United States is a big place, but we need to behave like the other soccer powers and recognize the demographics and have what I'll call a soccer hub. Every time the U.S. Men's National teams takes a trip to Mexico they play in the same place. Azteca Stadium in Mexico City. It's exceedingly hostile, it has high elevation and terrible pollution. The United States has never won a game there.

Why shouldn't the United States do the same thing? We should give ourselves the greatest home-field advantage we can for big games. It's not that the team shouldn't play games outside of one place, but important games should be played in the most advantageous place.

I have come up with a list of five cities to potentially to fill this role. The rankings are not arbitrary .

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1) Seattle, Washington

Stadium: Qwest Field (67,000)

Hispanic Population: 6.6%

An important factor is that it has the most rabid and largest fan base of any professional soccer team in the United States. They're already well organized, loud and have a love for the game. That's not mention that Qwest Field is probably the loudest stadium in the country. The Seahawks are often accused of pumping in artificial noise because it gets so loud. Also, importantly it has a low Hispanic population.

There are two cons with Seattle. First is location. It's in a corner and a very long trip for the member's of Sam's Army not located in the Northwest. Second is weather. Seattle isn't exactly a warm weather city, but it isn't exactly a cold weather one either. Given that most other CONCACAF teams are entirely warm weather a cold weather city would help in those winter qualifiers.

Seattle is probably the best location for Fan Support and the worst in terms of environmental advantages.

2) Boston, Massachusetts

Stadium: Gillette Stadium (69,000)

Hispanic Population: 17.5%

Boston showed that they can turn up for a big game before the Gold Cup with that (forgettable) friendly against Spain. It's definitely a cold weather city and a pretty small Hispanic population for that major of a city.

The fan support in Boston won't be as strong as it would be in Seattle.

3) Denver, Colorado

Stadium: Invesco Field (76,000)

Hispanic Population: 34.1%

Denver is definitely the environmental winner. Not only is it a cold weather city; it also has elevation on it's side. However, our biggest rival is Mexico and elevation isn't a problem for them. It would be an issue for nearly everyone else in CONCACAF thoug

The problem is the high Hispanic population, which is overwhelmingly Mexican. Also fan support for the Rapids isn't great and I don't suspect the Men's National Team could come close to filling the stadium.

4) Chicago, Illinois

Stadium: Soldier Field (61,500)

Hispanic Population: 28.9%

The coldest of the cold weather cities. Also Soldier Field is a historic stadium that would make an excellent home for a team. It is also as centrally located as you could hope for.

However, it has similar problems to Denver. High Hispanic population and not great support for the Fire.

5) Columbus, Ohio

Stadium: Columbus Crew Stadium (20,000)

Hispanic Population: 4.5%

Well, this is just selfish. Columbus always does turn up the U.S. team though even in shitty conditions like cold, rainy/snowy like against Mexico in 2009. Columbus Crew Stadium is also the first soccer specific stadium built in the country and the only one on the list. A really low Hispanic population as well.

The problem is capacity. Columbus has a huge stadium, but that one doesn't work at all for soccer (see Crew prior to the current stadium.)

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I want to apologize if I sound like a Latino hater. I'm really not. I welcome immigrants into the United States. I don't care if they continue to support their national team. I just want the U.S. to have a home field advantage. Large groups of Hispanics supporting their team in the stadium runs contrary to that.

What do you think of this? Any other cities you'd like to suggest?

Thanks for reading and please comment.

-Michael

The Sky Isn't Falling... Yet

I don't think Tressel should've been forced to resign. I'm disappointed that Gene Smith and Gordon Gee didn't stick by him when they said they would. However, I'm done with being his apologist. The Sports Illustrated Article that published late last night is pretty damning. There are ways pick at the article. Just like pretty much everything else that has become news about Ohio State since December the sources are dubious. Most of the sources really lack believability as they're anonymous, have an ax to grind or are criminals. That being said I won't deny any of the claims in that article. I've been denying for 6 months and everything is proving to be true thus far.

I suspect that Terrelle Pryor and probably the rest of the Players who were suspended will enter the NFL Supplemental Draft. First, I think they're loyalty was to Tressel. That's why they stayed. Second, with this entire shit storm, it's pretty clear that Pryor won't be playing at all next Season at Ohio State and I wouldn't be surprised if the others aren't implicated in this as well.

It was worrying when the allegations about the 6 players came out six months ago. When ever Journalists and the NCAA start digging around in a major College Football town, they're going to find stuff. There are too many boosters who want to feel like they're part of the success of the team and the players aren't mature enough to resist. Major College athletics is corrupted everywhere. It's not just Columbus, Ohio where stuff goes down no matter how much ESPN tries to say otherwise.

It's strange though how much the tenor has changed since we found out about the Tattoo scandal in December. Back then it was about how unfair it was that the players couldn't sell their own property. Now it's all encompassed in this business and those are such terrible violations of NCAA rules. A lot more has come out since then, but it all still points back to the dealings at the tattoo parlor. It seems to me this scandal is blown out of proportion.

I've already had my rant about the lack of legitimacy of the NCAA though.

However, I don't think Ohio State fans should fret too much. Just because Tressel and in all likely Pryor are gone doesn't mean next year is a waste. It still seems to me that OSU should be favorites for the Big-10 again. Even if some key players are missing, it's not a huge deal, because the back-ups at Ohio Sate are pretty damn good. Recruiting may be down for a while, but it'll recover.

The only thing that could really screw Ohio State up is the NCAA being to heavy handed with their ruling in August. There will be penalties and they're deserved, but all these media hype may make them want to slaughter the Buckeyes to try and show they aren't horribly corrupt and useless. Ohio State doesn't deserve penalties as severe as what USC received, because despite the hype these violations aren't as bad as what Reggie Bush did all by himself.

I think a fair* ruling would be Scholarship reductions similar to USC, increasing the player suspensions, vacating the wins from 2010, and a "show-cause" penalty for Tressel.

Thanks for reading

-Michael

*I'm not really objective here though and the NCAA has no concept of what "fair" is so it's kind of useless.

Columbus Crew 2011: The Rant

Robert Warzycha was almost without doubt the best wide player the Crew have ever had. He's the all-time assist leader for the club. He came to MLS from the EPL long before David Beckham and the Designated Player rule. His talent as a player is unquestionable, but it isn't translating that well to the role of manager. His particular short-coming seems to be in building a squad. It's not that he hasn't brought in talented players. It's that they don't fit well together and is a train wreck on the pitch.

The Crew have played ten games in MLS this season and have only managed eight goals. That's not horrendous until you get the kicker: four of those goals are from penalties. Four goals from the run of play. That's just pathetic especially in the MLS where, to put it nicely, defense is not the strength. The Crew definitely have players that are capable of producing goal. Cunningham alone is just short of becoming the MLS all-time leading scorer*.

The biggest problem with this team became evident to me in the first leg of the Crew's CONCACAF Champions League match-up against Real Salt Lake. That game was the worst soccer game I've ever watched. It's not that it was a nil-nil draw, because I will defend the value of 0-0 games until I'm blue in the face. There were virtually zero chances created. The Crew had plenty of control of the ball and the better of the play, but it would always breakdown in crucial moment.

There is a breakdown between the midfield and the attackers with the Crew this season. The Crew have had the better of the play frequently this season and a dominant defense as well. The midfield play has been poor, but I don't think that's because the midfielders themselves are bad at the game. These guys played well last year. It's that they are longer be utilized properly.

This year is the first year that The Crew has become Warzycha's team. The past two seasons it's been the roster that was built by Sigi Schmidt before he ditched** the Crew for Seattle. Following the 2010 MLS season Warzcha was able to let many of Sigi's signings go and he did just that. He also brought in a few players, but the cuts definitely outweighed the gains.

The problem with the midfield is the absence of a true center midfielder. Kevin Burns and Dejan Rusmir are central mids, but they are defensive and don't really help in the attack. The four other midfielders who see playing time are all wide players like Warzycha was. There is a myth that Expo can play CM, but he doesn't do it very well at all. His pace would be much better used on the wing and his lack luster passing and ball control would be better hidden. The Crew really need a player in the Center midfield who can control the ball and make plays and players like that were shown the door this winter.

Also, this didn't fit neatly into my argument, but I geniuenly hate the 4-5-1. The switch to the 4-4-2 last weekend was a start.

All that being said, the Roster can't be cured during the season. In theory a trade could happen, but I don't think that's likely. The Crew does have the talent to compete in the MLS, but it's going to require better utilization. I think Renteria can be used to help fill the hole in central midfield by putting him into a CAM or CF role. I think the Crew's roster could be best used in the 4-3-1-2 formation like this(more accurately what I would do):

I don't particularly love Gaven in that role, but I think he's the best option for it. He could be subbed out for Rusmir or Burns if the Crew can get a lead and it would be a more 4-1-2-1-2 look.

Forgive the sloppiness of it and thanks for reading

-Michael

*At this rate he won't get the record though.
**Never forgiven

Browns' Draft Discussion

For a team with such a poor defense, it's amazing how specialized the Brown's defensive roster became under Eric Mangini. Therefore, the transition to the 4-3 defense isn't going to be a very smooth one. Most notable is the absence of a player who is a good fit at 4-3 defensive end. Matt Roth may work, but I doubt he'll be an average DE. Marcus Bernard is a great pass rusher, but he's not going to work with his hand in the ground on every play. That being said, I'm still advocating the Brown's drafting a Wide Receiver with their first pick.

I almost always advocate drafting defense and offensive line players high. I really hate that almost every first round pick the Browns have had sine their return has been spent of an offensive player. I believe that a philosophy where defenders are drafted high and you can find offensive talent later works well.

However, The Browns offense can't function with any success with the players it has now. There is no receiving threat. All but a few defenses in the NFL can line up with the Browns receiving corps one-on-one and not worry about getting beat. That means the running game can be easily stuffed and on passing downs there's freedom to bring heavy blitzes. I think Colt McCoy could be a good NFL Quarterback, but he will certainly fail in this offense.

There is a lot a hesitance about drafting a Receiver so high in the draft. An argument that is heard a lot is that a receiver only can have an impact when he touches the ball, which requires a lot of things to happen before hand. Whereas other positions can have impacts on every play. I don't think that's right. A talented receiver can create more fear in a defense than any other player on the field. The defense isn't able to compact against the run with out the risk of allowing a deep Touchdown.

Obviously, The Browns shouldn't take just any receiver at the 6th pick. A.J. Green is one of the top prospects in the Draft. He would be the number one person on my board if I were in the Browns' Front Office. Julio Jones is a bit more interesting. He certainly wasn't considered worthy of the 6th pick prior to the combine. He was very impressive at the combine; posting big numbers. Of course that can be deceiving. The combine makes a blind man out of a lot of talent scouts.

I think Jones is worth the pick. Hist talent is evident. He's not as sure of a thing as I think Green is, but that doesn't mean he won't work out in the NFL.

As the Browns are drafting sixth, here is how I think the Browns should rank their prospects:

1. A.J. Green WR- Georgia

2. Julio Jones WR- Alabama

3. Marcell Dareus DT- Alabama

4. Patrick Peterson CB- LSU

5. Robert Quinn DE- UNC

6. Nick Fairley DT- Auburn

Everyone always wants to trade down and that wouldn't be a terrible choice for the Browns. However, it is almost impossible to trade out of a high pick. A team has to give up so much to move up in the draft and it's such a risk. Trading up can set a Franchise back if it goes wrong. So, usually a team is trapped in a high pick and needs to take the player that is best for their franchise.

Thanks for reading.

-Michael

National Championship Prediction

I think this game will be similar to last year's national championship game. It'll be tight throughout. Connecticut has the edge in talent, but Butler's game can negate that advantage. I personally think Brad Stevens is the best coach in college basketball. His team is very disciplined and almost always come out with an effective game plan.

I think that ultimately that the difference in the game is going to be Kemba Walker. He's been the best player in college basketball late in the season. Butler won't stress down the stretch, but neither will Walker. He'll make the needed shots down the stretch.

Connecticut(-3.5) 65
Butler 63

-Michael