SOCCER: Milan, Real & the Galaxy?
September 23, 2008 by Mark Lincir
Filed under Soccer
I hate to admit that I was home on Saturday night to watch the Los Angeles Galaxy “play” against D.C. United, but I’m old and married now and a nice quiet night at home is the stuff dreams are made of nowadays.
Unfortunately I spent most of the evening wondering why teams in Major League Soccer suck so much at defending and why referee Terry Vaughn didn’t get the memo about cleats up tackles being straight red cards.
He did red card D.C. United’s Marc Burch for a needless, yet harmless whack at the back of Beckham’s legs…but that was after Galaxy players Alan Gordon and goalkeeper Josh Wicks made reckless and studs up challenges on D.C. United comeback kid Santino Quaranta without suffering the proper consequences.
But we all know that Beckham gets protection and a guy like Quaranta, who at one time looked to be a very promising talent, doesn’t get anything but a bunch of rash challenges all over his shins for a fraction of what Beckham makes. We also know that Terry Vaughn won’t be refeering in a World Cup anytime soon (Attn Terry: running around all day like a madman doesn’t make you a good ref…but knowing the game does - good luck with the second part).
My problem with MLS right now is that I don’t think it’s entertaining, and the quality is subpar. I think that people who think the level of play in the league is better now than it used to be are high on a combination of crystal meth, Grey Goose and highly-potent stupid pills.
Some of the settings are definitely better, and give the league a ton of credit for the soccer specific stadiums that seem to be sprouting up everywhere. But the quality of play seems to be a mish-mash of styles all trying to play their own way…which doesn’t come across as entertaining at all.
Or maybe I’ve just gotten spoiled by too much good soccer. Just this weekend, from the comfort of my own couch, I was able to watch Man Utd vs Arsenal, Milan vs Lazio, Real vs Racing and Man City vs Portsmouth (those are the FULL games I watched…believe me, I watched pieces and highlights of many others).
Scattered amongst those teams are the greatest names in the game…and then I’m supposed to give a crap that Landon Donovan actually showed up to play and scored a few goals against a Junior Varsity looking D.C. United team?
I don’t think so…
Blame cable, blame DVRs, blame whatever you like…the bottom line is that I can’t watch bad soccer anymore…and I won’t. I don’t need to. That’s something that MLS needs to be careful of. With the evolution of FSC, Goltv and Sentanta…we can all just sit back and let the Robinhos, Rooneys, Rauls and Patos come to us.
The level of expectation has been raised all across the board…and will never be lowered again. And that’s a good thing, for all of us.
QUESTION: Would you rather watch a 5-2 game that features no defending whatsoever (i.e. the Galaxy vs D.C. United the other night)…or a well-defended 2-1 outcome?
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Last post (s) by Mark Lincir
- Soccer: A Time For Wanting & Getting - December 13th, 2008
- SOCCER: I am not making a comeback - November 16th, 2008
- SOCCER: Bye-Bye Beckham - November 2nd, 2008
- SOCCER: What Do You Know? - October 14th, 2008
- SOCCER: GALAXY DESERVES NOTHING - October 5th, 2008
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September 23rd, 2008 at 7:52 pm
Tis true that the MLS is not the best however it is something like baseball…….only good if you are at the game and with a LARGE beer, or two.
September 24th, 2008 at 7:28 am
First of all, to put all of the MLS on the shoulders of the worst team in the league (LA Galaxy) is dumb. I have watched some very good soccer featuring Houston vs. New England….Columbus (surprisingly) vs. Chicago and even the new look Rapids with their new coach Gary Evans are playing attractive soccer. There is only one way The Galaxy can win these days….to outscore thier opponents. It works sometimes, but not enough to get them into the play-offs. As long as they sign players like Eddie Lewis over Corey Gibbs, they will struggle.
I also think that The Man City vs Portsmouth game was just as bad as The Galaxy. Portsmouth has the 5th highest wages of anyone in the Premier League, and they give a showing like that????
And in the Spanish league, watching these teams pack it in against Barcelona and Real madrid is enough to make me start self mutalation….I see now why Barcelona played Redbulls in the pre-season.
Dont even start on the Italian Serie A. An Under 6 recreation game on a full size field that I watched last week was more entertaining then the “Conta Nacho” double sweeper, no attacking soccer in Italy.
Cheers
September 24th, 2008 at 7:49 am
Gary Smith…not Evans