The Best Football Team in America

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Sten Sture
American experience with American football's plays will be the feature that ends up making the US the dominant global soccer nation. True! We are starting to see the advantages to goalkeepers from traditional American sports. We will rule on set pieces, and our coaching skills with those will change the face of the global game. You heard it here.

Except that there are no set pieces in football. The play is continuous, and dead balls are pretty much an exception.

[Q Classic]

atlanta has a football team called the falcons, who suck, but they're good atlanta boys.
not as funny as chicago's bears, with ditka, but.

atlanta also has a football team called the beat. i don't know much about them, but they play in gatech's bobby dodd stadium, and i hear they're good. but they're not mls. they're the women's variant.

[Worthingtons]

UR, you are somewhat wrong about the Dead Balls.
Last Season my team, Rotherham United scored about 60% of our goals from Dead Balls.

Long Throws (people overlook throw-ins but if you got a strong guy this is a great way to present a scoring oppertunity!) probably account for about 1/4 of our goals, with Free Kicks,Corners and Penalties account for about 1/3 of our goals.

This is the advantage of having a team who train hard on thier set pieces! - It makes a MASSIVE difference.

Cheers for the link btw Sten

[TheStinger]

I think UR meant the ball being out of play when he said dead ball.

[korn469]

Originally posted by Q Cubed
atlanta has a football team called the falcons, who suck

Q, they made it to the playoffs last year so they are better than most

[Arrian]

Soccer isn't going to "take off" anytime soon in the US.

Take me, I'm a soccer fan. I really like soccer. I played soccer (AYSO) as a kid. But I don't watch or attend MLS games. Why? Because the last couple of times I watched MLS games, or parts of them, on TV, the quality of play just wasn't there. I'm familiar with the skill/level of play in the English Premiership, and MLS pales in comparison. So it IS boring. It's not the fault of the game, but of the talent level. Maybe that will improve. The problem is that if the league isn't bringing in enough cash, they can't afford the top-shelf players. If they can't afford the top-shelf players, they're going to have trouble increasing revenue.

I love Baseball, though I admit that Imran is correct that it is horribly mismanaged. **** basketball. Football just doesn't interest me much. I may watch the playoff games, but that's it. Hockey is good in the playoffs.

-Arrian

[MikeH]

I watch MLS occasionally on TV (it's on at 3-5am so not often these days) the skill level has improved but it's still not very physical.

A friend of mine went to LA to visit an American girl he was knobbing. He went and watched San Jose against Colorado whilst he was there. Apparently all the fans sitting near him kept asking him questions. John Spencer was playing for Colorado and my friend kept shouting stuff like "Oi, Spencer, you were sh1t when you played for Chelsea and you're still sh1t now" apparently the American crowds don't do that kind of thing. He said Spencer seemed amused to hear that kind of banter from back home.

[Q Classic]

that is true, korn.
although, i still can't get past their shoddy performance when they got completely crushed in the superbowl a few years back, mitigating circumstances or no.

[Arrian]

MikeH,

Our fans will do that type of thing if they have enough knowledge about the game/players to do it. You certainly hear it at baseball games (Fenway bleachers, anyone?).

-Arrian

[MikeH]

Ah yes, I was only talking about MLS. He said the atmosphere was quite subdued.

I'm sure John Spencer would have had to agree with his sentiments anyway.

[Japher]

The Falcons are going to be scary this year, what with cutting Chandler (that old bag), Vick is going to rock the house... I fear for my Niners.

[FrustratedPoet]

Wow, John Spencer ... I'd forgotten about him. He really was sh1t.

The American National soccer team seems to play to a high standard, especially when it comes to goalies ( Friedal and Keller = ).

However, I can't imagine it really taking off as a sport in the States until the quality of the leagues there improves. Its awful.
I'm a HUGE soccer fan (though I don't mind calling it soccer ), but if I lived in the States I wouldn't watch the MLS. I completely understand why many Americans say that soccer is boring because, quite frankly, when it's played in America, it is!

(And if any bastard mentions that DC United beat Tottenham Hotspur one nil a couple of weeks ago I will kill them. Anyhow, that doesn't invalidate my point, since Spurs are a terrible team by any country's standards - even Scotland )

[Arrian]

Wow, wasn't Tottenham pretty good a couple of years ago?

The Scottish league is ****e. It's 2 decent teams with a bunch of crapola under them.

-Arrian

[Az]

Do you get European football? I am not talking about national championships, but even Champions' League? Do you get South American Football?

It seems that the interest is there, but the media doesn't play ball ( no pun intended).


All over the world, for example, the WC was a huge event, and games were broadcast live on the main TV channels. not so in the US. it's so dissappointing. did ESPN broadcast the games live? who did, if anyone?

P.S. The Champions' League Final, an all Italian one, Juventus Turino vs. AC Milan. Hopefully we'll se a great game.

[Arrian]

The Spanish channels often have S.A. soccer, sometimes Spanish soccer (my Dad watches a lot, with MUTE on, because it's not like he understands Spanish anyway).

"YES" (Yankees Entertainment and Sports Network, otherwise known as the newest component of the "Evil Empire") has begun televising some Manchester United games (the Yankees and ManU have some sort of partnership).

"MGS" (Madison Square Garden) used to do a 2hr Sunday program dedicated to the past week's action in the Premiership, and probably still do, but I stopped watching... dunno why. At times it was worth it just to hear interview clips with Gordon Strachan.

-Arrian