Now Who Should Win the MLS Cup, Sounders fans?
by sidereal on Nov 3, 2011 3:00 PM PDT
in Major League Soccer: News & Analysis
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PrintDespite a great total team performance that went a long way towards wiping away the shame of the awful letdown in Utah, the Sounders came up just short in their comeback attempt and their MLS season is officially over. So now who are you supporting for the MLS Cup?
Previous to this series Real Salt Lake was a popular second team in these parts, as they generally play a Sounders-like positive, attractive short passing style that makes for a much better game than most of the other teams in the league. But I'm sure there's a ton of hard feeling left after their incredibly negative tactics last night.
Thankfully the Rapids aren't available to kick around anymore, so we won't break the polling system by trying to record negative votes. Honorary Sounder Sebastien Le Toux has once again been unleashed for the Philadelphia Union. Sporting Kansas City might be particularly loveable since they keep letting us win in stoppage time. Rooting for the Galaxy might seem odd, but if they win they might declare their mission accomplished and David Beckham and Landon Donovan could both wander off to Europe. The Red Bulls winning would just be hilarious. Houston has some local connections with ex-Sounders Brian Ching and (Kent-born) Cam Weaver.
So who should get a star over their crest this season?
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Hard feelings aside, if RSL takes it,
then we just lost to the eventual champion. Would certainly make a good point about the problems with the system.
Of course
I could keep watching this all day
by agtk on Nov 3, 2011 3:10 PM PDT up reply actions 11 recs
Hilarious
I can’t believe that wasn’t a booking. Damn lucky actually.
It makes sense
Even the ref agreed Morales is a douche and deseved it.
"The fans are excited. And the stadium, well, it ignites with explosion."
Morales and Friberg were chippy with each other all night
this looks like Morales was acting like he was trying to form a wall…2 inches from the ball. He deserved a good shove like this. There are wrong ways to send a message (see Ankle, Evans) and then there is this.
Plus
It was funny!
"The fans are excited. And the stadium, well, it ignites with explosion."
I'm sure there will be some sort of fine or suspension for next season
That’s just a little to obvious for even MLS to let slide.
A shove like that deserves a yellow
so the punishment really can’t be higher then what he’d get for that. A suspension would be insanity.
"The fans are excited. And the stadium, well, it ignites with explosion."
Yeah, you're probably right
So expect a modest fine.
You're crazy
I don’t care if it was stupid for the RSL player to line up so close to the ball, aggression not even related to the run of play like that is a straight red.
I've never seen that recieve a red before
Quite a few yellows though.
by Derek R on Nov 3, 2011 4:28 PM PDT up reply actions 1 recs
they were throwing punches
Editor/writer at Sounder at Heart, MLS editor SB Nation. Follow me on Twitter. You'll Never Yacht Alone.
by Jeremiah Oshan on Nov 4, 2011 3:01 PM PDT up reply actions
It was a shove.
Players pump chests and shove each other all the time after contenious plays or when a player is being a dick standing on the ball. It should have been a yellow no doubt but anything more then that would be crazy. He didn’t take a swing at him. He never made contact above the shoulders.
"The fans are excited. And the stadium, well, it ignites with explosion."
there won't
Editor/writer at Sounder at Heart, MLS editor SB Nation. Follow me on Twitter. You'll Never Yacht Alone.
by Jeremiah Oshan on Nov 4, 2011 3:01 PM PDT up reply actions
RSL to win?
I’m not entirely sure I want their plane to make it back safely. Grrr.
by Fnarf on Nov 3, 2011 3:10 PM PDT reply actions 2 recs
#classyRSLhate
i hope they win the cup but have to celebrate with sparkling cider at Rio Tinto
by gee dub on Nov 3, 2011 3:12 PM PDT up reply actions 1 recs
Correct me if I'm wrong
But if LA wins the cup, as dual SS and Cup winner, one of their two automatic group stage spots in 2012 CCL would fall to the SS runner up. Namely, us.
If that’s the case, I’m all for LA.
Plus, they deserve it.
Aren't we already in?
I thought USOC punched our ticket.
There are four spots
Two are real (MLS Cup winner and SS winner) and two are play in spots (MLS Cup runner-up and USOC). We’d much rather not have to play into the group stage. That’s two extra games including a brutal road trip to Honduras or Costa Rica.
This
Question though: Who gets our play-in round if this situation happens? Chicago?
by chrisperry1983 on Nov 3, 2011 3:49 PM PDT up reply actions
Yeah but I was meaning if we get the group stage spot if/when LA wins the cup, who gets our USOC berth?
I’d like for RSL to get it ONLY because I think they’d be a stronger team participating than Chicago, and it’d be cool to somehow see the semis be all MLS teams.
by chrisperry1983 on Nov 3, 2011 3:54 PM PDT up reply actions
All MLS replacements are filled by best American MLS team in regular season
even for US Open Cup winner
I am not a Supporter | I am not a Fan | I am a Sounder
Sounder At Heart
So if LA wins:
Group stage participants would be LA, Seattle, RSL
USOC berth would go to Dallas
and then the one Canadian team?
by chrisperry1983 on Nov 3, 2011 3:59 PM PDT up reply actions
Nope.
If LA wins, RSL would get the redundant spot (since LA would have two). The fourth spot would be who ever make the final from the East side of the bracket.
The only question is would RSL be direct replacement (to Group)
or would Seattle get bumped to Group (as reward fro reg season) and RSL to Prelims
It is a USSF/CONCACAF decision so I assume nothing
I am not a Supporter | I am not a Fan | I am a Sounder
Sounder At Heart
That's one thing I was wondering re: what quacker said
I would hope that our prelim berth would be bumped up to group stage since we were 2nd best in regular season.
My mistake on thinking Dallas would get one. I forgot it’d be the Eastern conference finalist. The math went wonky in my head.
by chrisperry1983 on Nov 3, 2011 4:12 PM PDT up reply actions
It should be us
When Columbus won both SS and MLS Cup Houston went directly to the group stage as the SS runner up.
by lefthand on Nov 3, 2011 4:27 PM PDT up reply actions 1 recs
But Houston wasn't already going
so the circumstances are different.
Remember, this is USSF and CONCACAF, nothing needs to make sense.
I am not a Supporter | I am not a Fan | I am a Sounder
Sounder At Heart
The entire sub thread under here is confusing
Short version, what happens to us if the Landy and Becks win the MLS Cup?
there is no official word
that’s why it’s confusing.
I am not a Supporter | I am not a Fan | I am a Sounder
Sounder At Heart
I'll assume if LA wins it all, then Sounders bypass play-in game for being #2
(and I assume RSL will get our USOC spot for being #3, and and MLS Cup runner-up will get their regular spot). So I’ll kinda root for LA. Otherwise I’d vote for RSL. I forgive them for their Wed performance because of the rain and emotions were high.
we'll almost certainly go straight into group stage
Editor/writer at Sounder at Heart, MLS editor SB Nation. Follow me on Twitter. You'll Never Yacht Alone.
by Jeremiah Oshan on Nov 4, 2011 3:02 PM PDT up reply actions
Jeremiah has more faith in USSF than I do
I am not a Supporter | I am not a Fan | I am a Sounder
Sounder At Heart
the only alternative...
Is that the MLS Cup runner-up gets the automatic spot. Guess I wouldn’t be totally shocked by that.
Editor/writer at Sounder at Heart, MLS editor SB Nation. Follow me on Twitter. You'll Never Yacht Alone.
by Jeremiah Oshan on Nov 5, 2011 11:18 AM PDT up reply actions
Just say no to thugball
No way in hell do I support the thugball that is keeping MLS a second- or third-rate laughingstock of a league. So I don’t ever want to see a team like Houston, Colorado, or now RSL win the MLS Cup.
They'll win plenty
It works in the playoffs, especially in the one-off games.
This is why i can't support the Union no matter how much I like Seba
Nowak has tons of attacking talent and resorts to play ugly soccer instead.
"The fans are excited. And the stadium, well, it ignites with explosion."
thugball...
Is not an MLS specific issue. See Netherlands v. Spain, WC final 2010. It is a tactic, sometimes effective, never pretty, but certainly not what dictates MLS’s world stature.
by @Thomas513 on Nov 3, 2011 3:30 PM PDT via iPhone app up reply actions
I don't want the Netherlands to win the MLS playoffs either
by PhootieD on Nov 3, 2011 3:33 PM PDT up reply actions 6 recs
That would be awesome
Their thuggishness in the Final last year aside, they have some truly classy players. I’d actually watch a non-Sounders MLS Cup game if it featured Wesley Sneijder.
actually...
Let me disagree more strongly. While it may be born out of frustration with our loss, asserting that MLS is a laughing stock or a 2d or 3d rate league is not a well considered comment. This year, the league is the 10th best attended league in the world. 10th. In the world. That includes a lot of leagues with a lot more history, tradition, and money than ours. While bagging on MLS may be fun, the idea that any 16 year old league could do what this league has done in this country is hard to believe. How is Arena Football, the XFL, the UCL, the (old) NASL, or Major League Lacrosse working out? I think that, far from a laughing stock, this league is model of how to grow a league in a tough environment.
by @Thomas513 on Nov 3, 2011 3:45 PM PDT via iPhone app up reply actions 4 recs
I agree for the most part
But consider my comment relative to respect and not attendence, comparison to other sports, etc. I meant it entirely in terms of perception of quality of play relative to other soccer leagues around the world. And if you don’t think that 2d or 3d are reasonable descriptions, consider that the FMF is definitely 2d on the world stage and they’ve looked down on MLS for a long time…
by EAS on Nov 3, 2011 4:01 PM PDT up reply actions
Do you have a cite on the 10th best attended league in the world?
Not doubting you, but I’d love to have a cite to shut up the haters
Found this on wikipedia
Haven’t checked the sources but I assume it’s accurate. MLS is #10 with 17,877 average
http://en.wikipedia.orghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_attendance_figures_at_domestic_professional_sports_leagues#Complete_table
by chrisperry1983 on Nov 3, 2011 4:50 PM PDT up reply actions
"Thugball" is not what makes MLS 2nd or 3rd rate.
Not having as many good players as other leagues is what makes MLS 2nd or 3rd rate.
by Aaron Campeau on Nov 4, 2011 9:48 AM PDT up reply actions
Sporks
DC fan here, interesting that we also had a lot of support for the Sporks after we bowed out…
I want Sporks
From last to first (in the east) and for being a decently good, respectable, blue collar team. No flashy names, just some dudes the get the job done.
by chrisperry1983 on Nov 3, 2011 3:50 PM PDT up reply actions
Sporting Kansas City
1 – because their name can be bastardized to SporKCs so easily and everyone like SporKs even if they’re like John Harkes commentary – useless
2 – because they aren’t located in New York or LA – i hate both cities
3 – they don’t play thugball like the Union or now RSL (so disappointing to see them regress to that)
4 – they aren’t in Texas, unlike GW
by PhootieD on Nov 3, 2011 3:32 PM PDT reply actions 1 recs
sporting
It is only Sporting for me now. I actively dislike the rest of the clubs left in the tournament. A victory for Sporting would further show that they a blueprint for taking a bottom tier club and turning it around.
by @Thomas513 on Nov 3, 2011 3:34 PM PDT via iPhone app reply actions
RSL
Two reasons:
1) Like others have said, we could make ourselves feel better by saying we lost to the eventual tournament winner.
2) To put RSL back into CONCACAF Champions League were we can watch them where down again from all the extra games (and perhaps see another epic choke job too).
A Sonics fan without a team... but after 7 seasons now of GS Warriors season tickets have convinced me to adopt the boys from Oakland.
If LA wins, I think RSL gets into CCL anyways.
In that case, I think we take one of LA’s two automatic group stage bids and then our play-in spot falls to the third place team (RSL).
Why would #2 in the league get the automatic though
And not the runner up to the MLS cup? Also, if we did get the automatic wouldn’t our other one fall to Chicago since it was for the USOC and they were the runners up?
History says it goes to the SS runner up.
Chivas went in 2008 because NE was both Cup runner up and USOC champ.
So the USOC spot went to the SS runner up (Chivas) rather than the USOC runner-up (FCD).
Much as it pains me...
…LA. As much as they have used the expensive DP option, they also have a lot of depth, play a generally clean game and draw well. Plus it makes NYRB look even sillier for being bad at building a team the same way.
I hate to say it, but if I’m really being honest, I can come up with a reason I’m happy if any remaining team loses.
I vote for Sporting KC.
They don’t play a style that offends a viewer much like the others, plus they don’t throw money at big players like some of the other teams.
But I went to college in the KC area and their fans deserve a championship. Rooting for the Chiefs and the Royals year in and year out can be pretty demoralizing.
Actually, the vote right now is a pretty good order of who I feel like rooting for:
SKC
LA (since we might get their auto-group stage bid to CCL if they win, otherwise their just above RBNY)
RSL
Philly (they’d be higher, but I don’t want any of the newer teams to win before us)
Huston
RBNY
I voted Red Bulls
Why not continue the tradition of the very last team to make the playoffs being champion?
because if NYRB
wins the MLS cup with this format, Don Garber will carve this format into stone tablets as the true way to crown a champion…LA and NY meet twice and one of them wins the final…perfect.
Is I don’t care an option? I’d like to see LA, so Donovan ins’t held hostage by MLS anymore and can go to Europe. I’d like to see RSL at least make the final, because they respect Champions League, though after that pathetic embarassment of a disgraceful performance they put on last night it makes it difficult. Don’t care if trying to injure the other team is considered a tactic.
Kansas City because we’ve ripped their hearts out, so from my perspective they could use some good stuff, plus they are a storied franchise. Philly because of LeToux, but I wouldn’t want a later expansion team to win one before us. Houston could pull off the upset.
Actually NYRB are the only team that really play soccer the way I enjoy watching, I used to think RSL did, but that changed over the 2-legged series.
I Don't Care is actually my true feelings
I already know who will win the playoffs: not the Sounders. Everything else is details about a league I don’t really care about.
That sums up MLS' TV ratings problem perfectly
a lot of people are fans of their team, but they don’t care about the league.
I am not a Supporter | I am not a Fan | I am a Sounder
Sounder At Heart
If this is generally true, it argues against the playoffs
During the regular season almost all teams play every week, but during the playoffs, instantly almost half the teams disappear, and the number of teams starts dwindling. If this is true of a lot of fans, then playoffs are counterproductive.
No, because more local fans tune into their team in the Playoffs
sadly so many fans of MLS teams don’t watch the leagues other games.
But Playoff ratings are still higher.
I am not a Supporter | I am not a Fan | I am a Sounder
Sounder At Heart
Still going to LA in a few weeks
Of course I would rather be watching my Sounders making more history but I got a great deal with miles, will stay with my cousin and go to Disneyland the day before. But part of me is still looking forward to my second MLS cup final in the last 3 years. And I am wearing my Sounders jerseys all fricking weekend.
Nos audietis in somniis, Nos audietis in altum: You will hear us!
by chrisso on Nov 4, 2011 10:59 PM PDT via iPhone app up reply actions
And just venting about playoffs
How does it work we get the midweek game as the lower seed the first two years, then finally we get the home field advantage and it’s another midweek match…so lets get this straight now the higher seeded team gets a midweek match and has to travel twice as much as the lower seeded team?
Occupy the MLS Competition Committee.
To be quite honest
I have zero preference of wins the cup. I am a Sounder supporter first and a Sounder supporter is where it stays with me. I am not a part time supporter. (not trying to take a shot at any of the good people on this website). I’m just saying, when the Sounders season ends, I can’t resort to pulling for another team. But I will still be watching! :D
I would rather have the Union win
mostly because of Sebastian being there.
"The ability to speak does not make you intelligent"- Qui-Gon Jinn
Galaxy.
But ONLY for the possible advanced stage in CONCACAF for the Sounders. Really, I don’t care who wins. I’ll still watch the final, though.
Phily looked like they weren't even trying in their second leg.
Props to Houston for actually going out and playing though, unlike what Salt Lake just did. At this point I’m pulling for Sporting because I really like their attacking talent.
a little surprised so many people want an inferior "Eastern" team to take advantage of flawed system and win Cup
...and you will hear us scream
If you're talking about SKC, I disagree
The conference system is a bit silly when the schedule is balanced, but when we go to unbalanced schedules the conference system will be the only way to properly allocate seeding.
I met a possum.
by s0merand0mdude on Nov 3, 2011 10:57 PM PDT up reply actions
huh
and yet, we did have a balanced schedule of nonsensical conferences, which rewarded the 5th-best team in MLS with a #1 seed in their bracket…
and that is a deeply flawed system i would rather not see rewarded…
...and you will hear us scream
by malcontentjake on Nov 4, 2011 12:05 AM PDT up reply actions
hate don garber
he needs to fix the table n playoffs 1vs8 and 2vs7 3vs6 4vs5 come on
by alexyepz on Nov 4, 2011 12:31 AM PDT via mobile up reply actions
I just did something really distasteful
and voted for Los Angeles. I hate LA. Not just the Galaxy but most any other team from the area as well. BUT… I am counting on getting the second automatic group stage CONCACAF spot if LAG wins. AND that the team might blow up, with Donovan, Beckham and Arena off to greener pastures.
You can also just say
they are the most deserving team and it puts to rest there being any doubt about who the best team from 2011 was. No honest Sounder fan can say the Sounders have been a better team than the Los Angeles Galaxy over the last couple years.
It’s not necessarily a bad thing for the league to crown it’s best team “Champion.”
Over the past three years Seattle has won more games
and more trophies. And performed better in the Champions League (see ’10-11).
I am not a Supporter | I am not a Fan | I am a Sounder
Sounder At Heart
All the cool kids are rooting for Sporting KC.
Even their opponents respectfully bow before them.
Bloggin' at JoePasDoghouse.com
by J.Schnauzer on Nov 4, 2011 6:01 AM PDT reply actions 3 recs
Sounders want LA to win
We took second overall this so if LA wins the shield and the cup then the second auto-qualify champions league spot goes to the Sounders. Our Cup win only gives us a play-in qualifier
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