Author Archive

The MLS Cup: Let’s Do This

November 8th, 2011 · Biggy · Constantly Offside No comments

Sexy timeeeee

It is times like this when you can sit back, smile and admire what you have become a part of. This MLS season has seen many great feats, like RSL finishing second in the CCL, MLS teams winning in Mexico and Central America, the Sounders winning a third Open Cup, and some amazing goals and saves. The level of play has peaked at a very high level, and some amazing playoff games have lead up to this, the MLS Cup.

Now this is a dream scenario for the league, as Beckham, Keane, Donovan, and Super Mike Magee are going to get to play at home in front of their own people. What sort of difference does this make? Well currently good MLS Cup tickets are going for up to 4x face. The best prices I have seen on good seats have been the MLS Cup tickets on viagogo. Generally the MLS Cup does not sell out. However it could. Don Garber has mentioned in the past that the game could be played in the city of one of the teams that qualifies. I think that makes a ton of sense, but with a small tweak. Lets look at LA for example.

The Home Depot Center is an amazing venue. Great seats all around the building. It seats 27,000 but my guess is in two Sundays it will be upwards of 30k in the building. The crowd should be amazing. However the demand for this game is greater then a 30k capacity building. What if the MLS looked into hosting the MLS Cup in one of the cities of the finalists but did it in a bigger building? Somewhere like the LA Coliseum, where the Galaxy pulled 56k to play Real Madrid this year. Sure the numbers might not be quite the same, but I guarantee 50k would come out to see the MLS Cup final if the venue had the capacity. It would make it much easier for out of town fans (Houston in this case) to get tickets as well, plus it would build a ton of buzz around the MLS Cup final. A majority of MLS teams have a larger venue that would be accessible for playing the final, as most NFL stadiums would work just fine, along with anywhere events like the World Football Challenge was played.

How would this play out? If there is a good venue to play a larger MLS cup in the city of one finalist but not the other, that is the team that hosts it. If both have a good venue, there is a coinflip immediately after the second semi-final ends. If neither have one, same deal, coinflip for rights to host. Other solutions could be brought into play, I am sure, but added capacity and a non neutral crowd will help build interest in the MLS Cup, be sure that tickets are all sold, and ensure everyone gets a crack at getting a ticket. The MLS Cup isn’t quite the Super Bowl yet so holding it at a neutral venue doesn’t make a ton of sense. Hosting it at a larger capacity venue in the city of one of the finalists does though.

The MLS is a retirement league falacy

October 17th, 2011 · Biggy · Constantly Offside, MLS No comments - Tags: , , , , ,

'Becks, where are we grabbing dinner postgame?'

For some time, the notion that ‘The MLS is a retirement league’ has been floating around. This idea came around rightwhen guys like David Beckham started taking some pretty large salaries to join MLS teams. Apparently, when one switches leagues later in live, it is only for a fat paycheck and the ability to do whatever you want and not be held accountable. Yet the last two games I have watched, Beckham and Thierry Henry have both looked like they are at the top of their game. Tonight Beckham was spraying around brilliant passes with ease, to the point where it looked like he could have stepped out of his Galaxy jersey straight into one of his perfectly tailored suits, head straight into any of the finest nightclubs in Hollywood, and melt the panties straight off of all of the beautiful women in the building. Henry on the other hand, is at his finest when he is working his ass off, constantly creating scoring chances to the point where he makes his teammates look bad because they do not capitalize on what he creates for them. For example, Henry here versus the LA Galaxy, creating for Luke Rodgers:

Certainly my eyes can be deceiving and one game is an awfully small sample size, so I looked into the statistics for what each of these guys do best. Henry scores goals, Beckham sets them up. Currently Henry has 14 goals, Beckham 15 assists. They are both in the top 3 in their respective category this year. Could be an off year for the MLS though right? In 2010, Henry would have been tied for fourth in goals and Beckham would have been second in assists. In 2009 Henry would have been third in goals and Beckham would have been first in assists. In 2008 Henry would have been tied for fourth and Beckham tied for second, bumping his past self out of the top 5. As you can see, each of them easily average a top five spot in their respective categories. Does this mean that *gasp* maybe they moved to the MLS to actually continue playing and not just collect a paycheck? The horror! Certainly their production this year indicates this is true. Even more relevant is the fact that each of them have only played 26 games this year, reducing their opportunity to boost their stats with more games. They have each produced with less opportunity then those they are chasing in the stats column.

Okay, so clearly Becks and Henry aren’t here just to collect a paycheck. Maybe the MLS as a league just sucks? It must be an easy league to do really well in without much effort! I mean, if a guy as famous in world football as Henry can ride the subway to the stadium and not be noticed by very many people, the league must be trash. Yet, in the past year, Real Salt Lake lost in the final of the CONCACAF Champions League, three MLS teams are in position to qualify for the knockout round of the CCL (and two more are on the cusp) and an MLS team won in Mexico for the first time ever. To dismiss the MLS would mean you would have to do the same with all the central American leagues that compete in the CCL as well. The race for the playoffs will go down to the final game and 64,000+ attended Saturday night’s Seattle Sounders – San Jose Earthquakes game. The league has been more competitive this year then previously, and the level of play has been at the highest it has ever been. Teams like PSG are still interested in acquiring David Beckham’s services, and players like Brek Shea will be making moves to clubs in Europe based on their performance in the MLS. Between travel and play on turf, the MLS is likely the most grueling league in the world on a player’s body. I’d say this makes a pretty compelling case that MLS is not an easy league to play in and not an easy league to compete against. It is a league that is on the rise in a country where soccer continues to become more popular.

At this point, it is safe to say calling the MLS a retirement league would be a false statement and there is minimal evidence to support such a claim. No one would argue that the MLS is not at the level of the EPL, but it is a competitive league that fits in nicely on the map of world leagues. So please, stop with the claims that players just come for a paycheck and Disneyland trips, and save your breath and my time.

A Drastic Shift for Team USA

September 7th, 2011 · Biggy · Constantly Offside, USMNT One comment

Two losses in a row. For this, Bob Bradley would have met his untimely demise on twitter. Calls for his head, for major change, for a certain German out of California. A coach’s favorite has been downright unimpressive in back to back games. But now this German is here, and he is in control. Yet two losses in a row?! HireBobBradley has already popped up on twitter. Robbie Rogerstein has shown what most MLS fans have known to be true for years. So do we panic yet? A certain president promised change, and we rallied behind him and hope. What most people forget is that true, long lasting change takes time and effort. Especially when you are rebuilding the core beliefs of a system from the ground up, which is what Jürgen Klinsmann is currently tasked with.

Many of you remember World Cup 2010 as we watched an American team full of promise

A US soccer fan's life in the past was spent on the edge

win their group for the first time ever at the World Cup. What many people forget is that to get there, the US came through a brutal stretch of qualification where they did not dominate games against opponents that needed to be and should have been dominated. The US played very reactive soccer, mastering the ‘Bend but do not break’ defense and slicing and dicing opponents with killer counterattacks. The US was known for their steely demeanor, an incredible will to win and the ability to capitalize on mistakes while minimizing their own. That and Tim Howard’s sheer beastmode ability made them a threat to beat any team on a given day at the international level. Spain likely remembers this quite well from the Confederations Cup. However, they were never a team who would come out and tire you out by pinging the ball around, probing and possessing while seizing up small gaps with incisive passes and perfect runs. If you were facing the US you did not need to plan around the US attacking strategy, as they were constantly defending and reacting. Out of this rose no real attacking style or identity, and although they were fun to watch, every game was full of tension. You never knew if the US would score as no true offensive game plan leading to consistent, good chances surfaced. Certainly Charlie Davies injury changed the ability of the US to impose the game on their opponent, but the true definition of a good team is depth. Leading up to the World Cup it was amazing how many people pointed out the large number of irreplaceable parts the US had. You could point to almost half the starting eleven where the drop off in talent between the starter and sub was immense. Could a team really compete on the international stage consistently without an identity and with so many breakable parts? As we saw after Steve Cherundolo’s injury in the Gold Cup final, it was clear they could not. But certainly losing games against mediocre opponents isn’t the way to reconcile these problems is it?

Continue reading »

A Brief Thank You to MLS

May 31st, 2011 · Biggy · MLS No comments

I’m addicted. No, not to drugs or alcohol or Parmesan cheese. Although, I would really like to be addicted to cheese, it is so good. No, I speak of something that I check multiple times a week. Something I monitor on my girlfriend’s phone while I am missing it. It is the first thing I do when I get home. It’s the MLS website. And I love it.

Continue reading »

Starting Point: AGUDELO AGUDELO AGUDELO AGUDELO

March 28th, 2011 · Biggy · USMNT One comment - Tags: , , ,

We need more epic player songs. AO does a great job now, but there is always room for improvement. So I present to you, the first cut of AGU DELO (set to black and yellow) brought to you by everyone’s boy, Brian Mechanick. I encourage anyone and everyone to revise, improve, and start freestyling this. GET IT.

Yeah ah ha
you know who it is
Agudelo, Agudelo,
Agudelo, Agudelo

Yeah ah ha
you know who it is
Agudelo, Agudelo,
Agudelo, Agudelo

Yeah ah ha, you know who it is
Scoring goals, he does it big
Yeah ah ha, when U.S got nothin
only 18 years old, now that’s somethin
Reppin the Yanks when you watch him you know everything
Agudelo, Agudelo,
Agudelo, Agudelo
He puts put it down from NYC to South Africa
Agudelo, Agudelo,
Agudelo, Agudelo

Continue reading »

Why the January Friendly is so important

January 24th, 2011 · Biggy · CO soccer trips, Constantly Offside, USMNT, photography 3 comments

LA tailgate. In the sun. In Jan. Rough life.

4. It started with four, four years ago. 4 guys driving down to LA from San Luis Obispo on a cloudy January day in 2008 to watch some American soccer. 2007 was a good year to be on the West Coast, there was a full first team friendly against China in San Jose (the last full first team friendly on the West Coast? I think so) before the Gold Cup and a Gold Cup group stage match at the HDC. 2008 was a new year, and we were off to support the US. I remember the weather sucking and us watching Donovan score a PK directly in front of US. We drove home that night after yelling a lot and me enjoying the game but being disappointed that we were some of the only fans standing and cheering the entire time. The following year our group more then doubled to ten to see Sacha bag a hattie and us to yell SASSSSCCCHHHHAAAAAAAAAA all night. We got there earlier, brought food and drinks and knocked the ball around in the parking lot. Some other American fans forgot their ball and asked if they could join us, we said certainly. We shotgunned beers with them as an exchange of goodwill and American soccer. What is better then that?

Continue reading »

A bit of MLS Cup History

December 30th, 2010 · Biggy · Constantly Offside No comments - Tags: , , ,

Yesterday I found some pretty cool MLS Cup recap videos. This one is awesome, because I love the Quakes, but a great snippet of MLS history in case you need to brush up. Quite well done and entertaining.

The rest of the vids appear to be here: http://www.youtube.com/user/mlsvids4u

How to go to the World Cup in 2014

December 22nd, 2010 · Biggy · Constantly Offside One comment - Tags: , , , ,

As Christmas approaches quite rapidly, I am reflecting on 2010 quite a bit. We haven’t posted much lately, Chamo has been swamped with school and Biggy has been quite busy with work. Not to mention we are both quite lazy (I am honest and not afraid to admit that my free time has gone to some other things of late. I love writing about soccer but

Celebrating in Fan Zones is awesome. Especially with ironic American hipster visors.

my interests are quite diverse, thank you very much) and both of us have never been big on writing just for writing’s sake. 2011 will bring us a lot of USMNT soccer, which I enjoy writing on, and hopefully 2014 will bring us something that Chamo will write about (An Arsenal EPL title perhaps?). However, I hope that this piece is worthwhile enough that it sticks with you going into 2011, and you too can enjoy the most marvelous event in the world in 2014 and do it in a fashion that does not stress your finances and threaten your relationships with any of your significant others or children as you pillage their college funds/rent money/vegas fund. Or do it, the trip is probably worth it, what good is a child that doesn’t like you anyway? Mind you I am not married and have no kids, so my advice on this is to be ignored wholeheartedly.

Continue reading »

The Ghosts of 2002/MLS playoff hookup

November 2nd, 2010 · Biggy · Constantly Offside One comment - Tags: , , , ,

Hi, we’re Constantly Offside. Or Constantly Offline, really up to you how you look at it. The good news is that we are super busy, as Chamo and the club team just qualified for Nationals in Arizona and Biggy works lots. We will start writing again for sure, but just a couple quick thoughts.

Word up to the SF Giants. I’ve cheered for them since I was 5, just after we moved to the West Coast. Pretty awesome day. If you don’t remember, 2002 was a pretty brutal year for Giants fans, as we were a lead in game six away from winning it all. A painful handball, as in Dusty Baker handing Russ Ortiz the ball as he left the game cost the Giants. It made me think of another painful 2002 handball, a German Torsten Frings handball that also crushed my soul. Tonight, the ghosts of 2002 were vanquished on the baseball side. I have hope that they will be for the USMNT too. It will just take time. Someday, 2002 will be completely redeemed and I will be overjoyed.

If you don’t have playoff MLS tickets for the next round and you need them, at some stellar prices, check it. You can get them below face value for each of these games. viagogo has them for some great prices, and they are a high quality ticket exchange that we highly recommend.

New York Red Bulls tickets for $25, usually $35 in section 229

Los Angeles Galaxy tickets for $51, usually $75 in section 131 at midfield

Real Salt Lake tickets for $18, usually $60 face in section 21 at midfield

All of these tickets have pretty solid discounts off face value. If you don’t have your tickets, for sure the way to get them now. Check it!

Section 8 kicks it old school

September 27th, 2010 · Biggy · Constantly Offside, MLS No comments - Tags: , , , , ,

MLS fans are epic. Soccer fans are way more creative then any others. This is just awesome. Congrats Section 8, that was magnificent.