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MLS Ticker: Schmid blasts U.S. Open Cup schedule; Boyd sees bright future for league; and more

Seattle Sounders FC v CD Chivas USA

By RYAN TOLMICH

With this summer’s World Cup looming, Major League Soccer clubs were looking forward to the league-wide tournament break as a time to recover, to relax from a busy first half of the season

As one of the few leagues that plays on a summer schedule, MLS made sure to accommodate those headed to this summer’s tournament when they scheduled a two week break from June 12-24. However, with the recently released U.S. Open Cup schedule, MLS teams will now enter the tournament between June 12-18, something that has drawn the ire of Schmid.

“Don’t get me started on that,” Schmid said about the scheduling, according the Seattle Times.“The Open Cup comes right at the time when we’re supposed to have off time from MLS. It’s a situation for us that hopefully the games get scheduled and we play the first game around June 10 or 11, so we can actually give our players a little bit of time off.

“If they got all excited because they saw an open weekend and said, ‘We’ll schedule the games (then),’ and if they schedule games then, there is no point in us having an off time. We might as well play an MLS game.”

Schmid went on to say that the now nonexistent break was about more than rest and relaxation, as now both Sounders players and staffers alike will be unable to fully enjoy the action down in Brazil.

Here are some more news items from around MLS:

BOYD DISCUSSES MLS, OPENS DOOR FOR FUTURE MOVE

With the stateside moves of American stars such as Clint Dempsey and Michael Bradley, MLS has never been a more realistic option for the country’s national team stars as a place to improve their game.

Add Rapid Vienna forward Terrence Boyd to the list of players who are intrigued by MLS, as the 23-year-old said he would “definitely” consider a move to the league.

“I’m a huge fan of MLS and I’m just happy with how MLS has developed and how American soccer has developed,” Boyd said, according to dw.de. “It just has to get more famous and I think it’s going to be a great league one day. It’s getting more attractive every year.”

Boyd went on to say that the sport is growing exponentially in the United States, adding that this summer’s World Cup will be “a big commercial for soccer in the States” that could steer youth to pursuing the game.

“I think about all these great athletes that come out of high school and I think: ‘choose soccer instead of playing basketball or football,'” Boyd said. “If they would choose soccer just think about what kind of league the MLS would be one day. All the surroundings are great, they’re perfect, [plus] the media coverage, and they have the money as well. They have everything.

“Then [MLS] would be a hell of a league,” he added. “It would be one of the strongest leagues in the world, just give it 10 years.”

D.C. UNITED TO FACE FULHAM FOR SUMMER FRIENDLY IN JACKSONVILLE

With a U.S. Men’s National Team friendly already scheduled for June 7, Jacksonville’s EverBank Field will now also host a friendly featuring an MLS side in its summer schedule.

D.C. United announced Friday that they will face current Premier League side Fulham July 26 in the newly renovated stadium, according to the team’s site. EverBank Field is the home to the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars, who are also owned by Fulham’s Shahid Khan.

“We’re looking forward to staging this match for fans of both types of football and introducing Fulham not only to Jacksonville, but to fans throughout the state and nation,” said Khan. “There is great passion in the Jacksonville area for soccer, and this will be a rare opportunity to see our Fulham team play in Jacksonville, and against one of the premier professional franchises in American soccer.”

Ticket information will be made available at a later date.

ANOR FINED FOR CREW-UNITED SCUFFLE

When it comes to on-the-field fighting, MLS demonstrated once again that their financial shoves are much more punishing than any in-game physicality.

Columbus Crew midfielder Bernardo Anor felt the wrath of the league’s Disciplinary Committee for last week’s in-game scrap between the Crew and D.C. United, as the Venezuelan was fined an undisclosed amount for instigating the incident. Both clubs were also issued warnings for violating the league’s mass confrontation policy. Video of the incident can be seen here.

Joining Anor on the Disciplinary Committee’s fine list this week was Chivas USA head coach Wilmer Cabrera. Cabrera was fined an undisclosed amount by the league for criticizing officials after his team’s loss to the Seattle Sounders on April 10.

SPORTING KC OPENS TICKET SALES FOR MANCHESTER CITY FRIENDLY

In other friendly news, two of their respective league’s elite teams will clash on July 23 when Sporting Kansas City takes on the English Premier League’s Manchester City. Tickets were released this morning and prices start at $50.

Sporting KC enter the matchup as reigning MLS Cup champions, while City are currently chasing both Liverpool and Chelsea for their second Premier League title in three years.

The game will be Man City’s first against MLS opposition since they won the Premier League in 2012 and will be a part of summer tour that sees them feature in the International Champions Cup across the U.S.

What do you think of the U.S. Open Cup schedule? Would you like to see Boyd in MLS? Expect to attend either of the above friendlies?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Boyd is class. Pure class.
    I would love to see him here, and I don’t think that MLS is a huge drop in quality from Austria.

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  2. I love that Boyd is aware of the MLS and could possibly come “home”. What sucks is that my team would probably have no shot at him. The MLS will probably make sure that New York, Orlando or Atlanta secure his services. God forbid a team like the Dynamo actually sign a star player.

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  3. Am I mistaken or has Sigi elsewhere said that people should not complain about that lousy field everybody has to play on against his team?

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  4. It’s funny how MLS talks about “growing the sport” and then has nothing but contempt for the Open Cup. The Open Cup is a major revenue life line for all the amateur teams struggling to establish themselves in US markets not served by MLS. Soccer in this country needs bottom up grassroots growth not top down manufactured hype like NYCFC. While Sigi and Arena make six figures, thousands of other coaches are working for nearly nothing because they love the sport and the Open Cup is the one place where they can achieve their one shinning moment.

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    • So two old school MLS coaches complain about the USOC and suddenly that”s MLS position? Hm, that’s news to me.

      Lots of MLS teams do take the tourney very seriously as it is a major trophy and it does come with a nice prize to boot. Sigi and Arena are old hats – very talented old hats but old hats nonetheless – that complain when things aren’t like they used to be, or worse yet when things aren’t how they think they should be.

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  5. Maybe this is a wacky idea, but just a thought. What if the prelim rounds (i.e. non-MLS teams) were held in the fall followed in February by an NCAA tournament style 64 or 32 team preseason tournament in the Southern US and/or California. It would replace the MLS pre-season (teams eliminated early could play in a consolation bracket or in friendlies against each other).

    Advantage: Playing competitive matches in February would prepare our teams in the CONCACAF Champions League better than whatever it is that we’re currently doing. Also, it would be exciting and doesn’t compete with the rest of the US sports schedule (after Superbowl, before March Madness/conference tournaments)

    Cons: Not sure what attendance would be like. My impression is that US Open Cup attendance is low to begin with so might not be such a big deal. Also wouldn’t necessarily result in the best team winning given pre-season form. My response being, of course, “DC United.”

    Just a thought.

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  6. Busy first half? Give me a break. Almost every league in the world plays two games per week on average. Instead MLS stretches the season out over almost 10 months. It is completely ridiculous how long the season is. Then all the coaches seem to complain that their schedule is too busy.

    If anything, the schedule needs to be compressed down to 6 months for the regular season. They should be playing at least 6 games per month from the very opening game. But, the season going from March to December is not good for anyone. A two week break in the summer would be fine. But, if anything the first half of the season is way, way too slow and unbusy.

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  7. “Joining Anor on the Disciplinary Committee’s fine list this week was Chivas USA head coach Wilmer Cabrera. Cabrera was fined an undisclosed amount by the league for criticizing officials after his team’s loss to the Seattle Sounders on April 10.”

    Neither the Sounders, Chivas or any other MLS team played on April 10th…

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  8. What does Sigi want — a summer vacation? The WC break is for the WC, not R&R. Would he prefer a mid-week USOC game in between two weekend MLS matches?

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  9. Sigi and Arena soooo annoying! Really what do you want?!?

    If you dont want to play in more than the MLS regular season then just be quiet and send your u23 squad. Idk what/when these guys want the USOC and CCL to be.

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      • I’d love to see him here too. Or anywhere really. He sounds like he’s watched more MLS this year thanI have Austrian Bundesliga. How does that work?

    • I was thinking the same thing.
      At first I just thought of him as an opportunist Germerican, but him sitting down and hugging the Panama player after the last-minute win was pure class and he surprised me with his knowledge of American culture with these comments.

      Reply

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