Good morning all. You might not have realized it but the longest off-season in soccer is down to its final four weeks. Yes, Major League Soccer is just a month away and you get the impression that there aren’t many teams really ready for the start of the league’s 13th season.
It doesn’t matter if your team was strong or weak in 2007, every MLS team has major questions that remain unanswered. Whether you’re Houston (are the forwards good enough?) or San Jose (where is the offense going to come from?), D.C. (will Ben Olsen recover?) or Los Angeles (can Ruud Gullit build a good defense?), you have issues to address and not much time left to do so.
Is anybody really panicking? No, not really. Not when the league’s current playoff structure does little to penalize slow starts. Consider Houston and D.C. United. In 2007, the two teams combined for a 1-5-1 record last April. D.C. United still went on to post the league’s best record while Houston won its second straight MLS Cup.
In short, the new MLS season is just a month away, but the real pressure won’t start then. That will come later, which brings welcome relief to several unprepared teams.
Apologies for the short MMCB today. I’m heading to the Red Bulls scrimmage, which will take place within the hour. I will check back in once I’m at the Salzburg training facility.
Olsen will come back even better than last year and DC will reign supreme! Convey playing against Chelsea in the reserves today…..he really needs to turn it around or he will be coming back to mls.
Last year’s poor start doomed LAG. While you are right the pressure builds later, a REALLY bad start is enough to kill a team’s hopes. Compare that to an EPL mid-table team, where there is NEVER any pressure. You know going in to the year that you are mediocre, and by golly that’s where you end up.
Thanks Richard and Chuck for the help. I just got a DVR for the first time in a couple years and couldn’t remember how it is on ESPN2. Good to hear.
While a poor start won’t punish a team, getting off to a great start can really help position a team well…
ESPN is good about warning when they will tell you the score in other Champions League games, but you will need to cover the scroll at the bottom of the screen because they are shown there.
dynamo and dc both have a few more games to go before next week. toronto, chivas usa, dc and dynamo play a little tourney this week in san antonio.
Don’t mean to be a nerd here but…doesn’t the A-League have a longer off-season? Or did I miss the meaning of the opening line.
No, espn keeps saying that they won’t show scores during the game…only at halftime and at fulltime and they warn you just before they do it…you’ll be safe…
Also, any update on the Red Bulls scrimmage today Ives?
A little off topic, but does anybody know if ESPN2 shows spoilers for other Champions League games during their 2:30PM broadcast? I don’t want to watch the AC Milan v Arsenal game on tape right at 5:00 if it is going to spoil the United score. I’d rather wait and watch the United via download later that night instead of it getting ruined for me. Thanks for the help guys.
Gah I hate the playoff structure.
In case you missed Ronaldinho’s goal from the weekend:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcL1dlQNS9E
DC and Houston better get ready quick — they each have a CONCACAF Champions Cup game next week. Maybe not against Mexican squads, but Houston’s foe, Municipal of Guatemala, will take the Dynamo out if they’re not prepared (I admit that as a United fan, Harbor View of Jamaica doesn’t scare me much).
DC could be great, or those South Americans may take a year to adjust, I think its more than Ben Olsen…
(having said that even as a RBNY fan, I’d like my chances if I supported DC)