~Soccer Thread~

[ELA]

Not only are the Crew undefeated, but they are also winning each game by an average of 4 goals.

So?  Dantonio spent two seasons winning games 4-0

[Brutus Buckeye]

The US Open Cup is supposedly going to get underway towards the end of this month on March 22 for the first time since 2019. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_U.S._Open_Cup#Bracket

The field is somewhat condensed. So instead of having a bunch of amateur teams getting after it in the opening rounds, there are only 11 of them and they will be served up as cannon fodder for the USL2 level professional teams in round 1. Then in round 2 in early April USL1 and the regular USL will be unleashed into the fray. Round 3 in late April will see all but 8 US based MLS teams move in and take over. Then the final 8 MLS teams will jump into the mix in Round 4 in early May, which will be a 32 team bracket set in stone. The Sweet 16 will be in late May, then the thing really drags on with the Quarterfinals in late June, the Semifinals in late July, and then the Final in late September. 

The 8 MLS teams that get the extra bye are the 4 Champions League participants plus the top two remaining teams in both the East and the West (2021 MLS standings). 

ELA's Pittsburgh Riverhounds draw the Maryland Bobcats from some league called the National Independent Soccer Association (NISA) in round 2. 

[ELA]

Was that the tournament where Pittsburgh wound up hosting an MLS team due to stadium conflicts one year?

[Brutus Buckeye]

I'd have a strong lean towards yes. I don't know of any other tournament that pits the USL against the MLS. I suppose it could have been Philly in some sort of state title friendly, or some such. 

[Brutus Buckeye]

qtr finals leg 1 (home vs away)

nyc vs comunicaciones
seattle vs leon
new england vs pumas unam
cruz azul vs montreal

The first leg of this round of Champions League is Tue/Wed. 

The US gets kind of hosed imo in that all three have to host the first leg. Montreal is the only MLS team that gets to host the second leg. 

[Brutus Buckeye]

Concacaf Champions League

Well at least the MLS held serve at home, with Montreal being the only one to lose (1-0 on the road). The other three all built large cushions at home with New England and Seattle winning 3-0, while NYC won 3-1.

Second leg next week.

[rolltidefan]

doesn't seem like many here follow the epl besides me, but chelsea just got hammered with sanctions on their owner, ambromovich, a russian oligarch with ties to putin.

chelsea was frozen by uk gov. the sale of club cannot go through without uk gov intervention making sure ambromovich doesn't profit in any way. basically, he just lost $3b.

they have limited exceptions to being frozen.
things they can still do:

• pay wages and retirement
• pay accrued dividends to directors aside from ambromovich
• pay upkeep for grounds
• pay reasonable cost of travel but limited to $20,000 (more on this later)
• $500,000 limit on gameday operations
• continue making payments for already established loan/transfers
• sell merch through 3rd parties (nike, etc)
• receive money from broadcast fees and competition fees (cl, pl, etc)

things they cannot do:

• sell merch themselves
• produce new merch
• sell tickets home/away (only season ticket holders can go, basically)
• pay for stadium improvements/upgrades
• buy, sell, loan, transfer players, including renewing contracts - this is the big one
• sign or contract with new sponsers (just lost their main one too, so this is big for a while)

the travel limit of $20k is a joke and could be a problem. ave travel cost for a epl match is over $30k, and they still have champions league game in europe. curious to see how this is handled.

the transfer ban is big too. if the sale doesn't go through by this summer, wonder if players have clauses to get out of contracts for something like this.

also, if they are in administration by may 9 (technically not in admin yet, but it's not unlikely they get there soon), they lose 9 points. this would currently drop them from 3rd to 7th. probably unlikely, but could be huge.

[utee94]

I follow EPL, Manchester United is my team, for better or worse (mostly worse in recent years).

I heard about this today as well.  I thought that last week they'd found a solution where Abromovich was going to sell, and the proceeds were going to charity for Ukrainian relief.  But maybe the UK government determined there was no way they could ensure where the money went?

I knew this was going to be problematic, the moment the Russians invaded Ukraine.

[Brutus Buckeye]

This definitely gives Pluto the edge against Chelsea in the FIFA Club Solar System Cup; as if having the ultimate home field advantage of being farthest from the Sun wasn't enough. 

[ELA]

Growing up, there was almost no contact with the EPL. But one of my best friends in middle school, his dad came here from England, and was a big Aston Vela supporter.  So for that reason alone, they were sort of my team, but you couldn't really follow it.  Then I lived in London for 6 months, in the Chelsea Knightsbridge area, surrounded by Chelsea fans, and sort of adopted them.  Happened to align with the oligarch buying the team and vastly ramling up their payroll.

I'll go back to supporting Aston Villa.  And hoping the Riverhounds become MLS

[Brutus Buckeye]

The Crew win the first leg of the Trillium Cup 2-1 at home. 



Second leg is June 29 on the road

[Brutus Buckeye]

Might as well post the standings while the good guys are up top. 

[Brutus Buckeye]

Concacaf Champions League Quarterfinals

The MLS kind of peed down their second leg a little bit, but they are still in pretty good shape going forward. 

Montreal lost 2-1 on aggregate goals. 

New England lost on penalty kicks. 

NYC won on away goals. 

Seattle cruised. 

NYC and Seattle will square off in the semifinal round, beginning in early April. So a MLS-Liga MX final is already set in stone. The other semifinal is UNAM vs Cruz Azul. 

[Brutus Buckeye]

US Open Cup

...gets underway Tuesday for the first time since 2019.

The opening round is the top dozen amateur teams vs the cream of the crop from USA's fourth tier professional leagues; the top 10 USL2 teams out of 114, and the top 10 NPSL teams out of 92.

According to the bracket there are 2 games where a pair of amateur teams will play against each other, 4 games where an amateur team will play the NPSL, 4 games where an amateur team will square off with a USL2 team, 4 games where the NPSL and USL2 will go head to head, 1 game that's NPSL vs NPSL, and 1 game that's USL2 vs USL2.



Round 2 will introduce the USA tiers 2 (USL) and 3 (USL1, NISA, MLS Next Pro) professional leagues.