Canadian Grass Hockey (Formerly the Soccer thread)

[Rich]

 

[Lazarus]

Whats up with the thread title?  - mods are normally shit hot on changing a thread title back pretty quickly.

 

Been like this for months

 

 

[Deuce]

On 22/10/2024 at 19:13, Deuce said:

My baby boy is COOKIN’ this season.

[Mike]

22 minutes ago, Deuce said:

 

Areet Alexei.

[McDog]

[toontownman]

Guy is having an absolutely crazy rise. Fan favourite at Nice after a few months. Must be hitting a ceiling soon? Just keeps growing and getting better.

[Ronson333]

10 minutes ago, toontownman said:

Guy is having an absolutely crazy rise. Fan favourite at Nice after a few months. Must be hitting a ceiling soon? Just keeps growing and getting better.

Is he any good? Haven’t seen him play

[toontownman]

4 minutes ago, Ronson333 said:

Is he any good? Haven’t seen him play

Seems to rise to the occasion each time and gets better everytime I watch him. Still a bit raw given his natural late start to the pro game. His pace means in instances he does make a mistake he catches up. Nice fans are really happy with him though and think he has replaced Jean-Clair Todibo perfectly.

 

https://ligue1.com/articles/l1_article_1066-moise-bombito-north-america-s-fastest-defender-making-his-name-at-ogc-nice

 

 

[The Bonk]

A ball playing CB with ridiculous amounts of pace and aerial presence. He’d be awesome alongside Botman after Eddie had 6 months with him.

[toontownman]

39 minutes ago, The Bonk said:

A ball playing CB with ridiculous amounts of pace and aerial presence. He’d be awesome alongside Botman after Eddie had 6 months with him.

We are both heavily biased but I think we would get him on the cheap now before he blows up to triple the price, such is his trajectory so far.

[Deuce]

USL votes to introduce promotion/relegation across their divisions. Comes on the heels of them announcing their own Tier I division to compete with MLS at the top of the U.S. pyramid.

[Disco]

Worra result that is.

 

[Exiled in Texas]

Excited for this … wondering what it does for MLS as it could put pressure on them to become the top league of the pyramid. But I just cannot see any Franchise holder willingly give up their guaranteed spot to accept the relegation risk.

 

Anyway, here’s the details. 
 

United Soccer League (USL) club owners voted on Wednesday for a promotion and relegation system, marking the first time the European-style system would be implemented in the United States.

Last month, USL confirmed plans to launch a Division One men's professional league in 2027 to rival Major League Soccer within the sanctioning standards of the U.S. Soccer Federation.

USL said that league would operate completely separately from MLS, despite working under the same sanctioning by U.S. Soccer as a professional soccer league. This new league would give the USL a three-tiered pro system featuring the Division One, plus a second-division called the USL Championship and third-division USL League One.

The USL would be the first major sports league to employ promotion and relegation in the United States.

"Promotion and relegation transforms the competitive landscape of American soccer," USL president Paul McDonough said. "With the 2026 World Cup and other major international events approaching, we have a unique opportunity to build on that momentum and create a sustainable future for the sport in the U.S. Fans and stakeholders have been clear -- they want something different. They're drawn to the intensity of high-stakes competition, where more matches have real consequences -- just like we see in European leagues. This shift challenges the status quo and brings a level of excitement and relevance that can elevate the game across the country.”

[toontownman]

If I wasn't still high off last weekend I'd be properly gutted about tonight's performance from Canada. Mexico probably played the best they have in a couple of years.  Very well organized, composed and up for it. After going down early Canada just couldn't break them down.

 

Also karma for laughing at the states losing to Panama before. Guess we get the USA vs Canada game both were hoping for after all. Just in the biggest loser off lol

[Kaizero]

The US doesn't look much improved under Poch compared to how they looked under Berhalter, which is worrisome for them. AvG in Poch's first eight matches is worse than Berhalter's, which was used against the latter a lot. Better defensive record on average for Berhalter compared to Poch so far as well.

 

Granted, Poch's average comes from only 8 matches in charge vs Berhalter's 74, so still early days. But I think most people following the US national side had thought just the mere fact the players now played under Poch would lift spirits and effort amongst the players, yet it almost looks like it's made them both care, and try, less...  

 

Given the fact the US aren't exactly lacking in quality players, it's a scary sign that they've not started performing "better" under Poch than under Berhalter. For all his obvious and apparent flaws as a manager, Berhalter remains the US manager with the highest win percentage during his time in charge (when not including caretaker managers). Interestingly enough, if we do include caretakers, then B. J. Callaghan has the best record – and currently the same amount of games in charge as Poch.

 

Under Callaghan, the US didn't lose in normal time, won the CONCACAF Nations League and reached the Gold Cup semi-final, missing out on the final due to Panama winning the penalty shootout. The US had the highest AvG in their history, and the best defensive record in their history. In any normal scenario making the US look like world-beaters should've been a strong application for him to get the job full time – sadly the USSF had re-appointed Berhalter before Callaghan's caretaker stint had even begun.

 

I wonder if Callaghan could've kept it going had things been different. Looking at how Nashville SC has fared since got the manager job for them kinda implies things would've been better than they became under Berhalter after his return, and that his tactics/managerial style with the benefit of hindsight appears to have been streets ahead of both Berhalter and Poch  

[Kaizero]

Sidenote; who thought hosting the semifinals, bronze final and final of the CONCACAF Nations League at the motherfucking SoFi Stadium was a good idea to begin with? Even with the SoFi Stadium as the host arena, who greenlit the absolute clusterfuck of an idea to only sell double feature tickets for the semis and the same for the bronze final and final – without the option to buy single match tickets? What the absolute fuck of a concept was that?   

 

Now, I can give whoever it was some benefit of the doubt, as I assume the reasoning for doing that was in hope of taking advantage of the sizeable Mexican population in LA, as they'd then be forced to buy tickets to both matches on both days – meaning the attendance in theory should be fairly high for both matches. That said, whoever got pitched that idea should've been fucking intelligent enough to know that just because someone has tickets to two out of two matches played at the same arena on the same does – that does not immediately equal them being present for both matches  Instead, you get calamity attendances like the sub-10k at the USA - Panama semi-final, and the 10k attendance at the USA - Canada 3rd-place match a few hours ago.

 

Now, the Mexico - Canada match had a crowd of 50k, which would've been a spectacular turn-out for a match not featuring the home nation in any other US city. For a match in LA though, that number of people at a Mexico match was fucking low... which makes total sense, as people would've had to pay for a match they'd not watch, had no plans of watching and would've never bought a ticket to watch – meaning they'd instead just not get a ticket, as the price was twice the price they'd expect to pay to see Mexico play. The final will likely see a crowd of at least 60k, but the bronze final only had 10k of those buying the double-feature tickets show up  

 

What an absolute shitshow from the organizers from start to finish the double-feature ticketing concept was. It makes me worry for the 2026 World Cup if this becomes a thing, like, will they offer "city/stadium" packaged tickets? I have to believe they won't do that, especially after seeing how this test of the dumbest ticket concept in soccer history turned out for them. 

 

All the matches should never have been set up solely at the 70k capacity SoFi Stadium. Especially not if the plan always was for them to only offer fans the two-match ticket option. The semis and bronze final should've been played at LA Galaxy's stadium, with only the final being played at SoFi Stadium. If you'd have known in advance that the final wouldn't end up being the expected match-up of USA vs. Mexico, you could've arguably played the bronze final at SoFi Stadium as well – if you didn't only sell double-feature tickets. 

 

Why would Mexican fans bother going to a non-Mexico match? The only thing that was achieved by this ticketing scheme was to ensure that either the US matches would get tiny crowds, or the Mexico matches would. You'd not get massive crowds at both matches, you'd always only get it at the fixture(s) where the nation with the quickest ticket-buying fans would show up. The only thing that could've saved this idiotic concept would've been only allowing fans to enter the stadium before the first match of the day, crossing your fingers that the Mexico fixtures would be the last match on both days – as that way the Mexican fans would've been forced to show up and sit through the non-Mexico match  

 

 

Edited Monday at 02:01 by Kaizero

[Mike]

Fuck America.

[toontownman]

...Or no fucks America after that performance. Pretty substandard Canadian performance,but it was still largely a controlled walk in the park. US are a mess. All the rah rah from Poch and two embarrassingly limp performances. Apathy or priced out by the ludicrous ticket prices the lack of US fans in attendance was just as bad.

 

There is a point where yet another change is pointless though. It appears as was skeptically predicted when hired, Poch gives zero shits and is there for the money. He will likely be picking up more severance in the summer if USMNT doesn't win the GC or at least look like the team in Poch's words "can win World Cup with help of Donald Trump and fans" 

 

The closing shot of the feed showing the beach was apt, it was evidently where the fans and most of the US team where for the majority of the match. 

[Kaizero]

29 minutes ago, toontownman said:

Apathy or priced out by the ludicrous ticket prices the lack of US fans in attendance was just as bad.

 

See my post just above Mike's for a rant about the unhinged, insane, choice made by the organizers for how to sell tickets. 

 

The TL;DR version is basically this;

 

The organizers seemingly thought they'd get high attendances for every game by only selling "double feature" tickets – seemingly not realizing that if the Mexican fans bought most tickets (which they clearly did), they'd not bother with the other match and only turn up for the Mexico matches, thus ensuring abysmal attendance levels at the other two matches  In addition, they secured themselves lower income from ticket sales in the process – as even though you'd in theory get two matches for the price of one and a half, you got both two matches without spectators and less income as selling single match tickets rather than double at a normal price point would've given the two other matches a larger attendance, which would overshadow the "extra" income from Mexicans paying 0.5 x the normal price for a ticket  

[Kanj]

Football should be held in football stadiums. I get the world cup is a different animal, and that's fine, but regular standard football matches need to be held in purpose-built MLS stadiums. If the US Soccer organizers have any say, they should only be hosting those matches in typically loud, strong and loyal US soccer home bases - Portland, Seattle (gets NFL stadium treatment*), Columbus, Orlando, etc. -- fuckin SoFI stadium. 

[The Bonk]

14 hours ago, Mike said:

Fuck America.

 

My guy, head north!

[woody]

 

Honestly, the U.S. looked worse than under the end of Berhalter.

[Mike]

Absolutely disgusted that I can't properly have a go at these syrup nonces because of the nazi implications. Free hits you denim fucks.

[TheBrownBottle]

38 minutes ago, Mike said:

Absolutely disgusted that I can't properly have a go at these syrup nonces because of the nazi implications. Free hits you denim fucks.

You still can Mike.  Have a pop at the nice cunts - go for it!

[toontownman]

1 hour ago, Mike said:

Absolutely disgusted that I can't properly have a go at these syrup nonces because of the nazi implications. Free hits you denim fucks.