Rich Americans buying soccer teams in foreign countries and pumping money into them, totally authentic and good.
Rich Americans building USL and MLS teams from scratch by pumping money into them...bad because it's America.
Did I get that right?
No matter whether Wrexham win today or not, their story is a success, helping create new soccer fans in the US. That's never a bad thing
#WelcomeToWrexham
is like
#TedLasso
, except Wrexham is real. Both shows are entertaining but
#WxmAFC
is more likely to get fans watching games
We're going to spend at least $5,000,000,000 to add one lane to I-75, which will make traffic worse during the decade-plus of construction, and then only alleviate congestion for about 7-10 years before it induces enough demand to fill back up with traffic.
I'm glad someone brought this up because I made this point on the podcast and illustrates my frustrations with the USOC. When Marine drew Spurs, the FA dumped money into Marine's bank account so they could upgrade the surface, add the ability to broadcast in HD, etc. 1/
BREAKING: FC Cincinnati has signed USMNT center back Miles Robinson, per sources.
Best free agent on the market chooses the reigning Supporters' Shield winners. Huge deal.
Robinson, 26, has 27 caps with USMNT. Had spent whole career with Atlanta United
Nothing about the Wrexham story is about sporting merit. They got a Hollywood sugar daddy who paid for their promotion. I’m glad we are at least honest about our sports here in 🇺🇸.
I get not liking MLS. But to claim MLS is doing "damage" to American soccer is absurd on its face and you should be embarrassed for Tweeting it. Educate yourself on where the game was vs where it is now. All soccer leagues in the US owe a lot to MLS
A few things can be true at once:
-Miazga is a dumbass who should keep his shit together
-The referee union influenced this whole thing
-MLS was bush league on how they handled it
-Fans have a legit gripe
#AllForCincy
By adding a spanish-language MLS 360 on game days, MLS continues to pander to fans who are not interested in the league. MLS continues to do nothing to attract fans of Welsh teams owned by movie stars - World Soccer Talk
A billionaire in the largest media market in the country bought a D2 soccer team, did nothing but complain about the Fed, failed, and is making a scene by proposing fake investments while suing the USSF. Meanwhile...
#MLS
is adding another team. My apologies to FC Cincinnati fans who’ve had to deal with envious fellow USL fans, try-hards from the NPSL, pro/rel truthers and folks who don’t know how MLS works. Welcome to the family.
RBNY's only goal came on a botched PK. The referee not only lost control of the match but cost FCC the game. The player is not in the box and the foul was 2-ply soft.
#AllForCincy
The Klinsmann teams might have had half the players playing out of position but at least they looked inspired to play soccer. Berhalter needs to go. This is the most uninspired soccer I’ve seen from the
#USMNT
in a long time.
1. I didn't see this much vitriol from the truther brigade when Nashville or Miami were announced as MLS expansion teams, but FC Cincinnati gets announced and the try-hards collectively lose their minds. It's hilarious on one hand because FCC did everything right...
That's right, folks. If
#MLS
only had pro/rel they could have...checks notes...players scoring off of a rebound on a mundane corner kick. Alas, without pro/rel, American fans are denied this absolute spectacle of what 'proper' footy should be.
HIGH QUALITY SOCCER
This is what THIRD-TIER soccer looks like when you offer the risks and rewards of promotion and relegation
If you're not watching, you're missing out.
#BIRWRE
#prorel
Yet USSF can't block out times at local parks for Des Moines or rent alternate venues? USSF can't make sure every game is in 1080p or, hell, in focus? I know people are purposely ignoring me saying MLS should participate, but most of my criticisms of the Cup is lack of.../2
...in Utah, a billionaire bought a MLS team, started a USL team from scratch, saved an NWSL team from extinction and built an $80 million academy and training facility complete with D2 standard stadium. All in a market in ranked in the 30s...
If they have paid for Twitter premium and they Tweet about soccer, you know it’s going to be the worst take possible. These guys are the same as the incels who get mad when a girl is the main character in a Star Wars show
Weston Mckennie is 25 years old, he just had the best season of his career in the Serie A 🇮🇹, he also has a World Cup in the 🇺🇸 less than 2 years away.
I refuse to believe that he is even considering a move to MLS at this stage of his career.
In 2002
#Cincinnati
and Hamilton County had the opportunity to reuse our subway in the same way. Thanks to anti-transit campaigning and a shitty stadium deal, the ballot initiative failed. It's time to revive MetroMoves and
#FinishTheSubway
St Louis has a subway and it's almost definitely the best run rail transit system in the Midwest!
98% on time performance with 10 minute headways on the trunk, no ghost trains ever!
MLS already rivals nearly every Euro league save the Big 5 and maybe the EFL championship. Hell, if you aren't counting the big teams in the Eredevise like Feynoord & Ajax, MLS is already a better league than them as well.
Hard truth is that it will take decades to “fix” the MLS. Needs to start from the ground up w programs and grass roots, lower leagues, relegation/promotion, etc. If they do everything near perfect it would still take minimum 20 years for it to rival some of the lower Euro leagues
If this is why FCC rescinded her credential then it looks even worse for FCC. Reporters talk to NBA, MLB, etc players and staff outside of scheduled interview times all the time. If you want to be Major League then act like it. MLS and FCC can’t afford to have fewer reporters
The thing is, 85% of the people who'll sit on a two-hour Twitter space complaining about ML$ don't follow lower-league soccer either. They just hate that the USA has a thriving soccer market that isn't set up like the utopian league that exists purely in their minds.
My club was in the bottom three straight years and now are on pace to have the best regular season in league history. That doesn’t happen in a pro/rel league. You go down, lose your best players and risk bankruptcy
MLS fans, which would be more entertaining for you?
Your club is perpetually in the bottom third of MLS with no chance of relegation, or in the top third of the 2nd tier with a real chance for promotion?
#ProRelForUSA
?
6 million people have attended MLS games this year IIRC, MLS is signing good, young players and paying wages on par with many top Euro leagues but weirdos like this would rather have a wacky conspiracy account than, you know, actually support local soccer.
@JaseOfBase513
MLS is better off playing U-23 US-born players on the FIFA calendar than continuing in their summer time retirement league structure that is the joke of the world
What allegations? In basketball the official goes to the table and says “foul No. 10 blue” at the NBA level. You’re just looking for things to complain about
It’s this kind of attitude that makes me check out of the USMNT fandom. Many of them hate MLS for no reason and think that all European leagues are better. They are wrong
Thread: This is going to be a long one so grab a drink and some popcorn. I was thinking about my dive into the anti-MLS pro-rel/pro side of the soccer Twitter universe and it got me thinking. It got me thinking about this weird bend US soccer culture has and how it's annoying.
attention from USOC. But of course, the fed has one or two people in charge of the Cup and meanwhile, they have Copa America, WC2026, Club WC, and a Women's WC bid on their plate. The FA Cup works because the FA actually cares. /end
Stop being MLS fans.
That simple.
Support actual, authentic local clubs.
MLS investors don't want soccer to be great in America, they want soccer to be theirs.
NWSL's the same.
(No nat'l trophy for women in best, deepest woso mkt in the world is not by accident.)
@JaseOfBase513
U just proved my point 50% of the population doesn’t have a team to support and F off with “if u don’t wanna travel 40 minutes” bs I wanna support the city I grew up in not some random city I have no connection to this is why there is no passion in mls
This would be a better app if he'd stop talking about USMNT. The US had a bad tournament, sure. But soccer in this country has never been healthier. That's objectively true. This and him calling McKennie overweight tells you all you need to know.
The amount of soccer people who refuse to come to terms with the fact that pro soccer teams and all pro sports teams are just business and they are just customers never ceases to amaze me. We’re all rooting for laundry and our local McDonald’s. Deal with it
Good for Leverkusen. But the fact that this is such a rarity is an indictment on the whole Euro ⚽️ system. When Bayern Munich hoards all the titles (same in other countries) it’s not competitive or entertaining. I’ll take salary controls any day over the BS they have over there
Ignore the studs up kick to Mosquera’s ankle and Arias getting sent into orbit from a dangerous off ball hit. But sure, FCC celebrating a hard fought win was classless
TQL Stadium is the best soccer stadium in the country but its design makes it nearly impossible to expand without significant rebuilding. I never in my life thought Cincy would have an MLS team, a world-class venue, and outgrow said venue.
San Diego FC will feature MLS's first residential academy with an integrated grade 6-12 school when it enters the league next year.
Now, the club knows who will lead it: Alianza de Futbol founder Joaquin Escoto.
@PaulTenorio
on the hire:
@alanthefisher
I honestly don't see the downside of redeveloping parking lots in a city that desperately needs more housing. I'm not familiar enough with LA to understand why there isn't a train to Dodger Stadium in the first place
The gap between the Premier League & other leagues such as MLS is widening
To put it into perspective, the bottom 2 relegated teams in 22/23 (Leeds & Southampton) earned more TV revenue than 𝐚𝐥𝐥 29 MLS teams combined in its 2023 Apple deal
Details ➡️
Basically echoing
@JeremyLance
Tweet. The fact that in Cincinnati we have NFL, MLB, Big XII and Big East sports in this market and still get this kind of coverage for our local
#MLS
team in the local media is awesome.
➖ Brandon Vazquez
➖ Yerson Mosquera
➕ Miles Robinson
➕ Corey Baird
👀 Alvaro Barreal
FC Cincinnati announced their preseason roster, as they begin training in Clearwater, FL.
Not a chance Boca beats the Argentine national team but that doesn’t stop good Argentine players from playing at Boca or River Plate. What’s wrong with these people?
@JaseOfBase513
When an MLS team can hold their own on the pitch vs. our National Team, THEN we can entertain the idea of prime MNT players playing in our domestic league.
MLS improvement comes through training & development of younger or less polished players; NOT DP'ing the cream of the crop
7. the league that's putting 40,000 fans in Seattle and Atlanta, that's building new stadiums in Minnesota and Cincy, that's been the most successful both on and off the pitch of any US soccer league in the modern era. Next year, FCC joins the big leagues. End.
I felt like poo for the last two days so I sold my tickets to tonight’s FCC match. If they’re going to play like this every time I’m absent, I’ll gladly sell the rest of my season tickets
Crew fans came into TQL, tore down banners and intimidated random fans before the Eastern Conference final but at their place they get their fee fees hurt and have a flag confiscated
0% of fans of MLS teams are uncritical of the league. I know I defend the league because people like Kartik, the WST crew & pro/relAnon have been telling us for years that MLS is actively harming soccer, that we're not true fans, nor is anything we do "proper' or "authentic"
I’m going to ask a simple question -this is not meant to be condescending. It’s meant to genuinely understand the culture and what I might be missing in my analysis.
Why are so many fans of MLS clubs so invested emotionally in the league as a corporate entity?
Three of the bottom six in the EPL wage rankings also suffered relegation. All of the top six in wages finished in the top six in the standings. Kindly STFU with the rel/pro "merit" arguments. Money buys merit.
5. But the truth is that FCC beat down the door and earned its place in MLS. The ownership and fans took a team that MLS didn't really want and proved that soccer could thrive in Cincinnati. Next they'll be joining the league that has had a huge hand in soccer's rise in the US.
During postgame tonight,
#allforcincy
's Alvas Powell shared with me he received a racist message during the game. The message included emojis, blamed him for an own-goal: via
@enquirer
/
@ENQSports
#MLS
has done a great job promoting rivalries. I just hope that the league’s owners don’t let PSV ruin another potential great rivalry by killing
#CrewSC
. The two largest cities in the nation’s 7th largest state could have an epic rivalry.
Just in: Sources (one of whom was fired for telling me this) have told me Spencer Rickey is being traded to FC Edmonton in exchange for concert tickets. Pizarro to
#FCCincy
confirmed!
4. It's really just envy. It's envy that whatever minor league team or intern club they support doesn't have the wherewithal to be a top-flight club (that's right, club). They'll blame USSF, SUM, the NCAA, or lack of pro/rel on their own organizations faults...
Now that the season is over I can fully express that I’m angry at Miazga for being a dumbass. He helped cost us a championship and needs to get his shit together next season.
If you get up every weekend and turn on any major Euro soccer league and don’t see a problem with teams buying a championship or promotion in those leagues but complain about FC Cincinnati getting a couple MLS players, you’re a hypocrite.
Just remember that American soccer is designed to protect billionaires when we could have a final match day that actually matters. Do these sides look like they are playing out the string?
So FC Cincy has a logo that has a resemblance to the Lion of St Mark and we get 5,000-word think pieces about how the club is a tool for right-wing Christian evangelism. Meanwhile Nashville SC has a praise and worship song as the team’s anthem and…crickets
100% this. They'll always find an excuse too, lack of p/r, lack of "quality", etc. What it really boils down to is they're glory hunters and don't want to put in the work it's going to take to make the US the biggest soccer nation on earth.
Mfs want “soccer culture” in America while living in a town with a MLS or USL team, then go root for some team in Germany from a city they’ve never been to or have any affiliation with😂