2023 Audi MLS Cup Playoffs

Damn, here I am sitting down to watch what I thought was going to be a kick ass match.

ETA: OK, 3-1 keeps me interested. Hope Atlanta can pull another one back before the half.
 
Malte with the cannon!
I'm perhaps biased because I sat next to him at the CitC gala in February and chatted with him during the dinner and he was a charming kid, but I was baffled when we sent him to Columbus and brought in Cufre, who never was particularly impressive. Was there some financial aspect I am unaware of? Or did they just swing and miss on Cufre?
 
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I'm perhaps biased because I sat next to him at the CitC gala in February and chatted with him during the dinner and he was a charming kid, but I was baffled when we sent him to Columbus and brought in Cufre, who never was particularly impressive. Was there some financial aspect I am unaware of? Or did they just swing and miss on Cufre?

Malte fell out of favor with Cushing. Basically stopped even putting him on the gameday roster last season, then never played him again this year. Had to be an issue at training, because Malte was always pretty solid for us on the field.
 
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I'm perhaps biased because I sat next to him at the CitC gala in February and chatted with him during the dinner and he was a charming kid, but I was baffled when we sent him to Columbus and brought in Cufre, who never was particularly impressive. Was there some financial aspect I am unaware of? Or did they just swing and miss on Cufre?

In 2021 Malte lost his starting spot to Gudi. Malte got his starting spot back when Gudi left in 2022 only to lose it again this time to O'toole. Given that both Ronny and Cushing preferred other starters my guess is that the front office thought over $300K in salary for Malte to be a backup was a bit much. Malte always seemed like a talented player.

That said we went out and dropped over $750K in salary on Cufre only to see O'Toole, making $85K take his starting spot too. So maybe it's less about Malte and more that O'Toole is better than everyone gives him credit for.
 
What we are all clearly hoping for:

Columbus vs Cinci

What will obviously actually happen: Orlando vs Philly
 
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With Columbus beating Atlanta, the MLS The Cup final will be in the East no matter what. Fewest East points is 55; most West points is 53.
So in Columbus, Philly, Cincy, or Orlando. Unless Orlando makes it, we are getting an Ice Bowl MLS Cup.
 
Can I say I think it’s real dumb to have the quarter final round be drawn out into 3 games but then have each following round be a sudden death? Like come on! Be consistent. Or if you really are going for tension building have the quarter finals be best of 3, Semi’s home and home, and the conf. finals and cup final be sudden death. Really up the ante. But this current set up is silly. It puts way too much emphasis on the quarter finals.
 
Can I say I think it’s real dumb to have the quarter final round be drawn out into 3 games but then have each following round be a sudden death? Like come on! Be consistent. Or if you really are going for tension building have the quarter finals be best of 3, Semi’s home and home, and the conf. finals and cup final be sudden death. Really up the ante. But this current set up is silly. It puts way too much emphasis on the quarter finals.
I think they're trying to reduce the "but we had a week off" excuse teams keep having for the first round, so all teams get the same "refreshed" after the potential three games? Sounds right to me.
 
Can I say I think it’s real dumb to have the quarter final round be drawn out into 3 games but then have each following round be a sudden death? Like come on! Be consistent. Or if you really are going for tension building have the quarter finals be best of 3, Semi’s home and home, and the conf. finals and cup final be sudden death. Really up the ante. But this current set up is silly. It puts way too much emphasis on the quarter finals.

It was a made-for-TV round to give Apple more playoff games.

At the very least, do this round in a week. Saturday-Wednesday-Sunday. Spreading it out over three weeks was so painful.
 
with the timing of these playoffs and long breaks between games and stuff... it's been out of mind, out of sight for me. almost in an irritating kind of way?

so in that sense, i'm kinda glad we aren't in the playoffs in this ridiculous format. really hope they get their act together and figure out something better next year when we win the cup again.
 
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so in that sense, i'm kinda glad we aren't in the playoffs
Kenan Thompson Snl GIF by Saturday Night Live
 
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really hope they get their act together and figure out something better next year
TBH I wouldn't hold my breath, good sir.
Like every other sports league in this country (and for that matter NCAA football and basketball) they're going to figure out a way to add more teams to the playoffs and more ways to get everyone some home game playoff revenue.
 

i get it. being in the playoffs means we played better and had a chance at the cup. but if we were gonna have a season to miss out due to rebuilding or whatever, this was a good time to do it cause this format and schedule is the worst yet.

TBH I wouldn't hold my breath, good sir.
Like every other sports league in this country (and for that matter NCAA football and basketball) they're going to figure out a way to add more teams to the playoffs and more ways to get everyone some home game playoff revenue.

i agree. but i can hope.
 
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It depends entirely on how they schedule Leagues Cup. They won't have best of 3 if there's a way to have the playoffs in between international breaks. Once they could not fit the playoffs between FIFA breaks they had to add games or have massive time off between games. I respect cynicism but if they just wanted more games and guaranteed home games they never would have gone to single game elimination to begin with.

Again, the greed is not that they want extra playoff games. The greed is forcing Leagues Cup in the middle of an already busy season schedule. Maybe not having a World Cup or Gold Cup this year opens things up a little.
 
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