Advantages And Disadvantages Of Mls

I struggle to see MLS ever going to a winter schedule. You can't play in the North during January and February outdoors. It was either at or below zero like every single day both of those months (that's like -20 degrees C for you, Falastur) That's not even an exaggeration.

The players were pissed off at how cold the championship game was in Kansas City in early December. January and February are even worse!

I think we have to hope that the Euros were serious about switching to a summer schedule themselves. If they do that, then all of our problems will be solved as far as scheduling goes.
If you take a month off during the winter, that is only roughly 8 weeks of games you need to schedule in warm weather. The northern teams (let's say about half the league) would play away fixtures during that time. More home fixtures during the months of March April May June August September October November. Not a major obstacle if US Soccer feels it is important. And my sense is they do.
 
I see the CL as a cup competition. My indifference to play-offs is not that they are a poor way of deciding a winner - I love the FA Cup and even the League Cup, in an era where they are becoming despised for distracting teams from the "serious business" of contesting the PL - but that they are superfluous after an entire season of league games. Why spend fully 9 months contesting a league and putting all of your effort into winning it just to reset the competition and allow all the teams you worked so hard to leave in your dust back in. There's a positive firestorm of excitement for the City v Liverpool game in two days' time, do you think that would be the case if both sides knew that finishing top of the league was relatively insignificant and they'd always have a second chance in the playoffs if they mucked up this time around?

Sure, it contributes to a really thrilling end to the season - although it surely also hacks off the fans of the teams who didn't make it, to be told that they didn't deserve to make it to the end of the season this year - but it does make games in the regular season far less important, thus increasing the period in which teams decide that the rest of their games are unimportant and they won't try as hard in them. Ideally you want a system where as many teams as possible have something to play for right up to their last game.

Going back to the CL, it's a cup, not a league. I know it calls itself a league, but in my CV (resume) I call myself hardworking, dedicated and passionate, but that doesn't necessarily mean I am. It's a knockout, and I treat it like a knockout. It's the difference between watching the 100m and the 10,000m at the Olympics. The cups are about who can come out of the blocks fastest, overpower every team, and honestly get a bit lucky. The league is about consistency, resource-managing, psychology - how you get over runs of bad form, how you set up to counter a team when you know they are stronger - and about how you long you can stay with the leaders. They are two totally different disciplines.

I appreciate the CL for what it is - a chance to see the best teams in the world in set-piece action against each other. It's not the same as the PL, and I don't think it should be compared as such. Indeed, City fans who remember the dark days of lower-league football tend to have less of an interest in it, although few English fans agree with us for it, and few foreign fans either. The CL may be more glamorous, but the PL is the tougher and more rigorous competition. The PL is the one we want to win more.
 
It won't happen but the CL would be so more meaningful it if was for champions only. I didn't like it when MUFC won it in 1999 without winning the league prior season so not going to be a hypocrite now. Arsenal fans certainly don't see it as success qualifying for it and doing little else for past 10 years. Quite right about the PL being a far better test even if club officials may prioritise the CL even more. Some great managers haven't won the CL but that isn't their fault. Its down to pure bad luck and I still remember idiots questioning Mourinho for not winning it with Chelsea even though he had already won it in 2004. I certainly don't regard MCFC losing to Barcelona this year as failure. Failing to get out of the group stage twice in a row was but once it gets to the knockout stage its hard to call it failure. If MCFC hadn't won an easier competition in the League Cup nobody would have called that failure.

Spain are a freak of nature winning three major tournaments in a row. At some point their luck is almost certainly going to run out. I can't understand how anyone could make them favorites (I don't know what the odds are but obviously they must be 2nd at worst) this summer. Law of averages dictate they can't keep the run going for ever and in this instance sooner rather than later.

Playoffs do work in the lower leagues of England so they aren't a total failure. I prefer a straight up league competition as well but my initial interest has been more in NYCFC than MLS. I'm still learning things about the MLS system (though my knowledge to it prior wasn't totally zero) but I prefer a straight up league as well.

If there's anything I really hate (other than Man United and a couple of other things) its this goal replay trash. It better not get to the point where every decision such as throw ins is decided by an automated system as it will backfire. Hopefully the MLS never bring this garbage in. We already get enough tedious quotes as it is filling pages and why any newspaper would agree taking controversy out of football is a good thing defies belief for me. I hope there's an instance where the technology fails and there's a lawsuit over it because that might be the only thing that gets rid of it.
 
I'm actually not a fan of making the CL champs-only. I prefer competitions to have an element of competitiveness and uncertainty in them, and to me the years of only one team per country qualifying were synonymous with teams winning the CL three times in a row. Since they added more teams, no club has ever successfully defended the trophy. I prefer it that way.

Your point about playoffs in England is of course perfectly valid but it's important to point out that they are only used for the spare promotion slot. Try persuading a Football League club's fans that the playoffs should extend to all to all three promotion slots, and that the top two should not get automatic promotion as recognition for their achievements. I'm not sure it would go down well ;)

Definitely agree about Spain. They *might* win - and I think that their recent success owes much to Brazil and Argentina being weaker than usual in recent years, as well as only really Germany being consistently convincing in Europe - but it's time they lost one. Shame I won't live to see England ever win a trophy, even though I'm only in my 20s.

But a way, this is getting a little off the topic of MLS, even though I have enjoyed the discussion.
 
I remember when I first heard of Champions League, I was repulsed by the idea of a playoff system that you qualify for one year but don't play until the next. The worst is that there are guys who will have earned that spot in Champions League, and then for one reason or another, might not be there with the team next year! Or the team might suck the next year (Looking your way ManU) and then what's the point of them even being there? I was even more horrified that you played it at the same time as your regular season!

One might even argue that having 4 separate competitions all running concurrently is more impactful on the season than a slightly uneven schedule. I mean, Chelsea, last EPL team standing in the CL and they've been slipping a little in the league as is Arsenal, the last EPL team in the FA Cup. Meanwhile, Liverpool who aren't in EL, CL, FA, or anything else is shockingly at the top....hmmm....

Another problem I have with no post-season is the Bayern problem. When the season is effectively over with 2,3, or 4 months to go. I've always thought the most intriguing thing about a league should be who wins it all. Not who can win the honor of remaining as next year's punching bag.

I would add, many MLS fans believe in addition to home field advantage in the championship game, higher seeds should also get the right to advance in tie in aggregate goals. Then, every single game right up to the end of the year would carry as much significance as possible.
 
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