MLS is Back Tournament - 2020
- Thread starter mgarbowski
- Start date
or NYC screwing up against Orlando.
...Also I'm pretty sure Philly is gonna want some revenge on our 4-in-a-row victories against them.
Uhm... we’ve had like 30 posts in the last month. 84 since I visited on my lunch break. What did I miss?
All credibility was lost when MLS announced that Miami would be put into group A before the draw began. I’m not playing games, just calling it as it is.
On paper absolutely. The only question mark for me would be Ronny D. It took Viera some time to get the engine going, same with Domè.
This sounds like something a guilty person would say
Are there people who actually believe it was rigged?
Except 2 things:
1) The MLS announced ahead of time that they were intentionally putting the Florida teams together and that wasn't part of the draw; and
2) There are no rules they have to follow -- this isn't the World Cup. They could easily have proposed a tournament with regional pairings (NYC/RB; Van/SEA/Por; LAFC/LAG/SJ; ATL/Orl/Mia; Col/Cin; etc) and achieved better pairings. Heck, they could have just said, we set these groups to guarantee fans the match-ups we think they most want to see.
people started questioning it when it was announced ( from third party) that the opening match would be between orlando vs miami, before the draw.
Also it still doesn't really make sense why they did it ( tribute to florida for hosting...lol what? unless of course NBA will also do a Orlando Magic vs Miami Heat opening game for the NBA as well).
and then the way the draw happened where each has to say a number rather than just drawing from a pot. the fact that LAG/LAFC and Toronto/Montreal did come out ( among others). All of this lends itself to the conspiracy theory that it was pure draw.
They could of just brought out the groups and games ( with all the rival teams playing each other) all set up and give an explanation along the lines of "the matchups were made to ensure greatest competition" like how concacaf has done plenty of times with the gold cup to ensure that Mexico Vs US only happens in the final.
they would of gotten less crap i think.
These types of matchups were bound to happen. Here are some other top rivalries that did not end up in the same groups:
- NYCFC vs NJRB
- NJRB vs DCU
- Houston Dynamo vs FC Dallas
- Seattle Sounders vs Portland Timbers
- LAG vs San Jose Quakes
- Atlanta United vs Orlando
- Chicago Fire vs Columbus Crew
As some has eluded, this was a missed opportunity for the league to play with what a probable future divisional alignment would look like. They should have done away with the supposed "draw" and did a regional matchup. This would have been well received and would have provided higher viewership due to rival matchups.
| GROUP A | GROUP B | GROUP C | GROUP D | GROUP E | Group F |
| Montreal Impact | Atlanta United FC | Chicago Fire FC | FC Dallas | Real Salt Lake | LA Galaxy |
| New England Revolution | Inter Miami CF | Columbus Crew SC | Houston Dynamo | Colorado Rapids | LAFC |
| New York City FC | Nashville SC | D.C. United | Minnesota United FC | Vancouver Whitecaps FC | Portland Timbers FC |
| New York Red Bulls | Orlando City SC | FC Cincinnati | Sporting Kansas City | San Jose Earthquakes | Seattle Sounders FC |
| Philadelphia Union | |||||
| Toronto FC |
ill argue NJRB vs DC is at its all time low i think they even made a video of what it was but no longer the case. like and MLS 1.0 rivalry thats dead.
even us against them has lost lots of its spark, less and less people go to these. thats is why they would prefer a RB vs ATL as there has been more drama there lately. and orlando vs atlanta has been so one sided thats why the pairing orlando them with miami.
columbus/ chicago is a rivalry? ( it sure has not seem that way at all since i started following the league, just another match day) and thats why columbus is with cincy.
fc dallas has no fans and houston has loyal but really small amount of fans, again their games are an after thought to the league.
seattle/ portland and LAG and Quakes ill give to you.
D.C. United needs to be in the same group as Red Bulls.
Vancouver needs to be in the same group as Seattle and Portland.
San Jose needs to be in the same group as LA Galaxy.
Group E and F were a toss-up, but I was following the format they are using for the tournament. So, something had to give. I would argue that we are a bigger rival for the NJRB than DC. What I proposed is a regional match up and about "bigger" rivalry in its current state.
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