NYCFC 2021 MLS Cup Champions

[mgarbowski]

Lets also not forget how the league handles international windows as opposed to other league's.

Nice lead in to a point I wanted to make about the flip side of people who have dismissed this win. First, a decent number of neutral commenters have now noted that our slump was probably caused, at least in part, by having our roster, especially our CB pairing, repeatedly disrupted by international play. Nobody mentioned that before, but now that we won, you can bring it up. I get why, and appreciate that at least they are doing it now, but things like that are true or not regardless of who wins the last game.
Second, in contrast to the Athletic comments (plus some on Soccer America) I have found that, surprisingly, r/MLS Reddit mostly has a new attitude to NYCFC. I haven't checked every comment in every thread, and there are exceptions, but they do seem to be exceptions. Mostly everyone is just accepting the result and giving respect .

 

[moogoo]

shield isn't the great indicator of best team in the league for what others have said. It may have been in the past, but it sure isn't anymore. especially in a year like 2021, where were barely played any western teams (we played two? lafc, dallas)

people don't think about those situations. those who don't travel much and/or have never actually played soccer at any competitive level don't think about how big this country is, how difficult it is to travel even from NY to FL (same coast) and play the same or next day. It's not easy.

In the end, all the people bitching about MLS cup, its format, MLS in general with its lack of pro/rel are people who support teams who lost (salty), don't really watch MLS, and/or don't understand the circumstances of playing in such a big country. No one complains in this country when it comes to other sports and our american style of play, yet they do with soccer. Why do we have to align with europe? Look at frickin mexico.. i can't even figure out how their championships work. two champions a year? I don't even know. lol. and it seems like they also have a playoff system except it's two legs. good for them.

as someone pointed out, if any of those salty fans thinks they could have come to the bronx and easily won, they are kidding themselves. it'd be a battle and where we have dismantled the crew and dc to the point of sending them into season ending slumps. lol.

 

[mgarbowski]

I hate the way NFL and MLB do it, to be honest. I much prefer the big standings with two big conferences. Maybe it'll work as 4 conferences with 8 in each, but any less than that and I don't like the idea. Makes it really unfair for the worse teams in some of those conferences imo, if their best team dominates year-in, year-out. (imagine NW, seattle portland would essentially win and qualify every year over the last 6 years)

I think it's necessary in the NFL because the season is so short, and you can only afford to have each team play 2 games against 3-4 other teams, so you need the divisions. But otherwise I agree, and baseball switching from a sport where the league was everything to one where divisions matter most has been a part of what drove me from the sport, honestly.

shield isn't the great indicator of best team in the league for what others have said. It may have been in the past, but it sure isn't anymore. especially in a year like 2021, where were barely played any western teams (we played two? lafc, dallas)

I've always been a Shield proponent, but have to concede that for the first time in 2020-21 it is hard to say that the schedule, though imbalanced, was still mostly even enough. And if we end up with 32 teams and 34 games, we might move closer to what we had before -- I hope we play more than 2 West games every year - but you're still going to end up with some significant imbalance. We'll see. Though, to some degree, a part of me will always think that 34 games, even with wacky schedules has to mean more than 4 games - which are even more unbalanced. But I know that very few will ever accept that.

 

[gbservis]

Nice lead in to a point I wanted to make about the flip side of people who have dismissed this win. First, a decent number of neutral commenters have now noted that our slump was probably caused, at least in part, by having our roster, especially our CB pairing, repeatedly disrupted by international play. Nobody mentioned that before, but now that we won, you can bring it up. I get why, and appreciate that at least they are doing it now, but things are true or not regardless of who wins the last game.
Second, in contrast to the Athletic comments (plus some on Soccer America) I have found that, surprisingly, r/MLS Reddit mostly has a new attitude to NYCFC. I haven't checked every comment in every thread, and there are exceptions, but they do seem to be exceptions. Mostly everyone is just accepting the result and giving respect .

I suspect a lot of more casual MLS fans watched NYCFC as a neutral for the first time. So many of the negative narratives about NYCFC on r/MLS seem to be based on ideas about NYCFC that fans don't like (baseball stadium, Oil money, Etc.) and very few are based on how the team actually plays. It's nice that this playoff run gave a lot of people a chance to watch the team through a neutral lens and I think some actually realized that we play a very entertaining style of soccer.

 

[mgarbowski]

I suspect a lot of more casual MLS fans watched NYCFC as a neutral for the first time. So many of the negative narratives about NYCFC on r/MLS seem to be based on ideas about NYCFC that fans don't like (baseball stadium, Oil money, Etc.) and very few are based on how the team actually plays. It's nice that this playoff run gave a lot of people a chance to watch the team through a neutral lens and I think some actually realized that we play a very entertaining style of soccer.

And.
And,
And this is I think BIG.

If the ref waves off Portland's goal, delivering us the win, everyone probably still just hates us.

 

[moogoo]

What I find funny is the Portland fans have generally been pretty gracious about losing. Of course there are some who are bitter, but for the most part, the comments I've seen from portland fans have been congratulatory and just enjoying that last minute equalizer.

Most of the salt comes from philly and red bull fans with a handful of new england fans bitching about their long bye.

 

[mgarbowski]

What I find funny is the Portland fans have generally been pretty gracious about losing. Of course there are some who are bitter, but for the most part, the comments I've seen from portland fans have been congratulatory and just enjoying that last minute equalizer.

Most of the salt comes from philly and red bull fans with a handful of new england fans bitching about their long bye.

Can confirm that Portland fans we ran into that night were generally quite decent. Sunday morning in the airport a guy waited behind me as I was paying for a bottle of water and when I turned he just pointed to his Timbers pin and said " You guys were better and deserved to win."

 

[moogoo]

Can confirm that Portland fans we ran into that night were generally quite decent. Sunday morning in the airport a guy waited behind me as I was paying for a bottle of water and when I turned he just pointed to his Timbers pin and said " You guys were better and deserved to win."

I saw on twitter a portland fan bought a nycfc fan a breakfast sandwich the next day at the local coffee shop. blew his mind that portland fans were so gracious

 

[SoupInNYC]

I saw on twitter a portland fan bought a nycfc fan a breakfast sandwich the next day at the local coffee shop. blew his mind that portland fans were so gracious

I went at halftime to grab some more beer and was chatting with a Portland fan and he refused to let me buy my own beer.

 

[Shwafta]

We had a nice thirty or so minute chat with three Portland fans who were in the Timbers Army. They told us a bit about Portland, about providence park, about the timbers army, about their ownership. Really classy fans all-in-all, though my view on their ownership group shifted a bit when hearing what they go through.

For example, for all the shit we give the FO, they do an amazing job with away tickets. The portland fans were shocked that the team gives us $10 away tickets for members to ALL away games, no matter what. Their FO doesn't do that. That's just one kind of small thing that you don't really think about until you realize how much of a privilege it is to go to MLS cup for $10.

 

[mgarbowski]

I saw on twitter a portland fan bought a nycfc fan a breakfast sandwich the next day at the local coffee shop. blew his mind that portland fans were so gracious

I went at halftime to grab some more beer and was chatting with a Portland fan and he refused to let me buy my own beer.

Great. Now I'm just annoyed that guy at the airport didn't pay for my water.

 

[moogoo]

we have bing bong tshirts now...

 

[Shwafta]

we have bing bong tshirts now...

Where did you find this picture?

Also I want an orange BING BONG tshirt with an mls cup on it. I wants badly

 

[Fantazma]

Where did you find this picture?

Also I want an orange BING BONG tshirt with an mls cup on it. I wants badly

i dont think its an official shirt...probably they made it themselves

 

[moogoo]

Where did you find this picture?

Also I want an orange BING BONG tshirt with an mls cup on it. I wants badly

club twitter feed. probably a los templados custom .. kinda impressed they got one made so quickly. someone must have a tshirt making setup/connection lol

 

[LionNYC]

The fact that Randy Levine is on the stage is sickening.

 

[moogoo]

looks like a good crowd!

 

[mgarbowski]

The fact that Randy Levine is on the stage is sickening.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1470785737067008014

 

[moogoo]

Great to see the guys who had their options declined still showing up to the ceremony!

 

[moogoo]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1470785737067008014

if there was a "MEH" reaction, that's what I would pick.