Other Leagues | 2024/25

[GratefulDawg]

I'm vacationing in Dakar, Senegal and was able to take in a match in the neighborhood where I am staying. The match was either a third or fourth division match between L'Olympique de Ngor and United Academie.

Entrance.

It cost me $3, which was probably a tourist price. I'm pretty certain I was the only tourist there.

Stadium seating prior to the match

Pre-match

Let's start what we have come in the room to do.

Home team in blue. United Academie in White.

The level of play was around Deuces level. United Academie had a winger who was the best player on the pitch. He abused the Olympique defenders, scoring once and getting a penalty.

Final score L'Olympique de Ngor 0-2 United Academy

Representing

Halftime refreshment - café Touba

Cops are the same as New York.

This ends my TED talk on lower division Senegalese football.

 

[LionNYC]

I'm vacationing in Dakar, Senegal and was able to take in a match in the neighborhood where I am staying. The match was either a third or fourth division match between L'Olympique de Ngor and United Academie.

View attachment 13725
Entrance.

It cost me $3, which was probably a tourist price. I'm pretty certain I was the only tourist there.

View attachment 13726
Stadium seating prior to the match

View attachment 13727
Pre-match

View attachment 13733
Let's start what we have come in the room to do.

View attachment 13728
Home team in blue. United Academie in White.

View attachment 13729
The level of play was around Deuces level. United Academie had a winger who was the best player on the pitch. He abused the Olympique defenders, scoring once and getting a penalty.

Final score L'Olympique de Ngor 0-2 United Academy

View attachment 13730
Representing

View attachment 13731
Halftime refreshment - café Touba

View attachment 13732
Cops are the same as New York.

This ends my TED talk on lower division Senegalese football.

Were you the only person on your side of the stand?

 

[GratefulDawg]

Were you the only person on your side of the stand?

No, there were probably about 50 people on my side. I'm just hesitant to take photos of locals, because the Senegalese do not like people taking photos of them without expressly asking first.

Also, the home team was wearing yellow and blue.

 

[Gotham Gator]

Awesome stuff. Love it. How was the rest of Senegal?

 

[GratefulDawg]

Awesome stuff. Love it. How was the rest of Senegal?

There are a few great museums and galleries in Dakar and good food. The mosque near downtown is stunning. Unfortunately, the city is very haphazardly designed. Traffic is awful. It is not very walkable unless you want to deal with narrow busted sidewalks, beggars, sun, dust and fumes from cars and trucks.

We were going to stay in a beach town for a few days, but the Airbnb was awful and the heat very intense, so we came back to a cooler Dakar.

 

[Davo15]

Sorloth with a hat trick in the 11th minute for Atletico Madrid game still ongoing as I post this.

 

[FootyLovin]

Sorloth with a hat trick in the 11th minute for Atletico Madrid game still ongoing as I post this.

He wasn't done.

 

[Davo15]

Sunderland come back to beat Sheffield united 2-1 in the promotion playoff. Not at all a Sunderland fan but glad to see them back over Sheff U just doing the YO-YO

 

[BxLio91]

Former Academy player Dante Polvara won the Scottish cup today with Aberdeen against Celtic in a pk shootout.

 

[BC19]

Domè is the coach of Monterrey now and will be managing in the club World Cup

 

[moogoo]

our sibling club, melbourne city won the A-league in australia. congrats to them!

 

[Gene]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1954921538727117285

 

[Fantazma]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1954921538727117285

of course they went for the super small team ( by population) to give up their home game to go Miami. now does US soccer say yes? i really don't know if FIFA is cool with this or not.

 

[mgarbowski]

of course they went for the super small team ( by population) to give up their home game to go Miami. now does US soccer say yes? i really don't know if FIFA is cool with this or not.

Fifa has used US soccer as a cash cow – and gives very little back | Leander Schaerlaeckens

Article makes the argument that everyone in world soccer is more interested in tapping the US market than growing US soccer. That arguably includes the US Soccer Federation and might even include MLS. FIFA was against non-friendly club games in the US until it got sued and then it caved. But it has always used the US as a private bank. CONCACAF does the same by playing all tournament finals in the US. MLS does the same by engaging in Leagues Cup and playing all the games in the US.

The US soccer audience keeps growing but not for MLS. Everyone blames MLS for not spending but MLS is the only league that has to deal with all this international competition. Are there any other countries where you can watch most or maybe even all Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga and Serie A games as long as you pay? It's impossible to watch every PL game in England even. Foreign teams have been playing off-season friendlies in the US for years. MLS could drop the salary cap and it would take years of losses to overcome the loyalty that American fans have developed for other leagues or brought with them as immigrants. I know 3rd Gen Italian Americans who still care more about the Azzurri than Team USA and Serie A than MLS. MLS is deluding itself by thinking it will win over Mexican American fans with Leagues Cup when all it does is give those fans a chance to watch their team in person where they live instead of maybe going to a couple of MLS games.

Legally it seems likely you cannot keep foreign clubs from playing, streamingg or broadcasting here because of antitrust. The only way out is for ALL US soccer fans to stop sneering and start supporting MLS as it grows. I hate that smug entitled superior attitude of the "fan of soccer but not MLS" fans, because those fans are the very reason MLS keeps plateauing instead of just improving. I don't care if your first team is Toluca, Dortmund, Forest, Milan, Corinthians or whatever. You want to root for them, fine. But also pick and support an MLS team. If you can follow Wrexham and support Wrexham from the US you can support your local good but not world class team also trying to get better. Most of this forum does just that. I have no patience for those who won't bother.

 

[CCMore]

Fifa has used US soccer as a cash cow – and gives very little back | Leander Schaerlaeckens

Article makes the argument that everyone in world soccer is more interested in tapping the US market than growing US soccer. That arguably includes the US Soccer Federation and might even include MLS. FIFA was against non-friendly club games in the US until it got sued and then it caved. But it has always used the US as a private bank. CONCACAF does the same by playing all tournament finals in the US. MLS does the same by engaging in Leagues Cup and playing all the games in the US.

The US soccer audience keeps growing but not for MLS. Everyone blames MLS for not spending but MLS is the only league that has to deal with all this international competition. Are there any other countries where you can watch most or maybe even all Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga and Serie A games as long as you pay? It's impossible to watch every PL game in England even. Foreign teams have been playing off-season friendlies in the US for years. MLS could drop the salary cap and it would take years of losses to overcome the loyalty that American fans have developed for other leagues or brought with them as immigrants. I know 3rd Gen Italian Americans who still care more about the Azzurri than Team USA and Serie A than MLS. MLS is deluding itself by thinking it will win over Mexican American fans with Leagues Cup when all it does is give those fans a chance to watch their team in person where they live instead of maybe going to a couple of MLS games.

Legally it seems likely you cannot keep foreign clubs from playing here because of antitrust. The only way out is for ALL US soccer fans to stop sneering and start supporting MLS as it grows. I hate that smug entitled superior attitude of the "fan of soccer but not MLS" fans, because those fans are the very reason MLS keeps plateauing instead of just improving. I don't care if your first team is Toluca, Dortmund, Forest, Milan, Corinthians or whatever. You want to root for them, fine. But also pick and support an MLS team. If you can follow Wrexham and support Wrexham from the US you can support your local good but not world class team also trying to get better. Most of this forum does just that. I have no patience for those who won't bother.

Amen. I follow a Spanish team, NWSL team, and 2 MLS teams. People who complain MLS isn’t at a “high enough”level haven’t watched the league since the David Villa era.

 

[Fantazma]

Fifa has used US soccer as a cash cow – and gives very little back | Leander Schaerlaeckens

Article makes the argument that everyone in world soccer is more interested in tapping the US market than growing US soccer. That arguably includes the US Soccer Federation and might even include MLS. FIFA was against non-friendly club games in the US until it got sued and then it caved. But it has always used the US as a private bank. CONCACAF does the same by playing all tournament finals in the US. MLS does the same by engaging in Leagues Cup and playing all the games in the US.

The US soccer audience keeps growing but not for MLS. Everyone blames MLS for not spending but MLS is the only league that has to deal with all this international competition. Are there any other countries where you can watch most or maybe even all Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga and Serie A games as long as you pay? It's impossible to watch every PL game in England even. Foreign teams have been playing off-season friendlies in the US for years. MLS could drop the salary cap and it would take years of losses to overcome the loyalty that American fans have developed for other leagues or brought with them as immigrants. I know 3rd Gen Italian Americans who still care more about the Azzurri than Team USA and Serie A than MLS. MLS is deluding itself by thinking it will win over Mexican American fans with Leagues Cup when all it does is give those fans a chance to watch their team in person where they live instead of maybe going to a couple of MLS games.

Legally it seems likely you cannot keep foreign clubs from playing, streamingg or broadcasting here because of antitrust. The only way out is for ALL US soccer fans to stop sneering and start supporting MLS as it grows. I hate that smug entitled superior attitude of the "fan of soccer but not MLS" fans, because those fans are the very reason MLS keeps plateauing instead of just improving. I don't care if your first team is Toluca, Dortmund, Forest, Milan, Corinthians or whatever. You want to root for them, fine. But also pick and support an MLS team. If you can follow Wrexham and support Wrexham from the US you can support your local good but not world class team also trying to get better. Most of this forum does just that. I have no patience for those who won't bother.

those same fans say that pro/rel will fix everything.

 

[RunningWise]

those same fans say that pro/rel will fix everything.

Or flipping the schedule

 

[Fantazma]

Or flipping the schedule

im very against flipping schedule. to me it makes no business sense, you will not get more viewers or interest going up against NFL, college football, MLB, NBA, NHL all happening at the same time.

 

[CCMore]

im very against flipping schedule. to me it makes no business sense, you will not get more viewers or interest going up against NFL, college football, MLB, NBA, NHL all happening at the same time.

I legitimately think it could kill the league. Less viewers because there are higher priority sports to much of the audience. Less viewers means cutting costs. Cutting costs means worse product. Worse product means more frustration from fans and it’s a downward spiral. Cold weather markets will see a larger drop in attendance which won’t help. A break in the season for December and January could potentially cause fair weather fans of poor performing teams to drop off and not come back for the second half. And I think it’s all to try to grab higher value players in the off season. But which of those players are going to want to play in Minnesota when it’s -10° outside? I don’t know man. I think their greed could cause the breaking apart of the league for the worst

 

[Fantazma]

I legitimately think it could kill the league. Less viewers because there are higher priority sports to much of the audience. Less viewers means cutting costs. Cutting costs means worse product. Worse product means more frustration from fans and it’s a downward spiral. Cold weather markets will see a larger drop in attendance which won’t help. A break in the season for December and January could potentially cause fair weather fans of poor performing teams to drop off and not come back for the second half. And I think it’s all to try to grab higher value players in the off season. But which of those players are going to want to play in Minnesota when it’s -10° outside? I don’t know man. I think their greed could cause the breaking apart of the league for the worst

yes a huge risk. unless they will decide and change things like increasing salary cap or make it easier to make transfers and get rid of weird MLS rules to make the teams more competitive then maybe, but it if its stays the same then no it has the potential to be bad.