Tonight on ESPN 2 at 9pm ET the two time defending champion Houston Dynamo will face the three time defending runners-up the New England Revolution. Sounds mouthwatering, right? Wrong!
The following key players are missing thanks to World Cup qualifiers:
HOUSTON:
Brian Ching (USA)
Dwayne DeRossario (Canada)
Pat Onstad (Canada)
NEW ENGLAND:
Shalrie Joseph (Greneda)
Khano Smith (Bermuda)
Kenny Mansally (Gambia)
and of course some players like Taylor Twellman have not been called into the their national team (in his case the USA) due to injury.
MLS insistence on playing right through CONCACAF’s World Cup qualifiers and in some cases accelerating the schedule of teams participating in the Superliga makes this match certainly worth missing. This match would have been one of the signature events of the season but now instead will resemble a meeting of two hamstrung USL-2 sides. Major League Soccer may have made strides in quality over the past few seasons but the league is not yet strong enough to give a presentable product when so many key players are missing.
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{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Is it reasonable to extrapolate that to MLS’s season being out of synch with the FIFA calendar?
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Well a number of leagues play on more or less the same calender as MLS: Russia, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Ireland, Australia, Japan etc. The secret is that those leagues break for qualifiers. MLS refuses to as does USL, who has also been hit by qualifiers.
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hate to agree with you but you’re right
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Point taken, but I’m excited none the less. You’d think a National Television date with ESPN (even if it is the duece) would warrant more coherent scheduling than an invented tourney. It’d be nice to have the leagues best player, best goalie and best Hawaiian all on board for the viewing masses.
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There was some excitement in last night’s game, but Dynamo, despite numerous chances, are back to having trouble finishing.
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There was some excitement in last night’s game, but Dynamo, despite numerous chances, are back to having trouble finishing.
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Well we now know the Revs scrubs are better than the Dynamo’s. Seriously, Patrick Ianni is one of the worst players in all MLS and the mere fact that he is so prominent in the US U-23 setup tells you all you need to know about our national team’s future.
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Doubt we’ll be seeing much more of Ianni this season, he’s in Dom’s doghouse.
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