And this meant something.
Bruce Arena fielded a somewhat — though not very — weakened team against the USL conference’s basement dwellers and most likely expected to end up taking a comfortable lead down to Bayamon for the return leg. He won’t be.
The Islanders went on to smash the Galaxy 4 goals to 1, and LA didn’t even have the pleasure of putting the ball in the net, Islanders defender Martinez may have been feeling sorry for them when he scored a terrible own goal.
It was an almost mind boggling match in which the Galaxy dominated possession and every other measurable offensive statistic other than the only one that actually means anything. But this isn’t out of character for Puerto Rico, they often play Champions League matches like this, relying on an organized defense and the incredible goalkeeping of Bill Guadette while waiting to spring a counter attack. Colin Clarke’s tactics worked to perfection tonight as his Islanders took their chances well.
The result is especially frustrating when you consider the victories scored by Major League Soccer teams against European opposition in friendlies this weekend, while they are only friendlies you’d like to think that the results show a degree of improvement among MLS teams but it’s hard to say that when the league’s best team gets throttled by a second division team from its own federation.
Why does it seem like every year we have to talk about MLS teams failing in official competitions?
Since I don’t want to end this on doom and gloom I will mention Toronto’s result tonight. 1–0 against Motagua is nothing to sneeze at, the Honduran league is stronger than many people may like to believe and I firmly believe that TFC has what it takes to at least manage a draw in Tegucigalpa, but it won’t be an easy task.
Congrats to Puerto Rico on a well deserved win, while they haven’t finished off the Galaxy yet, they’ve given their opponents a very tough road to travel.
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46 comments… read them below or add one
The results against European competition were, as you say, in friendlies. I shuddered a bit when many fans became excited about those results – not because they weren’t a great experience and fun for the fans, but because they do not serve as any kind of meaningful metric for anything.
In the same vein, perhaps the Galaxy’s loss is just a throwaway freak result that serves as no metric on them or the MLS.
HAHAHA!!! The mickeymouse league FOREVER!!! You guys try to con the world into thinking the friendly wins over Manchester matter. Front page headline in the KC newspaper. Those are JUST FRIENDLIES! CCL is the real international competition. And it exposes your league for the fraud that it is. It is shit. Your league is a joke.
Except the friendlies probably result in more money than winning the CCL, so what’s the incentive?
The incentive is to win and make it into the Club World Cup to play opponents like Barcelona now Inter for silverware. This is the only competition we have that links us to the rest of the leagues around the world. Our results in Copa Libera was so bad they don’t invite any MLS teams anymore.
That’s pretty interesting considering an MLS team has never played in Copa Lib., ever. Must have happened in an alternate reality. What a doofus.
lol, that idiot must be thinking Copa America, and USA didn’t fair horrible.
TERRIBLE result tho, Arena should’ve fielded a full starting 11. I can’t believe Rickets didnt play!
didnt an MLS team once play in copa sudamerican or its predecessor? I know DC united played in a recopa or something like against a Brazilian team. Whats with the name calling? you sound like a dorky teenager
No you guys are idiots. DC United WAS invited to the copa Sudamericana which is like the copa libertadores. its bascially the UEFA Euroleague but anyways they were invited ONCE and failed miserably. so much that they are not allowed to play in conmebol editions anymore. i love mls but even i have to admit our league is a mickey mouse league, a closed off, mediocre mickey mouse league. i blame single entity and garber but i dont want to go into that because i know a ton of people who are conformed with our mediocre league will rain down and praise single entity and garber. give me a break im glad islanders fc beat la galaxy
Our league is a joke compared to what? Our league is better than 90% of the leagues in the world, saying something like this is simply hogwash. Our league is a fraud? You’re the one joking now, I don’t see how this makes sense in the slightest.
better than 90%??? You are a RETARD. You’re ranked 88th!!! LOOK IT UP. Google is your friend.
This is why the world hates usa football. You are all ignorant.
That site that ranked the US 88th ranked Brazil and Argentina as #2 and #3 over the likes of england, italy and germany.
ANyone who knew anything laughed at the entire ranking when published. If youwant to pretend it means something though… go right ahead.
normally i would start to rant against you but i agree with you. i think IFFHS was alittle too generous in giving our league the rank 88. but still stfu. the world hates usa football for political reasons they love to bring in politics when it comes to US.
did garber brainwash you? our league IS a fraud. we were banned from copa sudamericana, never made it to the FIFA club world cup, won the CCL only two times and that was when CCL was just a friedly competition with only like 8 teams much like superliga. our league is ranked 88th in the world, old players are coming over here to recieve their retirement check, parity is turning our league into a joke. look at real salt lake last year they didnt even deserve to get to the playoffs yet by luck won the cup. and no i dont hate our league im being realistic. you’re probably just a 12 year old kid and dont know a thing about soccer.
One win by a USL D2 team over an MLS team really proves very little about the MLS. If you look at the English F.A. cup, it is fairly common for a team from a lower division to beat a team from the upper division (Sometimes even two or three divisions higher!).
One has to recognize that in sports, there will be an “Any Given Sunday” effect (to borrow from the NFL). Even the best teams will have off days.
I do agree that Friendlies, while perhaps better for promoting the MLS than the CCL, are not really a test of the quality of American Soccer. That being said, I also don’t believe a ratings chart that puts America 88th in the world of soccer. While it still has a long way to go before it reaches parity with say the top European Leagues, I would say it is probably in the top 20 leagues world wide.
and the excuses starts………….now. come on man 4-1? thats not common. that says something about mls clubs. 1) they dont care about REAL compititoins and 2) they just suck and garber doesnt want to fix it, even with his little CCL committee. and come on dude mls in the 20 best leagues? my god when will we accept that we NEED to fix our league. its not going anywhere. yes we are expanding and getting stadiums but thats not improving our quality of play. parity in mls clubs dont work internationally
I am so glad that we are maintaining a civil discourse here….
Is it possible to start moderating replies?
MarylandBill, sorry about that. I’ve gone through and cleaned it up. My apologies.
Cheers,
The Gaffer
Gaffer,
You have nothing you need apologize for. As long as the internet has been around, some people have used its anonymity to show their uglier sides. No way you can monitor every thread 24×7.
Thanks for cleaning things up.
really, whats with all these responders calling others morons or idiots? Its a joke that one’s knowledge concerning the athletic entertainment industry would be a gauge for one’s intelligence in general. If that were so, couch potato obese dudes wearing sports jerseys would rule the country instead of just the cheetos aisle at walmart.
The Islanders are actually a really good squad, but still. EPL teams should always beat MLS teams and MLS teams should always beat USL teams.
This is an Islanders club which made the semi-finals of this tournament just two seasons ago. MLS, for better or worse teams seem to place competitions like these secondary to their league games, hence the pittance of a crowd in LA last night. Meanwhile USL teams like Puerto Rico and Montreal have had success both on the pitch and in the attendance figures.
Seattle seems to be set on making sure LA’s mindset isn’t their own in regards to the Champions’ League.
http://www.mls-rumors.net/9889/2010/07/photosvideos-marketing-the-concacaf-champions-league-in-the-usa/
Seattle is a joke. Sure they have fans and marketing but their team is just pure horrible
tru. Even if they beat Isidro Metapan and make it into group play, they would have to play Saprissa and Monterrey. They need to replace Ljungberg with a more effective DP (maybe the arriving Uruguayan dude is the answer). The result from the Galaxy game is a super freaking disastrous result. That was a chance to get S. Cal excited about some international club play (most likely to cheer for the teams from Mex & Honduras). Sure CCL is small, but with major MLS teams (the ones w/DPs) entering it and succeeding the hope was that it would grow. There needs to be an international context for MLS to gain stature in the eyes of even Americans. Seeing MLS all stars crucified by Man U, and other results like LA’s yesterday makes me take a bit of a step back from my enthusiasm. I want there to be a connection from the international context of the World Cup to MLS. Maybe it doesnt exist within CCL play.
I’m not surprised that the Islanders got the result, but I am shocked at how comprehensive the result was. I think part of it is the fact that the lower tiered teams get to watch the “big boys” on TV so they know the tendencies and have a better understanding of how to play them. A few years a go, I got to watch Real Madrid struggle for a single point in the Copa del Rey against a 3rd tier team so I know it’s not uncommon.
What is troubling is that MLS can’t seem to get the monkey off their back in these competitions. They seem to pick these tourneys to have “a bad day”.
When will some fans finally understand what everyone else in the world know: FRIENDLIES DON’T MATTER AND PROVE NOTHING. They are fun to watch. That should be the extent of the analysis about the results.
Pretty sad that they didn’t take this Puerto Rican club or this competition seriously. Oh well I guess Bruce Arena and his four “All-Stars” can now focus in on a pre-season Manchester United B-squad in a game that means absolutely nothing! Doubt I’ll watch as the result is meaningless.
The Islanders are actually a really good squad, but still. EPL teams should always beat MLS teams and MLS teams should always beat USL teams.
Andrew, you’re seriously delusional and don’t know sh.it about this sport. You’re probably one of them dumb red neck kind who the only reason who watches soccer in the first place is because of your typical American arrogance that believes USA is simply best at everything. The MLS is better than 90% of the leagues in the world???? Are you effing kidding me with that b.s??? Is that why the MLS was ranked 88th in the world? Despite the fact that most delusional fans in the MLS seem to think that MLS is the best league in their region just because they seem to always beat a watered down, B squad in their pre season FML team in Superliga…what matters is what they do in CCL, which is an actual international competition. MLS was ranked even lower than Guatemala this year…
I think the MLS is a pretty mediocre league but do you really treat those rankings seriously? Peru is ranked 8th!!!
You truly too those IFFFHS ratings seriously? I am pretty sure they were meant as a joke. If not, that is how the world took them.
The LA Galaxy is the most well-known American brand name for U.S. pro Soccer. Every year, its goal should be to get to the FIFA CLub Championship.
When it eventually happens, hopefully the Galaxy will be playing Manchester United or Real Madrid in the semis and finals. It will be interesting to see how American media will handle it. Will ESPN make it into the big deal it should be, possible on par with how they handled World Cup.
I think any MLS club that does make it that far in the FIFA club Championship will be a big deal, but the Galaxy will get the most attention.
With the new signings, the Red Bull are trying to outbrand the Galaxy. And, the only other significant brand is D.C. United. Any of these three in the Club Championship will make big media/ESPN news. Others may not.
Perhaps MLS teams should worry about winning a CCL preliminary round against a USSF D2 side as opposed to what ESPN will do if they were to ever play Real Madrid.
We all know that the World Club Championship, up to this point, is treated as a joke, right?
No it is not. It’s the championship of the world
Hahahaha yes
Whether they are good or not is one question, but I think it is hard to ignore the Seattle Sounders Brand. Less recent history but still in the top 3-4 teams in brand strength.
All you need to know about how seriously MLS takes this competition is this: they scheduled their mickey mouse all-star game the same week as opening round qualifiers. Pathetic. Scrap the all-star game. There are already enough exhibitions in the MIDDLE of the fucking season.
I’m counting on the Sounders to show up tonight. Gotta represent better than this! Let’s go, MLS!
Sounders will lose.
But I fully agree about All Star game, it’s a joke. I Like it but it conflicts with so much. How the hell does the Galaxy handle all these games with half the squad in the All Star game!?
Hey Dan, Sounders won 1-0. They aren’t through yet by any means, but not a bad start.
I agree with you Joe in Indianapolis.
They even named a commision to work on how to do better on the CCL.
The US Open Cup,wich is the ideal national competition for clubs to get familiar with the cup system, is not play home and away games, it is just one game series, like it was the NFL play-offs. I would love to know what tha commision is working on!! It should be interesting!
LA lost yesterday a CCL superimportant game, and its starting golkeper is playing today the intrascendent “all stars” game. We should give the “commision” some advise: How about playing your starting 11?
Can you imagine Man Utd. schedulling friendlies a few days before a Champions league match? or resting the starting GK for a friendly?
What the Sounders are doing to promote the CCl is very good! However I think Real Salt Lake is our best CCL bet.
Year after year same story…MLS fans are ecstatic that they can beat euro teams in friendlies, which means nothing, but MLS fans are morons.
MLS teams and owners always make excuses that they don’t take CCL seriously, well it’s about time they did, or their will need be cjang at the top by getting rid of the establishment assholes.
what’s more important CCL championship or MLS cup?
only real futbol fans know the answer.
Yeah, SSReporters, I was pretty much shocked when they rated Peru’s league as 8th, where FML was last year.
Even if MLS gave more importance to CCL, do you think that would make a difference..really?
I mean, the only reason FML gave a crap and sent some of their A squad to last year’s CCL, was because of the conflict and withdrawal they had from Conmebol competitions (but all that’s resolved now) and they absolutely massacred not only MLS teams but the whole competition…the semi-final had all FML teams…
And even when they don’t give a crap and send their reserves like in past years, they still manage to squelch the competitions and win year after year the title…
MLS definitely has a long, long, long way to go
The KC win over Man U meant nothing.
Man U’s win over the allstars meant nothing.
Galaxy vs Islanders means EVERYTHING.
Next week, in Bayamon, the Galaxy will face their biggest challenge ever. Overcome a 3 goal deficit in possible hostile territory. There is no more perfect game to test the mettle of this league. It’s put up or shut up. The 14 year history of the league will be on the backs of Landon and the Gals.
Will they do it? Will they defend the honor of their league and club?
The game will be epic.
funny thing is that garber hired a “elite” team of directors to head a committee for success in the CCL. are you kidding me? theres now a legit branch of MLS dedicated to winning the CCL. the Asian championship is harder to win than CCL and mls clubs cant even beat a middle of the road USL club? give me a break if this is not a wake up alert to all you ignorant “MLS is the best” fans and most importantly to that retard named garber who doesnt know a thing about soccer, i dont know where soccer is heading in this country. FIRE GARBER!!!!!!!!!!
tru, Garber is lacking in adequate knowledge of the “international context” of the club game. In some sense all these friendlies are being organized in regards to a perceived lack w/respect to the marketing potential of CCL as the primary showcase of MLS in international play. Ditto for the concoction known as Superliga and Pan Pacific. Maybe Garber should’ve focused on CCL all the time. Instead of giving it 3rd class status, perhaps much marketing push should go into the caliber of play that Seattle will potentially be involved with in playing Saprissa & Monterrey. These two teams are very respectable and very historic. Sure, playing W Connection or Joe Public aint worth squat from a marketing perspective, but there are potential matchups in CCL that are. If only MLS would’ve take them seriously all along, perhaps such matchups between Crew or Houston versus some Mexican team (as in years prior) would’ve drawn 20k fans instead of 4k.
Go Islanders!!! The rest of Div2 is hella proud of yall!!! WOOHOO!!!! We are pulling for yall to go ALL THE WAY!!!!
The Galaxy’s league is not much better than Div-2. Face it guys. Your league and our league are on par with the typical Central American leagues. He who doesn’t accept that is a fool.
You guys want a better all-star game next year? Let’s have Div1 vs Div2! You know that we’ll be ubermotivated to win it. It’ll make for compelling football. I hope Garber reads this. AllStar Game 2011 should be D1 v D2!!!