Sporting KC Thread!! (Featuring All of MLS and sometimes Mexican Leagues too)

[Panjandrum]

i wasn't able to watch, sounds like it was a bizarre lineup and we looked pretty good but the score was 4-1 and dom is being all balotelli

I think things were fairly tight in the first half until Colin lost Boyata and got schooled in the 43'.

Once everyone switched to their second teams, they ran a train on us.

So, the story I'm telling myself is that the starting 11 for SKC can compete with an elite EPL squad. 

I don't care if I'm wrong. 

[mocat]

both sides switched completely to their 2nd teams? 

[Tobias]

we more or less played a first team in the first half, theirs was like 1.75-2ish.  fun first half tho!

[Panjandrum]

both sides switched completely to their 2nd teams? 

I don't know about that.  But there were a lot of changes.

I don't think Beasler, Dom, or Zusi played in the second.  I didn't see Colin out there, but I may not have been paying attention.

I don't think Sapong or Saad played in the second, either, but after we went down 3-1, I'll admit that I may or may not have kept it on in the background while doing other stuff.

[sunny_cat]

Zusi didn't play

[sunny_cat]

Panj clearly didn't watch really. We made 12 substitutions. 11 at halftime.

[Panjandrum]

Panj clearly didn't watch really. We made 12 substitutions. 11 at halftime.

Hey, I watched, like, most of the end of the first half and most of the second.

 

[Belvis Noland]

does it hurt the image of MLS to get clown showed like that on national TV?  serious question.  I understand MC is far superior and that zusi didn't play and that we were playing our subs in the second half.  It was obvious that we treated that game like an exhibition, just like MC did. 

I guess I'm wondering if the MLS would benefit from not treating these games like exhibitions.  The broadcast made a fairly big deal of the Ashley Cole statement that he rejected the MLS because he's "not ready to relax on a beach yet," and Lalas was like, "time to change that image."  If we're trying to shed this negative stigma of being a third/fourth tier professional league, I feel like we should be approaching these games with more urgency.  It's fine for MC to treat the game as an exhibition, but I don't think SKC and the MLS as a whole have that luxury.

I dunno.  HSIQ-types please weigh in.     

[mocat]

seattle just treated their game vs tottenham pretty seriously, and tied 3-3. there you have an upper echelon MLS team vs a middling EPL team. that's a pretty fair assessment. SKC would never beat the EPL champs, and shouldn't. i think soccer fans are educated enough to know that a friendly doesn't really mean anything, since both sides played a non-traditional lineup

[Belvis Noland]

seattle just treated their game vs tottenham pretty seriously, and tied 3-3. there you have an upper echelon MLS team vs a middling EPL team. that's a pretty fair assessment. SKC would never beat the EPL champs, and shouldn't. i think soccer fans are educated enough to know that a friendly doesn't really mean anything, since both sides played a non-traditional lineup

well, yeah, most fans understand that MC > SKC.  EP > MLS.  agreed.  Based purely on image, though, I think most non-Americans (and a lot of Americans) view the MLS like Ashley Cole.  amateur place to retire.  Just wondering if it helps that image change if the MLS champs would have gone out with a a strong starting lineup and beat MC. 

Maybe it's just poor form to try hard for 90 minutes in a friendly.  I dunno.  But, I think we win that game if we play our starters for 90 minutes. 

[ChiComCat]

I think if we treated an exhibition game like it was our championship then we would look more small timey than losing 4-1

[sunny_cat]

We had a strong starting lineup.

[sunny_cat]

Playing starters for 90 minutes would be Fake Sugar Dick (WARNING, NOT THE REAL SUGAR DICK!) when we have a huge game in Toronto in a few days. When managing the game last night, MLS' image is the last thing on PV's mind. Most important thing is making sure they don't get injured. Second is giving the youngsters experience and not pushing the starters too hard.

[Panjandrum]

does it hurt the image of MLS to get clown showed like that on national TV?  serious question.  I understand MC is far superior and that zusi didn't play and that we were playing our subs in the second half.  It was obvious that we treated that game like an exhibition, just like MC did. 

I guess I'm wondering if the MLS would benefit from not treating these games like exhibitions.  The broadcast made a fairly big deal of the Ashley Cole statement that he rejected the MLS because he's "not ready to relax on a beach yet," and Lalas was like, "time to change that image."  If we're trying to shed this negative stigma of being a third/fourth tier professional league, I feel like we should be approaching these games with more urgency.  It's fine for MC to treat the game as an exhibition, but I don't think SKC and the MLS as a whole have that luxury.

I dunno.  HSIQ-types please weigh in.     

Obviously not a HSIQ type, but personally, I think to change the stigma, you don't shoot for competing with an EPL type of league yet, but you should be more concerned with taking the CONCACAF dominance away from Mexican Clubs in the Champions League.

No one considers CONCACAF in the same league as UEFA or anything like that, so you better dominate your smaller pond before trying to stack up against the big boys in Europe.

[sunny_cat]

Your point of taking these games seriously while City doesn't is counter intuitive. What good is beating a team that didn't put forth their best players/effort?

[Panjandrum]

I think if we treated an exhibition game like it was our championship then we would look more small timey than losing 4-1

They mentioned near the end of the broadcast that SKC is already at a disadvantage in defending the cup due to the number of injuries suffered thus far, having to play in CONCACAF Champions League, and then still playing the full MLS slate.

The announcers downplayed the result and I thought were trying to justify that SKC has more meaningful, realistic things to play for.

However, they did acknowledge the win against Man U as a turning point for the club, so they did acknowledge that beating an EPL giant did help the club.  I mean, how can it not?

[Tobias]

you could tell from our starting lineup that we were trying to win and not just have fun.  frankly having that starting xi was kinda stupid with a big game coming up on saturday with toronto.  toronto also played an exhibition last night and had nowhere near the lineup we did.

[Tobias]

looks like i just copied sunny cat's general point, of course

[mocat]

toronto sucks. do you guys pronounce the 2nd "t" in toronto or no? pretty sure you're not supposed to

[Tobias]

I think if we treated an exhibition game like it was our championship then we would look more small timey than losing 4-1

we unfortunately did both in the same game (first half championship, second half not).  i like it more when teams split their 1a and 1b across the two halves personally rather than the drastic change in quality at half

[sunny_cat]

toronto sucks. do you guys pronounce the 2nd "t" in toronto or no? pretty sure you're not supposed to

Toronto doesn't suck bud

[Tobias]

toronto sucks. do you guys pronounce the 2nd "t" in toronto or no? pretty sure you're not supposed to

they're 9 points behind us and have played 3 less games

[mocat]

i mean the city of toronto sucks 

although TFC is sort of underwhelming given the amount of studs all over their pitch udigg?

[sunny_cat]

"no i don't digg"

[mocat]

well they have 1 win in their last 6 MLS games, and that was Houston.