Chicago crushes the Red Bulls

[jloome]

5-2. God, they're so shite. If DC ties or wins this weekend, NY is out.

[rocker]

DC needs a win right? tie won't help.. they are at 37, NY is at 39.

I think I'd rather see DC lose, because then TFC has a chance of surpassing DC in the standings.. but it's a tough choice between those two.

[Roogsy]

DC needs a win right? tie won't help.. they are at 37, NY is at 39.

I think I'd rather see DC lose, because then TFC has a chance of surpassing DC in the standings.. but it's a tough choice between those two.

Why would we want to pass DC in the standings if we aren't going to make the playoffs? Wouldn't we prefer to be 2nd last ahead of San Jose to ensure a high enough draft pick?

[Shakes McQueen]

Yeah, I gotta say - now that we are out of the playoff picture, I wouldn't mind if we went down in a hard fought loss this weekend.

Maybe lose 12-11 or something. :D

- Scott

[arsenal]

Why would we want to pass DC in the standings if we aren't going to make the playoffs? Wouldn't we prefer to be 2nd last ahead of San Jose to ensure a high enough draft pick?

That is my hope ..... who cares where we finish if we are out of the playoffs. Might as well set ourselves up as best as possible for the future.

[flatpicker]

Yeah, I gotta say - now that we are out of the playoff picture, I wouldn't mind if we went down in a hard fought loss this weekend.

Maybe lose 12-11 or something. :D

- Scott


don't we want to win this weekend?
doesn't that help our draft position if we kick San Jose around?

[Shakes McQueen]

don't we want to win this weekend?
doesn't that help our draft position if we kick San Jose around?

Us winning could conceivably move us ahead of Colorado and FC Dallas in the standings, which hurts our draft pick.

San Jose is currently last in the league, besting LA for that honour by two points.

So I guess technically we would be better off with a draw. A win doesn't help us, however. Just moves us farther down the draft pecking order.

- Scott

[ricciboy]

F8&k NEW York

[heather]

Yeah, I gotta say - now that we are out of the playoff picture, I wouldn't mind if we went down in a hard fought loss this weekend.

Maybe lose 12-11 or something. :D

- Scott

LOL for some reason this post made me laugh :drinking:

[Broadview]

Finishing lower in the standings not only gets you better draft position but a better slot on the allocation list for returning players (i.e. the Brian Mcbride situation we were in this year).

Really sucks that it serves us better to lose. There ought to be a lottery situation at the end of the year for non-playoff teams to prevent this sort of stuff.

Fuck it. I still want them to win.

[rocker]

Why would we want to pass DC in the standings if we aren't going to make the playoffs? Wouldn't we prefer to be 2nd last ahead of San Jose to ensure a high enough draft pick?

Why would you NOT want to finish ahead of DC United???
What kind of fan are you? Are you a closet United fan? ;)

The draft pick is overrated. We have 3 first round draft picks right now. You don't need 3 first round draft picks.

Last year we picked Julius James and Pat Phelan in the first round.
If losing or tying our last game to DC united gets us Julius James or Pat Phelan, I say let's win the game ;)

Anyhow, the pick that matters is the one from San Jose, which is guaranteed to be better than ours.

So let's go out there and PASS DC UNITED!!!

[rocker]

Finishing lower in the standings not only gets you better draft position but a better slot on the allocation list for returning players (i.e. the Brian Mcbride situation we were in this year).

does that really matter though? Unless yer at the top, it's not really important.

Seattle gets the top allocation spot next year. So for the whole season, Seattle basically holds the cards for any returning US nat. LA or San Jose will be second...

And since allocation spots can be traded around (as I believe they were this year), unless yer in the 1st spot, you basically have to give something up to get that first position, or your competition can do the same.

So whether you finish 3rd last or 4th last, it doesn't make a huge diff.

DC UNITED.. MOVE OVER AND LET US PASS!!! ;)

[Wooster_TFC]

does that really matter though? Unless yer at the top, it's not really important.

Seattle gets the top allocation spot next year. So for the whole season, Seattle basically holds the cards for any returning US nat. LA or San Jose will be second...

And since allocation spots can be traded around (as I believe they were this year), unless yer in the 1st spot, you basically have to give something up to get that first position, or your competition can do the same.

So whether you finish 3rd last or 4th last, it doesn't make a huge diff.

Actually, yes it does. There are a couple of things to consider:

1. The choice is to pass/not pass. If the first team decides to pass, then it moves on down the list.
2. If a team does pick a player up, they move to the bottom of the list. This was the reason we actually got a shot at McBride, since San Jose had already picked someone.

The higher up you are on this list, the better.

Oh, and allocation spots aren't traded (I think). Basically the team with the spot picks the player, then trades the player to the other team for stuff. Look at McBride again, we picked McBride and traded him to Chicago for Barrett + stuff.

[Oldtimer]

Too bad NYRB faced a reserve squad last week (and therefor won). We would have been looking at a possible playoff spot.

[TFC OZZ]

I'd way rather have the Red Bulls make the Post-Season than DC.

[Super]

I hate the fact that losing to San Jose will come with a reward in the draft. Such a stupid system!

[invictusTFC]

Wow... Have I missed something? Is there a "can't miss" prospect in the first 3 or 4 draft selections? Is there another Mo Edu out there that all teams are tripping all over themselves to get? Guys, this is the MLS superdraft, there is very little difference between pick #2 and pick #10. Chance Myers went 1st overall this season and only featured in 10 games with KC for an overwhelming total of 681 minutes scoring no goals. Julius James on the other hand went 9th overall and logged 899 minutes this season scoring 1 goal as a defender.
My point is that the Superdraft is a crap shoot because there are very few players coming out of College that can make a significant difference. So it doesn't matter if we finish 2nd from the bottom or 5th, its highly unlikely that whoever we draft will have a significant impact on this team.
Therefore in my humble opinion, I want this team to travel to SJ and kick the living shit out of them. I want Kevin Harmse to smoke Huckerby with such a tremendous tackle that Huck's childrens children will feel. Maybe that will teach him for turning his back on TO. End this season on a fucking winning note...

and for the record, I wouldn't mind TO drafting O'Brien White simply because he's somewhat Canadian...

[jloome]

Wow... Have I missed something? Is there a "can't miss" prospect in the first 3 or 4 draft selections? Is there another Mo Edu out there that all teams are tripping all over themselves to get? Guys, this is the MLS superdraft, there is very little difference between pick #2 and pick #10. Chance Myers went 1st overall this season and only featured in 10 games with KC for an overwhelming total of 681 minutes scoring no goals. Julius James on the other hand went 9th overall and logged 899 minutes this season scoring 1 goal as a defender.
My point is that the Superdraft is a crap shoot because there are very few players coming out of College that can make a significant difference. So it doesn't matter if we finish 2nd from the bottom or 5th, its highly unlikely that whoever we draft will have a significant impact on this team.
Therefore in my humble opinion, I want this team to travel to SJ and kick the living shit out of them. I want Kevin Harmse to smoke Huckerby with such a tremendous tackle that Huck's childrens children will feel. Maybe that will teach him for turning his back on TO. End this season on a fucking winning note...

and for the record, I wouldn't mind TO drafting O'Brien White simply because he's somewhat Canadian...


Very valid point. NCAA is, with respect to its fans, horseshit. If the players in it were good enough to play pro, many of them would've been scooped by European teams long ago. James was considered a dominating centre half in NCAA and is absolutely lost at the MLS level; Xavier Balc was considered a "can't miss" prospect by NCAA scouts and didn't even make the league; in fact, a few notable high-profile players aside, the reliance on NCAA, where players are on teams as much or more for their athleticism than their history of playing football and, therefore, developing football intelligence, is probably bad for MLS in the long run.

[MisterMacphisto]

Losing our final game to SJ expansion team

Or

An advantage to the MLS draft pick system.

---

I hope we fucking destroy SJ on Saturday.

[Keystone FC]

I have to go with rocker on this one. We already have SJ No.2 draft spot reguardless. I see it as a progress point for the club. TFC is 10 points better this year then last
http://web.mlsnet.com/stats/index.jsp?club=mls&year=2007

http://web.mlsnet.com/stats/index.jsp?club=mls&year=2008

and we have an opprotunity to get 3 more and jump over a few clubs to end the season at almost mid table.

I would rather see progress than picks (draft).

[rocker]

did anyone see Ives writeup on the red bullshit?

http://www.soccerbyives.net/soccer_by_ives/2008/10/the-blame-for-t.html#more

I loved this part:

[Osario] saw his three South American signings stink up the place and show little of the quality that made them look like such promising acquisitions just two months ago. Early on you could see Rojas' skill, Petriavallo's toughness and quality, and Cichero's ability and confidence. Slowly but sure all three players morphed into unreliable players whose flaws have laid ruin to Osorio's best-laid plans for this season.

i think this is a good reminder that South America is not the gold mine everyone thinks it is. Osario took a long time to scout and identify these players for NYRB. He brought these guys in and they sorta impressed at first, then it went all downhill.

[Beach_Red]

the reliance on NCAA, where players are on teams as much or more for their athleticism than their history of playing football and, therefore, developing football intelligence, is probably bad for MLS in the long run.

It's tough for MLS - they're trying to copy the success of the NFL and the NBA, both of which followed the success of their respectove sports at the NCAA level.

Hockey, with its reliance on Canadian junior players and Europeans, hasn't exactly gained a foothold throughout America.

Americans seem to love the idea of the player-athlete and only see the idea of turning pro before college for the rare exceptions. I'm not even sure that attitude is wrong - 18 year olds (or younger) going to Europe to be pro soccer players will probably have a very high fail rate and the NCAA will at least offer decent scholarships. Soccer players probably even have to go to class and many likely even graduate with real degrees.

It's very possible that as goes NCAA soccer, so goes the MLS - and there's no real reason why someday the NCAA couldn't turn out some of the best players in the world, they do in almost every other sport from basketball to track to volleyball to golf.

But how long will it take?