World's Top leagues: Where should MLS stand?

[asterix606]

Based on this article: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1...ga-and-serie-a

Questions:

1. Is this an accurate position for MLS in 2012 (number 20)?

2. If you were to add to this ranking 2nd Division leagues in England, Italy, Spain, Germany and France. Would they beat out MLS in quality of football?


World's Top Leagues

1. EPL
2. La Liga
3. Seia A
4. Bundesliga
5. Liga Portugal
6. Brazil (Campeonato)
7. France (Ligue 1)
8. Argentina (Primera Liga)
9. Holland
10. Russia
11. Chile
12. Belgium
13. Mexico (FMF)
14. South Korea (K-League)
15. Switzerland
16. Greece
17. Scotland
18. Poland
19. Denmark
20. MLS
21. Sweden
22. Norway
23. Ireland

[Frings22]

Those rankings are sooo messed up.... It should be more like
1. EPL
2. Bundesliga (Huge competition for places, not like la liga)
3. Serie A
4. La Liga
5. France (Ligue 1)
6. Russia
7. Holland
8. Portuguese league
9. Switzerland
10. Ekstraklasa
11-15 Random debatable leagues
16. Mls

[Lennon]

Lmao.
Seems like everyone's forgotten about Ukraine ..

[Red CB Toronto]

I have also wondered where a top second division ie The Championship would rank within the World's landscape?

[ryan]

I have also wondered where a top second division ie The Championship would rank within the World's landscape?

Above MLS, that's for sure.

[Benficachop20]

Those rankings are sooo messed up.... It should be more like
1. EPL
2. Bundesliga (Huge competition for places, not like la liga)
3. Serie A
4. La Liga
5. France (Ligue 1)
6. Russia
7. Holland
8. Portuguese league
9. Switzerland
10. Ekstraklasa
11-15 Random debatable leagues
16. Mls

i'm always confused y people say those leagues are better than Portugal. Portuguese clubs always go way further into tournaments, plus portugal is currently 5th in europe based on coefficients and very likely gonna pass Italy for fourth. The first list i think is a little bit more accurate, would probably have Brazil and Argentina a little higher.

[flatpicker]

But Drogba and Anelka both play in the Chinese Super League.
Surely that must mean it's the best, right?
I mean, it is "super" after all.

[brad]

Do any of those leagues above field incompetent players on almost every team and have virtually no depth in any position?

[tovan]

Lmao.
Seems like everyone's forgotten about Ukraine ..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzLtF_PxbYw

[69Chevy396]

Where does MLS stand? Are including TFC in this measurement?

[UltraSuperMegaMo]

The Irish League is the 23rd best league in the world? The article can have no credibility after a statement like that. Some of the team aren't even fulltime professional. The Turkish league, the Romanian League, the Ukrainian League -- they're all miles better than the Irish League and that's the first three that came to mind.

[nonc]

worthwhile discussion but why glorify 'the bleacher report' which is essentially amateur articles created by morons?

[Initial B]

I can't believe they left the J-League (Japan) of the list. The author doesn't know what he's talking about. It's just a slide show anyways, not a real list, imo.

[Fort York Redcoat]

Wow. So we're still going to compare our league to other leagues that are built and operated entirely different from our own?






...Carry on...

[__wowza]

I can't believe they left the J-League (Japan) of the list. The author doesn't know what he's talking about. It's just a slide show anyways, not a real list, imo.

what he said, look at your source: it's the fucking bleacher report.
they did an article called "10 bold predictions for the TFC vs Galaxy CCL match" which included:

1. goals
2. david beckham is back for another season
3. robbie keane will do his trademark summersault
4. home field advantage will matter

come on now..

[TOBOR !]

Wow. So we're still going to compare our league to other leagues that are built and operated entirely different from our own?






...Carry on...

It's a good way to distract one another from the usual TFC shit - think of it as therapy.

[Oldtimer]

I'm not sure what the point of this thread is, but knowing Ligue 2 in France, I'd say that it and MLS are roughly comparable. Both are equally physical, Ligue 2 is more technical, MLS is more athletic.

TFC is of course worse than any other team in MLS or in Ligue 2.

[T-boy]

The "average" MLS player isn't very good at all. But you also have a few excellent players, and then some awful players in depth on every team. On a good day, when all first teamers are playing, you can see a very good MLS game. On a bad day, you get nothing better than a Sunday pub team game. It's extremely hard to judge the overall quality of the league though. You have players like Luke Rodgers come from a English League 2 team and look like a superstar in the MLS! That wouldn't always be the case though, its very hard to judge the MLS in comparison to other leagues.

[Oldtimer]

The "average" MLS player isn't very good at all. But you also have a few excellent players, and then some awful players in depth on every team. On a good day, when all first teamers are playing, you can see a very good MLS game. On a bad day, you get nothing better than a Sunday pub team game. It's extremely hard to judge the overall quality of the league though. You have players like Luke Rodgers come from a English League 2 team and look like a superstar in the MLS! That wouldn't always be the case though, its very hard to judge the MLS in comparison to other leagues.

That's a bit of hyperbole, but I ask do you watch most of the rest of the league? Because while games involving TFC tend to be very bad (opposition tends to play down to TFC's level), most of the league's games are actually quite decent.

[Fort York Redcoat]

Where would we be in this list without Designated Players in our League?

Would this league be around still if we had no salary cap?

Would people have supported InterToronto for as long as they have TorontoFC?

[London]

That's a bit of hyperbole, but I ask do you watch most of the rest of the league? Because while games involving TFC tend to be very bad (opposition tends to play down to TFC's level), most of the league's games are actually quite decent.

this is the truth, most games in mls not involving TFC tend to be much more entertaining to watch and more skilled play

[T-boy]

this is the truth, most games in mls not involving TFC tend to be much more entertaining to watch and more skilled play

]

I watched a game the other day (can't remember the teams, but the game where 3 guys were sent off) - I didn't think the quality was any better in that game than any TFC game really. As I said - you CAN see some good MLS games, but you can also see some really poor ones (and I'm not talking ONLY TFC games). TFC games have NEVER been fun to watch. I think I can count the "good" games on one hand involving TFC. A lot of people are saying Winter played better looking footba,, but I never saw it then either. No TFC team has ever been particularly fun to watch. For sure, you can pick out a couple of exeptional games, but on average, TFC games are poor quality, midfield melee games.

[__wowza]

imagine if you will a team so spectacularly bad that a price freeze, on their already overpriced tickets, would be considered a kindness from their ownership group..

[Richard]

I'm not sure what the point of this thread is, but knowing Ligue 2 in France, I'd say that it and MLS are roughly comparable. Both are equally physical, Ligue 2 is more technical, MLS is more athletic.

TFC is of course worse than any other team in MLS or in Ligue 2.

I think other than those two areas which you mention football IQ is the largest diff. Most lower leagues in Europe have players who are far more aware of the playing field, its why i think MLS still has a long way to go.

[Oldtimer]

]

I watched a game the other day (can't remember the teams, but the game where 3 guys were sent off) - I didn't think the quality was any better in that game than any TFC game really. As I said - you CAN see some good MLS games, but you can also see some really poor ones (and I'm not talking ONLY TFC games). TFC games have NEVER been fun to watch. I think I can count the "good" games on one hand involving TFC. A lot of people are saying Winter played better looking footba,, but I never saw it then either. No TFC team has ever been particularly fun to watch. For sure, you can pick out a couple of exeptional games, but on average, TFC games are poor quality, midfield melee games.

That game was truly an exception. I've watched some quite watchable football in MLS, and I've been watching since 2005.
With a few exceptional games (one of them was Preki's game against that Mexican side, another was the Fire game in 2007, the "Miracle in Montreal" also stands out), TFC has been just plain poor.

[Oldtimer]

I think other than those two areas which you mention football IQ is the largest diff. Most lower leagues in Europe have players who are far more aware of the playing field, its why i think MLS still has a long way to go.

The IQ in Ligue 2 is higher, but not as much higher than your non-TFC side as you'd think. For example RSL has played some beautiful and technically gifted football. That CCL game where they won in Mexico against Monterrey just took my breath away at times, one of the best matches I've ever seen this side of the Atlantic. When I lived in Nice, I watched quite a few OGC Nice's games when they were playing in Ligue 2, both live and on TV. They were more rough than technical, they few quality players at that time on that team.

Now for a top Ligue 1 side like Marseille, the technical difference between them and MLS is enormous.

[james]

Its hard to rank how good some leagues are. Most leagues in Europe have a few big strong clubs while rest of the league is far behind them in quality, skill, stadiums, and money. There is a select few leagues that can have more then just 2 or 3 clubs that can still compete at a high level.

Overall tho i think MLS is still far behind all these leagues. MLS does average better attendence then most of these leagues suprisingly. However we have rules and salary caps. We have a few really good players in the league followed by some really bad ones spread across the league. The one point to look at to compare is just look at Concacaf Champions League....some of these central American clubs are a big strugle for MLS clubs to beat. Yes we win some, but we also loose to some teams who play in a high school size park. And we are miles behind the top Mexican league, they dominate MLS clubs, we should not be lossing 6-2, 5-2 exc on a reguler basis to these clubs when we play them in Mexico. But MLS is deffinitly on the rise. One thing that may actually be difficult tho is that we have 20 teams in MLS, all rather close in skill, money exc. So its harder to produce 20 strong teams then it is to produce 2 to 4 very strong clubs at the top of the league year after year while having the rest of the league far behind like most leagues are. If we got a few big clubs and dumped most of MLS's good players on these few teams we would have a couple of strong clubs that would compete in some Europe leagues, which is what most leagues more or less have now. The rest of the league tho would be further behind, and really have no chance of winning the league, and it can get very borring when same teams win year after year. And that is also why many leagues attendnece is actually rather low, only a few big clubs represent about 75% of the entire leagues fan base.

[james]

Germany and England both have a very strong 2nd and even 3rd division. MLS Clubs i think if were put in these leagues 2nd division they would get relegated...3rd division they may do just ok, but would not be a push over for MLS clubs thats for sure. Other leagues like Italy, France, Spain, Holland there 2nd divisions i do not think are as strong, MLS Clubs may survive in the 2nd divison. Leagues like Scotland, Belgium, Sweden, Poland, Switzerland, Portugal, Russia and so on i would hope MLS Clubs would beable to win in a 2nd division of these Leagues with no problem, there for beable to be in a Division 1 league.

[Richard]

Its hard to rank how good some leagues are. Most leagues in Europe have a few big strong clubs while rest of the league is far behind them in quality, skill, stadiums, and money. There is a select few leagues that can have more then just 2 or 3 clubs that can still compete at a high level.

Overall tho i think MLS is still far behind all these leagues. MLS does average better attendence then most of these leagues suprisingly. However we have rules and salary caps. We have a few really good players in the league followed by some really bad ones that would never play in some of these leagues. The one point to look at to compare is just look at Concacaf Champions League....some of these central American clubs are a big strugle for MLS clubs to beat. Yes we win some, but we also loose to some teams who play in a high school size park. And we are miles behind the top Mexican league, they dominate MLS clubs that for sure, we should not be lossing 6-2, 5-2 exc on a reguler basis to these clubs when we play them in Mexico. But MLS is deffinitly on the rise. One thing that may actually be difficult tho is that we have what 19-20 teams in MLS, all rather close in skill, money exc. So its harder to produce 20 strong teams then it is to produce 2 to 4 very strong clubs at the top of the league while having the rest of the league far behind like most leagues are.

I was somewhat surprised to see the attendance figures myself and where they stack up in the world. The main difference though is sponsorship and T.V money which if the league finaly taps into will allow this league to really grow.

The IQ in Ligue 2 is higher, but not as much higher than your non-TFC side as you'd think. For example RSL has played some beautiful and technically giften football. That CCL game where they won in Mexico against Monterrey just took my breath away at times, one of the best matches I've ever seen this side of the Atlantic. When I lived in Nice, I watched quite a few OGC Nice's games when they were playing in Ligue 2, both live and on TV. They were more rough than technical, they few quality players at that time on that team.

Now for a top Ligue 1 side like Marseille, the technical difference between them and MLS is enormous.

I agree. I always try to catch a RSL when i can, they seem to have the perfect combination and chemistry.

[Fort York Redcoat]

I agree. I always try to catch a RSL when i can, they seem to have the perfect combination and chemistry.

When they won they did.

They've lost 10 games so far this year.