Thursday, April 5, 2007

Still quiet

I think a couple of years ago, I would have replied to some of the more colorful e-mails that made it into my inbox. I might have replied with my own colorful words. But I'm past that.

Still, part of me is upset that I took so much crap for merely pointing out the obvious and I was right all along.

Okay, I'll go back now to writing my Chivas USA season preview stories. And I need to listen to some soothing music as well. Ah yes, "Landslide" by Smashing Pumpkins came on.

Can I sail through the changing ocean tides?
Can I handle the seasons of my life?

But I've been afraid of changing cause I've built my life around you
Time makes you bolder, even children get older, I'm getting older too

Oh no, Prodigy's "Smack my Bitch Up" just came on... better change the channel.

21 comments:

A.C. said...

I don't know Luis, if Pachuca and Chivas are so clearly better, why does it translate to an overtime, one goal win on at least one questionable goal from a ref call in one match and a goalkeeping mistake in another? Especially since the MLS teams are in their preseason and heck, Pachuca plays at altitude. I'm the first to say that some insecure and defensive MLS fans can go crazy overblown whenever the league is criticized, but I don't necessarily see that these last two matches show that Mexican teams are far and away ahead of MLS.

Unknown said...

Ummm...what Andrea said ^^^^

Unknown said...

Actually, even though the teams showed to be very evenly matched this year, we will have to dispense with the moral victories in the future. Even if you played well, even if you had altitude or preseason or whatever else going against you, you still lost. If we start talking about moral victories, pretty soon we'll sound like the Mexican NT.

A.C. said...

Ah, but 2-0 is a two-goal loss, and therefore more comprehensive than the matches just played. Plus, the fact that Mexico can't even get on the board against the U.S. is notable. Besides, I'm not in any way arguing that the MLS teams were better and that the other teams got lucky. I'm saying I don't see colossal superiority by the Mexican league teams right now. And I don't.

Anonymous said...

They are not far and away better then MLS teams. But they are better, they know what they need to do to win and do just enough to get the win. Thats all that matters. I remember DC's Jaime Moreno talking about the Sudamericana before the 2nd leg in Chile and how South American teams would do anything and everything to get the win. MLS teams don't have that yet, Houston like DC knew what it had to do to win but neither MLS team could do what it wanted to when it mattered most...sad.

Anonymous said...

I think any global comparisons between MLS and MFL would not be fair based on this one match. Houston is not the best MLS team at this point and they are in their preseason form. From what I understand, Pachuca is the leader of the MFL.

Also, as great as Pachuca looked tonight in their offence, they were very undisciplined in the back. Houston could have actually gotten this thing to penalties, either on a DeRosario or a Ching header.

One thing for sure: I am looking forward to the Superliga, assuming the Mexican teams will take it seriously. Ultimately, it would be nice if the ultimate prize of an MLS season would be a spot or two at Copa Libertadores. But for now, I'll take a Superliga and will hope for additional chances in a year or two.

Mark said...

To me the biggest difference between the teams is depth of talent. The Mexican teams seem to have more players capable of playing a higher, more consistent level of play. Both DC and the Dynamo represented well, but they could not overcome the depth. Houston had too many bad giveaways tonight. I counted at least 4 in the first OT and the last one by Robinson led to the winning tally. It was an entertaining match and the MLS sides are making progress, but are still 2-3 players short per team.

Unknown said...

I'm a little unclear on what exactly you're saying, Luis. You predicted both Mexican teams to win, and you use the MLS's 1-9 record in Mexico as an argument. But, I didn't read anything where you wrote that Mexican teams were vastly superior to MLS ones. If you did write it, I hope you have an open enough mind to change your opinion, because the 4 games I saw were all hard fought and evenly matched.

Even a neutral observer should note a significant improvement MLS has made in this year's competition. I mean, did anyone really expect us to go from losing 5-0 to winning the whole thing in a year or two?

L.B. said...

I'm not about to try and break down these two games. Close, closer, closest... what you see others don't.

All I know is this:
Mexican clubs 8, MLS clubs 1

I'm not skewing anything. That speaks for itself and that was my whole point to begin with. I agree with degerron. Those teams know how to win and know what it takes to win.

Unknown said...

When Houston played their game the way the normally play it, they did an excellent job with disrupting large parts of Pachuca's attack and got some nice flow on offense.

Houston got brutally picked apart when they tried to just hold on. Witness the first fifteen and last fifteen minutes of regulation. (told you it would come down to that).

From my limited perspective, I would think that the stumbling block to consistently strong showings against Mexican sides is getting past the initial hesitation, that fear of failure.

From my view we're a lot close to getting over the hump than I would have thought previously, at least with the upper levels of MLS.

As a Houston supporter, this is a loss. There's no moral victory or anything that futile and it really hurts. However, I'm extremely proud of their grit, courage and heart.

I eagerly await the Superliga and the start of the regular season.

L.B. said...

Alex, I wasn't saying that Mexican teams are vastly superior to MLS teams and that's what bothered me so much because people were like "Can't you write something positive about American soccer" or "MLS clubs are good and you need to respect them."

I cover Chivas USA and the Galaxy closely. I see the work they put in and the results that come from it. I see their quality. It's there, but collectively it's not quite at the level necessary to gain results against top teams from strong leagues. It's getting closer and someday soon it will happen. There was huge progress made from 2005 to 2007. One-goal extra-time losses are better than five-goal routs...

BUT THEY ARE LOSSES.

Maybe I'm too cut-and-dry but results matter most to me because you can't get around results.

Unknown said...

And I cannot wait until the tables are turned L.B.

For a few agonizingly short moments, you saw the fear in the eyes of the Tuzos supporters. A spark of recognition that they could lose to the Gringos.


Then the Dynamo faltered and lost the game, and you can make your point of 8-1. Wins are the only relevant barometer. So disappointing.

To think the Mexican national team must have to live with this feeling constantly. No wonder they're so bitter towards the US. This is not fun.

Anonymous said...

Luis, since you cover Galaxy and Chivas, may be you can answer this: Do the teams in the MLS practice NOT PASSING THE BALL THROUGH THE MIDDLE in front of their own goal??

I've seen it in the World Cup (Carlos Bocanegra of all people), I've seen in the game tonight. Hell, I've seen American players do it in pick up games in the park.

In a similar situation, most players would dribble the ball towards the sideline or even hit it out of bounds. I would think this is something you learn as a kid.

Because I've seen it so often, I wonder if it is a widespread problem.

A.C. said...

To me, the overall MFL/MLS record is a somewhat limiting statistic. That's like looking at the overall Mexico/US matchup and deciding based on Mexico having won far more many games in the history, that they are the far more superior team.
Regardless of still being behind in the overall head-to-head, at some point, the U.S. team began to gain traction versus El Tri, and the gap closed. I think that transition may be happening now for the leagues themselves.
Which is not to say that the progress will continue. The salary cap and expansion hurt MLS team depth, and the MFL teams could have an influx of talent that makes them jump ahead again. But to ignore that the details in the circumstances of the past couple of matches clearly point to MLS progress is turning a blind eye to a cresting wave.

L.B. said...

Yes, a lot of people forget that MLS clubs have a salary cap and are under restrictions based on their budgets and Mexican clubs are not. So from the start the two leagues are not on an even footing.

A.C. said...

I accept that the money limits, etc. are a part of the league, and I'm not trying to waste time on hypotheticals like "MLS teams would be so good if they didn't have salary caps," because 1) we don't know that and 2) it's not going to happen.

My point is that even under those limitations, MLS looks to be progressing. Of course, all that could stall and I'm also not arguing that progress is a "moral victory" of any kind. It's a simple observation on my part.

Anonymous said...

by the way, landslide is a fleetwood mac song. :)

L.B. said...

After having slept on it for a night, I think that MLS clubs need these kinds of games to get tough and achieve a winning mentality. It wouldn't surprise me to see Houston and D.C. do well in SuperLiga, better than the Galaxy and FC Dallas, simply because these two losses will still be fresh in their minds.

MLS clubs are getting better and better with each passing season and that is evident on the field. People need to realize, though, that this is a never-ending process and the league is still in its infancy. What I concern myself with most of the time is the league and its clubs, not how its perceived overseas or across the border. Like Bob Bradley used to say, we should all feel good about the work that everyone is putting in. I think the league is progressing and developing and I'm okay with that.

I'm looking forward to Beckham and Blanco and the Super Clasico and DC-New York, Houston-Dallas, Colorado-RSL and seeing Freddy in RSL, Alecko up north, Reyna in New York, Jaqua in LA, Herc in Colorado...

Unknown said...

Superliga will most definitely be interesting. I wonder how pre-season form will affect Mexican teams? For all the talk about MLS teams winning in Mexico, it's also true that Mexican teams did not win in the US this year either. Being in pre-season form, playing in-form MLS clubs in the heat of the summer will be a tough mountain to climb.

However, as a fan, MLS-MFL matchups are extemely fascinating. I've seen a bunch of MLS games and I know what to expect. The different styles of MFL teams has really brought a fresh breath into the game. Houston-Pachuca last night was one of the most entertaining games I've seen in a while.

Marmaduke said...

Houston had the talent to win this game. Pachuca had more depth, but so does most of the MLS and Houston won the title last year. Houston came out scared. For the first fifteen minutes, they looked terrified on both side of the ball.

I was hugely impresed by Barret, though. He knew he belonged on the field and played like it. If the rest of the team had that attitude, the result would have been different.

Anonymous said...

I don't think it's necessarily a question of "which team is better". One point I haven't seen mentioned in this discussion is the difference in the style of play between these teams. Very crudely, one may say MLS is to MFL what EPL is to La Liga. MLS/EPL are built more on running a lot, long balls, crosses and such, while MFL/La Liga are based more on "technical soccer" -- more possession, fewer giveaways, etc. This is also similar, to some extent, to the difference between the USMNT and El Tri. Consequently, neither Houston -- an archetypal MLS team -- nor Pachuca really knew how to play their opponent.

For fans of good technical soccer, it seems obvious that Pachuca outplayed Houston right through (even in College Station, esp. the first half). Credit Kinnear, who, on both occasions, figured out how best to regroup at half time.

The closest MLS has to Latin American style soccer is DCU, with their numerous imports from there. Which also partly explains why they didn't look out of place playing Chivas, even in Guadalajara.