MLS SEASON 2017

Eh? Thought the game was supposed to start at 9pm.

Why are they still warming up, kicking the ball around in front of what looks like 250 fans?
At least that#s what my Romanian Eurosport stream is showing

There we go.

Schweini playing as the left sided CAM in what appears to be a 4-3-3

Jesus

what is this

and what Schweini doing here?

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL

GOL GOL GOLGOLGOGLGOAFLK ALFKAFd

SCHWEEEEEEEEEEEINIIIIIIIII+

scores a header from a corner

1:0

Chicago Fire fans chanting "Fußballgott" LMAO

In the meantime, Montreal have equalized.

Then, Fire's own poverty edition of Juninho got himself sent off with 2 yellows.

Schweini with a wonderful deffense splitting pass, striker gets pulled, last man foul, red card,

10 against 10 now, Schweini with a close volley miss.

Oh dear.

Fire keeper with howler. 1:2.

What a league

I believe Schweini with an assist now. Hard to tell with those terrible camera angles and abysmal directing.

Fire player #9 with a nice goal. 2:2.

Fire denied a clear penalty in added time.

FT 2:2

Decent 3 points at home for the Fire this weekend against Columbus.

Still early days. Need to keep working hard.

The Fire stroll to their second win in a row, admittedly helped by the fact the opponent, the New England Revolution, had to play with 10 men, with the one guy collecting what looked in the highlights like a very soft 2nd yellow, after 27 minutes  

Bastian 'Das Player' Schweinsteiger scored the first goal, the all important can opener. Nicolic followed with a brace.

Chicago Fire now 3rd in the Eastern Hemisphere, though the no. of games played are a bit all over the place already this early in the season.

Highlights:

Good on ya, Hans.

As for Chicago, just waiting for the other shoe to drop, although I will say that it's been years since this team has started off a season this well. I'll temper my optimism for the summer/early fall, which is traditionally a pretty grueling time for these guys.

The early signs are really positive though. We won't beat the better teams in the league, but it certainly looks like we can surprise the teams we're level with on paper and actually beat the weaker teams instead of dropping points to them left and right.

McLewis wrote:Good on ya, Hans.

As for Chicago, just waiting for the other shoe to drop, although I will say that it's been years since this team has started off a season this well. I'll temper my optimism for the summer/early fall, which is traditionally a pretty grueling time for these guys.

The early signs are really positive though. We won't beat the better teams in the league, but it certainly looks like we can surprise the teams we're level with on paper and actually beat the weaker teams instead of dropping points to them left and right.

Honest question since I have absolutely no clue about MLS, (though I intend to change that now ):

Which are "the better teams in the league", actually?

So, after we last talked, the Fire had to suffer two consecutive, unfortunate defeats, away at the New Jersey Jägermeister & Red Bull Arena and away at T'ranow.

Against the star-studded Trano FC, the adventurous yet slightly naive Fire got beaten by sheer money and experience. The first goal was scored after half an hour by Giovinco, who is on par with Messi in some cockeyed and slightly miniature alternate universe where Italy, bemusingly, is shaped like an upside down mushroom; and Torano doubled the lead shortly after with a headed goal.
Joey Altidore, a word mixture between the latin word for height and some kind of, I don't know, sea bird?, had a laughable miss before Giovinco made it 3:0 with an admittedly gorgeous free kick.
Fire got one back shortly before the end.



In New Jersey, the Fire were the better team, however botching a number of great opportunities, before the Guidos scored ruthlessly and undeservedly.
The Fire got the well deserved equalizer, made possible by some excellent work by McCarthy, before NJ RB got lucky again, scoring the winning 2:1 with their second shot on goal, that's to say the second one visible in the HT highlight video.



Just when the Fire season, after its bright start, seemed to have taken a turn for the worse, the team caught themselves and followed up with a strong 2:2 away at the LA Galaxy, followed by a sweeping 4:1 victory against the current champions, the Seattle Supersounders.

They were even up 2:0 in LA before conceding 2 goals from corners in quick succession.. definitively something to work on.

The 4:1 was a masterclass in football, Schweinsteiger with a key pass too.

One thing that seems to be a thing in MLS is the ref making people repeat penalties LMAO.
In both these games, as you can see in the following vids, a penalty had to be retaken for the flimsiest of reasons.





Can't wait for the next game. What a season, what a league.

To answer your question, the teams with pedigree are traditionally - LA, Seattle, Portland, Houston and Dallas in the West.

Red Bulls, Toronto, Columbus, New England, Kansas City and Montreal in the East.

Though what's fun about this league is that literally any team can beat any other team on a given day. The Gulf I class is not as noticeable than with other leagues.

Forgot DC in the East.