2021 Olympic Games Tokyo

[Hurlshort]

14 minutes ago, Malcador said:

Field hockey is pretty cool.

I won't argue.

[Pidesco]

1 hour ago, Malcador said:

I dunno about that.  In CONCACAF, perhaps.

It's plainly not true. MLS is still a weak league compared to, say, the top 10 leagues in Europe,at least. It is still very much a retirement league for top players. 

[Gromnir]

am suspecting no american gold meant as much to americans collectively as did the bronze in field hockey meant to the +1.3 billion folks in india. at the igi airport today these guys were greeted by multitudes and given a heroes welcome along with india's few other medalists including the gold medal winner in men's javelin. 

congrats to india.

HA! Good Fun!

 

[Zoraptor]

39 minutes ago, Pidesco said:

It's plainly not true. MLS is still a weak league compared to, say, the top 10 leagues in Europe,at least. It is still very much a retirement league for top players. 

Ten is far too many. The 5 (?) top tier leagues in Europe- Germany, Italy, France, England, Spain- are clearly miles better, but the secondary level not so much since they tend to have super clubs that massively skew perspective.

The MLS sides might struggle to beat Celtic/ Rangers for example, or Ajax/ PSV, or Benfica/ Porto- but then so do the other teams already in those domestic leagues.

(to be honest, the whole european model is kind of broken in that respect and the US one typically results in a far 'flatter' comp, and I say that as someone who dislikes franchise type set ups on principle. The average MLS team would probably perform fine against the average tier 2 Euro domestic team though, the only one I'm sure is better is the Dutch one though that's based on a couple of years ago when we had both MLS and a bunch of little e european leagues on free to air)

Edited August 9, 2021 by Zoraptor

[Malcador]

1 hour ago, Pidesco said:

It's plainly not true. MLS is still a weak league compared to, say, the top 10 leagues in Europe,at least. It is still very much a retirement league for top players. 

Wouldn't say it is that bad still and while they wouldn't be a 'winning club' in the bigger leagues in Europe, maybe top 7.  Going by the latest UEFA coefficients anyway, hah.

[rjshae]

8 minutes ago, Malcador said:

Wouldn't say it is that bad still and while they wouldn't be a 'winning club' in the bigger leagues in Europe, maybe top 7.  Going by the latest UEFA coefficients anyway, hah.

In terms of competitiveness, I typically see the MLS ranked around 20st/21nd. For average attendance, they have reached 8th in the world. At least as of 2019. Positionally, I think they are still in the first generation of academy players. Some good players have emerged, but no superstars yet.

[Sarex]

Water polo representation saying goodbye to some of it's players who are retiring.