Daily news roundups

News roundup: Stopping Vela, offseasons, owner-players, more

Photo: John Osborn

Philadelphia Union

“You don’t stop Carlos Vela.”

Could Sunday’s match in LA be played behind closed doors?

MLS

The league is looking at ways to shorten the lengthy offseason.

From Jason Davis: Soul and superstar in MLS.

George’s nephew and Timothy’s cousin, Patrick Weah, is training with Minnesota United.

USL

2020 USL Championship predictions from people who know this stuff better than I.

Tim Howard’s retirement didn’t last long. He’ll be playing for Memphis this year—where he is also a co-owner.

U.S. Soccer

Speaking of… Howard talks Reyna, Pulisic, and MLS.

9 Comments

  1. Andy Muenz says:

    So let me get this straight, MLS moved the championship about 3 weeks earlier and now they are wondering how to shorten the off season?

    • My thoughts exactly.
      .
      I’m just worried that because the US didn’t have a winter this year, Garber is going to think that the early start is a good thing.
      .
      All the fields are (usually) still dormant at this part of the year, and play like crap as a result. Look at Toronto’s field last year, or even our field. It doesn’t start to fill in until mid-March.
      .
      I’m good with the new shorter playoff format, but maybe we need to extend the season out to 38 games to push it into December. This would keep the non-playoff teams from an overly extended break as well.

      • Other than greed, I don’t understand the push for a longer season even a little bit. The shoulders of the MLS season are brutal. We sat in the cold and the rain for the playoff game, it was great to get a win, but it was kinda awful. I have no desire to stand outside in crap weather in March and November.

      • SilverRey says:

        I think a lot of fans agree with you, which is why March attendance numbers are always bad, and February numbers would be worse. Certainly any fans with kids don’t show up nearly as much to these games.
        .
        November-December you can kinda ride off of the playoff energy to make it through. NFL games are no different as far as weather goes.
        .
        Soccer in cold weather does suffer though, and the game is usually not as pretty.

  2. Wish a good DP of Philadelphia had been mentioned in Jason Davis’ article. Reading that article made me realize what we are missing, which is not right for a team in our city that is as big as it is.

    • You must be new here. This team is technically the “Philadelphia” Union but that’s about where the relationship ends. We operate like and have the coverage of a city of 35,000 (i.e. Chester, PA). Once you accept this, as I have, you can be a happier fan. I am a supporter of a Chester sporting club and the owner/budget/coverage is right on par with that.

      • New; r u kidding me?! Been here since the start

      • The Truth says:

        Yeah I’m just messing around. My office is closed up for coronavirus so I have to mope around this joint pokin’ and proddin’ folk.

      • Well this exchange made me laugh out loud! Sorry the office is closed up. My wife works at an urgent care in NJ. She says nobody is asking to be tested yet. But she’s big on hand sanitizer and washing them as often as you can!

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