2023-24 Season - Discussion Thread

[YayNJ]

lol

[YayNJ]

the attendance between USA and Jamacia in their semi-final

[mfw13]

Couple of reasons for the lousy attendance:

1) Tickets prices were ridiculously high...$90-250 for decent seats....much higher for prime seats

2) Scheduled on the same night as the first night of March Madness

3) Stadium is difficult to get to on weeknights due to rush hour traffic

4) Opponent was uninteresting

[YayNJ]

They are claiming officially that there's over 40,000 people there. No way that's real

The Nations League games in Vegas a while back had comedy fake attendances attached to them too.



Perhaps they should look into giving away free tickets to local schools and charities to boost attendances for situations like this. Much better to have a full stadium and half of them not paid, than a 1/4 full stadium full of people that paid. It's got to suck representing your country in front of an empty stadium.

[DCUnited96]

Same attendance number was given for the second game of the doubleheader. I'm sure 40k was much lower than they wanted for a Mexico match in a border state as well.

Something changed in the US Soccer/Concacaf between the 2014 and 2018 World Cup cycles. Here in Colorado, the Snow Classico qualifier for 2014 felt much more like organic fun. The 2018 qualifier (T&T) felt like a big-time plastic cash grab, and I think that is the ticketing model that continues to get used in the region.

[Gin&Juice]

Originally Posted by DCUnited96

Same attendance number was given for the second game of the doubleheader. I'm sure 40k was much lower than they wanted for a Mexico match in a border state as well.

Something changed in the US Soccer/Concacaf between the 2014 and 2018 World Cup cycles. Here in Colorado, the Snow Classico qualifier for 2014 felt much more like organic fun. The 2018 qualifier (T&T) felt like a big-time plastic cash grab, and I think that is the ticketing model that continues to get used in the region.

Yep! Same thing is happening in MLS. Everybody trying to cash in is killing interest.

[703dispensary]

If that game is played on either of the coasts it would be a most definite sell-out with fully-populated stadium.

[YayNJ]

Miami were absolutely thrashed last night, they looked a real mess. Suarez visibly gave up towards the end and started to hobble around like a school kid does when they have had enough sports at school

Endrick grabbed his first goal for Brazil, and became the youngest player to score at Wembley.

[mfw13]

The US defeats Mexico again, 2-0, to win the CONCACAF Nations League for the third consecutive time.

The US now has 5 wins and a draw (in the Azteca) in their last six official matches against Mexico, outscoring them 11-2, and holding them scoreless for the last 521 minutes.

[YayNJ]

Strip them of everything they won under the Butchers Banker.

The former chief executive of Chelsea, once described as “the most powerful woman in football”, is facing questions about what she knew of secret payments made under the club’s former owner Roman Abramovich, amid a continuing investigation into alleged breaches of football spending rules.

Details of millions of pounds in fees, funded by offshore vehicles belonging to the Russian oligarch, emerged last year as a result of the Cyprus Confidential leaks project, published by the Guardian and international partners.

The information, which was published as part of the Cyprus Confidential series, was shared with the Guardian by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and Germany’s Paper Trail Media.

Beneficiaries of secret payments included the agent of Hazard, the files suggest, while other transactions appear to have been connected to the purchase of the Brazil forward Willian and the Cameroon striker Samuel Eto’o.

She also appears to have benefited personally from some of the payments, raising questions over whether she received extra money from Abramovich for her work at the club, on top of her Chelsea salary. The files suggest offshore companies in the Abramovich network made loans to Granovskaia worth £7.5m to finance the purchase of a house in Fulham, near the club’s Stamford Bridge stadium, and a payment of £1.63m for “financial, tax and legal due diligence”.

[chiefs]

Ukraine sloppy first half but played better in the second half. Misha with the game winner. Into the Euros we will see...

Sent from my Pixel 6a using Tapatalk

[CiaranGQ]

Glad to see Georgia qualify for the Euros. Probably the nation state that has most under-achieved post the break-up of the USSR.

Iconic Dinamo Tbilisi side of the late 1970s and early 1980s and winners of the European Cup Winners’s Cup in 1981.

[tupacgr13]

Originally Posted by CiaranGQ

Glad to see Georgia qualify for the Euros. Probably the nation state that has most under-achieved post the break-up of the USSR.

Iconic Dinamo Tbilisi side of the late 1970s and early 1980s and winners of the European Cup Winners’s Cup in 1981.

Despite Greece loss I felt happy for them also. Such a nice country and lovely people. We got a lot of youngsters so I think our time to qualify to a major event will come soon.

[YayNJ]

Little Magician.

I wonder how many of the new plastic City fans even know who he is

[CiaranGQ]

Originally Posted by YayNJ

Little Magician.

I wonder how many of the new plastic City fans even know who he is

Only eclipsed by the brilliance of the iconic Steve Lomas in that side …

[YayNJ]

Stevie Lomas, a geratric Peter Beardsley, Richard Jobson... Lee Briscoe!

Those were the days haha

[tupacgr13]

Originally Posted by YayNJ

Little Magician.

I wonder how many of the new plastic City fans even know who he is

I was in a pub in Malta drinking some beers while the bartender was from Georgia. Since the bar was empty we literally spent the whole evening watching Kinkladze highlights

[YayNJ]

Originally Posted by tupacgr13

I was in a pub in Malta drinking some beers while the bartender was from Georgia. Since the bar was empty we literally spent the whole evening watching Kinkladze highlights

I've just got back from three weeks in Malta, well, Gozo. Love it out there, like a timewarp... Malta is like 20 years behind, and Gozo another 15 on top of that

I'd love to get a place out there.

[tupacgr13]

Originally Posted by YayNJ

I've just got back from three weeks in Malta, well, Gozo. Love it out there, like a timewarp... Malta is like 20 years behind, and Gozo another 15 on top of that

I'd love to get a place out there.

Love that place too mate. A lot of pensioners from UK seems to chose it these days. Lack of proper football is the only thing I could miss over there.

[YayNJ]

Originally Posted by tupacgr13

Love that place too mate. A lot of pensioners from UK seems to chose it these days. Lack of proper football is the only thing I could miss over there.

Before Brexit a lot of people (who voted for Brexit, business owners, politicians) bought houses in Malta as an easy route to obtaining an EU passport, thus giving them the best of both worlds.. that's where the recent influx has come from.

There's always been Brits on there obviously for decades, but it really jumped.. as did property prices and cost of eating out too as a result.

I'm heading to Greece on Saturday, got ten days in Thessaloniki & Skiathos, some work to do in Athens, and then onwards to Kos for a bit.

Greece and it's Islands are probably one of my favourite places on earth (I'll whisper this bit... and Turkey). I've been going since I was an infant with my parents and never stopped.

[YayNJ]

Looks like another, further ban could be on the horizon for Sandro Tonali

[tupacgr13]

Originally Posted by YayNJ

Before Brexit a lot of people (who voted for Brexit, business owners, politicians) bought houses in Malta as an easy route to obtaining an EU passport, thus giving them the best of both worlds.. that's where the recent influx has come from.

There's always been Brits on there obviously for decades, but it really jumped.. as did property prices and cost of eating out too as a result.

I'm heading to Greece on Saturday, got ten days in Thessaloniki & Skiathos, some work to do in Athens, and then onwards to Kos for a bit.

Greece and it's Islands are probably one of my favourite places on earth (I'll whisper this bit... and Turkey). I've been going since I was an infant with my parents and never stopped.

Well great news mate. My base is in Thessaloniki so feel free to send me a message if you wanna join a local game. 31st of March Aris - Lamia(this is a very minor one so crowds are not expect), 3rd of April Paok - Lamia(bigger crowd but not a really big matchup) and 7th of April Aris - Panathinaikos which is going to be big since they are going to meet also in the cup final and they have a lot of turbulence in their relationship at the moment. In case you need any info about the championship or games played in Athens I will also be at your service. I know its a crappy league coming from UK but sometimes minor leagues can bring memories from more old school times when the game wasn't full of plastic fans. So in case you need any piece of advice or help I will be more than happy to help you.

[YayNJ]

That would be pretty cool actually. Let me see how it fits in with the bosses plans (the wife) and I'll get back to you..

[tupacgr13]

Originally Posted by YayNJ

That would be pretty cool actually. Let me see how it fits in with the bosses plans (the wife) and I'll get back to you..

Yeh no worries mate :- )!

[Gin&Juice]

City-Real was tremendous fun. A couple great finishes. I know that super teams are bad for the sport but it is pretty fun when this kind of talent all ends up on the field at the same time.