Another Tournament for MLS

[CanadianSwede]

Wow they posted on MLSnet.com another tournament.

It will include teams from the MLS, A League and J-League.

This may be a good warm up for MLS teams heading into the CCC.

http://web.mlsnet.com/news/mls_news.jsp?ymd=20071129&content_id=131334&vkey=pr_mls&fext=.jsp

[Soju]

Here's some footage from MLS vs. A-League. Galaxy visisted Sydney FC recently and got their asses handed to them. Beckham with the trademark goal:

Edit: Just read through some comments on Youtube. It seems Kevin Harmse endeared himself to the home fans by walking on one of their players while he was on the ground. Take that Stalteri!

[Soju]

Here's A-League vs. J-League footage from Sydney vs. Urawa:

This looks like a great match for its intensity and pace which has me wondering how the best of MLS compare with the best of these leagues.

[nolando]

I read a rumnour about this in the dailies here about a week or two ago. I think These three leagues could do well to pit their talent against each other. I can't say anything about the A-League except for Sydney's showing in Japan, but for my money the J-League and the MLS are not so far off of each other at this stage. If European football fans watch either league they always comment on suspect keeping and less than stellar defense, and both are deserving of those remarks, I think. On the other hand both league do a good job of bleeding and showcasing young domestic talent, and have their fair share of exciting attacking players of various nationalities. There is more consistently good football played in the J-League, and the fact that the clubs are run independently (and that there is promotion and relegation) has made the best clubs better over time, with player development and consistent team formation and style of play and those sort of professional touches starting to come out of the J-League in recent years, which the MLS or (I would imagine) the A-League have yet to offer. All said, though, the better teams in each league should be pretty evenly matched and should make for an interesting tournament.

[Soju]

I'm excited about the growth of these leagues and tournaments like this. I love watching the top tier leagues in Europe but there's something special about watching these underdog leagues mature. nolando do you catch many games in Japan or get out to the stadiums? I wonder how Chinese Super League teams compare against J-League but I'm guessing they're no match.

[nolando]

quote:Originally posted by Soju

I'm excited about the growth of these leagues and tournaments like this. I love watching the top tier leagues in Europe but there's something special about watching these underdog leagues mature. nolando do you catch many games in Japan or get out to the stadiums? I wonder how Chinese Super League teams compare against J-League but I'm guessing they're no match.

Now that most countries are taking the Asian Champion's League seriously, I think that it is surely the best indicator of where each country's league fares against another. Japan's Urawa Reds won this time, whcih should say something.

I saw Gamba Osaka play last year and went to an exhibition match played by Jubilo Iwata (their keeper is the national keeper Kawaguchi) earlier this year, but no, I don't have the chance to see many games down here. Fukuoka (J2) and Oita (J1) are quite a trip to see a game, although I watch the Japanese national teams play on TV at practically every level, as the vast majority of those matches are televised live on terrestrial TV, which is a huge bonus.