Wigan is in trouble. Norwich will probably be just fine unless they really just shit themselves.

Those teams still have those players and they probably still keep them because they are of decent value. The huge money guys are the ones who get thrown by the side.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi..._cropped_2.jpg




older version with more lines and graceful....

damn...took me 15 min to figure it out. Me=> old too

Yes it does create an interesting dynamic. How cool would it be if every single country at an NFL and the Chiefs could do battle with similar teams in other countries.

One interesting thing about KC though? They have not lost to an EPL team when they played them and they beat Man U when they came to KC right before the name change. Sure it was a friendly but it was no B squad Manchester United brought to KC. They also did it while being down a man for a while.

<iframe width="640" height="480" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/39LdRFf1Kb8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Now she's pissed

Again she's german...understands soccer better then I do.

Haha. She is still right overall.

USA is a good ascending league. Germany has a *great* league.

But KC has had some surprising successes here and there. Not to make things more complicated or flood your mind with more stuff. But Kansas City is going to be in a tournament called the CONCACAF Champions League. It is a tournament where the top clubs from the US, Mexico, Canada, Costa Rica, Honduras, Panama, carribean countries and a few I am forgetting. All thos teams in the region play eachother...

i think us soccor could beat any team as long as you play your game.

ROFL

Trust me usa soccor not as bad as it was 10 years ago.

Is "with more lines" the next "curvy"? :hmmm:
I kid!

Zach nails it, Sporting KC would be in the Championship League in the UK - and if they would be in the EPL they would be the team picked for regulation every year. Sporting's D wouldnt be able to handle the offense of the top tier English teams, nor would they be able to score as much (anemic in general).

German soccer is a Top 3 league (top to bottom) - La Liga (Spain) Is the best based on their players, but you only really have 2 teams their that have all those players (barsa, real)

EPL has a few top tier teams that have great players (Manchester United, Manchester City (recently as they were a middle of the table group until the purchase), Chelsea, and then teams that always fight for those 4 or 5 spots (Tottenham, Liverpool, Arsenal)

Serie A has Juventus, AC Milan, Inter are the top 3 there year in and year out.

Bundesliga - FC Bayern Munich, Borrusia Dortmund, Bayer Leverkussen and FC Shalke04

These leagues outfit most if not all of the national teams that are top 10 in Fifa Rankings -
Spain, Germany, Argentina, Colombia, Portugal, England, Italy, Netherlands

How many players that play in the United States League play on those national teams?

That is how you determine strength of the league... So your wife is right, but I HATE Germany. Im from Argentina.. so Im biased.

LMAO

Appalachian State could hypothetically beat the SF 49ers as well, but the chances of that are minute at best. Soccer in the US is getting better every year and as it grows in popularity, we will get better and better at the MLS and national team level. The fact we have homegrown player playing at and succeeding in the EPL is a sign that things are changing. Right now though the MLS and US Soccer are like AA baseball while the elite clubs and nations are the Major Leagues.

Not about the quality of leagues, but just an observation about popularity of leagues. Both my sons play soccer here in north Dallas. It's a pretty big league and a lot of soccer-first families. I like to look at jerseys the kids wear around the complex, or practices or in games. You almost never see FC Dallas gear even though FC Dallas is right here in Frisco. You see quite a few European jerseys though. Messi seems to be the clear favorite.
Maybe it's because there's a big international population here.

I'll say this though- you sometimes hear that kids play soccer here when they're young, but the best athletes go on to baseball or football. There's a lot of kids around here that I don't think are interested in other sports. They're soccer year round. Spring league, fall league and indoor leagues, plus specialized camps.
And some of these kids are really, really skilled. 9 year olds that can pick the top corner of the goal over the goalie, doing step overs, that scissors move, etc.
I'm no expert, I just see what I see at the games now, but I can't imagine the quality of youth soccer in the US was as good 20 years ago as it is now. So, I think it is on the rise as far as skilled players coming up.

I think the rate at which US soccer is improving is impressive.
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I'm hoping for both of those things too!