2007 DA
- Thread starter USC
- Start date
Looking at the schedule, it looks like that they have implemented a 2-tier system. The MLS teams seem to play each other twice at least and play the non-MLS teams once at most, whereas for the non-MLS teams, it's the opposite. That will make league rankings less meaningful since some teams will experience an easier league than others. A strong non-MLS team might end up with more points than a weak MLS team, even though the weak MLS team might be objectively stronger, just because they're facing much harder competition, playing strong MLS teams twice or more.
I look at this differently. I think this is a win-win. Both club categories, MLS and non-MLS, get to play more even competition over the course of the season. To me it makes a ton of sense and it was also what was proposed at the beginning of the league. Do we really need points and standings to determine the best teams?
If there are playoffs I'm sure there is some equitable way they can determine the top teams that qualify.
They are planning playoffs at the older age groups, including a qualifying tournament, according to this article. They also will still have a showcase.
MLS NEXT Set to Kick Off Second Season on August 21 | MLSSoccer.com
The 2021-22 MLS NEXT season will feature nearly 600 teams competing in over 9,000 matches over ten months of action
www.mlssoccer.com
RedDevilDad
GOLD
What interesting too is the MLS squads have additional away games vs other MLS teams... for example, LAFC goes to Portland, Seattle, San Jose, RSL, Colorado Rapids and Vancouver but Murrieta does not. Before I get explained... I understand it, just pointing it out.
I assume you guys are stoked, other than the travel?
RedDevilDad
GOLD
Of all the local teams, LAG has the most travel. LAG just returned from KC. LAFC has games this weekend against San Jose, RSL and LAG. But it looks like, in the MLS Next, you play your local teams 2-3 times and then the MLS teams are divided into pods/regions and play each other home and away... I'm curious how that affects playoff standings. For example, the MLS teams could all beat each other up while a team like TFA could only have a few losses to their only MLS opponents and potentially have a better record but weaker schedule.
Perhaps the playoffs will also be separated by MLS teams and non-MLS teams.
It sounds like the MLS Teams at U15 and U17 will be playing in separate MLS divisions based on this from Dargle's link above:
"League matches will be played on a regional basis from August to June, featuring eight regional divisions, plus new MLS divisions at the U15 and U17 ages."
So while TFA may go 30-0 in their division and finish in first, LAFC could still go 20-10 and finish 1st in their MLS division. Only half the teams are going to qualify via standings and the other half will qualify through a play-in tournament, so hopefully they get the best teams in the playoffs. Sounds like a fair way to do it.
One advantage of your kid's team not being near the top is you don't have to worry about getting screwed out of playoffs because another team had a weaker schedule.
RedDevilDad
GOLD
Shoutout to ElZorro for not pointing out that both of my above posts basically point out the exact same things he did. lol. I pride myself originality and apparently don't read everything. I'm going back to my Facebook test of identifying my Disney spirit animal.
RedDevilDad
GOLD
https://www.philadelphiaunion.com/stream/ Philadelphia Union vs NYCFC U15s on Saturday morning at 9am PST. Will need to VPN a Philadelphia location though...
RedDevilDad
GOLD
Any TDS subscribers want to post the IMG Top 150, regional rankings and/or positional rankings for this age group? I can't bring myself to pony up $60 a year. lol.
I'm just spit balling here but if there are 8 regional divisions and say 4 mls divisions, you could take the first place team from the non-MLS divisions and the 1st and 2nd from the MLS divisions, that would give you the 16 automatic qualifiers. Then you could take the next 6 from each non-MLS division and the next 4 from each of the MLS divisions, and then you have 64 for the qualifying tournament. Pure speculation on format, but it seems that any team with even a remote chance is going to get the opportunity to play head to head.
I expect that regional differences in numbers of teams in each division may create variations on this and I wouldn’t be surprised if there was more of a thumb on the scale for MLS academies by increasing their automatic qualifiers from 2 to 3, but it sounds plausible for the basic structure.
IDK know if every MLS Pro team has a academy team playing in Next but there are 29 MLS pro teams, so if you have 4 divisions and it's either 2 and 4 or 3 and 3 that's 24 MLS academy teams that qualify for the playoffs or play-in. I can also see a valid argument that all MLS teams should be allowed to participate in the playoff or play-in. With a total of 80 spots, it doesn't seem unfair for MLS teams to get 29 of them.
I agree, but they may want more auto-qualifiers in the MLS Next Cup. The reality is that some of the MLS Academies are definitely weaker than regular MLS Next club teams from other regions. It's just a fact that some of the LA or NY-area MLS Next teams like TFA or Cedar Stars Bergen are generally going to be better than some of the MLS Academies in less populated areas that aren't recruiting nationally at this point.
I was going to go on twitter and have you cancelled, but since you saw the errors of your ways, I'll let it slide... this time.
The last year before the DA went away, the MLS was putting pressure on them to implement a 2-tier system (DA red / DA blue). There's probably good reasons for and against. It's just going to make the league ranking less relevant, except for the very best and the very worst.
Dear Mr. Fantasy
BRONZE
Regarding LAFC playing SJ, RSL and LAG this weekend, it looks like those 4 teams will see a lot of each other during the MLS Next season. At least based on the current schedule. Any insight on how those teams are shaping up going into the new season? This weekend will be an interesting sneak peak.
IS THERE A published schedule of the games for the weekend? are other age groups playing or just the U15's