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| Create The "Perfect" Schedule; Issues with Congestion, Internationals | |
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| Topic Started: Friday Sep 5 2008, 07:29 PM (34 Views) | |
| WeatherManNX01 | Friday Sep 5 2008, 07:29 PM Post #1 |
The Emperor
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Past seasons have always proven tough for teams when it comes to non-league matches (such as 2007's Gold Cup and Copa America). This year, though, has been particularly harsh for some teams, namely the New England Revolution. The MLS schedule does not, generally speaking, take into account the "extra-curricular" matches that may take place over the course of the season. Now granted, MLS has built their schedule such that SuperLiga teams don't play (many) matches during the tournament, though Houston had to play two league games just before the Final as was D.C. United (United, however, did not advance past the group stage). This year, though, New England has had to deal with the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, SuperLiga, and CONCACAF Champions League while losing players to the Olympics, international friedlies, and World Cup qualifiiers. (Some teams also lost players to Euro 2008.) ESPN columnist Frank Dell'Apa wrote that the Revs actually seemed relieved to have been booted from the Champions League by Joe Public F.C., since they can now just concentrate on the league title. The Revs, while disappointed, were probably also not heartbroken after they lost in the Open Cup semifinals to United. They have also suffered mightily this year with injured players, having played all but about 45 minutes of the first half of the season without Taylor Twellman. Now they are without Adam Cristman and Kheli Dube, and for a while they were without star keeper Matt Reis. And now the straw that breaks the camel's back. Toronto FC has petitioned and failed to get tomorrow night's game rescheduled. Why did they ask the league to reschedule it? Because they're missing a whopping nine players who are away on international duty. The league denied the request (which Chivas was not opposed to) because it didn't want to set a precedent for teams looking to move games to dates that wouldn't take away players. But TFC will be so depleted that it is signing players to one-day contracts to play for the match - one player is from the Toronto Lynx of the USL Premier Development League (below USL-2). One signing is actually a former player and current TFC office staff! So let's try and help the league create a better schedule. 2009 has the following events: U.S. Open Cup (MLS enters in June to July, quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals in July and August), SuperLiga (August or September), CONCACAF Champions League (September). In addition, national teams will be qualifying for the World Cup (summer) and playing in the CONCACAF Gold Cup (June, unless canceled due to qualifying) as well as possible Copa America. Teams prefer weekend games to weeknights. The season is currently 30 games from April through October. I'm not saying you actually have to put together an entire schedule, but see if you can find a way to work things out. Good luck. You're going to need it. |
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2:05 AM Nov 21
