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Such a tourney would be awesome...!
No it's not. In fact some have suggested that if Mexico wanted to become part of the upper level teams of the world, particularly in world cup compe ion, then they should leave Concacaf, where compe ion is stagnant. Of course it's much more complicated than that because, as will always be, money is involved. USA on the other hand is crappier than ever, so it would be stupid for them. lol
Such a tourney would be awesome...!
I didnt mean strictly cause of elevation tbh, I know La Paz and even Quito are higher. I was also including the smog, the shear size of the stadium, the crowd, the fact that Mexico actually has a decent team, etc. Even Brasil and Argentina would struggle to get out of the Azteca with a win imo.
It would only be stupid financially.
It would be stupid anyway you look at it. The US missing the WC would set the game back immensely here.
I know what you meant, but even with all that is still Bolivia. On normal cir stances they would have trouble beating a team from the second division from most good football countries. At home they beat Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil by huge margins.
That's what I call big home field advantage, tbh.
Could be bad in the short term but long term its not even close, jts not like the sport is on the verge of exploding here in the States. Conmebol teams making trips to Columbus more often, and the potential for players to grow by playing against tougher compe ion is a better option than staying put imo. You dont grow a bigger following or as a team by playing Guatemala and Jamaica.
I remember that 5-1 they put on Argentina a couple years ago but that doesnt happen often does it? I would imagine theyd atleast be a mid-table team in the qualifying standings if they simply held serve at home instead of always being bottom dwellers. I agree that they def have a huge HFA but they still lose there on a regular basis so not sure Id give them the top spot. If they ever get a solid generation they probably would be though, kinda how Ecuador was really dominant in Quito those couple times they made the WC.
Um you're not paying attention because it most definitely IS on the verge of exploding. The US plays plenty of tough compe ion. They do better in the WC over the past 12 years than any COMEBOL team with the exception of Arg, Brazil, and Uruguay. Its stupid to give up an easy road to the WC for the sake of compe ion they can get at any point due to their draws and ability to schedule pretty much any friendly they want.
I honestly have no idea how you can say that soccer isn't on the verge of exploding in the United States.
-Portland Crowds over the past few years developing from 2nd division soccer.
-Seattle same thing
-San Antonio drawing 10k+ on average for 2nd division soccer.
-Explosion of soccer specific statidums all over the country.
-More soccer specific networks than at any time EVER
-Major overseas events like the Euros getting big time play in the US
-Fox actually airing EPL games on their main network
-NBC, Fox, and ESPN engaging in bidding wars for broadcast rights.
[COLOR=#333333 !important]Grant Wahl
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@GrantWahl[/COLOR]
Seattle Sounders averaged 43,144 attendance, higher than all but 5 Premier League, 3 La Liga and 2 Serie A teamsseattletimes.com/html/soundersf…
Trust me, Argentina and Brazil would have no problem getting a victory in there, your confuse with this because you've only seen Mexico face Concacaf opponents recently. Mexico is who they are, a team that is way above the Concacaf division but way way below true power houses, even if Argentina doesn't really belong with the likes of Spain, Germany etc.. they are still way above Mexico, The Azteca doesn't really have that same effect as it did back in the Aspe and Matador days...
Last edited by Relevancy; 10-26-2012 at 09:59 PM.
Ahem... It seems like your own bias is getting in the way of the facts... Mexico's record versus Brazil over the last decade includes 7 victories, 2 draws and 2 losses... They've amassed wins versus many of the European powerhouses in that span as well... They're not quite elite, but they aren't yesteryear's pushovers either...
That's encouraging news...
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@GrantWahl[/COLOR]
Seattle Sounders averaged 43,144 attendance, higher than all but 5 Premier League, 3 La Liga and 2 Serie A teamsseattletimes.com/html/soundersf…
I'm not making Mexico look like a Guayana
Its really not tbh. It has definitely grown over the years but it still takes a backseat to football, basketball, baseball and even hockey as far as media coverage/fan interest goes. Possible improvement of the team+the attraction of playing Conmebol teams is more likely to change that than staying pat imo.
The Azteca is still one of the toughest places to play in, that hasnt changed. If anything it may be tougher since the players Mexico produces now are more talented than the ones they produced in the 90s. Obviously theyre not on the level of elite teams but the huge HFA is what would even up the match-up. I wouldnt be surprised if they lost more qualifying games at home in just one Conmebol go around than they have in all of their history in Concacaf qualifying though.Trust me, Argentina and Brazil would have no problem getting a victory in there, your confuse with this because you've only seen Mexico face Concacaf opponents recently
Definitely not a backseat to hockey at all. And I just gave you examples of how rapidly the sport is growing here all of which involve large amounts of money that you can't counter. Anyone who's paying attention to soccer in the US knows that its exploding right now.
I acknowledged those things and agreed that it has grown. But to say its ready to explode when most of its games are still broadcast in affiliates of the major networks (ESPN2, NBC Sports Network, Galavision, etc) is a stretch. Besides alot of those things like the Sounders attendance has been going on for a while, its not like that just started.
Of course it just started. The Sounders have only been in the MLS for a couple of years. Portland has only been in for 2 years. The number of soccer specific stadiums has dramaticall increased in the past few years in the MLS.
NBC just aired a red bull game on Sunday. NBC is currently the leader in a huge bid to get the EPL games and air them on the regular network. The idea that the games just being on cable is somehow poor is bizarre. Over the past 15 years NBA games have gone mostly to cable. NFL games are the ones that are still broadcast mostly on network TV but even they've lost MNF to cable and Thursday night games to the NFL. There are fewer sports today on network TV so I'm not sure why thats a knock on soccer at all.
The total number of people attending MLS games has nearly DOUBLED in the past few years.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_L...cer_attendance
51% increase from 2008 to 2012 in Euro viewers.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1...r-soccer-final
NBC getting 78% more viewers for their games than Fox Soccer did
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1...merican-soccer
I mean, if thats not explosive growth then what is?
Its not the fact that theyre on cable but that fact that theyre aired in affiliates of the major networks. Its one thing to have games air on ESPN and another to have them aired on ESPN2. Even the most recent USA-Mexico game which saw you guys get your first win at the Azteca was on ESPN2. I will concede though that going off of the ratings it does seem like fan interest is growing at a faster rate than I had assumed. Its still considerably less than the other major sports though. Id love for the game to explode here but until I see more than just the occasional game sneaking into a major network or the occasional team averaging 40k in attendance Im not going to hold my breath.
As part of the new deal, Lazarus said EPL fans can expect a number of games to be broadcast on over-the-air NBC. Those matches will likely air Saturdays and be shown live. Lazarus predicted viewers might see up to 18-20 games on NBC during the season, which would be a significant increase from Fox's over-the-air broadcasts.
That's part of the new NBC deal that. NBC just paid 250 mil for three years for the rights to the EPL. Yeah... it's not exploding...
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