Out of every MLS cup this was the most viewed in history. It was the first MLS game to crack three million viewers on live television. Had 3.6M watch it live on FOX and it was the perfect Segway into the World Cup that started just two weeks later.
I got kicked out for fighting a supporter. Actually I went into the Philadelphia crowd and started singing and got attacked. I paid $400 and had to listen to the crowd roar like 10 times from outside
So that second GK that LAFC brought on in stoppage time is a former Philadelphia Union GK. He was the GK that Philadelphia used to practice penalties on during weekly practice. They didn’t bring him back last year so LAFC brought him in. Philly’s pens were probably so bad because they had it in their heads that he knew al their moves so they were trying to change it to throw him off.
The LAFC goalkeeper was stretchered off not for fun after the red card but because he actually broke his leg in that play. I don’t follow LAFC so I’m not exactly sure, but I believe he’s back in goal this season.
Yeah the stadium was prodominantly LAFC fans because it was played in Los Angeles. In the cup final since there’s so much travel involved and finding a neutral site would effectively take the fans out of the equation, the team that had more points in the regular season hosts the game. In this case making the trip would’ve been a challenge for Philadelphia fans. The cities are a 39HRS drive apart without stopping. That’s 2,748 miles (4,422KM). If you can get your head around that, that’s not even coast-to-coast. Philadelphia is 1-3 states inland, depending on which direction you come from.
10:38 Imagine being a defender who scores 2! goals in a Cup Final and just being remembered as the dude who “got dunked on” by Gareth Bale’s last professional goal.
1:20 yeah MLS isn’t known for its incredible defense. The poor defending league wide is what makes it one of the most entertaining. Quality midfielders and strikers are the primary focus of teams. Since there’s a salary cap for the amounts teams are allowed to spend most teams put 80% of their money into goal scorers and goalkeepers and the back line is just an after thought. Whoever they can get on a low cost loan or for cheap in a transfer kinda makes it up.
@@Adrian-ek5jq Fellow LAFC fan here. I hate Galaxy games. Some of the most humiliating moments as a fan of this team. But for the first time ever, I feel a tad bit optimistic we can get out of Carson with a W.
Lol. I’d tend to agree. Rangers/Celtic would be pretty dominant in MLS, Hearts and Hibs and probably Aberdeen if they could get back on track would be mid table at best, and the others would just be absolute bottom feeders.
@@gracielynn9623 I'm dyed-in-the-wool Celtic for life. The Bhoys would do well in MLS, but I'm by no means confident they would dominate that league. Rangers would be top half, but there are at least 8 MLS sides who could handle them. Hearts, Hibs, Aberdeen, Dundee, Livingston, et al would all struggle. MLS are a vastly underrated league. Hail hail Faugh a ballach COYBIG 🇮🇪🍀⚽🇭🇲🇯🇵🏴☠️
@@kentgrady9226 I agree in principal with what you are saying, except for that Celtic thing. Up to the rangers for sure…but you might be right. Because Celtic and Rangers can still find success in Europe I give them a little bit more credit than perhaps I should. Not saying they would go undefeated though, but I still think Celtic and Rangers would make deep playoff pushes in MLS if they magically popped up here…
@@gracielynn9623 There are limited options, if one wants to prevent a hypothetical discussion from disintegrating to a barstool debate about Club "X" and League "Y". Two objective, but imperfect and incomplete criteria, are aggregate transfer value/wage bill, and a comparison of players with experience in both leagues. Celtic's cumulative squad transfer value and wages bill are comparable to those of the top 5-7 clubs in MLS... Near the top, but exceeded by a few. Second, there are two contemporary examples of Celtic/MLS players. Giorgos Giakoumakis was a good player at Celtic, but played second fiddle to a superb player. The exact same thing is happening in Atlanta. There, he's a very good player, but all the talk is about Alamada and Wiley. Going the other way, Alistair Johnston came to Celtic from CF Montréal. Obviously, he was a good MLS player, and Canadian international... But it wasn't as though he was the league's defender of the year. Meanwhile, at Celtic, he's cemented himself as one of the best fullbacks in Scotland, and was recently named Man of the Match against Rangers. In other words, using the only two points of overlap I can think of, Celtic and players that succeed at Celtic are comparable to the high end of the MLS table. But, I don't see a huge gap - certainly nothing to suggest that the Bhoys would tear apart a slate of MLS fixtures in the same way they're mauling Scotland.
Jack Elliott, the center back who had the brace for Philadelphia, is actually an Englishman. He was born in England in August 1995. The guy who scored the other goal for Philadelphia is Daniel Gazdag and you might know him for being one of the bigger names on the Hungarian national team. He was one of the top three goal scorers in MLS last season.
There will be a new cup competition late this summer between MLS and LigaMX. It will be a World Cup style tournament - group stage round robin, then knockout rounds. The two leagues have a blossoming, heated rivalry (MLS=upstarts vs LigaMX=Old Guard). I am confident that it will be entertaining. In general, MLS are worthy of attention. The standard of quality is not (yet) equal to the best in the world, but it's quite good nevertheless. More important, it's extremely competitive because it is designed with parity in mind. Repeat champions are rare to non existent. Scoring volume is high. And it's well attended (better than many European leagues). Get Apple TV and get on it.
I am so looking forward to that Kent. Getting tickets for Charlotte FC vs Necaxa. It’s gonna be amazing. Inaugural leagues cup is gonna sure be something. And as for attendance we even average better than the Brazilian league. MLS has double the average annual attendance of the english championship.
@@gracielynn9623 I'm a long suffering fan of the sport - well over 40 years. I feel in love with the game when a man named Edson Arantes do Nasciemento (known to history as Pelé) played his last match in our country. I used to go to a local shop where they sold European periodicals. Once a week, I would buy magazines and newspapers in order to follow the leagues overseas - and especially my adopted club, Celtic FC. There was no professional football to watch here. There was no broadcast deal with the English league, or La Liga. The only current football available, was a semi regular re-broadcast of Argentinian and Brazilian league play (aired in Spanish and Portuguese) on a grainy public television feed. I never missed it. There was no national team worthy of the name. And now look at us. We are a blossoming powerhouse. MLS are a legitimate premiership - in my estimation, about the ninth or tenth best in the world... and improving yearly. We made it to the knockout rounds of the WC - and we had the chutzpah to be pissed about the *lack* of performance. I never thought I would live to see this. I can't wait to see what's next.
@@kentgrady9226 I love that! My history with soccer doesn’t date back that far. I first started watching it the beginning of the 2022 season. I never watched international soccer until the World Cup.
The reason why there were so many LAFC supporters is since soccer is still a growing sport in the United States coupled with us not having a national stadium like England the team with the better regular season record hosts the cup final. They just increased away fan allowance up a bit.
Aston Villa is coming on a preseason USA tour? When and what teams they playing? Not sure how many MLS teams they could play. Leagues cup starts on July 21 so every MLS team will be mostly occupied.
Andre Blake is one of the best GK’s in MLS. He has more clean sheets than any other goalkeeper last year. I really wouldn’t be surprised if he gets to go to Europe and get a shot in the bundesliga or la liga very soon. Tbh I have no idea how Philadelphia Union have been able to keep him around this long. He’s just so dominant, but his weakness is penalties.
It's transfer issues with his visa. He's probably the best or second best GK in MLS history. I wouldn't entirely say he really has a weakness on penalties, considering he didn't concede a single penalty against Nashville, and also saved one in this game.
@@MySimplexity he’s definitely still good with penalties, I’m just saying if you have to find a weakness, that would be probably the one where you could make the biggest case. His save percentage is still pretty good, but it’s not quite elite.
Hell of a reaction there Josh. So glad that it seems like you enjoyed MLS. I really hope this gets you into the league more and that you’ll do some more reactions and potentially some watchalongs for our league. You should also check out Philadelphia Union vs Atlas in tonight’s CONCACAF Champions League second leg in Guadalajara Mexico. Philly Union went in up 1-0 on aggregate. Tonight’s game was nuts.
Potentially should checkout Louisville vs Sacramento in the USL Championship final from last year! It’s the division 2 league in the US and can see how much the game is growing beyond MLS
About your boys coming over for pre-season... I'd actually watch those games against American teams more than your usual. Now maybe I'm biased because I'm paying more attention to our teams but when teams from the Prem come over and look super weak against MLS/USL teams, it actually seems to carry over in to their season. I remember people called me crazy when Mourinhos Chelsea got beat up by a back up New York Red Bulls squad (Tyler Adams had himself a great showing that day), I called Chelsea having a bad season, he got sacked. More recently Everton was supposed to be showing promise and building up to challenge the European spots, got batter 4-0 by Minnesota and their sitting in 17th at time of writing. Hell bringing up Chelsea they lost to Charlotte this last pre-season and they are having trouble staying in the mid table at this point lol. Idk man, something to watch haha.
Real quick: Vela is pronounced "VEH-lah", not "VEH-yah". You only do the y-thing with Ls in Spanish when it's a double-L. So, Vela (VEH-lah) and Villa (VEE-yah).
