OT: Copa America

[Pitt79]

Do I know if teams in the Premier League paid more than teams in MLS 20 years ago? Yeah, I do know that. If you don't know that, perhaps this isn't a conversation you should be taking part in.

Right now, Christian Pulisic's salary in Italy would make him the third highest paid player in MLS. And one of the two ahead of him would be Leo Messi. who they broke the rules for to sign him. He makes more than twice as much as the 10th highest paid player in MLS. Soccer players in Europe make more money than MLS players. They always have. They still do.

And a USL team can be had for less than $1 million. The fact that he had enough money to buy one of those might be an indicator that he has more money than you or I, but it's certainly not proof that he's super rich.

Post a link showing his salary in MLS 20 years ago, it's probably true, but you don't have any facts. Either way it was probably worth it for him to be in LA, a better lifestyle for him. People shouldn't just do what maximizes their professional career performance, they should also try to be happy outside of the job, if a guy feels better in an MLS location and the money is good, do it.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

Post a link showing his salary in MLS 20 years ago, it's probably true, but you don't have any facts. Either way it was probably worth it for him to be in LA, a better lifestyle for him. People shouldn't just do what maximizes their professional career performance, they should also try to be happy outside of the job, if a guy feels better in an MLS location and the money is good, do it.

Joe is wrong as usual. He made as much as $4.6 million/year in MLS, far more than he could have made being Wolverhampton's best player back then.

Landon Donovan's new salary details, and his reasons for wearing No. 26 | FOX Sports

When Landon Donovan retired in 2014, he was making a guaranteed $4.6 million a year with the LA Galaxy. His new short-term contract for the rest of this season pays him quite a bit less.

www.foxsports.com

I remember Alexi Lalas was basically unprofessional in comments about how much Michael Bradley was making, which was $6 million/year at Toronto. It was far above his market value and everyone knew it but TFC was spending big and he was marketable. There was no way he would have made that in Europe.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

What an outright total embarrassment from the US's performance on the field, to the finals, the fans, the shitshows, the friggin border like stomping (these people are pros at this). Why would the US want to be associated with this?

I agree. Totally reminded me of January 6. Security guards were present and trying to stop the invaders but the mob was too big. Like I said, same thing happened at Wembley in 2021. The US better learn from this and should be better prepared in 2026. I posted the insane ticket prices. That should have sent red flags that this was possible. Colombian fans have filled stadiums all over the US to the point where I think they may have a better fanbase in the US than Ohio State, Notre Dame, the Yankees, etc. Incredible, incredible turnout. But when you play in a smallish stadium for the final (stupid) and already have a lot of Argentinian fans who pre-bought tickets since they had an easy route there and were a shoe-in to get there, they should have known there would be thousands of Colombian fans who werent going to pay $2500/ticket for nosebleeds and would find their way in.

I'm more disappointed with the grass surfaces. Even in Miami, which is a natural grass field, it looked terrible and they are blaming Messi's injury on it. It looked patchy like they just laid it down. I get the turf converted fields looking like that but why Miami? FIFA better require New Jersey, Atlanta, Foxborough, etc to rip out the astroturf a year ahead of time and not just put grass over top of it.

 

[ChiefJusticeMarshall]

I agree. Totally reminded me of January 6. Security guards were present and trying to stop the invaders but the mob was too big. Like I said, same thing happened at Wembley in 2021. The US better learn from this and should be better prepared in 2026. I posted the insane ticket prices. That should have sent red flags that this was possible. Colombian fans have filled stadiums all over the US to the point where I think they may have a better fanbase in the US than Ohio State, Notre Dame, the Yankees, etc. Incredible, incredible turnout. But when you play in a smallish stadium for the final (stupid) and already have a lot of Argentinian fans who pre-bought tickets since they had an easy route there and were a shoe-in to get there, they should have known there would be thousands of Colombian fans who werent going to pay $2500/ticket for nosebleeds and would find their way in.

I'm more disappointed with the grass surfaces. Even in Miami, which is a natural grass field, it looked terrible and they are blaming Messi's injury on it. It looked patchy like they just laid it down. I get the turf converted fields looking like that but why Miami? FIFA better require New Jersey, Atlanta, Foxborough, etc to rip out the astroturf a year ahead of time and not just put grass over top of it.

Is Miami's always grass or field turf they replaced with grass??

 

[Pitt79]

FIFA better require New Jersey, Atlanta, Foxborough, etc to rip out the astroturf a year ahead of time and not just put grass over top of it.

Why? Soccer is less important than NFL Football

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

Is Miami's always grass or field turf they replaced with grass??

Grass. That's the weird thing. It looked bad. You could see on TV where it looked like it was trucked in because you could see creases between patches. So I dont know if they did just truck it in. The Steelers do that but I dont know if that's the norm in better climate areas.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

Why? Soccer is less important than NFL Football

Yea but if those venues want to host, they need to require they put in a permanent grass field or find other venues to host. If they dont want to do that, that's fine. They can rip the grass out the second the World Cup ends.

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

He made as much as $4.6 million/year in MLS

That was the one, and ONLY year, he ever made more that $2.5 million in a season.

You'd think that guys who spend so much time on the internet would actually know how to use it to find things out, but it appears that's just beyond some people.

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

There was no way he would have made that in Europe.

He FAILED in Europe. He wasn't going to make anything there. That's why he and Altidore came back. They were making more, and then they showed that they weren't worth it. No one was going to pay them that way any more in Europe.

If you think that those guy's contract situations when they came back from Europe was the same as Donovan would have been you are just showing that you have no idea what you are talking about again.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

He FAILED in Europe. He wasn't going to make anything there. That's why he and Altidore came back. They were making more, and then they showed that they weren't worth it. No one was going to pay them that way any more in Europe.

If you think that those guy's contract situations when they came back from Europe was the same as Donovan would have been you are just showing that you have no idea what you are talking about again.

Altidore was a complete failure in Europe. Bradley was really successful in the Netherlands and got a big transfer to Roma where he had a similar career as Pulisic's at Chelsea. A failure, maybe? But there is a step between Serie A and MLS. Maybe lower Serie A? Back to the Dutch League? He was still worth something in Europe but not as much as MLS thought he was worth here. And that's the point. Americans can make more in MLS than in Europe in certain cases.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

That was the one, and ONLY year, he ever made more that $2.5 million in a season.

And yet that's not what you said.

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

And yet that's not what you said.

As a matter of fact...

One time in his entire career Donovan made more than $2.5 million for a season.

it's exactly what I said.

Oops.

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

Bradley was really successful in the Netherlands and got a big transfer to Roma where he had a similar career as Pulisic's at Chelsea.

No, he most certainly did not.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

These videos that keep popping up are really amazing. Its all Colombian fans as I suspected. CONMEBOL really blew this one. No one seemed to be paying attention but me, saying they have been packing stadiums and noting how much prices for the final increased when they won.

I didn't realize that ticketed fans were denied entry because the stadium was too full since so many non-ticketed fans snuck in. Wow. Will the US be ready to secure the World Cup? As Colombia and England fans have shown, if you want to get into a stadium for free, there's little that can be done. I guess the easy thing that can be done is to not allow tailgating without a game ticket. Didnt they do that for Kenny Chesney? Or maybe you have to pass certain checkpoints before entering the stadium area. As these ticket prices for this stuff keeps rising, there is the threat of fan invasions. People want to see their team but cant pay 2500/ticket.

 

[brdst11]

These videos that keep popping up are really amazing. Its all Colombian fans as I suspected. CONMEBOL really blew this one. No one seemed to be paying attention but me, saying they have been packing stadiums and noting how much prices for the final increased when they won.

I didn't realize that ticketed fans were denied entry because the stadium was too full since so many non-ticketed fans snuck in. Wow. Will the US be ready to secure the World Cup? As Colombia and England fans have shown, if you want to get into a stadium for free, there's little that can be done. I guess the easy thing that can be done is to not allow tailgating without a game ticket. Didnt they do that for Kenny Chesney? Or maybe you have to pass certain checkpoints before entering the stadium area. As these ticket prices for this stuff keeps rising, there is the threat of fan invasions. People want to see their team but cant pay 2500/ticket.

Article I saw suggested multiple checkpoints. US stadiums aren't currently set up that way. May require removing some VIP parking areas which won't go over well.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

Article I saw suggested multiple checkpoints. US stadiums aren't currently set up that way. May require removing some VIP parking areas which won't go over well.

Yea only for certain games though.

Colombia
Mexico
England
USA (I wouldnt expect American soccer fans to storm the gates but that's becoming trendy now so you cant rule out young American fans doing it)
Scotland if they make it

Brazil, Argentina and all of Europe dont have the type of fanbases who would risk it all to watch their team illegally.

But yea, there's no way you should be allowed within a mile or so from the stadium without a ticket. I'm pretty sure they did to prevent the Kenny Chesney mob, didnt they? So it can be done.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

Seating for this game ended up being General Admission essentially because thousands of Colombian fans without tickets entered. Imagine paying 10 grand on tickets and not being able to sit where you want. CONMEBOL is extremely likely there werent deadly riots. And much blame has to go to local law enforcement who seemed to be badly unprepared.

 

[Fk_Pitt]

Wait til Crocker hires Southgate to be our new Coach, then you’ll see outright embarrassment.

But I’m not sure I’m following your verbiage. What are you saying exactly?

What an outright total embarrassment from the US's performance on the field, to the finals, the fans, the shitshows, the friggin border like stomping (these people are pros at this). Why would the US want to be associated with this?

 

[Fk_Pitt]

These videos that keep popping up are really amazing. Its all Colombian fans as I suspected. CONMEBOL really blew this one. No one seemed to be paying attention but me, saying they have been packing stadiums and noting how much prices for the final increased when they won.

I didn't realize that ticketed fans were denied entry because the stadium was too full since so many non-ticketed fans snuck in. Wow. Will the US be ready to secure the World Cup? As Colombia and England fans have shown, if you want to get into a stadium for free, there's little that can be done. I guess the easy thing that can be done is to not allow tailgating without a game ticket. Didnt they do that for Kenny Chesney? Or maybe you have to pass certain checkpoints before entering the stadium area. As these ticket prices for this stuff keeps rising, there is the threat of fan invasions. People want to see their team but cant pay 2500/ticket.

No they didn’t do that for Chesney.

 

[Fk_Pitt]

This is a trend in soccer that needs to be figured out. Charlie Stilatano was on the radio yesterday talking about it, and he was in charge of World Cup games in NY/NJ way back when. They had day long meetings with Scotland Yard, interpol, FBI, etc to plan their site for the games. Not sure that was done during Copa but I’m thinking no. But if you look at many of the most recent championship games (Champions League and international), they’ve had similar problems to what they had in Miami. This is part of the reason why I said an NFL playoff game or an exhibition bowl game doesn’t even register at any level compared to these soccer matches.

 

[Fk_Pitt]

Can anyone explain the song Argentinian players were recorded singing during their celebrations? Apparently it’s the song/chant about France national team and how all of their players are from Africa. The lyrics I heard were your parents are from Angola, Cameroon, etc. Yet Argentina are under heat today for being racist. I have to be missing some of the lyrics because nothing I heard is any different than what everyone says about them, which is true.

 

[noelr]

Can anyone explain the song Argentinian players were recorded singing during their celebrations? Apparently it’s the song/chant about France national team and how all of their players are from Africa. The lyrics I heard were your parents are from Angola, Cameroon, etc. Yet Argentina are under heat today for being racist. I have to be missing some of the lyrics because nothing I heard is any different than what everyone says about them, which is true.

basically your from africa and your not french. it's a bad look. seems to separating white from black french.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

Can anyone explain the song Argentinian players were recorded singing during their celebrations? Apparently it’s the song/chant about France national team and how all of their players are from Africa. The lyrics I heard were your parents are from Angola, Cameroon, etc. Yet Argentina are under heat today for being racist. I have to be missing some of the lyrics because nothing I heard is any different than what everyone says about them, which is true.

Didnt hear it but they are the last ones to be singing something like that. Their great great grandparents are from Italy.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

This is a trend in soccer that needs to be figured out. Charlie Stilatano was on the radio yesterday talking about it, and he was in charge of World Cup games in NY/NJ way back when. They had day long meetings with Scotland Yard, interpol, FBI, etc to plan their site for the games. Not sure that was done during Copa but I’m thinking no. But if you look at many of the most recent championship games (Champions League and international), they’ve had similar problems to what they had in Miami. This is part of the reason why I said an NFL playoff game or an exhibition bowl game doesn’t even register at any level compared to these soccer matches.

I wasnt aware of this happening anywhere else besides Wembley in 2021 but it may become a trend. Not even joking here but O hope Pittsburgh is ready in case WVU fans decide to do this. The US has 2 years to figure this out and I shouldn't be the one to have to do it. Need to form a perimeter around each stadium like they do for NYC NYE. Cant get into the perimeter without a ticket. Then another inner perimeter that you have to go through. Lets say Acrisure was hosting, you'd have an outer perimeter on Liberty Avenue to that old Allegheny Center Mall area. Then an inner perimeter near PNC Park.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

Wait til Crocker hires Southgate to be our new Coach, then you’ll see outright embarrassment.

But I’m not sure I’m following your verbiage. What are you saying exactly?

He's saying the US blew Copa America on every level from the team's play to lack of interest from Americans to security and I agree. Also, I'd take Southgate. 2 Euro finals and a WC semi.

 

[Fk_Pitt]

He's saying the US blew Copa America on every level from the team's play to lack of interest from Americans to security and I agree. Also, I'd take Southgate. 2 Euro finals and a WC semi.

Southgate is awful. He has the most talent in Europe, played a cake schedule for the past 5 years and seemed to be playing from behind all the time and never came out and jumped on teams.

The excuse is that they ran into Spain who was the best team in the tourney. And yeah that’s true, Spain was the best. Not to take anything away from Spain, but they are a team deft of star players though and England is a team of superstars at almost every position and more superstars on the bench. They should have been the best team in the tourney (outside of France). England struggled for 90 minutes to get results in every game they’ve played and they should have jumped on teams and put them away. They never did. If Klopp takes over England, look out.

 

[Fk_Pitt]

I wasnt aware of this happening anywhere else besides Wembley in 2021 but it may become a trend. Not even joking here but O hope Pittsburgh is ready in case WVU fans decide to do this. The US has 2 years to figure this out and I shouldn't be the one to have to do it. Need to form a perimeter around each stadium like they do for NYC NYE. Cant get into the perimeter without a ticket. Then another inner perimeter that you have to go through. Lets say Acrisure was hosting, you'd have an outer perimeter on Liberty Avenue to that old Allegheny Center Mall area. Then an inner perimeter near PNC Park.

Real Madrid/Liverpool UCL Final in 2022 was delayed due to fans breaking in/tear gas/riots. There have been like 4-5 major logistical problems over the past few years with these high leverage games.

 

[brdst11]

Didnt hear it but they are the last ones to be singing something like that. Their great great grandparents are from Italy.

Idiotic behavior. Like the US, Argentina has a lot of descendants of people who came to the country in the late 1800s and 1900s. And they're starting to rely on the children of people who fled the 98 Argentine Great Depression (like Garnacho) and grew up elsewhere. Why question anyone else's background?

Most importantly for you FK, evidently other Chelsea players aren't happy with Enzo.

 

[Allan McMurray]

Southgate is awful. He has the most talent in Europe, played a cake schedule for the past 5 years and seemed to be playing from behind all the time and never came out and jumped on teams.

The excuse is that they ran into Spain who was the best team in the tourney. And yeah that’s true, Spain was the best. Not to take anything away from Spain, but they are a team deft of star players though and England is a team of superstars at almost every position and more superstars on the bench. They should have been the best team in the tourney (outside of France). England struggled for 90 minutes to get results in every game they’ve played and they should have jumped on teams and put them away. They never did. If Klopp takes over England, look out.

That’s a bingo. Southgate is not exciting or dynamic. He’s as successful as he because of the talent. Put him with a mediocre team like the US and it would not be too good. It wouldn’t be terrible but it wouldn’t be exciting and full of high success.

English fans have slaughtered him for basically pissing away the WC and the last 2 Euro’s.

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

Didnt hear it but they are the last ones to be singing something like that. Their great great grandparents are from Italy.

Hey, don't forget about the ones who were Nazis and came from Germany!

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

No they didn’t do that for Chesney.

At least one year they made people entering the stadium parking lots show that the people in the car had tickets to the show before they let them in the lot. I do not know if they continued doing it after that first year or not, but they absolutely did it at least once.

But that had nothing to do with people without tickets storming the venue.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

At least one year they made people entering the stadium parking lots show that the people in the car had tickets to the show before they let them in the lot. I do not know if they continued doing it after that first year or not, but they absolutely did it at least once.

But that had nothing to do with people without tickets storming the venue.

It was more to do with those hillbillies destroying the North Shore. I believe some Taylor Swift venues instituted this policy to prevent just having too many people in one place and for traffic control. At some of those concerts, there were 20K-30K people outside listening.

The scary thing is if this becomes a trend because it has been shown that if you have enough people, it is pretty easy to get into stadiums or US Capitols illegally.

Been going down a rabbit hole watching these Copa America videos. Wonder if this would have been national news had it not been for the idiot from Bethel Park. Just some unreal scenes in Miami. You dont see this in the US. From what the videos show and what people are saying, they eventually just gave up and let everyone in without even checking tickets. Then once they thought they had 65K in the stadium, they didnt let anyone else in whether they had tickets or not. Many people got to watch for free. Many paid thousands and didnt get in. Failures all around. Game should have been postponed until Monday.

 

[Fk_Pitt]

It was more to do with those hillbillies destroying the North Shore. I believe some Taylor Swift venues instituted this policy to prevent just having too many people in one place and for traffic control. At some of those concerts, there were 20K-30K people outside listening.

The scary thing is if this becomes a trend because it has been shown that if you have enough people, it is pretty easy to get into stadiums or US Capitols illegally.

Been going down a rabbit hole watching these Copa America videos. Wonder if this would have been national news had it not been for the idiot from Bethel Park. Just some unreal scenes in Miami. You dont see this in the US. From what the videos show and what people are saying, they eventually just gave up and let everyone in without even checking tickets. Then once they thought they had 65K in the stadium, they didnt let anyone else in whether they had tickets or not. Many people got to watch for free. Many paid thousands and didnt get in. Failures all around. Game should have been postponed until Monday.

Oh the irony…

 

[Fk_Pitt]

Most importantly for you FK, evidently other Chelsea players aren't happy with Enzo.

Yeah the French players all unfollowed him on social media. But many of us haven’t been happy with Enzo. I liked the signing and was really starting to like him because he embraced the badge, but he was starting to show some maturity issues and then of course after he got hurt the team never lost another match. So they started to gel without him. If he had gotten hurt 3 weeks earlier they might have finished top 4 and made the champions league. I know one guy on these boards who is a huge Chelsea supporter and follows them every bit as closely as I do, but mainly only contributes on the hoops board (so I won’t say his name here) has been “Enzo out” much longer than the thought started creeping into my head. But no way chelsea can sell him now without taking a huge loss. It appears from the video that the entire team was singing the song so I wonder if anyone else is getting the heat that Enzo is.

Because I don’t speak the language, I don’t know all the lyrics but apparently there’s some homophobic stuff about Mbappe in there too…so that’s bad. I still don’t know what’s racist though. I thought the universal belief was that the French manipulated the rules to bring in the players that have strengthened their squad. So I’m probably ignorant on it and don’t know the intricacies. Maybe it’s no different than the US rostering some of the players we have, and it probably is given the outrage.

 

[happjack]

It was more to do with those hillbillies destroying the North Shore. I believe some Taylor Swift venues instituted this policy to prevent just having too many people in one place and for traffic control. At some of those concerts, there were 20K-30K people outside listening.

The scary thing is if this becomes a trend because it has been shown that if you have enough people, it is pretty easy to get into stadiums or US Capitols illegally.

Been going down a rabbit hole watching these Copa America videos. Wonder if this would have been national news had it not been for the idiot from Bethel Park. Just some unreal scenes in Miami. You dont see this in the US. From what the videos show and what people are saying, they eventually just gave up and let everyone in without even checking tickets. Then once they thought they had 65K in the stadium, they didnt let anyone else in whether they had tickets or not. Many people got to watch for free. Many paid thousands and didnt get in. Failures all around. Game should have been postponed until Monday.

It wouldn't have been news since most Americans don't give a poop about soccer, let alone soccer being played by two teams from other countries.

The documentary on Netflix about the gatecrashers and riots at Wembley in 2021, talks about the "tradition" of whatever they call gatecrashing, even people who got busted for it were gloating about it. The doc is really good but wow the England fans are trash.

 

[brdst11]

That’s a bingo. Southgate is not exciting or dynamic. He’s as successful as he because of the talent. Put him with a mediocre team like the US and it would not be too good. It wouldn’t be terrible but it wouldn’t be exciting and full of high success.

English fans have slaughtered him for basically pissing away the WC and the last 2 Euro’s.

Yeah the French players all unfollowed him on social media. But many of us haven’t been happy with Enzo. I liked the signing and was really starting to like him because he embraced the badge, but he was starting to show some maturity issues and then of course after he got hurt the team never lost another match. So they started to gel without him. If he had gotten hurt 3 weeks earlier they might have finished top 4 and made the champions league. I know one guy on these boards who is a huge Chelsea supporter and follows them every bit as closely as I do, but mainly only contributes on the hoops board (so I won’t say his name here) has been “Enzo out” much longer than the thought started creeping into my head. But no way chelsea can sell him now without taking a huge loss. It appears from the video that the entire team was singing the song so I wonder if anyone else is getting the heat that Enzo is.

Because I don’t speak the language, I don’t know all the lyrics but apparently there’s some homophobic stuff about Mbappe in there too…so that’s bad. I still don’t know what’s racist though. I thought the universal belief was that the French manipulated the rules to bring in the players that have strengthened their squad. So I’m probably ignorant on it and don’t know the intricacies. Maybe it’s no different than the US rostering some of the players we have, and it probably is given the outrage.

Others who know more about the situation better can certainly explain it better, but to me the French players of African descent constantly have to deal with insinuations that they're not French enough, despite the fact that they passionately play for their country (and do so quite well).

France has other non African players who are also not of French descent yet they never seem to get called out. The Hernandez brothers largely grew up in Spain. Griezmann is of German and Portuguese heritage. People seem to be OK with them though.

There was a picture floating around social media comparing a picture of a previous Canadian soccer team (mostly white) with the current one (largely non white) with the insinuation that this was a problem. Celtic's Alistair Johnston posted a response, noting that he and the other two white players in the picture were also children of immigrants, but no one had a problem with them.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

It wouldn't have been news since most Americans don't give a poop about soccer, let alone soccer being played by two teams from other countries.

The documentary on Netflix about the gatecrashers and riots at Wembley in 2021, talks about the "tradition" of whatever they call gatecrashing, even people who got busted for it were gloating about it. The doc is really good but wow the England fans are trash.

Yea that was a good documentary. Cant wait for the Copa one because these videos are insane. Even saw a few Argentinian fans sneaking in so only 99% Colombian fans.

 

[noelr]

Idiotic behavior. Like the US, Argentina has a lot of descendants of people who came to the country in the late 1800s and 1900s. And they're starting to rely on the children of people who fled the 98 Argentine Great Depression (like Garnacho) and get up elsewhere. Why question anyone else's background?

Most importantly for you FK, evidently other Chelsea fans aren't happy with Enzo.

enzo's back pedal had to come but isn't going to work. fofano is not pleased. you just can't be that dumb to think those lyrics aren't offensive. well maybe he is.

 

[Fk_Pitt]

enzo's back pedal had to come but isn't going to work. fofano is not pleased. you just can't be that dumb to think those lyrics aren't offensive. well maybe he is.

What are the lyrics?

 

[noelr]

What are the lyrics?

don't have it but clearly pointing out that these blacks players who were born in france weren't french since their parents came from senegal angola etc. wouldn't go over well if the same ws done here to our black players.