One last photo from this week's Japanese League Cup final, as FC Tokyo fans utilise some toilet paper.

Photo credit: dokool on Flickr, via the Pitch Invasion Photo Pool.

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Big Story
Your editor is behind today, as  I spent last night meeting with Chicago Fire owner and chairman Andrew Hauptman, discussing many of the issues I raised in my open letter to Fire ownership last month. At the end of that letter, I asked Andrew to sit down with us to figure out how we can achieve the goals in Section 8 Chicago’s mission statement.  The meeting was positive and for those interested, Section 8 Chicago will be making a public statement later today outlining the steps we are committed to with ownership.

I realise that might not interest everyone, but it’s at the top of my mind and this piece in the Chicago Tribune today by columnist John Kass on the Fire made me think about the future of the club and the culture of soccer here even more. Kass interviews Frank Klopas, the Fire’s Technical Director and Ring of Fire inductee, who stated that “U.S. Soccer is inevitable,” (for some reason, I really love the finality of that phrasing).

But more important than that was Klopas’ explanation of how that can be achieved, as it’s not actually inevitable — it will take hard work and vision by people like Frank at the grassroots weaving the legion of youth soccer players into the fabric of MLS club soccer. And one thing myself and Fire ownership did easily agree on last night is how proud fans should be that the Fire has the #1 ranked MLS youth academy in the country.

The importance of this was emphasised by Klopas: “The key to the future is that we have a pyramid now, that leads up to the first team, just like any European club. We have the Fire Juniors, where an 8-year-old kid can wear a Fire shirt, and on up to the academy team, which is extremely competitive. The organization’s goal is that within three or four years, we want some kids from that academy playing in Toyota Park, wearing the Fire jersey. That’s when you have the commitment, when you have local kids playing, that’s when the people will feel, ‘This is our team.’ ”

This is exactly what we need to develop here and that’s exactly the kind of public leadership and commitment to such a goal that American soccer needs if it is indeed going to be inevitable.

A few quick-links now as I have to get back to the public statement mentioned above. . .

Worldwide News

• The Offside has the video of what it calls the “roughest display of defending” on Youtube.
• Chelsea’s cunning plan to delay their FIFA-imposed transfer ban worked.
• Why is the old chestnut of Rangers and Celtic moving to the Premier League cropping up so much this season?  Yes, Scottish football is a mess and both clubs are struggling, but it’s just not going to happen, whatever David Moyes or anyone else thinks of the idea. Drop it.
• Spain’s league is not going on strike over a tax hike.
• While many American fans yearn for the introduction of promotion and relegation in our league, the opposite is being proposed in England by Bolton chairman Phil Gartside, who wants to put up a drawbridge around the Premier league, another old idea that we can only hope won’t ever happen.

The Sweeper appears daily. For more rambling and links throughout the day every day, follow your editor Tom Dunmore @pitchinvasion on Twitter.

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Nabisco Cup final, Kawasaki Frontale vs. FC Tokyo, November 3rd 2009.

Photo credit: dillo-h.com on Flickr, via the Pitch Invasion Photo Pool.

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Programme cover courtesy of the highly-recommended Footysphere.

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Last week, we reported on exhibit A in how to alienate fans in Australia by A-League expansion team Gold Coast United’s billionaire owner Clive Palmer. The club closed three sides of their stadium, Skilled Park, and capped capacity to just 5,000, forcing supporters out of their usual position in the stadium. Fans protested at the game, attended by an A-League record low crowd of just over 2,000.

Palmer has been forced to backpedal fast this week following the demonstration of fan anger and a meeting with Football Federation Australia, who chastised the club for the decision. On Monday Palmer dropped the capacity cap, with the FFA saying “Under the agreement, the cap on crowds is gone and all sections of Skilled Park will be open to the public. In addition a new pricing structure will be released this week making the game more accessible to all people on the Gold Coast.”

High ticket prices had been at the root of Gold Coast’s problems in the first place, leading to Palmer limiting the crowds, putting off potential fans before they’d even had the chance to see the expansion team play, and the new ticket pricing structure announced today addresses that problem. Prices will now be cut significantly, as “A new discounted rate for the remainder of regular season home games means category 3 adult tickets will be available from just $19, concession tickets from $12 and family tickets from a bargain price of $40.”

A special and smart make-good promotion for Gold Coast’s next home game against Sydney FC will see supporters under the age of 15 allowed in for free if accompanying a paying adult.

Will these moves win back fans?  They certainly won’t hurt. But some remain convinced that the Gold Coast, already sports-saturated, will not take to the A-League especially with a club run by Clive Palmer. Writing in Four Four Two Australia, Con Stamocostas says Palmer “finds an area to exploit takes what he needs and then moves onto to the next hole. Taking out the earth’s finite natural resources is not going to endear you to one Australia biggest hippie population bases.”

The crowd at this weekend’s game will give us an idea whether Palmer has already managed to dig Gold Coast United into a hole he can’t get them out of, whatever he does now.

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Big Story
Jack Warner has returned a handbag given to him by the England World Cup bid because of “embarrassment”, launching — even by his absurd standards — a bizarre rhetorical attack on the Football Association.

Most odd was his wording at the lack of the response by the FA to his concerns: “Equally disappointing is the deafening silence from you and the FA and which seems to support these allegations,” Warner wrote to the FA. “No one has sought to correct this betrayal in a way that would unequivocally remove any doubt or question not only in the global village at large but among my few peers where honour is valued and character is cherished.”

Who does Jack think he is, Sir Lancelot?  Last I checked he was a greedy and corrupt minor politician.

Warner then continued with an usual use of wording. “This malaise of my wife and I has been allowed to fester for too long much to our embarrassment and the embarrassment of the institutions which I represent. In this regard, therefore, there is only one recourse: a return of this gift, which has become a symbol of derision, betrayal and embarrassment for me and my family.”

It’s about you got some derision, Jack, just a shame this is for something stupid that the English FA did, and not for one of your own many abuses of power.

Worldwide News

• It’s getting a little old commenting on what a mess it is, but America’s lower league crisis continues to drag on. Match Fit USA looks at the revamp USL-1 is facing, and potential expansion to fill the gaps left by the renegade teams. Anyone fancy a trip to Detroit?
• Supporters of Celtic in Scotland and St Pauli have long had a close association, and 1,000 of the latter are set to join Celtic fans as they face Hamburg in the Europa Cup today.
• Glasgow’s other major team has had another less friendly week abroad in Europe: the behaviour of Rangers fans in Bucharest may lead to another fine for the club. “Seats were ripped up and thrown at stewards during half-time of the Champions League fixture at the Steaua Stadium, prompting Uefa to make a PA announcement threatening the suspension of the game,” the Scotsman reports, though Rangers chief executive Martin Bain blamed the poor treatment of fans for the trouble.
• In today’s Stan Kroenke update, he has upped his share of Arsenal again to 29.9%, but Russell Kempson cautions that he is not yet ready to pony up the remaining £460 million needed to control the club outright.
• EPL Talk has an interesting piece on the different treatment given to beat journalists by American and English sports teams. The former have learned that providing good facilities and access is a way to win respectful coverage, as Eric Altshule wonders why Premier League clubs are so stingy: “with a ravenous press population eager to promote their product and a worldwide audience ready to consume every nuance and tidbit, why do teams deny access with such militancy?”
• I hope you’ve been following the Guardian’s excellent series on location in South Africa, looking ahead to 2010.

The Sweeper appears daily. For more rambling and links throughout the day every day, follow your editor Tom Dunmore @pitchinvasion on Twitter.

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Today, our tifo series swings to Asia for the first time.

We check out Japanese fans at the Nabisco Cup (also known as the J-League Cup) final between Kawasaki Frontale and FC Tokyo, held earlier this week.

This video is a little slow to get going, but there’s some gorgeous colour, some impressive banners, and generally well choreographed displays from supporters of both teams.

And the coup de grâce: a mascot on rollerskates.

Many thanks to @aishiterutokyo on Twitter for the tip. Check out his FC Tokyo blog as well.

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Before kick-off, Uruguay vs Argentina, World Cup 2010 qualifier. Centenario Stadium, Montevideo, Uruguay. October 14th, 2009.

Photo credit: Joelr on Flickr, via the Pitch Invasion Photo Pool.

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The first round of MLS playoffs (aka MLS Conference Semi-finals) always spurs heated discussion about its playoff format as well as the League’s two conference structure.

Let’s take an overview of various playoff format options and League structures for Major League Soccer.  There should be three objectives to a playoff format and League Structure:

1) Crown a worthy champion

2) Entertain the fans

3) Maximize revenue for the teams and League

No matter what playoff format is used or what tweaks are made to improve it, a percentage of fans will criticize it and offer other imperfect solutions.  Most of their criticisms will be based on addressing objectives one and two, as objective three is rarely at the top of fans’ minds.

While there are exceptions to the rule, playoff attendance is traditionally lower in MLS than regular season attendance.  The main reason for this is the lack of time to promote the games and organize group sales, which form the backbone for many teams’ regular season attendance.

For most of MLS’ history the playoff format has been pretty straight forward, but there are other options.  Take a look at the options described below, then let me know your thoughts in the comments section.

1)  TRADITIONAL AMERICAN PLAYOFFS

Some version of the League’s eight top teams in the regular season qualify for the post-season championship and participate in some euphemism for quarter-finals, semi-finals and the final.  The first round has been either best of two or best of three games.  The semi-finals were two games in the early years, but have been a single game since 2003.  MLS Cup has always been a single match in a neutral site…except for 2002 when the Revs lost at home to Los Angeles.

The justified complaints in the early years surrounded the extremely high percentage of teams that qualified, which rendered the regular season nearly meaningless.  Eighty percent of the teams qualified in the years with ten teams and 67% in the years with  twelve teams.  Expansion has finally made qualifying for post-season a challenge that eliminates about half the League and gives some meaning to the regular season.

To be clear, while I see flaws in the traditional American MLS playoff system, I like the fact that MLS has achieved some consistency in its format over time and certainly the alternative  formats and structures are also imperfect.

2)  SINGLE TABLE

OK, so it’s the most popular cyber whine about MLS.  That doesn’t mean that it’s not without merit.  And single table is not really a playoff format as much as it is a regular season structure that could conclude with no playoffs as is done in many leagues throughout the world or traditional American playoffs, stepladder playoffs, group play or any other format.  The positives of single table of course are the ability to compare all teams records at a glance, a balanced schedule (in theory, but potentially difficult) and conforming to most other leagues globally.  The huge negative is the risk of the bottom table teams playing for nothing over the last month of the season.

The level of parity in MLS and the ability to tier qualification for following year for CONCACAF Champions League (top 4?),   SuperLiga (next 4?) and US Open Cup (top 12?) on top of the current year playoffs (top 8?) would mean all teams would at least have SOMETHING to play for through the end of the regular season.

3) STEPLADDER

Made famous in ABC’s televised PRO BOWLING ASSOCIATION tournaments, Saint Louis Athletica Owner Jeff Cooper and I devised the single table stepladder structure and format for Women’s Professional Soccer in its inaugural season.  The stepladder generously rewards (and penalizes) regular season performance as the regular season champion only needs to win one game (at home) to capture the Championship.  Yet, the format does not preclude upsets or low ranking teams winning the post-season.

The format needs to be tweaked for a league as large as MLS – perhaps by providing a first round play in for the lower ranked qualifying team.

The main criticism of this format is the amount of rest for the regular champion (two weeks), which can lead to rustiness.  The top team can, however, schedule a friendly to keep sharp in the while awaiting their final foe.

4) OTHER

Let me know if you have a better structure.  And I mean STRUCTURE, not a tweak of one of the above.  I’m not sure how many other basic structures there are.  Perhaps group play followed by single game semi-finals and final.

While there is no perfect structure or format, I personally prefer some form of the stepladder with single table, but respect those that feel the other formats are better as they each have strengths and weaknesses.  Please vote for your preferred MLS structure in the comments below and let me know what you think are the benefits and flaws of each.  If you vote for #3, add which, if any playoff format you prefer.  If you vote for #4, please describe your new structure.   And keep in mind the three objectives stated up top.

Finally, Chris Armas’ former Chicago Fire teammate Jesse Marsch, who has been sidelined recently from Chivas USA due to a concussion, submitted the following comments on Ring of Fire inductee Chris Armas after last week’s column was posted:

Aside from his obvious abilities on the field, there were 3 things that made Chris very different and special from all the other players with which I have played.

First, he almost always put himself last within the context of the team.  He tried to think of other people and their state of mind and situations when leading the team.  There were often times where he would call a players only meeting to try and address the mentality of the team and make sure that everyone had a common purpose in mind.  This coupled with a lot of little conversations he would have with individuals, including myself, seemed to invest each person in the team and in Chris.

Another way he exemplified his selflessness was how he dealt with playing for both the national team and the Chicago Fire.  Every player I have ever played with, that has been fortunate enough to represent their national team, has gone through moments of indifference toward their club team.  Chris was the only exception.  He told very few national team stories, never named dropped big time players, and made everyone feel that he put everything into the Fire at all times.  I’m sure he was the same way when he was with the US team.  He was a great professional.

Second, he had the ability to understand and relate with others, thus creating relationships where people believed in him as both a player and a person.  Those who watched him play were able to see how he helped make the players around him better.  That was actually more an extension of his personality than his playing style.  He was good with people, not in a corny dorky way, but in a funny charismatic manner.  The best teammates and leaders that I have ever played with all made everyone want to be better, and this was one of Chris’ major qualities.

Last, Chris hated to lose more than any human being I have ever known…and he rarely did.

Personal stories abound in my mind when I think of Chris, but I will keep them personal.  However, my favorite on the field recollection of Chris is the conference final in 2003 against New England.  It was Chris’ best game of his career in my eyes, and he scored the game winner in overtime, back in the golden goal days.  He was running past players on both teams, making play after play.  We probably should have won that game 10 times over in regular time.  Chris literally willed us to win and the look on his face when he scored the winner was the essence of Chris.

Hope you have a great week.  I know I will!

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Big Story
So, despite protests from fans and politicians, Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley has further cemented his unpopularity on Tyneside by announcing the renaming of St. James’ Park — apparently believing that adding an “@” symbol to it means the club is respecting history. The name will be “sportsdirect.com @ StJames’Park”.

“With the renaming it was always going to be whatever brand it was, at St James’ Park,” Managing director Derek Llambias said. “For the remainder of this season, we already have sportsdirect.com on the Gallowgate so we’d like to take that branding through the rest of the stadium.”

The Newcastle United Supporters Trust already has a petition up against the renaming of the stadium, stating “Derek Llambias has announced on 03/11/09 that the ground will be renamed to “Sxxxxs DxxxxT.cxx @ St James’s Park”. We strongly believe the name and soul of our ground is not theirs to sale. Our petition stands. NO to the renaming of SJP!”

Right on. And hell, just in terms of a name, something new entirely would be better than this travesty of an attempted compromise.

Worldwide News

• There is a lot more in the papers today following-up yesterday’s story about Stan Kroenke’s possible takeover of Arsenal. Gabrielle Marcotti echoes the Arsenal Supporters’ Trust’s concerns about the prospect of a debt-laden purchase, though Jeremy Wilson suggests his past share purchases do not suggest a trend of massive borrowing (though we’re talking about a lot more money for a take-over). The Independent, like the AST, does not think a takeover bid is imminent anyway.
• Looks like Portsmouth’s embattled chief executive Peter Storrie has a lot to worry about, as the BBC is reporting he has been charged with tax evasion.
• We mentioned some unpleasant scenes in Bulgaria this weekend yesterday, as the mass brawl in the Plovdiv derby will have serious consequences for Lokomotiv.
• Stadium proposals for both DC United and Crystal Palace USA are to be studied in Baltimore.
• Southend United have until Friday to clear their £2.135 million tax debt. The Shrimpers Trust have been working overtime attempting to save their club, so let’s hope they can buy some more time.

The Sweeper appears daily. For more rambling and links throughout the day every day, follow your editor Tom Dunmore @pitchinvasion on Twitter.

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