6-6 on aggregate but as it should be (and MLS should copy this) Pumas’ regular season finish as the higher seed gives them the tiebreaker to advance. The excitement of the Liga MX playoffs never disappoint

Zendejas has two goals tonight including a crazy header vs Pumas. Too bad it seems like Poch has made his mind on him

Because there are 7 fouls on every corner by every team

That was clearly a foul but it’s crazy how set pieces almost have a completely different rule set than any other part of the field

I have no idea why teams try to build out of the back vs FC Dallas. Go watch their goals scored this year; there’s a few that are caused off turnovers in the midfield or sloppy build out of the back that Musa picks off. They swarm forward so quickly with how connected they are and boom

*checks FotMob* yeah a draw against this team is rough

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPdH... are you wondering what possibly happened to prompt this response from @jonarnoldfc.bsky.social & @armankafai.bsky.social ??? Listen to The Hex! -What grade does MLS deserve from CCC? -What the hell to make of this El Tri camp? -What does LAFC need? Six topics!

It's become accepted gospel that MLS roster rules are responsible for it's failings against Liga MX. I don't think there is any evidence to support this. And there is far more data to support the hypothesis that MLS struggles because of its home atmospheres open.substack.com/pub/wburdine...

Great read from Wes and actually was part of what I was going to write about (hopefully today!). It’s almost as if Liga MX teams have HFA in both legs of CCC. I mean, look at how much Diablo red you saw in LA, or the games where America takes over a stadium

LAFC have 0 outlets right now. They are stuck and literally can't get out of their own half.

What an atmosphere in Toluca. Setting the stage for this exciting second leg

Jon brought this up on The Hex way back in January (another reason why yall should be listening!) This has been the case for months now whether it’s right or wrong… and has made Liguilla a lot more different. They agreed to do so for whatever reason and now we’re seeing the expected fall out

The Mexico national team has threatened its players (& clubs) with being dropped from the World Cup roster if they don't report to its pre-World Cup camp when it starts today. PretendsToBeShocked.gif that this has all ended up in a chaotic situation. www.usatoday.com/story/sports...

Blame *redacted provider* for Nico’s lack of trust in xG models

Think coaches are even getting the message that a draw against this SKC side is really, really bad

At the old but glorious Keyworth Stadium

If this were a CCC game, people would be talking about bad quality, poor defending & saying it was proof one league or another was terrible.

This is an MLS game. What the hell is happening

We talk the Vancouver situation, CCC what to watch for, what to make of San Diego, an ode to APG & would you rather....relegation edition! Give it a listen! @armankafai.bsky.social @jonarnoldfc.bsky.social www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqpv...

As an NDP voter, I fully blame Eby and the government for not understanding economics.

Glad we’re discussing one of the most historical teams in MLS relocating to soulless Las Vegas. Amazing work everyone

League just makes up stuff as it goes man. Why wouldn’t Mo Salah be discoverable? Like legitimately, what’s the reasoning? It’s not a former player like Brandon Vazquez where he had to go through waivers for whatever reason the league made up

Anyone here from Detroit? Going to be in Detroit next weekend, was wondering if anyone had any recs on cool things to do. For sure hitting a DCFC game

Soccer talks with @armankafai.bsky.social. Premier League drama, World Cup ticket sales, and Matt Crocker peaces out. youtu.be/a2MfYIKRw5Y?...

Also literally everyone knows there is a big break coming at the end of May, and many are treating it like two half seasons.

I wonder how this is going to change as the season goes on. Remember, due to the World Cup (and other things), the schedules are very imbalanced. For example, Vancouver has played 7/8 games at home. FC Dallas 6/8. Nashville has played 3 at home and have had CCC. Miami only 2 at home.

With most teams having played 8 games, the underlying stats are beginning to become useful while still noisy. Vancouver may be the best MLS team ever and SKC the worst. Both are performing as expected. There's a huge pack of average teams down on their luck.

I’m bullish on SKCs future and can totally see why they’d punt this year with the post-Vermes era and new ownership coming it but these games have been brutal to watch

Boosting this one more time on Friday!

I feel like some of you wouldn’t believe what I’m about to say. It’s time for GAM to go. For good. My latest for FAM:

I feel like some of you wouldn’t believe what I’m about to say. It’s time for GAM to go. For good. My latest for FAM:

No one deserves it more than my goat and journalist father Jon Arnold

Did not have Mascherano as the third manager to leave his club this season and if you did, congrats but I think you’re lying

My take is we need someone who actually cares about US Soccer in this role, not some dude hired by a firm

I had the pleasure of talking with Ashlyn Puerta for @theixsports.bsky.social last week. We chatted about her record-breaking season, constant change, and the type of player she wants to be. Oh and the Mustang Shelby GT500. Read the full piece: www.theixsports.com/the-ix-socce...

Hoping to get a blog done this week that will I think, surprise a few people, especially with the recent posts and projects produced on FAM. Be on the lookout

Who wants this job with how their roster situation is? There’s no stability and the team, while interesting because they’re just picking off random players on every team, is not good!

I used to think MLS had the dumbest playoff system, then I realized that the NHL system could have the top 3 teams in the West play eachother in the first 2 rounds of the playoffs

Don’t get this at all. So he didn’t bomb Iran to shit and now everyone’s like haha look at Taco Trump? Are yall fucking stupid? What outcome did you want you ghouls

We’ve talked about GAM inflation a lot. In a unique league with this unique currency, it means that last year’s price is quite literally not equal to this year’s. Historically, we need to adjust our expectations for the valuation of assets. We dive into the Wild West of GAM Inflation:

That being said, a few new transactions were updated today prior to the Jan 4, 2022 date we had in there. Now, we have GAM trades dating back to the half-day window after the 2021 MLS Cup, including another big trade inflation adjusted.

Some of y'all may wonder why GAM Is Fun does not have transactions prior to the 2022 season. It's a simple reason; MLS teams did not report the splits of GAM in most of the transactions. Now, teams report the year splits of the GAM; in 2021, we saw that very, very rarely.

i didn't really address “GAM-flation” directly in my story, but this does a good job of illustrating how failing to generate GAM can really leave a team at a disadvantage. footyanalyticmusings.substack.com/p/the-wild-w...

Arman's post helps clarify my thinking about GAM inflation. There are two levels this is working on. Arman has created a multiplier to compare transactions over time. This is important for comparing interleague trades from different years. It like CPI index for GAM trades. Very useful.

We’ve talked about GAM inflation a lot. In a unique league with this unique currency, it means that last year’s price is quite literally not equal to this year’s. Historically, we need to adjust our expectations for the valuation of assets. We dive into the Wild West of GAM Inflation:

The NBA introducing a similar concept to GAM (but for the draft) would A) Be hilarious and B) Make absolute sense

HUGE day of footy and we've got it all covered! -> www.youtube.com/watch?v=txMm... -Was the USMNT bad or Belgium good? -Should USMNT or El Tri fans be more concerned? -Who are the players you scouted at Dallas Cup? Lots more! @armankafai.bsky.social @jonarnoldfc.bsky.social

This week’s blog post isn’t really a post. It’s a tool that everyone can use to analyze their team’s current GAM situation based on the trades teams have made. All in one place. Introducing…. GAM Is Fun

By the way, it was my first time at MBS. What a great stadium. Staying in Buckhead and it was a straight shot to the stadium via the train system. Super easy to get to, easy to get in and out, and great fan friendly pricing. Was a very enjoyable experience minus the match

Feels like a naive performance from the USMNT. Great first half but feel like there has to be moments where they need to make the game messier and slow down the game. Just felt a bit naive to continuously play expansive when Tim Weah is up against Doku