MLS 2022/23 Season: Part 2

boldbadger1 said:Forget about what's "realistic"—this is football, for heaven's sake. If everything were predictable, every league would just be a pre-written formula.

I don't see any reason why Varaždin shouldn't crush Rijeka at home this Sunday; even Istra managed to beat them away from home in front of a packed stadium.

Well fine then, I guess Indianapolis will almost 🙂
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Nicole Jackson3 said:Well fine then, I guess Indianapolis will almost 🙂
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Catch you all on Sunday 🙂

Nothing? Everything actually looking clean for once? No swarm of doom-and-gloom prophets descending on us? Honestly, let it be—it’s actually nice to have a little peace and quiet in this thread for a change.

Nicole Jackson3 said:Well fine then, I guess Indianapolis will almost 🙂
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But wait—is Pajač going to be officiating again?
So, Viki was just saying down at the stadium: our broadcast is way too short to even begin pointing out all the ways Pajač's calls favor the teams from the coast 🤣 🤣 🤣

boldbadger1 said:Well, even that bottom-tier team wasn't playing great, which is exactly how they managed to knock Dinamo out of the Cup.

Back then, they were definitely better than they are right now.😁
Everything just went downhill after that point. It’s almost like someone sucked all the confidence right out of them—that defensive compactness that defined their whole season? Just gone.

As for the team from Cleveland, well, both of us have already mentioned how rough they've looked over the last month.
I mean, it's not impossible for them to pull off a win, sure, but calling them favorites right now? Not really.

Thomas Hayes said:Back then, they were definitely better than they are right now.😁
Everything just went downhill after that point. It’s almost like someone sucked all the confidence right out of them—that defensive compactness that defined their whole season? Just gone.

As for the team from Cleveland, well, both of us have already mentioned how rough they've looked over the last month.
I mean, it's not impossible for them to pull off a win, sure, but calling them favorites right now? Not really.

Well, I never actually said they *were* the favorites... I just said I'm rooting for that kind of outcome. There's a difference, really.🙂

boldbadger1 said:Well, I never actually said they *were* the favorites... I just said I'm rooting for that kind of outcome. There's a difference, really.🙂

I mean, I get it.
So, how would one of those legendary high-ranking members put it? They’d probably say that these next two weeks are absolutely everything.

Thomas Hayes said:I mean, I get it.
So, how would one of those legendary high-ranking members put it? They’d probably say that these next two weeks are absolutely everything.

If I may jump in here: we really need to just take this one game at a time.

Olivia Taylor2 said:The number of teams from the metro area could actually go up in the top tier, but looking at how things are shaking out, it might actually shrink in the second division. If Šibenik and Rudeš swap places, we lose one more club from the local circuit. As for the second tier, it’s pretty much a lock that Dragovoljac is going down. They could be replaced by a club from a tiny town of just 264 people—Zrinski Jurjevac.

With only four matches left, they and Sesvete are locked in a dead heat for promotion. Opatija, led by Tonči Kukoč Petrela (🤣), was in the mix too, but they've fallen behind. Zrinski currently sits one point ahead of Sesvete, and they face them on home turf in the final round. Their last meeting in Sesvete ended in a 0-0 draw.

If Zrinski manages to clinch their spot, they'll likely have to play their home games in Đakovo.

Do you happen to know which stadium they'll be using?

ruggedowl13 said:But wait—is Pajač going to be officiating again?
So, Viki was just saying down at the stadium: our broadcast is way too short to even begin pointing out all the ways Pajač's calls favor the teams from the coast 🤣 🤣 🤣

But honestly, the wildest part? Some of those Mitrović fans on this forum are actually convinced that everyone is constantly out to get Hajduk—as if they’re just being bullied by the refs. They seriously can't see that yesterday's officiating was exactly what we used to see from any major club back in the day if someone decided to turn up the heat.🙂

Honestly, those brave souls from the coast really pulled a rabbit out of a hat yesterday. You have to look at the sheer chaos they were facing just to realize how lucky they were to walk away with their heads held high.
When you consider that the coach—a man who is usually the picture of calm and composure—is standing there saying he’s actually satisfied with just grabbing a single point after everything that went down, then you know exactly how intense things truly were.

I’ve been following the developments closely, and frankly, the situation in San Diego is an absolute disgrace. Or perhaps I should call it the San Diego scandal, if you prefer a more descriptive label for such a failure.

Good grief, these guys... you're seriously comparing this officiating to those armed raids we see all the time on MLS pitches ☕

You know you're truly screwed when those Southerners drop three of them on you. It’s a pathetic day. 😢

casualskipper65 said:I honestly don't get how this Zrinski outfit even operates. How can they be sitting this high up when the rules say you need four youth categories, and in a village that size, there's probably enough kids for one team max? I have no clue where they're pulling players from. 🤷

Just one more for the road. 😁

They probably just pull them in from the surrounding small towns.

mellowotter36 said:Do you happen to know which stadium they'll be using?

Honestly, I have no clue. I heard today that they’re planning a stadium in a small town like Sandusky too, so now I’m not even sure which one they actually got the license for.

Good grief, what kind of daylight robbery did we witness at the stadium yesterday... I mean, you can't just chalk this one up to being clueless or incompetent—even if Pajača is a total moron—this was straight-up highway robbery by those pathetic Istrian losers.

By the way—May 2, 2023, in Los Angeles... they're currently in production on a film titled “Armed robbery on the football field.The focus is on the looting right at the end of the game, when they brought out the heavy artillery. General Kusta was watching everything through binoculars from the VIP box, while Colonel Lukša didn't even bother looking at the field because some low-level snitch sent him a threatening text saying they’d leak photos to TMZ. I won't get into too many specifics here, but you'll see it all soon enough. Armed robbery on the football field—that's the title of the movie.

Shout at it so it doesn't burn up.

Carol Wright9 said:Shout at it so it doesn't burn up.

👍

Olivia Taylor2 said:Just one more for the road. 😁

They probably just pull them in from the surrounding small towns.

Honestly, I have no clue. I heard today that they’re planning a stadium in a small town like Sandusky too, so now I’m not even sure which one they actually got the license for.

According to my search, Jurjevac Punitovacki is only 17 miles from Osijek and 9.9 miles from Đakovo; it isn't exactly the middle of nowhere. It is far more intriguing to consider who would invest in a club from such a tiny town and what their motivation might be.