NYC FC: How You Like Them Yaya Toures

A missed chance to be United?

My father likes to joke that he’s cousins with Manchester City Football Club owner Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al Nahyan. 

Those who know anything about Arabic know that a) his first name is Mansour and our last name is Mansoor, which would preclude any real relation; and b) Mansour/Mansoor is like the Smith of the Arab world, it’s an incredibly common name that spans nearly every region in the Middle East and North Africa.

Despite a lack of filial or any other genealogical connection, my father still roots for the Citizens despite my howls of protest as a die-hard Arsenal supporter. 

“Did you see Yaya Toure’s penalty? So calm and professional. Why can’t Arsenal sign players like that?” he’ll ask, not with any malice. He just likes watching me rend my Invincibles-era scarf. 


So it’s with mixed emotions that I find myself looking forward to Sheikh Mansour’s newest venture, NYC FC, modeled in part on their Premier League cousins, MCFC. There are only two problems: I hate the name and I hate orange piping in the badge. 


It’s the former that contributor Tio Pelotas took issue with when I suggested the name should be NYC United. He protested that it’d be trolling MCFC supporters, who hate no one and nothing more than the damned United, the Red Devils, ManYoo, etc. But I contended that the name NYC United would fit better for a couple of reasons. 

First, they’re the team of the five boroughs of New York City, uniting the disparate fan bases and natural enemies among the citizens of different parts of the city. Yes, we’re one big, happy city, but we generally sneer at each other based on where we live and where we’re from. There’s like a cascade of snobbery, with Manhattanites looking down on those in the outer boroughs; the Brooklyn hipsters insisting on how much cooler they are than the sold-out, soulless “city” people and the passé denizens from Queens; the natural, baseball-born rivals between Queens and the Bronx; and generally no one really cares about Staten Island anyway.

But a city united behind one sports team, that’d be novel, not seen since the city as a whole loved the Knicks in the early 1990s, a fleeting time when we could all call one team ours. Now with the Brooklyn Nets, that’ll never happen again. 


But NYC FC name just lacks that sense of togetherness. It can’t really convey that they’re the only real soccer team (sorry New York/Jersey Red Bulls/Metrostars or whoever you are now) that represents us. 

And they’ll already say united on their shirts. If the main sponsor is Etihad Airlines, like the Citizens, NYC FC’s shirts will be emblazoned with the word Etihad, which means united in Arabic. Citizens fans will just have to accept that their cousins are from the same family but have a different last name. Even if it reminds them of their main rivals.


And who the hell likes their family anyway? As the old Arab proverb goes, unity means many people working together as if they are all one person.

As for the orange piping? It reminds me of the Mets and Knicks. Who wants to emulate those two franchises? Since the Yankees own a stake in the team, I’m surprised they didn’t push for pinstripes. Now that would have made a statement.


Oh, and my father won’t be supporting NYC FC. My parents live in Orlando and are looking forward to their adopted hometown Orlando City joining the MLS in 2015.

I can’t wait until NYC FC raids their ranks and I get to ask my father how he likes them Yaya Toures. 

- Adam Manzor

Bradley says MLS is 'no longer a place to end your career'

Micheal Bradley, Tim Cahill and Omar Gonzalez came to visit today and all three were making the right noises about MLS.

Bradley was insistent that MLS is no longer a place where players come to end their careers. Having joined Toronto FC at 26, 10 years after playing for the MetroStars, Bradley said that the quality of the league is now starting to match the rest of the world. Saying that he wanted to build something in the sportscentric Canadian city, Bradley said that, although he may have unfinished business in Europe, MLS is the place for him right now.

He noted how all the strong international teams have a core group of players in their domestic league, something MLS has done ahead of the World Cup in Brazil this summer.

Although pushed a little on preparations for the World Cup, conditions in Brazil and their international careers, what came across was how impressed they were with the growth and direction of MLS.

Talking about the star power of David Beckham and Thierry Henry, Cahill commented on the organizational strengths on the league and how the structure is key to continued development. He mentioned the excitement of being part of a group that is building the league and taking the world game to a place of its own in the US where it doesn't need to compete with other sports.

Ahead of the season's start on March 8, the players raved about the soccer specific stadiums helping to build rivalries and create match-ups that fans can't wait to see.

Gonzalez said while he's going to be disappointed to leave the Galaxy for a month during the World Cup, that playing for your country supercedes everything, and that the league is now strong enough to hold its own even if the stars are off for a few weeks.

Roll on the new season as there are now plenty of players here in MLS that will feature in Brazil - a trend that looks set to continue as the league grows.

Tim Cahill needs to step up the gym work!

Tim Cahill has assaulted corner flags for a long time now, scoring goals for Millwall, Everton and the New York Red Bulls, but his celebration may need some work.

This goalkeeper takes on another opponent who can't fight back, although the post is likely to leave a few more bruises than the corner flag does!