6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great Entertainment, July 19, 2004
This review is from: Major League Soccer: Greatest Goals 1996-2003 (DVD)
I bought this DVD for my son. I have 2 boys and one plays soccer and the other football. My soccer son put the DVD in and just loved it. I watched it with him the first time and saw that it was very exciting and very family friendly.
Good action and slow motion from several angles that lets you see how the goal is scored. At regular speed some of the goals go by so fast that you miss how they were scored. The slow motion also shows just how tough a game soccer is. I think some of the video seems old and looks like it has been copied several times but my son did not seem to care. My football son is really into the DVD and thinks that it is awesome.
I am a sports fan although never followed soccer until my son got into it so my review of this title is as a parent and not a soccer fan. The DVD is fun, fast paced and is perfect for all kids.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Up-&-coming highlights package from an up-&-coming league, July 24, 2004
This review is from: Major League Soccer: Greatest Goals 1996-2003 (DVD)
I bought this DVD because as a resident of a non-MLS city it is the easiest way I know to support the league; I do feel that it is vitally important to support the development of the game in the US at its senior (i.e., professional) level if we are to become contenders for the World Cup...which, judging by Korea/Japan 2002, we are well on our way to becoming.
The good news is that this highlights collection over the first 8 years of existence of a professional league that most US-based sports fans could care less about and that many US-based soccer fans (including myself on occasion) may feel at best ambiguous about confirms that there is actually a significant degree of artistic flair based within our borders...but while we still have a ways to go before we can consider ourselves on the same footing as the EPL, the DFB, or Spain's Primera Liga, it is in fact the COVERAGE of the game as it is played here has still farther to go.
It is obvious that part of this program's fault lies not necessarily within its editing (the flash-frame imagery with the techno beat soundtrack seems to indicate for some reason that a majority of MLS fans would feel more at home at raves than at soccer games), but within the camerawork used to capture the goals themselves. I don't care if it's ESPN or FSW, whomever is filming these games desperately need to take a few tips from their European counterparts. The goals themselves are surprising and worthy of admiration, but when the viewer's eyes are constantly jumping from corner of their TV screen to the other to try to track the progress of the play and the path of the ball, the effect is not one of awe but one of "What the @&$%?! did I miss?"
All the same, this is a decent highlights package that gives you an idea as to what the professional arm of American soccer has been up to over the last 8 years. Followers of the league from its inception will see this as being a time capsule, replete with the first league goal ever scored (Eric Wynalda, looking rather a lot like Scotland's Archie Gemmill in the '78 World Cup Vs. Holland in the effort), defunct teams such as the Miami Fusion and Tampa Bay Mutiny (including the only goal I can ever remember seeing Colombian icon Carlos Valderrama score from a free kick), and of course the truly atrocious uniform designs worn throughout the years by pretty much every team that took the field. The experienced observer will note that a number of the goals scored seem to take advantage of poor placement by goalkeepers, ironic as the USA has made a bit of a name for itself lately by sending world class 'keepers to the EPL in Blackburn Rovers' Brad Friedel ans Manchester United's Tim Howard. There are plenty of goals scored by local talent (particularly Team USA superstar Landon Donovan...oh, to see him in a Celtic shirt) as well as the internationals who have come to call MLS home (Valderrama as well as the Bulgarian god of free kicks Hristo Stoichkov being particularly well-represented).
It's a decent enough collection, poor editing and bad camerawork aside. I'd recommend it to fans of the MLS, and for the offering price even those soccer fans who think themselves above the MLS should give it a look...you will be pleasantly surprised.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Pure energy, July 21, 2004
This review is from: Major League Soccer: Greatest Goals 1996-2003 (DVD)
I have not played soccer in years but have children that play and am a big fan of the game. This DVD was riveting and inspiring but most of all FUN. It made me want to get back in the game. My whole family loved the music and stopped what they were doing to watch. I hope there are some sequels coming out. I can't wait to see Freddy! I have given this DVD as a gift to my children's soccer coaches and friends that play soccer.
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