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Rating: 
Summary: Up-&-coming highlights package from an up-&-coming league
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Great Entertainment
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Great Entertainment
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: Not Worth It
Review: I bought this video with the expectation that i'd be seeing a lot of really good goals, and while there are many good goals, there are also a lot of fairly average goals that don't bear revisiting. The producers were culling goals from the mere eight years the league had existed and they missed a surprising number of really spectacular goals. I also agree with the prior reviewer that some goals are replayed too often (this is a DVD, I can replay it myself if I want to), and the "special effects" are gratuitous and distracting. I've been a fan of MLS since they opened shop and there are a lot of highlights missing from this DVD. You're left with the distinct impression that the people who put this DVD together didn't have access to everything they should have to create what purports to be the definitive collection of MLS goals. By the way, I am a D.C. United fan and I may be a little partial, but to show only 3 (maybe 4) goals from the three-time champions of the league is an insult.
Rating:
Summary: Not Worth It
Review: I bought this video with the expectation that i'd be seeing a lot of really good goals, and while there are many good goals, there are also a lot of fairly average goals that don't bear revisiting. The producers were culling goals from the mere eight years the league had existed and they missed a surprising number of really spectacular goals. I also agree with the prior reviewer that some goals are replayed too often (this is a DVD, I can replay it myself if I want to), and the "special effects" are gratuitous and distracting. I've been a fan of MLS since they opened shop and there are a lot of highlights missing from this DVD. You're left with the distinct impression that the people who put this DVD together didn't have access to everything they should have to create what purports to be the definitive collection of MLS goals. By the way, I am a D.C. United fan and I may be a little partial, but to show only 3 (maybe 4) goals from the three-time champions of the league is an insult.
Rating: 
Summary: Pure energy
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: Great goals, but poorly done
Review: I love soccer. Therefore it is easy to impress me by simply showing great goal after great goal. When I purchased this DVD as a father's day gift, I knew my dad and I would enjoy watching it together. After watching it last night for the first time, my first impression of the DVD was that it left something to be desired. A lot of the camera angles are awkward, either zoomed in too far, or lacking goal perspective. What truly irked me though, was how the DVD content and structure lacked a professionally-designed feel. The entire DVD, there is this god-awful techno beat playing in the background, and I say god-awful as a fan of electronic music so I am not biased. Additionally, after every single goal shown, a slow-motion digital effects replay is shown, which is absolutely useless because the digital effects blur renders the details of the goal a blurry blob of irritation. Trust me, this gets real old, real fast. As a final strike against the DVD, the same goals are shown multiple times in various categories (I think that one goal is shown five times throughout the film). The DVD has the feel of a highshcool video-editing project. Fortunately, like I said, you really can't go wrong watching great soccer moments. If I had the know-how, I would edit out all of the goals from this DVD and make my own film sans the cheezy music, annoying effects, and so-so goals. But then again, I could not do much worse with such great content than the makers of this film...
Rating:
Summary: Great goals, but poorly done
Review: I love soccer. Therefore it is easy to impress me by simply showing great goal after great goal. When I purchased this DVD as a father's day gift, I knew my dad and I would enjoy watching it together. After watching it last night for the first time, my first impression of the DVD was that it left something to be desired. A lot of the camera angles are awkward, either zoomed in too far, or lacking goal perspective. What truly irked me though, was how the DVD content and structure lacked a professionally-designed feel. The entire DVD, there is this god-awful techno beat playing in the background, and I say god-awful as a fan of electronic music so I am not biased. Additionally, after every single goal shown, a slow-motion digital effects replay is shown, which is absolutely useless because the digital effects blur renders the details of the goal a blurry blob of irritation. Trust me, this gets real old, real fast. As a final strike against the DVD, the same goals are shown multiple times in various categories (I think that one goal is shown five times throughout the film). The DVD has the feel of a highshcool video-editing project. Fortunately, like I said, you really can't go wrong watching great soccer moments. If I had the know-how, I would edit out all of the goals from this DVD and make my own film sans the cheezy music, annoying effects, and so-so goals. But then again, I could not do much worse with such great content than the makers of this film...
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