Talk:MLS Cup 2008/GA1

GA Review
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Reviewer: ImmortalWizard (talk · contribs) 12:25, 8 January 2019 (UTC)

I'll review this article for the next couple of days. A point to be noted is I'm a WikiCup participant and so is the nominator.  Immortal  Wizard  (chat) 12:25, 8 January 2019 (UTC)

Comments
Disclaimer: I am familiar with football/soccer and sports in general, but I don't follow the MLS. I'll start commenting from the lead. Press "ctrl f" to quickly find the statements below.


 * The lead seems just fine at first glance, although I will get back it later on.
 * "Columbus" and "the Crew" should not be used interchangeably. Only one of the names should be used to avoid confusion and provide consistency. The same goes with New York/Red Bulls.
 * It is common for sports teams (especially in North America) to be referred to by their nickname AND/OR their city.
 * It would be beneficial to add wikilink to Major League Soccer when it's used as a publisher in the citations.
 * Why not use [ref 1] only once in the venue section?
 * It's easier to verify the date with an immediate citation.
 * "two editions of the CONCACAF Gold Cup" - It only links the men's edition here whereas the source states CONCACAF Women's Gold Cup was hosted as well. It would be helpful to replace something like "both the men's and women's CONCACAF Gold Cup matches," in this context, even though it contradicts Gender-neutral language.
 * The women's Gold Cup is very minor compared to the men's edition and this article is about a men's match anyway. The women's World Cup is given special mention because it is a major competition.
 * The sources only mentions the venue is a training ground for both United States men's and women's national team, not playing matches. Also niether of them states the month in which the stadium opened in 2003 and that it's the largest soccer stadium.
 * The training camps held at the stadium include friendlies. Split it out and switched to only mentioning the men's team.
 * "was contested by 14 teams in two conferences." will be better suited to replace "was contested by 14 teams from the Eastern and Western Conference".
 * Unnecessarily wordy and would conflict with later mentions of the conferences by name.
 * "The MLS Cup is the post-season championship of Major League Soccer (MLS), a professional club soccer league in the United States and Canada." - source?
 * Supported by the FIFA.com reference.
 * Also work/website=MLSsoccer.com and work/website=mlsnet.com should be replaced with publisher=Major League Soccer to manage a consistent format of citation.
 * MLSsoccer/MLSnet articles are not official communications from the league, so they aren't linked as such.
 * "The Crew and Red Bulls played each other three times in the regular season," - which regular season? If it's the 2008 one. it should be mentioned like "the regular season in 2018".
 * I don't think it's necessary, given that this section is talking only about the 2008 season.
 * Associated Press should be wikilinked in every citations it's mentioned as a publisher.
 * Per MOS:DUPLINK, I only link the first instance of a publication, agency, or work in the reference section.
 * " at the end of the 2005 season" - 2005 season should be wikilinked
 * It's worth mentioning in the Columbus Crew section that the coach already won MLS Cup three times once with LA Galaxy in 2002. This will provide support to the lead.
 * Added, but the lead's statement is supported in the Post-match section.
 * "after the team finished at the bottom of the Eastern Conference" - not mentioned in the source
 * Source clearly says "worst in the Eastern Conference"
 * The signing of Brad Evans not mentioned in the source.
 * Added offline source mentioning the 2007 roster moves.
 * "Argentine forward Guillermo Barros Schelotto was signed in April 2007 and nearly led the team into the playoffs, falling several points short in the final weeks of the season." - how did Schelotto led the team and failed points? I am assuming it's not him but rather the team, if so, the sentence must be divided and written clearly. Also, it's worth wikilinking the 2007 season.
 * Reordered.
 * The caption in Schelotto's picture is not supported by any source. Should be altered to have neutrality.
 * Don't see how it violates NPOV. Added to the prose.
 * Also Schelotto in the best xi is not mentioned in the source.
 * Added source.
 * Can't verify ref [19]
 * Again the specific seasons should be wikilinked.
 * Most of the early seasons would be redlinked, so I am not linking them.
 * "their second under the Red Bull brand" citation needed
 * Added citation.
 * Can't verify [ref 27] since it's unavailable in Europe.
 * Also wikilink to the New York Times as a source.
 * The aggregrate of red bulls against dynamo is 4-1, but it's 3-2 in the summary of results.
 * The same goes for Chicago Crew, the aggregate should be 3-1 instead of 2-1.
 * Fixed the tables.
 * Rob Stones is not mentioned in the source and Julie Foudy is the comment section, which isn't reliable.
 * Mentioned in the following source, which I have repeated.
 * ref 41 not available in Europe.
 * "Baldomero Toledo was refereeing his first MLS Cup." not specified in the source that it's his first
 * Found an alternate citation and fluffed it out.
 * "including several thousand Crew fans who re-created the "Nordecke" in the northeastern corner of the Home Depot Center" need explanation
 * Link added that redirects to the club article; adding an explanation of the supporters group would be overkill here.
 * ref 44] not available in Europe.
 * The LA Times just switched to GDPR compliance, so it should be available soon.
 * Also Columbus Crew as favorites sounds biased without explanation and is not supported in the source.
 * I would recommend to copyedit the summary section if you want to go for FA.
 * I'm not intending to take this to FA.
 * Also, Houston being the defending champions is mentioned in the lead but never supported anywhere. I want to be mentioned anywhere you like at least once.
 * It is mentioned in the sentence "the Red Bulls won 3–0 in Houston to advance 4–1 on aggregate over the two-time defending MLS Cup champions"

Result
The article meets most of the GA criteria, with good citations and prose. It has the potential to be FA if it's written in a more engaging and appealing language. I will now keep this review on hold for 7 days, letting the nominator to fix the issues mentioned. I'm ready to give more time if the nominator wishes.  Immortal  Wizard  (chat) 18:20, 8 January 2019 (UTC)
 * The sources which I don't have access to does not mean that those are unreliable. I trust the nominator to confirm their reliability. 20:16, 8 January 2019 (UTC)
 * I have answered all but a handful of your points above, with my own comments (generally, I dislike linking to multiple redlinks in an article and duplicating links in the reference section). Thanks for the review and good luck in the cup.  Sounder Bruce  03:04, 9 January 2019 (UTC)

Yes, great job done! Looks fine to fine. It's a pass for GA. Good luck to you too.  Immortal  Wizard  (chat) 07:12, 9 January 2019 (UTC)