Thursday 24 March 2011

MLS: A Transatlantic View Of 2011


Major League Soccer continued its uphill struggle for acceptance in both the world football scene and as a domestic sport with the beginning of their 2011 league season last week.

The nation's growing contingent of soccer fans and investors will see the new campaign as their opportunity to bounce back from the heartbreak of missing out on hosting the 2022 World Cup.

And with an expansion of teams, the return of the reserve league and more significant restructures to financial caps and contract laws, it's difficult to argue that the loss of the showpiece tournament to Qatar has derailed America's long term plans to build their profile.



Change

2011 marks the MLS debut of two 'expansion teams' as the national pool reaches a total of 18, generally regarded as the minimum amount of teams in a respectable European top flight.

Portland Timbers and Vancouver Whitecaps have been promoted from the 'lower leagues' of the Stateside soccer scene, known as the USSF D2 Pro League.

Unlike most footballing nations, but very much like the established American sports, MLS sides are selected for promotion as opposed to earning it through performance.

With no risk of relegation for any of the 'franchises' barring financial turmoil, it is easy to see why fans outside the USA struggle to accept the new kids on the block.

MLS is also split into Eastern and Western conferences, again much akin to the American way rather than the way of the game, and the introduction of two Westernly cities this year saw Texan outfit Houston Dynamo switch to East to make two sub-divisions of nine.

In another Americanism, it is from here that play-off places are decided. In 2010, the best league finishes in each Conference made for an eight-team play-off finale to the campaign – a virtual knockout tournament.

The table-toppers in the overall league win the MLS Supporters' Shield, but the centrepiece takes place a month after the regular fixtures end for the MLS Cup.

Played for the first time outside the United States last November in Toronto, Colorado Rapids (overall finish: 7th) defeated FC Dallas (4th) to take the cup with Shield winners LA Galaxy eliminated by Seattle Sounders in the 'Conference Semi-Finals' (first play-off round).

Though it puts into perspective the common trend of a 6th-placed English divisional side earning promotion at the expense of three teams placed higher in the league than they, it could get wilder yet this season with the announcement of an extra two play-off places.

Beginning with this season, the best three teams from each conference receive guaranteed playoff spots; the four teams with the next best point totals will play one-match knockout games to determine the final participant for each conference.

With the new playoff structure comes a new incentive for the Supporters Shield winner who will play the lowest seeded team to qualify for the conference semifinals.

While traditionalists will sneer, the idea is the latest in a line of attempts to spark interest from the majority of American sports fans, whose spectatorship (and merchandise outlay) reaches fever pitch for end-of-season tournaments in baseball, basketball, gridiron and hockey.


A strict wage cap in the interest of fairness has had holes punched through it in recent years by the Designated Player loophole, brought into effect to allow the league to attract the likes of David Beckham and Thierry Henry.

And while the current quota of 3 per club remains the case for now, it is only a matter of time before the free market of the rest of the footballing world forces MLS to be ultra competitive.

There have been tweaks, however, to the MLS Superdraft (the pre-season process of fairly assigning youth players and new arrivals to clubs across the division), roster sizes and away fan allocation, something that the likes of the New York Red Bulls proved last season could help the nation replicate the atmosphere found in top European leagues.

First Kick

Instead of Matchday One showcasing the entire division paired off, MLS selects one fixture to air on ESPN2, days before the general weekly pattern of games begins that weekend.

March 16 saw the Sounders take centre stage for the annual curtain-raiser for the third straight year. But after wins against the Red Bulls and rookies Philadelphia Union in 2009 and 2010 respectively, a Juninho goal was enough for LA Galaxy to begin their Supporters Shield defence in triumphant fashion and end Seattle's First Kick streak at two.

Elsewhere on opening weekend, Union skipper Danny Califf scored the only goal as the improving Sons of Ben gave Houston a tough introduction to the Eastern Conference, with the Red Bulls and Real Salt Lake also edging 1-0 wins over the Sounders (rounding out a week to forget for Adrian Hanauer's men) and San Jose Earthquakes, respectively.

Also beginning 2011 with a win were DC United over Colombus Crew, MLS Cup holders the Rapids over newcomers Portland and Sporting Kansas (formerly the Kansas City Wizards) over Chivas USA in a 3-2 thriller.

FC Dallas and Chicago Fire battled to a 1-1 stalemate, as did Galaxy and New England Revolution on Sunday in a result which put Beckham's side top  with 4 points, albeit with an extra game played over most.

Despite Kansas' best efforts to mark their new lease of life with a bang, their victory was merely the most exciting game of the weekend in the country, not in the entire league…

Oh, Canada!

History was made on Saturday when new boys Vancouver played host to Toronto FC at Empire Field. For the first time in MLS history, an all-Canadian contest was to take place, on opening weekend no less.

The Northernly neighbours only went and stole the show, to boot.

Nobody stood out more than Vancouver's French designated player Eric Hassli, who opened the scoring on 15 minutes and put the home side 4-1 up with less than 20 to go.

But the Whitecaps, featuring USA international and ex-Watford captain Jay DeMerit, had plenty to offer other than individual performances and put their default rivals to the sword after Dwayne De Rosario levelled the game on the twenty minute mark.

Goals from Terry Dunfield and Atiba Harris either side of the interval put the new boys in the driver's seat once more before Hassli staked his claim for player of the weekend with his second and Vancouver's fourth.

Two minutes later, Maicon Santos pulled one back for Toronto but it was a weekend to forget for the side managed by former Dutch international Aron Winter.

2012 will see the Canadian impact increase – literally. Montreal Impact will join MLS from the USSF D2 Pro League as the 19th expansion side and increase the minimum number of all-Canada fixtures (pending play-offs) from two to six.

The Bandwagon

Between its structure, its fans and the simple fact that it dares to be different, Major League Soccer is fast becoming a watchable supplement to the typical European fan of the game.

Anyone interested in learning more, or even those who are curious to see which MLS franchise has an intriguing enough supporters' club or wealth of popular old names from England's Premier League in their ranks can use the following links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_League_Soccer#Supporters_groups – A comprehensive list of each MLS sides' official supporters groups. Thanks to the controversial Supporters' sections in American soccer stadia, you'll usually find these groups congregating in one end of the ground and creating an atmosphere of their own.

http://www.footballsquads.co.uk/usa/2011/usamsl.htm - 2011 squad lists including basic biographical information on each player. From Kasey Keller to Cory Gibbs, there's an old cult hero for everyone somewhere from East to West coast.

http://www.mlssoccer.com/ - And of course, the official league website for fixtures, news, standings and video highlights.

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