Cambio es rapido

As the MLS season gets into gear I should go ahead and give Suckyball’s blessing of negativity to a new batch of upcoming games.  If this year was like the years before it I would’ve had a field day bashing the league’s clumsy attempts to get closer to the high standards set by European football’s powers.  And let me say without hesitation: this year has some problems.  If you can ignore the Walking Dead team of Chivas U.S.A. and the confusing idea that NYCFC might have their stadium well outside of the 5 boroughs (talk is of Westchester, which makes Harrison New Jersey seem closer than it is) … then this year’s upcoming season bodes well for the league.

I always feel 50-50 with my hate towards American over-hype and the glossing over of sub-standard play.  But can you tell me that MLS will never come close to Premiere League play after watching Sunderland vs Crystal Palace?  I watched Michael Bradley and Jermaine Defoe play well enough that if they were in the bottom of Serie A it wouldn’t be that much of a stretch.  Besides beating Mexican teams next week, what else do you want MLS to do?  A million fans dogged MLS for losing Deuce (myself included) and what can we say when he not only comes back to the league but he’s not even the major signing?

The Beckham deal was a circus.  The Red Bull Arena and Henry deal were similar to Austrian kids playing Monopoly to buy up as many expensive spots as they could, until they realize they were actually using REAL money and have debts to pay off.  But the deals this year, they seem like at least five or six of the owners know enough to grow the league.  Let me show with own life experience how much soccer has grown in the United States, in just four years!!

2010: I worked in an office where I heard about the Yankees, Mets, Giants, Jets and even the Patriots all the time.  Two co-workers followed soccer and the rest of us only talked about it because of the World Cup and we rehashed stereotypes about Germany being tactical, Maradona being a crazy coach and that Ghana was beatable.  The first co-worker who followed soccer was someone who refereed in his spare time for extra cash.  I didn’t know if he was Irish, English or German; just that he predicted the U.S. wouldn’t go anywhere and that he knew more than three players on the national team (I just knew about Landon Donovan because … he played with Beckham?).  The second co-worker always talked about Columbia and Rinaldo being better than Messi.  For a long time I thought Messi was the beginning and end of soccer until ….

2012: I worked in a new office and a co-worker not only said he watched a Red Bull game but he even wore a Manchester United shirt!!! Other co-workers at least followed the 2012 Euro’s and they had debates about if Mario Balotelli was a real Italian or just a great African player that tricked Italy into giving him a spot.  When I went to watch Real Madrid play live I then understood the hype about Cristiano after he sprinted past over-matched defenders and launched goals from one side of the field into the opposite net to thundering applause against a quiet AC Milan squad.  So even though it wasn’t a World Cup year at least the interest in soccer wasn’t non-existent.

2013: I worked in an office where every Friday people tried to outdo each-other with new team jerseys.  My Everton shirt would be one-upped by a new Barcelona jersey which would be matched up against an Ecuador national team jacket.  The next week I’d bring out MY OWN Barcelona jersey to go up against someone’s new expensive scarf or the newest Columbian merchandise.  My supervisors must’ve been confused when every Friday turned into Futbol conversations by an office full of  potential advertisements for worldsoccershop.com.

2014: Not only do I work in a new company that’s ran by over-hyped European soccer followers, but I was told that when the World Cup goes down half of the office is going to go crazy every day with anticipation.  We’re not going to talk about it like it’s an ESPN story, but the employees are going to go back and forth at each-other and track every goal on their smart phones before the imminent trash talking.  Because Queens has the highest percentage of foreign born immigrants in NYC, that means that at least five different countries will be supported under one roof come this summer.  This is the change I’m talking about.

If someone tells me that in 2018 MLS will play well enough to surpass Mexican teams I wouldn’t think they were crazy.  If someone told me that in 2020 a group of European soccer fans would somehow plan a vacation trip around visiting an MLS team I wouldn’t think it was that outlandish.  Seattle and a few other American teams have potential to be not only top draws for American viewers but international fans.

But if someone keeps saying that by 2026 America will make the World Cup championship match, well, I think we’d still be a bit sucky by then.

PS … In the off-chance this website is read by any MLS ownership groups … WHY ARE YOU THINKING OF SIGNING CARLOS PUYOL??  SERIOUS?? YOU THINK EUROSNOBS ARE DESPERATE ENOUGH THAT THEY’D BE HAPPY WITH THAT? PUYOL? SERIOUS? BARCA PUYOL? PLEASE STOP UPDATING YOUR SPREADSHEET AND POWERPOINT PRESENTATIONS, YOU CAN DO MUCH BETTER!! (No offense to Puyol, it just seems a strange signing rumor.)