MLS Needs to Rethink Game Plan
On Thursday, several hours before Manchester United and Juventus drew 79,005 fans to Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., Major League Soccer treated anyone who cared to indulge to a goat stew luncheon with midfielders Carlos Ruiz and Kyle Martino at a restaurant in Lynwood.
On Friday, while Manchester United was preparing for Sunday’s sold-out match against Barcelona in Philadelphia, MLS had its stellar players signing autographs and playing foosball with a bunch of kids at a park in Long Beach.
Today, while Manchester United is adding up the profits from its hugely successful U.S. tour and deciding which world-class players to buy next, MLS will be parading something called Third Eye Blind during halftime of its All-Star game at the Home Depot Center in Carson.
The lesson to be learned here?
As much as MLS is doing correctly -- and the construction of new stadiums is at the forefront of the positives -- there still is far too much emphasis on selling the wrapping while overlooking the product.
Real fans, the sort who sit in the Galaxians or L.A. Riot Squad sections at Galaxy games, do not care in the slightest about the peripherals. They care about the sport itself, about the players and the coaches, about the tactics and techniques, about the on-field action, not the off-field frippery.
Third Eye Blind, alt-rockers extraordinaire if you believe the handouts, might be musically gifted and popular among those not up to, say, Beethoven or Dvorak, but they have nothing to do with soccer.
The money spent on glitz and glamour might be better spent on players -- either in acquiring new ones or paying the current ones a better salary. But you won’t convince MLS of that. Once the corporate and marketing types get hold of a sport, the superficial all too often takes precedence.
Manchester United has demonstrated in no uncertain fashion in the last couple of weeks that American stadiums can be sold out from coast to coast if the team on the field plays the quality of soccer provided by Ruud Van Nistelrooy, Ryan Giggs and company.
Commissioner Don Garber and the rest of MLS will hopefully have been paying attention.
The league, to its credit, did at least edge closer to providing some semblance of soccer news Friday when Garber said he expects two teams to be added by 2005, one possibly as early as next season.
And Jorge Vergara, the Mexican businessman whose Chivas of Guadalajara team will provide the opposition for the MLS All-Star team in today’s game at the Home Depot Center, provided further hints that he might be investing in the league.
It was all very nebulous, however. In a league controlled by the Anschutz Entertainment Group and the Hunt Sports Group, the real news always will come from AEG or HSG, not from MLS headquarters in New York.
Vergara, who in addition to Chivas also is a majority shareholder in Saprissa of Costa Rica and Atletico de Madrid in Spain, sounded as if he is ready to make a commitment to MLS.
“We’re going to be part of the MLS, permanent, and a permanent champion,” he said.
Meanwhile, instead of a goat stew luncheon this week -- “the dish will demonstrate to Chivas Rayadas de Guadalajara, whose mascot is a goat, what they can expect when they meet MLS’ best” -- the league might have been better off playing host to a discussion involving New York/New Jersey MetroStar and MLS All-Star coach Bob Bradley and Chivas Coach Eduardo de la Torre on what it will take to raise MLS and Mexican league teams to the level of their European counterparts.
That would have been about soccer and been interesting. As it is, today’s game will have to provide the answer, or at least show how steep the climb will be.
“These types of opportunities are always good to measure the growth of the sport in both countries,” De la Torre said Friday.
Unless MLS switches its focus back to the field, count on the sure-footed goats to complete the climb more quickly.
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MLS All-Star Game
Where -- Home Depot Center, Carson.
When -- Today, 12:30 p.m.
Who -- MLS All-Star team vs Chivas of Guadalajara (Mexico).
TV -- Channel 7.
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HISTORY
*--* 1996 -- East 3, West 2; Giants Stadium, East Rutherford, N.J.; 78,416 1997 -- East 5, West 4; Giants Stadium, East Rutherford, N.J.; 24,816 1998 -- MLS USA 6, MLS World 1; Citrus Bowl, Orlando, Fla.; 34,416 1999 -- West 6, East 4; Qualcomm Stadium, San Diego; 23,227 2000 -- East 9, West 4; Crew Stadium, Columbus, Ohio; 23,495 2001 -- East 6, West 6; Spartan Stadium, San Jose; 23,512 2002 -- MLS All-Stars 3, U.S. national team 2; RFK Stadium, Washington; 31,096
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MOST VALUABLE PLAYERS
*--* 1996: Carlos Valderrama, East 2000: Mamadou Diallo, East 1997: Carlos Valderrama, East 2001: Landon Donovan, East 1998: Brian McBride, MLS USA 2002: Marco Etcheverry, MLS All-Stars 1999: Preki, West
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PROBABLE STARTING LINEUPS
*--* MLS CHIVAS ALL-STARS Pos No Player Club Pos No Player GK 22 Kevin Hartman Galaxy GK 1 Oswaldo Sanchez D 3 Danny Califf Galaxy D 5 Heriberto Morales D 23 Eddie Pope MetroSta D 58 Joel Sanchez rs D 4 Carlos Chicago D 3 Omar Rodriguez Bocanegra MF 2 Frankie Hejduk Columbus MF 26 Carlos Salcido MF 14 Ryan Nelsen D.C. MF 8 Johnny Garcia United MF 7 DaMarcus Chicago MF 15 Manuel Sol Beasley MF 11 Preki Kansas MF 2 Jorge Barrera City MF 27 Amado Guevara MetroSta MF 7 Ramon Ramirez rs F 13 Clint Mathis MetroSta MF 6 Rafael Medina rs F 33 Taylor New F 9 Jair Garcia Twellman England
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RESERVES
MLS -- 8, Landon Donovan, F, San Jose; 9, Ante Razov, F, Chicago; 10, Mauricio Cienfuegos, MF, Galaxy; 15, Chris Armas, MF, Chicago; 18, Hong Myung-Bo, D, Galaxy; 20, Carlos Ruiz, F, Galaxy; 21, Kyle Martino, MF, Columbus; 24, Zach Thornton, GK, Chicago. Coach: Bob Bradley, MetroStars
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Chivas -- 4, Hector Reynoso, D; 10, Alberto Medina, MF; 11, Ramon Morales, F; 13, Jorge Alberto Garcia, MF; 14, Omar Bravo, F; 16, Ezequiel Chavez, MF; 17, L. Alonso Sandoval, F; 19, Issac Romo, F; 20, Armando Tavira, MF; 21, Efrain Cruz, MF; 23, Juan Pablo Alfaro, MF; 24, Humberto Gutierrez, MF; 25, Miguel Sabah, F; 27, Francisco Rodriguez, D; 28, L. Ernesto Michel, GK; 29, Alfredo Talavera, GK; 31, Alfonso Loera, D. Coach: Eduardo de la Torre.
