(Editorial) – I am looking forward to see the US Homegrown players vs. Club America U-20 this Tuesday night. It will show off some young, great players MLS possesses. However, much like the MLS All-Star format, I am left asking, why are we doing it this way?
For all intensive purposes, a Homegrown player is just a particular type of distinction. The homegrown player rule allows MLS teams to sign local players from their own development academies directly to MLS first team rosters. Yes, it will be exciting to see Shane O’Neill, Erik Palmer-Brown, Tommy Thompson and Harry Shipp play, but there is a much better way of doing it that will get fans much more excited.
Every year, During the NBA all-star game they have a Rookies vs. Sophomores game. It is exciting, action-packed and you get to see the real future of the league on display. Right now, for the Homegrown game, we have a collection of 1st and 2nd year players playing against a team, like the U-20 Club America team from Mexico, that has been together for a while. It is a distinct disadvantage and the viewer isn’t invested in the game.
However in a Rookie-Sophomore Game (RSG), you get to see which class has a better group of midfielders, strikers and defenders. There is inherently more competition between the groups. How great would it be to see Khiry Shelton and Cyle Larin pair up next to each other? Neither are even in the homegrown game. A Patrick Mullins and 2014 MLS Rookie of the year winner Tesho Akindele pairing vs. those two would be incredibly exciting. Sophomores Shipp and Thompson vs. Matt Polster and Fatai Alashe? These type of matchups are what make games exciting. And to see the leagues future on display is infinitely more promising than watching a random collection of signees against a team we know nothing about.
The RSG would also allow fans to see players who may not have a lot of playing time yet or are just role-players get a chance in the lime light and show us why they were picked. Most players who are in MLS were a star before they got here. That is why they are in MLS. Case in point, Leo Stolz has barely even seen the bench for the Red Bulls, playing mainly for NYRBII, but it would be great to see him out there. He won the Hermann trophy for player of the year in NCAA last year for the UCLA Bruins after all. The All-Star week is about shining a light on the bevy of talent this league has. It is about fun, open-ended soccer that highlights individual skill and is unabashedly fun. MLS has a ton of great young players and its high time we started showing them off to the world. Not only to show the league is arriving, but to tell the casual viewer that they should watch more games or miss out on the brilliance of these players.
Commission Garber, I hope you’re reading. And, while you’re at it, change back the actual All-Star game. No one wants to watch our best play a mid-table team from across the pond. We want to watch our best show-off. All-star games are an inherently American past time. The all-star game has always been more about trick plays, dazzling dribbling and passing and beautiful soccer. Not trying to prove itself against a European team. Let’s go back to when it was great.
