MLS kicked off it’s 2015 season on Friday night as the world finally seemed to stand up and take notice of the United States’ growing interest in the biggest sport on the planet.
About time you say? Maybe so but the rapid increase in popularity has been well deserved following the amazing amount of work put in to the league during the off-season.
Top 5 Things We Learned from MLS Opening Weekend
Two new expansion teams in Orlando City SC and New York City FC have resulted in huge coverage as former Ballon D’or winner Kaka and World Cup winner David Villa lead their respective teams into their inaugural season. This, combined with huge TV deals with BSkyB for Sunday night broadcasts in the UK and Eurosport who will broadcast to it’s pan-European audience, has meant that media coverage yesterday for on-field activities was at an all-time high.
Yes, David Beckham and Thierry Henry have seemingly laid the groundwork for stars such as Sebastian Giovinco, Clint Dempsey, Villa and Kaka to see MLS as a ‘new challenge’. On in which they seem to be grasping with both hands.
…However, MLS is very much still a work in progress and is still far from any European top flight competition. So what did we learn from the weekend? Here’s the Top 5 things we discovered:
1. MLS isn’t too bad to watch!
Forget about the hype with the new franchises, who seriously anywhere in the world would turn down watching a game with Kaka and David Villa in it? Very few. The football may not match the high standards of the likes of the BPL but the fast paced tempo and dodgy defending actually resulted in quite a few entertaining games over the weekend. The salary cap system that the league has in place also results in several unpredictable results, like the fact that Orlando City can seemingly play New York off the park before one of the latter’s star players picks out the top corner to put his team ahead. There’s just an element of surprise that you don’t expect, making it a nightmare for bookies and punters all over the world to bet on and surprisingly good to watch.
2. Everybody is rapid…yet few have great technique!
It seems a huge part of the scouting process with teams out of the draft is their athleticism and absolutely no one is complaining about it. Half the players in the league, no matter what they’re ethnicity or background, are legitimate speed demons. Gyasi Zardes may be one of the fastest moving things on planet Earth at this point, while Marvell Wynne’s move away from the Rapids in the summer is one of the biggest journalistic tragedies in 21st Century, pun wise at least. However, very few players seem to have the technical ability or nous that would make the league a joy to behold. If player of the likes of Kaka’s ability started becoming a regular occurrence in the league (technique and intelligence wise) and combined with the raw athleticism of the homegrown American players, MLS would be the best viewing spectacle in domestic World football. There is absolutely no doubt about that; but the frustrating truth is that each team maybe has one or two players who can unlock defences with a single pass. A shame to this point but the league will catch up on this point.
3. Nobody has any clue about how good a team is going to be at the start of the year!
No seriously…a side from one or two teams it’s anyone’s guess how good a team is going to be at the start of the year. The huge influx of players in and out of each team has meant that each roster is nearly unrecognisable from the side before due to off-season drafts, trades and salary caps and do you know what? We love it! In principle the theory that a team can be the worst team in the league one year, yet have a good off-season and be a playoff contender is the ultimate swings and roundabouts effect and makes for a much more competitive league. Sure MLS needs to have it’s constant ‘do-wellers’, the likes of the LA Galaxy for example with it’s star studded Hollywood appeal and David Beckham/Landon Donavon’s lasting legacy will always draw in foreign recruits but every league needs it’s super-teams just for the casual fans to support. Think of Michael Jordan’s Bulls increasing the popularity of the NBA or the 1970’s Dallas Cowboys who America clung to as ‘their team’.
4. The referee’s really need to ‘Keep Calm and Play on’
We couldn’t really go through a summary of the weekend review without some dodgy decisions can we? I will say that for the most part, I can’t argue at all with the officiating for the majority of decisions and in fact the men in the middle got the big decisions absolutely spot on. This isn’t about those decisions though. As mentioned before on of the big appeal’s of MLS is the fast paced nature of the game, the only time over the weekend where this wasn’t the case was when the referee’s loved their whistle a bit too much. Not every little tackle or touch needs to be blown up for a foul, the game needs to have a chance to flow and create it’s own tempo without the referee’s whistle deciding the tempo for it. Also, while cracking down on simulation is a must for soccer anywhere in the world, the referee’s need to be aware that player’s who go down in the box aren’t always trying to con them. The Orlando City result was only marred by the fact that they should have had a penalty but the referee apparently had set his mind on the fact that a player has to be crocked before he pointed to the spot. Again, as the league improves and popularity increases more and more referee’s will emerge and the standard will inevitably increase.
5. Seattle have a legitimate strike-force!
With finalists LA Galaxy and New England Revolution not exactly showing they’re best sides for the television camera’s over the weekend there was one team who showed they are a legitimate contender for the MLS title this year. The Seattle Sounders. The Washington-based team cruised by the Revolution, who were admittedly missing Jermaine Jones in the middle of their midfield, 3-0 with two goals from captain Clint Dempsey and a third from former Newcastle and Inter Milan start Obafemi Martins sealing the win. Alongside Marco Pappa, Martins and Dempsey look to have cemented Seattle as the forward line to watch in the league this year and are a serious threat to LA in the western conference this year. When they have Osvaldo Alonso back in midfield, they will be a force to be reckoned with this year there is no doubt about that!
