03 August 2005
Soccer craziness: the morning after
¶ 12:22 PM 
This last month has seen a whole lot of soccer in the United States. People have various opinions on whether it was a great thing or just a good thing (or maybe worse). For those not in the know, the US top-tier league, the MLS, plays from early spring through the fall (ensuring plenty of hot, hot July games), which is different than how most of the world does it. This year the US also hosted the Gold Cup, essentially the CONCACAF (North, Central America and Caribbean Soccer Federation) championship. To top it all off, several elite European soccer clubs visited the States for some preseason exhibition matches, some of them against each other, and some of them against MLS clubs.
My thoughts on it all in convenient bullet-point format:
- The Gold Cup, as much as you want to knock it, was the best of all the soccer. Seeing the US overtake a 1-0 Honduras advantage in the final 6 minutes of the semifinal was one of the greatest sporting events I have ever seen live.
- Some people have called for a mid-season break for the MLS to allow the players to rest, play with their national teams, whatever. At first I was against it, but now I am for it. MLS soccer in July, much of it played with various star players absent from the lineups due to national team duty and injuries, was very sloppy and very boring. A July vacation, or a totally modified calendar, would be good.
- Soccer lovers in this country are of two types: those who care about the domestic league, and those who don't (Eurosnobs). As much as I want to buy into the hoopla of a LA Galaxy-Real Madrid match, I really don't. Those matches are designed to bring the Eurosnobs out of their living rooms and into the stadia (because MLS certainly won't). Sure, it's interesting to see an elite team from Europe run around with an MLS team, but because MLS is in the middle of its season and the Europeans are just warming up, such a match is not an effective way of judging how far the MLS has come.
- Above everything else, it's just good to see lots of soccer being played in this country. As soccer-heavy as everything has seemed of late, it ain't got nothing on next June and July .
Other people's thoughts on all of the soccer:
