Looking at ten, fifteen year old results against Mexican teams also does not take into account the fact that Mexico has gotten quite a bit better since then. Also, these days, without the SuperLiga, US teams have even fewer chances to cut their teeth against our southern opponents. It's all very complicated and interwoven, and looking for a simple explanation for the whole thing is slightly silly. From what I can gather, the US is improving, but so is Mexico. And while this may toss me a little flak, I am pretty sure that international side results are not a strong metric for strength of a league.
What are you basing that on? If you compare it to the top six or seven leagues in Europe, then fine, MLS is substantially behind those on almost all fronts. However, I'd argue that it's exceedingly difficult for any league to reach that level. Compared to most leagues below that level though, I don't think MLS has far to go. TV ratings are the biggest challenge but that's very much a cultural issue and something that might take a generation or two before we see any longterm impact. In terms of quality of play, attendance, reputation and ongoing progress, MLS is holding it's own against any league outside the established elite. It's not that far behind solid top divisions like those in Mexico, Holland, Portugal, Argentina etc. and that's been achieved in under two decades. I think that at some point a ceiling will be hit, at which point they'll be on an even footing with the best leagues outside the established elite. There's no shame in that, given the power, reputation and resources that the top leagues weild. But as I said above, it's the most any league can realistically strive for at the present time and a very realistic target for MLS.
so you are going to come on here and deny that the EPL has been around (the EPL now...EPL not an English league) for only 20 years...interesting do tell....
mmmm....no. MLS was established in 1993. One year after the EPL was set up. The teams broke away from the english division one and formed a new league with a new tv contract. The stadia were crumbling, hooliganism was rampant and money was pouring into serie A and la liga as those two leagues were the top leagues. The English division one was heading for nowheresville. So they set up a NEW league with a NEW tv contract in 1992 and it is now one of the top leagues in Europe and the highest grossing league in the world. A complete reversal of its fates in 1991 when english league football was falling apart.
No, I'm going to deny that the old Division 1 to EPL migration in England has no relevance to the no league to MLS migration taking place in the U.S. As anyone who has a shed of common sense and/or isn't a troll would know.
A league in disrepair. losing all its stars abroad, low attendance and issues reassesses itself in 1991 and 20 years later it is one of the highest grossing leagues in the world. I would say it has some relevance to see how quickly things can change.
read about the state of english league football from 1986-1991...serious negativity...the 1990 world cup was a dream for them...it catapulted a league from becoming a second tier european league to becoming the top league in the world. of course we dont have the history that england did. but then thats why we have such a long way to go.
Thing is, Garber repeatedly states publicly his goal is for MLS to rival the top leagues 9 years from now. So yes, MLS has a long way to go to reach that goal and the current structure doesn't get us there, although I do expect some change with the plan which is yet to be revealed.
BOOM! there it is. the leader of the league states this is the goal. So if you personally choose to ignore this goal more power to you but this is what the leagues goal is so it will be measured against this goal. and it has a long way to go...
poor atlanta chiefs...poor seattle sounders....poor new york cosmos... yeah we can play this game a lot. the point of reference is the state of the division one soccer league in the late 1980s...at one point they wanted to form a super league in 1988 (10 teams) separate from the FA....it was a MESS. serie A was the top league and la liga was right behind it. 5 straight years of no european competition and the english soccer picture looked bleak. they formed a new league and it is now the top league in revenue in the world in less than 15 years and continues to build on that success.
Today's lesson about how "starting from scratch" is identical to "changing the name of your 100+ year old league" is brought to you by the letter Q.
which is why I correctly said...have a long way to go... people challenged me so i set up this little expose to show that we have a long way to go.
The "people" (read: person) who challenged your original point ("a long long way to go") conceded your point in the very first sentence you chose not to read. The rest of this "expose" has been an act of pretending apples are helicopters.
So, you seriously don't understand the significant differences between English teams with over a century of history tweaking their league format so as to get a better TV contract and creating a league from the ground up in a nation with a history of generalized disdain for the sport? Seriously?
No that was backhanded. he wanted to compare it to the lower leagues which is never the discussion. the discussion is compared to the top 6 leagues. this is what MLS wants to be and is striving to be. this is how it will be measured and should be measured. anything else is apologetic, falsity and fake. to say it isnt fair or shouldnt be expected is weak and demoralizing. we should aim high and be measured against those aims. anything else is playing for the middle. aim high. to dare is to do.
I see a league that was falling apart and turned it around to become Number 1 in the world. Im not saying USA needed to do that but it does show that in 20 years you can move from a place of poor standing to the highest heights. Its not unreasonable to see us aim high. and garber is doing that and we should measure him against that. if you think I was making a 1:1 so be it cant do anything about you. But if you can see how a league progressed extremely quickly in england you can see how the US has gone extremely quickly in a positive direction but has a long way to go.
I must have missed the part where all the teams in the EPL were started from scratch. Weird, I could've sworn the EPL was populated with the elite teams from Division 1. ------RM