The NFL needed this game to start its rise to being a legit sports league. MLS needs A similar game, one where stars are playing against each other in a prime time game. The game goes to penalties and the nation watches as the star player from one team scores the winning penalty shot. That is what MLS needs, our league, our fans, and our players suffer from an inferiority complex. We have to defend our league even when we know that the infrastructure and management is bush league. That is a fallacy of unabashed support.
It took nearly 40 years for the NFL to get to that point. It will take MLS at least that amount of time to get to that point (if not longer because there were many more options for the entertainment dollar than there was back then).
AMEN AMEN!!! It's gonna take longer than our lifetimes to reach that point.... You gotta remember that College Football was BIG BIG in the 20's and 30's, so Pro Football had a foundation to build itself on...... Soccer has no such foundation in this country...
With the ever decreasing 'size' of the world, US soccer has the world game of football to build upon. The US has so many fans of the game that aren't fully behind the MLS. It will take time.
The one thing the MLS should take from this game is that the championship game was a home game for one team. I watched the ESPN special and the atmosphere was amazing. I only wish the Eagles, or my future MLS team, could play a title game in front of a home crowd in cold weather.
If if Don Dum@ss Garber would stop giving franchises to teams that don't have SSS, we could make the switch. As it is, we can't afford to risk a scheduling conflict with an NFL team (Patriots, Giants, Seahags) or at Robertson Stadium, or Buck Shaw. Garber may may the switch anyway, once KC, SJ, and hopefully Houston are conflict free.
If someone is looking for an amazing game I would call out the 2nd leg of the LA vs SJ playoff back in November 2003. San Jose was down 0-2 in the first leg to LA. Then in the first half LA scores 2 goals to be up 4-0 on aggregate and it looked as if LA would coast in the rest of the game. SJ put on one of the most amazing comebacks in ANY sport or game to score 2 goals before halftime to make it 4-2. The first by Ronnie Ekland was a bullet. In the second half they added another in the 50th minute and a tying aggregate goal in minute 90 to make it 4-4. The match moved into overtime with San Jose scoring in the 96th minute to win 5-4 on aggregate. I had a bunch of people in my house that night, many of them were not soccer fans (although my son and I and good friend are DCU United fans) and they started to watch this game as San Jose began to turn the tide and I was telling them they had to see whats going on. By the end of the game the whole house was cheering for what was an amazing comeback and finish. At the end, the fans in the stands were going nuts, the commentators were just letting the camera do the work for them, while the players collapsed from the strain and effort. Its too bad that probably very, very few people saw this game. MLS should find a way to present these gems to fans. A greatest games series on say FSC would be terrific.
From a "bringing new fans into the league" perspective, it's best shot could have been the 2007 game between LA and NY at Giants Stadium. Beckham's first league start, DP Juan Pablo Angel, Altidore, Donovan, 66,000 plus screaming fans in the stadium, and while not the prettiest game, an exciting back and forth 5-4 game won in the 88th minute. Scoring: 4th - NY 6th - LA 8th - LA 45th - NY 49th - NY 70th - NY 71st - LA 82nd - LA 88th - NY Alas, it was on FSC and not ESPN, so a lot of eyes weren't able to watch it live.
Another thing that I failed to mention is a USA World Cup victory over a team like Brazil, Italy, and the underperforming England. People know these teams, even if they don't like soccer. If US Soccer won a close game that went down to the wire or a highly improbable blow out against a power to win the World Cup, then soccer would see an increased interest.
Exactly, that would have been the swing moment for the league if that had been the MLS Cup final on ABC. That's the kind of thing that has to happen to truly give this league a big boost.
If your waiting for a WC victory for soccer to be big in the US your going to be waiting a long time.
Hardly. Not many Red Bull fans were kept after that game and two years later there was no bump at all. It will take decades of this league being in existence and good results by the USMNT for a swing type game to capture the imaginations of non-soccer fans.
That's what we're saying. Not a factor for one reason because relatively few people saw it. But we didn't exactly go from the NFL Championship in '58 to billion dollar Super Bowls and gaudy halftime shows in '59 either.
I disagree. I think it will take around 15 years or less from now for MLS to get a game of that caliber. That game would take having two teams with really high market value and dominance in someway facing each other in a match where even casual sports fans felt they have to watch it. That game is coming a lot sooner rather than later.
Remember this Match on Espn2 [YOUTUBE]<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/2yLA4WBTh1M&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/2yLA4WBTh1M&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>[/YOUTUBE] i know its not MLS But I Think That was the greatest match ever shown on the MLS Network.
A better idea would be for the infrastructure and management to just not be "bush league". There have been plenty of Greatest Games in MLS. It's just that most people in the country don't care about soccer and of those that do, few care MLS.
