Toronto was an exception, considering the year after that MLS teams did really badly vs Liga MX and none made the final. Too bad TFC followed that performance w/ getting knocked out by a Panamanian side.
Just a point of notice here.. No one said MLS was closely competitive. In fact, you seem to be the only instance of using this phrase despite your use of quotes.. So.. Yeah... Don't be saying things that no one is saying. The closest you'll find here is that MLS is closing the gap, but that Liga MX is still ahead and are the favorites whenever teams from the two leagues meet..
Sorry, I might have misspoke by saying closely competitive. What I meant was past few years' results are not showing MLS closing the gap when Liga MX teams can still easily sleepwalk over MLS ones like the examples I listed.
An MLS team just beat a Liga MX team in a home and home series.. But, as noted before, you need to look at who the Liga MX teams are fielding. A decade ago, they'd run out their B squads and either outright beat the MLS team, or they'd put on their star striker for the last 10 minutes and get 2-3 goals. Now, a decade later, they are fielding mostly A-teams in order to get the same results. That's what we call "closing the gap". That doesn't mean that MLS is going to start winning CCL on a regular basis in the next few years, but MLS is getting closer and we could see the first wins in the next 5-10 years. It's also going to depend on how Liga MX teams respond. They aren't going to sit around and wait for MLS teams to catch up to them and I'm sure they'll try to keep ahead. That'll certainly delay MLS catching up, but how much that ends up delaying things? Who knows.
Mind you, a lot of the MLS vs. Liga MX debate features as little nuance as the Europe vs. ROW arguments when the World Cup rolls around. On one hand, a certain group of Liga MX teams (most notably Monterrey, Tigres and América) rule Concacaf with an iron fist. On the other, MLS has eliminated MEX4 from the CCL three years in a row. Before Seattle sensationally knocked out Tigres, the closest any MLS sides got to eliminating anyone from Liga MX was RSL's group in the 2010-11 edition (RSL and Toronto jointly got 7 pts off of Cruz Azul... only TFC getting super deluxe Concacaf'd in Panama allowed Cruz Azul to sneak through). So there is measurable progress.
I always see or hear of the times when Liga MX beats MLS but never hear from those same people when MLS beats Liga MX. You talk of excuses but you also ignore the excuses given when a Liga MX loses. I hear such things as "they didn't take it seriously", "it's only Tijuana or Toluca or Leon or etc it doesn't count until they beat xxxx", "they beat a team that was placed in xxx place in Liga MX", "the team was playing badly" etc. There are excuses on both sides. Check closer next time.
20 years ago? You mean when the LA Galaxy had just won the Concacaf Champions Cup? (And although it's now called a "League" we are essentially back in "Cup" territory with the current format that has no group stage)
The fortunes changed for MLS before 2009 when the "Champions League" rebrand took place. Precisely, it was in 2002 when the concept of home and away series was introduced. MLS teams really struggled with that change (i.e. the away leg).
Seria A teams seem further from winning the UEFA Champions League than a decade team ago, but I bet they are not going to relinquish their spots. Also, I don't root for the "league" and all it's representatives, just as I bet many Italians don't root for Juventus in the Champions League. So, no, I'm not tired of the excuses because the tournament is competitive and entertaining. While I'm open to debate regarding how many teams each league "deserves", they are a lot of small countries in CONCACAF and low budget (although probably entertaining) leagues. I'd be interesting in a discussion about that if it was a mildly serious one, but I don't think 8 Liga MX sides would be entertaining.
As a current MLS neutral I can understand “rooting for the league”, but if my local team joined MLS no way would I be rooting for weekly league competition to get international glory before my team.
Everyone is going to handle that differently. I cheer for country over league, so when there are US teams in the tourney I cheer for them, even if I’m rooting against them come the weekend. I don’t know that there’s a right or a wrong way to cheer when it comes to tourneys like this, other than the obvious of cheer for your own team when they make. Plenty of folk watch with no rooting interest at all, I’m sure.
For me, international competition elevates MLS. ANY team winning it is good for the league, and thus my team.
For me, I root for my teams first Timbers and Tottenham. I think it looks good for the MLS if a team like Atlanta United or Columbus Crew goes deep in the CONCACAF, but I'm not going to go all out rooting for them. I just think the MLS just needs to continue pressing forward. The CONCACAF certainly looks good, when teams go far, but not the end of the world if it doesn't. Continue growing the game here, and good things will happen later. 2027 is the make or break year for soccer (football) in the US. If popularity maintains the momentum from the '26 World Cup, then the sky is the limit.
My opinion: everyone except a team's immediate rivals should Kumbaya it (like Ecuador when LDQ Quito won the Libertadores in 2008) until one of us finally breaks the mould - then, we can be selfish and just cheer for our team in the CCL. ...ngl tho: if ATL had been the last ones standing instead of Philly this year, I'd have gone Liga MX or bust
Obviously there's no right way. U.S. soccer fandom especially is filled with different ways of consuming the sport. For some the entire club game is little more than an extended training session for national team play. Myself, I guess I'm just too engrained in the manner of the traditional U.S. sports scene where winning the league is pretty much the singular everything. Even though there's an entire global landscape/hierarchy in soccer (and the sport gives people more chances to indulge in nationalistic posturing than you see with other sports), "root for the league" doesn't quite work for me. I forgot who it was, but it's kind of like when people were making fun of this one celebrity for wearing an NFL logo hat to the Super Bowl.
Anyone who's been here long enough to remember #MLS4RSL knows where I stand on rooting for our rivals just because they're in CCL. I take each team as they come, some I'll root for, some I hope go out in a trash fire.
Well, yeah, root for the league doesn’t make sense to me when we’re discussing a national tournament. I will root for a Mexican League team over an MLS team if it’s a team from Canada, because I have more ties to Mexico. And to be clear, when I say rooting, I’m simply referring to the act of watching a game and cheering, definitely not going out and buying merch or anything like that. The thought of dropping $40 for a hat with the MLS logo makes zero sense at all to me
A decade later and you still refuse to answer whether or not you got a voodoo doll of Espíndola for that day
I keep it simple. Half of the equation is country to me so ******** Canada. The other half of the equation is ******** your team.
I looked at NYCFC hats. The cheapest is $4.39 and the most expensive $31.19. Most are between $19.59 and $25.59. That's with code 20MLS, which is shown at the top of the page.
I bought this hat because we have a Chihuahua and it is damn cool - if any MLS team made anything close to this cool they would get more sales. LAFC actually has crossed over into non-soccer fan everyday clothing in LA - so many people wear the black hat.