El Capitano continues to impress after a calling-out.
Disclaimer: By no means do I claim to be ever-enlightened about the inner-workings and how to run Major League Soccer.
I love the Wizards. And, I love Manchester United. As I shared last week, United are the club that first interested me in the sport of soccer. For them, a club of that size and name recognition, to come to my city – where I have lived my entire life – was nothing short of a big deal. The biggest of deals in Kansas City soccer history. The record crowd of 52,424 was something many Wizards fans from even just five years ago would have never thought possible.
Lost in all the build-up and the hype, though, is the fundamental lack of point of playing such a game. And, that’s what leaves me wondering if MLS as whole is doing the best thing for itself in the here-and-now by stopping so much league play for nothing more than a glorified scrimmage to warm up the larger European clubs for their upcoming seasons. Don’t get me wrong; Sunday’s game and 2-1 victory over United was extremely fun to be a part of and to experience. Where the “was it worth it?” question comes into play for myself is when thinking about what the goal of a team and league is, and how this game could potentially affect that goal.
The goal of a team, by definition, is to put forth the most competitive squad of players possible to win their respective league. The goal of a league, by definition, is to determine the best team within the league and crown a champion.
Did Sunday’s friendly with United lend any assistance to either of these goals? The goal of the team, perhaps, because you can only improve by playing better competition. I can see that argument, and surely fo along with it. The goal of the league, though, is completely thrown out the window when accepting and playing a game like this.
Granted, when this game was agreed upon back in May of this year, it wasn’t known at all that the Wizards would struggle as mightily as they did through much of the season, yet suddenly regain form in the two league games leading up to the United friendly. I didn’t know that, you didn’t know that, the team didn’t know that. But, the fact of the matter is that it did happen, and while the ultimate goal of this team in 2010 is to compete for an MLS Cup, the Wizards would have been better served with an extremely high-level performance, like Sunday’s, coming against Chicago in league play – the originally scheduled game for Saturday night.
