Are These Mid-Season Friendlies Across MLS Really Worth It?
Posted by Andy Ted Edwards on July 26, 2010
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.
A 2-1 result and three points against an MLS side, who also happen to be in the middle of the playoff chase, would have been a far more tangibly helpful result. The league victory and three points are something that we could have seen and felt. The friendly victory offers no points and only an opportunity at a gimmick grab for new soocer and/or MLS fans. The fact of the situation is that, at present moment, our dearly beloved Wiz sit 12th in the league table, but do so only a mere 7 points behind the final playoff spot. Now, I’m not saying they make it this year. After the horrid start, it would be nearly unthinkable. But, if you take that kind of performance and result from Sunday and it’s a league game, those 3 points go a long way; especially against Chicago, the team directly ahead of us in the table.
More playing means more potential injuries, right? Injuries are a tired excuse for any professional athlete, coach or fan to use in a debate like this, but the fact remains that injuries do exist. Example: Wizards winger Ryan Smith has had a bum ankle since the first game of the season. Smith was found on Sunday rolling on the ground after having said ankle banged up, once again, on a challenge from United right back Rafael da Silva. Arguably, Smith is the single most important player on this year’s squad. No other player on the team, and very few in all of MLS, offer the comination of creativity, speed and danger creating ability of Smith. The Wizards have scored 14 league goals on the season. Smith has officially assisted on six of them, while scoring one himself. If his injury Sunday is a torn ligament in his ankle, or even a severely sparined one that causes him to miss the next month, say goodbye to any minutae hopes this team had of catching the playoffs. Forward Kei Kamara was also the recipient of harsh contact that left him on the ground momentarily, for the record.
Lastly, as a whole, this is just not quite the message I believe MLS wants to be sending to the masses. The message that they have to rely upon these European clubs to garner interest in the sport and their league in America. I realize that with the seasons playing in one another’s offseason, it would be nearly impossible to schedule any sort of competition between the two worlds. You can guaran-damn-tee that these big European clubs aren’t stopping English Premier League or Bundesliga play and rescheduling league fixtures to play an American team in a friendly on their preseason European tour. I also realize that with the money of these clubs, comes the power to choose. However, taking this “shot in the pan” kind of risk on a single game is not, in my mind, the way to grow MLS in America. Nor is it MLS’s job to grow soccer in America. A great domestic league will lend itself to the US national team, but the goal, as stated, is to crown a league champion. Period.
I will leave you with this thought here – Kansas City Wizards supporters’ scarves list the years and competitions of trophies won by their club – 2000 Supporters’ Shield, 2000 MLS Cup and 2004 US Open Cup. Will the scarf for 2011 include “2010 – Manchester United Friendly Victory“? It seems highly doubtful, but if so, it will be a sad, sad day for not only the Wizards, but MLS as a whole that the league, teams and fans now take more pride in these glorified exhibitions than playing for trophies. Check the Twitter hashtag #TrophiesNotFriendlies if you don’t believe me.
szazzy said
No way we ever put a friendly victory on a scarf so I think that’s a bit of a straw man argument. It can be a bragging point and still not overshadow the league. The scheduling is just a fact of life with how the seasons work out. There is no other time to play them. Wizards fans will take more pride in winning the league, but watching the Wizards beat Manchester United can help create more Wizards fans. I don’t think there was anything negative about Sunday, though if we’d lost, the positives might not be as great.
This team knows they can play against the best. That has to give us some confidence when we come up against MLS teams as well. We had confidence at the beginning of the season because of our play in quality exhibitions. The team lost their way, and I think a game like this can help them find their passion for this team. It meant a lot to the players as well.
Arkstfan said
Wow.
I don’t live in KC, in fact it isn’t even the closest MLS team to me, Dallas is closer and KC is just barely closer than Houston. A friend has tried to get me up to watch a game but it seemed a bit far. I don’t know much about the city, I had driven through twice without stopping and came once to watch Arkansas State play Mizzou and caught a Royals game. That trip I stayed at a hotel in sight of the stadium and stayed close.
This year I was going to make a game but I was really leaning toward Dallas or Houston because the idea of a squeezed in pitch at a baseball stadium sounded awful. Then I saw the Man U game. Unless a Man U win somehow helps Liverpool, the Red Devils can lose them all. My son and I wanted to see this game, my wife and daughter, not so much.
We arrived Saturday and checked out several sights including the Power and Light District. Until ABC visited during the cup I had never heard of it.
When the Wizards went up 1-0 it was fantastic. It wasn’t anti Man U joy it was the joy of finding a team.
Realistically I will only make a game or two per season but I went 14 seasons without coming to a game. How many people at Arrowhead had a new team to pull for at the end of the day? How many enjoyed seeing the Wizards dispel the usual anti-MLS complaints about poor passing, slow players and unrefined skills?
Did it advance the cause of finishing atop the table, winning or making the playoffs? Of course not. But those are one season goals. Creating more ticket buyers and TV viewers is the long-term goal because they are what are needed to move MLS out of fringe niche land nationally and internationally. The wins over Man U and City on Sunday accomplished much more than Real Salt Lake’s win over the Galaxy to cap last years playoff.
szazzy said
Wow much thanks for traveling all that way to be here. Next time you come, find us at the Cauldron tailgate, and beer’s on me. You can follow the new stadium’s construction here http://38.100.180.78/view/viewer_index.shtml?id=3579
Arkstfan said
Look forward to it. The Cauldron fans made a great showing Sunday.
FYI, a blog post related to how my alma mater could learn from the Wizards. http://www.arkst.com/?p=728
szazzy said
Enjoyed that. I tend to be too wrapped up in the game to read the ads, but glad to know they’re on top of everything. FYI, I retweeted your story.