“You heard repeatedly about how the win could change the minds of many who have written MLS off as being too inferior a product to follow. Don't hold your breath on that one. Although there will be some casual observers who give MLS a closer look after Saturday, there will be no tangible dent in the demographic MLS was hoping to convert. American fans who prefer European soccer won't be swayed by the result of a friendly. If anything, many of them probably looked at the postmatch mess and chuckled at the amateurishness of it all.”
This is, so far as it goes, true; among soccer snobs, sneering at MLS goes past preference and into matters of identity. And that’s no big deal: free country and all that. But, if one doesn’t accept a part of Galarcep’s premise - i.e. that the All-Star game was, exclusively, or even explicitly, about converting soccer snobs, his argument carries less force.
For instance, this game could have impressed not the soccer snob him- or herself, but the friend of that soccer snob. This formula would work like so: Soccer Snob dragged friend with zero familiarity with soccer to watch games during the World Cup - for brevity's sakey, call this hypothetical friend, Jim Rome; during the Cup, word reaches of MLS’ existence reaches Jim Rome, who then asks Soccer Snob about the league; as usual, Soccer Snob answers by dumping all over MLS and informs Jim Rome that the English Premier League is “where it’s really at" and that those MLS “wankers/tossers” wouldn’t know “football” if it “shagged their arses”; Jim Rome watches the All-Star game and sees MLS not only beat FC Chelsea, but does so in an intelligent manner.
In this scenario, hopefully, not an over-tortured one, Jim Rome might one night be inspired to treat his new fondness for soccer to a night out at an MLS game. The extent to which MLS actually believes it can convert this country’s soccer snobs - and, as Galarcep points out, there are more of them than MLS fans - is an open question. In truth, I don’t doubt this hope played a considerable role in the choice of competition for the All-Star game. Whatever inspired the choice, a very high-profile match followed by adulatory coverage brings a potential bounce all its own. It’s that coverage that makes sense of the post-All-Star buzz.
Galarcep does, unquestionably, get one thing right, though:
“There were celebrations, a trophy presentation and the painful sight of confetti cannons being shot off after MLS All-Stars won an exhibition match. Yes, you read that right.”
Yeah, that is kinda pathetic.
The rest of the news is pretty standard:
- ESPN’s site reports that Landon Donovan has recovered from his hamstring issue and was moved to “probable” for Wednesday night’s (televised) game against the Houston Dynamo - which ought to be a good ‘un. Expect previews for that, and the rest of Wednesday’s games, tomorrow. And given LA's record sans Donovan, that's very good news for the Galaxy.
- That same article notes that Donovan’s LA Galaxy signed a new defender/midfielder: Canada’s Ante Jazic. USSoccerplayers.com provided a longer write-up on Jazic, a new name to me. He may be good, he may not, but with LA struggling to score, one has to wonder whether they’re adding players on the right side of the field.
- In other transfer news (help! What’s the “American” word for this? Trade? Player movement?), Red Bull New York looks poised to add several reinforcements of their own. Tucked in the bottom of the second of two really dull reports on Bruce Arena inching toward Red Bull’s helm (here’s the first dull report), one finds word that former Chicago Fire/DC United standout and, as my wife would have it, beautiful thug Dema Kovalenko will join Red Bull by the end of this week. They’re also trying out an Austrian international midfielder named Markus Schopp. One last bit of Red Bull business, here’s the latest from Youri “Vacation, All I Ever Wanted” Djorkaeff:
“’I want to finish well,’ said Djorkaeff, who has said that this will be his final season as a player. ‘I want to be here.’”
In his defense, it’s possible that Youri only re-emphasized the lesson Donovan’s LA Galaxy taught last season: the regular season doesn’t matter so much...
- Finally, I have to confess that I wonder what will become of this space when the U.S. domestic season’s reach the off-season. Will daily posting even be possible absent the games and results to discuss? Perhaps I’ll go the “Yanks Abroad route" and start looking in on American youngsters (and geezers) plying their trade during Europe’s fall-winter-spring season. For instance, who’s this Jeremiah White kid? Where’d he come from and how did he reach France’s second division? (And why does a picture of Oguchi Onyewu to the column about him?) And, as Aaron Gidding, of Yanks Abroad fame, points out, there are more “Yanks” in England’s top flight this season than there ever have been - and these are not players riding pine, but key parts of their respective teams. For the record, Gidding considers this comparative explosion of American talent in top leagues the best support for optimism about America's future in the game.
Anyway, following American players overseas isn't something I've done much of, but it’s an option that matches the mission.
Overall, I’d just recommend that y’all prepare yourselves for frequent mention of “slow news days” and exclamations like “For the love of GOD, when’s fucking APRIL going to arrive?” in posts from December 2006 through March 2007.
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