The origins of the Grumpy Old Men

In 1965, The Odd Couple opened on Broadway.  The film version, starring Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon, came out in 1968 and the television series, with the less stellar duo of Tony Randall and Jack Klugman, debuted in 1970.  The script and screenplay were written by the prolific American playwright, Neil Simon, and were his seminal works.  The hilariously funny plot revolves around the conflict which arises when Felix, a neurotic control freak, is kicked out by his wife and moves in with his friend and fellow divorcee, Oscar, a fun loving slob.  The two are such fundamentally different characters that you have to wonder how their friendship developed, before it was ever tested by co-habitation.

A similar relationship seemingly exists between two rivals in Major League Soccer, the Los Angeles Galaxy and CD Chivas USA. The Galaxy are famous for their free spending ways, their payroll amounting to more than any other two MLS franchises combined and over three times the salary cap limit imposed by the league, not including the exception known as the Designated Player Rule.  Chivas, on the other hand, are not making use of the DPR and have easily the lowest wage bill of any MLS side, their players receiving almost twenty percent less in salary, on average, than the next lowest paid team in the league.  That’s quite a disparity when it comes to business models.  The difference is reflected in the standings, as well, with the Galaxy sitting comfortably atop the table, while the Goats find themselves tethered to one of the legs propping it up.

The clubs’ rivalry on the pitch is perhaps the one true derby in MLS.  As the duo share a stadium, it’s easiest to link their animosity for each other to the San Siro Derby, between AC Milan and Inter, but, as the Angelino version has been dubbed the Super-Clasico, there are also parallels to be drawn with the Real/Barca feud in La Liga.  No matter to whom you compare them, the fans on either side of the line, like any true supporters, revel in their hatred for the other and are each proud of the image of their team.

Becks and Donovan were happy to follow the yellow brick road..

The Galaxy followers identify with the cinematic glamour and star power espoused by their team’s chosen moniker, as well as the extravagant $250m signing of David Beckham, who brought with him his celebrity wife and personal army of paparazzi.  With the fallout from the former England captain’s misadventures on loan at Milan still leaving a bitter taste in their mouths, the Galactic Armada is very happy that Landon Donovan has been locked into a long term deal to stay at the club, paying him over $2.5m per annum and that league commissioner, Don Garber, has steadfastly refused overtures from Europe for their talismanic leader.  A payroll over $10m is not a concern; throwing more money at problems is how you deal with them in Hollywood.  There are even rumours that the club may be shelling out a further  €10m to AC Milan for their out of favour, high flying and high living Brazilian party animal, Ronaldhino.

...While the Ultras believe Beckham should have taken a more humble path.

Chivas fans, meanwhile, remain unimpressed by their wealthy neighbours.  The club has earned a reputation for exceeding low expectations.  They are proud of their working class Latino roots and believe that this season’s struggles are just a transition period after losing their very successful manager, Preki, to Toronto FC.

One has to wonder, though, whether these fans are aware that, just under the surface, there lays a thorny reef of connections between the ownership of the two franchises that suggests the ‘rivalry’ between them is only a charade manufactured in the interests of profit.

The Galaxy are owned by the Anschutz Entertainment Group, an entity that should be passingly familiar to concert goers in Manchester, London and Berlin.   AEG owns the MEN Arena in Manchester, and the O2 Arenas in London and Berlin.  The company is the second largest concert promoter in the world, purchasing professional sports teams to fill dates in the various venues it owns around the globe.  They were also purported to be the new sponsor for Manchester United in 2010-11, replacing AIG, before AON emerged as the new anagram to be emblazoned across the famous red and black strip.

Think of Anschutz as the Hollywood version of Roman Abramovich.

Anschutz’ company has been known for conducting its business in an ubiquitous and, sometimes, insensitive manner.  A portion of the Berlin Wall, serving as a WWII memorial and symbol of peace was removed to afford a better view of Anschutz’ new venue in that city.  When Michael Jackson passed away just before doing a series of shows at the London O2, AEG sent out letters to holders of prepurchased tickets, offering to sell them a ‘commemorative souvenir ticket’ in place of a refund for their£64-84 tickets.  Randy Phillips, the AEG Live CEO, responding to media inquiries as to the questionable taste of this marketing venture said that, “Since he (Jackson) loved his fans in life, it is incumbent upon us to treat them with the same reverence and respect after his death.”

In the US, Anschutz has used the influx of the MLS, a league with a mandate for use specific (soccer only) stadia, to further his fortune.  Most American sports leagues frown on one owner holding a major stake in multiple teams.  MLS, however, operates as a single entity, and is less concerned with the integrity of the financial competition between its member clubs than it is with that of the athletic variety.  That makes the partnership with MLS a perfect marriage for AEG, which is looking for tenants for its main business interest, stadia.  At 20-30,000 seats, the typical soccer venue in America is the perfect size to stage and sell out concerts.  In a country supposedly indifferent to the beautiful game, Phillip Anschutz’ investment in MLS (AEG owns the Galaxy outright and has a fifty percent interest in the Houston Dynamo) has helped make him a billionaire and the 123rd richest person in the world.

The Home Depot Center, an AEG concert venue and MLS' Los Angeles bachelor pad for the odd couple that is the Galaxy and Chivas USA.

Chivas USA are owned by Jorge Vergara Madrigal and Antonio Cue Sanchez-Navarro.  Madrigal is also the owner of parent club, Chivas de Guadalajara, the largest club in Mexico, and Deportivo Saprissa of Costa Rica, the biggest in that rapidly modernising Central American nation.  Sanchez-Navarro and Shawn Hunter, the president and CEO, handle the day to day operations for the American version of Chivas.

A former timeshare salesman, Madrigal also has some interestingly coincidental, if not solidly established ties to the Galaxy ownership.  Not only is he a tenant in the Home Depot Center, he made his fortune by smuggling a brand of health care products, sold through multi-level marketing, into Mexico with the help of an American partner.  When the product took off, Madrigal was instrumental in negotiating marketing rights for the line in Mexico, with the federal government.  In so doing, he positioned himself to become the president of the newly legalised company, OmniLife, thus sitting prettily at the top of the Mexican pyramid.

For those of you who haven't been south of the border, our intrepid 'goat' herder is not a chauvinist. The Guadalajaran Chivas, whose strip is proudly worn by Senora Madrigal, is sponsored by the Mexican equivalent of Wonder Bread.

The millions he made from this revenue stream enabled him to buy the original Chivas and expand the brand, establishing the MLS franchise as well as Chivas Hefei, in the Chinese first division.  Chivas Hefei, it should be noted, plays its matches in a brand new 60,000 seat, soccer specific stadium.

As Anschutz did with AEG, Madrigal has invested in the entertainment industry, producing such films as Y, Tu Mama Tambien.

Oh, I almost forgot.  That American health product marketer?  You know, the parent company to OmniLife, of which Chivas is a subsidiary?  It should be familiar to LA Galaxy followers, as it’s name is emblazoned across their strip.  Chivas USA’s owner, Madrigal, is the president of the Mexican arm of the Galaxy’s main sponsor, HerbaLife.

To be fair, Don Garber and the executive board of MLS have not allowed any possible financial friendships to develop into anything more than the appearance of a possible conflict of interest.  No significant or untoward player transactions have occurred between the two clubs.  Although, the formation of Chivas USA provided a new foil for the Galaxy, so that Anschutz’ other MLS holding, Houston Dynamo, who were doing very well, not coincidentally with a younger Landon Donovan on their roster, as the San Jose Earthquake, would not be deserting the Galaxy when they moved into their new AEG built digs in Texas.  Still, all in all, the business of football between the Home Depot Center roomies has stayed that of competitive rivals, whatever has gone on beyond that confined sphere.

MLS is growing, though.  The surge in American viewership for this year’s World Cup is an opportunity upon which the league can build, securing for itself a stronger foothold in the US sporting market.  It must remember, however, that Americans are, by nature, suspicious of soccer.  As more begin to pay attention to the game, so too will the media.  Even the appearance of a conflict of interest could do serious damage to the credibility of the fledgling league.

Unfortunately, the Weather Man is in a pouty mood.  Which is why I’m sitting in a bookstore, a few hours before dark, surfing the internet and bemoaning the sudden dearth of World Cup matches after nearly three weeks of daily football injections.  Maybe FA should stand for Footballer’s Anonymous.

The hottest soccer story online today features Cristiano Ronaldo seemingly descending into the same madness that took Michael Jackson.  He has proudly announced to the world that he’s just become the father of a bouncing baby boy.  Furthermore, the mother wishes to retain her anonymity and has, in order to avoid a life in the spotlight, ceded sole custody of the newborn to the Real Madrid heartthrob.  So Ronaldo is, in effect, an unwed father, looking forward to the challenges of raising his son and defeating those pesky Catalans, both apparently singlehandedly.  I think the word I’m looking for is bizarre.

Desperate for something a little less tabloidish to pass the time, I went to Surf The Channel, hoping a film might just cure my ennui.  STC is a very handy site for catching up on the latest episodes of whatever television shows you might like, as well as watching movies that may have seemed interesting but not worth $20 to catch in the theatre.  They’re basically a clearing house, linking you to (mostly) free content on several other sites.  Free is good.

At any rate, when I went to their film and movie catalogue, one newly available item caught my eye.  Once In A LIfetime:  The Story Of The New York Cosmos* is a 2006 documentary that covers the intriguing history of the original Galacticos, assembled over two decades before Florentino Perez brought Luis Figo, Roberto Carlos, Zinedine Zidane and David Beckham to Madrid.  I might add that the Cosmos were an even headier collection of starpower than their Spanish descendants, though similarly flawed.

Beckenbauer, Pele, Chinaglia. A true power trio

Can you imagine a side that featured the aged but still skilled Brazilians, Pele and Carlos Albertos, along with Franz Beckenbauer and Giorgio Chinaglia, both still in their prime?   Hold on, because that was just the beginning.  There was Hubert Birkenmeier in goal, Vladislav Bogicevic in midfield, Roberto Cabanas, Johan Neeskins, Julio Cesar Romero, Jomo Sono and even a brief cameo from Johann Cruyff.  It was the ‘Pitch of Dreams’ before W.P. Kinsella wrote the words, “If you build it he will come.”  For those of you more cinematic than literary, the line would later be immortalised in the Kevin Costner, Academy Award nominated, baseball film, Field Of Dreams.  In fact, given that Kinsella wrote the book, Shoeless Joe, in 1982, when the Cosmos were at the height of their dizzying popularity, it’s possible they may have given him some small inspiration.

The team was born of the dreams of Steve Ross, the founder of Warner Communications, and Ahmet and Nesuhi Ertegun of Atlantic Records.  Steve Ross wanted Atlantic Records as part of Warner Brothers and Nesuhi Ertegun wanted to own a football club.  The Cosmos started out as a semi-professional side in the North American Soccer League, a merging of the surviving clubs from the two floundering professional leagues in the US.  The players on the various clubs played in empty, backwater stadiums, doing so out of love for the game.  There certainly was no money in it and they all had day jobs.

Randy Hunt, the Cosmos’ original striker worked in a safari park, which was fitting.  At the time, organised soccer in America was akin to a kangaroo wandering around Times Square.  If people saw you kicking a round ball on a field, instead of picking it up and running with it, their first thought was that you’d likely escaped from a zoo somewhere.

Shep Messing gave new meaning to the term, "Keep your shirt on!"

Shep Messing, the keeper, was willing to do almost anything for a buck, including posing in the nude for a magazine.  Since, according to our demographics, almost ninety per cent of our readers are male, I should warn you.  The documentary goes into some detail on this, sharing some of the photos in the layout.

When they showed the first one and began to pan down slowly, I remember thinking, “Okay, they’re going to cut to another shot any second now.”  I waited patiently but it didn’t happen.  Will I ever learn?  Never, ever assume.  I can tell you that, on this occasion, more than an ass was made of me.

So, when the time comes, look away or squeeze your eyes shut and count to ten.  Slowly.  The filmmakers were very interested in this sequence.  Did I mention it’s a BBC production?   To be fair, they do make up for the exposing a little too much of the goalkeeper by providing some excellent footage from the 1966 World Cup final.

Moving on, though, you really couldn’t call the Cosmos a large outfit in the early days, despite Shep Messing’s personal bait and tackle.

Steve Ross, however, was the embodiment of the American entrepreneur.   Everything he did, including dream, was done in one way — big.  As huge as football was in the rest of the world, it was virtually unheard of in the US.  Most people would view that as a sign that soccer was a losing proposition;  Ross saw it as an untapped market.  He put the resources of Warner Communications and the US State Department to work and signed the greatest player in the world to transform a beer league into ‘champagne wishes and caviar dreams.’

With Pele on board, Ross sent his headhunters out to get another big name.  That turned out to be Lazio talisman Giorgio Chinaglia.  The Italian was a narcissistic sycophant.  He quickly attached himself to Ross and sought to usurp Pele’s position in the lockerroom hierarchy.  He wasn’t a great teammate but he could definitely finish.

One of the most refreshing features of the film is the frankness of the various subjects in presenting their versions of events.  There is no political correctness, professional courtesy or attempts to present events in the best possible light.  Everyone shoots from the hip, fast and hard.

In 1978 and 1980, I was lucky enough to see the Cosmos a handful of times.  Like many other kids in North America, it was my first exposure to professional soccer.  As you can see, I was hooked.  At the time, I didn’t understand how such a great team could be as erratic as the Cosmos were.  They would rip apart the league for a while and then play horribly for prolonged stretches.

At the time, the papers put it down to the gap between the stars, Chinaglia, Beckenbauer and Carlos Alberto, and the rest of the roster, mostly American amateurs and journeymen from the English league like Godfrey Ingram and Dennis Tueart.  As it turns out, it was more likely due to all the infighting and the incessant partying.

Steve Ross, the original Roman Abramovich

Still, Ross kept going out and spending large amounts of money to bring in more big names.

The Cosmos were the dominant force in the league and also did quite well touring Europe to play friendlies against major clubs.  At home, they were selling out Giants Stadium in New Jersey before the primary tenant, the New York Football Giants.  Other NASL teams went after big names, Tampa had Randy Marsh and the Los Angeles Aztecs welcomed Brand Best before Beckham was even a twinkle in the soccer gods’ eyes.

No one had the money to keep up with Ross and the Cosmos, however and doesn’t that sound familiar, with Chelsea, Madrid and Man City keeping the torch of the almighty dollar ablaze?  Sadly, the Warner war chest wasn’t bottomless and with the lack of television ratings to back them up, even the Cosmos went belly up.  They were the first big club to go out of existence.  With the situations ongoing at Pompey, especially, but Liverpool, Newcastle and Manchester United, as well, they may not be the last.

It’s a rare occasion when English fans would be well advised to heed a lesson from the American game but this may be one of those times. I give you one of my favourite quotes, from the philosopher George Santayana:

“Those who cannot not remember their past are condemned to repeat it.”

--The Life of Reason

What legacy have the Cosmos left in their wake?  Since the demise of the club and the NASL in the mid eighties, youth soccer has grown in leaps and bounds.  The US men’s team has qualified for six consecutive World Cups and expectations are increasing each time.  The women’s team is already a world power.  Without the Cosmos, none of this was likely to have occurred, nor would we have ever heard the expression, ‘soccer mom.’

Major League Soccer hasn’t forgotten the failure of their predecessor.  They’ve taken a slower path towards the same goal.  Adhering to a strict financial discipline, the growth has been steady.  They are happy to endure the teasings of bigger leagues who deride their lack of quality.  The market for soccer is still here in the US and the new league is slowly but surely tapping into it.

The goal of MLS is to be a strong, steady flame rather than an exploding supernova.  Fireworks are breathtaking but they are over very quickly.

* The link provided is to Mega Video’s archive of the documentary.  If you’re not familiar with them, Mega Video allows you to make use of their catalogue for free or with the purchase of a membership.  Without the membership, the film will be interrupted after 72 minutes.  You will have to wait 54 minutes to resume viewing the final 20 minutes or so.  Free is good but paying has its perks, too.  To begin viewing, click on the red button in the middle of the window and then the green one which follows.

Question: What do Eintracht Frankfurt, Real Zaragoza and Fiorentina have in common? Answer: They’re all teams I have ‘adopted’ as clubs to follow in foreign leagues after having developed some kind of connection or affinity with the cities in which they’re based.

Now you can add NY Red Bulls to that list too.

I have been to 2 MLS games and both have featured the team from the Big Apple, and they were 2 matches full of contrasts. In July 2008 I saw the Red Bulls take on David Beckham and LA Galaxy, in front of 46,754 fans in Giants Stadium. This time the teams took to the field at Red Bull Arena in front of 17,900 fans. Where the match in 2008 felt like a bit of a circus, this match felt more like a ‘proper’ football match and not only because of Red Bulls’ new soccer specific stadium. The crowd was made up of genuine football fans, rather than the bandwagon jumpers who turned up in 2008, cheering goals scored by both sides and expecting Goldenballs to dominate matches like Maradona.

Considering the low attendance, there was a good atmosphere at the stadium. The ESC (Empire Supporters Club) behind one of the goals was the most vocal group and they kept going for the full ninety minutes. The literature they hand out before the game states that they combine the passion of South American fans with the commitment of European fans and the wit and spontaneity of their British counterparts. I was impressed with the noise they generated, especially the drum based sounds (although it woulld be fair to say they have a distance to go before developing the British terrace wit).

Also impressive was the fact that 100 or so Seattle fans had made the arduous trip across the entire breadth of this huge country to support their team.

And luckily for them their trip was worth it. In a match low on goal-mouth action, it was the Sounders who provided what little quality was on show.

After the match I listened to the 5-live world football phone-in, in which Sean Wheelock said that Red Bulls coach Hans Backe is a former protégé of Sven-Goran Eriksson. With hindsight I thought it made a lot of sense, Red Bulls’ performance bore remarkable resemblances to Sven’s England 2006 World Cup Vintage. Defensively they were fairly solid. Probably their best 2 performers were the 2 centre backs, Todd Ream and local hero Mike Petke (coming up to 300 appearances for the club).  Offensively, however, they were very one dimensional. Too often they were let down by a lack of ideas or poor technique in the final 3^rd.

Seattle were marginally the better side and deserved their narrow 1-0 win. They were able to move the ball about with a lot more fluency, thanks to a more flexible 4-2-3-1 formation. The movement of the front 3 (Sanna Nyassi and Steve Zakuani on the wings, Brad Evans at centre-forward) enabled Freddie Ljungberg (playing in the hole behind Evans) to pick out passes and slip them in behind the defence. Ljungberg was my man of the match. He was a dominant force in the playmaker role and could have come away with a goal to his name were he not violently chopped down on the edge of the area by Danleigh Borman in the 1^st half. Remarkably no foul was given and Borman didn’t receive his marching orders.

For me, the most poignant moment of the match came in the 14^th minute as fans held aloft cards showing the number 14. It was a gesture of solidarity to Joe Vide, an ex-Red Bull who was recently diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. Despite 3 years of pro top flight football, Vide hasn’t got enough in the bank to fund his own health treatment (those Brits who like to knock the NHS should thank their lucky stars they never got sick in the States).

Those connected (whether it be fans, players or club officials) with Red Bulls, along with DC United and San Jose Earthquakes (his other former clubs) are trying to raise funds to ease Vide’s financial burden and help him get the treatment he needs.

Having been brought up on a diet of Premier League football, it is almost inconceivable for me that somebody who played professional football for 3 years is unable to pay for urgent medical treatment. It seems like a whole different world. A premier league player could pay Joe’s full treatment and barely notice the funds leaving their account. Of course it is highly unlikely that will happen. But if you’re reading this and feel compelled to make your own small contribution, you can do so at the website of the friends of Joe Vide.

Geoff Edwards

Geoff Edwards is a football-mad Englishman who fell in love with a German girl, moved to Germany, and then fell in love with German football (much to the chagrin of said German girl). He can be found most Saturdays in German pubs watching ‘Bundesliga Konferenz’ or at home, looking for creative ways to follow Everton FC on the internet.

Football is not only present in most other countries around the world, but is their main sport and often integrated into their culture.

The subject of the strike was based around the player’s contracts. Already earning well below the average salary for a football player, MLS had the option to cancel their contracts at any time – even if the player was simply going through a bad run of form – and there would be no compensation. To cancel the contract of a football player in Europe could run a bill into the millions and is not a viable option. For over thirty years player power has increase dramatically and whilst it’s refreshing to see the MLS humbling these players – it’s not the reality of the situation.

This highlights another problem – it’s the MLS that owns the players, not the teams. This collective bargaining agreement follows the model of the other American sports, a model that no other footballing country employs. Isn’t it slightly ironic that the US can socialise their sports team but not their healthcare?

If the New York Red Bulls were to sell their top player then MLS receives the money and it will be shared amongst all the teams in the league. What incentive does this give to the teams? No incentive, no innovation and MLS will continue to lag behind even the smaller European leagues – hard to believe for a country, that when they put their mind to it, can do fantastic things. This socialist nature restricts progress of any one team and prevents the creation of super-teams – the chances therefore of MLS having a top 20 team is a long way off.

Another hindrance to their ability to export is their youth development. Collegic players only turn professional when they are around the age of 23. Whereas this may be an ideal age to bring players through in the NFL – at that age there are already world-class players in football. Fabregas, Messi, Ronaldo and Rooney have already been playing at the top level for five years by this point.

Footballers are starting earlier and earlier and this is something MLS has to address. American children pick a sport early in their lives, which unfortunately for MLS, tends to be traditional sports such as American Football, Baseball or Ice Hockey – this is where the American’s will have to break tradition.

MLS needs to do its own bit and has been criticised for not targeting the right demography – Miami Fusion was a casualty in 2002 of which some attributed by failing to reach out to Hispanic members of the community, instead just recruiting white, middle-class players.

The fact that I’m writing this in March with the season upon us suggests problems with the MLS calendar. The MLS season runs from March to November, cutting straight through the summer months – a sensible choice to prevent clashing with the NFL and the potential freezing temperatures parts of the US endure during the winter months. On the flip side – the potential exposure to high temperatures in a league not renown for technical ability poses the question are we seeing the best of MLS players?

The calendar also impacts the transfer window. Signing players in January is their best bet to get them ready for the next season, but January is not a time when clubs want to sell players, let alone their best ones. MLS currently recruits more internally than they do from abroad, but this is a fundamental problem that needs to be addressed if they want to get inline with the Europe.

There are some problems that MLS can’t solve overnight. ‘Soccer specific’ stadiums will take years to build but when available will ensure that the teams don’t find themselves playing in front of 30,000 people in a 80,000-seater stadium. The Red Bull arena in New York is a good start however.

With the limited budgets available in MLS it may also be wise to stick to their current conference system of East and West especially as there are more and more teams entering MLS every year. The rise in team numbers may also introduce the promotion/relegation, which in turns introduces a more competitive nature to the sport – after all there are no winners without losers. These are things that will evolve and whilst MLS is still in its infancy must put up with.

The last issue is the salary cap. Each team has an allotted amount to spend on wages per season, with the exception of two players of which they can spend more on – the Designated Player ruling (Beckham ruling). While this allows the league to attract top players and get into Sepp Blatter’s good books it also creates a split in the squad. For example David Beckham would be playing with players that earn around $50,000 a year – the gap is too large and has and will continue to create problems within teams.

It sometimes feels that MLS is fighting an unwinnable war in their bid to make football a mainstream sport in America. Tradition and culture is not on their side, but they must do all they can to ensure that MLS is not another NASL.

MLS is due to expand further from 16 to 18 teams in 2011 and it’s imperative that growth continues in this fashion for years to come. Efforts must be spent on the politics of the current system but more important there must be an alignment with Europe both in culture and timing.

The American’s have been guilty of re-inventing the wheel when it comes to football such as the 35 yard shootout and the countdown a la NBA – but now they have the best interest of the game in their heart when will they use their brain to make MLS reach it’s potential?

Any excitement should be tempered by the realisation that this particular rumour has been percolating since 2007. The source was Henry himself, waxing lyrical in a New York Times interview about how much he loves New York City and American sports (especially, wags take note, basketball). And while he is not an entirely unknown commodity here, having featured alongside Roger Federer and Tiger Woods in a commercial for Gillette razors, he certainly does not have the instant recognition factor of a David Beckham.

Apparently, Henry has no problem with that. “In New York and in America, I can be myself, I have no eyes on me. It’s O.K. if I want to buy a slice of pizza, pay the man and sit on a bench. I can go to the cinema and watch a movie, and nobody knows who I am. You don’t know how great that is,” he told The Times.

Stoking the transfer talk, in August 2008 the New York Post ran a short feature in which the 32 year old again declared his love of all things American. As recently as last month, there were reports of Manchester City coach Mark Hughes speculating that Henry was in talks with the Red Bulls. So as matters currently stand, it’s still a rumour, but hardly an outlandish one.

Signing Henry would  be a terrific boost at both club and league level. Right now, the Red Bulls have to market their new stadium in a city that is undergoing lean times financially, in a year in which the World Cup in South Africa will be the dominant football event. Even in a healthier economy, pushing MLS in a city that has far more established franchises in baseball, gridiron football, basketball and hockey is no easy task.

Henry’s sublime abilities in the forward line, decently on show during Barcelona’s crucial Champions League victory over Inter, could nonetheless propel MLS to further success off the back of a fine season. Off the field, new franchises are on the way over the next two years in Philadelphia, Portland and Vancouver. On the field, the recent playoffs which culminated in a thrilling MLS Cup Final between LA Galaxy and Real Salt Lake showed that there is an engaging quality about the league’s more powerful clubs.

Indeed, watching the play-off contest between Chicago Fire and New England Revolution, I recalled the snipe of one UK commentator to the effect that an MLS game was little better than an average Saturday in League Two, the bottom tier of English football. Assertions like that are based on the lazy, conceited assumption that Americans can’t play “our” football. As anyone who followed the MLS post-season would attest, a side like Salt Lake or Houston could absolutely make the grade in the English Championship.

Henry’s prospective club, the Red Bulls, are not among the best – although MLS watchers will tell you that can change rapidly. The fluidity of this league means that, as yet, there is no “Big Four” equivalent (or should I say “Big Three”?)  While 2009 was a proverbial annus horribilis for the Red Bulls, with the club finishing up with the second-worst performance record in MLS history, they can at least remind their critics that they were finalists in the MLS Cup the previous year.

Might they scale the heights again? The enticing prospect of Henry playing upfront with Juan Pablo Angel – assuming the lawyers can sort contracts so that Henry appears alongside, rather than instead of, the Colombian striker – could turn the Red Bulls into the most exciting club in MLS. Like Henry, Angel played for a top flight club, Aston Villa, in the Premier League. He had a particularly good season at Villa in 2003-04, with a final tally of 23 goals; not including European competitions, Henry netted 34 for Arsenal in the same season.

As well as being a prolific scorer, Henry is also, as anyone who remembers his performances with Dennis Bergkamp at Arsenal will testify, a fine partner. And Angel, who has often cut a lonely figure on the pitch since Jozy Altidore’s departure for Europe, could do with a partner.

Yet even if the deadly hypothesis of Henry and Angel becomes a reality, the Red Bulls still need to take a hard look round the back. Last season, Danny Cepero and Bounda Coundoul’s efforts in goal were frequently compromised by a chaotic defence. Here, the Red Bulls can learn much from the efforts of their former coach, Bruce Arena, at the LA Galaxy. Arena knows well that a Beckham or a Donovan can give any team a dangerous edge, but only if they are enabled to do so. In quietly dismantling the culture of awe around Beckham, and in demonstrating that no player is infallible (as Donovan himself underlined when he wildly fired the ball over the crossbar during the MLS Cup penalty shoot-out), Arena established the principles which helped turn the Galaxy’s fortunes around.

That brings me to my final observation about Thierry Henry. A few months ago, I argued in these pages that MLS should not fall into the trap of being driven by a handful of stars approaching the twilight of their careers. The key is player development, the challenge – as MLS Commissioner Don Garber has correctly emphasised – is keeping the many talented players MLS has spawned on this side of the Atlantic. Let’s suppose that Henry comes to MLS fresh from the World Cup; that won’t change the fact that the league will have lost players of the calibre of Chicago’s Chris Rolfe and Salt Lake’s Yura Movsisyan to Danish clubs during the off season. After all, it is out of players like these that a great league is made.

The life of the Cosmos began slowly in the early 1970’s, as the team was hardly big enough to fill its small accommodation playing in Downing Stadium on Randall’s Island in New York’s East River.  Before too long, however, the Cosmos had the talent to fill the likes of their new home field, the recently completed, 78,000+ capacity Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. What began as a modest group of players in a young, seemingly semi-professional league would soon become a soccer power that North America, and in many cases the world, had never seen before.  With Warner Brothers Entertainment backing the financial side of the team, the Cosmos were able to attain the best players money could buy and they always produced quality line-ups whenever they took the pitch.  The team’s full name “Cosmopolitans” hardly begins to describe the gigantic stature and even larger ego of the soccer behemoths that became the Cosmos. Some of the most noticeable names in European soccer began to don Cosmos green and yellow, among them Franz Beckenbauer, Carlos Alberto, Giorgio Chinaglia, and the god of them all, Pelé, who ended his majestic career with the club from the Big Apple.  During the team’s height in popularity from 1977-1980, the Cosmos averaged well over 42,000 in attendance, much of which can be attributed to the great desire to see Pelé’s final professional seasons and Giorgio Chinaglia’s stunning and flashy ability to put the ball in the back of the net.

It appears though, that just as quickly as they rose to prominence, the Cosmos fell from soccer grace and fame.  With the fall of the Cosmos came the fall of soccer in North America, as the NASL and the Cosmos both folded in 1985 and all of a sudden people in the states were left with a void in the realm of professional soccer.  Not until the world’s largest tournament, the World Cup in 1994, would Americans get a true taste of soccer on a grand scale once again.  The World Cup was followed in turn by the development of a domestic league in the United States (Major League Soccer), which over the past 15 years or so, has grown and developed by leaps and bounds in the face of constant difficulties and criticism.  Despite these challenges, the league has grown to 15 teams, with that number increasing to 18 teams by 2011.

The point of this article, however, is not a sales pitch for the growth of Major League Soccer and it is certainly not a statement of the league’s talent in comparison to the great foreign leagues of the world.  MLS, despite the strides it has made, is still ages away from reaching the talent levels of the English Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, or the Bundesliga.  This article is written, however, to raise an argument for the revival of the greatest soccer superpower to ever play in North America.  The team of which I speak is, of course, the Cosmos.

The first criticism of having the Cosmos join Major League Soccer is obvious; New York already has a team in the Red Bulls, so what would be the good of adding a second team to the city while there are plenty of other cities fighting to add their first team in the league?  As sport enthusiasts know, the greatest rivalries include teams fighting for supremacy within the same city.  With a place like New York, starved so long for a team to represent the full flavor and vibrancy of the city, the Cosmos would be a perfect solution.  Not only would they be able to form a rivalry with the already established Red Bulls, but also they would truly be New York’s team, a way for the city to relive its wonderful, although brief, soccer history.  Reviving the Cosmos would allow older soccer fans in the city to experience once again the team that won over the Big Apple with its flair and grandeur.  Younger generations of fans would be exposed to a team grown out of the majesty of its past while starting anew to form its future.  The Cosmos could be the lifeblood in developing New York into a truly great soccer city.
Another argument that has emerged against the introduction of the Cosmos into Major League Soccer is the idea that the league is reluctant to embrace the roots of the NASL, which for many, was associated with the failure and reluctance of the United States to develop a competitive and popular soccer league on par with the other leagues of the world.  This argument, up until recently, seemed like a valid point in preventing the Cosmos from becoming an active team once again.  MLS, however, has slowly and gradually begun to embrace its past in the NASL with the addition of Seattle Sounders F.C. in 2009 and the Portland Timbers and Vancouver Whitecaps (which will begin play in 2011), all of which were former teams of the NASL.  With the addition of NASL teams to the current MLS, why can’t the Cosmos also join the league at a future time?  The recent revival of NASL team names in the MLS expansion furthers the possibility of the New York powerhouse perhaps joining the league in the future.

The rights to all things Cosmos are owned by Peppe Pinton, who, although previously reluctant to see the Cosmos come to life again, has changed his tone to one of support for the team.  Pinton originally thought that MLS was not ready for the Cosmos name and he did not want the young league to tarnish the name of the once great franchise.  Now that the league has had almost two decades to develop and grow, Pinton, in a recent interview with thisisamericansoccer.com said, “The Cosmos have a brand name that will make millions for a franchise. I don’t want to knock any other franchises out there, but name one for me today in the U.S. that has reached the level of magnitude that the Cosmos reached. It’s been a long time, but people still know it all over the world. If I am a soccer investor, I would like to embrace this.”  In his view, North America and the world are once again ready for the Cosmos on a grand scale.

As a native New Yorker myself, I would love the addition of the Cosmos to Major League Soccer. In recent years, soccer in the city has been represented by first the Metrostars and currently by the Red Bulls, and although these squads have played valiantly, they are not the soccer clubs New York needs.  New York needs a team to represent the city itself and all that soccer has meant to the Big Apple in the past.  The Metrostars and Red Bulls have been more regional teams, representing New York, New Jersey, and the greater metro area, whereas the Cosmos are the team of New York City. I hope that with the expansion of Major League Soccer in the coming years, a plan for the reemergence of the Cosmos comes to the forefront of discussions.  The greatest cities of the world are represented by their own soccer clubs and it is time that New York City gets a team for itself, one that will live up to and surpass the Cosmos name of years past.  If a team with the pedigree and history of the Cosmos were to ever play professional soccer again, it would give MLS a new perspective, one that shows that the league embraces and respects the game’s past in this country.  As for now, American soccer fans can only sit and hope that one day the team that changed it all can once again take the pitch.  Hopefully, that day is sooner rather than later.

Rare are those occasions when the Red Bulls players can look up at a stadium filled to capacity. On two of them, David Beckham and the Los Angeles Galaxy have been present for games that actually lived up to the hype. Beckham made his New York debut in 2007, in an extraordinary game marked by superb goals and abysmal defending that ended in a 5-4 Red Bulls victory. In 2008, he played in a more sober, yet engaging, 2-2 draw.

On Thursday night, Beckham returned to Giants Stadium. Only 20,000 spectators trickled in, causing the New York Daily News – hardly known for its fondness for the sport variously known here as futbol or football or soccer – to declare that Beckham had worn out his welcome in MLS.

You could argue that Beckham has become a convenient hate figure for those frustrated at the failure to bring American tastes into line with the rest of the world by converting “soccer” into “football”. At last night’s game, there were clusters of fans who barracked Beckham viciously every time he received the ball. At the same time, there were plenty of teenage girls still sufficiently charmed  by Beckham’s celebrity to wear his Number 23 jersey.

The real problem for American soccer runs much deeper than Beckham’s Will-He-Stay-Or-Will-He-Go routine. Over and above the frisson of interest generated by Beckham’s spat with team-mate Landon Donovan, after the latter told a leading US sports writer that he was none too impressed by Goldenballs’s decision to jet off to AC Milan, few people in this country really care about the game. And Beckham knows that.

It’s always been tough to decide – perhaps because he himself can’t – whether David Beckham is a footballer first and a marketing device second. His disillusionment with MLS, which landed him on a fanfare $250 million deal, stems, I think, for the primacy of his footballing identity. He still has ambition. He wants to play for England in the 2010 World Cup. Fabio Capello has told him that to do so, he has to be playing his football in a league where he’ll be challenged – not one which, at its best, offers the standard of a mid-level English Championship game. Can he really be faulted for acknowledging that reality?

Beckham is not the only major name in the MLS. Chicago Fire has Brian McBride and Cuauhtemoc Blanco, Seattle has Kasey Keller and Freddie Ljungberg. The difference is that for those players, MLS is the vehicle to bring one’s career to an elegant close, not to revive it. That understanding even seems to guide Bob Bradley, the coach of the impressive US national team, whose player selections in the recent FIFA Confederations Cup were dominated by US nationals in European leagues, like Clint Dempsey, Jozy Altidore, Charlie Davies and Tim Howard.

Beckham, then, made an expensive mistake with MLS, no doubt fuelled by his personal vanity and his desire to leave an indelible mark upon a city where celebrity is the most precious of commodities. But a humid, empty Giants Stadium, its artificial turf still streaked by the yard markings of the American football played there in the winter, is a world away from a party at Tom Cruise’s mansion.

Watching Beckham on the field last night, you couldn’t help but wonder whether his secret wish was to fulfil the chant of some of those present, by electing to “f-ck off!” His performance, in a game which resulted in comfortable 3-1 victory for the Galaxy, was technically decent, if unmemorable. He was on the field for seventy minutes, playing some characteristically accurate long passes into the penalty area and taking the corner which led to a spectacular Landon Donovan goal. Unlike Donovan, though, he didn’t play spiritedly. And maybe that is because, when you’ve played for the likes of Real Madrid and Manchester United, it’s hard to feel challenged by a supremely awful team like the New York Red Bulls.

Therein lies the lesson for MLS stategists. Worry less about Beckham, more about how to boost the professional standard of a game which, in America, is played by many and watched by few. When young American players decide they’d rather stay in the MLS instead of venturing to the second divisions of France or Greece – when, in other words, Landon Donovan is the rule, not the exception – something truly meaningful will have occurred.

For many years his arrival in the Premier League did not seem at all likely. Nottingham Forest, Newcastle and Sunderland all attempted to secure Friedel’s services, but failed to obtain an elusive work permit and on all three occasions the moves collapsed. Sandwiched inbetween those disappointments he engineered moves to IF Brondby following his failure to engineer a move to Keegan’s Newcastle, then Galatasary after facing similar disappointment with Sunderland where he would work with Graeme Souness for the first time. In 1996 he moved back to the MLS with Columbus Crew and the following season was included in the MLS team of the year was named the MLS goalkeeper of the year. It painted a frustrating picture, one of a goalkeeper with abundant potential, his persistent suiters testament to it, but unable to secure the opportunity to fulfil it. Hope was to come from Liverpool, who, impressed by Friedel’s MLS performances, decided to purchase his contract for $1.7 million in 1997. Again a work permit was denied, but finally one was granted on appeal and Friedel secured the move to the Premier League that he had sought for so long.

The role of goalkeeper is a strange one, one where Edwin Van der Sar can receive as much credit for a run of 13 games without conceding a goal as Shay Given for limiting a rampant Hamburg side to just 3 goals in Germany as well as countless heroic if slightly joyless performances for Newcastle. At the highest level it is about consistency, attention and alertness. Van der Sar will often have to make one or two saves a game, for half of Manchester United’s home games he is almost a complete bystander to the action. His quality is that when he is required to make those crucial saves more often that not he does. Lower down the league those qualities are still important, but there is more action and endurance. Goals are condeded more frequently, defenders are less reliable. There is generally more to do, keepers can concede one, two, even three goals and still have had a good game. Finding out where they fit between those two extremes has made players’ careers, Jussi Jakelinen, David James and Shay Given are just three examples, and Brad Friedel is another. Having struggled at Liverpool for three seasons, making just 35 appearances and playing second fiddle to Sander Westerveld for the majority of his stay he was eventually reuinted with Graeme Souness at Blackburn, the man who had taken him to Galatasaray. It was there he made his name as a battling, all action player with real quality, first in helping the side win promotion in 2001 and then by earning inclusion in the Premier League XI in 2003 after keeping 15 clean sheets for the club. Throughout the latter part of his career he has been the benchmark for consistency, holding the record for consecutive league appearances of 182. Few, if any, goalkeepers in the league could claim to match his consistently outstanding performances which have coincided with both Blackburn and now Aston Villa enjoying their most successful seasons in over a decade.

Yet Friedel is not the toast of all American football supporters. There is a common sentiment that he has turned his back on the MLS, that he showed little interest in playing for the national side unless he was garanteed to start and that although his ability was undoubtedly more than of Kasey Keller, it was the latter that was more revered by American supporters as having given more back to American football. Keller, incidentally, is still playing – at the newly formed Seattle Sounders and will be 40 this November. His another illustrious career best saved for another day. This is not an argument I feel holds much weight. Friedel has opened a soccer school in Ohio which he visits annually and in interviews regularly makes reference to ex USA keeper Tim Rice as his inspiration for getting in to the game. He has never made it his aim to disregard his roots, but at the same time has maintained a desire to become a better player rather than a pin up for the MLS. In interviews Friedel has talked about how he is considered too English to be American at home, and too American to be English at his club. It was a comment made in jest, but it must be a difficult scenario and perhaps the price for progress, a feeling of not fully belonging anywhere. It has become common place in the modern game, players pusuing their personal goals at the exspense of patriotism, Deco, now of Portugal, Eduardo, now of Croatia and perhaps Almunia, a future England number one, are all good examples.

But the blame should not like at Friedel’s door that he plays in a flawed system. It is not his fault that the only way to improve and reach the pinnacle of his profession was to leave the MLS and play in more prosperous leagues further a field. It is an unfortunate reality that it is not the USA that can decide when it has produced a world class player, it is Europe. There have already been several false dawns in that respect, notably Adu and Convey in recent seasons who eventually failed to meet expectation at Benfica and Fulham respectively. Without these players proving they can play to the European standard, American claims regarding the quality of their players have no credibility, they are little more than smoke and hyperbole. European football is utterly dominant at present, it has the world’s best player, the world’s best international team, and officially, albeit via a competition which isn’t universally respected, the world’s best club side, not to mention all the money. By moving to the Premier League, establishing himself there and consistently proving himself to be one of the best in his position, Friedel might have isolated himself from his homeland, but he has built himself a credibility in this country that gives him good reason to claim to be the greatest player the USA has ever produced, even if he is not appreciated to the same extent at home. There are other contenders, Eric Wynalda, Tab Ramos and Hugo Perez to name but three, but none of them could claim to have performed with such consistent quality in such a challenging environment over such a long period of time. Friedel has survived the fitness revolution that Arsene Wenger brought with him from Monaco in the late 1990′s, and the increased standard of play in the league which has increased its presence in the European game in recent seasons, culminating in his part in Aston Villa’s credible effort to gatecrash the top four this season. If anything these factors, in correlation to Friedel’s increasing age, should have been a recipe for weaker and weaker performances. Instead the opposite has happened, Friedel, if anything, has improved. He isn’t the posterboy for football that America would like, he isn’t their first David Beckham or Ronaldinho, he isn’t bleach blonde highlights, good looks and bags of tricks, but he is the best player to come out of America so far because he simply has a stronger combination of natural talent and an inclination to work and improve than anyone from the country who has gone before him.

I apologise, there seems to be an issue with commenting on articles, but I will address the ones that have been raised here.

The best American outfield player?

Reyna isn’t rated as highly at home because he doesn’t play quite as consistently for the national side which is when they see him play the most, but he’s certainly maintained a good level of play in the Premier League over the years which, as was also the case for Friedel, is a good indicator of a talented player who can produce over a long period of time. Donovan has talent, clearly, but is wasting it playing at LA Galaxy who haven’t even qualified for the MLS playoffs since 2005. From what I gather his spell at Bayern Munich hasn’t been hugely successful, unfortunately it has coincided with the team playing badly, sacking the manager and struggling to qualify for the Champions League. Alexei Lalas was a pioneer, he made a name for himself at Padova in Serie A when it was still the best league in Europe. Right now this is really the basis for success for these players, what they have done to progress American football abroad. He set the standard first and showed that Americans could play at that level. Friedel’s was a bigger achievement because he’s older, at the pinnacle of his position and has been there for longer than Lalas was. In terms of natural ability I’d probably go for Perez, but he didn’t play very many games and only showed in flashes for the national side what he could do. He’s what I would call in modern terms a Youtube player, a player that everyone lauds based on a highlights video and doesn’t look at the full picture. If he were around now in the revamped MLS perhaps he could have achieved more, who knows? In terms of significance, perhaps Lalas was the most important. He was one of the first widely known American players abroad, albeit because of his hair, and set the bar for the rest. I don’t think he had tremendous ability, but he was a great advert for the rebirth of American football. All the arrivals since, McBride, Dempsey, Spector owe, in part, a little to Alexei Lalas. None of these players are what the Americans want, of course, they want their own Ronaldo or Kaka, but the creation of an increasing conveyor built of Premier League quality players is something that shouldn’t be undervalued, especially for a league as young as theirs.

Austin, Texas is a sprawling major city that enjoys fantastic weather most of the year, has a stable economy and tellingly has no major sports teams.  The perfect location for a soccer team to develop perhaps?  The great food and restaurants, numerous bars and expansive nightlife that make the city a great place to live are now complimented by the arrival of a new set of sporting heroes to follow.

The Aztex were founded in 2008 and are owned by British born businessman Phil Rawlins, a board member of Stoke City of the English Premier League.  A formal agreement has been made between the Aztex and Stoke, the two clubs will share players, coaches, training advice and more in an attempt to aid both teams development, they even play in similar kits.  Already a smattering of players with English league football experience graces the Aztex roster, and they look to be a strong side in their first USL season.

Puerto Rico and Vancouver will doubtless be the top teams in the division again this season after dominating last.  Already the Aztex have drawn 1-1 with Vancouver, and the early signs are promising.  Two draws and their first victory over the Cleveland City Stars their record after three games, albeit all played at home.  Indeed they beat Real Salt Lake of MLS in a friendly recently, and also drew 2-2 with perennial MLS powerhouse the Houston Dynamos in March.

The current team should help to inspire interest.  The more ardent Manchester United fans may remember attacking midfielder Eddie Johnson, who scored twice against Cleveland.  He made several League Cup appearances and was at one point touted as a player of great potential, earning England youth international recognition.  A technically gifted midfielder with an eye for goal, he is perhaps the key creative player for the Aztex.

Watford, Stoke and maybe even Real Murcia fans will remember Gifton Noel-Williams, the tall, rangy centre forward.  Along with Brazilian forward Sullivan Silva and former Houston Dynamo Kyle Brown he will add more firepower.  There is talent throughout the squad, from a variety of backgrounds.  They have a healthy mix of the young and hungry, with the experienced and wily.

Already a couple of supporter’s groups have emerged, Chantico’s Army are the most prevalent and have routine gatherings for home games.  That the city has taken so quickly to the Aztex bodes well for the future of the team.  The question remains though, can they garner enough interest to become a viable business?  With sustained growth and support the Aztex could well help Austin’s case for a future MLS expansion team.

Diminutive striker, midfielder, and now manager Heath has a tough task ahead of him yet has already made great steps towards assembling an exciting side.  The developmental under-23 side have contributed several players as well.  With continued input from Stoke and a well operated youth set up, perhaps the next Stanley Matthews will come from Austin, Texas?

As a journalist often writing for an audience who aren’t especially wise to the MLS but are keen to learn it is infuriating – when the league is portayed as unprofessional, unsuccessful and unstable it doesn’t just damage the reputation of the league, it impacts on mine, too. People ask ‘why write about that rubbish when you have the best of Europe on your doorstep?’. But this is a league that has bags of potential, and not just in the generic sense that people wrote about thirty years ago – the enormous country with a population of 240 million, a history of sporting excellence and money to burn – actual, tangiable potential that is there for all to see. Just ten years ago considerable doubts loomed over the MLS and whether it had a future at all, yet since then rising attendences have resulted in ESPN showing matches live globally, and the revenue and exposure that has produced for the clubs has allowed them to follow suit with Europe and sell their shirts for advertising since 2007. The league now receives four places oin the CONCACAF incarnation of the Champions League – winning that would give an American side an opportunity to play one of Europe’s best sides in the World Club Cup, credibility and recognition an inevitable and welcome byproduct of winning the trophy itself. In 2005 the LA Galaxy became the first American side to turn over a profit, the league hopes that by 2010 all its sides will be doing the same. Not only that, but the MLS is expanding – from fifteen to eighteen teams by 2010 when Portland, Seattle and Philadelphia will all have sides. These are exciting times for Major League Soccer, it is growing, thriving and making a future for itself with stability it could never have dreamt of ten years ago, and all before the ticker tape parades of glamorous foreign imports.

But American football is on the nether echelons of European media, a corner column of a broadsheet newspaper, if that. Even then, these newspapers are written for their domestic audience, there has to be a relvenace there for that audience for a piece to be written at all. The further news has to travel, the weaker it becomes. If a story isn’t exciting enough, if there isn’t enough scandal it may never reach us. So while the Italian match fixing scandal was a big enough story to take up column inches in our own national newspapers, three new MLS teams making their league debut is not. Lazy journalists will write about the correlation between the arrival of David Beckham at the LA Galaxy and MLS attendences without exploring the reality that they were increasing long before his arrival. Throughout his entire career, he has been the story. Even now, I find myself wrestling with the keyboard to prevent myself writing an entire paragraph about him. But he, on this occassion, is not the problem, he is simply a product of it. As with so many initiatives, the good intentions behind the designated player rule are clear. The world’s best players playing in the league increase media exposure, hopefully they increase attendences and television revenue, too. David Beckham playing in the MLS at or close to his peak could even improve the credibility of the league and the standard of play for the LA Galaxy at least. But at what cost? The rule makes a mockery of what, when you consider the runaway financial steam train of the Premier League, is a very good idea that the MLS, like many other new leagues, has introduced – a salary cap. In reality, all the Beckham move has succeeded in doing is enforcing tired, inaccurate European views of American football – a refuge for has beens from the European leagues to enjoy their final playing days in the sun, or a league of poor quality, insufficient to be selected for a national side. Again, journalists are quick to write half the story. They focus on the quality of the league but not the impact of thousands of miles of accumulated travelling might have on international fixtures. They take the few games Beckham has played for the club as the standard for the league as a whole, ignoring the fact that LA Galaxy have struggled in recent years and haven’t even made the playoffs since 2005. Is this fair? Probably not, but fair doesn’t always make the most interesting piece.

People could, of course, argue that as long as the league is growing, improving and succeeding at home then who cares if Europe is noticing? Well, that’s the issue, the MLS cares. The designated player rule is as much for Europe as it is for the domestic audiences. Europe has the money, it has the fans, it has the interest in football. Beckham sells shirts, 750,000 so far during his stint at the LA Galaxy alone, throughout Europe. The brand awareness that creates, regardless of the revenue of the shirt sales themselves, is massive. At this time American football needs Europe’s money, expertise and passion for the game, it simply cannot go it alone. America has turned up late to the party and is playing catch up, perhaps if circumstances were different it could have taken a more isolationist approach and waited for everyone else to follow – Not so now. The media circus that surrounds David Beckham shouldn’t detract from the fact that the MLS is making real progress. In an ideal world they would like European viewers to tune in for Beckham and stay for the quality. As of now, this hasn’t happened and Europe refuses to give American football the credit and recognition it has earnt in recent years. I doubt they will worry too much, that recognition will come. A World Club Cup championship success, a USA World Cup semi final, perhaps even a home grown player that can live up to their billing abroad. in the meantime they can enjoy an influx of European money, albeit at the expense of their, and perhaps my, immediate credibility and reputation abroad. Is there a thirst for the spectacular? Possibly a little, but only in as much as we all want high scoring games with skill and excitement. The key is to look past those things and realise that in reality, a project lies beneath with far more depth and substance than that.