By Andrew Dixon - MIAMI, FL (Oct 29, 2009) USSoccerPlayers -- Like it or not, MLS has become parity central.
Unless you entered the League courtesy of expansion and you're not named 'Fire' or 'Sounders,' you have a legit shot at winning MLS Cup. No matter how bad you were the previous year or how much winning tradition you have, everyone can go into the start of the season thinking they have a chance at the title.
Maybe it's not an obvious question. To those running the show it might not even be a particularly good one. But... are we supposed to be satisfied with this?
Major League Soccer's 2010 regular season will probably go down as the most competitive in it's history. Think about it. Just nine points separated the Supporters' Shield Winners (Columbus, 49) from the team with the least amount of points to still make the playoffs (Real Salt Lake, 40). Two other teams had the same amount of points as RSL, yet finished out of the playoff chase.
On average there were 8.6 ties this season, a number that steadily rose over the past couple of seasons - although not as high as 2006 when teams averaged 9.3 ties. No team has won 20 games since the League decided to let ties stand. The simple result is a team can start slowly, have a rough run of results, and/or all but collapse late and still talk without apology about their hopes for the postseason.Columbus started slowly out of the gate before eventually pulling away to win the Supporter's Shield. This was a team that didn't win a game until Week 7 and took three points from an available 12 in October. MLS's promotional theme next year might as well be Any Given Saturday.
To some this is a great thing. Alexi Lalas argued on his "The Sitter" video on MLSnet that MLS is the most competitive league in the world. Leaning on some of the results this season alongside other factors such as the salary cap and player moves, he argues that the the difference between the teams at the top and the bottom isn't that great.
Fair enough, but what does this really mean for the fans? Has MLS turned into the NCAA Men's Basketball tournament? Every March, there are a couple of teams you think should be there in the end, but no one has any clue who's going to win. That's why you see all those bracket contests. Everybody knows a team that wouldn't be in the running for any elite player will knock off a team full of them.
Stretching that out over an entire season? It just seems like something's missing.The dominant sides. The hype squads.
I miss those teams that would bust down the door and shout "OH IT'S THE JUGGERNAUT!" They had the capacity to embarrass you at their house and come into your's expecting to walk away with your food and your girl.Lalas said that, unlike players from Real Madrid or Manchester United, no MLS player shows up thinking his team is going to win 70% of the time because their owner hasn't bought more or better talent. Maybe not now, but there were some teams in the early years of the League that didn't need payroll to press the point they were simply better.
Does anyone remember just how good the '98 LA Galaxy were? Cobi Jones? Welton? Mauricio (what rhymes with) Cienfuegos ? Kevin Hartman? They set an MLS record 85 goals that year, were the best defensive team, and won 24 games.
How about DC that year (heck even that '97 team), stacked with internationals like Eddie Pope, Jaime Moreno, Marco Etcheverry Roy Lassiter, John Harkes and Tony Sanneh as well as a certain future US National Team coach that also ran off 24 wins.
The 2000 Chicago Fire that featured Stoichkov, Nowak, CJ Brown, Ante Razov, Chris Armas, Carlos Bocanegra and DaMarcus Beasley and Josh Wolff coming off the bench? You think those guys EVER expected to lose? The salary cap and player personnel moves didn't keep those teams from being dominant.
I'm aware that the League, from top to bottom wasn't as strong back then. At the same time, we've had some weak teams over the past couple of seasons as well and no one's running the league like those teams were. I wishing someone would. Those teams were excellent, the best we as American soccer fans had. We dared to believe that MLS could produce top notch teams like some of those early sides and win international tournaments as DC did in 1998.
Moreover, you could feel the excitement when teams of that caliber walked onto the field at opposing stadiums. Being in Miami, I remember how the crowd had a little more expectancy, a little more excitement when DC United came to town. You saw teams step it up a notch when a stacked team like LA came calling because you knew there was a chance you'd get buried if you didn't. Teams would gauge success on whether they could keep up with an offensive juggernaut like the Chicago Fire or the tactical sophistication of a DC United.
Who is the juggernaut now? Who's setting the standard now for MLS? I think Houston was rightly called MLS's second dynasty, but they're dominating the West anymore, let alone the rest of the League. Columbus is a very balanced team and MLS's lone representative in the knockout phase of the Champions League. But does anyone actually FEAR the Crew? Does anyone think that LA is going to blow somebody out when they line up?
I miss those days where there was a team that everyone was gunning for... and no one could consistently touch. You wondered who would step up to bring them down. You marveled at their dominance if you loved them or and rejoiced when they fell if you hated them. Right now, there's no team even close.
Columbus will start these playoffs with a target on their backs, but it's mainly by default. They are the defending champs, but most of the teams are good enough to make a run at this year's Cup.
While that unknown can be exciting, I'm sitting here silently waiting for the Juggernaut to walk in and spoil the party.
Andrew Dixon is a soccer writer based in Miami and a weekly columnist for USSoccerPlayers. Contact him at: golnoir@golnoir.net
