By J Hutcherson - WASHINGTON, DC (Aug 24, 2011) US Soccer Players -- In almost classic Major League Soccer fashion, last night's two Champions League games returned to that old idea that it's the MLS schedule above everything else. That's why Seattle and Colorado fielded what amounted to reserve teams in the CCL group stage, saving the A squad for those crucial late August League games. And again in almost classic MLS fashion, Seattle's reserves beat the full strength defending champions Monterrey in Mexico and Colorado didn't lose in Honduras.
Unfortunately for the Champions League, all this should do in practice is justify the decision not to go full strength. We already know how this story plays out. There will be at least one MLS team that plays themselves right out of this tournament courtesy of an understrength lineup. We've seen it before. The week one indications that the MLS teams would be playing with as strong a lineup as possible didn't last into week two, and that's as much a result as Seattle embarrassing Monterrey.
That should be the takeaway from winning 1-0 in Mexico with squad players. It's not an MLS statement of purpose that should strike fear into the rest of the tournament field. Though it would be insulting to call it a fluke, it's also not proof that running with the reserves is the best group stage strategy. It's just one result among many trying to navigate a path to the knockout stage with MLS teams risking that by not fielding first choice elevens.
Now, MLS teams in the Champions League can point to Seattle as all the reason they need for propping up the tired idea that it's the MLS games that really matter. It makes the MLS teams tourists in a regional competition that they should value just months after an MLS team lost in the final.
Sure, Seattle won. That doesn't close off the criticism of pulling an MLS. They've lived up to the cliché of playing the schedule like so many MLS teams before them in non-league competitions. That's no result for MLS. It's a return to the League's biggest problem in those competitions. It's the MLS clubs not taking them seriously.
That should beg the question why. Why is it MLS teams, not exactly dominate across the region, deciding they can't be bothered with the Open Cup, the prestige friendlies that draw considerably more fans than League games, and the Champions League? Why is it ok that these games are treated like hassles when the friendlies and the Champions League are the best commercials for MLS available?
MLS was justifiably giddy to get a commercial during NBC's Sunday Night Football, but the best advertisement is putting out competitive teams that show they can play in front of the biggest audiences. That's showing Mexican Primera fans that MLS teams are no joke by beating Mexican teams. It's taking friendlies against the bright lights of Europe seriously. It's not trying to convince potential fans that the real action will be that next MLS game.
If this reminds you of clubs downplaying the designated player while propping up our recent MLS Cup winners, it should. MLS as a League is full of clubs looking for an excuse not to take risks.
For Seattle on Tuesday, that meant a B team on the field. Why? That crucial showdown with Columbus looming on Saturday? One league game among many, with Seattle the obvious favorite at home. That required not taking full advantage of a high profile matchup against the defending CCL champions?
What we're presented with is a game-by-game crucial read on the League schedule that only seems to exist in the minds of MLS coaches. Last week, LA coach Bruce Arena admitted they hadn't treated the Champions League with enough importance in previous years, and were out to correct that. It's easy enough for the MLS mindset. At the minimum, treat it like an MLS game. That moves us away from experimental lineups, making sure reserve players get a game, and basically turning the Confederation club championship into an extension of what too many MLS teams do in high profile friendlies.
It's worth remembering that it was Seattle who caught the attention of MLS commissioner Don Garber when he made the rhetorical point a few weeks ago about MLS teams reconsidering scheduling friendlies they had no intention of taking seriously.
“Nobody likes to lose 7-0,” Garber said. “You don’t like to lose 7-0 in a schoolyard soccer match. Our view is that if we’re going to play these games, we ought to play to win. And if a team can’t fit it into their schedule either because of congestion or their own priorities, then they shouldn’t play in those games."
That's a tougher point to make when a team once again chooses to handicap their chances and actually wins.
Playing up what Seattle did on Wednesday night without wondering why they took the risk of sending out the reserves against Monterrey ignores the bigger picture. We're right back where we were with these MLS teams hedging in the only major tournament that features MLS teams. It's the same old story, a week after it looked like we'd be getting something better. With that in mind, even the win in Monterrey ended up being a disappointment.
Comments, questions, solutions to problems that have yet to present themselves. Please, tell me all about it.
