By Dario Camacho - MIAMI, FL (Oct 28, 2011) US Soccer Players -- The season is over. The gauntlet’s been thrown. The second season begins. The preamble of the last eight months has produced the final ten teams looking for glory in November. We all have our favorites and our dark horses and the teams that will surprise us, and since Wednesday those ten teams will test our predictions.
It will be interesting to see what the outcome holds, and which two teams will come out on top, ready to battle it out for the Cup in the year’s final game. In all transparency, I’d like nothing more to see a final with Seattle and Kansan City.
Like I said, we all have our favorites. But so does the League.
It’s no secret that Major League Soccer, as much as they like to tout parity, equality, and all the synonyms that they can throw out in the name of fairness, to them one matchup stands above all: LA vs New York. It’s a shame then that New York came out as the 10th-seeded team, making an MLS Cup Final between the two geographically advantageous cities a pipe dream. Instead, Don Garber and company will have to make do with the Western Conference Semifinals.
Now that it’s a reality, I’m sure we’ll see a promotional boom that the Western Conference Semifinals has never seen. It’s all marketing, I know. It’s the league trying to sway the two biggest markets, and in turn the rest of America, into looking at their soccer clubs and letting them know that there is something big going on here. It’s Hollywood vs Gotham. Beckham vs Henry. It’s all the glitz and glamour that soccer in America desperately needs.
It’s an easy sell. It’s also a crutch.
Putting so much attention on such a hyped up event also creates a message to the casual soccer fan not fully invested in MLS. The takeaway from the League office is the only thing that matters in MLS is what easily fits on the marquee. A game between NY and LA, regardless of where they stand in the standings. Everything else is frivolous.
Let's be serious here. Yes, there's no doubt the League is getting two games it wanted. There's also no doubt that this could overshadow the rest of the playoffs. How much of a role the League plays in turning a semifinal into a de facto final remains to be seen, but this isn't business as usual. That's hardly a compliment to the teams not named the Galaxy or the Red Bulls.
Where MLS finds itself is a story that seems to be on constant repeat this season. The teams that spend and those that don't. At least those that don't at the level established by the Galaxy and the Red Bulls.
Since last year, the arrival of Thierry Henry has created a split between two coasts. The LA Galaxy and its three DPs versus those other three DPs in New York. A clash of giants, the sort of thing that networks love. It’s Super Tuesday, except only half of that equation meets the criteria of ‘Super’ when looking at the stats.
New York for all its stars, isn’t performing up to its potential, and its off-field drama has been more entertaining than its on-field production. Sitting just above mediocre with a 10-8-16 record doesn’t fit the criteria of anything resembling and elite team. In the East, Sporting KC would be that.
Yet when the League places so much emphasis on this match up it often feels more like spectacle rather than something that is at stake here. What's at risk is turning something into an overhyped event in and of itself rather than the next step towards a Cup.
There is more to play for than the pure media circus that two teams with the highest payrolls and the recognizable faces creates. It’s a two-game do-or-die series that carries with it the proof that the designated player - or in this case players - makes a substantial difference. One of these teams needs to carry that banner to a title. Otherwise, it's another Cup that says clearly that an MLS team doesn't have to spend at the level of an LA or NY to take home a championship.
Why is this even an issue? The League that has shown itself susceptible to unnecessary hype late in the regular season and needs to guard against the feeling that the playoffs will have peaked too soon. Simply put, avoiding that would be in MLS’s best interest.
Fortunately, that's not a tough assignment. The other side of the Western Conference bracket is giving us a showdown of two teams capable of putting on a show. For all the glory and panache that LA vs NY can give, the other Western Conference Semifinal is just as deserving, if not more so based on Seattle’s and Real Salt Lake’s performance over the year. With the high flying attack that Seattle provides against the possession game of Real Salt Lake, that series has just as much on field spectacle.
With the prospect of packed houses at both venues, RSL vs Seattle is, for lack of a better word, a true gem of a series. Making sure that doesn't get overshadowed by the major market showdown is a win for the League. Well, if they don't want the general interest to peter out at the semifinal stage.
Dario Camacho made the move from regular commentator as Pesmerga7 to columnist. He writes weekly for US Soccer Players. Follow him on twitter at DarCam7.
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