Arsenal America

Some of you may not be aware of this, but we play professional soccer here in the States, too. In fact, I had the opportunity to attend MLS Cup 2002, the championship game for our top league.

First let me state that like many of you, I?m not too sure if using one match to determine a champion makes much sense. What was the point of playing all those regular season games if a team can make the playoffs, win a match or two and be crowned champion? But alas, that is our system so we had the Los Angeles Galaxy vs. the New England Revolution. You?ll notice we like to give our teams ridiculous nicknames. The ?Galaxy?? Yeah, I don?t get it either. But remember, if you told Americans you were playing the ?Toffees? they would laugh too. The next thing you?ll notice is that all U.S. teams are prefaced by the article ?the.? You play ?the Boston Red Sox,? not ?Boston Red Sox.? I know, it would sound funny to say, ?We play the Manchester United this weekend.? That?s just the way it is.

So, on to the game. Well, 61,316 showed up at Gillette Field outside of Boston. Some things to keep in mind: First, though the match venue is a neutral location, it just happened to be the New England Revolution?s home field. Sort of like Feyenoord playing at home in the UEFA Cup final last season. So that helped attendance. Also, the ?World Champion? New England Patriots (American football) weren?t playing that weekend so there wasn?t a lot of competition for the fans. Nevertheless, 61,000 fans is a fantastic number by any reckoning.

Unfortunately, those 61,000 fans were treated to what I?ve come to expect from American club soccer. That is, perfectly competent play. Neither team was horrible, or committed gaffs you would only expect to see in Division Three. The defenses were solid enough, the midfielders showed pace and tenacity, the forwards moved without the ball. What was sorely lacking was any player who looked remotely capable of producing a bit of magic. Now, it?s no crime not to have a Dennis Bergkamp on your team, heck even in your league, most don?t. But the undeniable fact is that without a Bergkamp-type player, two equally matched, moderately talented teams aren?t likely to produce a scintillating match. So after 45 minutes the score was nil-nil. Then the proceedings took on a decidedly American flair.

We here in the States love a spectacle, so by golly, a spectacle is what we got: MLS-style. The halftime festivities featured two young boys each juggling three soccer balls. Well, that sounds impressive until I tell you they were juggling them with their hands, not their feet. Soon after, about 100 14-year old girls in brightly colored outfits and carrying gymnastic ribbons came on to the field. They were accompanied by a fire-breather and a guy who was spinning some sort of metal-wire contraption. An unholy amalgamation of poor music, bad dancing and uncomfortably awkward pantomime played out before the crowd who looked on in stunned silence.

Unfortunately they remained that way for the second half. Few chances resulted in no goals and ?Golden Goal? extra time. Finally, in the 122 minute the Galaxy scored on a nifty counter attack as the home town fans stared in disbelief. I think it was because of the result and not the halftime show.

On our way back to the car, Gene McDermott, a fellow Arsenal America member who went to the game with me, and I debated the strengths of the MLS. We agreed that the best MLS has to offer would probably be a yo-yo team in England. Perhaps with a little luck they could stay in the Premiership for a season or two, but just as easily they could go down and muddle along in Division One. Of course, know one thought our national team would do much in the World Cup this summer, so maybe there is some hope.

Rick Liebling is the president of Arsenal America (www.arsenalamerica.com). Send him your comments at rick@arsenalamerica.com