By Matt Carlson
In honor of President’s Day, I thought it would be appropriate to call upon the words of the sixteenth President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. I know President’s Day was last month, but the hillbillies up the street still have their Christmas lights up, so I think I’m on pretty solid ground here. Anyway, Abraham Lincoln once said, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” I believe we have a division in U.S. soccer and we need to address it now so that U.S. soccer continues to be successful.
What is the division? It’s the division between the American soccer fans who support Major League Soccer and those who do not. There is a segment of USMNT fans that cannot bear the thought of watching an MLS match. These people can cite any number of reasons why they do not watch MLS. It is too slow, it is not technical enough, it actually causes damage to their eyes to watch it, and the list goes on. We all know someone like this. You may even be someone like this. If you are, great, I am glad we have this moment to chat.CONTINUE READING AFTER THE JUMP
So there is no confusion, I am not here to debate whether MLS is as good as this or that league. MLS Commissioner, Don Garber, stated in an interview last year that MLS is not at the same level of competition as the top leagues in the world, and, I agree. But, it is not about that. It is also not about whether the MLS is entertaining, whether MLS teams play quality soccer for ninety minutes, whether MLS should change the time of year it plays, whether you like the production value of the MLS television broadcasts, whether you like the broadcast teams or whether your local franchise's jersey is ugly. This is not about any of that. This is about one thing and one thing only and that is, do you want to win a World Cup?
If you want the U.S. to win a World Cup, then you need to get out there and start supporting MLS. If the U.S. does not have a competitive and successful domestic league, it will never, I repeat, never win a World Cup. There are many facts to support this conclusion, but here are the most telling: Prior to MLS’s existence, the USMNT only qualified for the World Cup five times in sixty four years: 1930, 1934, 1950, 1990 and 1994. 1990 was only by virtue of a miracle goal by Paul Caligiuri over lowly Trinidad and Tobago and 1994 was an automatic qualification as the host nation. However, since MLS’ first season of play in 1996, the USMNT has qualified four straight times and has leapfrogged Mexico into the #1 FIFA ranking in CONCACAF.
I do not think this is a coincidence. Having a strong domestic league provides a deeper talent pool from which the USMNT can choose. Davies, Donovan, Bunbury, Agudelo, Ream, Demerit and Gonzalez, are all playing in MLS this season. It also gives U.S. players a chance to be seen and move overseas. Dempsey, Edu, Holden, Guzan, Clark, Bradley, Altidore, Bornstein, Bocanegra, Howard, and Beasley, all got their start in MLS before moving abroad. Without MLS, these players never get that chance. A world without MLS is a world where a guy like Landon Donovan has no place to go after Germany and decides to come home and get a real job like the rest of us. It’s a world where a guy like Tim Howard decides to pursue basketball. It’s a world where college kids and semi-pro players are patched together just to field a National Team. It’s a world where the USMNT does not regularly qualify for a World Cup.
As a result, I think it is the duty of all USMNT fans to get out there and tangibly support MLS. You can keep complaining about the problems with MLS -- I’ve got no problem with that, the playoffs alone warrant it -- just do it while you go to the games, buy the merchandise, and pay the extra money to add it to your cable or satellite package. It’s not good enough to say I’m not supporting it because the talent level is not as good as the top leagues. Do you skip your kid's soccer game because it is not top level soccer? Of course, not. You go because you're supporting your child. In the same way, it's not good enough to ignore MLS because it is not the top league in the world. This is our national league and we need to support it.
There is no question that England has one of the best league setups in the world and I think the commitment of its domestic fans is a part of that. Watch the video of Jay Demerit posted on this site (http://watchsocceronline.blogspot.com/2011/03/jay-demerits-international-transfer.html) and he discusses the energy in the town when Watford had a home game. I was at Disney World last summer, and, for some reason, the place was filled with English tourists, and tons of them wore gear from teams in the bottom half of the Premier League and below. Bristol Rovers, Charlton, and Portsmouth, teams that had just finished terrible seasons in the Championship and League One, were all represented. Do you know how many MLS jerseys I saw in those four days? One. A Beckham Galaxy shirt. I do not think we are going to replicate the ardor for soccer in the U.S. that they have in England. I am merely pointing out that those fans are tangibly supporting their domestic league and U.S. fans need to do that, too.
If I have not convinced you to support MLS yet, I am going to try to shame you into it now. If you are a USMNT fan and you support a team overseas, but you do not also tangibly support MLS or an MLS team, then you, sir or madam, are a glory hunter. That’s right, a glory hunter. You don't support MLS because it does not allow you to be associated with a universally respected winner. You probably bristle at this suggestion, but it is true. A glory hunter is, by definition, a person who does not have the guts to support his or her local club. I seriously doubt those English guys I saw last summer had any worries over wearing their local team's jersey, regardless of their poor records. Get some guts and follow your local team, win, lose or draw. There is no valid excuse not to.
To quote another famous President, “Ask not what your country can do for you -- ask what you can do for your country.” I am not saying you have to give up following foreign leagues. I am not saying that at all. What I am saying, is supporting a club in a foreign league is fine, but you have got to support MLS, too. Supporting MLS is an investment in the future of U.S. soccer. The new MLS season begins March 15. If you are a USMNT fan that does not yet support MLS, it’s time for you to step up and do your part. I’ll see you at the stadium.
