Major League Soccer

WHY THE MLS WILL LAST & IS A BETTER LEAGUE THEN PEOPLE SAY

Many people remember when the United States tried and failed with professional soccer. Now, the MLS is ten years old and is going strong. There are many who say that the league sucks and that it is a glorified college all-star league. My friend Andrew (his blog can be seen at http://britishexpats.com/blogs/pondwater/) has said on many occasions that the level of play is "mediocre" and that play development is poor. The MLS is compared to leagues around the world and I feel is unjustly looked down upon. Now, I am not saying that the MLS is at the same level as the EPL, but I do think that the top teams can compete in the EPL.

First off, thanks to Setanta, I have been able to watch lots of EPL games, the French League, and Italy's Series A. Teams like Reading (I know they were relegated), Bolton and Wigan are about at the same level or even lower than the better MLS teams. In fact, I would say that the Chicago Fire could easily split a four game series with Aston Villa. As for the French League….I thought Lille and Nice were the biggest pansy teams I have ever seen play. I only saw one Italian game…but AC Milan destroyed Lazio and I think the Chicago Fire would have too.

Ok...Here is my list:

1) Like stated above…the bottom teams in all the big European Leagues aren't really that good. If Chicago, Columbus, New England, or even LA played in the EPL they would not get relegated.

2) The league is beginning to bring in talent the smart way…not loading one team up with all foreign players…but spreading it out so that the league's talent is even.

3) The MLS is bringing in players before they are washed up. Beckham still has a good 3 years of high level play (he is still playing for his country isn't he) and Blanco is still a scoring powerhouse.

4) They are tapping into the Central American market of players…that are overlooked by many European Clubs. Players like Herron & Segares from Costa Rica, Guevara & Guerrer from Honduras, and Ruiz from Guatemala are proving to be worth the investment.

5) The MLS's expansion has been slow…they are going into Philly and Seattle, but they did this slowly…instead of expanding too fast without the talent to support the teams.

6) The new soccer stadiums are built to hold only about 20,000 fans…which is perfect, it sets the stage for a professional atmosphere instead of playing at 55,000 seat football stadiums where half the seats are empty.

7) The MLS is foreseeing the huge explosion of the Hispanic population. Stats show that by 2015 Hispanics will be the majority in many states…wanting to watch a solid local professional league.

8) The final point…is that since the creation of the MLS soccer has improved US soccer at the grassroots level. US players are getting better and more athletes are picking soccer as their sport, instead of going into baseball, football, and basketball. Look how many Americans are playing in the "top" European leagues…the overall talent pool here is increasing.