This was All-Star week in Major League Soccer. Many soccer themes in the United States often
take on an "Us vs. Them" mentality - soccer vs. the three major US
sports, soccer fans vs. soccer detractors, and even the mere word
"soccer" vs. "football."
So, why should the MLS All-Star Game be any different? League officials, long ago, did away with the
standard East vs. West format and spiced things up to feature MLS vs. The
World. In a nifty marketing tactic, MLS
began inviting popular European teams to their festivities to take on the MLS
All-Stars. Recent years have seen the
likes of Manchester United, Chelsea, and AS Roma come to the States during
their pre-season tours for matches against combinations of players in MLS voted
on by the fans and picked by the appointed manager. Last Wednesday, 2014 German Bundesliga
champions, Bayern Munich, came to town.
Did it matter?
Before the All-Star Game
I spent the early part of the week trying to fully wrap
my head around the MLS All-Star Game, asking myself two major questions:
"Should I get excited?" and "Should the result be
analyzed?" The answer to the first
question, by match time, was a solidly unspectacular "yes." I appreciate the patriotic flair of "our"
league versus the world. Plus, though
not all of them played, there were US National Team members scattered about the
entire MLS squad, plus a host of internationally famous footballers such as
French legend Thiery Henry and Australia's Tim Cahill. Mix in a few other high quality players and
the MLS was well-represented. Of course,
there was the incredibly stacked Bayern side to look forward to, featuring
several stars from Germany's World Cup-winning team among others. Since MLS adopted this format for their
mid-season classic, the All-Stars have a 6-4 record against their guests. Improving that mark against Bayern Munich was
a storyline that did not need additional talking points to capture my
interest. Just hours before the match, I
was actually pretty pumped up to see how it would go.
The answer to the second question was a resounding
"No" on the surface; at least for me.
All-Star festivities (in all sports) wore out their welcome for me when
life started to fill up with various important happenings. They are devoid of the kind of stories that
I, usually, wish to see. At this stage
of my sports fandom, I want to watch the drama and passion that stems from
something being at stake. Once upon a
time, MLS All-Star teams were, whether they wanted to be or not, fighting for
respect, giving them a common goal that helped build team camaraderie in a
hurry when playing against an actual team built for winning its respective
league. Those days are essentially gone,
though. Critics like to point out that
it is embarrassing for MLS to lose badly, as they did against Manchester United
in 2010 and 2011, but MLS isn't going to prove anything to the world through
exhibition matches, win or lose. It's
their style of play, the money that they're willing to spend on players, and
the overall quality of the league that has gotten international attention and
made the league a magnet for stars like Henry, David Beckham, Rafa Marquez,
David Villa, Frank Lampard, and Kaka.
Since MLS has improved, it brings back into focus that throwing together
23 players for two practices and expecting them to beat a European powerhouse
is unrealistic, at least, and downright silly, at most.
Attention in MLS, at the All-Star break, remains focused
on league play, now, as it should be.
Such is why so many teams pulled their participants from the game this
year, leaving the 2014 squad with a lot of (deserving) replacements. Besides, Bayern is in their pre-season. This game doesn't mean anything to their
record either. The host city, Portland,
gets a rare and important opportunity to showcase itself to the sports world,
but nothing about the game, in my opinion, is particularly relevant.
After the All-Star Game
Well, any reservation I may have had going into the game
was erased within the first ten minutes of high quality soccer full of scoring
chances and beautiful combination passes.
Storylines emerged throughout the game that added something often
missing from similar exhibitions in the past, the most memorable of which might
have been Thierry Henry's sendoff from the Portland fans. Henry is expected to retire at the end of the
season and the Timbers' faithful made it known that they appreciated his
contributions to Major League Soccer these last four years.
It turned out to be a memorable night for a lot of
reasons. Robert Lewandowski’s goal to
give Bayern a 1-0 lead was awesome. For
non-soccer fans, it was the type of goal that would have you wondering, “How
did he bend it in mid-air like that?” American
Julian Green, who scored that nifty goal against Belgium in the World Cup Round
of 16, was subbed in for Munich early in the game in a classy move from their
manager, Pep Guardiola. Nick Rimando’s first
half goalkeeping had US fans remembering Tim Howard’s performance against
Belgium back in June. Bradley Wright-Phillips’s
equalizing goal was just a touch less brilliant than Lewandowski’s.
The real story, though, became the belief by the MLS
All-Stars that they could defeat the 2013 European Champions. It was a striking game of back and forth
between the sides. Bayern was expected
to dominate, but with each minute that they failed to take full command, the
MLS squad appeared to grow more confident.
Tying the game just after halftime surely helped. I, personally, kept waiting for a sense of
inevitability to permeate their psyche, what with the second half additions of
so many German World Cup stars looming (most didn’t play the first half). It never came. Instead, they kept ratcheting up the
intensity level (including a couple of physical fouls) and Landon Donovan
trickled in a goal past all-world keeper, Manuel Neuer, to give the MLS a 2-1
victory. It was an oh-so-sweet moment
for Donovan, the face of American soccer who had struggled during his time in
the Bundesliga a decade ago and who, the day after the All-Star Game, announced that he
would retire after this season.
Guardiola was none too pleased.
The apparent combination of his disappointment in losing and his
annoyance with some of the hard tackles from the MLS All-Stars prompted him to
wave off a handshake with Portland Timbers and All-Star coach, Caleb
Porter. It ended the proceedings on a
rather sour note to see such a world-renowned soccer personality show so little
class.
After a few days of reflection, the questions that I
posed before the game remain pertinent to the All-Star Game discussion, as do
the answers. The game’s result was
nothing to analyze. However, it was a
very exciting exhibition full of intrigue.
It wound up demonstrating the increased quality of play from MLS, with
stars on the field who could not have been there without the improved ability
of MLS teams to pay higher wages. American
soccer is in constant need of momentum.
It received a ton of it from the 2014 World Cup. Surprisingly, the 2014 MLS All-Star Game kept
the momentum going…
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