24 maja 2007
AC Milan 2 - Liverpool FC 1
Ack. Just the sight of Silvio Berlusconi holding up that trophy is enough to turn a man's stomach. AC Milan shouldn't have even been in the tounament, whatever happened to the "punishment" for match fixing?
Yeah, and someone needs to check Law 12 on the definition of handling the ball.
(Oh, it was "unintentional," but Filippo Inzaghi was happy to run to the crowd to take credit)
And why wasn't Peter Crouch put in earlier? What is up with that?
Ack.
So Greg Ensell wrote me and said:
Also, take a look at how many former MLS players are playing in the EPL. Fulham FC has four ex-MLS players (including Simon Elliot, who plays for New Zealand so got few looks except for his play in the US). Sixth place Everton FC features goalkeeper Tim Howard, who played for a rather unimpressive MLS team and got no time at the World Cup.
The assumption seems to be that I watch MLS to the exclusion of other leagues. Few MLS fans do that, I myself followed Cruz Azul before they became diving hacks. My friend Prairie Rose Clayton, who is arguably one of the biggest New England Revolution fans on the planet, also is a huge Blackburn Rovers fan (which by the way, features a former MLS 'keeper in goal).
I've also seen plenty of bad games and bad teams in European leagues. La Liga plays great footy, and I think that any team in that league could beat any team in the world on any given day. I don't think that is true of the EPL, where there are plenty of poor teams near the bottom of the table that, yes, could be beaten by an MLS side. I don't think you make this assumption, but I think the proposition put forward by Eurosnob and Anglophile fans that any European game is naturally superior to an MLS game is silly. There are plenty of decent and entertaining MLS games.
As for my fandom: yes, probably silly. MLS has no franchise closer than LA, and the team I follow is in a city I've visited only once. What the heck is my problem? I became a fan before the first game was played because, yes, I wanted the league to succeed. I also want the US National team to succeed, and the best thing for us is a decent league here. Even without the direct connection of having a team in my town, there are three former Tucson Amigos who have played in MLS (Pablo Mastroeni is still very active), and Tempe boy Greg Vanney, who used to be a teammate of Greg and I's mutual friend Vince Enriquez but is unscarred by the experience, is in MLS again.
Anyway, those are my thoughts...wrote way too much.
Hasta la proxima. Do zobaczenia.
Yeah, and someone needs to check Law 12 on the definition of handling the ball.
(Oh, it was "unintentional," but Filippo Inzaghi was happy to run to the crowd to take credit)
And why wasn't Peter Crouch put in earlier? What is up with that?
Ack.
So Greg Ensell wrote me and said:
Although I came to be a soccer fan somewhat late in life, I really enjoy watching the game. In particular, I enjoy Premiership mathcers and La Liga. What I can't understand is - other than wanting the game to succeed here in the US - how can you be such a big MLS fan? It seems such an inferior product on so many levels.Is a match between Real Salt Lake and Columbus inferior to a match between FC Barcelona and CF Valencia? Yep. I'll give you that. Most MLS fans, in fact all of them, will give you that one. But MLS, if I may use a pointy ball analogy, is barely the XFL. European coaches have commented on how suprised they are at the quality of play in the MLS and MLS teams have been able to go toe-to-toe with Latin American teams in international tournaments. Heck, DC United won the Champions Cup and the Interamerican Cup (beating vaunted Brazillian side Vasco da Gama) in 1998, when the league wasn't even very good yet.
Also, take a look at how many former MLS players are playing in the EPL. Fulham FC has four ex-MLS players (including Simon Elliot, who plays for New Zealand so got few looks except for his play in the US). Sixth place Everton FC features goalkeeper Tim Howard, who played for a rather unimpressive MLS team and got no time at the World Cup.
The assumption seems to be that I watch MLS to the exclusion of other leagues. Few MLS fans do that, I myself followed Cruz Azul before they became diving hacks. My friend Prairie Rose Clayton, who is arguably one of the biggest New England Revolution fans on the planet, also is a huge Blackburn Rovers fan (which by the way, features a former MLS 'keeper in goal).
I've also seen plenty of bad games and bad teams in European leagues. La Liga plays great footy, and I think that any team in that league could beat any team in the world on any given day. I don't think that is true of the EPL, where there are plenty of poor teams near the bottom of the table that, yes, could be beaten by an MLS side. I don't think you make this assumption, but I think the proposition put forward by Eurosnob and Anglophile fans that any European game is naturally superior to an MLS game is silly. There are plenty of decent and entertaining MLS games.
As for my fandom: yes, probably silly. MLS has no franchise closer than LA, and the team I follow is in a city I've visited only once. What the heck is my problem? I became a fan before the first game was played because, yes, I wanted the league to succeed. I also want the US National team to succeed, and the best thing for us is a decent league here. Even without the direct connection of having a team in my town, there are three former Tucson Amigos who have played in MLS (Pablo Mastroeni is still very active), and Tempe boy Greg Vanney, who used to be a teammate of Greg and I's mutual friend Vince Enriquez but is unscarred by the experience, is in MLS again.
Anyway, those are my thoughts...wrote way too much.
Hasta la proxima. Do zobaczenia.
