Many of our readers will already be familiar with MLS, what with the editor being an American football obsessive for no particular reason. However, we’ve drafted in Russell Berrisford to bring the league to our pages during the close-season and 2011.
The opening fixtures of the 2011 Major League Soccer season have recently been announced, and for anybody who follows the sport in North America there is the burgeoning sense that when the first whistle blows in March we will be watching a league that is moving towards a new maturity through careful growth and the shrewd positioning of expansion teams.
Of course MLS is still a long way away from competing with the quality and sheer intensity of any of the major (or many minor) European leagues but the already established teams are beginning to develop a consistent ”personality” and the new kids on the block seem ready-made to fit into the current structure.
The two expansion teams for 2011 are the Vancouver Whitecaps and the Portland Timbers who, along with Seattle, will make up a Pacific Northwest rivalry that should simmer along nicely. In fact it’s slightly bizarre that the official MLS website is attempting to play up the bad blood between Vancouver and Toronto (an opening day clash) when aside from the fact that they are both Canadian it’s difficult to see how two teams that are over 4,000 kilometres apart can be genuine rivals. The introduction of Montreal next season, though, should provide Toronto with a more realistic “local derby”.
Aside from Vancouver versus Toronto, two other opening day games to look out for are Seattle Sounders against LA Galaxy and the current champions, Colorado Rapids, against Portland Timbers. Seattle’s Qwest Field probably has the best atmosphere of all the stadiums and, in Colorado, Portland will be eager to start their first season with a good performance against the title holders.
This sense of optimism doesn’t mean that the sport no longer has issues to be dealt with however. The playoff system is unwieldy and confusing to the casual fan, for example, and to really establish the league’s credentials an MLS team needs to perform well in, which realistically means win, the CONCACAF Champions League.
Yet overall soccer in North America is moving on apace, and any European fans who still treat the whole thing as a bit of a joke would do well to check their attitude at the door and pick a team to follow in the coming season. It could be fun and at least your team can’t get relegated!
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Tags: LA Galaxy, Major League Soccer, Portland Timbers, Seattle Sounders, Vancouver Whitecaps