Not sure if anyone caught MLS Cup this weekend but it was a bonkers match.
LA went up, then Philly tied it, LA went back up, then Philly tied it, the match went to extra time, the LA keeper broke his own leg fouling a Philly forward and got sent off. Then Philly scores in like the 117th minute or something like that to make it 2-3. Then Gareth Bale who had barely played and was subbed on earlier for Carlos Vela (by far LA’s most important player) scores to make it 3-3 and send it to penalties.
Philly has the league’s best keeper. LA has their backup keeper who used to play for Philly. Philly take some of the worst penalties I’ve ever seen (i.e.: nice height to catch, just to the side of center) and LA wins.
It was a great match and good fun but I worry it damages the league overall. LA built their team in very much a MLS 1.0 way by signing big names (allegedly breaking the rules to do it) and relying on the fact that even in a league with a hard salary cap there is a class of talent that will simply refuse to play in the states unless it’s in LA, New York or Miami. OTOH Philly had one of the lowest salary spends, recruited very well and built this team over years supplementing academy production with smart foreign signings.
I’m sure the league is very pleased since LA is a “marquee brand” but I can just imagine General Managers and Technical Directors in San Jose, Minnesota, Columbus, Charlotte being like “Well, even if we get basically every recruitment decision right we’ll still get fucked at the end by a team that can outspend.” And while most non-American leagues operate on that super free-market premise, American sports have a long tradition of trying to force parity through salary caps, luxury taxes and the draft.
It was funny to see Will Ferrell drink from the cup though. (He owns a stake in LA)
On a side issue, do you have female commentators and if so how good. We have knowledgeable ones but I’m yet to find one that good here.
Other sports we do but football just seem too have a strange anomaly of not delivering on this yet.
I love Julie Foudy. She’s really smart, has seen a lot of shit and is good on TV but she’s usually used in a studio setting to do pregame, halftime and postgame. She’s the first one I think of. I’m sure there are others. Basically I’ve got a ton of time from anyone who was part of that 99 squad to talk about soccer from both an on field and off field perspective. I don’t know if people in the UK really understand what a big deal 1999 was for soccer here.
What an idiot Keys is.
He quite happily watched Ferguson and Mourinho scream into the faces and intimidate the ref in every game, yet feels he has to “implore” the authorities to do something about Arteta who might go outside the technical area.
Keys and Gray were basically cancelled in the UK but through the power of the internet they seem to have some bizarre relevance still because they work on Qatari TV? I really don’t get it.
