Does anyone follow Major League Soccer (for men)?

[trigz]

Seeing as the board's full of followers of female soccer, I just wanted to ask. I don't hear anything about the MLS over here. Is Mamadou Diallo still playing in the US? (Senegalese attacker and goal machine, used to play for my team in Norway, Lillestrøm SK). And what's happened to Landon Donovan?

[Awsi Dooger]

1. Landon Donovan plays for San Jose

And I don't remember Mamadou Diallo being in MLS at all this season. I think he signed in Europe, perhaps Sweden, but don't hold me to that.

I watched the MetroStars win on Sunday, alongside the American football and Tiger Woods' triumph. Although I follow the MLS and will check out the playoff games, it's not nearly to the extent I used to be a fan of the old NASL, especially the Ft Lauderdale Strikers of Gordon Banks, Gerd Mueller and Teofillo Cubillas. I lived in Miami but eagerly made the 35-mile trek to every Strikers home game at little Lockhart Stadium.

[trigz]

2. You're right about Diallo, how stupid of me

Of course! He signed for and plays for IFK Gothenburg in Sweden. He was a fantastic striker when he could be bothered (he got sth like 16 goals in 20 games for Lillestrøm - but I think he ran a combined 5 kilometres during the one season he played for us...).

Anyway, I have the impression that the air has gone out of the MLS a little bit. It was hyped quite a lot, to the extent that we got the results in our newspapers over here, but now we don't hear anything any more. I think that's strange, considering the incredible progress the USA has made in men's football over the last ten years (they impressed me, at times, during the last World Cup). What kind of attendances does the MLS get, and national press coverage?

[Awsi Dooger]

4. The average attendance is probably 15,000, or slightly less

The league has done a good job in limiting to 10 teams and with plenty of heavily Hispanic markets. Los Angeles averages over 20,000 at home. There are no teams in the South, just in New England thru the Midwest, Rockies and to California.

On one telecast they said Dallas was drawing poorly, about 7000, but every other team was above 10,000 at home. The league seems to be stable, televised on ESPN and ABC with the contracts set for several more years. Last year they must have had about 60,000 for the championship game. It was terific.

The national press coverage is fairly pathetic, other than the USA Today newspaper. The playoffs go up against King Football, plus the baseball playoffs, early NHL and the brink of the NBA. Likewise, this women's World Cup is not getting nearly the attention it did in mid-summer '99.

Our World Cup team in '02 was finally entertaining to watch, so much more offensive spark with Donavan, Mathis, etc. than in '94 or '98 I thought we outplayed Germany for the bulk of the match. The American side needs to play attacking soccer to capture any interest here, not nearly enough purists to appreciate those 0-0 or 1-0 matches.

[trigz]

6. Your last point hits the nail on the head

But the ability to enjoy games with few goals comes with the culturing of the game. The people following the game need to grasp the finer tactical points of it, but give it 15-20 years and I think things will be different. Of course, the long run is the main challenge. If MSL survives into the next generation, I think much will be done. On a smaller scale, I suppose football has the same status in the USA that cricket, for example, has in Norway, say. It's small, but persistent, and growing slowly.

[dutchdemocrat]

3. I was a Whitecaps fan!

Those were the good old days... being a kid, off to the Stadium to watch games at the PNE...

I remember seeing Vancouver take out the Cosmos - yeh, that team. Watching Pele, Beckenbaur and Neetskens fall to a bunch of British has-beens and local kids (they were a great team in 1980 though).

My favourite was Wee Willie Johnson, a little Scotsman who used to moon the crowd once in awhile and was known to run over and have a sip of a fans beer before taking corner kicks. He was a left winger (I was 12 and a left winger).

Pele singing peace and love on his retirement in NYC still sends a chill down my bone. I loved that man as an athlete and a person.

Thanks for a little gnudge down memory lane.

[trigz]

5. Whitecaps were legendary not just because of their name

The great Peter Beardsley went there as a young man to resurrect his career after being released at Manchester United. The rest is, as they say, history, with Beardsley going on to be one of the true greats in the English game with 500+ games for Liverpool and Newcastle and 60-odd caps for the England national team.

What's the name of that 14-year old bloke that recently signed for Manchester United again? Certainly if the USA has the staying power and patience there should be no reason why a WC quarter-final should be out of range in, say, 2-3 World Cups' time. (I suppose your problem is the competition with baseball and American football, even though I've never been able to understand the attraction to either, but hey, I'm European ;))

[BigMcLargehuge]

7. I followed the Revs for the first three seasons

and tried to catch at least a couple of games this season, but a weird schedule, and a 2-year old in the house made it kinda tough.

I am an MLS fan. However, my son was interested in the game, and next season he'll be a little older and maybe like the game a little more. As it is now the two or three games we watched together this year were followed by long sessions of kicking his soccer ball around the yard, which was super-duper fun.

[mac56]

8. I was a Minnesota Kicks fan back in the day.

Haven't watched a major league game since 1980.

Add on edit: The joke at the time was, "You couldn't have gone to a Kicks game - - - you're not drunk enough!"