Commentary - Alive & Kicking:
Major League Soccer (MLS) Season Nine Begins

Sean O'Conor reports on the 2004 MLS Season

The most important fact about the start of Major League Soccer's ninth season is that football continues to strengthen its bridgehead in its last unconquered land.

US soccer might still not be getting the international attention a quarter-final finish at the last World Cup merits, but in America it seems increasingly here to stay. Last summer Manchester United played to sold-out NFL stadia across America and this year Chelsea and Liverpool will join them to cash in on the huge interest in the world game there already is in the US.

MLS is something else though and fans are not on the whole hugely excited about the new season it must be said.

Some of America's biggest draws left for Europe in the summer leaving fans searching for new heroes: US striker Brian McBride left Columbus after years of service to sign for Premiership Fulham, who also acquired the young US centre-back Carlos Bocanegra.

Clint Mathis, the talisman of the Metrostars and the US international who has never quite fulfilled his potential, signed for Bundesliga Hannover whilst stalwarts Hristo Stoichkov, Marco "Diablo" Etcheverry and Mauricio Cienfuegos called it an MLS day.

Landon Donovan and DaMarcus Beasley are still there, though in the wake of Donovan's aborted move to Portsmouth and the fact he is still contracted to Bayer Leverkusen, one wonders how much longer America's best footballer will profess to love the California sunshine and take considerably lower MLS wages.

The US national team is now certainly overseas-dependent and a recent MLS-heavy US eleven struggled to avoid defeat at home to Haiti. That the majority of good Americans are playing outside America won't be all bad news in the long run as a good national team is vital for the sport as a whole.

When Americans are definite starters for Manchester United, Ajax and other top division sides (there are six alone playing in the Premiership) you realise how far the US game has come in terms of the quality of players being produced.

The big news on the player front concerns the signing by MLS of the 14-year-old boy wonder Freddy Adu. His age alone makes this truly amazing news and his appearances in the national media and on prime-time talk shows have increased the pressure on the teenager in his debut season with DC United.

Whether he becomes the American Pelé or not, Adu does look a quality player already and there is no reason why he should not cement a place in the US National Team for years to come. Without wanting to drown in the hype, this could well be the first season of something big.

With gaps left by the departed stars there are opportunities for young Americans to shine, including two midfielders able to cement their impact on the league and the national team: DC United's 20-year old Bobby Convey (already an MLS vet of 4 years!) and Columbus Crew's Kyle Martino, both midfielders who impressed for the US at last summer's Confederations Cup.

In terms of the title it is hard to look beyond Landon Donovan's San Jose Earthquakes repeating their 2003 victory. Their team is almost unchanged and as long as they gel with new manager Dominc Kinnear are well equipped to repeat the good football they played last season with midfield duo Ronnie Ekelund and Richard Mulrooney more experienced and Donovan a matchwinner up front.

Last season's runners-up Chicago Fire have a strong attack headed by US internationals Ante Razov and DaMarcus Beasley and are always strong contenders, as are the LA Galaxy ensconced in their intimate and sold-out stadium. A fourth possibility for glory could be the improving New England Revolution.

Off field, MLS is again in the throes of expansion speculation. Given the stringent criteria of a committed investor/operator and a soccer-specific stadium in place before a team arrives, a number of cities that seemed good bets at one stage have fallen by the wayside.

Right now, MLS hopes to add four teams over the next two years, but who they will be and when they can join seems to be a revolving door of rumour and counter-claim. The cities in pole position include Rochester in upstate New York and San Diego, California gaining MLS sides.

The former has long supported a successful semi-pro side whilst the latter is the brain child of a Mexican millionaire Jorge Vergara keen to create an all-Hispanic team to help America's millions of Latinos identify with a team of their own. Other likely candidates right now include Oklahoma City and San Antonio and Houston, Texas but all that could quickly change in the yo-yoing of fortunes that is MLS expansion so a prediction seems foolish.

On the international scene, the USA begins its qualifying road for the 2006 World Cup at home to Grenada in June. With CONCACAF granted an additional half-spot for Germany, it seems highly unlikely Bruce Arena's men will not make it to their fifth successive World Cup Finals. That speaks volumes for the progress of football in America, as much as the football-specific stadia already built or under construction do, things the so-called glory days of the NASL never achieved.

On the women's front, the professional WUSA has folded, the US lost their World Cup crown and soccer goddess Mia Hamm, probably the only American soccer player who is a household name across the USA with her legions of idolizing teenage girl fans, has announced her impending retirement.

After the hiatus of the World Cup win of 1999, the women's game needs rebuilding in the States, starting with an assault on the Olympic gold in Athens this Summer. With Mia Hamm donning the US shirt for the last time, it should be emotional.

Yet beyond all the prognostics and specifics of a new football season in the USA, there lies an important constant that is too easy to forget and worth celebrating: Professional football is setting down roots and looks here to stay. If the fans are a little blasé that is not altogether a bad thing as they can at least relax a little knowing football in America is not about to go the way of the NASL.

Sean O'Conor

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