 |
|
|
|||||
|
Find out more about Jesse: Jesse Baumgartner is a journalist and fanatical soccer follower. He's covered North Carolina basketball and the Seattle Mariners in addition to writing articles about college soccer and the MLS. He'll also be in London this fall studying – that is, during the few moments when he isn't attending Premiership matches. |
It wasn’t a great day for the MLS on Tuesday, as both Chivas USA and New England lost their CONCACAF Champions League qualifying round games. Both were on the road in Panama and Trinidad, respectively, for first leg matches.
Chivas is in the most trouble heading home with a 2-0 deficit, while the Revolution managed a penalty to claim an away goal that could prove extremely valuable.
These are the types of games that have the potential to really help the MLS as a league. Winning in international club competitions does a lot for reputation, but it’s also incredibly hard. Just take a look at the U.S. men’s national team’s win in Guatemala City last week. Everything is against you on the road, or so it seems.
I was talking to a 16 year-old kid the other day named Spencer Richey for an article I’m working on. Spencer is a keeper in the full-time U.S. national team residency program down in Florida. I’m going to post some of the transcript later on because it’s interesting, but one of the things he was telling me was how brutal the trips they take to different countries are. He says even at that level, the fans, the refs, the atmosphere put everything against you, and it’s extremely hard to come out with a result.
Commissioner Don Garber talked about these road matches during his most recent MLSnet.com blog post, which can be found here.
He mentioned the need to get those away results against strong Mexican clubs, pointing to an 0-13 record in Mexico. That message is the right one, and it doesn’t stop at Mexico. Away results demand flawless performance, because usually you have to thoroughly outplay someone to earn such a victory or even a draw.
For the MLS to progress, it will need these type of results to establish themselves as the premier league in its region before it can move on to bigger things. So while Chivas and New England might both be able to pull out victories in the second leg and advance, it doesn’t look great for the East’s leading team to be upset by a club from Trinidad. The type of respect the MLS wants is only going to come from the results it can produce.
Comment
RSS
Email
Print
