The MLS Cup Experiment
Friday, November 20, 2009
The stage is set, the seats are (somewhat) sold out. Finally, MLS gets its biggest star on its biggest stage.
After three trying years, the LA Galaxy are playing in MLS Cup. The opponent is the less-than-stellar draw known (comically, even after five seasons) as Real Salt Lake.
A quick recap of last week’s semi-final action:
Los Angeles outlasted perennial contenders Houston Dynamo to win the Western Conference title by a 2-0 scoreline. The game was scoreless after 90 minutes, in no small part to Andre Hainault’s powerful second-half header being called off for relatively soft, yet undeniable, contact on his defender. Once in extra time, Houston simply wilted, while David Beckham and Landon Donovan stood tall as the game changers that they are, and LA booked its spot in Seattle.
In the East final, eighth-seeded Salt Lake travelled to Chicago to take on the heavily-favoured Fire. After 120 minutes of scoreless play, the Utah side reigned supreme in the penalty kick round right in front of a shell-shocked Section 8.
While I’m sure the high-powered suits behind the league were hoping for a dream match-up of the world’s most famous athlete versus the biggest Mexican star of his generation, in reality Beckham’s opponent does not matter.
ESPN will undoubtedly theme their show around redemption. Redemption of the Galaxy, redemption of Bruce Arena, redemption of Donovan. Of course, the biggest redemption story will be Beckham, who famously arrived in this contnent’s shores to bring glitz, glamour and (not to be discounted) respect to a league that pretty much had none.
As everyone knows, it didn’t exactly go that way. The team was horrible for two seasons, the two best players on the team had a public falling out disguised as a New York Times Best-Seller, coaches came and went, and the fanbase – once the unparalleled class of the league – grew disillusioned.
So the redemption story, of the LA Galaxy playing brilliant soccer (by MLS standards) from July onward and finally proving to be the fairytale it was supposed to be two years ago, culminates in the home of the Seattle Sounders, the biggest success story in the league.
Standing in the way is little Salt Lake, who squeezed into the playoffs through a series on unthinkable events elsewhere in the league. Presumed dead with just two weeks left in the regular season, Salt Lake benefitted by a host of other teams fumbling through a comedy of errors, not the least of which was Toronto’s 5-0 implosion in New York on the final matchday.
The Utah side is looking for a little redemption of their own. Redemption from the naysayers who say they lucked their way into this final. Redemption from 2008, when they somehow lost at home to the sad-sack Red Bulls in the penultimate game of that year’s playoffs. Redemption for the faceless players who are currently being dismissed as nothing but fodder for the glamourous giants standing between them and the first-ever professional big league trophy a team from Utah has ever won.
Like last year, however, this is where the Cinderella story ends. Salt Lake, as plucky and fortunate as they’ve been, will awaken on Monday morning not as the beautiful princess but as one of the forgotten step-sisters. Los Angeles will win the Cup, the Beckham Experiment will be declared a success, and all will be right in the world (according to Don Garber).
That is, if Beckham’s ankle holds up.
Posted by Rudi Schuller
Category: MLS