I'm aware that many people find the topic of American soccer to be dull at best, but that's not going to stop my pouring over it for hours on a computer, or for days inside the comfort of my own head. It's the one sport that shows both respect for its fans and the players exhibit (for the most part) more respect for each other than in any other sport. This tradition compounded with the fact that when FIFA says "World Champion", the teams competing are actually from places outside of the U.S.--an idea that many of America's favorite sports has yet to catch onto.
What's nice about soccer is that when club teams compete, they often compete outside of their own leagues, allowing teams to travel and play teams and styles of play that they might not find elsewhere. This has happened for years without much of anything to scream about, or even discuss in passing when teams from Europe come stateside. They come, they conquer, they steal our women and burn our villages. This is how it has always been, but the MLS is starting to show some backbone. Or possibly they're just so bad they've confounded recent traveling teams from abroad. In late July, the Premiership's reigning kings, Chelsea came to play the best the MLS had to offer for the All Star game. Chelsea, world renowned as having one of the greatest lineups in world soccer right now, must have seen the game has a walk. Nah, not so much. MLS shut down Didier Drogba, Shevchenko, Joe Cole, and John Terry--some of the best names in soccer, for the entire 90 minutes. MLS 1 and Chelsea 0.
Good times. Seeing this country's best take down some of the best in the world was amazing. They out-paced and out-played them for the entire match. It gets no better. It's like being a fan of the Redskins and watching them win a Super Bowl or watching...I don't know; whatever baseball that's really bad winning the World Series. Anyway, I know this isn't much, but it's late and I'm going to go to bed now.
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