It's The Little Things That Count

by Russell Berrisford on Apr 11, 2011 8:26 PM PDT

You probably think that MLS is perfect don't you? I bet you wake up every morning and give a cheery wave to the poster of Commissioner Don Garber that's hanging on your wall don't you? Yes, me too.

But before we get carried away in this love fest we should at least acknowledge that Major League Soccer does, very rarely, make some mistakes. I'm not talking about things that really matter of course, like the way they deal with international dates, or the playoff system, or the officiating, because I think we can all agree that everything about those things are just great.

I'm talking about the little things that they could change that would serve to make them even more wonderful than they are already, but before we head down that particular road let's take a quick look at last weeks poll which asked who deserved the most credit for the late comeback against Kansas.

Brazilian striker Camilo Servazzo came out on top with manager Teitur Thordarson the runner up. 13% nominated the Whitecaps fans (voting for yourselves to win; classy) and poor old Atiba Harris was last with a mere 8%.

Now here is today's puzzler.

Poll

What one small thing would you change about MLS?

The time given for a game is the time that it actually kicks off, not the time that some people wander on to the pitch with flags.

9 votes

Scrap the National Anthems. They are just an excuse for some idiots to let out high pitched screams.

14 votes

Settle on one system for designating home and away in the fixture and results lists. Put the home team first or second I don't mind. Just make sure everybody does it the same way!

20 votes

Sell that spray paint the refs use. There must be myriad ways I could use it in daily life (although I can't think of any at the moment).

11 votes

Publish a table that includes all the teams, in addition to the Conference standings, to make it easier to judge how each team is doing.

27 votes

81 votes | Poll has closed

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Comments

For point number five, looking for a single-table chart: would you believe, Wikipedia?

Manager at Vancouver Whitecaps and western Canadian soccer website Eighty Six Forever and infrequently-posting flunky at Edmonton Oilers blog The Copper & Blue.

by Benjamin Massey on Apr 12, 2011 8:50 AM PDT reply actions

That said, I think I vote for point three. The late kickoffs are nice to somebody who has to sprint from work to the game more often than he’s comfortable admitting, the national anthems are appropriately North American, particularly in an international league, and as much as I’d love a can of magic disappearing paint, I’m not sure what I’d do with it besides write really short-term graffiti.

Manager at Vancouver Whitecaps and western Canadian soccer website Eighty Six Forever and infrequently-posting flunky at Edmonton Oilers blog The Copper & Blue.

by Benjamin Massey on Apr 12, 2011 8:51 AM PDT up reply actions

I just found that The Guardian does a full table. The link is here . Plus the Caps are leading is some of the stats they give “Best offence” “Worst defence” “Most cards” etc.

by Russell Berrisford on Apr 12, 2011 9:17 AM PDT reply actions

The guy next to me at the games is a coach in the Metro League. When the ref pulled out his spray paint, he just said “What the hell is THAT?!”

Also: standardize the leg lengths of the officials (with hacksaws, if available). Toledo looked like he was putting the wall about 20 yards back!

by NS_Cix on Apr 12, 2011 10:03 AM PDT reply actions

If I could vote again, I would vote aginst national anthems.

I also think the MLS should provide a way to grade refs. I’m not infavour of instant reply, but I think there should be a mandatory review of red cards or something just to ensure that the refs consistently making the right call as well as giving teams a place to appeal bad calls. The MLS could be a real innovator in this area.

"I am not young enough to know everything." by O. Wilde

by CanadianSteel on Apr 12, 2011 11:19 AM PDT reply actions

Mmmmmmmm...

I don’t know. I think letting the MLS innovate on anything is never a good idea. Let alone something as controversial and potentially game killing as video replays. I’m perfectly happy for them just to follow the FIFA rules for a start. The Europa League is the place for innovation.
You watch…we’ll be playing an unbalanced schedule if you let them get creative…

Some other things I would add include a better relationship to the FIFA international schedule, a more active role in promoting the CONCACAF Champions League (match day live feeds would be a good start) and banning any trace of throwball lines on a soccer field. My eyes are still burning from watching the Houston game.

by Chris Corrigan on Apr 12, 2011 2:07 PM PDT up reply actions

“CONCACAF Champions League (match day live feeds would be a good start)”

Yeah it’s a mystery to me why they don’t do that.

by Russell Berrisford on Apr 12, 2011 5:23 PM PDT up reply actions

You can actually watch CONCACAF Champions League games live and free on CONCACAF.com.

Manager at Vancouver Whitecaps and western Canadian soccer website Eighty Six Forever and infrequently-posting flunky at Edmonton Oilers blog The Copper & Blue.

by Benjamin Massey on Apr 12, 2011 5:34 PM PDT up reply actions

I could handle a review of the red cards after the game, which could waive the suspension, but not during the game. Mistakes happen, but I don’t buy into conspiracies of refs against certain teams. Therefore, any mistakes against us one time will go for us another.

by NS_Cix on Apr 12, 2011 8:57 PM PDT up reply actions

MLS Table

How about just getting rid of the conferences and making every season home and away against each team, you know…like a normal footy league, not a ridiculously scheduled North American sports league.

by Beans on Toast on Apr 13, 2011 2:24 PM PDT reply actions

This is what would make North American soccer pretty much perfect:

1. Remove Red Bull and Chivas from the league, and don’t ever allow foreign clubs, ethnic groups, or corporations to "brand" themselves in the league again, because that is what amateur and/or second-rate organisations do. Move ex-Chivas to San Diego, and give them a real name. Call the ex-Red Bull “New Jersey”, because that’s where they actually live and play, and give them a real name.

2. Force Real SL, Sporting KC, and FC Dallas to stop pretending to be Spanish, Portuguese, and French, and force them to either get new names, or use the official language (English) of the country they are part of, as SL Royals, KC Sporting Club, and Dallas FC. There is nothing about being American that American soccer teams need to apologise for, or be embarassed about.

3. Cap MLS at 20 teams (with CF Impact de Montreal and New York Cosmos). Have teams play each other home and away in a 38 game League schedule. Award the Supporters Shield to the team with the most points, on the last weekend of the schedule. Call the winners “the MLS Champions”. Give the winner the first MLS berth in the CONCACAF Champions League.

4. Stage a home-and-away knock-out competition, with opponents drawn each round, starting half way through the League season. Award the winners the MLS Cup. Play the final the last weekend BEFORE the League season concludes. Call the winners "the MLS Cup Winners". Give the winners the second MLS berth in the CONCACAF Champions League.

5. Continue the Canadian Championship and US Open Cup competitions,with their respective berths in the CONCACAF Champions League.

6. Align the MLS Shield and Cup schedules with International game dates.

7. Hire a pool of professional referees.

8. Make the fielding of a reserve team, womens’ team, and boys and girls youth academy teams mandatory for all MLS teams.

9. Provide guidelines and reports to all management groups, comparing the pros and cons of downtown versus suburban facilities. Provide guidelines and examples to all management groups of what soccer insignia and marketing techniques are effective, professional, and "adult", and what soccer insignia and marketing techniques are ineffective, amateur, and childish. Provide guidelines of how to assist supporters groups in creating global sporting atmosphere inside North American soccer stadia. Provide an explanation of how and why soccer uniforms with stripes (AC Milan, Inter Milan), hoops (Celtic, Sporting Clube de Portugal), diagonal sashes (River Plate, Vasco de Gama), neck scapulars (Bordeaux, Velez Sarsfield), single hoops (VfB Stuttgart, Boca Juniors), single stripes (Ajax, Paris St-Germain), different coloured sleeves (Arsenal, Aston Villa), chequers (Boavista, Croatian national team), and halves (Blackburn Rovers, Genoa CFC) are all more effective for "branding" a soccer club in contrast to other sports in North America than a jersey with formless multi-coloured squiggles on it.

10. Buy the NASL. Give notice that, starting in 2015, the current NASL (the second tier of North American soccer) will have 4 regionalised divisions: West, Centre, North East, and South East, with an eight-team post-season playoff format to decide the NASL champions. Inform all MLS and NASL teams that, as of 2020, in order to continue in MLS and NASL teams will need a natural grass, soccer-specific stadium, with a minimum capacity of 5,000 for the NASL and 10,000 for MLS. From now until 2020 conduct divisional and league championship "play-offs" to determine the NASL champion. Help establish and/or retain NASL teams in all cities of 1 million or more people (Edmonton, Calgary, Ottawa, Sacramento, Phoenix, San Antonio, Saint Louis, New Orleans, Detroit, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Buffalo, Long Island New York, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Norfolk, Atlanta, Tampa Bay, and Miami). Give support to ownership groups interested in retaining or establishing NASL teams in cities of 500,000 to 1 million people.

11. In 2020 reduce MLS from 20 teams to 18, while relegating the bottom four clubs and promoting the two winners of a 4-team NASL promotion championship tournament. In subsequent seasons there will be straight forward relegation of 4 from MLS and the promotion of each regionalised NASL division league champion. Eliminate NASL play-offs, and instead establish 4 regionalised cup competitions (like the changed MLS Cup competition).

by seathanaich on Apr 27, 2011 12:19 PM PDT reply actions

Oops.

I missed Minneapolis, Milwaukee, and Orlando in my list of cities with a population of 1 million people.

by seathanaich on Apr 27, 2011 12:29 PM PDT up reply actions

3. Cap MLS at 20 teams (with CF Impact de Montreal and New York Cosmos). Have teams play each other home and away in a 38 game League schedule. Award the Supporters Shield to the team with the most points, on the last weekend of the schedule. Call the winners "the MLS Champions". Give the winner the first MLS berth in the CONCACAF Champions League.

4. Stage a home-and-away knock-out competition, with opponents drawn each round, starting half way through the League season. Award the winners the MLS Cup. Play the final the last weekend BEFORE the League season concludes. Call the winners “the MLS Cup Winners”. Give the winners the second MLS berth in the CONCACAF Champions League.

I grok what you’re saying, but that reeks of being European for the sake of being European.

I like the playoffs. I think it’s more exciting. It guarantees that the season will end with critical games both teams need to win instead of boring strolls from teams already assured of the championship (remember, no pro/rel in MLS = no exciting bottom-half battles). It’s familiar to North American sports fans and that’s where MLS has to market itself. Moreover, honest Europeans shouldn’t have a problem with it beyond sheer traditionalism.

Manager at Vancouver Whitecaps and western Canadian soccer website Eighty Six Forever and infrequently-posting flunky at Edmonton Oilers blog The Copper & Blue.

by Benjamin Massey on Apr 27, 2011 2:34 PM PDT up reply actions