Drew Carey, Pubs & the MLS

Happy birthday to Soccer-Point blogger, Otto Gol! As an inexpensive birthday gift to him, Soccer-Point is posting this video of the new Price is Right host, raconteur & soccer enthusiast Drew Carey. This video shows him arriving at a local Seattle pub to announce his participation in the ownership of the Seattle expansion MLS team, Seattle FC.

This is where MLS has the chance to trump most other pro sports in America. If you can connect to the average fan sitting in their local, then you’ve established a strong local connection that will never fade.

Drew Carey’s a great face for soccer in this country because he’s just so darn American. His enthusiasm for the sport is American. His humor is American. He’s the perfect fan ambassador.

Our FC Dallas would be wise to make these kinds of connections locally as well. I don’t know if the Hunt Sports Group folks understand that well enough. Their pedigree is an NFL one. And what works for the NFL might not fit the MLS.

So here’s more free advice for the Hunt Sports Group folks looking to improve season ticket sales. Host evenings at Trinity Hall, the Dubliner, the Londoner, the White Rock Sports Bar, the 1^st & 10, Fox Sports Grill, etc. You can meet the fans in person. Send the GM. Send Steve Morrow. Send whomever. But start meeting the fans in the places where they’re likely to be found: barstools. Give out bumper stickers, t-shirts, & schedule magnets. Make them feel like they're part of the team.

Another Nice 2007 Review

This review by Paul Gardner of WorldSoccer.com was posted on SI.com yesterday. He takes note of the Beckham phenomenon's ups & downs but also highlights the perhaps more impactful 2007 undercurrent of Latin American players in the MLS. He tips the pen to Colombian Juan Pablo Angel in NY, Brazilian Emilio at DC United and fails to mention FC Dallas find Juan Toja from Colombia.

The review previews next season's expansion team, the resurrected San Jose Earthquakes. They are owned by the Oakland A's. Gardner explains the A's success on a limited player payroll through their use of Sabremetrics. Will "sabremetrics" take the expansion team back to their former strength as the team now known as the MLS Champs two-years running: Houston Dynamo? We are looking forward to seeing the results played out over the next couple of seasons.

Triumph and disaster

Beckham's first season in MLS showed mixed results

Posted: Monday December 31, 2007 4:02PM; Updated: Monday December 31, 2007 4:02PM

The most common view of David Beckham's MLS maiden voyage: on the bench. Simon Bruty/SI

By Paul Gardner, Special to SI.com, World Soccer

Question: When is a fiasco not a fiasco? Well, the answer has to be, "when it's David Beckham." His much-ballyhooed, incredibly hyped arrival in the U.S. to play for the Los Angeles Galaxy managed to take in, simultaneously, both ends of Kipling's equation: both triumph and disaster.

On the positive side, Major League Soccer immediately gained a ton of much-needed publicity, air time, ink, gossip-column stuff and online chat. And however cynical one might feel about that, it's a very big deal for soccer to get itself into the headlines in the U.S.

It can, of course, be argued that it wasn't really the sport that was getting all this attention; it was the personal attractions of superstar Beckham and his show-business wife, Victoria, which attracted the news hounds. And, by and large, that would be true. But it hardly matters. Getting MLS talked about, especially when the talk involves lots of money, is the important thing.

MLS commissioner Don Garber exalted that the publicity was far beyond anything the league had dared to imagine. And it sold tickets, too. There was immediate demand for Galaxy season tickets, while the other 12 clubs found that their home games against L.A. were suddenly a hot item.

That heady, euphoric atmosphere ought to have been shattered by the fact that Beckham was hardly to be seen on the field. He arrived injured, was injured again, played in only seven games and scored one goal. Clubs that had sold huge amounts of tickets for their game against the Galaxy found that the star attraction was sitting on the bench.

The Galaxy didn't help matters by being a decidedly awful team. They failed to make the playoffs, and coach Frank Yallop -- clearly exasperated and worn down by the Beckham circus -- quit at the end of the season.

But even that turned into something of a success, for the Galaxy then brought in Ruud Gullit, and "sexy soccer" became the theme for next year's team. So it can be argued that 2007 should not be seen as a flop or even as a mildly damp squib. Rather, it was a dry run -- we now await the real arrival of Beckham, a fit Beckham, in '08.

There are clear signs that Beckhamania will mean the Galaxy adopt the role of a touring team, traveling overseas in the offseason (to Asia in particular) to play exhibition games for large fees.

The Galaxy's first such game -- in Australia against Sydney FC last month -- continued the good-news-bad-news theme. L.A. lost 5-3, and Beckham picked up another injury. But he did score a great free-kick goal, and the attendance was an amazing 80,295.

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By Paul Gardner, Special to SI.com, World Soccer

The explosion of Latinos like Cuauhtémoc Blanco ended up being a bigger story than Beckhamania during the '07 MLS season. Simon Bruty/SI

Gullit now has to learn the ins and outs of signing players under the MLS single-entity system -- it's not straightforward -- because the team is clearly inadequate.

Amid the frantic Beckham saga, some words of quiet sense came from MLS deputy commissioner Ivan Gazidis, who pointed out that "the real MLS story for 2007 was that MLS was importing players from South America who are very significant players in our league."

What Gazidis didn't say was that this represents a clear change of direction for the league which, for the past 12 years, has been much more oriented towards bringing in European players. The Latin American trend has been quickly successful -- Brazilian Luciano Emilio (D.C. United) was the league's top scorer with 20 goals, one ahead of Colombian Juan Pablo Ángel (New York Red Bulls).

The Latinos have also brought flair and excitement -- the arrival of Mexico's Cuauhtémoc Blanco with the Chicago Fire immediately brought out the colorful Mexican fans and transformed the team into a championship contender. Blanco's individual skills were honored when he won the goal of the year award.

Gazidis also mentioned that MLS is stepping up its study of youth development programs in other countries. "We have really been going around the world, and specifically to Argentina, Brazil and Mexico," he said. Again, the emphasis on Latin America is new, but long overdue.

The Latin theme has also been taken up -- again tardily -- by the U.S. Soccer Federation. President Sunil Gulati took an unprecedented step in appointing Wilmer Cabrera as coach of the national Under-17 team and head coach at the USSF's Bradenton (Fla.) Academy -- a full-time school for the country's best 15- and 16-year-olds. Cabrera, a former Colombian international who now resides in the U.S., becomes the first Hispanic to hold a head coaching position with any U.S. national team.

Returning to MLS, after a poor championship final in the past two years, MLS Cup 2007 was a reasonably exciting game. The finalists, as in '06, were the Houston Dynamo and the New England Revolution -- and the result was the same, a win for the Dynamo. The luckless Revs represent another example of triumph and disaster within MLS -- they have reached four of the last six finals and lost them all, while managing to score just two goals.

For the New York Red Bulls, there was only failure. Another poor season ended with the dismissal of coach Bruce Arena. But where the ex-national team boss was left looking for a new job, the other major coaching casualty, Yallop, moved smoothly a few hundred miles up California's coastline to take charge of the San Jose Earthquakes. This is a new team (the old Earthquakes, which Yallop had also coached, moved to Houston in '06 and became the Dynamo).

Yallop's task of assembling a new lineup (the Earthquakes bring the number of teams in MLS up to 14) started with the expansion draft. The draft provided him with a basis of experienced and moderately salaried players, after which he can set about adding a few stars including, no doubt, a highly-paid "designated player."

There is another aspect of special interest in the Earthquakes' signings. The new club is owned by the same group that operates the Major League Baseball's Oakland Athletics. The A's have proved very successful over the past few seasons at maintaining a high level of success despite operating with a much lower budget than teams such as the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox.

This "cost-effectiveness" results from the policies of the A's general manager, Billy Beane, who has established a reputation for canny player deals on the basis, mainly, of specialized assessment of players' statistics. (The system is known as sabermetrics, from the acronym SABR, the Society for American Baseball Research.) Beane's methods have proved highly successful -- in '06, for instance, the A's had the fifth-best record in baseball with only the 20th-highest payroll.

Beane has expressed great interest in soccer and is keen to see whether his methods can be applied to the sport. He will get his chance to find out with the Earthquakes. His methods tend to pay scant attention to the subjective judgments of scouts and coaches, and more to evidence of "objective" playing stats. Whether soccer stats -- a comparatively recent discipline -- lend themselves to that sort of reliable interpretation, or whether the whole system appeals to Yallop, remains to be seen.

As for a quick assessment of '07 -- maybe it was the year of Beckham after all, with more to come; or maybe it marked the year when, at long last, American soccer began to pay serious attention to its potentially huge Hispanic fan base.

Or could it be that '07 will be remembered as the year when Beane upset the traditional soccer methods of player assessment? Only kidding of course ... but remember that word: sabermetrics. Soccer fans, you have been warned.

Galarcep's Top 10 US Soccer Moments of 2007

Soccer-Point would like to wish all a very happy 2008. "El Zero Ocho" promises great things here stateside with the ongoing expansion of the MLS, the Summer Olympics in Beijing, and the ongoing saga of the LA Galaxy's quest to become the NY Cosmos of the league. After spending an inordinate amount of time consuming English Premier League soccer this fall in search of discovering a favorite English club to follow, I've decided that I'm a fan of the American game, warts & all, above all else, save for International Play.

Here's a nice video from the Brazilian coverage of the U.S. U-21 victory over Brazil earlier in the year. It's a nice combination from Adu to Altidore.



Ives Galarcep does a nice job here summing up the year's highlights.

From ESPN.com Soccernet:

What is the best way to measure how good 2007 was for American soccer fans? Consider how easy it has been to forget the disaster that was 2006.

The U.S. national team crashed out of the World Cup, longtime stars Claudio Reyna, Brian McBride and Eddie Pope retired, and the subsequent search to replace departed head coach Bruce Arena turned into a fiasco. American fans were understandably concerned about what 2007 would bring.

2007 did not disappoint. The year brought the national team's successful transition to new coach Bob Bradley, the emergence of a new generation of young American standouts, and the continued dominance over Mexico.

Major League Soccer also enjoyed a banner season, with David Beckham's arrival, Houston's continued supremacy and an infusion of foreign talent that revitalized the entire league.

So what were the 10 best games, biggest stories and most significant moments in American soccer this year? Here they are:

1. Beckham comes to America

There is little debating that David Beckham's arrival in the United States was the biggest soccer story of the year. The buzz created by his arrival reached unheard of levels for Major League Soccer, in just its 12th year of existence. It is hard to deny that Beckham's contributions on the field were disappointing, but ticket sales, media coverage and overall exposure for the league made Beckham's hefty price tag a bargain.

If any one moment provided the pinnacle of Beckham's arrival in MLS, it was during his one visit to New York to face the Red Bulls on Aug. 18. The Galaxy lost the game 5-4, but Beckham delivered two beautiful assists and both sides put on an entertaining game worthy of the 66,237 fans in attendance.

2. U.S. team maintains dominance of Mexico

The U.S. national team's struggles in 2006 left many fans wondering whether the Americans would be able to maintain their dominance over archrival Mexico. Those fears were eased early in the year when the United States beat a full-strength Mexico side 2-0 in Phoenix on Feb. 7.

Any concerns about the U.S. team losing its grip on top-dog status in CONCACAF were put to rest in the Gold Cup final, when Benny Feilhaber's stunning blast gave the Americans a 2-1 victory in a Soldier Field packed with Mexican fans. We won't have to wait long for the next installment of the rivalry. The United States and Mexico will meet in a friendly in Houston on Feb. 6, 2008.

3. The next generation arrives

To some, the U.S. U-20 team's performance at the U-20 World Cup in July might be seen as a disappointment, with its quarterfinal appearance feeling like an underachievement. What needed to be focused on was how this event helped serve as a coming-out party for the next generation of young American stars.

Freddy Adu, Jozy Altidore and Michael Bradley all enjoyed stellar tournaments to remind us why they are seen as the future of the national team program. No game illustrated this more than the U.S. team's 2-1 win against Brazil. The Americans didn't get lucky against the world power, they outplayed them. From Adu's tricks to Bradley's tireless work in midfield to Altidore's finish, the game was enough to make U.S. fans dream of World Cup 2010 glory. Adu's YouTube-worthy dribble which led to Altidore's game-winning goal in the 81st minute provided one of the goals of the year.

4. Foreign talent infusion boosts MLS

David Beckham stole most of the headlines, but an army of foreign players arrived in MLS just in time to give the league a boost as expansion threatened to dilute the quality of play. Juan Pablo Angel, Luciano Emilio, Cuauhtemoc Blanco, Guillermo Barros Schelotto, Maykel Galindo and Juan Toja delivered a mix of skill, charisma and goals in bunches to energize half the league's teams.

The success achieved by so many foreign players in 2007 helped lead MLS to ease some of its foreign-player restrictions heading into the 2008 season. Concerns over a reduction in opportunities for Americans are misguided. The American talent pool isn't ready to handle extensive MLS expansion, and 2007 showed us that signing the right foreign players can be a coup for MLS.

5. Bob Bradley takes charge

The well-chronicled courtship of Juergen Klinsmann to become U.S. national team head coach was one of the disappointing stories of 2006, but the man who eventually took the position spent 2007 making most American fans forget about the German.

What did Bob Bradley do in his first year as U.S. national team head coach? He led the team to a Gold Cup title, beat Mexico twice, scheduled strong opponents such as Brazil and Sweden, saw his team win games in Europe and Africa, and integrated several new faces into the national team mix. Most importantly, he brought some stability to the program as it heads toward 2010.

6. MLS keeps growing

Investors are lining up across the country to buy into Major League Soccer, and that interest has the league in as strong a position as ever. The unabashed success of Toronto FC, from a business standpoint, in its first season -- coupled with San Jose's return in 2008 and Seattle's impending arrival in 2009 -- has MLS growing in importance. Not bad for a league that contracted down to 10 teams just six years ago.

7. Clint Dempsey blossoms

Who is the most popular American soccer player? Landon Donovan? Nope. Freddy Adu? Nope. Try Clint Dempsey, the Texas-born goal-scoring sensation who has found success in Europe with his distinctively American swagger. The recently named U.S. Soccer male athlete of the year continued his strong play for the national team in 2007 and also helped Fulham become one of the most popular European teams in the United States.

8. Dynamo dynasty

Who will stop the Houston Dynamo? That was the question being asked after the Dynamo defeated New England to land a second straight MLS Cup title. Strong from front to back, the Dynamo have flourished since the club was moved from San Jose before the 2006 season, and there is no reason to believe Houston won't be in the final again in 2008. All the team's key players are expected back, while coach Dom Kinnear has just signed a contract extension.

9. The Solo fiasco

Even if you aren't a women's national team fan, chances are you were caught up in the coverage of the Greg Ryan-Hope Solo debacle. Coach Ryan decided to bench Solo, his starting goalkeeper, for the World Cup semifinal match with Brazil, and the U.S. women suffered an embarrassing 4-0 loss; to top things off, there was memorable postgame video of Solo ripping Ryan and teammate Brianna Scurry (the veteran backup who replaced Solo based on past success versus Brazil). Drama ensued and the story drew hordes of attention, in part because it occurred during a slow news cycle. It didn't mean much in the grand scheme of things, but it will go down as one of the more memorable stories of 2007.

10. SuperLiga Final one to remember

When Major League Soccer and the Mexican Football Federation joined forces to create a tournament that would allow American and Mexican teams to face off, they could not have imagined the event being such a success in its first year, or the first final being one of the games of the year. From David Beckham's injury, to Chris Klein's amazing bicycle kick equalizer, to Landon Donovan's million-dollar penalty-kick miss, the SuperLiga final had the drama of a World Cup final. Here is hoping the tournament can come close to being as exciting in 2008.

Ives Galarcep covers MLS for ESPNsoccernet. He is a writer and columnist for the Herald News (N.J.) and writes a blog, Soccer By Ives. He can be reached at Ivespn79@aol.com

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FC Dallas Offseason Moves

Buzz Carrick over at 3rd Degree has an interesting post & ongoing comments about some potential FC Dallas offseason moves. According to Buzz, the Dallas Morning News quoted Coach Steve Morrow today regarding Carlos Ruiz and Denilson. Word is that they have picked up Ruiz's option and are hoping to renegotiate salary terms with Denilson.

“Hoping to bring back Denilson cheaper” means his contract option was not picked up by FCD for 2008. FCD had a way out and if they had picked up the option would be locked into Denilson for over $1mil. By letting Denilson’s contract option pass, they have in effect made him a free agent Dec 31st. Denilson will be free to sign with anyone he wishes.

By making this public statement FCD is either attempting to lessen the PR hit of Denilson being a “bust” or perhaps they really do expect him to be interested in staying at a cut price. Do you think Denilson would come back for $400k, half of what he was making this year that was supposedly a discount already? Remember that he was expecting over $1mil in 2008.

Would you want Denilson back for $400k? I sure wouldn’t. I didn’t see a player worth more than $200. Heck, I didn’t see a player worth more than Toja and his $100. So there’s the bar, is he better than Toja, would you take Denilson back for $100. Ok sure, I might. I might even go to $150k.. maybe. Toja does deserve a raise after all. But then one wonders if Denilson would be A. Happy and B. give enough of a crap to get fit and put in real effort. To me the answer would clearly be no.

If You Missed It and So You Don't

In la Primera División de Argentina, Lanús won its first league title in the Apertura 2007. Lanús drew with Boca Juniors this weekend for the clincher. Maradona who played for Boca, but is from the neighborhood of Lanús gave high praise for their achievement. Then again, Maradona always finds a way to be part of the winners even if he is not invited. Boca is one of the few places where Maradona is still treated like a king (not sure why). My team Gimnasia y Esgrima de Jujuy has one last match to draw or win to avoid being sent down. They take on San Lorenzo this Sunday. Why do I like Gimnasia y Esgrima de Jujuy? 1) I have been to Jujuy. It is isolated and colorful; reminds me of the Four Corners region of the US. 2) Their stadium holds 7,000. We complain about 13,000 showing up for a game. This is a little fish in a big pond. 3) The club name is cool.

With Soccer Point being a Team Blog Soccer Fighting site, I think it is only proper that we have a fencing team (esgrima = fencing). Also, they are proud of their gymnasium. I envision an athletic club that started in the late 1800s (1931 actually) and its membership limited to guys with curled mustaches and striped exercise clothing. Hobbies had to be bare-fisted boxing, fencing, jumping things, and a willingness to try new sports, such as football or llama wrestling.

In la Liga Mexicana, Atlante will be taking on Pumas in the finals of the Apertura 2007. The first match (ida) in the DF is this Thursday at 9PM on Telefutura. The final match in Cancún (vuelta) is this Sunday at 6PM on Telefutura. It has been 14 years since Atlante played in the finals. Back then, Atlante was based in Mexico City in the zone called Neza. This is one of the most dangerous places in the DF. A good friend of Soccer Point used to work there and I ate lunch with him there back in 1996. Great food, happy to leave that part of town. Since then, I have rooted for Atlante simply because they did not have the money to take on other DF teams like Club América or Cruz Azul. This summer they relocated to Cancún. I think they will be glad they made the move. Another Soccer Point friend moved from Houston to Cancún this summer too. He has also lived in Brazil. Ironically, wherever he has gone soccer championships have followed. He is nearly as valuable as Guus Hiddink.

Not to neglect Pumas, I have always liked them too. Their club is close to my in-laws house and most of my in-laws went to school at UNAM. So, I am indebted. Besides, this current team is intense. They fight so much with each other that their hardness is tough to control, predict and beat. Did you know that if you play for Pumas you have to be enrolled at UNAM, attend class, take exams, etc.? Their fans, the student body, are ravenous for the team because they know tomorrow they all have to take exams or turn in papers together. Imagine a Division I school playing in the NFL and making it to the Super Bowl. This is Pumas. Check out the matches; you won’t be disappointed.

On the FC Dallas front, I am waiting for the dismissal of Denilson. His contribution on the team was a goal from penalty kick. Besides that, he was a lazy distraction to a young team trying to become its own and not a supporting cast to a has been. Funny to say, a 31-year old World Cup winner is not good enough for the MLS. Yes, I know the MLS is made up of bottom dwellers who would struggle in 2nd and 3rd divisions of Latvia. Blah, blah, blah. But wasn't someone of his 'caliber' supposed to raise the level of play? This was the last thing that crossed his mind. He saw how much Beckham signed for and said to himself, "Easy Money." He got paid, FCD got rooked, and MLS got nada. Without a doubt, Denilson was a marquee name, but his marquee skills have passed. FCD, take it on the chin, stick with the youth, stay hungry. Arsenal's manager Arsene Wenger does it every year. He sticks with the youth and Arsenal wins. FCD should do the same. Keep it fresh and do not be loyal to past flashes of brilliance. FCD's manager Steve Morrow is an Arsenal man and should know this better than any one. Start and finish next season like he started this past one, and FCD should get better results.

Suggested Changes to 2014 World Cup Qualifiers

FIFA drew recently teams for the 2010 World Cup qualification. Ironically, England and Croatia will go at it again. With the exciting battle in the Euro 2008 qualifiers passed, FIFA feels it is only fitting to require the same qualification process again for World Cup 2010. And not just on a UEFA level, but on a global level. It has always been this way, so why change a thing, right? Wrong.

Think about the past few World Cups. Qualified teams assemble the best teams they possibly can. Some players will have nagging injuries and will fight through those. Others may not make it at all due to injuries. And, there are some who are so burned out from club play that they are just showing up to keep the sponsors happy. Regrettably, it presents exhausted or uninterested players who go through the motions for almost half of their games in the World Cup, and then crank it up when it matters most. The World Cup showcases the most talented teams and determines who the best is for that period of time. My opinion is that players are played too much prior to the start of the World Cup and this has affected the quality of play. I suggest the qualification process be shortened for the best teams and taken to a global level for the fringe teams. The result would provide healthier teams for the World Cup and higher level of interest in the game by the world and the players.

For the best teams, FIFA should apply the regional tournament results for qualification. Teams that win or place in these tournaments should be granted World Cup qualification. From the regional tournaments and the host nation, the first 16 World Cup qualifiers would be filled as the following:

UEFA (6): 1st through 6th Place in the Euro Cup.
CONMEBOL (3): 1st through 3rd Place in Copa America.
AFC (2): 1st & 2nd Places in Asian Nations Cup.
CAF (2): 1st & 2nd Places in African Nations Cup.
CONCACAF (2): 1st & 2nd Places in Gold Cup.
Host Nation (1)

For the fringe teams, a second chance would be given. There would be 48 fringe teams battling for the remaining 16 slots. The suggested scenarios for the fringe teams to qualify are the following:

1. Two rounds of home and away series for teams that advanced in their regional tournaments, but lost before gaining qualification placement. FIFA would either rank teams to determine who plays who or arrange for an auto-playoff, such as the 7th place team from Euro 2008 will play the 8th place team from the Gold Cup. Round One would be comprised of lower ranking teams battling to advance against the higher ranked fringed team in Round Two. So, the higher ranked teams would have a Round One bye. I prefer the ranking situation since it leads to random match-ups. Imagine a Round One match up of Republic of Ireland vs. Bolivia and the winner taking on a team the likes of an England or a Nigeria. Has Bolivia ever played any of these teams?

2. Cross regional group qualification for the 48 fringe teams that advanced in their regional tournaments, but lost before gaining qualification placement. These teams would be arranged in 8 groups of 6 teams. Each team would play the other countries in home and away and the top two teams from each group would advance to the World Cup. This would resemble a UEFA qualification for World Cup. Imagine a qualifying group of Austria, Costa Rica, Iran, Paraguay, New Zealand and Senegal. How often does someone from Senegal travel to New Zealand?

Both scenarios provide more exposure for countries that do not get regularly a chance to compete with countries outside of its region. For scenario #1, it reduces the number of qualifiers and would not be as costly. For scenario #2, it would be more expensive and may be an equal number of qualifiers for some countries in today’s set-up. But, scenario #2 would bring qualification to a global scale and the revenues should surpass the costs.

The soonest FIFA could improve qualification would be in 2011 after the Euro 2012 qualifiers. These amendments could then be applied for the 2014 World Cup, but don’t hold your breath. Obviously for this to work, some changes would have to be made, such as increasing the number of countries in regional championships and the scheduling of regional tournaments. My suggestion is not to change the World Cup format of 32 teams, but to reroute the World Cup to a more enjoyable passage, which requires fewer repairs upon arrival.

2007 MLS Season in Review

Happy Thanksgiving, Soccer-Point readers!

As much as it pains me to admit, the main question to be asked about the MLS & Soccer in America remains: "If a goal is scored in the sports wilderness, does it make a sound?" Last Sunday's MLS Cup is a case in point. It was a great game between two perennial MLS powers in the New England Revolution & the Houston Dynamo. It was a rematch of last year's championship game. There was Placido Domingo singing the national anthem. There was a military jet flyover. It was even televised live on ABC.

Yet the most remarkable feature of the game was the half empty RFK Stadium where MLS Cup 2007 was held. Casual observers note that perhaps the league front office was planning for an LA Galaxy presence in that game with a certain David Beckham selling out the 57,000 seats. Don't worry, the decision for where next year's MLS Cup has already been made. And, yes, it's going to be held in a more modest facility: the Home Depot Center - a 27,000 seat capacity Soccer Specific Stadium that is home to two MLS teams: David Beckham's Los Angeles Galaxy & Preki's Chivas USA.

Beckham's arrival on these shores has caused dissent in both Europe & America. "Beckham's washed up. Now that he's playing in America, he's not good enough for Europe." And, "Who's the pretty boy on the bench? What's he trying to do anyway? We don't watch soccer!" Seems as if to believe that Beckham in America matters at all you have to either be LA Galaxy GM Alexi Lalas or believe in the Tooth Fairy.

But before the Soccer Muggles start again with the put-downs & the insults about The Beautiful Game, let's recap what ended up being a landmark year for the game in this country. 2007 has been the most important year in Major League Soccer history since its inception in 1996.

• The signing & arrival of David Beckham, arguably one of the most recognized faces on the planet, brought unprecedented attention and fanfare in a non-World Cup-year. The media elite have been slagging off the arrival of Beckham because of the injuries & lack of game time. But they're missing the ball. In one fell swoop, the league acquired a media presence it never before had. This goes beyond raising the level of play. It is raising the profile of the league in ways that marketers will no longer ignore.

The Beckham factor has helped boost the MLS's bottom line in virtually every area, even though ankle and knee injuries restricted the former England skipper to just five appearances after he joined Los Angeles in July. Crowd averages (16,770) were the highest since the inaugural season. Television ratings were up 25 per cent. Shirt sales were up 800 per cent, largely on the back of Galaxy's [Beckham's] No.23. Even the MLS website's traffic jumped 80 per cent.

• Soccer Specific Stadiums in Colorado, Toronto & Los Angeles debuted to much acclaim. And this Lamar Hunt-proposed MLS "SSS" initiative continues with the Real Salt Lake stadium to open next year and proposals underway in D.C., K.C., San Jose, New England, Philadelphia & St. Louis. Houston has become MLS "Title Town". So it would be hard to believe that they wouldn't get their act together for a downtown "SSS" stadium.
  
• Club Tournaments: SuperLiga 2007 launched an important international initiative for the MLS & U.S. Soccer. Thanks to David Beckham's inclusion in the festivities, the SuperLiga tournament was a terrific success. Beckham scored his first Galaxy goal during the semifinal match against DC United and Home Depot Center went wild on national television. More importantly, MLS clubs & US players will have regular exposure to Mexican league teams. Congratulations go to Pachuca for winning the $1,000,000 final.
• Big Games: Aside from the fun SuperLiga games, LA Galaxy at Giants Stadium vs. the New York Red Bulls will be regarded as a watershed moment for soccer in this country. 66,ooo fans witnessed this regular season game at Giants Stadium. I regret not having subscribed to the ten year old Fox Soccer Channel that night. I did subscribe the following week though. That gave me the chance to see Germany trounce England at Wembley Stadium - in a part of the world where an international friendly brings together their two countries' leaders. It also brought the Fox Football Fone-In into our home on Tuesday nights. On Bastille Day, Juan Toja & FC Dallas came back from 3 goals down in DC to tie Juan Moreno, Emilio & the rest of the 2007 Supporters' Shield winners D.C. United. In the last game of the Western Conference Semifinals, FC Dallas lost to the mighty Houston Dynamo in a come from behind win in front of 30,000 rabid Heat Mizers in Houston. The Hoops can soothe their defeat somewhat knowing that they lost to the 2007 MLS Cup winners.
  
• Ticket Sales in Toronto & Announcement of new franchises: San José Earthquakes & Seattle. Toronto FC is an MLS ticket-selling phenomenon. The Seattle franchise will be a huge hit in a town that is about to lose its first professional franchise in the Seattle Supersonics. Seattle's MLS team will play in one of the best stadiums in the country: Qwest Field. Given that they've already sold 5,000 season ticket packages and that they won't start until 2009, I think it's a safe bet that they'll be strongly embraced by the Seattle crowds. OK Supersonics? Please.
  

Suggestions for 2008:

Major League Soccer: Embrace the Social Web! Twellman's spectacular playoff bicycle kick was nowhere to be found on YouTube after the Eastern Conference Finals. (Two weeks later I was able to find one) The MLS should encourage this kind of interaction. The MLS website looks like crap on Firefox. Soccer fans are tech savvy. Get with it.

FC Dallas: Play the SuperLiga Mexican team games at the Cotton Bowl. You're guaranteed a stadium full of Pachuca or Chivas fans. That looks great on TV. As much as I enjoy the games at Pizza Hut Park in Frisco, I sure miss the Dallas Burn games at the Cotton Bowl. The Toronto FC games at BMO Field look great on TV for a couple of reasons: they're packed full of young, urban, rabid fans with lots of disposable income. And they're buying lots of Molson Goldens and Toronto FC scarves. Also, the beautiful Toronto skyline looks great on TV. It gives that event a much more momentous feel than a game played out closer to the Oklahoma border than to downtown Dallas.

As Dwayne De Rosario said on Tuesday night's Fox Football Fone-In in regards to a potential SSS in Houston: "If you want to compete with the major sports in America, Football, Basketball & Baseball, you have to compete wherever they're at. And that's downtown. That's the prime location." So, while I know we have a terrific soccer facility up in Frisco, I daydream about a day when pro soccer returns to downtown Dallas...perhaps off the banks of the Trinity, maybe someday in a resurgent Cotton Bowl. What? A guy's gotta dream.