Seattle 5, Colorado 0
By: Clint | August 8th, 2007Can even the most blindly “loyal” Rapids fan rah rah now?
It’s been quite embarrassing to join the Rapids bandwagon this season, especially since the wagon appears to be a Radio Flyer with two wheels that have broken off, and a handle that has rusted into position and spins the thing in circles. Nevertheless, I’m still going to the games and still watching on TV whenever we’re able to. It has been a pathetic season, and tough to watch a billionaire’s team execute this poorly (even within the financial constraints of MLS, would you, as a billionaire owner, demand more from your management and players - and when they consistently fail to deliver, wouldn’t you have replaced them by now?), but this is a low-water point.
With the shame they should display, the official Rapids team site buried their latest news as the fourth news item on their home page - “Sounders Beat 10-Man Rapids 5-0″.
While Bouna and Cooke didn’t play, plenty of other starters where in there (including Ugo, who in all fairness did score a goal last night. Unfortunately, he scored it for the wrong team). Erpen got two yellows and was tossed early in the second half, but the game was beyond reach by that point anyway. Let me repeat that - in the 49th minute, Colorado lost a player for the game, but it didn’t matter since they were already down, 3-0. To a USL team.
I’ve heard rumors that Seattle is in line for an MLS team, so I’m guessing it makes most sense to make the Sounders that team and watch them win the MLS Cup in their first season. It may also make sense to switch MLS and USL to a first division/second division league so teams like RSL and Colorado can be relegated (”oh, but then the owners will lose money!” BOO F’IN HOO. at least Rapids fans will be able to see their team win more than once every twelve games).
Category: Match Results
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Comments
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I feel your pain as an MLS fan. Why do we see this play in MLS so rarely? I can think of maybe a handful of MLS games that have been played this well by either team, and none of them involved my Galaxy.
But fortunately for me I’m also a Sounders fan, and I am SO DAMN PROUD of these boys!!) I think you’re right — if the Sounders were to play like that consistently, they should be MLS. I have never seen more beautiful football that didn’t come from overseas. Their play was almost superhuman — both telepathic and telekinetic. Everybody knew before the ball came to him exactly where he would send it next — and the other player was exactly where he should havae been to receive the pass. Balls all bent in their direction — even balls kicked by the Rapids. It was surreal. And Josh Gardner — released early in the season by LA — delivered corners that put Landon to shame.
By the end of the game I was almost feeling sorry for Colorado — or would have been if they hadn’t taken out their aggression on my boys throughout the game. Even the ref took pity on them and put them out of their misery by adding NO injury time. (When was the last time you saw that happen? Especially when there WERE injuries and several substitutions.)
All in all, though, I’m confused. Why can my underbudgeted USL1 team do this when my overbudgeted MLS team can’t? It can’t all be waiting for Beckham, can it?
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United States
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Soccer is the sport most like hockey where the team can overcome the individual. American sport leagues (as well as Real Madrid) have owners that value profit over on-field success. Which is natural if they think of the club as the product within a business rather than a competitive team which primarily measures success within its competitions. This is the biggest flaw I see in NASL and MLS when they spend 10s of millions on a handful of players with the expectation that star power will save the league. Star power may make an individual business/team profitable for a short period of time, but it hasn’t, and probably never will, helped the league improve its quality, which is what will be most influential in bringing in and RETAINING new fans.
When a sports columnist with ESPN or USA Today or even (here it comes) the Chicago Sun-Times checks out their one soccer game of the year, if they see quality like Seattle exhibited, or exciting, attacking teamwork and flair like the U.S. U-20s during the World Cup last month, wouldn’t they be much more likely to say a few positive things about it to their audience? And perhaps even WATCH A SECOND GAME THAT THEY HAD NO PLANS TO WATCH in the hopes it will be as fun as the previous match? That’s how the league can grow - improve the quality, let the fans do the influencing and marketing. By spending 10 million on 3-6 great players per team (radical, but could be accomplished over a couple years), the quality of play would skyrocket, games would be more exciting, more people would talk and attend games and tell their friends to try it out, etc. and so on.
Instead, we’re stuck with one “DP” per team, and a team like the Galaxy feeding the fire of critics by bringing in a circus for about 100 times the on-field “value”. But, as I’ve read several times in the last month - the Beckham signing is already a success - the owner made money already!!! Hooray for the Galaxy!
Posted from
United States -
You have my fullest sympathies for your frustrations; I even wrote a little ditty about it.
Posted from
United States
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