Our Soccer Is Different

This should be the new MLS symbol

Soccer. That simple word has another meaning besides just being the name of a sport. Soccer is not the same as European Football, no one should claim that. Yes, it does have some similarities but it takes more than that to be considered equivalent.

One of the major differences between the MLS and the EPL, La Liga, the Bundesliga, Serie A, and Ligue 1 is skill level of the players. This is not just a black and white issue. There are many players in the MLS that could play at the level of top European clubs as can be evidenced by Jozy Altidore, Carlos Bocanegra, Tim Howard, Clint Dempsey, and Marcus Hahnemann to name a few. I would agree with you 100% of the time if you say that the MLS doesn't have a Lionel Messi or even a Chicharito. Before you go off saying the MLS is just a 2nd tier league in a non soccer country, let's look at the Manchester United vs Seattle Sounders friendly.




Even though I'm from Seattle and was at the match, the 7-0 isn't a sore subject to me. I was actually quite proud at how the Sounders played. Let's look at who started:

	Seattle Sounders	Manchester United
Goal Keeper	Kasey Keller	Anders Lindegaard
Defense	James Riley	Patrice Evra
Defense	Jeff Parke	Rio Ferdinand
Defense	Patrick Ianni	Nemanja Vidic
Defense	Leo Gonzalez	Rafael Pereira da Silva
Midfielder	Osvaldo Alonso	Nani
Midfielder	Erik Friberg	Anderson
Midfielder	Alvaro Fernandez	Ryan Giggs
Midfielder	Mauro Rosales	Ashley Young
Forward	Fredy Montero	Michael Owen
Forward	Roger Levesque	Federico Macheda

We can look at these starters and say that Manchester United is better on paper, which makes sense due to them just winning their 19th league title. If I was playing a game of EA Sports FIFA 11 right now and I was able to choose one team or the other, hands down Manchester United. What would you say the score at halftime would be between these teams? 0:4? 0:5? Try 0:1. This was a very competitive game between the two starting squads. 

The seperation on the score board started appearing in the second half when the Sounders started to empty their bench (Ngassa, Tetteh, Fuctio, and Jaqua to name a few) and Manchester United did the same (Park, Rooney, Smalling, and De Gea to also name a few). That is the first major difference between the MLS and European football, depth. When you can have a player with the caliber of Wayne Rooney come of the bench, you have a good team. If the MLS wants to increase their standing in the view of the world, they must increase roster sizes so that the coaches can take a chance on some younger players that might be unproven or sign some more international level talent.

An increase in roster size leads me into my next difference. In order to hold more players, something would have to happen to salary caps.  Not including designated players, the MLS roster salary cap is $2,675,000 and the most that any one player can earn is $335,000. Cristiano Ronaldo earns $152,000 in one day. Let that sink in for a second. Ronaldo earns just under half of what a MLS player earns in a year in just one day. Now, the reason for having a salary cap is quite clear. Having even salaries for the teams builds parity. If the league is competitive then there is a chance to increase local fans because you wouldn't have, say, the Portland Timbers getting blown out every game because they are a substandard team.

Some changes are being made in terms of designated players and how much cap space they take up. This is a good step in the right direction. By allowing teams to bring in superstars, such as David Beckham and Thierry Henry, they are increasing the draw of soccer and bringing in revenue via fans at the stadium and merchandise sales. I'm not saying that the MLS should just get rid of the salary cap right now because this would lead to the bigger market teams (New York, Los Angeles, and Seattle) spending all of their money to buy wins and beating up on the smaller teams (Columbus, Kansas City, and Chivas).

The third way that we are different is the table system. All of the top level European leagues have a single table. The MLS is split into two conferences to help determine some of the teams for the MLS Cup playoffs. The benefit of the single table system is that it determines who a true champion is while also showing who the bottom teams are in terms of relegation. The benefits of the conference system is....well....it shows who is the best in the West?

Let's take a look at the MLS in terms of points per match over the last 5 years: 

Team	2011	2010	2009	2008	2007	Matches	PPM
Seattle Sounders FC	48	48	47			87	1.644
Columbus Crew	40	50	49	57	37	146	1.596
Los Angeles Galaxy	51	59	48	33	34	146	1.541
Houston Dynamo	35	33	48	51	52	147	1.490
FC Dallas	46	50	39	36	44	146	1.463
Real Salt Lake	42	56	40	40	27	145	1.414
Chivas USA	31	28	45	43	53	147	1.361
Colorado Rapids	41	46	40	38	35	148	1.351
Chicago Fire	27	36	45	46	40	146	1.329
New England Revolution	23	32	42	43	50	146	1.301
Sporting Kansas City	36	39	33	42	40	146	1.301
D.C. United	31	22	40	37	55	144	1.285
New York Red Bulls	32	51	21	39	43	146	1.274
Portland Timbers	32					26	1.231
Philadelphia Union	34	31				55	1.182
San Jose Earthquakes	26	46	30	33		116	1.164
Toronto FC	24	35	39	35	25	148	1.068
Vancouver Whitecaps	21					26	0.808

Blue =Eastern Conference Gold =Western Conference

If we look at the conference alignment of the top and bottom teams in terms of points per match we can see that the top half of the table are basically all Western Conference teams while the bottom is mostly Eastern Conference teams. The reason of why this is so different than the European tables is because here, the lesser teams have a shot at the championship even though their record says that they shouldn't have the Cup glimmering in their eye while in Europe, only the top teams are considered. I don't see the point behind the conference system, all of the MLS teams play all of the rest no matter what conference they are in unlike the NFL. If the conference system were to be eliminated, I think that we would have a more competitive league. 

A fourth difference that I will leave you with is the concept of relegation and promotion. I don't think that the MLS is at this stage yet due to the difference in skill level between the MLS, NASL, USL-Pro, and USL-PDL. However, I can see the US moving towards this in the future because of the MLS wanting to gain respect from the rest of the world, having lower leagues that could serve as the foundation of a relegation/promotion pyramid, and because of the wins that the lower levels have had during the US Open CUp.