by Ethan Johnson
April 15, 2007
Unlike my coverage of Copa Mundial 2006, I will post occasional updates regarding Major League Soccer (MLS). Ironically, I was re-reading those heady World Cup articles and recaps from yesteryear and they really re-lit the fire for me to check out soccer (football, futbol) once more. I watched Mexican League soccer on Univision, and was surprised that San Luis (whoever they are) spent the first half of the game acting like they couldn't pat their ass with both hands, only to score the one and only goal early in the second half. That's why they play the games.
I mention this because despite Houston being the defending MLS champions, they really had a tough row to hoe against Chivas USA.
(Note: I won't pretend that I am "Mister Soccer" and know everyone on every team. Heck, I was thrilled to find out this week that Shaka Hislop of Trinidad/Tobago World Cup fame plays for FC Dallas. On principle, I bought a FC Dallas t-shirt - cheaply.)
Chivas went right to work in the first, oh, 20 seconds and went right for a scoring try. Houston's goalie is 39 years young, complete with a line of grey hair that reminds me of Reed Richards from the Fantastic Four™. And like Mr. Fantastic, he made some amazing saves. But Chivas managed to play extremely tight and kept "swarming" the ball for a lack of a better word. For the first half, I believe they ended up with 7 shots on goal to Houston's 2. For an idea of what Chivas was like, read my account of Brazil vs Australia from last year. Buzz!
(Check out official video highlights from this and other MLS games here.)
In the second half, however, I wonder if the teams did more than switch sides of the field. I mean, it's like the Chivas and Houston players swapped uniforms, or tactics. Houston was much tighter with the ball, Chivas was looser, charitably, and suddenly Houston was making the Chivas goalie sweat some shots. After some near misses, Brian Ching managed to "head" the ball into the goal in such a way as to make it took too easy. The Chivas goalie got really flustered, and Houston had a few more close calls but managed to walk away with one goal, which may as well be a million against scoreless Chivas.
Now: One reason why I singled this game out for recapping was to give heaping amounts of credit to HDNet for their coverage of the game. ESPN can go suck eggs by comparison. My beef with ESPN since the 2006 World Cup has been a lack of excitement on the part of the announcers, and by extension, I really don't feel like I'm learning anything when I watch soccer games on that network. Which is a shame, because I like ESPN otherwise. At least with the spanish-language stations I can give them a pass because of the language barrier. But nobody will accuse their announcers of lacking excitement for the game.
The HDNet announcing team really delivered. Not only did they recount what was happening on the field, but their "color" guy (a former player) took the time to explain why/how Chivas was dominating the first half, and what went so terribly wrong for them in the second. I found myself on the edge of my seat despite the scoreless tie for over 60 minutes because the combination of great announcing and compelling on-field action had me thrilling to every near miss or spectacular save. And let us not fool ourselves... there's soccer in HD, and then there's "not exactly." Sadly, Univision et al hasn't been bumped up to HD on DirecTV yet. Maybe our over-the-air antenna will grab the HD signal. Hmmm. Better find out before today's FC Dallas game on Telefutura.
Despite not having any skin in the game for this match, I'm stoked about MLS soccer, and the league will be thrilled to learn that I am looking into tickets for an upcoming FC Dallas game. Probably against Houston, or possibly the LA Galaxy. After all of the hype about David Beckham coming to LA, he's not officially playing for the team yet. Not sure if he would be when they come to town.
By the way, I saw the FC Dallas/LA Galaxy game the other night on ESPN and was pleased to see what appeared to be a sell-out crowd at the Home Depot Stadium. Houston was looking thin by comparison. I'm not sure how much of a draw FC Dallas is at Pizza Hut Park but I suppose I'll find out, huh? The announcers for the Chivas/Houston game noted that Chivas really blew it with a 6-22 (I believe) record, because Chivas "underestimated" MLS. Apparently they had no idea that MLS was a more serious league then they were willing to believe. Chivas is based in Guadalajara, so I suppose it was an adjustment to go from Mexican League soccer to MLS. To their credit, they made adjustments and despite the loss I was impressed with their aggressive style of play.
I'm hoping that the people who casually got interested in the 2006 World Cup will take a gander at MLS, even on TV. The ratings help, if not actual game attendance. Considering MLS has been around for over a decade, they're still ramping up, and it's not going to happen without fan support. I don't expect a massive influx of soccer fandom where none existed before, but I'd recommend tuning in to HDNet this coming Saturday for the Kansas City Wizards/Chicago Fire game. I've got my DVR set already. And don't worry about coming in to the action too late... the season has just started! Check your local listings. Seriously. <EM>
