WEEKLY WHINE

Steadily progressing

What progress has been made in the United States recently? There were six booster failures in the past year, more partisan clashes in politics, disastrous bombings of other nations, and immense amounts of hype over some film that comes out later this week. Some people retreat to something along the lines of sports when all this becomes too overwhelming, but overall in sports, there seems to be more of the same. Today's heroes are vilified tomorrow, and yesterday's villians become tomorrow's heroes, or, all too often, tomorrow's villians as well. Is there something, anything, that has the fun of humanity without all that humanity brings?

Surprisingly, Americans may have found a solution in soccer. I call this surprising because in any other nation, soccer is prone to exactly the same type of behaviour visible in, for example, American football or basketball. Not usually the players, but rather the fans. Spectators of international football often tend toward extremes. Sometimes this is beneficial: all of France came together to celebrate that nation's World Cup victory last summer. Other times, this is a problem: fans incited a riot last summer in connection with the first round match between England and Tunisia, and history has documented many such incidents over the past years, most in connection with club football.

This is an entirely different animal altogether. I'm not sure why, but sports fans in general seem to have more attachment to a professional club rather than to their national teams. This includes soccer, in which international play carries an importance greater than in any other pro team sport [at least that I can name at this moment]. In some soccer powerhouses, though, it's difficult to determine whether fans have more allegiance to, for example, Coventry City or the English national side; Bayern München or Germany; Fluminense or Brazil. Maybe I just haven't done enough travelling, but this is the impression that I see. I'm liable to be wrong.

The United States is not like this. First, it lacks the universal support of soccer that is found in other nations. In addition, it has never really had a major professional league here. I define "major" as having many teams and many fans, which qualifies Major League Soccer in the second but not the first criterion, at least not yet. I think that MLS is a large step in the right direction; it has the right leadership, the right fan base, the right American players, the right international players, and the right financial backing. By this point, it's a matter of time and of not screwing it up.

Will promotion of soccer in the United States bring about a rise in soccer-related violence as seen in other countries? Undoubtedly. That can't be stopped, but it should be evident that MLS is also a means to support the US national side rather than particular teams. Unity rather than division is the goal.

Soccer in the United States recently advanced further. Yesterday, the new Columbus Crew Stadium opened in Columbus, OH. The new home of the Columbus Crew is the first American stadium built particularly for major professional soccer. It seats 22,500 noisy soccer fans [24,741 noisy soccer fans were actually in attendance for last night's game, thank you SRO] and can be modified to host non-soccer events, although I'd have to say that I prefer the soccer events. Its successful opening night was a good sign for other teams considering building their own stadiums, especially since the venue was constructed in a mere ten months using nothing but private money. Some MLS teams, like the New York/NJ MetroStars, are working on plans for their own homes [the Metros currently have a time-share in Giants Stadium]. Indeed, the city of Atlanta, GA has a plan for a stadium in hopes of acquiring one of the next MLS expansion teams.

Whilst they were waiting for their stadium to be completed, the Crew still had to play soccer. Their season began in March with seven consecutive road dates. Despite being only 4-12 away from home in each of the past two years, Columbus raced out to a 5-2 start and, with 11 points, had the Eastern Conference lead going into the weekend. On Saturday, their 2-0 victory over the New England Revolution gave them a 6-2 record, 14 points, and a three-point lead in the East. It was an excellent way to open a stadium and an excellent start to a homestand in which seven of their next eight games are in Columbus.

MLS seems to be continuing its successful streak in Columbus. The next stops are undetermined, but a major landmark is coming up in three years: the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea. In a related story, the Women's World Cup begins next month in the United States, with sixteen teams vying for the trophy. Could this see the beginning of WMLS? Don't go away.