Blog Kickoff

Every four years, soccer in the United States gets a massive bump in popularity as casual fans get wrapped up in the drama of the World Cup. Since 1994, we've seen the U.S. battle soccer powerhouses Brazil, Germany, Italy, England, Portugal and others; every tournament taking steps towards becoming accepted in the world's soccer conversations. Still, once the tournament ends, we see a marked drop-off in interest as Major League Soccer isn't able to sustain the momentum built up by the World Cup. For the U.S. to become a world power in soccer, this needs to change, and it starts by increasing the league's popularity. As the league becomes more popular, it will bring it more money. As it brings it more money, it will be able to draw better talent. As it draws better talent, it will increase the level of play. And as it increases the level of play, it will improve our players thereby further improving the talent pool of our National Team. 

I've been a soccer fan forever. I remember watching the San Jose Clash take on D.C. United in the first ever MLS game where Eric Wynalda delivered the memorable game winner and first ever MLS goal. The MLS has come a long way since then getting big names like David Beckham and Thierry Henry (albeit past their primes), but the league is still several cuts below the top leagues in Europe, and you could argue that it's still not even on par with the Mexican Premier League to the south. Now I figure that if a fan like me, someone who doesn't just check into soccer once every four years, can't get on board with MLS, then how can I expect anyone else to? So the "mission" of this blog, is to increase MLS awareness and hopefully draw in a few more fans. Every little bit helps, right? 

So every Sunday (hopefully), I'll be chiming in with updates from around the league as well as from the U.S. Open Cup and the CONCACAF Champions League, as we start the cycle for World Cup 2018. Here we go!