There's a lot of debate every year around this time about whether MLS should drop its playoffs in favor of the "single table" to crown their champion. In essence, many soccer aficionados claim that for MLS to be a legit soccer nation, MLS should award the title to the team with the most points at the end of a regular season where teams play each other the same number of times as do their favorite European leagues.
However, Brian Straus over at Fanhouse has articulated the most cogent argument that I've ever heard for the MLS playoff system.
Head of US Soccer Addresses Inferiority Complex
As illustrated in the bit above, there is no doubt that the US soccer community has an inferiority complex. The US may have shown up late for the soccer party, but as US Soccer President Sunil Gulati points out in a Q and A with the New York Times Goal blog, we may just be the biggest soccer nation on earth.
"...the U.S. makes the largest TV rights payment for the World Cup; Americans are the No. 1 ticket buyers to the World Cup; the U.S. has more registered players; our women’s team is unparalleled; and no one is taking the men’s team for granted anymore and we’re in the mix to be seeded [in the 2010 World Cup]. No one would have thought those things 20 years ago."The US are "soccer minnows" no more! Gulati also has some very interesting comments on coach Bob Bradley and the USA bid for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.
Diego-beer!
As you know, I'm a pretty big fan of beer. I'm a proud member of the Free the Hops organization that strives to expand the presence of good brews in Alabama. It is known that I have a proclivity to post anything that strays from the world of beer into the realm of soccer.
Now, I've never been a big fan of the wonder midget, Diego Maradona, but I had to crack a smile when I saw that a Mexican brewery has produced a special brew in honor of the biggest little cheater in World Cup history (just google "hand of god" if you think I'm being harsh).
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