Common Goals, Different Language

Ah, spring, when a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of baseball preview magazines, and, this year, with surprising intensity, Major League Soccer. It's been a few years since I've really cared about Major League Soccer. I've generally outsourced my soccer fanaticism, primarily to the English Premier League.

Major League Soccer has always been viewed with a certain condescension from parties around the world and within the United States, and not without cause. There have been times when the level of play looked sloppy, and it isn't exactly the Primera Liga yet.

Consider two plays and two strikers I saw on TV recently:

1) Lionel Messi, Argentinian wunderkind for Barcelona in Spain's Primera Liga, widely considered the world's best player on the world's best team in what might be the world's best league (though I still rate the Premiership as #1). I saw Barcelona play Valencia in a La Liga game, and I have to agree with their reputation as the best; leaving aside the fact they won six out of six trophies they contested last year, their style of play has been the most fluid, exciting, and creative I have seen in quite some time.

The play in question: an crossed ball from the left barely clears the head of a leaping defender and falls to Messi at the edge of the penalty area. The defender must have obscured the ball for him for a moment; he only had a split-second to adjust. His first touch was the picture of precision, playing it with the perfect weight to let him run on to it as he approached the goal; one final move to beat a desperate last defender, and he finished off the run with a well-taken goal.

Less than a minute later, ESPN finished showing the replay of the goal just in time to see Messi score AGAIN.

2) Juan Pablo Angel, Columbian striker for the New York Red Bulls, their talisman, one of the leading goalscorers in Major League Soccer, receives a similar cross in a similar area. He brings it down, hesitates to bring the ball from his left to his right foot, and unleashes a shot, but his moment of hesitation allowed Chicago Fire defender Wilman Conde to hurl his body in front of the shot.

And that right there has long been the frustrating thing with Major League Soccer and US national team soccer in general. It isn't that there is a lack of effort or athleticism, but it has so often felt like the timing is off, like our players wait just a few moments too long or telegraph their passes or don't take shots at the first chance. It feels like the world could pat us on the head and tell us "good game" and then send us on our way. It used to be that when a star player from abroad signed with Major League Soccer, it was considered that he was sailing into the sunset on a golden sailboat (as opposed to a golden parachute, to maintain the sailing metaphor).

But it isn't that there is never a moment of invention, or a moment of perfect execution. The one goal in New York's victory over Chicago was a perfect volley from Estonian midfielder Joel Lindpere, plucking the ball out of the air with his right foot, hitting it squarely and driving it past the keeper.

Things are changing. Last year, Seattle joined Major League Soccer and played attractive soccer, featuring Freddi Ljungberg, and cultivating a big fan following. More and more teams are opening soccer-specific stadiums. And on the national front, the US, with players who got their start in MLS, upset Spain in the Confederations Cup. Granted, they were probably overlooking us, but before now, they could have overlooked us and still won.

In other words, it's getting more and more okay to follow Major League Soccer. I actually feel like I'm following something with a purpose. Maybe that's the blind nationalism talking, because the first game for the US at the World Cup in June is against England. But that's okay. For whatever the reason, I'm ready to actually care about Major League Soccer.

I'm sure they'll be thrilled.