Now that another season has come and gone what can we say might possibly be the legacy for the 2000 A-League season? What about the USL as a whole? More importantly what does it mean for the future? A lot of things happened this season to praise while many other things caused more than a few groans across the A-League landscape. The introduction of a new playoff system, the crowning (or should we say re-coronation) of the Rhinos as league champions, the admirable play of some of the league's "call-ups" as many MLS clubs lost players throughout the season to a variety of causes, and the emergence of some clubs as they showed they will one day reach the level that both Minnesota and Rochester have set for the rest of the league, all rank as highlights to the season that was. Some of the lows include the struggles of many clubs, not only on the field but at the gates as well, the fact that Rochester and Minnesota both distanced themselves from the rest of the league even though significant strides were made by other clubs, the confusion that seems to perennially shroud some of the decisions and mechanisms of the league itself, and the worst news by far has to be the fold of Raleigh that has just been confirmed this week. All of these things and more combined to make the season that just wrapped up one to remember.
The playoffs this season provided a source for some of the league's purists to rejoice as the new two-legged system came into play for the first time and while it still needs work it is difficult to say that it was not a step in the right direction by the league. Where the new system suffered had to be in some of the same areas in which the regular season suffered and that had to do with sorting out just who had won and how once the dust had settled. The same kind of thought that led to the creation of the bonus point led to some of the silliness in trying to figure out the rules of the A-League's two-legged system. Some of this frustration with the scoring and manner of tie-breakers is discussed in my colleague J-P Altieri's piece, Next Season: A Look at Parody…er…Parity, from a week ago. Many fans were able to grasp the new system after presentations that involved slides, overhead projectors, and multimedia tools to enhance Joe Fan's understanding of this year's playoffs. Overall the verdict on the new system has to be in favor of the league, though, because after all everyone needs baby steps before they can make a run into the box and put one in the net.
The viability of the league and its players was truly shown during the tail-end of this season as many A-League players found themselves on MLS fields for some very important matches. Several players in MLS went down with untimely injuries or were called away for international duty as World Cup Qualifiers kicked into high gear. Players who featured prominently were Paul Grafer of the Rough Riders and Bonseu of the Pittsburgh Riverhounds in the Metrostars and Fire line-ups respectively. Bonseu has proven himself to be a very solid defender during the Fire's run up to MLS Cup and Grafer acquitted himself well standing in for Mike Ammann in the Metros playoff games. The efforts of these two men as well as the many other players who stepped in to boost MLS rosters this season announced to MLS that the A-League is a great developer of talent not to mention a place to see some of the best soccer in the country.
The competition of the season itself provided a great plot that unfolded before our eyes as Charleston, Milwaukee, Long Island, and San Diego all played great soccer throughout the season and showed improvement off the field as well as they strive to get to the level that Rochester and Minnesota now enjoy. Charleston played a steady season that laid siege to the Eastern Conference title while Long Island proved themselves more than a match for the Rhinos in their division race. Milwaukee ran nip and tuck with the Thunder all season long matching firepower with their division rivals throughout. Meanwhile, in the Pacific, San Diego proved to be strong both on the field and off in leading the division for much of the year. Seattle was another club who showed improvement across the board and teams will have to respect that as we head into next year.
As they say, though, to be the man you've got to beat the man and when it came playoff time, unfortunately for those up and coming clubs, they couldn't get it done when it counted. As they rolled out the bunting and spit-polished the trophy we found ourselves fixed on Frontier Field again as the Rhinos beat out the Thunder for the championship. Now, overall this is good for the league in the long run because it does provide the rest of the clubs with an example of exactly what kind of work lies ahead of them much like what D.C. did in the first four years of MLS. In the here and now, though, it gives too many fans across the league an overwhelming sense of déjà vu and frustration with the current situation that could reach crisis levels if this happens again and again. At the moment, though, I see the clubs all over improving and the play getting better so in the next few seasons I expect we'll something much like this year in MLS when things became a kind of toss-up situation. What will not happen will be something like the Scottish Premier League where Rangers and Celtic annually play for that nation's championship.
One of the biggest losses of the league season, though, has to be the Raleigh Express. Some of us, like me, never saw this one coming and I must say it is a truly sad situation that there wasn't enough support, money, or whatever else needed to keep that club around. With the loss of Raleigh and the reported demotion of some clubs there has to be a slight sense of uneasiness around the league offices as what seems to be turning into a post-season tradition keeps rolling right along. Fortunately, though, these incidences seem to be occurring far less than in the past while the longer established leagues stick around the more exposure the sport gets. In the end that is the true recipe for stability for the league and the sport at all levels throughout the U.S. One thing's for sure, with all of the bumps along the road and the peaks that have been scaled the league has come a long way from top to bottom. The Y continues to expand and improve, D-3 and PDL continue to develop players, and the A continues to be one of the best representations of soccer in the U.S. With that in mind we know where we've been and we know where we are at the moment. Now we have to look to the future and realize where we're going. We're on our way but there are still 'miles to go before we sleep'.
Welcome to Heck!
Ahead of Wednesday night's showdown with Costa Rica many people would've doubted the effect a packed house at Crew Stadium would have had against the Costa Ricans considering that many still believe this to be a country who's soccer fans don't really know what to do at a match. Anyone who watched the game from home on television knows that that assumption was only too wrong. The U.S. fans in Columbus obviously knew what to do when the teams came onto the field and played an extremely exciting match with chances at both ends. The American fans cheered the team on ferociously throughout the match and at some points even whistled their own players after making bad plays (I'm sure the whistlers had some help from Costa Rica's fans as well). These fans showed that, much like the National Team, we are learning the World's game and we do have a passion for it. With a nation of proud fans who saw their U-23 squad face some of the best competition in the world and come out 4th in the Olympics people could see the progress that is being made. The play of the U.S. team against the Ticos showed that our confidence is growing. Unfortunately, though, with our growth in the stands we must try hard not to adopt some of the bad habits in other countries. A part of me wants to say that the bottle throwing in the closing minutes at Crew Stadium was tit for tat considering the barrage that Kasey Keller and the rest of the Americans underwent in San Jose but no matter what we must rise above that kind of foolishness. The passion on the part of those fans for 70 minutes was beautiful the near-violence of the final 20 minutes was borderline disgusting. We as fans need to grow and develop into the same thing our National Team is becoming: a group of classy, passionate individuals together as one with a common goal.
Reality Strikes the Pitch
Once again tragedy struck on a soccer field when Romanian midfielder Catalin Haldan died from what early reports suggested to be some sort of cerebral hemorrhage. Far too often we as soccer fans portray our soccer playing brethren as being instilled with some form of invincibility, praying for players to forever stay in their prime, and never wanting to see them shocked into reality in such a way as this. Unfortunately life doesn't tend to cooperate very often but I'm sure in a country far from ours a family mourns the loss of a son and we, as fans of this game should pay our respects to a young man who gave it everything he had. The 24 year old had just embarked on a career highlighted by his selection to his national team, accompanying them to Euro 2000, and experiencing the splendor of the game in one of its best atmospheres. In eight games with the Romanian squad the Dinamo Bucharest scored one goal, the first of what some thought would be many. Now let us spare a thought for this young man who we can only hope will be bagging his goals in the sky.
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