MLS: Just one reason for Leagues Cup existence?
The LA Galaxy fell to Cruz Azul on Tuesday night in the semi-finals of the Leagues Cup. Did MLS create this competition for money alone, because it sure looks like it?
This week, the semi-finals of the newly-constructed Leagues Cup took place. After the quarter-finals two weeks ago saw Mexican sides win three of the four contests, only the Los Angeles Galaxy made it through to the final four to represent Major League Soccer. And in true CONCACAF fashion, they lost.
That leaves an All-Mexican final, Tigres UANL set to face Cruz Azul in this ‘friendly’ competition. At the start of the competition, you would have been hard-pressed to find anyone who expected to see MLS representation in the final.
The Galaxy, for what it is worth, played another weakened team, Guillermo Barros Schelotto prioritising the weekend’s Heineken Rivalry Week match against Los Angeles FC, resting almost all of his key players, including Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Jonathan dos Santos and newly signed Cristian Pavon.
And this latest apparent disrespect showed to the Leagues Cup begs a rather pointed, pertinent, and concerning question: Why was MLS so keen to create this Liga MX-MLS competition in the first place? Given the Campeones Cup between the two champions, the CONCACAF Champions League, which is largely contested between North American and Mexican clubs, and their domestic competitions, was there really any need for it?
At this stage, it certainly seems as though the MLS teams do not see it as worthy of winning. All played a reserve team in the quarter-finals. Barros Schelotto then doubled down on Wednesday in the semi-final. If the clubs obviously do not care, why should the supporters? And given that very few Galaxy fans were in attendance, they don’t.
It is fair to ask, then, if MLS is simply after the money. The faux America-Mexico rivalry in soccer is a money-maker. MLS fans are desperate to see a team finally get over the hump and beat a Liga MX team in a major competition. It is why Atlanta United’s Campeones Cup is somewhat significant, if only in the wrong competition.
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But that does not mean that creating more opportunities to do so is a smart venture. It will improve the chances of an MLS team being successful of course, just by virtue of probability, but does it actually progress the game? Or does it, instead, oversaturate a market that already struggles to attract fans due to the disparity in quality and character between it and the European game?
And amid all of these financial, logistical concerns is a moral one. Mexican supporters were again heard chanting ‘puto’ on Wednesday, a horrific homophobic slur that has swept through the Mexican game. Do you really want to be making money from fanbases that are chanting such vile remarks? It may be lucrative, and in the end, it is clear that that is all MLS really cares about, but is it right?
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The Leagues Cup, then, has some serious questions to answer. It is still in its infancy. This is its first year of existence. But the early signs suggest the obvious: MLS want the Leagues Cup for the money, and not much else.