Write On Sports LLC - "CONCACAF Champions' Cup: R-E-S-P-E-C-T" by Jeff Bull

CONCACAF Champions' Cup: R-E-S-P-E-C-T

2007-03-19 15:28:58 | By: Jeff Bull

The quest for respect constitutes one of the back-of-the-brain obsessions for U.S. soccer fans, especially fans of Major League Soccer (MLS). Respect from two groups in particular preoccupies them: the broader U.S. sporting market, though there, mainly in terms of media exposure, and the world soccer community. Some fans view the ongoing CONCACAF Champions’ Cup as a vehicle for winning respect from the rest of the soccer world, Mexican clubs in particular.

The recently completed first leg of that competition’s semifinals saw MLS clubs produce results - one of them more impressive to be sure, but both quality results just the same. The question is will the meaning of either game carry beyond the first leg? But the deeper question is whether the right people care?

Of the two MLS clubs, the Houston Dynamo’s 2-0 home win over Mexico’s CF Pachuca stands as the more impressive accomplishment. Fluky wins excepted, any win counts, of course. But Houston’s win was anything but fluky; Pachuca coach Enrique Meza acknowledged as much in comments following the game. But the significant thing was the game’s “narrative arc,” which said a lot about the psychological relationship between U.S. and Mexican clubs. The game’s first 20 minutes, even the first half as a whole, saw Houston on their heels and Pachuca probing their defense with short, quick passing. Dynamo ‘keeper Zach Wells stopped the one clear shot on goal and Pachuca’s attackers squandered the rest. But Pachuca clearly had the upper hand through the first 45 minutes.

Then, something curious happened with the start of the second half. Slowly, but without a doubt, Houston imposed their game on Pachuca. This manifest in several little ways - tackles coming in faster and more surer, Houston players appearing in passing lanes that had been open in the first half - but the outcome was clear: more Houston possession and the ball inching closer and closer to the Pachuca goal. Houston’s first goal was a bit lucky - an unmarked Brian Ching nodding in a goal from six yards out can’t be described as anything else - but it followed from the real, hard work that knocked Pachuca off their game. When the second, insurance goal came, it showed a Pachuca defense thoroughly undone by an unexpected pass; my guess is that second-year pro Chris Wondolowski, who typically comes on as a sub, could hardly believe he scored such an easy goal against a top Mexican club.

DC United, for their part, didn’t enjoy such an unambiguous outcome. But even if their 1-1 draw against CD Chivas de Guadalajara didn’t set them up as well for the return leg in Mexico as the win did for Houston, the hard-fought tie suggested that DC wasn’t intimidated by facing one of Mexico’s biggest, most successful clubs. Moreover, if the Fox Soccer Channel’s commentators are to be believed, Chivas devote themselves to an attacking style; DC, a team often viewed as lacking in defense, capably weathered the assault, limiting the Mexican club to a handful of opportunities on the night. In fact, it was on the other side of the field where DC struggled. DC broke into Chivas’ defensive third only sporadically and, even then, to little effect. Still, it’s to the U.S. team’s credit that they clawed and bit till they scored a late equalizer, again through Champions’ Cup revelation Luciano Emilio.

So, count an impressive result for one club and a decent one for another, but the (damned) devil is in the details - and that brings the conversation to a controversial article that came out just before the semifinals commenced. Written by a freelance reporter named Luis Bueno and posted on Sports Illustrated’s web-site, the article noted a glaring disparity in the aggregate score between Mexican and U.S.clubs in Champions’ Cup play on Mexican soil: 26-3 in the Mexicans’ favor since 2002. That detail looms large because both second legs will be played in Mexico - not insignificantly, at suffocating altitudes; as reported in Soccer America, Guadalajara’s home-ground sits at 5,000 feet above sea level, while Pachuca’s reaches a nose-bleeding 7,960 feet. Whether it’s altitude that causes it, the one thing that can’t be denied is that Mexican clubs seem to have their way with MLS clubs once they venture south of the Rio Grande. That Mexico’s success against MLS clubs in Champions’ Cup play stands as fact makes the hub-bub it produced a little mysterious, but it existed all the same.

Perhaps it’s those oxygen-starving heights combined with the fact that Champions’ Cup has coincided with MLS’s preseason prompts fans of and players in the league to muse (and grumble) about what would happen if teams from the two countries played one another on more equal terms. And it’s certainly tempting to think of the conditions under which last Thursday’s games occurred - e.g. roughly sea level at both venues, something other than blazing temperatures - as constituting equal terms. But this is something of a cop-out. Pachuca is located where it is; they can hardly be expected to build a stadium at some neutral venue in a quest for the fairest conditions; the same point applies to Guadalajara. And scheduling this tournament will always be a problem so long as MLS’s season doesn’t sync up with the rest of the world’s, including Mexico’s.

Returning to the notion of respect, the first thing to remember is that it comes when another party gives it to you. And I’m guessing Mexican clubs won’t give MLS clubs any respect till they stop pointing out the in-built disadvantages in which they compete in the Champions’ Cup tournament (they might not do it even then, but that’s another issue). But what happened last Thursday does count; that it happened during MLS’s preseason only makes it more impressive. It’s time for the league and its supporters to view these issues as obstacles to overcome rather than excuses for losing to Mexican clubs. To paraphrase an infamous phrase, you play in the tournament you have, not the one you want. And the only way MLS clubs will gain respect from Mexican teams is to win, win, and win again whenever they play them - conditions not withstanding.

And to answer the second question that appeared above, whether we can make Mexican clubs respect us, that answer would be no. But so long as we beat them, who cares what they think of us?

Editor's Note: For greater detail on the matches, please explore Jeff Bull's blog It's a Simple Game. For DC v. Chivas (http://itsasimplegame.blogspot.com/2007/03/dc-v-chivas-what-stuck-with-me.html).
For Houston v. Pachuca (http://itsasimplegame.blogspot.com/2007/03/houston-v-pachuca-what-stuck.html).

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