DISCUSSION: Return of MLS & Inter Miami vs. Chicago Fire

Paul Schmidt-Troschke & Jon Bonfiglio with a look at the MLS changing its season dates as from 2027, plus Inter Miami vs. Chicago Fire. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:24

Hello, and welcome to World Football, etc., with me, Paul Schmetroschka. The 31st edition of the MLS just restarted after a multi-weeks long break due to, of course, the World Cup. Just for those who are not too familiar with how the MLS works, here are the most important points. The season runs from the 21st of February to the 7th of November. After a transition period, the schedule will be changed beginning in 2027, when the regular season will kick off in July and will conclude in May 2028, which of course is a more standard schedule in a world and especially European comparison. Then, due to the league's size, with 30 teams competing for the titles across the US and Canada, the MLS is divided into the Eastern and Western conferences, in which every team plays 34 games. After that, the nine best teams out of each conference then play an 18-team playoff tournament, which then determines the MLS Cup winner. And now the first full match day after the World Cup break brought us an amazing and at times absurd high-level match between the second-ranked and third-ranked teams of the Eastern Conferences. Uh Eastern Conferences, which are Chicago on third rank, and of course last year's MLS Cup winner into Miami on the second, with uh with a sizable um gap as well, points gap to the first place, which are Nashville uh Nashville FC. So the game in the end concluded with a 3-2 in favor of Miami. And luckily I have my co-host John Bonfiler with me. John, does Miami even need Messi at this point?

SPEAKER_02 2:20

Well, I mean, it it it certainly doesn't feel as though he belongs there at the moment, but of course that's because our memories of him are very um are very fresh in the mind of course everything that took place over the last over the last five five weeks or so. Um just before we get onto the the game itself, well, yeah, I think just you made some interesting points there about the um about the MLS, uh which of course has been running for years on this sort of uh following the the sort of standard calendar of the beginning of the year in the winter and then running through to the end of the year, sort of November, December, which has sort of made it um it's kind of been it's kind of curious because even though it has that particular structure, it does it is beholden to other leagues. Of course, on the one hand, uh the European League because uh European leagues because you have this obviously the summer break at the end of the European Leagues and then the beginning of the of the of the next season. So what you always have is a number of um a number of players sort of leaving MLS sides and going to Europe and then vice versa as well. And that's one of the things that we saw today with Robert Lewandowski, of course, formerly of of um of Barcelona, who had made his debut in this match uh uh for Chicago against Inter Miami. But the other, excuse me, the other thing, the other uh league that I would point to is the uh Liga MX, that has this sort of curious structure as well, where you have the uh it's sort of split into two uh tournaments every year. The Apertura, which runs from sort of summertime until Christmas, and then you have the Glausura, which runs January until until the summer. And so you have two distinct champions every every year. But it seems to me that this shift finally to the sort of the summer through to the following spring, more than anything else, is about uh getting the MLS in in hocke with the Liga MX in order to sort of expand potential sort of overlap collaborative possibilities at at the very least, and at the very most, potentially of actually going full in and developing a joint league at some point in the in the future. But as regards the the matches, you say Intermiami 3, Chicago 2 started off completely ridiculously with one of the worst own goals, and history has seen some bad own goals, but one of the worst own goals I've ever seen, where uh there was a sort of uh a lot of passing around the back uh with uh with Inter Miami, and then Robert Lewandowski was closing in on Inter Miami goalkeeper Rocorrios Novo, who's a youth international for for Argentina, when he uh he tried to clear the ball, played across the ball, kicked across the ball, completely missed it for what was a completely ridiculous own goal. But he was saved in particular by Luis Suarez, who scored a 27th-minute uh penalty, and then again in the 51st uh minute later on in the game. And then finally, with a match of two all, um the this individual who I certainly had never heard of before, uh Preston Plumbeck, Floridian, what a name. Uh, he came in and he uh and he scored the winner in the 87th uh minute.

SPEAKER_01 5:10

Yes, and uh that of course was then the the 3-2. Um the game was uh was was pretty well balanced um uh over the whole uh course of of the 90 minutes, I would say. I mean uh without the uh the this this own goal, which uh can only I don't know be described as as probably the I mean at least in my lifetime the worst goalie mistake I have I have ever seen.

SPEAKER_02 5:35

An aberration.

SPEAKER_01 5:36

An aberration, yes. Uh thanks for that for that addition to my vocabulary. An aberration of uh um uh of a goalkeeper performance there. But I mean he he uh he he he was just uh smiling afterwards uh and and he took it uh I would say mentally uh still very well um and his players immediately rushed to him and and cheered him up and in the reaction was nice, wasn't it?

SPEAKER_02 6:00

The reaction was it went up with him absolutely up to him and sort of comforted in him and just got him to keep going. I mean he's not a young keeper, he's 24 years old. He was he's now signed uh fully for into Miami, but he was on loan at Inter Miami and into Miami too, bizarrely for a game as well, because these franchise these franchises have teams that play across the different sort of leagues, league structures of the of the MLS. But um no, he he came out of it all right, uh all things considered. If it had ended up being a one-nil victory for Chicago, it may have been a different story, but um exactly he can put it down to experience.

SPEAKER_01 6:30

Yeah, absolutely. And and also, uh, I mean, uh the the of course the the the the biggest um point of failure was actually uh Jos Novo in in the goal, but uh like every defender when it comes to to to backpassing to the keeper learns that try to pass not into the direction basically in right he he basically aimed right for the middle of the of the goal line, which you definitely should not do, especially uh for for these situations, uh which then uh can create um yeah just uh uh a not not working um not uh at least like uh a pressure situation um which uh the um I mean uh which Levin Lewandowski of course uh is a master at exploiting. Um so yeah, but apart from that, uh the the game was a um was a nice nice watch for sure. And what kind of strikes me, especially, I mean, I come from Europe, from Germany specifically, so uh I am used to a very particular type of football, um, or different types across Spain, England, uh, etc. But the LS is a very, very interesting case um of a league because you have um lots of young players, uh lots of uh um unproven talent, at least um compared to European level. Um, but then uh you have these all these European um um or not only European, but I mean most of them played played in Europe uh over their career, these these uh former or current superstars which are just uh uh in their late 30s, early 40s, um, like Lewandowski, you said. I mean, um he he played uh um a lot of times in his life uh against Luis Suarez uh already, um which uh which plays for Inter Miami, of course. And and so you have uh you have kind of a skill level which is quite low, but then you have these beautiful moments uh of of really beautiful combinations, beautiful, beautiful football. Um you have definitely all to all of our listeners uh go and watch um watch the goal of Luis Suarez in in that match that was just um par excellence, um beautiful one touch, um one touch football, and he even finished with uh with a volley. And uh and so you you you have a quite intelligent football, which is uh has a slower pace, yes, but um it is a weird mix which you which you see in in no other league um so far. And I think that's definitely a strength um of the MLS in in that current uh form, it being like sort of a uh half retirement league, half like a youth development league. Um it's definitely a very uh appealing USP to me.

SPEAKER_02 9:10

Yeah, it's interesting, isn't it? But it's also worth saying that I think it's a it's a tag which the MLS is desperate to shake off. It's desperate to move on from this sort of sense of it being an academy where you've got these sort of older stars and coaches um that uh that are supporting this young generation to coming through. So you so what you end up seeing is this this sort of um uh these games that it's not that the games themselves don't have a level between the teams, but uh within the same team, you've sort of got this imbalance between sort of young, uh perhaps not that sort of hugely skilled individuals, and certainly individuals at the at the beginning of their um career, which potentially may not go anywhere either, depending on how how well they do. And then you've got these veterans, these old greats, as you say. And what's remarkable about them is the the vision that they obviously still display. I mean, they may be a little bit slower, but the touch hasn't left them, and what they see, the potential that they see on the pitch, is still very much in uh in play. And sometimes it they're way ahead, of course, of what uh uh their vision is way ahead of what uh a number of these other sort of players are um are seeing. And and it's clear that for the moment at least, this is going to continue. We we've seen that as well in the last couple of days with the um apparently that the inter-Miami signing of Brazilian midfielder and it's also an unusual thing about the LS because although uh Casemiro is due to join inter-Miami, um there's uh there was a uh sort of an announcement of it. Uh the MLS, uh, Major League Soccer released a statement about the signing saying it is reviewing a tampering allegation against Inter-Miami um uh football club. Uh, they're not they're saying they're not going to comment any further on this until they have all of the information. But it relates apparently to the fact that there's this sort of um this rule in the MLS that in order to stop bidding wars over top international players, uh, a club has to acquire what are called the player's discovery rights ahead of time. And then only that team who has those rights can negotiate with the player. And it appears that LA Galaxy had the rights to Casemiro, but um uh but then uh Inter Miami said that they had taken over the rights from LA Galaxy. So there's something in there, there's something stinking a little bit in there as to what took place or what didn't take place. So we'll see what happens over the course of the next few days there. But anyway, the underscore, the bottom line there is that the signing Casemiro reveals once again that it is a the MLS is the most lucrative, along with Saudi Arabia, retirement home for top footballers.

SPEAKER_01 11:51

Yes, uh and and uh definitely uh in comparison to uh to the Saudi Pro League, um, one which uh which is actually very, very enjoyable to watch, which is um, I mean, for all of those who are interested in uh egalitarianism in football and fairness um in football leagues across the world, definitely check out um our mini-series on our Patreon page in regards to that. But the MLS is uh you can probably call the MLS the most egalitarian league in the world, and you could probably say the complete opposite about the Saudi Pro League, because um it is uh there lots of weird things are happening there. The whole league is basically dominated by by four clubs.

SPEAKER_02 12:30

Um it's an advert, it's a big advert.

SPEAKER_01 12:32

It's uh yeah, it it is just uh the there the MLS has has so much more potential, and you see that by all of these um these legends who usually would retire, um, but the MLS gives them a chance to still uh to still play um and uh and and and and and appeals to them in in many regards. I mean uh not not to say the least, of course, in in uh in a monetary uh fashion. And uh and and yeah, also with the signing um with the new signing or proposed signing you talked about, it's um it's gonna be interesting how they how they are gonna uh jingle all these uh all these uh salaries because of course there is a a salary cap and there are exceptions to the rule, but you can only have a very low number of of high profile players with with high salaries. So in case of Casemiro, let's see um how how that will go. Um but yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:24

Um for a minute there, I thought you said that uh you were asking about how the clubs were gonna jingle all these celeries, and um I thought it was a German phrase which I had not discovered yet, but then I realized we're actually saying salaries and not salaries. Of course, great disappointment to me because jingling jiggling salaries is uh is an image which I now gonna have stuck in my head for the rest of the night.

SPEAKER_01 13:48

Yeah, beautiful. Let's uh then then let's end on this note with uh with the salaries uh jumping around in your head. And uh yeah, uh the the season is uh is running till the uh beginning of um of November, and then um it's uh because I as a European I must say um the summertime if there's not an international tournament is usually just football off. There is the the hole in the summer, as we say in Germany, the summer hole whereas where nothing is happening, and uh this is actually uh quite quite cleansing for for the soul.

SPEAKER_02 14:22

Um if you if you choose to keep emphasizing how you're European, Paul. It it's uh it it's kind of quite an elitist uh you know ongoing reference you keep you keep bringing out.

SPEAKER_01 14:33

Yeah, I am I'm I'm sorry, it's uh it's in my genes. No, that's of course a joke. Um no, I uh uh it I think it's important if uh if somebody talks about uh US football or the MLS um specifically here, um you have to emphasize that you're European so that people are a little bit more lenient when it comes to and understanding uh where where your views, uh your estimations uh come from. So that is the real reason. It doesn't have anything to do with skin colour, erase, or anything else.

SPEAKER_02 15:04

Got it, got it, got it. Well anyway, hearing Jennings be positive about the European project is always good uh anyway. Um, but yes, and and just just uh just as a final point on the MLS um and the Liga MX, I think one of the things which is bringing the two and has been bringing the the two leagues together as a kind of experiment for the um for the last few um for the last few years, for the last few seasons is the Leagues Cup, which uh which uh I'm gonna be doing a little piece on in the next uh 24 or 36 hours, just uh just as a sort of a little focus on uh on these overlaps between the two leagues.

SPEAKER_01 15:41

Great. Then our listeners will look forward to that. And with that, thank you so much, John, as always, and speak to you probably tomorrow.