MLS Does It Better

To me, arguments about leagues and teams that will never or very rarely play each other are silly. Give me a heated debate over whether Real Madrid or Barcelona will win an upcoming match any day over any argument on whether the English WC squad in 1966 could beat JK's latest USA World Cup squad, or if the LA Galaxy could take on Hull City. 

There's no point. It's not going to happen. Most fans in most leagues don't care, either. 

@soccercanales I keep hoping that with Dempsey, Bradley, more teams, etc. that #MLS could finally get to that point.
— Jake from State Farm (@JayBellHS) December 16, 2014

But it's a sore point for many MLS fans that their league gets little respect from others around the world. Some have dedicated themselves to defending MLS, and they're easy targets for those who want to namecall and heap scorn on them for doing so. No one's mind is ever changed in the back and forth. 

Out of pity for their futile mission, I've decided to put together a list of ways in which MLS is indisputably superior to leagues in Europe. It's not long, I promise. 

X-pat

The Johnny Exantus saga takes a twist abroad.

He's now with Royal Racing in Belgium, whose logo seems to be a rat.

I don't know yet if Red Bull New York got any compensation for him. He was in their youth academy, but was considered a great prospect to sign. They're going abroad at a younger and younger age, it seems. While I'm happy for them, I'm a bit sad that we don't get to enjoy these young stars on U.S. fields a bit longer.
It was great to watch Jozy play, for example. I never got to see Johnny X play.

At any moment. . .

A friend and I watch Bear Grylls on the Discovery Channel (Man vs Wild) now and again. Though we agree that Bear is cute and his program interesting, we also think he's a bit dramatic, especially when he references the danger of whatever it is that he's doing, always including statistics on how many people have died doing something similar.

"I could die at any moment!" has become a catchphrase for us now, and we'll say it mockingly before something mundane, such as when we're crossing the street.

The truth is that sometimes, death does come that quickly, even in the beautiful game.

Nery to England?

Reports on both sides of the Atlantic are that Nery Castillo could be on the move from Olympiakos to Manchester City. A deal could be worth up to $19 million.

Castillo is playing in relative isolation in Greece, isolation from Mexico and this side of the world anyway. There's a far greater chance of a Man City match on television than an Olympiakos game, so in that sense alone Nery fans are probably happy for the move.

Castillo would be the second Mexican to ever play in the Premiership, following in the footsteps of Tri teammate Jared Borgetti.

Big American star

Tim Howard said hello to a few friends on Monday. Howard is in town with Everton FC and will be training for the rest of the week at Home Depot Center. The Galaxy had their usual training session.

Everton in town

I went out to Galaxy training today and while there was no David Beckham sighting, I did spot a few current EPL players as Everton FC is in town for a week's worth of training sessions.

Bonus points if you can help put names to faces.

Depor swoop

Andres Guardado is headed to Europe as his deal from Atlas to a European club went through. Except, it wasn't the club everyone expected him to join.

Spanish side Deportivo La Coruna has landed Guardado in what is a record transfer for a Mexican player. Deportivo paid €7 million, or roughly US$9.5 million, for Guardado. PSV Eindhoven had reportedly offered €4.5 million (US$ 6.1 million) for Guardado, and Atlas went with the highest bidder.

Though a move to PSV would have also benefited Guardado, joining Deportivo and having the chance to play in La Liga will be a tremendous boost for the youngster. Depor struggled last season and finished 13th in the table, so Guardado's club is not as stable had it been with PSV. However, he may have more of a chance to play with a side trying to surge back toward the top of the table.

We won! Congratulations! You're fired

Real Madrid's first La Liga title in four years was not enough to save Fabio Capello from the firing squad as Real sacked Capello less than two weeks after winning the Spanish league title.

Club sporting director Predrag Mijatovic said it was a difficult but unanimous decision and that the club felt that Capello was not the right person "to lead Real Madrid into the future given what we want this club to achieve."

Am I the only person who finds this completely strange? I understand the pressure cooker Real Madrid and any European giant is under but to fire a coach under these circumstances is still strange, to me at least. Real Madrid failed in the Champions League and that must have played a role as well, and winning the league title apparently did not offset that.

Can anyone try and justify this firing?

Moving Henry

Thierry Henry has left Arsenal for Barcelona. AP reports that it's a done deal while other places still have the story as a rumor.

According to this story, it's a $32 million deal and Henry will be with Barca for four years.

I don't know that there could be a bigger move this offseason. Arsenal suddenly doesn't seem as strong and Barcelona now is poised to repeat the league and cup double from 2006.

CL final

For a long time, I've had May 23 circled on my calendar because it's the day of the Rangers-Galaxy match. Most soccer fans around the world have had May 23 circled on their calendars too, but for a different reason. The Champions League final between AC Milan and Liverpool will be played today.

I missed out on the last Liverpool-Milan final. I was at Galaxy training and was on my way home when I heard the score. I actually made it home in time to catch the last part of the shootout.

I'll get to enjoy the match from the start today as long as A) I make it to the gym in next hour or so and B) my girls take early naps. Since I'm all but out the door and my girls both got up before 6 a.m., I'm hopeful that I'll be able to watch the match somewhat unmolested.

Anyway, here's a good breakdown from SI.com's Gabriele Marcotti of the Liverpool-Milan matchup and another preview story from Reuters.

Barcelona stumble

Remember that Messidona goal? It was the highlight of the Copa del Rey semifinal match between Barcelona and Getafe. The goal was part of a 5-2 rout Barca had over Getafe. Wednesday's second leg was supposed to have been another walkover.

It didn't exactly turn out that way. Getafe pulled off a 4-0 stunning rout of Barcelona.

Barcelona didn't play their full team but still trotted out capable players in Puyol, Zambrotta, Xavi, Ronaldinho and Eto'o and subbed in Gudjohnsen and Saviola. Barcelona have 24 Copa del Rey titles but last won it in 1998. Getafe ensured that at least one decade will have passed between Barca's Copa del Rey titles.

United in glory

I was supposed to go out to Home Depot Center yesterday. I'd wanted to get Landon Donovan's thoughts on facing Bruce Arena for the first time. He's played for him for so long and now they'll be on opposite sides when the Galaxy takes on the Red Bulls in a U.S. Open Cup play-in match tonight.

But my mom usually watches my daughters and yesterday she wasn't able to watch them past noon, and training was probably still going on at noon so I nixed that. I'm not sure if anyone else followed that angle. I might still ask Landon about it after tonight's game.

So instead of focusing on local soccer, I wrote about Manchester United's return to the top.

Catching up with Champions League

I was out at Chivas USA training so I missed the Liverpool-Chelsea game. Now that I think about it, a lot of the Chivas players went down to the locker room after training so they probably went to watch the last part of the game. Usually during Champions League games, if you walk around the bowels of Home Depot Center you'll come across various televisions showing a Champions League game.

Anyway, here's a good story with a recap of yesterday and a look towards today's Manchester United-AC Milan game, which I'll be able to watch as long as my daughters don't sabotage my afternoon.

EPL dominance?

Three of the four clubs left in the Champions League are English as Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea are joined by AC Milan in the tournament semifinals. Clearly, then, the Premiership is the best league in the world, right?

Not so fast. SI.com colleague Gabriele Marcotti points out several reasons why that isn't necessarily true.

I agree with many of his points but perhaps the one that most rang true with me was this:

"And it receives a disproportionate amount of exposure in the global media because, worldwide, the "linga franca" remains English. Pundits of Anglo-extraction abound everywhere (though not on this Web site, which is probably a good thing) and, inevitably, they write about what they know and they do it from their own perspective."

That's one of the main reasons I think Fox Soccer Channel is nearly as good as it could be. It's all EPL talk. I don't mind the focus on European soccer but come on. The EPL takes up about 70-80 percent of each Fox Soccer Report show which is fine if you are English or like the EPL. I prefer leagues closer to me, leagues I'm more familiar with such as MLS and the Mexican first division. I'd like to see more coverage of the other big three European leagues as well but when you get in-depth analysis of Watford-Charlton... I can only stand so much of that.

UEFA Cup

I know there is some controversy over the UEFA Cup and whether or not it should even be played. Now, I'm not quite up to speed on the details so I might be off but it seems to me that this tournament is a good one in that it provides smaller clubs the chance to win some hardware against European competition.

Again, I follow things more closely on this side of the pond but the highlights I saw today from UEFA Cup games were entertaining. No, it's not the Champions League but what is?

On top of the table

It looks like Celtic will stroll to its 41st league title as Celtic went 22 points clear following their 2-1 against Aberdeen.

How amazing for Celtic, to be up so many points in February. But how incredibly boring for the rest of Scotland knowing that their league's champion has all but been decided in February. Where's the intrigue?

ΓΚΟΛ

Sometime between Wednesday afternoon and Wednesday evening - or so the legend goes - Nery Castillo's ankle gave way. Castillo made the trek from Greece where he defends Olympiakos Piraeus's colors to Glendale, Arizona, to meet up with the Mexican national team despite a gimpy ankle.

The brave and heralded Castillo, native son of San Luis Potosi, Mexico, had been called in to El Tri by the equally brave and valiant Hugo Sanchez, who had somehow convinced Castillo to shun Greece and Uruguay for a chance to play for El Mighty Tri, El Gigantisisimo De La Region.

But the ankle was a concern and gave way. Castillo thus did not so much appear on the substitute's bench for El Tri's game against the U.S. and the Americans won 2-0.

Everybody scratched their heads. Had not the valiant Sanchez convinced the young Castillo to play for El Tri? Was the ankle in really bad shape? Did the evildoers from Greece and Uruguay make a final monetary bid to win over the young Castillo?

Castillo thus was sent on his way back to Greece, where medical wonders happen daily. Castillo's ankle, too bothersome to let him even appear as a substitute for El Tri, was healthy enough to allow Castillo the opportunity to play for Olympiakos.

Castillo, native son of San Luis Potosi, Mexico, even scored a goal - or a ΓΚΟΛ as it were - in the 71st minute on Saturday. Castillo played 79 minutes in all for Olympiakos and the brave and valiant Sanchez was left to wonder the young Castillo's fate.

Dominant Bueno

Carlos Bueno keeping the family name strong in Portugal:

"Bueno scores four for Sporting"

Overseas eyes

It seems Tom Hicks is bent on joining the small but emerging group of Americans buying into European soccer. Hicks, who owns the Dallas Stars of the NHL and MLB's Texas Rangers, is reportedly interested in buying part of Liverpool.

I know some people think that he should get involved in MLS ownership instead of investing in English soccer, probably like Malcolm Glazer and Randy Lerner before him. Part of me thinks it might show their lack of faith or interest in MLS but at the same time they are businessmen and want to market their product overseas and, of course, turn a profit.

But this can only be good for MLS. If the league takes the next step toward becoming a major league in this country, rich, American business people need to believe in the success of soccer and they need to care about soccer.

And if Tom Hicks is spending money on Liverpool, he cares about soccer.

Onyewucastle

Hopefully the Oguchi Onyewu saga is over. It looks like he's landed at Newcastle United on a loan deal that could make the transfer permanent in the summer.

Marseille was better than Liege but Newcastle is certainly better than Marseille. Gooch will get toughened up even more so than he has been already with the Magpies. The club has a fantastic history and a rich tradition and a demanding fan base. All that's certainly going to toughen Onyewu up.