The Fifth Official: MLS vs EPL
It’s a debate that can’t be decided on the field, so it has to be spun in the soccer bars and newsrooms instead. Goal.com’s Greg Lalas talks to some English MLSers about how the US league compares to England’s vaunted Premier League.
Right or wrong, I spend a lot of time in bars. It’s not that I’m a big drinker, but a barstool is one of the best soapboxes in the world (just behind an online column). Perched on that swiveling lectern, orators of varying talents can pontificate on everything from Aristotelian ethics to Sarah Palin’s vice-presidential qualifications to the artistic influence of Motley Crue. And because they’re in a bar when they run their mouth off, they generally escape unscathed. Often mocked, but unscathed.
There is, however, a certain type of bar and a particular topic of conversation that skews the dynamic. In a soccer pub,...sorry, football pub, where the glasses are imperial pints, the waitresses say “cheers” instead of “thank you,” and the words “Premier League” are spoken of in divine tones, if one dares to bring up Major League Soccer, he is liable to stagger out with a bloodied nose or, at least, a bruised ego.
Yes, I’m exaggerating. There are plenty of soccer barflies around the country who embrace and support MLS. But the reality is, the vast majority of EPL fans—both expat Brits and well-traveled Americans—see MLS as a far inferior brand of the beautiful game.
This is understandable. After all, MLS is not on par with the EPL in terms of money, big-name players, history or global media reach. John Terry’s annual salary could fund about four or five MLS teams, considering the US league’s stringent salary cap.
And yet, despite all the seeming inequalities, there is still a conversation to be had about how MLS—which concludes its 13th season this weekend—stacks up against the EPL—which traces its history back more than a century. It’s a conversation, er, argument I’ve had a thousand times with people around the world, both barflies and professional players. If you’ve ever had a similar discussion, you know how fun and boisterous they can be.
Unfortunately, the MLS vs. EPL question cannot be resolved on the field because the teams never play a meaningful game against each other (the MLS all-star game is fun, but it’s basically a pick-up game with a big crowd). So we’re left with hypotheticals. Which is what this article is about.
I spoke to several MLS players and coaches about how MLS compares to the EPL. But here’s how I set up the question: If a team could play its best XI for the entire season, with no injuries, no international absences, and no congestions issues due to non-league games, how would the top MLS team—take your pick, Columbus, Houston, New England—do in the Premier League?
“Near the bottom,” San Jose Earthquakes winger Darren Huckerby tells me. The 32-year-old had stints with several EPL and Championship teams before coming to America. “Houston is a good solid team. But even they would struggle. It’s different over there. The teams are big, strong, fast, and technical.”
Would the Dynamo survive? I ask.
“Could do,” he replies. “Good teams can do well. It’s not just players, but teams.”
This team-oriented sentiment is one that New England Revolution assistant coach Paul Mariner echoes. He’s burnishes a CV that includes a World Cup with England, decades with Ipswich Town and Arsenal, and twenty years in the US.
“Survival is a tall order,” he says. “Some would say ‘They’d get hammered.’ But if you think about a team like Hull City, they have limited resources, but they’ve made tremendous inroads.”
Tremendous indeed. Hull are currently in 3rd place in the EPL. Nine years ago, they were in the 4th division—a tier that I’m sure even the most diehard British bulldog would admit is below MLS.Mariner thinks MLS has improved, and he points to MLS teams’ successes against European sides in recent years—including this year’s All-star win over West Ham, for which Mariner was on the sideline as an assistant to Steve Nicol—as proof of MLS’s progress. But he also tempers his optimism with some hard realities.
“Until you see the power of the Premiership guys up close, it’s hard to grasp how good they are,” he says. “Could we compete? It’s difficult to say we could. I’d like to say yes, but even Hull, Bolton, Blackburn, Stoke—they all have powerful players, quick players. There are not too many slow defenders over in England.”
Or, as another MLS coach puts it when I ask him if the best MLS team could survive in the EPL: “No $#?%-ing way.”
But maybe Mariner and Huckerby, so intimately connected to English football, are hardwired to give the nod to the EPL. What about some good ol’ fashioned American hucksterism? I mean, I’ve sung MLS teams’ praises many times, claiming that the best, like Houston and New England and DC United (when they’re fully healthy) can easily compete with the bottom half of the EPL. Am I alone in thinking this crazy thought?
Luckily, no.
“DC United would finish in the top 12,” Toronto FC midfielder Rohan Ricketts tells me, adding that this implies they have their first-choice squad. “They’re very technical, more technical than a lot of teams in England. They play the right way, pass and move. They’re a better advert for football than most of the teams in the Premiership.”
Ricketts should know about playing the game the right way. The 25-year-old winger came up at Arsenal, inhaling Arsene Wenger’s stylish philosophy, then had stints at Tottenham and Wolves.
Ultimately, it’s a debate that can’t be decided, no matter if your sermonizing with a pint of Magner’s in your hand or typing on a laptop. But the very fact that the discussion is even possible these days says more about MLS’s progress than Beckham’s arrival in Los Angeles or Barcelona’s interest in an expansion team does.
“Ten years ago, your question wouldn’t have been hard to answer,” Mariner concludes. “But MLS is making great strides. In the end, I don’t know if there is an answer. We could argue about it ‘til we’re blue in the face. Put twenty people in a room, and get twenty different opinions. That’s the beauty of football, and that’s why we love it.”
Greg Lalas is the site director for Goal.com North America. His new “Fifth Official” column will appear regularly on Goal.com.
