SuperLiga group stage finishes - As I said when the SuperLiga first premiered, I love it. The games have been tough and spirited; a far cry from the exhibition friendlies some people were fearful of this turning into. Also as I said before, the real success of the SuperLiga will be measured upon whether the tournament is able to successfully draw the Mexican population into the MLS fan base. Its too soon to call that one, but so far, in the short term, its been a success especially if you are an MLS fan. 3 of the 4 teams advancing are MLS teams with CF Pachuca the lone Mexican side to advance and FC Dallas the lone MLS side left behind.
On a semi separate note, It seems like every time I read an article about an MLS match between the LA Galaxy and some other team there is inevitably a bit about how disappointed fans were they didn't get to see Beckham play. Some fans have even taken to making funny signs in order to vent their fury. There is no doubt that this has to be a nightmare for the MLS and the Galaxy, which is seeing the Beckham machine stall out before it even really gets going. Some teams like Dallas have tried to appease fans who bought tickets to their SuperLiga game against the Galaxy by offering them free tickets to a charity game next year against LA.Unfortunately I don't have any solution to offer fans or the league. However the silver lining in all of this is that Beckham wont wear out as fast as he otherwise might have had he been healthy. Because of the crazy schedule that the league came up with in order to insure that Becks visits every MLS city at least once and the even crazier number of friendlies and charity games the Galaxy have agreed to play in order squeeze even more money out of Beckham, the Galaxy will play 8 to 9 games in August, 8 games in September, and then 6 games in October. The New York Red Bulls on the other hand play 4 games in August, 5 in September, and 3 in October - roughly half of what the Galaxy play. With such a packed schedule there has to be a worry that Beckham and other Galaxy players will become exhausted. Sure the league will make a killing in revenue in the short run, but they might be shooting themselves in the foot when all the Beckham hungry/soccer curious ticket buyers fail to become hardcore fans after they see a worn down version of an already terrible team.
If theres a lesson the MLS needs to learn its that soccer players are people. The league constantly over hypes and over markets its assets in a desperate attempt for press and inevitably fails to meet expectations. The best example of this is of course Freddy Adu, who might now finally be able to develop normally in Europe without having the expectations of being an American Pele thrust upon him. Hopefully the MLS will realize Beckham is a human being and not just a media tool sooner than later.
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