Tuesday, August 26, 2008
What happened to Fulham America?
What happened to Fulhamerica? Last year it was American players on Fulham's roster that played huge roles in rescuing the team's [English] Premier League status. In the four years since Brian McBride signed on for the Southwest London club only to be followed by four more, Fulham became the EPL team I told Britts I supported most. I fell in love with the idea of an American team in the league, and a personal visit to Craven Cottage sealed the deal.
Now however, only one American remains in Clint Dempsey, as his best friend Eddie Johnson was just loaned to Cardiff for the season. In the offseason, Carlos Bocanegra moved to France after becoming a bench player under Fulham's new boss, while Kasey Keller and Brian McBride both decided to return to the US and play out their stellar careers in MLS.
So, how are Fulham doing without their Americans? After losing the season opener on the road to newly promoted Hull City, the "Cottagers" just beat my other favorite EPL team - Arsenal - 1-0 at home on Saturday. Clint Dempsey only had a late cameo to do with it, but hopefully he'll earn regular status shortly.
the Arsenal win was one for the ages, but the fact that it mostly came without any American's in the side just has a Groundhog Day feeling to whole "American players ever so close to getting over the hump" thing all over again. Just when we thought some American players would become a permanent fixture on the global stage, it turns out the same old story of American players abroad being little more than utility players shows up again.
No doubt McBride and Keller would have retained their top spots had they stayed, and they've had two of the three or four most succesful Yanks-Abroad careers ever to date, but we want more. We want sustained success (read: Champions League regulars) where an American is a permanent fixture. We want transfer rumors swirling. We want our American David Beckham abroad.
Fulham wasn't really close to deliving that single star for us, but it represented a very real potential. A Fulham team with five American starters, making a run at the FA Cup or qualifying for Europe would have been more than satisfactory thank you very much.
Still a Fulham fan here for life, just for different reasons. Let's hope this is just a one step back to take two forward for American fans of soccer. We've got more seeds planted than ever before. Will next ten years prove we've planted permanent roots, or will we have only a longer list of the same old story?Labels: Fulham
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
How the little boy that cried explains what's wrong with American soccer
For my full story on Fulham's great escape, and why this little boy was so upset - see this article on Potomac Soccer Wire
As news of Fulham’s win on the final day came over the air, it devastated Reading fans who’s team had just won convincingly 4-0. Several TV sports news program showed the hear breaking images of a boy no more than five years old crying and thrashing about uncontrollably in his father’s arms, both wearing Reading jerseys. The news had obviously just set in that Fulham had won and their team had crashed to the 2nd tier of soccer in England after just two short seasons in the Promised Land. For much of the lifetime of that boy, Reading had been in the Premier League. To him, it was his world.
As heart wrenching as it is, the image of that little boy crying really speaks to the emotional power that is inherent to the structure of soccer leagues in most of the rest of the world. From despair, as though there has been a death in the family, to unbounded joy and cheering like you’ve just been reborn and won the lottery on the same day, the emotions felt by fans epitomizes the cliché of “life and death” in sports.
It must seem like a cruel, cruel world to that little boy, but the rest of us can take away the greatness of what Fulham had just achieved, even if you’re not a Fulham fan. I personally can’t imagine caring quite that much about my favorite team winning or losing a Super Bowl, because “at least we were there, and we won our division championship anyway”. Chelsea fans of a similar age could not possibly feel their world had ended, when on the same day they learned their team would finish 2nd in the league behind this year’s EPL Champion Manchester United.
Only the reality that is relegation creates this much caring deep within fans. And although American sports marketers continue to say that “playoffs are the American way”, I firmly believe MLS will never be one of the best leagues in the world, let alone truly challenge for the hearts of serious NBA, MLB, or NFL fans until it too offers such a structure. In it’s current state, every team – no matter how bad – is safe, with the only drama outside of an MLS Cup final being whether or not a team will get a lower pick of some unproven college prospects in that winter’s “draft”.
It all reminds me of an anonymous quote I’ve seen as a signature line of many online soccer fans’ profiles, on t-shirts, and used all the time in loose conversation amongst regular fans - “Some say soccer is a matter of life and death. But I assure you, it’s way more important than that.” Indeed. And until that is the MLS marketing tag line, backed up with action, our soccer will always be 2nd class.Labels: Fulham, MLS, Reading FC
Now however, only one American remains in Clint Dempsey, as his best friend Eddie Johnson was just loaned to Cardiff for the season. In the offseason, Carlos Bocanegra moved to France after becoming a bench player under Fulham's new boss, while Kasey Keller and Brian McBride both decided to return to the US and play out their stellar careers in MLS.
So, how are Fulham doing without their Americans? After losing the season opener on the road to newly promoted Hull City, the "Cottagers" just beat my other favorite EPL team - Arsenal - 1-0 at home on Saturday. Clint Dempsey only had a late cameo to do with it, but hopefully he'll earn regular status shortly.
the Arsenal win was one for the ages, but the fact that it mostly came without any American's in the side just has a Groundhog Day feeling to whole "American players ever so close to getting over the hump" thing all over again. Just when we thought some American players would become a permanent fixture on the global stage, it turns out the same old story of American players abroad being little more than utility players shows up again.
No doubt McBride and Keller would have retained their top spots had they stayed, and they've had two of the three or four most succesful Yanks-Abroad careers ever to date, but we want more. We want sustained success (read: Champions League regulars) where an American is a permanent fixture. We want transfer rumors swirling. We want our American David Beckham abroad.
Fulham wasn't really close to deliving that single star for us, but it represented a very real potential. A Fulham team with five American starters, making a run at the FA Cup or qualifying for Europe would have been more than satisfactory thank you very much.
Still a Fulham fan here for life, just for different reasons. Let's hope this is just a one step back to take two forward for American fans of soccer. We've got more seeds planted than ever before. Will next ten years prove we've planted permanent roots, or will we have only a longer list of the same old story?
Labels: Fulham
For my full story on Fulham's great escape, and why this little boy was so upset - see this article on Potomac Soccer Wire
As news of Fulham’s win on the final day came over the air, it devastated Reading fans who’s team had just won convincingly 4-0. Several TV sports news program showed the hear breaking images of a boy no more than five years old crying and thrashing about uncontrollably in his father’s arms, both wearing Reading jerseys. The news had obviously just set in that Fulham had won and their team had crashed to the 2nd tier of soccer in England after just two short seasons in the Promised Land. For much of the lifetime of that boy, Reading had been in the Premier League. To him, it was his world.
As heart wrenching as it is, the image of that little boy crying really speaks to the emotional power that is inherent to the structure of soccer leagues in most of the rest of the world. From despair, as though there has been a death in the family, to unbounded joy and cheering like you’ve just been reborn and won the lottery on the same day, the emotions felt by fans epitomizes the cliché of “life and death” in sports.
It must seem like a cruel, cruel world to that little boy, but the rest of us can take away the greatness of what Fulham had just achieved, even if you’re not a Fulham fan. I personally can’t imagine caring quite that much about my favorite team winning or losing a Super Bowl, because “at least we were there, and we won our division championship anyway”. Chelsea fans of a similar age could not possibly feel their world had ended, when on the same day they learned their team would finish 2nd in the league behind this year’s EPL Champion Manchester United.
Only the reality that is relegation creates this much caring deep within fans. And although American sports marketers continue to say that “playoffs are the American way”, I firmly believe MLS will never be one of the best leagues in the world, let alone truly challenge for the hearts of serious NBA, MLB, or NFL fans until it too offers such a structure. In it’s current state, every team – no matter how bad – is safe, with the only drama outside of an MLS Cup final being whether or not a team will get a lower pick of some unproven college prospects in that winter’s “draft”.
It all reminds me of an anonymous quote I’ve seen as a signature line of many online soccer fans’ profiles, on t-shirts, and used all the time in loose conversation amongst regular fans - “Some say soccer is a matter of life and death. But I assure you, it’s way more important than that.” Indeed. And until that is the MLS marketing tag line, backed up with action, our soccer will always be 2nd class.
As news of Fulham’s win on the final day came over the air, it devastated Reading fans who’s team had just won convincingly 4-0. Several TV sports news program showed the hear breaking images of a boy no more than five years old crying and thrashing about uncontrollably in his father’s arms, both wearing Reading jerseys. The news had obviously just set in that Fulham had won and their team had crashed to the 2nd tier of soccer in England after just two short seasons in the Promised Land. For much of the lifetime of that boy, Reading had been in the Premier League. To him, it was his world.
As heart wrenching as it is, the image of that little boy crying really speaks to the emotional power that is inherent to the structure of soccer leagues in most of the rest of the world. From despair, as though there has been a death in the family, to unbounded joy and cheering like you’ve just been reborn and won the lottery on the same day, the emotions felt by fans epitomizes the cliché of “life and death” in sports.
It must seem like a cruel, cruel world to that little boy, but the rest of us can take away the greatness of what Fulham had just achieved, even if you’re not a Fulham fan. I personally can’t imagine caring quite that much about my favorite team winning or losing a Super Bowl, because “at least we were there, and we won our division championship anyway”. Chelsea fans of a similar age could not possibly feel their world had ended, when on the same day they learned their team would finish 2nd in the league behind this year’s EPL Champion Manchester United.
Only the reality that is relegation creates this much caring deep within fans. And although American sports marketers continue to say that “playoffs are the American way”, I firmly believe MLS will never be one of the best leagues in the world, let alone truly challenge for the hearts of serious NBA, MLB, or NFL fans until it too offers such a structure. In it’s current state, every team – no matter how bad – is safe, with the only drama outside of an MLS Cup final being whether or not a team will get a lower pick of some unproven college prospects in that winter’s “draft”.
It all reminds me of an anonymous quote I’ve seen as a signature line of many online soccer fans’ profiles, on t-shirts, and used all the time in loose conversation amongst regular fans - “Some say soccer is a matter of life and death. But I assure you, it’s way more important than that.” Indeed. And until that is the MLS marketing tag line, backed up with action, our soccer will always be 2nd class.
Labels: Fulham, MLS, Reading FC
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