Reviews

It’s Soccer Season – Maybe Even Soccer Century

11/10/2019

MLS Cup, 2019: Seattle 3, Toronto 1, Crowd: 69,274

Out in the driveway was the Sunday Times, with a well-reported article about the precipitous decline of boys playing American football.

The trend is so worrisome that football supporters held a private summit about the potential drop in candidates to get their brains scrambled in the next generation.

I can remember covering Congressional hearings in which the National Football League’s answer to brain concussions was to malign expert witnesses.

The most telling detail in the Times article was the graph showing the vast dropoff – in Texas.
Sounds like Texas high schools now have Friday Night Lights for soccer – with cheerleaders, and college scholarships, and crowds, but without nearly as much residual brain damage down the road.

While I was reading the paper, my son-in-law texted me from Deepest Pennsylvania. Sometimes he texts about Christian Pulisic, the lad from Hershey who has scored 5 goals for Chelsea already this season, probably the best showing by any American in a top European league.

At first, he and his first-born, Mister George, were planning to watch the big Liverpool-Manchester City match in a pub, not any pub, but a Liverpool soccer pub in the area. Shortly after, they decided to watch at home. From his early days with the FIFA computer game, our grandson has been a Liverpool fanatic. This is where the country is heading.

Both Liverpool and Man City have charismatic managers – Jürgen Klopp of Liverpool, a German, and Josep (Pep) Guardiola of Man City, a Catalan who speaks five languages. In the same issue of the Sunday Times, their ingenuity was discussed by Rory Smith, the Times’ expert in Europe.

In the meeting of the current masterminds, Liverpool drubbed Man City, 3-1. I skipped that match to work out at at the high-school track, where I spotted a soccer match between two teams of girls, fit and competitive, in their mid-teens. Two other teams were waiting to play on the turf field.

My soccer-watching for the day was going to come later -- the championship match of Major League Soccer, now in its 24th season. The league started with 10 teams and now has 24, soon to be 30.

Nobody claims MLS is at the level of Champions League or World Cup powerhouses but the league has improved drastically. Last year the best MLS team I ever saw, Atlanta, won the title with an open attacking style, with finesse and good coaching, but Tata Martino was scooped up to manage the Mexican national team, and one of Atlanta's fleet stars, Miguel Almiron, was scooped up by Newcastle of the Premiership, (he is yet to score in 24 appearances) and Atlanta did not reach the finals this year.

Instead, Toronto played at Seattle, in front of the largest crowd ever to watch a sporting event in Seattle – 69,274 fans, demonstrative and knowledgeable. There were familiar faces, including two long-time stars of the American national team, Jozy Altidore and Michael Bradley, both with Toronto. Altidore was still hampered by a strained quad, and could not start. and it cost his team,

Soccer, as all fans know, is a capricious sport. Toronto outplayed the home team well into the second half but no goals were scored. While Altidore warmed up, Toronto yielded a fluke goal when a defender deflected a shot heading wide. (It should have been listed as an own goal, but was not – shame on the league for allowing that scoring decision.) Then Seattle scored twice more before Altidore pounded in a header. Neither team matched the firepower of the super Atlanta team last year, but the league gets better every year.

The MLS season is over but the European season is in full gear, and will more than carry me over to the Mets' season. And really, what else is there?
* * *
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/11/08/sports/falling-football-participation-in-america.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/08/sports/liverpool-manchester-city-guardiola-klopp.html

https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2019/11/09/sports/soccer/ap-soc-chelsea-crystal-palace.html

https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2019/11/08/mls-commissioner-don-garber-gives-expansion-update-charlotte-las-vegas-and-phoenix

The soccer pub will have to wait til next time.

Ed Martin

11/10/2019 08:34:00 pm

Was thinking about you. Sat down to write 70,000!! And you beat me to it! Ciao, Home tonight from great trip. Pizza in Rome. Ouzo in Crete, and more. Ciao

George

11/10/2019 08:42:05 pm

Ed: What a wonderful trip. Welcome home. You didn't see any calcio, it sounds like. Look forward to hearing about your trip. GV

John McDermott

11/11/2019 12:31:27 am

While soccer is increasingly seen as a safer alternative for young as athletes it is sadly not immune to the problem of premature dementia due to repeated head trauma. The great German striker Gerd Müller is perhaps the best known example, though there have been numerous others. Even the legendary. The legendary ex-Cosmo Franz Beckenbauer is said to now be showing symptoms. Here is just one study: https://www.si.com/soccer/2019/10/21/soccer-study-head-injuries-dementia-parkinsons-trauma.

George

11/11/2019 07:08:23 am

John: quite right. I believe there are stats out of Europe that suggest heightened trauma from head-head contact (one yesterday in MLS final) as well as from headers.
My late doctor Kenneth Ewing was pro defender and captain for Guatemala. He played in Mexico while attending med school. After his first neurology lecture on the brain, he adopted a new tactic for ascending balls: “You take it, Juan.”
But American football’s damage is widespread and strikes young. I covered guys in NFL who committed suicide, shooting themselves in the heart, to preserve brain for labs in Massachusetts. GV

John McDermott

11/11/2019 07:18:08 am

George, I’d be Very interested to know statistics on head-trauma related issues in rugby and Australian rules football. American football is played with more protective gear and the latest helmet technology. But I think the forces and frequency of hits to the head are on an entirely different level. I’m sure Steve Young, to name just one example, is monitored regularly for any sign of deterioration.

George

11/11/2019 01:28:40 pm

I've heard rugby people say head trauma far lower than FB or soccer.
First rugby match I ever saw was a bartenders' league in Bois de Boulogne...two guys cracked heads and one guy was bleeding. They poured water over the wound and he resumed playing.
Think of the head contact up high in soccer....I saw Alemao whack Baresi by mistake once...My favorite defender played rest of half on Queer Street (boxing term) while Maldini covered two spots. What a tandem. Giants in those days! GV

John McDermott

11/11/2019 02:18:06 pm

George, my own soccer-related head trauma "events" are: broken nose 1, laceration above the eye and nine stitches, broken nose 2, broken jaw. Below the head: separated sternum, various cracked ribs, fractured clavicle, dislocated thumb, severe ankle sprain, MCL severe strain, broken toe, dislocated little finger. Even so, I consider it a small price to pay for all that the game has given me. And, so far, no neurological damage, just two creaky knees and a sore hip.

Roy Edelsack

11/11/2019 01:42:22 pm

I don't see how "American" football can survive after the ability to diagnose CTE in living humans is discovered and my understanding is that this day is very close.

I watched more MLS this year than I usually do and the game is definitely improving. But I really don't understand their marketing strategy. Semi-finals were scheduled versus the World Series and the finals against the NFL.

Sad times around my house for Spurs fans. And OMG did you see Hugo Lloris's injury a few weeks ago? Awful.

George

11/11/2019 08:07:52 pm

Roy, I did not see it, was into BB at the time...just saw the videos. awful. I've seen dislocated shoulders but not an elbow. (Saw Theisman's broken leg at midfield, too good a view from press box.)
All sports have their risks, but the CTE in football seems to be in a category of its own. NFL doctors reminded me of coal-region docs who said coal dust in mine was good for miners. GV

bruce

11/11/2019 08:26:49 pm

george,

having seen hockey mentioned here for brain trauma.

certainly seems to be a lot of it including some suicides.

most recent high profile death was stan mikita who was out of it in his final years.

as an aside, he had one of the most amazing transformations in sports, i think.

went from a nasty little highly penalized rat who lead the league in scoring a few times and a perennial all star to a lady byng winner overnight.

bruce

bruce

11/11/2019 05:14:48 pm

george,

what else is there?!

don cherry's job is open.

you've got hockey experience and.....

nah. your vocab--using words with more than two syllables--would label you as 'perfesser'.

bruce

George

11/11/2019 09:16:48 pm

There was an enforcer -- in hockey, a goon -- who died young from abuse but also too many fights. Derek Boogard. John Branch, great reporter for NY Times, won a Pulitzer for his work on what lead to Boogard's death. Sure, lad, drop the gloves and the helmet and go pound that guy. GV

bruce

11/11/2019 09:38:42 pm

george,

i remember reading that.

i moved to this place almost a year ago.

in my last place, an old house with three two bedroom apartments, a guy moved in during my final months.

he was a goon who made it in pro hockey but never to the nhl.

said he had brain damage and behaved as if he did.

was a novel length piece about him in the globe&mail.

constantly stoned to take away the pain and depression.

bruce

Josh Rubin

11/12/2019 11:24:57 am

70,000 in Seattle! that reminds me of when my dad and I saw Cosmos in their heyday at the Meadowlands as part of more than 77,000! It was a thrill to see so many turn out for soccer in the US at that time, but it was a bit of a bubble. Much better now to see the game's popularity being built from the ground up.

11/12/2019 05:44:09 pm

Josh, saw a game like that Pele versus the Greek National team, there were 70,000 or so and seemed they were all screaming, “Hellas!”

George

11/13/2019 07:35:49 am

Josh and Ed: you guys are killing me. Never saw Pele era in NJ. Was covering religion (make your own jokes.)
By the time I moved to sports, league was withering. I did see Carlos Alberto and Giorgio Chinaglia.
But...it was over.
GV

Josh Rubin

11/13/2019 09:00:47 am

Ed, my dad and I saw a league game (a few actually) with the stadium at or near capacity. We also saw a few games when Cosmos played at Randall's Island, both before and with Pele. Before Pele, we may have been the only fans rooting in English.

George

11/13/2019 11:25:55 am

Never saw Pele play. But I have met him a dozen times. Very pleasant guy.
My friend Alex Yannis, who covered Cosmos for NYT, said there were press-staff games and that Pele, after his retirement, would join in.
Imagine being on the pitch with Pele.

bruce

11/13/2019 11:32:35 am

george,

i wonder if he noticed anybody else was on the pitch.

watching taylor testify.

lying booger.

just tryin' to make trump look bad.

bruce

Alan Rubin link

11/13/2019 11:54:27 am

George-at the risk of adding to your discomfort, I saw Pele play with Santos several times.

My Lehigh soccer teammate and I drove from Bethlehem, PA to Ebbetts Field in Brooklyn and back to enjoy Santos dance down the field in what was then the traditional Brazilian style of play.

Later, in 1960, Santos played Bromley of England in the final of a summer league that had many well-known European teams. We sat behind one of the goals at Yankee Stadium, high enough up to have a good view of the field.

Santos won 2-0, and the highlight of the game was when 18-year-old Pele scored from just outside the 18 with a bicycle kick. With his back to the goal and upside down in the air, he scored. The keeper never moved and it took a moment before the crowd erupted.

I used to enjoy watching football, but was turned off in high school. The football and soccer players used the same locker room. Most of their conversation was about banging the other team around and hurting their quarter back. Not my idea of what sports is about.

It is interesting that many professional football players will not allow their sons to play.

My retired neurosurgeon friend says that playing without helmets would probably reduce head injuries.

I remember taking Josh to see Pele’s debut with the Cosmos at Randall’s Island. I told him to watch how Pele controlled the play even when he did not have the ball.

The major achievement of the evening was getting my wife to agree to letting Jose go on a school night. It was a three-hour round trip from Suffern, NY to Randall's Island.

John-sorry to see that you had so many injuries during your playing days. I was a goalkeeper for ten years from Junior HS through college and a few years of semi-pro for Bethlehem’s Mexican Aztec Club in the German-American League in the Philadelphia area. I only missed one game with my worst injuries being a jammed right thumb and a bruised calf. Brain injuries and concussions were never even mentioned.

A high school goalkeeper who I coach, as well as her twin sister, had knee surgery. She also missed half of her sophomore with a mild concussion.

Looking back, I must have been very lucky.

11/14/2019 10:20:23 am

Alan, lucky as goalies are in the midst of it. Our Muhlenberg Goalie, Bill Hitchcock, dove for a loose ball and was kicked, injuring his spleen. He lived a long, soccer free life, afterwards. I invented a way to head with less concussion risk, but it never caught on, somehow. I jumped high and the ball hit me square on the nose! Have you seen a nose the size of a grapefruit?

George

11/14/2019 07:27:44 am

Alan: protocol for concussions is much better since American football was shamed.
Baseball has a category for concussion symptoms.
And we’ve witnessed it in girls’ soccer — one girl missing essentially 2 seasons before being cleared and playing in college.
As for what you hear in locker rooms, in my late 30s played rec adult basketball in HS gym. The high school athletes were finishing up after practice, etc. the stuff we heard from one aisle of lockers to another.
About girls they knew.

bruce

11/14/2019 07:39:45 am

george,

i'm assuming you're talking about girls in the 'biblical' sense.

some of that locker room talk that became famous three years ago?

see ronaldo is supposed to be acting up with juventus.

bruce

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It’s Soccer Season – Maybe Even Soccer Century

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