Sebastian and Herculez give their opinions on which team has the best rivalry. There is a time and a place for this.
Having flown in from Europe that day, Bale stood in front of more than 22,000 fans at the Banc of California stadium to read 4 A.M.
A bleary-eyed Bale said that this is a growing league. Games are the best way to prepare for a World Cup. I want to make my stamp for LAFC.
Wales qualified for the World Cup for the first time in 64 years thanks to the captain of the team, Bale. Bale's time in LaLiga ended after 19 trophies at Real Madrid. Bale took a $30 million pay cut to join a club almost 6,000 miles away from Madrid in a league with no promotion/relegation system.
Less than two hours later, the Welsh winger was shouting LAFC's fight song through a megaphone, doused by teammates, who included a pink pinnie-clad World Cup champion. Bale dissented against "retirement league" presumptions at his introductory news conference. In the wake of Bale's confirmation that he wouldn't retire from football if Wales qualified for the World Cup, this happened.
As MLS' Rivalry Week kicked off, two-time European Golden Boot winner Luis Suarez was rumored to also be U.S. bound, with the ex-Atletico Madrid / Barcelona star saying he had five or six offers. The "reunion with Lionel Messi in Miami" rumor mill is going strong. Wayne Rooney, who played in D.C. and pulled off arguably the greatest play in MLS history, has been named the new coach of United.
One of the most amazing plays in MLS history was performed by Wayne Rooney in the match between DC United andOrlando.
MLS will always be a topic of debate, the evidence in support is only strengthened by the fact that Bale, Rooney and Messi are all 30 years old. At the halfway point of the MLS season, the average attendance is over 20,000, inching ever closer to Major League Baseball's.
The last four years have seen all but one of MLS' most lucrative departures.
MLS is all-in and the real wizard behind the curtain is not a player, young or old.
One of the current crosstown league rivalries, El Trafico, lived up to its billing, but the others have been mixed. The Timbers Army was delighted by the win over Seattle. San Jose, who didn't win a match until April 23rd and currently sit 12th of 14 in the West, won the "California Clasico" thanks to sloppy early defensive errors from Los Angeles. It's Rooney.
Only one from all of Rivalry Week has two Original 10 members of MLS, and that's the case with the LA vs San Jose game. The Earthquakes haven't finished in the top 10 of the league in a decade. It's possible that, quite possibly, LandonDonovan. Since 2009, seven of nine Rivalry Week matches have a side in the league. Half of the original 10 members have their original names.
The Hudson River Derby, for one, can feel contrived according to some MLS fans.
For Jeremy Wright, a member of the Timbers Army since 2001, derbies are not only up the ante, but for an American sport that is comparatively in its infancy. It was 130 years ago that relationships soured atEverton, which may have been the reason for the formation ofLiverpool. MLS has yet to turn 30. Portland and Seattle are two of America's most fervent soccer cities due to the fact that both are transplants.
"After a rivalry becomes just that," says Wright, who moved out to Portland in the late 1990s, "it becomes bigger than the game itself and relevant outside of the sport."
When the revival of the Timbers was announced, Wright attended a permanent watch party for the 1998 World Cup. The USL A-League was hosted by the reincarnated Timbers in 2001.
Wright remembers thinking, " 'WOW, these teams don't like each other.' I have two kids and sometimes can't take time off for games, but I will sit here and watch with my girls.
Wright, who is originally from Washington, D.C., runs a consulting firm, working in public affairs and political consulting, mostly with school districts and public agencies Is it possible that the weekends are also the weekends? They are owned by the Timbers. Wright says a win by the Timbers sets the whole city abuzz.
Wright says that people are saying "Hey, you guys whipped the hell out of Seattle" when they call him on the phone. It's all over that Monday.
We think it's important for the MLS to make sure it doesn't feel plastic. Rivalries are about cultural landmarks that go back a long way than a soccer team.
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