By Luis Bueno – RIVERSIDE, CA (Aug 11, 2021) US Soccer Players – In 1995, the Mexican league was a well-established league that featured strong players on quality teams that captivated the entire nation year after year. At the same time, American club soccer was looking to restart topflight soccer for the first time in just over a decade. Over 25 years later, both countries have strong leagues with clubs spending millions of dollars to compete.
Which league is best? For a long time, the easy answer was Liga MX. That wasn’t just on the field. It was also in terms of appeal both domestically and to fans in the United States. As MLS has grown, so has the competition between the two leagues. MLS and Liga MX have both stressed that competition is good for the region. It’s why they’ve tried again at a cup tournament.
“We have seen the great rivalry that exists on the field between MLS and LIGA MX clubs, and these events provide a unique opportunity for fans to see their club compete in meaningful international competition while creating enormous interest and attention for both leagues,” MLS commissioner Don Garber said in the March 23 press release announcing the 2021 Leagues Cup and Campeones Cup.
Liga MX clubs may have won every Concacaf Champions League, but both see playing MLS teams as helpful from a competitive and business perspective. In the same press release, Liga MX president Mikel Arriola stressed that “the return of Leagues Cup and Campeones Cup is crucial for the project to internationalize Liga MX. We know that North America has a large number of fans, and over 30% on average of the audience for our league’s games comes from the United States, which speaks to the importance of getting closer to our fanbase in the northern region of the continent.”
Welcome back the Leagues Cup then, in its second edition in three years and providing more games that count between the two leagues. Four MLS teams play four Liga MX teams, giving opportunities to clubs not in the Champions League. There’s a Champions League matchup between the two leagues as well this week. Philadelphia plays Club America in the semifinals.
That’s five points of comparison over a few days. Poring over the results and trying to sort out what exactly everything means is one thing. There’s a simpler question worth asking. Is it really important?
In the seemingly never-ending debate between MLS and Liga MX supporters and pundits, the question is not about importance. It’s about if and when MLS will overtake Liga MX as the strongest league in Concacaf.
This week might play a role in that, but only in one instance. Philadelphia potentially knocking out Club America with the opening leg of that series on Thursday night in Mexico City. The Concacaf Champions League remains Major League Soccer’s hurdle when it comes to Liga MX. Without winning the Champions League, everything else is just talk.
Obvoiusly, that includes the Leagues Cup. From the outset, the tournament has to be more than just glorified friendlies. It can’t be for testing young players (MLS) or early season fitness (Liga MX). It is difficult to make much of Sporting Kansas City’s 6-1 loss to Leon or the Seattle Sounders’ 3-0 win over Tigres UANL. For the purposes of this competition, Seattle advanced to the semifinals of the single-elimination tournament while Sporting KC, who fielded one debutant and three others who had a combined five first-team starts between them, exited after a poor showing.
Leon winning flatters Liga MX. Tigres losing flatters MLS. Both raise bigger questions about this tournament, which still has to show that the clubs involved take it seriously.
Even if MLS teams were to have a clean sweep of the games this week, would it really matter? More to the point, let’s assume Philadelphia does get by Club America. Does anybody really believe that’s going to overly impress Liga MX fans? What about MLS winning another Campeones Cup? Will that prove the point that, if nothing else, the level of competition is closer? It’s a difference in scope as much as anything else.
Consider the recent matchups between the US and Mexico national teams. Two cup finals, both won by the USMNT in noticeably different circumstances. The fallout for Mexico supporters and pundits had more to do with how El Tri lost, not a change in the order of Concacaf. That’s normally what happens in any era where the US was winning. Mexico pundits rarely see the national team losing as more than a problem that needs addressing to return things to normal.
It’s a safe expectation that the same would apply to the club game. So one successful summer for MLS clubs over Liga MX likely will not do much to change many minds, particularly if the results come in the Leagues Cup. Even Philadelphia in the Champions League is easy dismissable as a one-off dependent on a specific set of circumstances.
Meanwhile, should Philadelphia knockout Club America it’s a huge result for MLS. Part of a proof of concept for the Philadelphia revival, it also speaks to those broader league-wide ambitions. It’s a major step forward for the league if they end up lifting the trophy, one that’s been a long time coming.
That’s the problem with a league like MLS, built to a specific purpose in the mid-90s and still making adjustments as it continues to expand. Just because they want a tournament or game to matter doesn’t necessarily mean that it does.
Luis Bueno is a veteran soccer writer. Follow him on twitter @BuenoSoccer.
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Photo by Andrew Katsampes – ISIPhotos.com
