Good Monday morning Caps fans. Hope you all had a lovely weekend and are gearing up for the week ahead.
We are officially back to MLS, with the World Cup now in our rearview mirror. Spain are the deserved champions, capping off what was a spectacular tournament. While the final wasn’t quite as good as 2022, I think the tournament as a whole surpassed Qatar.
MLS, however, continues to be poorly positioned to take advantage of the considerable interest in the sport right now. Some of that interest will fizzle out but some of it will persist. But instead of working hard over the course of the tournament to convert those new fans or relaxing roster rules to try and ensure the product is more like the top European leagues.
Instead, we got no meaningful coverage of the tournament, until the bitter end when there was a slick ad campaign that features Messi and a few other stars. I suppose it is better than nothing but I doubt it’ll move the needle for people. Folks are aware of MLS but just need a more substantive nudge to get interested and invested in the league. This was never going to be the sea change moment for the league a lot of people predicted when the U.S., Mexico, and Canada were awarded this tournament — soccer in North America is in a vastly different place than it was in 1994 and there is less low hanging fruit out there. Still, greater gains could have been made and MLS could have made themselves the preferred destination for people wanting more of a soccer fix. Instead, I see a lot of people asking which Premier League side to support.
The good news is that Vancouver is well positioned to benefit from any World Cup bounce locally. Global superstar? Check. Entertaining product? Check. Fun in person environment? Check. The uncertain future of the team is all that is holding it back. Even still, everyone loves an underdog, right? If you have friends or family who are interested in soccer for the first time, now’s the moment: get them to a Caps game.
Best of the Rest
Another look at the potential impact of the World Cup.
What did Vancouver specifically get out of the World Cup?
The MLS brass is down to two candidates to replace Don Garner as MLS Commissioner.
Vancouver FC are actually good now? The upstart side blew out Supra 5-1 over the weekend.
the WC coverage in Canada was superb on TSN- first class IMO- Luke Wielman, Kevin Kilbane, Steven Caldwell and Atiba Hutchison- but the best analysis was done by Claire Rustad who gave different insights and perspectives that i really appreciated- she should be asked to do more
being in Qatar in 2022, this 2026 WC was far superior due to the magnificence of the wide array of cultures and fans that were passionate and patriotic on every level and in all the host cities- and most of the games were enthralling…except for a mediocre Final (and except for the last 20 minutes)
Spain were the complete Team, not having any serious weaknesses- they even nullified Messi who had nil impact on the game- the right WC winners who could have won by 3-4 goals except for shooting good chances right at the Argentina Goalie
now onto the Whitecaps, MLS and the Euro leagues for my next fixes of the Beautiful Game