Обсуждение участника:AdellLeedom
Back in March Roger Bennet at ESPNFC had a provocative article titled Can you call yourself a U.S. soccer fan if you don’t support MLS? Let’s get the obvious answer out of the way right now, of course you can! I’m one of them and there are thousands just like me. I get what he and others are saying and the article did good job in promoting discussion on Twitter. Things get a little blurry depending on your definition of a U.S soccer fan. Is that just United States National teams? Does it include MLS? What about college or high school soccer? For me, as long as you are passionate about the National Teams you qualify. I haven’t noticed any MLS teams with United States in their names or a US flag in their logo. There is plenty of room in the US soccer tent even for casual fans. Why alienate anyone who supports U.S. soccer in some way? The community is still way too small compared to those that couldn’t care less about the beautiful game. As for MLS, I live in the South and recent MLS expansion has made it one of the last leagues to which I pay attention. Even behind Liga MX.
First, a little background on me. I’ve been a passionate supporter of the United States Men’s National team since the 1998 World Cup. I happened to be in Mexico during the World Cup and found it infectious. Four years later, I was up in the middle of the night to watch all the United States 2002 World Cup matches. Then in 2005, I got my first cap in Birmingham for the qualifier versus Guatemala. That’s when I realized I wanted to be part of this growing club of supporters. While I was surely drunk, sitting in the supporters section is in itself intoxicating. I wanted to do what I could to help U.S. soccer so when my city, Nashville, hosted a World Cup qualifier in 2009, I contacted Mark Spacone (co-founder of Sam’s Army) to ask how I could help. He put me in touch with Ed Kirwan from the North Jersey Brigade and I hung the banners and setup the big ass flag the night before the match. This was also the time it became clear to me that Sam’s Army was on its deathbed and American Outlaws was the future. I joined American Outlaws shortly after and have been a member since 2009.
Yet, I don’t support MLS. Unless you consider watching a game here and there on television support. How can you blame me? First, MLS has zero presence in the Southeast. Living in Nashville, I believe the closest team is Columbus. While I love going there every four years for a Dos a Cero beat down of Mexico, I can’t see supporting the Crew. The stadium isn’t that nice, the drive is a little too long and the team isn’t that interesting. I might have considered going to a few games when the team had Brian McBride, but that was a long time ago. Basically, MLS geography is a major problem and I’ll get back to that in a minute. Since I just mentioned USMNT legend Brian McBride, I’ll admit like many I suspect for a time, when it came to clubs I was a supporter of Fulham. Rooting for the Cottegarers was easy. With McBride being one of club’s best (if not the best) player for so many years. Then he passed that baton to Clint Dempsey. Let’s not forget both Carlos Bocanegra and Kasey Keller spent time there as well. Why wouldn’t a supporter of U.S. soccer follow Fulham as opposed to an MLS team. Their matches were on Fox Soccer quite often and usually at 9:00 Saturday morning. It’s nice knowing when matches will occur – something MLS can’t quite understand. Of course times change and I’ve shifted my allegiance to Tottenham for Brad Friedel and Clint Dempsey. It also doesn’t hurt that they are bigger clubs or that I am Jewi
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