Husidic

Last night, I took in my annual Chicago Fire game, the SuperLiga final against UNAL Tigres. Chicago lost on kicks. I try to pay attention to my local MLS squad but paying attention is difficult because:

1. They play in the middle of nowhere. When will the rich bankrollers of MLS learn that building a stadium in a distant suburb dooms their precious "franchise" to obscurity? The "public funding at all costs" mantra that has dominated US sports ever since Reinsdorf ripped off Illinois taxpayers has now become a means that overshadows the purported end. In other words, an MLS team will tie themselves into a stadium in a far-flung suburbia simply because that same stadium is publicly funded. Those decisions damage the long-term equity of the franchise - if you want to build a valuable asset, focus less on the amenities (whatever the marginal revenue) and erect a glorified high school football stadium close to the central transportation nexus of your urban area. The first team that ponies up $10-15m on land and spends an equal amount on the facility itself will make the rest of the league look like fools. Moreover, they'll be getting better value for their money by doing it themselves.

2. It's not good soccer. The holding midfielder's influence is exagerrated in MLS because the skill sets of so many American players suit that role. It makes for a slow and technically deficient, if atheltic, game. Lots of 1-1 and 0-0 draws. MLS competition isn't inferior to a number of other top-tier leagues around the world. In fact, it's better than most. But the basic strategy, enforced by the officiating, glorifies the steady but unexciting guys. Always ekeing out a point might seem a safe strategy to the manager but, in actuality, it's counterproductive on two levels...let's call them (a) and (b)...

(a) First, as the league wants to grow in popularity, the style should be shaped to emphasize risk. Risk sells, prudence does not. Nobody goes to the movies to watch underwriters create actuarial tables - we fork over money to watch tractor-trailors, loaded with dynamite, screech into traffic while the pedestrians flee the explosions. As a limited cabal of owners run the franchises, they should realize that faster-played, if less prudent, soccer is far more interesting to the consumer than the current product. Find ways to emphasize that style - be it a deciding preference in the hiring of coaches (banning anyone ever associated with NCAA soccer would be a start) or closer scrutiny of the referees. Screw trying to save a point and go for a freaking goal once in a while.

(b) Second, the league's attempt to emulate NFL-type parity is misguided. What MLS really wants is an "event", the way the NFL dominates the collective sport conscious every Sunday, from Labor Day to Valentine's Day. Despite the lip service, the money men could care less about their precious parity if people would tune in to watch the games, thus driving up ad revenues, etc. On face, the parity idead would seem to promote interest - "I don't which team is going to win" but in actuality it turns fans away because there's no draw. Winning teams capture the public interest and if the best team in the league can only get three points 50% of the time, that fundamental draw is lacking.

3. And finally to one Mr. "Baggio" Husidic, the ostensible subject of this post. Husidic was the Chicago Fire's first draft choice this past winter and he's slowly been seeing more playing time this season. Last night, against Tigres, he played the entire 2nd half, more than almost ever before. Husidic is billed as an attacking midfielder but he was forced to play in deeper-lying role as one of two central mids. On the few occasions that he had the ball at his feet, he showed good instincts, including a wonderfully perceptive dummy to set up the Fire's only 2nd-half scoring chance. Also, he rashly dribbled into trouble after a few minutes on the field and that instance was to prove his defining moment tonight. It was clear that his teammates didn't trust Husidic with the ball after that mistake. Specifically, his fellow mid, Logan Pause, was continually positioning Husidic during stoppages for much of the half...

Here's the catch though - the aptly-named Pause takes for-freaking-ever to deliver a pass whereas Husidic seems to play much more quickly. Pause held the ball, reluctant to decide, at the top of the box throughout the 2nd half. While Pause is not a bad player, his indecision cost the team several scoring opportunities. To watch Pause bossing the more effective player, Husidic, into a lesser role galled me. That his coach and his teammates let him get away with it was even worse. Chicago should have won that game - that they didn't reflects poorly on the league and serves as an indictment of the dry style that they promote.

Last of all, let's stop calling Mr. Husidic by the name "Baggio". The nickname doesn't suit him. He doesn't look like Roberto Baggio. Of course, he doesn't play as well as Roberto Baggio. Husidic is a tall, shaggy, languid fellow whereas the real Baggio was a little nipper. Husidic's given name is "Adis" - that's a nice name. I don't care if his uncles address him as "Baggio" but the rest of us should stop because doing so will always place a weight on his shoulders that he can't carry.