When you started talking about overseas leagues, I was hoping you’d drop in where you think MLS ranks now. The quality has improved a lot, but with guys like Insigne & Shaquiri coming over here, plus guys like Matt Turner headed over there, where does the league stand in relation to, say, England’s lower leagues?
After a little discussion on Twitter with some other people following one of your tweets, I thought about what makes a great sporting rivalry.
One factor is the relationship between the two countries. How much bad blood do they have? I'm talking Bosnia-Serbia, Japan-China, El Salvador-Honduras. History matters here, but so do current relationships. There are great club rivalries too, Arsenal-Tottenham and Real-Barcelona. But really it's national teams that matter, because there are no trades or transfers, just your player pool and your flag.
And then there's quality of play. Some rivalries have better play. Brazil-Argentina. Germany-Holland. Spain-Portugal. That's why nobody really cares about the ones I mentioned above.
So what hits both of those dimensions? Here are my top two: India versus Pakistan in cricket, and USA versus Mexico in soccer. The two relationships are very different, but both have history and current tensions. And they both play their sport at at least top-20 levels.
Fantastic idea!! I'm in. See you there
When you started talking about overseas leagues, I was hoping you’d drop in where you think MLS ranks now. The quality has improved a lot, but with guys like Insigne & Shaquiri coming over here, plus guys like Matt Turner headed over there, where does the league stand in relation to, say, England’s lower leagues?
After a little discussion on Twitter with some other people following one of your tweets, I thought about what makes a great sporting rivalry.
One factor is the relationship between the two countries. How much bad blood do they have? I'm talking Bosnia-Serbia, Japan-China, El Salvador-Honduras. History matters here, but so do current relationships. There are great club rivalries too, Arsenal-Tottenham and Real-Barcelona. But really it's national teams that matter, because there are no trades or transfers, just your player pool and your flag.
And then there's quality of play. Some rivalries have better play. Brazil-Argentina. Germany-Holland. Spain-Portugal. That's why nobody really cares about the ones I mentioned above.
So what hits both of those dimensions? Here are my top two: India versus Pakistan in cricket, and USA versus Mexico in soccer. The two relationships are very different, but both have history and current tensions. And they both play their sport at at least top-20 levels.