We are privileged, here at The Razor, to be given the opportunity to share articles that were written by Martin French (of the Louisville Coopers and the Louisville/Derby City Boarding Crew); that were published in the Waterford United matchday program. Without further ado...
The top of the US football system,
similar to here, is on the third game of the season this weekend,
with the two other professional leagues starting soon. However,
there are elements that feel very different to Ireland’s game, even
in terms of basic structure. As I am going to be following it a lot
closer this year, I am going to explore some of the differences
occasionally here
In Major League Soccer (MLS) in the USA
(where I live these days), we are also into the third round of the
season, while the second and third tiers are yet to start play, with
the second and third tiers yet to kick off. The system here is
confusing to those of us brought up in the European sphere, with
footballing merit having little influence on promotion up the ladder,
and no relegation. Simply put, these leagues are really three
independent companies, with differing rules (though all FIFA
recognised), who have vied for the right to be considered the top and
second levels of football here.
MLS is going since 1996 – it was a
part of the deal to get a World Cup here. The league is now 20
strong, with two new teams coming in this season (and one ”resting”
for a couple of seasons to rebrand). It’s loosely divided into a
Western and an Eastern Conference, with clubs also playing some games
with teams in the other conference. At the end of the regular
(league) season, 12 of the 20 teams go into conference playoffs, with
winners of each conference playing each other in a final known as MLS
Cup. It has teams in most of the big TV markets in the country
(which is, though unwritten, the chief consideration for “expansion”
teams wanting to join the league.
The second tier is the North American
Soccer League, better known as the NASL. This isn’t the same NASL
of Johnny Giles, Best, Pele and Beckenbauer – it is a separate
company that bought out the name. However, as of two years ago, the
New York Cosmos started playing in it (again, a new company, but who
bought the name, and got Pele to front it). There are only 11 teams
in the new NASL, and it follows the Latin American fashion of having
an opening and a closing season, with the winners of each meeting in
the woefully named “Soccer Bowl”.
The third and final tier of
professional football is owned by United Soccer Leagues (who also
operate the biggest 4th tier amateur league), and has
recently been rebranded as USL. It has expanded from 14 teams last
year to 24 this year. USL works somewhat closely if rather
informally with MLS and has 8 teams that are essentially reserve
sides for MLS clubs, and of the other 16, 12 have a formal
affiliation with an MLS team. This years is the first time with
conference play, and 2 inter league games for a few teams. As with
MLS, the top six finishers in each conference go to playoffs, with
the winners of each conference playing for the Championship.
It is in USL that the newly formed
Louisville City FC – the professional team for the city I now live
in – will make their bow next weekend, at Slugger Field, the local
baseball stadium. Affiliated to Orlando City in MLS, and owned by
one of their former part owners, the team was somewhat enticed into
existence by the demands of a local football supporters’ group, set
up for this very purpose.
The manager (called Head Coach here) is
a little familiar to Irish eyes: James O’Connor is a former Irish
U21 international, and played for a variety teams in the English
Championship. He moved to Orlando in 2012 to play for them, becoming
a coach and then trading off to get into managing. Further weirdness
here is that he is called Coach O’Connor – I wonder what Tommy
Griffin would say if we called him Coach Griffin.
