Hype vs History: How Two Cup Tournaments Highlight the Battle Between the Past, Present & Future of the Sport in the USA

The schism that divides Major League Soccer commissioner Don Garber’s vision for the league (and the sport in general) and the sport’s too-often-forgotten-by-design history was on full display on September 25, 2024 thanks to a cup trophy double-header in the USA.

The day began with Club América of Liga MX lifting the Campeones Cup trophy after defeating the Columbus Crew of MLS. Hours later, Los Angeles FC lifted the US Open Cup title at home in an overtime thriller against Sporting Kansas City.

The former is one of the tournaments invented by long-running MLS commissioner Don Garber. The Campeones Cup pits the winner of Liga MX’s Copa de Campeones Cup and the MLS league winner. This one-off game spawned the separate, month-long Leagues Cup, which is an all MLS vs all Liga MX affair and the latest in big ideas of Garber’s lifelong escapades in US and CONCACAF (and soon-to-be global?!) soccer.

The antithesis to these ideas is the US Open Cup. Founded in 1913, the tournament has hosted US teams from every division and continues to do so today…and that’s in spite of Garber’s attempted meddling in all facets of US soccer.

It was around this time last year that MLS announced that it would not field any teams in the US Open Cup and would instead send in the MLS reserve sides to the tournament. The pushback was swift, but only eight of 29 MLS teams decided to continue competing as normal. The others were replaced by their MLS Next Pro counterparts.

How will they comply w/ Art.II.a.ii of US Soccer's Pro League Standards, which require DI outdoor leagues to play in all U.S. Soccer competitions for which they are eligible. Isn't the Open Cup a U.S. Soccer competition? Are they sending MLSNP rosters under the MLS teams' names? https://t.co/DbxCkodRdv pic.twitter.com/hUw0OSzpnz
— Steven Bank (@ProfBank) December 15, 2023

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LAFC vs Club León in Pictures

La Fiera dominated the Black And Gold across the two game stretch of the CONCACAF Champions League final. I put together a short piece & photo essay for LA Taco of the second & final leg hosted by LAFC this past Sunday June 3.

Check out the rest here: https://lataco.com/history-for-guanajuato-as-lafc-falls-to-leon-in-the-2023-sccl-final

Copa Centroamericana Match Day 1 Recap

The 2017 Copa Centroamericana kicked off this past Friday, January 13th. The biannual tournament pits Central American national teams against each other in a short tournament to name a regional champion as well as to select four national teams to the proceeding CONCACAF Gold Cup tournament.

Guatemala was not involved in this year’s tournament as the country’s football federation remains banned due to “political interference.” As such, this year’s tournament will follow a round-robin format from Jan. 13th – Jan. 22nd. The team with the most points at the end of the five match days will raise the tournament trophy.

Honduras 2 – 1 Nicaragua

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EeaHIfv2OyU

Costa Rica 0 – 0 El Salvador

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZBFZ8Mmm1Y

Panama 0 – 0 Belize

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqZCXEVcxuA

Honduras is the current leader with 3 points as the only team that won on opening day.

Match Day 2 is today, January 15th, on Univision Deportes.

Mexico vs. Panama Gold Cup Match at The Rose Bowl

This past Sunday was the much anticipated first set of CONCACAF Gold Cup matches between Mexico and Panama. Canada vs. Martinique was played before in a double-header but I skipped it in order to partake in all the free food at the tailgate parties.