All-Star Game at Soldier Field shows MLS still has work to do
Major League Soccer commissioner Don Garber was warming up to his point.
Slowly but surely MLS is catching up to the rest of the world in terms of on- and off-field quality.
"At the end of the day, it's about having the right environments," the commissioner said during a news conference a couple of hours before Wednesday night's MLS All-Star Game at Soldier Field. "It's about having the right opportunity for (international players) financially. It's about the right training environments.
"There was a time when we had to worry about whether a player would want to come because their manager or national team coach would say, you're not going to train and develop as well in the United States. You should go someplace else."
"Those days are over."
But Wednesday's game, despite being an exhibition, suggested MLS still has work to do.
Real Madrid tied the MLS All-Stars 1-1 on a 59th-minute goal by Borja Mayoral. MLS equalized in the 87th minute when Dom Dwyer headed in the rebound of Fire midfielder Dax McCarty's shot off the left post.
Real Madrid won in penalty kicks 4-2 in front of a capacity crowd of 61,428.
Some will point out that Real Madrid is still in its preseason. That Cristiano Ronaldo, perhaps the best player in the world, did not make the trip. That several other top players - like Gareth Bale, Karim Benzema and Marcelo - played less than 30 minutes each. Luka Modric didn't play at all.
That argument is countered by the reminder that Real Madrid was playing a team that had been together three days. Players like Jozy Altidore played just 30 minutes before being subbed out.
And several of the players having the best seasons in MLS this year were left off the roster entirely, such as the Fire's David Accam or Houston's Alex, a former Fire midfielder.
It's instructive, however, that the commissioner thought of other markets when thinking of top-notch training facilities, however. That's a reminder Chicago still has work to do to match up with its MLS rivals.
"When people go down to Atlanta, they're not looking at Atlanta and thinking that they're not going to develop well in that market," Garber said. "That training facility in Atlanta is world-class. If they're in Toronto or a smaller market like Salt Lake, they're looking at a training environment that is competitive with the rest of the world, so I think that the dynamic has changed. That's a function of owners that are making investments that are significant."
The Fire has built a lot of momentum this season, bringing in German superstar Bastian Schweinsteiger, winning for the first time in years and now putting on a show despite a little rain at the All-Star Game.
The Fire's hopes to play a regular-season game at Soldier Field later this month and build on that momentum fell through when the club couldn't work out the details with its Toyota Park landlord, the Village of Bridgeview.