Football In the US Will Always Suffer in Comparison to the Rest of the World

David Beckham and Temo Blanco were the big names for the MLS All-Stars on Thursday in Toronto against the English Premier League team West Ham United.

Blanco proved he still can excite the crowds, scoring one goal, setting up another and being named the MVP of the match as the All-Stars beat West Ham, 3-2.

Dwayne DeRosario, a midfielder for the Houston Dynamo, scored the game-winning goal on a penalty kick tiebreaker. This is the second time the winning score in an All-Star game came off DeRosario's boot. He found the back of the net in a 1-0 victory for the All-Stars against Chelsea in 2006.

The MLS All-Stars have won five straight contests against European opponents, but in no way should anyone be led to believe that the American game has improved to even close to par for the rest of the world.

ESPN and ABC have broadcast more international football matches in recent years, proving that the grand game has a place in America. The problem isn't with interest in the game, it's with making the American version of it interesting.

Watching an MLS match can be exciting and at times even brilliant, but the game is just not as exciting because it is not played as well. It's like watching a minor league version of the international game.

UEFA matches, which were featured this spring on American television, are played more crisply, more quickly, and more expertly than anything seen on an American pitch.

Try as they might by importing retired players from Europe or Mexico and paying big bucks to the likes of Freddy Adu (an experiment that went horribly awry), the MLS fails to see the fundamental flaw in its structure.

Starting its season when the rest of the world is finishing the season makes the MLS the football equivalent of the WNBA. The little brothers in the MLS begin playing important matches in September and October when the "big leagues" are back on the pitch.

Why would a fan of the game watch Columbus vs. Los Angeles when he could watch Manchester City vs. Liverpool or Sunderland vs. Arsenal?

The MLS won't change its schedule, though, because it can't compete with the NFL for venue space and it knows that Americans are much more attached to the brutal game than the beautiful game.

Because the top professional league in the US relegates itself to a sort of amusement between football seasons, the game in America will always suffer in comparison to the rest of the world.

The top players in the world will always look at the MLS as a place to retire.