MLS 1, FMF 7: Hair And Data Loss Products Gain Market Share.

11.06 EDT.  Robbie Rogers blows by Mexican international Corrado Torrado.  US players continue to show their mettle against top Mexican players.  Still, unshockingly, MLS Big Wednesday in the Champions League is still heading down the tubes. 

DC United has already lost 3-1 to Toluca in RFK.

The Columbus Crew, down a man and three goals, are fighting Cruz Azul valiantly after a halftime break full of commercials geared toward nervous middle aged Americans.  Data and Hair loss solutions were both offered, as usual.

Now the commentators are talking about saving the MLS from embarrassment—and the players should take head:  Their paychecks come direct from the Manhattan League office. I wonder if Commissioner Don Garber sign them?

Is Garber watching?  Looks to me as if about 138 Mexicans are, even in soccer crazy Ciudad de Mexico—even against us crowd drawing gringos.  At the corner kicks, security guards in riot gear protect US players from projectiles thrown from the crowd, though not a single fan is visible in the stands within throwing range.  

I guess a couple of Mexicanos have good enough arms to hurl a nine volt battery eighty yards, so maybe the efforts of the guards are not too absurd.

Frankie Hejduk—giving his all, as usual. One of the real storied players in the history of the USMNT. So many memories.

Restricted in salary, squad size, and squad compostion, every MLS club is at a severe disadvantage in international competitions, so there's really no drama here. The days of DC United winning the Interamerican Cup and the LA Galaxy winning the Champions Cup are now over a decade old. 

International competitions that include MLS clubs have become relatively predictable. 

Maybe our southern neighbors are weathering the recession better than the MLS  franchisers. Or maybe the sparse Mexican crowd is on to something: Maybe they see, like most US soccer fans, that we're not making our best efforts to create a league that can represent us on the international stage.

Another good play from Robbie Rogers. Gotta get that kid out of the exhibition league that stands in for our first division—though as a college draftee, he's already older than the vast majority of American exports.

FSC commentators are now promising hordes of angry Crew supporters on the return leg. I hope so.

And as I write this—PK awarded to Cruz Azul,

4-0

If you read my other stories, you may think I'm happy about this result.  After all, it serves my argument for the disenfranchisement of the MLS and USL. To open our leagues like every other major soccer nation. To put clubs in front of leagues.

If that's true, why does it suck watching this?

Ugh.

Now it's 5-0.

Ugh.

Now the game is over, and to add insult to injury—Peyton Manning is there on the first commercial out, promoting the DirecTV NFL package.

Brutal.