Wide Left: Grant Wahl Talks the Future of US Soccer, Beckham & MLS Cup

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Grant Wahl, lead soccer writer in America for Sports Illustrated and author of The Beckham Experiment, joins the show to talk about the MLS Cup this weekend, David Beckham's tenure in MLS (potentially coming to an end after the finals) and not only the future of the league, but the future of US Soccer.

Wahl and I spend a fair amount of time talking about Beckham's tenure with MLS and the Galaxy, wondering how much has changed for both the player and the league since Wahl's book was published.

We try to figure out why MLS would schedule their championship a week after an international break, thereby killing all the buzz the playoffs created over the previous two weeks. We agree that having the match during the break is not smart—something they have done in the past—but why not schedule the finals for the week BEFORE the break to maximize the buzz?

Having said that, the league has been making a lot of right decisions lately and seems to be, especially when compared to other leagues in America, rather stable. How much credit should go to MLS Commissioner Don Garber for the growth and success of the league?

As good as it is, the league is not without its issues. Wahl wrote a wonderful article about the MLS scheduling and playoff issues and we go into detail on some of his ideas, as well as a few of my own.

He suggests setting up the playoffs with two four-team groups, giving the top seed in each group three home games, the second seed two home games, the third one home game, forcing the bottom seed to play all three matches on the road. It's a great idea and I certainly don't have much to add, other than the suggestion that the "playoffs" convert to an in-season tournament the following year.

The structure can remain the same—or how Wahl suggests—but why not make the Supporters' Shield, given to the team with the top overall regular season record, more important by having the year end when the regular season does. Then, the top teams from this year will play in a playoff-like tournament during the following season, crowning a tournament champion sometime before the All-Star break.

This would enable MLS to give out two huge trophies each season and not devalue the regular season champion. Having said that, the proposed unbalanced schedule (a good idea for MLS) would make that difficult.

We also talk about the U.S. Men's National Team who scored three goals in Tuesday's match against Slovenia. How important are these early matches for Jurgen Klinsmann? And what does Wahl think about Klinsmann giving out jersey numbers to players based on their position on the field? Isn't it weird that Carlos Bocanegra—who Wahl points out has the No. 3 in his Twitter handle—has been wearing No. 5?

And isn't it a little odd that Clint Dempsey is wearing 10? Will he still wear 10 when he and Landon Donovan are on the same field? Can you imagine a U.S. Soccer match with Donovan NOT wearing 10?

You can watch the MLS Cup on Sunday night at 9pm on ESPN. The quality of play is better than most people think.