An interesting thing has happened over the last month. Rather than the usual cheap shots and bad jokes from American MLS fans about the Voyageurs Cup, there was a quiet admittance.
The tournament is fun. And compelling. And intense. And damn hard to win.
Some, even some working on MLSSoccer.com's official podcast, went so far to state the ultimate blasphemy.
They were willing to admit that the Voyageurs Cup is better than the US Open Cup.
[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
It is. Although Canadians should be jealous of the longevity of that tournament (note I didn't say "history," because the fan driven history of the V-Cup may be shorter, but is no less rich) they absolutely should not be jealous of the quality.
The truth is that all three MLS teams try and win it. Sometimes they try and balance a squad rotation with trying to win, but no one is trying to lose.
Three MLS teams trying to win is roughly equal to the amount of American MLS teams that try to win the USOC. The difference is those three teams aren't generally playing one another until very late in a drawn out tournament that's often hard to follow.
The latter two points are key. The strength of the Voyageurs Cup is how quickly it passes. It's done in a month. It's like having three home and home playoff series in the middle of the season. The coverage of the tournament is also mush more accessible. Even the biggest MLS geek can't watch all of the USOC. They can watch every single game in the V-Cup.
As stated, even some (many?) Americans do. Again, it's about the intensity of the match-ups.
Yes, the Voyageurs Cup needs to expand to include more teams, but it should never lose sight of its strength. Any further expansion should lead to a four team, final four sprint to the finish line.
In fact, the USOC might want to consider something similar. Could you imagine a final 8 tournament where the eight teams that qualified played Saturday, Wednesday, Saturday in a single game knock out. If MLS really cares about the tournament they could even book the week off.
That's a tournament even I as a Canadian would be interested in watching...
This post was made during the site's 48-hour blogging marathon. We are attempting to raise funds to keep the site running through to the end of 2015 (and hopefully beyond).
We are 25 percent of the way to our goal of $2,400.
There are four ways to donate.
1) You can send an EMT to CSNDonation@gmail.com
2) You can make a PayPal donation to dgrollins@gmail.com
3) You can make a cash donation to me in person (I will be at BMO Field on Wednesday -- email me for my phone number to arrange a meet up)
4) You can mail me a cheque. Email me at DuaneGRollins@gmail.com for address.
Thanks to all that have contributed so far and thanks to those who are considering a contribution.