Creeping. Usually, the context on this word is a negative one, i.e. so and so was creeping on Facebook. For the sake of this blog, the context of creeping is solely positive. You’re probably saying,”whatever do you mean, Ashleigh?” There are a few positive meanings. The Crew are creeping and sports fans are creeping into the hallows of the soccer world. Let me explain.
Crew Creeping? Yes. The Columbus Crew are slowly but surely creeping their way up the MLS standings, and I believe the team has yet to reach their peek this season. Call me crazy, but I view the loss to KC as a positive. It shook the team when they needed to be shaken. They followed that dismal loss with two stellar performances at home. Sometimes a team perceives an opponent as a push over but many forget that when facing the team that is the best in the conference every opponent will play with added spark, therefore, the Crew can never let up.
Luckily, the loss to KC wasn’t as crucial a game as the one vs the Red Bulls, when the team played composed and their best soccer of the season, leading to the 2-nil result. Their best soccer of the season was quickly followed by playing better than their previous best against the Houston Dynamo in a 3-nil win.
Let’s accept the fact that the line up will vary each week, with that the Crew display why they have won two consecutive Support Shields and are on pace to win a third. With fourteen regular season games left the team has plenty of opportunities to make a late season run. I would much rather a team creep up the standings than have them burn out as a result of early to mid season dominance. Three of the last five games have been shut outs, if the team stays focused and grinds it out on the road we will see the positive effects of creeping come late October.
Much like the Crew’s steady creep up the standings so is the growth of soccer in the United States. People believe with so many popular sports in our country there is no room for soccer. How about this gem: 24 million fans in the U.S. watched the World Cup final between Spain and the Netherlands on ABC and Univision. That’s more than the average viewership for the World Series games between the New York Yankees and the Philadelphia Phillies.
More than a half a million fans are expected to see Europe’s best teams play in the U.S. this summer. When the Philadelphia Union hosted Manchester United, 44,213 fans attended, which is 24,000 more than a typical sellout crowd at an NBA game. Although the MLS won’t be competing with the NFL anytime soon the constant creeping of passion for this sport proves that soccer in this country has a bright future.
Until we meet again Crew fans!
-Ashleigh
*Growth of soccer stats via NY Times.
July 26th, 2010 at 12:28 pm
Well written, Ashleigh! It’s definitely exciting being a Crew/MLS fan right now!
July 27th, 2010 at 9:59 am
Thanks! I agree, great time to be a MLS fan but especially a Crew fan!
July 28th, 2010 at 7:02 pm
I definitely agree with you last point about soccer having a bright future. I honestly believe soccer will compete big time with NFL in my lifetime, especially because the demography is changing in this country. Another big factor that will help is hosting the World Cup here once more soon.
As for Crew’s position, I think we deserve it. We consistently played better even when we lost. I think our best performance, if you don’t count the result, was the fight against Galaxy. Everybody was on the edge. I saw kids including mine crying. I never felt so much passion.
As for “creeping”
it looks like Ms. Ashleigh has become one kind of a star figure too slowly. A very good Soccer News Reporter! Keep up the good work! Mark my words… you will go a long way and make everyone proud.
July 30th, 2010 at 9:52 am
I would love to see the soccer compete with the NFL in my lifetime too!:) Thanks for the kind comments, Saidul! I am glad you enjoy my work. Go Crew!