MLS Cup final: Inter Miami v Vancouver Whitecaps – live buildup | MLS
Key events
In a big country, dreams stay with you…
Or, in this case, two major countries, the Vancouver Whitecaps representing Canada. These two clubs are in opposite corners of the continent. Unless the MLS extends to Alaska or Hawaii, the distance between Miami and Vancouver is about as far as it gets.
To what extent?
Just over 2,800 miles or 4,500 kilometers.
For perspective… Wilfried Nancy has just left the Columbus Crew to take over at Celtic. His new club would travel less than 2,000 miles if they traveled to Istanbul to face Galatasaray. A comparable flight to Vancouver-Miami would be Glasgow-Baghdad. Or they could go the other direction and fly to Halifax, across Canada from Vancouver.
Also check out this great map comparing MLS distances with European distances.
The international call
Messi is certainly the biggest star MLS has had in its 30 seasons. But he is not the first.
Jorge Campos, who moved beyond the role of ‘keeper/sweeper’ to become ‘keeper/striker’, was a massive attendance driver in the first two years of the league, dazzled by their colorful goalkeeper jerseys.
Bolivians Marco Etcheverry And Jaime Moreno have been the driving forces in DC United’s first year.
Lothar Matthäus was somewhat less successful in his tenure with the league.
Christo Stoitchkov won the 1994 Ballon d’Or after taking Bulgaria to the World Cup semi-finals, and no one could doubt the fiery striker’s determination to win wherever he played.
The rules changed, literally, with the “Beckham Rule,” which gave teams a giant exception to the league’s onerous salary cap rules. The beneficiaries included…well, David BeckhamOf course. Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored in an absurd clip during his time with the LA Galaxy. Thierry Henri gave the New York Red Bulls some star power.
Preamble
Messi. Müller. This is a World Cup rematch in which someone will be the first World Cup champion to add an MLS Cup to this virtual but very real trophy case.
But look beyond the big names. These are two exceptional teams. As MLS has expanded, the talent pool has narrowed, but these two teams would easily hold on to the old-school DC United dynasty or the strong LA Galaxy teams.
Save that for your video games and enjoy this confrontation.
Beau will be here shortly. In the meantime, here is the return of Luis Miguel Echegaray on Inter Miami’s journey to the final.
