Let me start off this week’s column with a flashback to the 2011-2012 Barclay’s Premier League season.
Entering the final matchday on May 13, Manchester United and Manchester City were tied on points, setting the stage for an epic finish. City were playing at home to lowly QPR, while United were on the road against a Sunderland side that wasn’t much better.
Because they’ve been doing this since man could walk in England, they knew that having all matches on the final day of the season would result in the best quality of play (teams wouldn’t get lazy once their fates were known) and the most gripping storylines. The result? Moments after United won and appeared set to celebrate another title, City came from behind with two second-half stoppage-time goals to capture the club’s first title in 44 years.
Whoever in Major League Soccer’s ranks came up with the concept of Decision Day was likely watching this across-the-pond insanity unfold on TV. This somebody knew that MLS doesn’t have a promotion/relegation system or a non-playoff system like in England, but still asked “why can’t we do this here?”
MLS Decision Day 2015 As Good As Advertised: TWC
This person is a genius who I’ll take a moment to applaud in the GIF of the Week:
Remember how close things were a few weeks back? Nothing changed in the lead-up to MLS Decision Day 2015, and it made for a frenzied day of checking updates on multiple matches and refreshing league tables every few minutes. In short, it was Christmas morning for fans.
Here’s how my festivities went down:
Even if I wasn’t a Toronto FC fan, I would have chosen the Montreal-Toronto match out of the four Eastern Conference games played at 5 PM EST. Toronto entered the match in fourth in the East and could have finished anywhere between second and sixth, while Montreal entered fifth in the East and could finish anywhere from third to sixth.
In the “we took nine seasons just to get a playoff berth” Toronto FC way, Toronto blew a lead, lost the match with little more than a whimper, and fell to sixth while seeing their 401 derby rival climb all the way up to third. But despite the result not going the way I wanted it to, I still felt a rush of excitement that I won’t soon forget.
Even if you strip away all the final day allure, the match was excellent. Both sides have been questioned for relying too heavily on their stars, but they each were able to string together solid runs of possession where many players got touches on the ball. For the most part, Sebastian Giovinco and Didier Drogba were being shut down by superb defensive performances. Throw in an outstanding Superman-like save from Montreal goalkeeper Evan Bush and a crossbar hit from Drogba and the match was exhilarating.
Jozy Altidore’s goal right before halftime was when the Decision Day mystique first really hit me. And then in the span of about two minutes in the second half, Drogba flicked on the “a class above 99% of the player in this league” switch, and Decision Day slapped me in the face.
The biggest, strongest forward the world has seen the last ten years just burned TFC with not one, but two backheel redirects #DecisionDay
— Michael Norton (@TheRealNort) October 25, 2015
I actually didn’t see the second goal live. Still trying to learn how to properly watch with a second screen, I was checking the updated scores and standings following Drogba’s first goal and only heard the roar of the crowd upon the second being scored.
I know that I abuse the term must-see TV, so I won’t put that title on any of Sunday’s games. Quite honestly, a lot of the other matches were so one-sided that they could have garnered a “must-avoid TV” moniker. These games were more than the television anyways, even for people like me whose short attention spans make the second screen a challenge. Despite my investment in the club going up and down like a roller coaster, I’ve experienced emotion as a Toronto FC fan these past nine years, not very much of it being good.
But for the fans of a team like the Montreal Impact, MLS Decision Day 2015 was their Manchester City moment. Didier Drogba, who could somehow finish third in the MVP race depending on who you listen to, has been the best story Major League Soccer has had in the second half of the season. He has captured the hearts of the city by scoring 11 goals, at a rate of one every 79 minutes no less, since coming to Quebec in the summer.
This club had their hearts broken when they lost the CONCACAF Champions League Final. They fired head coach Frank Klopas near the end of the summer after losing three in a row and nearly all hope. They’ve noticeably suffered at the gate.
But then the Drogba effect kicked in like a defibrillator and vaulted this club to never-before-seen levels in this league. Stade Saputo sounded as loud as Olympic Stadium during the CCL run, and it’s a bit more than a third of the size.
Drogba sometimes refers to the people who follow his various social media accounts as “my people”. He’s one of three people in the world who can do that without sounding like an arrogant, egotistical buffoon looking to get people angry. The other two are Oprah and the Pope.
Regardless, Drogba has taken his people on a remarkable journey these last two months that even I, being on the unfortunate side of that journey, have to admire. That journey was made even better because of MLS Decision Day 2015.
So thank you, Major League Soccer
Thank you for another outstanding year, the 20th on the trot. Even with David and now Landon and Thierry gone you keep us coming back for more.
Thank you for the new clubs (yes, even you NYCFC). Thank you for the records broken. Thank you for the new stars and the stars of tomorrow.
Thank you for having an outstanding social media presence; efforts were amped up for Decision Day but have been brilliant all year long. Thank you for taking a page out of England’s book and scheduling matches at the same time on the last day so that the spectators could take in the craziness.
You get bashed a lot. Sometimes by us fans, many more times by those Eurosnobs.
But it’s days like these where I remember how awesome you can be.
Thanks for being you, MLS.
Image Credit: MLSsoccer.com
