Some four years ago, Thierry Henry came to Major League Soccer. The finest and most laureled striker of the decade prior had signed on with the Red Bulls and made good on a long-time dream to live in New York City. Even at his advanced soccer age, Henry, it was generally thought, would not come to pre-retire, but to go on doing what he had always done. Namely, he would pursue and score goals with his special brand of ferocity. In so doing, the thinking went, he might finally help his franchise deliver on its potential.
Shortly after he arrived, however, he told me that his primary concern wasn’t with scoring or winning. Rather, the thing he worried about was forging a recognizable style for his new club. “What we need to create here is an identity, a way of playing,” he said at the time. “I was fortunate enough to play for Arsenal and Barcelona and Juventus and the French national team. And I always played in a team that had an identity.”
“At the end of a game,” Henry concluded after a lengthy and impassioned plea, “it would be amazing if people start to say, ‘We know about the Red Bulls and you’re going to suffer on this, you know that’s the way they play.’ That’s the type of thing at the end of the day, if you can leave, or start that legacy, the style of play, to be able to say that, is very important.”
Developing an identity isn’t something that can be rushed though. It has to come along organically. Nevertheless, it is crucial to a league taking root, which in turn is bedrock to the success and self-determination of a soccer country. Identity breeds rivalry, which begets narrative. Once your teams have a back story, rather than being amorphous blobs of players haphazardly signed together by an anonymous general manager, their matchups become truly compelling.
Only now, in the league’s 19th season on the eve of a so-called MLS 3.0 -- when it readies itself to go big-time with a franchise co-owned by Manchester City and the New York Yankees; with David Beckham involved in an ownership group trying to place a team in Miami; with almost every team playing in a real soccer stadium and fielding US national team regulars and reputable foreigners -- are teams getting around to the business of sketching out their own profiles.
Henry was right though. Since the start of last season, Red Bull has cemented an image by embracing their historical scrappiness. They capably absorb pressure before pouncing with direct counter-attacks. It may not be as pretty as the passing game Henry said he envisioned upon his arrival, and the one head coach Mike Petke hoped to implement after his appointment last year, but it works fairly reliably. The club is still as streaky as ever, but when the Red Bulls win, you know how they beat you.
This development is more pronounced in the playing style of other clubs. Real Salt Lake got it first, as it adopted a Latin, quick-passing style within the midfield diamond adopted under Jason Kreis and retained under Jeff Cassar. Sporting Kansas City deploys a 4-3-3 formation and presses and possesses the ball very high up the field without fail. It’s how SKC won the championship last year.
Portland, under the control of one of the most ambitious and hyped young managers in the league in Caleb Porter, attempts a zippy, Barcelona-esque short-passing game that seeks to play through the opposition. Houston gets the ball down quickly with its 4-4-2 shape and capitalizes on dangerous crosses from their wingers. LA Galaxy employ quick transitions to spring their fleet-footed, intelligent forwards. San Jose usually played directly to a target man or two, but that’s changing now.
It’s no coincidence that these have consistently been among the most successful teams in MLS in recent years. The teams that built an identity have enjoyed continuity and, in a league where all else is mostly equal, discovered an edge.
Yet their philosophies translate to something bigger as well. What makes the English Premier League so compelling is that there is a clear story line in every game. There are historically successful clubs and middling clubs and underdog clubs who overachieve, underachieve or simply achieve according to expectation. Some are known for being defensive, others for cherishing possession, still others for being adventurous. Their easy recognition makes the game accessible to serious and casual fans alike, as narratives are built-in. David v. Goliath Defense against offense. Possession pitted against countering.
Identity, carved out and earned over the years, gives a fan base something to identify with. It knows what kind of games to expect, what sort of players to expect. Familiarity, in this case, can breed love. Franchises become clubs. Over the years, as generations tag in and out, stadiums become homes, which then become hallowed grounds – places that stand for something. This is where our boys fight for us to the last second, Son, where the big clubs fear us. Or: Susie, this is where the artists come to play, to enthrall us with their wit and whimsy.
The road to mainstream success does indeed pass by deep-pocketed franchise owners and suitable stadiums and better players, but as Henry recognized early on, identity is foremost.
