Starless night a bad omen for MLS team
Tiny crowd watches Sporting no-names
On a blustery evening more suited to indoor pursuits, Portugal’s Sporting Lisbon met Santos of Brazil under the shelter of the Rogers Centre roof last night. Despite the weather, or perhaps because of it, hundreds of fans huddled in packs around ticket booths an hour before game time. They waved pennants and tugged at scarves — the vast majority of them the green and white of Sporting.
There were few big names on display, but their replacements put on a fine show. The hightempo affair ended in a rousing 5- 3 win for Sporting. More notable for the Toronto fan was the size of the crowd at the first big international staged here since it became clear this city will welcome Major League Soccer in 2007. The paltry attendance — 14,673 — has to be a warning sign to the MLS franchise’s owners at Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment. The mood was festive despite all the empty seats. These are the die- hards, the knowledgable soccer fans MLS wants to attract. But is the feeling mutual?
Forty- five minutes before the game started, Horacio Moniz hustled off a Brampton charter bus, bent into the wind. Would Moniz give MLS a chance?
‘‘ Sporting is 100 years of tradition,’’ Moniz said, shocked at the comparison. ‘‘ MLS is an amateur team compared to this.’’
After a few minutes of thought, Moniz said he would go to at least one MLS game. ‘‘ I would take the bus even.’’
It was not a sentiment that was widely shared. Many Portuguese fans shrugged when asked about MLS, or had to be prompted to give a tepid, ‘‘ Yeah, sure.’’
Since our MLS team won’t have Portuguese players for the Portuguese or Englishmen for the English and so on, how will it appeal to the tribalism that brought out the faithful last night? It’s hard to imagine Toronto fans taking special delight in sticking it to Columbus, Ohio, or San Jose — two of our soontobe MLS rivals. The MLS will also have a hard time measuring up to the product on display last night — fluid and attacking stuff mixed with plenty of hard tackles in the centre of midfield. After going out to an early 2- 0 lead, Sporting allowed Santos to come back and tie in the second half.
Sporting then regained its footing before Silva put the game away in the 83rd minute with his second goal and Sporting’s fifth. The game featured several untried youngsters on both sides determined to showcase their skills. Sporting forward Nani looked especially dangerous.
It’s also possible the sparse crowd may have been a case of once bitten, twice shy. The Santos on display last night wasn’t the defending champions of Brazil. It was a squad made up of youth academy projects.
Santos may have been distracted. After a 7- 1 drubbing over the weekend, they fired their coach. Assistant Humberto Grondona found out he’d been made interim coach in Toronto.
Sporting left stars like Joao Alves, Ricardo and Joao Moutinho at home to rest for internationals this coming weekend.
Like Italian supporters in June or Glasgow Rangers fans in July, last night was the Brazilian and Portuguese fans’ turn to be lured by the promise of legendary teams and disappointed by anonymous, if enlivened, sides.
In fairness, Sporting’s fans didn’t seem to mind once their team started to roll. MLSE president Richard Peddie has promised that tickets to see an MLS game will be ‘‘ one of the cheapest sports entertainment propositions in the city.’’ That’s a start. Tickets for last night’s game topped out at $ 70.
Initially, MLSE is hoping to draw crowds in the ‘‘ low teens’’ to its 20,000- seat stadium. There is a base of devoted Canadian fans here. But are there enough of them? An MLS team will have to hope the Horacio Monizs of the world can be convinced to take that bus trip from Brampton. Or they could find some reason for us to hate Columbus.