Major League Soccer’s place among the top divisions across the globe has been debated for years. The league has certainly come a long way since its debut season in 1996. After all, just 10 total clubs fought for the title that year. Nevertheless, many fans of the sport, particularly from outside of North America, still regularly ridicule MLS.
Former Crystal Palace owner Simon Jordan has become the latest foreign figure to lambast the division. The British businessman previously entered the sports world when he purchased the South London side in 2000. Immediately after buying Palace at the age of 32, Jordan becomes the youngest chairman of an English Football League (EFL) club.
The Eagles were a second-tiered team when Jordan entered the fray. Nevertheless, they were also dealing with serious financial issues the summer that Jordan came aboard. Despite these problems, Jordan helped lead the club back to the Premier League ahead of the 2004/05 campaign. The Eagles, however, were quickly relegated back to the Championship the following season. Jordan eventually left Palace in 2010 after he failed to straighten out the team’s financial problems.
After departing the now Premier League side, Jordan transitioned to the media side of soccer. He now works for talkSPORT, a sports radio station based in the United Kingdom. In a recent appearance on his show, White and Jordan, the businessman had some harsh words for MLS.
Jordan was asked by his co-host, Jim White, about a recent visit to the United States. The contentious analyst visited Fort Lauderdale earlier this summer to watch Inter Miami against St Louis City. It is safe to say that he was not impressed.
“It was bloody awful,” Jordan said of the match. “The standard of MLS is poor. I mean… I went to see Inter Miami, who are top of their division, play against St. Louis and the quality of the American players was abject. The only players on the field that had any quality were the foreign players. Obviously, Messi and a half-fit [Luis] Suarez and [Sergio] Busquets and few other people.”
Jordan then went on to claim that soccer in the States is not “a disaster” due to the USMNT. He referenced the team’s decent showing at the 2022 World Cup and a recent draw in a friendly against Brazil. Nevertheless, the co-presenter continued the rant by saying that “American soccer is not anywhere near the level [of where it should be].”
Along with mocking MLS, Jordan also heavily criticized U.S. Soccer’s ambitious pursuit of Jurgen Klopp. The German coach is widely regarded as one of the top managers in the entire sport. While the organization’s technical director Matt Crocker approached Klopp about the now vacated USMNT managerial role, the former Liverpool boss rejected the move.
Although Klopp rebuffed U.S. Soccer’s offer, there were previous suggestions from reputable sources that he would potentially be interested in the USMNT job. The timing of the opportunity, however, was just not right. Klopp only just departed the Premier League team after claiming that he needed a break. It is debatable if the German’s answer to U.S. Soccer would have been different if their approach were at a later date.
Targeting Klopp was certainly both ambitious and grandiose. While the potential move failed, U.S. Soccer at least tried their best to get their top target. One of the best ways for the USMNT to improve is by hiring a quality head coach. Rehiring Gregg Berhalter was a massive mistake and just about everyone outside of U.S. Soccer knew it. The organization now deserves credit for a least realizing their error and attempting to bring in a star manager.
PHOTOS: IMAGO
