Top Five Major League Soccer Rivalries

1) Portland Timbers – Seattle Sounders

This fierce rivalry goes back to the old NASL of the 1970s, and has survived incarnations in lower leagues like the USL and WSA. The inclusion of the Timbers franchise into MLS in 2011 sent the rivalry into the stratosphere, and the match-up gets the nod over the others on this list based on the size and intensity of the two fan bases. These two teams — along with fellow Cascadia Cup competitor Vancouver — have become the blueprint for building the sport in North America.

2) San Jose Earthquakes – LA Galaxy

The “California Clasico” probably has the richest history of all the MLS rivalries, having faced off in some the leagues legendary showdowns. They played each other in the 2001 MLS Cup with the Earthquake’s Dwayne De Rosario scoring an overtime goal to win the title 2-1. In 2003, the two teams met in a playoff, with the Galaxy taking a four goal aggregate lead deep into the second match only to see the Earthquakes score five unanswered goals to pull of the miracle. The Galaxy have also had their share of success against the Quakes, and hold the overall edge.

3) Real Salt Lake City – Colorado Rapids

MLS rivalries tend to be regionally based — as opposed to the inter-city rivalries that dominate European and South American soccer — and this is one of the better ones. The results have been a bit-one sided lately, with Real Sal;t Lake taking the “Rocky Mountain Cup” for six consecutive years, but the geographic isolation give this derby a particular edge

4) FC Dallas – Chicago Fire

While it seems natural that Dallas’ biggest rivalry should be against it’s cross-state rivals Houston, that matchup has never quite caught on. The rivalry with the Chicago Fire has a longer history and seems to resonate more with the fans. The two teams compete each year for the Brimstone Cup, and the hatred has been stoked by incidents such as when Chicag’’s Dema Kovalenko shattered defender Brandon Pollard’s leg in a 1999 playoff match.

5) New York Red Bulls – NY Cosmos

The NY-Washington rivalry has had its moments, but this is our dream rivalry for the future. If the whimsical effort to re-start the legendary Cosmos franchise ever gets off the ground, we anticipate this to become the bitterest MLS rivalry. Hopefully the league can overcome the tendency in American team owners to jealously guard their “territorial rights” and start adding franchises in closer proximity to each other. Besides, the league needs a team that actually plays in New York City.

FC Barcelona: Political Football

FC Barcelona, no stranger to controversy over the years, now finds itself embroiled in the Israeli-Palestinian dispute after its decision host a former Israeli soldier at its October 7 match against Real Madrid. Gilad Shalit — who has now started a career as a sports journalist — was captured while on duty in Gaza in 2007 and held by Hamas for three years until he was freed in a 2010 prisoner swap. Many on the Palestinian side object to Shalit’s appearance as a guest of the club due to his participation in what they consider an occupation army.

Barcelona attempted to address Arab concerns by also inviting two Palestinian diplomats and Mahmoud Sarsak, a former member of the Palestinian national football team and himself a one-time prisoner. Sarsak at first seemed to accept the invite, but ultimately decided to honor a boycott called by Hamas. It appears as if Barcelona will not back down, but the club insists that it does not take sides in the conflict.

Barcelona was embroiled in a quite different controversy last year after it reversed its long-standing policy against shirt sponsorships and agreed to a lucrative deal with the Qatar Foundation, an organization started by the Emir of Qatar to promote education and science research in the country.

The move was unpopular with some fans and spawned a petition drive to block the deal. Many of the club’s fans opposed, on principal, the idea of having any shirt sponsor at all, while others pointed to the Qatari government’s human rights record. In the end, the club’s argument that it needed additional revenue to compete with rival Real Madrid won out over the moral concerns, and the club’s members voted strongly in favor of the deal.

While the Qatar controversy has largely faded and the Shalit affair will likely blow over soon after the match, FC Barcelona finds itself embroiled in another political issue; one that has a deep historical resonance for the club.

Spurred on by the ongoing economic crisis in Spain, and the feeling that the region isn’t getting it’s fair share from the central government, a crowd of approximately one million gathered for a September 11 rally in downtown Barcelona to call for Catalan independence. Several pro-independence politicians have since joined the rhetorical fray.

FC Barcelona’s association with the Catalan independence movement goes back nearly to the its inception, and the club served as a beacon of dissent during the Franco years. According to the Yahoo! soccer blog “Pitchside Europe,” the crowd at Camp Nou broke into pro-Catalan independence songs after Lionel Messi scored the go-ahead goal in a Champion’s league match against Spartak Moscow.

The stadium is certain to be a focal point if the movement gathers momentum, and several prominent pro-independence supporters have close associations with club, including former coach Pep Guardiola — who appeared via video at the Sept 11 rally — and former club president Joan Laporta, who is now a politician at the spearhead of the independence movement.

Ironically, a successful independence movement could be disastrous for the club, if Barcelona and the other Catalonian soccer clubs were forced to split off from Spain and form their own league; the financial arguments against that kind of move, however, would likely carry the day.