Maybe we’ve been on the wrong side of this MLS thing all along. Maybe the aspects we’ve furiously derided as bugs within the makeup of the league all these years - the McSoccerness of the whole thing, franchises fighting franchises for the right to nothing, forever - are really features: A new football universe blooming right before our eyes, the old hatreds put aside in favor of appreciation of everyone’s effort, of the beautiful moment, of friendship and affirmation and kindness.
It’s in the midst of moments like Saturday’s soccer festival at Toyota Park that such ideas can almost reach the level of plausibility, and who can blame MLS for dreaming?