IIf former Tottenham goalkeeper Hugo Lloris had hoped to enjoy a sunny semi-retirement after his move to Los Angeles, his debut for LAFC would have felt particularly satisfying. The 36-year-old World Cup winner made a club-record seven saves in a victory over the Seattle Sounders under the Californian sun on the opening weekend of the 2024 MLS season.
However, a week later, in his first away match since moving to the US, Lloris had a less comfortable time. With his goalkeeper’s gloves acting more as a barrier against frostbite than as a shot-stopping aid, he was forced to pluck a fluorescent orange match ball from his net three times in the first half after a sudden snowstorm and near-freezing temperatures swept over Real Salt had descended. Lake’s America First field.
Several players wore snoods. LAFC’s Colombian midfielder Eduard Atuesta wore his shirt down to just below his eyes. The kick-off had already been postponed for two hours due to strong winds. And when the match finally started, referee Aleksandar Zhelyazkov ordered the players off the field after just four minutes as lightning streaked through the sky above the stadium. A mandatory 30-minute delay was introduced.
Within five minutes of the teams returning to the field, a blanket of snow covered the grass. Whenever play was concentrated on one side of the pitch, grounds staff, shovels in hand, would shuttle further to the other side in an attempt to maintain visibility of the pitch markings. Zhelyazkov was forced to cut lines in the snow to indicate how far back the defenders should stand for free kicks. By full time four inches of snow had fallen.
Due to the vast expanse of the US and its varying climates, it is a fact of MLS life that a team can play in scorching heat one weekend and sub-zero the next. Extreme winter conditions are already one of the main reasons why the league’s schedule does not match that of many of its European counterparts, instead running from February to October to make the most of the warmer months.
“We still have to manage the largest geographic region for any league in the world, and the most weather and time changes of any league in the world,” commissioner Don Garber told ESPN in 2021 when asked why the MLS season wasn’t is planned. coincide with the major European competitions. “As such, the likelihood of us playing on a dramatically different calendar lies far, far, far in the future and we would only do it if we saw the value for our fans and for our competition. Nowadays we no longer see that value.”
Following Real Salt Lake’s snowstorm-induced 3-0 win over LAFC, there have been calls for more to be done to prevent teams having to play in such conditions in the future.
“My lower back is killing me,” LAFC defender Ryan Hollingshead said after the match when asked if he planned to raise playing conditions in the MLS Players’ Association. “It’s like trying to run on an ice rink. You’re slipping and sliding all the time. The whole goal is not to fall over and hurt yourself. It will definitely be taken to the players’ association. I know our representative will have that conversation immediately.
LAFC coach Steve Cherundolo wasn’t happy either. “It’s laughable,” he said. “It just baffles me that we do this to players. I haven’t even watched the game in the last twenty minutes. You couldn’t see anything.”
Few clear solutions have been suggested – whether shortening the schedule to push the season start date further into the spring, or simply relaxing the current attitude that is so averse to postponing matches – but the Player safety is a legitimate concern.
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However, for much of its existence, the MLS has attempted to adapt to the global soccer landscape in search of credibility. For example, the fear that American football would be seen as a punchline or some kind of football curio led to the abandonment of the highly entertaining hockey-style penalties the league used to settle ties in its early years. MLS has long built a solid and respected reputation in the football landscape and must stand out from the crowd as it strives to grow further. It should lean on its quirks.
The variation in weather conditions in the US presents a unique challenge for players and clubs, unlike anything found in Europe’s elite leagues. It creates a real and distinctive home advantage against opponents who are not used to certain conditions. It also adds an element of endurance to the regular season, reinforcing the feeling that playoff qualification has been earned. Being champions – with a salary cap, weather conditions and a bloated play-off structure – means you’ve found yourself on the other side of a gauntlet that no other club in world football has faced.
There’s also a nostalgic component fostered by the freezing temperatures and swirling snowstorms. In an age of hi-tech underfloor heating, hybrid synthetic playing surfaces and fully covered stadiums, the sight of an orange ball plowing through drifting snow is largely a bygone era in Europe’s highest-paid leagues. Relatively speaking, the MLS is still the newcomer in the field of football, but can regularly provide a glimpse into a long-awaited past.
Snow Games weren’t what drew Lloris and his fellow big-name veterans to the US to play out the rest of their careers – and player safety must obviously take precedence over the spectacle – but the variety and unpredictability of the weather will ensure that interest in the MLS long after the imported stars have retired.