Available. This is Gareth Bale’s status ahead of the North American Soccer League MLS final. Bale plays for Los Angeles Football Club and because the Angelenos are hopeless romantics, they are now all dreaming of a scenario like the 2018 Champions League final: Gareth Bale came on for Real Madrid in the 61st minute and scored per Lateral pull and 40-meter shot the hits to 2: 1 and 3: 1 against Liverpool. Oh, the US soccer fans whisper to each other before the final against Philadelphia Union this Saturday, precisely because Philadelphia goalkeeper Andre Blake is in impressive form: Wouldn’t that be the perfect Hollywood end to this short guest appearance?
Available, that word is an official term in US esports that means an actor could potentially be fielded, and that’s the problem. Because in the case of Bales it means: He trains with the team, he could also get playing time; However, he is not 100 percent fit and cannot fully go through with the shot due to an abductor injury. In the semi-final against Austin, Bale sat on the bench for 90 minutes because he wasn’t needed in the easy 3-0 win.
That probably suited him well, after all he doesn’t want the injury to get any worse. It wants to be available somewhere else: on November 21, when the Welsh national team will play the USA in the World Cup in Qatar. And therein lies the dilemma ahead of this finale.
Gareth Bale, 33, only arrived in Los Angeles in the summer and the reason was clear from the start: he wanted to get in shape for the World Cup, for which his native Wales have qualified for only the second time since 1958. Bale is the captain. He suspected he would not get enough match practice at his old club Real Madrid, a short-term loan deal within Europe did not suit his plans, so the move to the USA to Los Angeles Football Club seemed like a win-win-win situation : Bale would play and get fit. The LAFC club, already in first place at the time, could continue to improve. And the league would be richer by one star player in the fall of his career: a celebrity ambitious enough to create a few spectacular moments.
On August 7, Bale met for the last time
Bale has now completed twelve games and scored two goals. He hasn’t scored since August 7, hasn’t started on the field since September 14, and hasn’t played a minute in the playoffs. The situation has meanwhile turned into its opposite, into a lose-lose-lose situation so to speak: Bale is neither fit nor has he had any match practice. Even without him, LAFC is the favorite in the final. And in the US, they’re debating whether bringing Bale to Los Angeles really made sense, and whether Bale’s one goal is becoming increasingly visible: not to make LA or the league shine, but to be available for the World Cup game against the USA of all places.
Major League Soccer (MLS) hasn’t quite shed the habit of bringing aging stars from Europe. That is sometimes successful: They are also very satisfied with the 38-year-old Italian Giorgio Chiellini at LAFC, and in his case there is no need to worry about a World Cup rest: Italy is not qualified for the World Cup, Chiellini has resigned from the national team. The MLS clubs now prefer to train young Americans for a move to Europe, and Bale’s transfer is considered a relic from a bygone era.
But there is hardly any debate, away from fans and television experts. LAFC coach Steven Cherundolo, known in Germany for his 370 games for Hannover 96 as a professional, emphasizes at every opportunity how professional Bale works. Manager John Thorrington says: “We wanted to get him in match form – I want to emphasize that we succeeded.” Wales manager Rob Page said: “He knows his body, he knows best how to get in top form.” Bale himself also indicated during weekday training: everything is fine.
So they are all happy and they tell all the doubters the story of the World Cup qualification: without match practice, Gareth Bale scored the two goals against Austria in March, in the game against Ukraine in June he was there despite a back problem. So take it easy. If LAFC need a goal after 80 minutes on Saturday, everyone knows Gareth Bale is available.