At the same time, the Jets and the Giants are moving to yet another new stadium in the Meadowlands, which will replace a perfectly good Giants Stadium, to accommodate shrimp-and-wine tastes. The new place will still hold major soccer matches, particularly if the United States is chosen to host the 2018 or 2022 World Cup.
But M.L.S. needs to grow its own identity. The league is thriving in downtown Seattle and downtown Toronto and has modest soccer-friendly stadiums outside Los Angeles; Dallas; Denver; Columbus, Ohio; and Chicago — and now a base within easy reach of the big city.
This is important. Until last year, sports events in the Meadowlands were not reachable by rail transit. The new Red Bull Arena glitters in an industrial wasteland just east of Newark, not far from Manhattan. I was thinking about trains I have taken to other matches — Inchon, outside Seoul, South Korea; Saitama, outside Tokyo; West Ham and Arsenal and Chelsea in London; the cute little trolley curving through Milan to San Siro.
On a gorgeous afternoon, I walked from my house on Long Island to a train, took another train, a PATH train back one stop, and then an easy walk to the new stadium. No bridges. No tunnels. No tolls. No traffic. A new age. Soccer, the pulsing heart of world sport, is finally connected to the center of the universe. New York is finally perfect.
