Changing room chat: MLS rivalry as LA and Bulls lock horns

MAJOR League Soccer finally has a rivalry worthy of the name but the nasty edge to yesterday’s second leg of the Western Conference semi-finals between the two glamour teams, LA Galaxy and New York Red Bulls, might not be quite what the league’s marketing men had hoped for.

The match had been billed as a clash between the team’s two big-name, big-money imports, LA’s David Beckham and New York’s Thierry Henry, but the build-up has been dominated by a war of words between New York’s Luke Rodgers and LA’s Landon Donovan.

The pair have been trading insults ever since Rodgers unleashed a foul-mouthed criticism of Donovan after a game in May, claiming the league’s poster boy had insulted Frenchman Henry and badgered the referee.

Relations between the teams have sunk even further, with Sunday’s first-leg, won 1-0 by the Galaxy, ending in a melee which saw the Red Bulls’ Mexican defender Rafa Marquez given a red card along with LA’s Brazilian Juninho.

Donovan described the Red Bulls as “the cheapest team” he has played against, a derogatory American term for an unsporting or dirty team.