Apple’s Onside Major League Soccer delivers best-ever MLS film
Apple’s big-budget docuseries about MLS from the producers of Formula 1: Drive To Survive premieres Friday, February 21 on Apple TV+. Titled Onside: Major League Soccer, the series features eight episodes that cover the 2024 season. Before its release, I had the privilege to watch the entire series. Is it as good or better than Drive to Survive? Let’s dive in.
Before watching Onside, I wanted three questions answered by the end of the docuseries. First, was I entertained? Second, what did I learn? And third, I was looking forward to hearing Lionel Messi speak. So what would he say given that the filmmakers, Box To Box Films, had unlimited access to players from all 29 teams during 2024?
Onside: Major League Soccer: What’s a must-see
Let’s start with what the docuseries does well. Without any shadow of a doubt, the best part of the series is the game highlights. The filmmakers do an excellent job of pulling you into the games, showing a lot of never-seen-before close-ups and new angles to show what MLS does best: Performing on the pitch. The most exciting part was hearing what the coaches said on the sidelines during the game. It’s something we rarely hear in the sport. Expletives and all.
By making the games the main thrust of the series, Onside delivers in making you want to watch MLS games more often. That, in turn, should translate to more MLS Season Pass subscriptions for Apple.
Other than the games, three segments from the eight episodes stand out for praise. The first is episode four with the suspense surrounding the potential sacking of Bradley Carnell from St. Louis City. The cameras offer a rare glimpse at the discussion among the STL’s executives about whether they fire him or not. After he gets sacked, the cameras keep rolling on his drive home as we hear him share his raw reaction to the decision.
The second memorable segment is in episode one where we see Riqui Puig in the comforts of his home as his friend cooks a meal for the Spaniard and some of his LA Galaxy teammates. What I liked about that segment is that you get to understand Puig as a person and what drives him more than just about him as an athlete.
Last but not least, the life story of Malachi Jones coming from an orphanage in war-torn Sierra Leone to the United States, and making the big time with New York City FC was incredibly compelling.
An honorable mention goes to the section of the series where Tim Parker is moved from St. Louis City to New England Revolution, and how the transfer tears him apart from his newborn baby and wife.
What’s missing
Overall, the majority of the episodes are mostly unmemorable. Episode 2 focuses on the “Hell is Real” derby between Cincinnati and Columbus. Episode 3 draws on Cavan Sullivan’s story. Episode 4 revolves around St. Louis City versus Sporting KC. In episode 5, it’s all about the New York derby. Episode 6 is the summer transfer window moves. Episode 7 focuses on the transformation under a new coach at Atlanta United after a poor start to the season. And then episode 8 finishes the docuseries with the MLS Cup final where, as we know, LA Galaxy defeats the New York Red Bulls.
Strangely, and most likely on purpose, the team that delivered the biggest stories and most interest in 2024 is almost invisible in the series. After the intro of episode one, Onside spends five minutes focused on Inter Miami before it sets the stage for the Galaxy-Miami game. And then the rest of the episodes don’t mention Inter Miami at all until near the end of the series where Atlanta pulls off the shocking playoff win in episode 7.
What I wanted was to see inside the locker room of the Inter Miami team. Locker room footage from several other teams is included in Onside, so why not one second inside Inter Miami’s locker room? Furthermore, we didn’t get to hear one word spoken by Messi, which was one of my expectations before watching the docuseries.
MLS, Apple, and Box To Box Films seemingly didn’t want to make Inter Miami the story of Onside, and they delivered on that.
Sometimes it’s what’s missing that tells more of the story than what’s included. For instance, in the 5+ hours of footage from the entire series, there are zero mentions of:
- US Open Cup,
- Leagues Cup, and
- The replacement referees were brought in for the opening weeks of the season because MLS couldn’t agree on a CBA with the referee union.
Take that for what it’s worth.
Attention to detail is missing
Some improvements should have been made to this series before it was released.
First, after the intro in episode one, the opening scene has the word “Miami” shown on-screen with images of Ocean Drive in Miami Beach. Then it’s a quick cut to Chase Stadium where the viewers are supposed to believe they’re still in Miami. However, Chase Stadium is in Fort Lauderdale, 35 miles away from Ocean Drive and a completely different county. Thirty-five miles is the same distance between the English cities of Liverpool and Manchester.
Second, the other strange aspect is how so much of the focus of the first episode is framed around the featured game between LA Galaxy and Inter Miami being the start of the 2024 season. Even the on-screen graphics for LA Galaxy vs Inter Miami mention “MLS Season Kickoff.” Except there’s a big problem. Inter Miami opened the 2024 MLS season four days earlier when the team defeated Real Salt Lake. There’s no mention of that game or result. It’s as if the game has been erased from the arc of the Onside docuseries.
Those mistakes may have been made on purpose to build a narrative of Inter Miami as a “Miami team” instead of being housed in a temporary stadium that was the former home of the failed MLS team the Miami Fusion. I get that, but why not be honest with the viewer instead of trying to skirt past those details?
Overall, Onside: Major League Soccer feels like two things. First, it’s catering to an audience who may have never watched MLS. Some of the information throughout the series feels like a beginner’s guide to MLS where they explain who the teams are, discuss the history such as David Beckham playing with LA Galaxy, mention Freddy Adu and what happened to him, and how Cavan Sullivan needs to avoid a similar path.
For viewers, some of that background is boring because we know the history. Most of us already know the storylines and what happens in the games from the 2024 season, so those aren’t new either.
A perfect example of how the series is trying to cater to casuals is episode three which focuses on Cavan Sullivan and the build-up to his professional debut as a 14-year-old for Philadelphia Union. I wasn’t moved by the episode because I knew the history, but my wife was swept away by the storyline and cried tears of joy after Sullivan entered the field. She wasn’t familiar with his story, but she certainly is now. Score one for the casuals!
Conclusion
Despite its faults, Onside: Major League Soccer is hands-down the best documentary ever produced about MLS. I appreciate that the filmmakers made it mostly about the games, players, and coaches. Having said that, I would have liked to have seen more of the other teams featured. Fifty-five percent of the MLS teams from the 2024 season didn’t even get a mention in the 5+ hours of the docuseries. When you have the largest number of teams in a league worldwide, it’s difficult to include them all.
When I asked Executive Producer and Co-founder of Box to Box Films Paul Martin about that topic, here’s what he told World Soccer Talk. “There are 29 teams in the league, but you have to make choices on characters, players, and teams to be featured. You want to show what best represents the league and what is reflective of what is happening at that time. So, we choose players and teams that are best for what is happening then.”
So in answer to my questions before the docuseries started, was I entertained? Yes, for some of the episodes. Did I learn anything? I certainly gained more of an appreciation for Malachi Jones, and his life story. Was I moved during the docuseries? Yes, at times. But overall, across all 5+ hours, Onside: Major League Soccer feels more like a glorified review of the 2024 season that fans can go back and watch to familiarize themselves with what happened.
We are not the target audience. The series is focused on winning over Apple TV+ subscribers who may not pay much attention to MLS. In doing so, the hope is that it’ll convert those people over to MLS Season Pass subscriptions, and that alone is worth the effort.
Will Onside change the world and make MLS a hit like Box to Box did with Formula 1? No, but it’s certainly not going to do any negative damage. Now the question is whether Apple TV+ subscribers will watch it or not.
Onside: Major League Soccer debuts on Apple TV+ on Friday, February 21. The first episode is available for free to MLS Season Pass subscribers, too. Episodes two through eight are exclusively available on Apple TV+.