MLS 2010: Five Players to Watch
15th June 2010
World class stars in their prime won´t be playing in Major League Soccer anytime soon but there are a lot of players plying their trade in the US and Canada who are great to watch. Some are winding down their careers but others are getting a grounding in professional football before probable moves abroad or establishing their statuses within MLS.
LA Galaxy´s US international Edson Buddle, who came on as a substitute against England on Saturday, is the most talked about player in MLS. Others have shone this season too, with last season´s exciting star Fredy Montero continuing to entertain for Seattle, and Javier Morales (Salt Lake) and Joel Lindpere (New York) earning plaudits for their creativity, footballing brains and overall influence on their teams´ impressive starts to the season.
If you´re going to cast a glance over MLS this season, keep an eye out for these five players. I hereby declare them Ramble approved.
Patrick Nyarko, Chicago Fire
The Fire´s aggressive Ghanaian winger Patrick Nyarko made his name in the back end of the 2008 season and a full 2009 season in MLS after joining the league from Virginia Tech. At 24, he´s still relatively young in US football terms but has stepped into a starring role in 2010. He´s quick and dangerous, always looking to get his head down and run at defenders. He´s good at it too, and his weaving runs usually cause havoc in the opposing penalty area.
Although he isn´t statistically the biggest contributor in MLS, Nyarko is one of those players whose style and attacking intent gets supporters on the edge of their seats every time he receives the ball. He´s beginning to have a bigger influence over matches and the likes of Baggio Husidic, Brian McBride and Marco Pappa have benefited from his presence and ability this term as he´s already notched up six assists in 2010.
Brek Shea, FC Dallas
Dane Shea - better known as Brek - is an ambitious choice for this post. After 19 appearances in 2009, the talented 20-year-old has made a real impact in 2010. He´s a native Texan who joined MLS on a Generation Adidas contract in the 2008 SuperDraft and is going to be a real star for FC Dallas. He´s blessed with a wonderful natural ability for the game even if sometimes his brain works faster than his feet, though he´s becoming more consistent game by game.
Shea´s a tall, versatile forward who knows how to pick a pass and beat a player. He´s also found his shooting boots lately, netting three times so far this season including twice in his last game, FCD´s 2-0 victory over San Jose Earthquakes. You´ll spot him by his shock of blonde hair, which has developed from last season´s spikey monstrosity into a very convincing attempt to look like a pre-cut Fernando Torres. With a bit more bulk and a few seasons´ more experience, Shea could be anywhere come the 2014 World Cup.
Fabian Espindola, Real Salt Lake
Champions Real Salt Lake have had a number of players make a big impression over the past two seasons. Former RSL forward Yura Movsisyan was a key player in their title win, and Javier Morales has begun 2010 in reliable fashion. Another of their stars in 2009 was 25-year-old Argentine Fabian Espindola, a well travelled Boca Juniors product who is in his second spell in Utah. He´s probably best known in the UK for being the player who badly injured his ankle while landing a celebratory backflip after a goal that was ruled out for offside.
Forward Espindola, when not inflicting injury upon himself, is bristling with creativity and very comfortable and natural on the ball. He´s built good partnerships with a string of players around him since returning to RSL and in 2010 has banged in three goals to help RSL have put themselves in a very promising position for a playoff place and a chance to retain their title.
Ryan Smith, Kansas City Wizards
It wouldn´t be a roundup of MLS players without a token average Englishman. In truth, Ryan Smith should be better than average. He was a youngster at Arsenal and arrived in Kansas City via Leicester, Derby, Millwall, Southampton and Crystal Palace, and there he is helping to revolutionise Peter Vermes´ team. He plays as an orthodox winger and his pace and trickery have added a dimension to the Wizards that they badly missed during their bad spell under Curt Onalfo.
Smith ignites almost every game he plays in a similar way to Nyarko and in his debut MLS season has contributed five assists from which the likes of Kei Kamara and Josh Wolff have benefited. He´s ever so slightly languid in his running style but he does have an unerring ability to ghost past players and link up with team-mates in a confined space. The Londonder is a real asset to KCW this season and if he keeps it up he´ll be in the running for personal end of season honours.
Andy Najar, DC United
As a DC United fan, I´m delighted to say that I´ve left arguably Major League Soccer´s most exciting prospect until last. Andy Najar is a 17-year-old green card-holding Honduran wide midfielder/forward who is potentially as talented a player as I´ve seen in my short time watching MLS. Najar is something of a rarity having come through a club´s academy system and been signed to professional terms, but coach Curt Onalfo threw him right in off the deep end against Kansas City in the opening game of 2010 and he came within a coat of paint of scoring a superb debut goal.
Najar plays confidently despite his modest years and has already shown his ability to dribble, pass and shoot. On top of all that, he already has a wonder goal to his name thanks to a brilliant extra time winner over Seattle in a US Open Cup play-in game. He´s scored twice in Open Cup action now, and opened his MLS account with United´s first goal in their 3-2 win over Chivas USA in May. For a player of his age to be eye-catching in any professional league is an impressive achievement and Najar is most certainly one to watch for the future.
Chris Nee is the editor of www.twofootedtackle.com
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josh rimmer
:::2010-06-16 10:16:08
Whatever happened to Freddy Adu? I remember watching his MLS goals on youtube a few years back and he was talked about as being an American Ronaldinho, is he even in the World Cup squad?
Chris Nee
:::2010-06-17 10:23:02
Hi Josh.
Adu isn´t in the squad and wasn´t expected to be, but he did seem to come into contention late on. It would have been a major shock. He´s been kicking around Europe and struggling for matches for a number of years now. He´s currently at Aris in Greece and, seemingly, piecing his career back together quite nicely.
He´ll never live up to all that hype though, he just doesn´t have that kind of quality.
Chris Nee
:::2010-06-17 10:23:54
Or rather, he´s just finished his loan at Aris from Benfica.
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