For every David Villa there is an Ilie Sanchez

If you ask a soccer fan about David Villa they will give a similar response, that he was striker of Valencia, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid, the top scorer in the history of the Spanish national team, world champion in 2010, and you stop counting. Now, if you ask about Ilie Sánchez only fans from Sporting Kansas, Elche (the 2nd div Spanish) or 1860 Munich (the 2nd div German) can answer me. And is that the MLS has that personality of bringing together players of the highest competitive level, with players who never stepped into the 1st division in Europe before playing in the USA.

Villa and Sanchez shared locker rooms several times in preseason friendlies in Barcelona between 2010 and 2013, but Ilie never got to play in official matches with the Catalan team and stayed in the reserve team. Villa meanwhile won all alongside Messi at that time. However, years later found again in a league that has the peculiarity of joining star players with players who passed without pain or glory in second-class leagues.

It is something like the theory of Zidanes and Pavones, created during the galactic era of Real Madrid at early 2000, where for each galaxy there was a unknown player. The idea was to give to the team a financial balance between expensive signings and players “middle class” who did the dirty work so that new ones could shine.

And, for every Giovinco, Schweinsteiger, Ashley Cole and Kaka, who doesn’t need presentation cards, there are a lot of players who are a total stranger to fans as David Arshakyan or Bradley Diallo, who were playing league of Armenia, or French second division before signing on the MLS. It should be noted that these “strangers” are in the starting XI in their teams.

This wide spectrum transfer gives a diversity in technical and tactical level to the American soccer quite wide, with players from many countries ranging from those recognized by the quality of their players like Spain, Italy, Germany and Brazil to the little known Liechtenstein , Belize, Uganda, Lebanon and Cuba.

But that MLS is changing gradually. They have been attracting good players from Europe before 30, especially South Americans, like Dos Santos brothers, Carlos Vela (who will play in 2018), Carlos Carmona, Sebastian Blanco and Nico Lodeiro. And it is taking the case of young South Americans who preferred the MLS rather than continue or to sign into a European league as Josef Martínez, Almiron, Savarino and Luciano Acosta, who are also stars in their teams.